Secular Trend in Stature and Age at Menarche Among Punjabi Aroras Residing in New Delhi, India

The study was conducted on Punjabi Arora girls (n=159) and their mothers to see the phenomenon of secular trend in stature and age at menarche. An increase in stature and decrease in age at menarche was reported when the data of daughters was compared with that of their mothers thereby indicating secular trend in these two parameters. Better living conditions, improved nutrition and medical facilities, changes in environmental and socio-economic factors may account for increase in stature and early biological maturation

Dydrogesterone usage pattern in India: a knowledge, attitude and practice survey among Indian gynaecologists

Background: There is limited data about the knowledge, perception, and routine clinical usage pattern of dydrogesterone among medical practitioners in India. Therefore, the present survey was undertaken to assess attitudes and perception/practices of obstetrician and gynaecologists towards use of dydrogesterone in the real-life setting.Methods: Total 1168 gynaecologists across India participated in the KAP survey. Sixteen questions which explored indications, dosages, duration, efficacy, tolerability and comparison were asked and results were expressed as percentages.Results: Dydrogesterone has been marketed since the 1960s and has been extensively used worldwide for the treatment of threatened miscarriage (TM) and recurrent miscarriage (RM). Dydrogesterone is approved for hormone replacement therapy (HRT), as well as pregnancy and non-pregnancy-related conditions where there is a progesterone deficiency. In the present survey, dydrogesterone 10 mg twice daily was found to be the most commonly preferred dosage by 823 (73%) gynaecologists. Poor tolerability, compliance and lower efficacy were reported as major limitations of micronized progesterone by 68% of doctors. The average clinical pregnancy rate noted at 12 weeks after Dydrogesterone usage was around 40% by majority of the doctors. However, 30% of doctors noted more than 40% of clinical pregnancy rate after dydrogesterone usage. Almost 35% of doctors reported that the average live birth rate noticed after dydrogesterone usage is around 40%.Conclusions: The present KAP survey highlights that the effectiveness and the tolerability of dydrogesterone is valued by Indian gynaecologists which accounts for its robust clinical utility

Strong Association of 677 C>T Substitution in the MTHFR Gene with Male Infertility - A Study on an Indian Population and a Meta-Analysis

Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) is an important enzyme of folate and methionine metabolism, making it crucial for DNA synthesis and methylation. The objective of this study was to analyze MTHFR gene 677C>T polymorphism in infertile male individuals from North India, followed by a meta-analysis on our data and published studies.We undertook genotyping on a total of 837 individuals including well characterized infertile (N = 522) and confirmed fertile (N = 315) individuals. The SNP was typed by direct DNA sequencing. Chi square test was done for statistical analysis. Published studies were searched using appropriate keywords. Source of data collection for meta-analysis included 'Pubmed', 'Ovid' and 'Google Scholar'. Those studies analyzing 677C>T polymorphism in male infertility and presenting all relevant data were included in meta-analysis. The genotype data for infertile subjects and fertile controls was extracted from each study. Chi square test was done to obtain odds ratio (OR) and p-value. Meta-analysis was performed using Comprehensive Meta-analysis software (Version 2). The frequency of mutant (T) allele (p = 0.0025) and genotypes (CT+TT) (p = 0.0187) was significantly higher in infertile individuals in comparison to fertile controls in our case-control study. The overall summary estimate (OR) for allele and genotype meta-analysis were 1.304 (p = 0.000), 1.310 (p = 0.000), respectively, establishing significant association of 677C>T polymorphism with male infertility.677C>T substitution associated strongly with male infertility in Indian population. Allele and genotype meta-analysis also supported its strong correlation with male infertility, thus establishing it as a risk factor

Secular Trend in Stature and Age at Menarche Among Punjabi Aroras Residing in New Delhi, India

The study was conducted on Punjabi Arora girls (n=159) and their mothers to see the phenomenon of secular trend in stature and age at menarche. An increase in stature and decrease in age at menarche was reported when the data of daughters was compared with that of their mothers thereby indicating secular trend in these two parameters. Better living conditions, improved nutrition and medical facilities, changes in environmental and socio-economic factors may account for increase in stature and early biological maturation

Effect of high index buffer layer in PbSe clad waveguide to design a visible range polarizer

Polarization properties of PbSe clad optical waveguide are exploited theoretically, in the visible range at λ = 0.6328 μm. Due to semiconducting nature, lead selenide (PbSe) supports lossy modes and showed oscillatory behavior in generated attenuation curves. It is observed that at different PbSe thicknesses, TM or TE guided modes may be selectively attenuated. High attenuation in waveguide modes mainly occurred due to the phase matching between lossy modes supported by PbSe cladding and lossless waveguide modes. It is proposed that by placing a high index buffer layer between PbSe cladding and waveguide, phase matching can be improved further. This property can be utilized to design highly efficient polarizers. Significant results are presented to show the effect of different buffer indices (1.55, 1.88 and 2.67). At the buffer index value  1.88, TE and TM pass polarizers can be designed with extinction ratios 501 dB and 316 dB respectively. Also, an extensively high attenuation loss of 243299 dBcm-1 can be achieved with buffer index 2.67 for TM mode polarization. Obtained results are well supported by generated field plots for the proposed polarizing structures

Forest plot.

<p>Group-wise allele meta-analysis for azoospermia (a), oligozoospermia (b) and oligoasthenoteratozoospermia (c).</p

Forest plot.

<p>Group-wise genotype meta-analysis for azoospermia (a), oligozoospermia (b) and oligoasthenoteratozoospermia (c).</p

Forest plot.

<p>Meta-analysis using allele frequency (a), cumulative allele meta-analysis using fixed effect (b) and random effect models (c).</p