Quantification of Pollen Viability in Lantana camara By Digital Holographic Microscopy

Pollen grains represent the male gametes of seed plants and their viability is critical for efficient sexual reproduction in the plant life cycle. Pollen analysis is used in diverse research thematics to address a range of botanical, ecological and geological questions. More recently it has been recognized that pollen may also be a vector for transgene escape from genetically modified crops, and the importance of pollen viability in invasion biology has also been emphasized. In this work, we analyse and report an efficient visual method for assessing the viability of pollen using digital holographic microscopy (DHM). We test this method on pollen grains of the invasive Lantana camara, a well known plant invader known to most of the tropical world. We image pollen grains and show that the quantitative phase information provided by the DHM technique can be readily related to the chromatin content of the individual cells and thereby to pollen viability. Our results offer a new technique for pollen viability assessment that does not require staining, and can be applied to a number of emerging areas in plant science.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure

Role of Estimation of Serum Ferritin, Vitamin B12 and Folic Acid in Management of Beta Thalassemic Children

Objective: To estimate the levels of serum Ferritin, Vitamin B12 and Folic acid in beta thalassemic children. Introduction: Beta thalassemia is the most common genetically transmitted haematological disorder in Indian children. In thalassemia, there is ineffective erythropoiesis which can be either due to excess iron accumulation, or low vitamin B12 and folate status. Study Design: The case-control study was carried out at G.G.S. Medical College and Hospital, Faridkot in department of Biochemistry in collaboration with department of Paediatrics. Materials and methods: In this case-control study, 50 children with with beta thalassemia major in the age group of 4 to 8 years were studied for estimation of serum ferritin, vitamin B12 and folic acid. The control group consisted of 50 age and sex matched healthy children. Results: The study group had much higher serum ferritin levels as compared to healthy controls (p< 0.001). On other hand, the thalassemic children had much lower vitamin B12 level in comparison with healthy controls (p< 0.001). The folic acid levels were also much lower in thalassemic children as compared to healthy controls (p< 0.001). Conclusion: Biochemical screening for levels of serum ferritin, vitamin B12 and folic acid is of paramount importance in management of thalassemic children. Supplementation of vitamin B12 and folic acid could be helpful to improve erythropoiesis in thalassemic children who have proven deficiency of these vitamins, though further studies are needed to establish this hypothesis

Homocysteine levels in patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus with diabetic nephropathy and its clinical implications

Introduction: Diabetic nephropathy is one of the most common and serious complications of long standing type 2 diabetes mellitus. Microalbuminuria is a strong predictor of diabetic nephropathy. Homocysteine level plays an important role in pathogenesis of diabetic microvascular complications, particularly diabetic nephropathy. Vitamin B12, Folic acid and Vitamin B6 facilitate homocysteine metabolism. Methods: This case- control study was carried out at a tertiary care centre. Total 150 subjects were enrolled, which included 60 cases of type 2 diabetes with microalbuminuria, 60 cases of type 2 diabetes without microalbuminuria and 30 healthy controls. Besides routine investigations, fasting blood glucose, glycated haemoglobin, and homocysteine levels in serum were measured. All subjects were screened for microalbuminuria. Statistical analysis was done. Results: Homocysteine levels, fasting blood glucose and glycated haemoglobin were significantly higher in patients of type 2 diabetes with microalbuminuria as compared to those without microalbuminuria (p = 0.00, p = 0.01, p = 0.01). Strong positive correlation was observed between the homocysteine levels and degree of microalbuminuria(r = +0.758, p = 0.00), and also between the fasting blood glucose levels and degree of microalbuminuria (r = +0.259, p = 0.02). Conclusions: It would be useful to perform an early screening for raised homocysteine levels and for low vitamin levels in the patients of uncontrolled diabetics. This would help to evaluate the need of folic acid, Vitamin B12 and Vitamin B6 supplements since these supplements can be beneficial for delaying the progress of diabetic nephropathy in these patients

Evaluation of Human Epididymis Protein 4, Risk of Ovarian Malignancy Algorithm, and Risk of Malignancy Index Efficiency for Ameliorating Sensitivity and Specificity for Differentiating Benign from Malignant Adnexal Masses

Background Inadequacy of effective sensitive and specific screening modalities results in late-stage diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Cancer Antigen-125 (CA-125) individually possesses limited specificity for differentiating adnexal masses. The present study aimed to evaluate the Human Epididymis Protein 4 (HE4), Risk of Ovarian Malignancy Algorithm (ROMA), and Risk of Malignancy Index (RMI) for ameliorating sensitivity and specificity for differentiating benign from malignant adnexal masses

Correlation of parathyroid hormone levels with mineral status in end-stage renal disease patients

Parathyroid hormone (PTH) is the main regulator of calcium, phosphate, magnesium, sodium, and potassium homeostasis. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between PTH and aforementioned minerals in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. Aim: The aim of this study was to estimate serum intact parathormone (iPTH) and other biochemical parameters in ESRD patients and to find correlation between serum iPTH and biochemical parameters in the study group. Results: This cross-sectional study included 60 clinically diagnosed patients of ESRD of age (>18 years), either sex. Disordered mineral metabolism is common complications of ESRD patients. The mean value of calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium was 7.90 ± 1.16 mg/dL, 6.44 ± 1.72 mg/dL, and 2.57 ± 0.62 mg/dL, respectively, indicating hypocalcemia, hyperphosphatemia, and hypermagnesemia in ESRD patients. To compensate the deranged mineral status, increased levels of PTH were seen in ESRD patients with mean value of 173.93 ± 62.62 pg/mL. There was a statistically significant positive correlation found between PTH and S. creatinine (P ≤ 0.001; r = 0.596), whereas the statistically significant negative correlation found between PTH and eGFR (P ≤ 0.001; r = −0.525). A significant positive correlation found between PTH and phosphorous (P = 0.003; r = 0.378) and potassium (P ≤ 0.001; r = 0.421). On the other hand, significant negative correlation found with calcium (P ≤ 0.001; r = −0.805) and corrected calcium (P = 0.05). Conclusion: It was concluded that PTH is playing crucial role in mineral metabolism; it should be frequently assessed in order to prevent any untoward mineral decompensation and to prevent complications like bone disease and extra skeletal calcification, and decrease cardiac disease risk in ESRD patients