Efficacy of Withania somnifera on lipid profile of endosulfan induced toxicity in Swiss albino mice

India is an agrarian country with crops cultivated at a huge scale. Pesticides in recent times have caused serious health hazards in the population which are widely used by the farmers for the better yield of crops. Endosulfan is an organochlorine pesticide, which is widely used by the farmers. But, in the present times, it has caused serious health hazards in the exposed population causing various diseases, including cancer. Hence, the present study on animal aims to observe the protective effect of Withania somnifera against endosulfan induced toxicity in Swiss albino mice. Endosulfan at the dose of 3mg/Kg body weight per day was administered orally to Swiss albino mice for 4 weeks. Then after, W. somnifera at the dose of 1000 mg/Kg b.w. was orally administered for 4 weeks. Mice were sacrificed after the completion of the entire treatment. After dissection, the blood samples were collected for biochemical assay, especially for lipid profile analysis. The lipid profile study showed inclination in the Total cholesterol level (117±6.686 mg/dl), Cholesterol (LDL) (78.83±4.151mg/dl), level and Triglycerides level (60.83±2.613mg/dl), while declination in Cholesterol (HDL) (13.50±1.33mg/dl), level after Endosulfan exposure. But, upon W. somnifera treatment to the endosulfan treated group showed significant (p<0.001) normalisation in the lipid profile levels. Therefore, it was concluded that W. somnifera played a vital role to control the endosulfan induced toxicity

Occurrence of subclinical and overt hypothyroidism among chronic kidney disease patients

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is one of the vital health problems worldwide leading to increased global morbidity and mortality. Thyroid dysfunction including hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism and non-thyroidal illness has been reported in CKD patients. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of subclinical and overt hypothyroidism among chronic kidney disease patients. This study also tried to correlate thyroid function abnormalities with severity of renal failure.Method: In this observational and cross sectional study, 100 patients of CKD who were admitted in Department of Medicine, Rajendra institute of medical sciences, Ranchi were studied for thyroid function abnormalities. Result: This study found that glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is positively correlated with serum T3 and T4 level (i.e. with decreasing renal function both T3 and T4 levels decreased). Serum creatinine levels were negatively correlated with serum T3 and T4 level.Conclusions: From this study it was established that CKD is associated with thyroid dysfunction characterized by low serum fT3 and fT4 with high TSH in some cases

Economics of chhari and marketable-size carps in Bara, Nepal

A study was conducted to analyze the economics of production of chhari and marketable-size carps in Bara, Nepal. All total 90 farmers; 45 chhari producing and 45 marketable-size carps producing farmers were selected randomly and surveyed through pre-tested semi-structured interview based schedule on the month of March, 2019. Data was entered and analyzed using STATA 12.1 and SPSS 25. Findings of the study revealed that the total cost of fish production per hectare of pond area was 971927 NRs/year. Chhari production was profitable in the study area as compared to marketable-size carps with a Benefit Cost Ratio of 1.97 and 1.67 respectively. Production function analysis including six explanatory variables, showed significant effect of feed, labour (p<0.01), maintenance, fuel and electricity (p<0.05) and lime, fertilizer and medicine costs (p<0.1) but seed cost was insignificant. The return to scale was found to be 0.906 and at II stage of Production. According to estimated allocative efficiency indices, it is suggested to reduce seed; and lime, fertilizer cum medicine cost by 159% and 72% respectively, and increase the maintenance; feed; fuel cum electricity; and labour cost by about 95%, 33%, 95%, and 50% respectively for chhari producers. Similarly for marketable-size carp producers, it is suggested to decrease fuel and electricity cost by 176% and increase maintenance; seed; feed; lime, fertilizer and medicine; and labour cost by 95%, 86%, 13%, 29%, and 30% respectively. Thus, fishery enterprise is in the stage of higher potentiality to increase the production in the study area

Assessment of post tsunami coral reef resource in Pongi Balu coast, south Andaman Islands

In the present study, an assessment of the status of coral reefs along the Pongi Balu coast, south Andaman Islands, which is a part of the Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park, has been made by scuba diving, low draft glass-bottom boat and visual interpretation in some places during low-tide condition. The coral reef boundaries have been accurately determined with the help of a low draft glass-bottom boat fitted with a real time kinematics global positioning system, and the existing coral reefs map of the area has been updated using the geographic information system technique. A total of 161.6 ha of previously existed live coral reefs were surveyed along the Pongi Balu coast and out of that ‘live coral’ was found over 81.4 ha and ‘dead coral’ was found over 60.6 ha whereas 19.6 ha area was found to have been lost from the existing coral reefs and categorized as ‘no coral’. The study highlights a few natural and anthropogenic factors affecting the existing coral reefs and hindering the re-establishment of coral reefs in the study area

Determinants of gross income from carp production in Bara district, Nepal

A study was conducted from March to June 2020 to analyze the determinants of gross income from carp production in the Bara district of Nepal. Altogether, 90 carp producers, 45 each from Simraungadh and Pachrauta municipality in equal basis were sampled by using cluster sampling technique. Primary information was collected through a pre-tested semi-structured interview-based schedule while secondary information was collected reviewing the relevant publications. Data was entered in SPSS 25 and analyzed using STATA 12.1. The results  revealed that the cost of labor, cost of feed, assistances and services, and training had significant positive effect on gross income from carp prodcuiton. Furthermore, lack of quality inputs was identified as the most severe production problems whereas Dhalta to be given was recognized as the most severe marketing problems. Thus, encouraging the carp producer to manage the cost of labor and cost of feed deliberately, rationally providing the assistance and services and strengthening the skills and knowledge of producer through training could significantly increase gross income from carp production

Visual evoked potentials’ responses in hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism

Background: Visual Evoked Potentials (VEP) provides important diagnostic and prognostic information regarding the functional integrity of the visual system. This study, describes the effects of less or excess thyroid hormones of adults in visual conduction that helps to know the progression to neurological functional defects.Methods: The study was done in 75 consenting subjects (hypothyroid = 24, hyperthyroid = 25, euthyroid = 26). The VEP parameters N75, P100, N145 latencies and its amplitudes within different thyroid status (hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism and euthyroidism) were compared. One way ANOVA was used to compare VEP parameters among three groups and Pearson’s correlation to find relation between thyroid hormones and VEP parameters.Results: There was positive correlation of 0.335, 0.338 and 0.301 between amplitudes of N75, P100 and N145 waves and fT3 hormone respectively. Furthermore, fT4 showed a positive correlation of 0.186 and 0.185 with the wave amplitudes of N75 and N145 waves respectively and negative correlation of TSH levels of -0.492, -0.280, -0.397 with amplitudes of N75, P100, N145 waves respectively. Hyperthyroid group had higher in VEP latency than euthyroid group in N75 (73±5.77 vs. 68.54±4.32), P100 (106.42±9.74 vs. 100.94±8.17) and N145 (153.03±16.39 vs. 144.37±7.02) waves. Similarly, hypothyroid group had higher in VEP latency than euthyroid group in N75 (72.12±6.34 vs. 68.54±4.32) wave.Conclusions: Both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism led to conduction delay in adults, possibly adversely affecting function of myelin. The prominent visual evoked potential abnormalities in hyperthyroidism and less change in hypothyroidism show that the visual neuropathy is more common in hyperthyroidism

Intra-household evaluations of alcohol abuse in men with depression and suicide in women: A cross-sectional community-based study in Chennai, India.

BACKGROUND: Harmful effects of alcohol abuse are well documented for drinkers, and adverse effects are also reported for the physical and emotional well-being of family members, with evidence often originating from either drinkers or their families in clinic-based settings. This study evaluates intra-household associations between alcohol abuse in men, and depression and suicidal attempts in women, in community-based settings of Chennai, India. METHODS: This community-based cross-sectional study of chronic disease risk factors and outcomes was conducted in n = 259 households and n = 1053 adults (aged 15 years and above) in rural and urban Chennai. The Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) score was used to classify alcohol consumption into 'low-risk', 'harmful', 'hazardous' and 'alcohol dependence' drinking and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) score to classify depression as 'mild', 'moderate', 'moderate-severe' and 'severe'. Multivariate logistic regression models estimated the association of depression in women with men's drinking patterns in the same household. RESULTS: A significant 2.5-fold increase in any depression (PHQ-9 ≥ 5) was observed in men who were 'alcohol-dependent' compared to non-drinkers (OR = 2.53; 95% CI: 1.26, 5.09). However, there was no association between men's drinking behavior and depression in women of the same household, although suicidal attempts approached a significant dose-response relationship with increasing hazard-level of men's drinking (p = 0.08). CONCLUSION: No significant intra-household association was observed between men's alcohol consumption and women's depression, though an increasing (non-significant) trend was associated with suicidal attempts. Complex relationships between suicidal attempts and depression in women and male abusive drinking require further exploration, with an emphasis on intra-household mechanisms and pathways