Comparative assessment of physiological and biochemical changes in the selected plant species growing under hydrocarbon stress

Hydrocarbons have become a serious environmental problem due to industrialization and extensive use of vehicles. Various plant species shows a range of stress responses and adaptations to survive in hydrocarbon stress. This study was conducted to investigate the comparative phytotoxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) on plants growing under hydrocarbon stress on the germination and to evaluate the response on seedling growth. For the study, two crop plant species (Brassica juncea L. Czern., and Triticum aestivum L.) and two ornamental plant species (Tagetes erecta L. and Helianthus annuus L.) were taken. Pot experiments were conducted in triplicates of 10 days old seedlings treated with 5, 20, 50 & 100 mg kg-1 concentrations of hydrocarbons. After 20 days, biochemical analysis and antioxidant enzyme activity of these plants were studied. Polyphenol and proline increased with increasing concentration of hydrocarbons which were maximum in H. annuus with 0.909 mg g-1 polyphenol and 0.732 µmol g-1 proline at 100 mg kg-1. Increase in antioxidant enzymatic activities was observed with increasing concentration. H. annuus showed maximum activity at 100 ppm which was ascorbate peroxidase (20.37 Unit g-1 FW), peroxidase (0.212 Unit g-1 FW) and superoxide dismutase (2.13 Unit g-1 FW). HPLC analysis in plants and soil provided the concentration of hydrocarbons present in plants species after 20 days taken up from the treated soil. Plants cultivated in 100 mg kg-1 concentration were analysed and the lowest toxicity observed in H. annuus which was 3.013 mg kg-1 Naphthalene, 7.750 mg kg-1 Phenanthrene and 5.691 mg kg-1 Anthracene while highest toxicity was observed in Tagetes at 8.476 mg kg-1 Naphthalene, 0.398 mg kg-1 Phenanthrene and 0.416 mg kg-1 Anthracene. These results suggested that H. annuus can be adopted in phytoremediation of hydrocarbons soil

A population-based study examining the emergence of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus USA300 in New York City

BACKGROUND: Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) is a serious pathogen in several regions in the United States. It is unclear which populations are at high risk for the emergence of these strains. METHODS: All unique patient isolates of S. aureus were collected from hospitals in Brooklyn, NY over a three-month period. Isolates of MRSA that were susceptible to clindamycin underwent SCCmec typing. Isolates with the SCCmec type IV (characteristic of CA-MRSA strains) underwent ribotyping. Demographic information involving the neighborhoods of Brooklyn was also gathered and correlated with the prevalence of CA-MRSA strains. RESULTS: Of 1316 isolates collected during the surveillance, 217 were MRSA susceptible to clindamycin. A total of 125 isolates possessed SCCmec type IV; 72 belonged to the USA300 strain and five belonged to the USA400 strain. Hospitals in the eastern part of the city had the highest prevalence of USA300 strain. Individuals in the eastern region, when compared to the western region, were more likely to be Black, Hispanic, female, and < 18 years of age, and to have households of ≥ 3 persons. In addition, the median household income was lower, and the proportion of individuals on public assistance was higher, for the population in the eastern region. CONCLUSION: The USA300 strain of CA-MRSA is emerging in New York City. In this population-based study, urban regions of lower socioeconomic status and with evidence of overcrowding appear to be at higher risk for the emergence of this pathogen

A Survey of Practitioner’s Knowledge of Psychiatric Medication Costs

Introduction. Escalating medical costs continue to be an issue facing contemporary medicine. One factor contributing to this escalation may be physicians’ knowledge of medication costs. As physicians increasingly face opportunities to treat a variety of symptoms and conditions in a single patient, including co-morbid psychiatric disorders or complications, accurate knowledge of medication costs becomes increasingly important. Methods. Resident and attending physicians (N = 16) across the disciplines of internal medicine, psychiatry, and combined internal medicine/psychiatry from a large, mid-western medical school were surveyed on the costs of several medications that are used to manage physical and psychiatric symptoms. Results. Differences were found in the perceived estimated cost of medications among practitioners particularly with specialty internal medicine training as compared to those with additional psychiatric training/experience. Trends also were noted across practitioners with psychiatric and internal medicine/psychiatry training. Conclusions. The breadth of training and experience can affect accuracy in estimating anticipated costs of medication regimens

Phenotypic characterization, genetic diversity assessment in 6,778 accessions of Barley ( Hordeum vulgare L. ssp. vulgare) germplasm conserved in national genebank of India and development of a core set

The entire collection of cultivated barley germplasm accessions conserved in the Indian National Genebank (INGB) was characterized for nine qualitative and 8 quantitative traits to assess the nature and magnitude of prevailing genetic variability and to develop a core set. A wide range of variability was observed for days to spike emergence (51–139 days), days to physiological maturity (100–152 days), plant height (45.96–171.32 cm), spike length (3.44–13.73 cm), grain number/spike (10.48–82.35), and 100-grain weight (1.20–6.86 g). Initially, seven independent core sets were derived using 3 core construction tools– MSTRAT, PowerCore, and Core Hunter 3 by employing the maximization method, heuristic sampling, and optimisation of average genetic distances, respectively. The core set-3 generated by Core Hunter 3 by simultaneous optimisation of diversity and representativeness, captured maximum genetic diversity of the whole collection as evident from the desirable genetic distance, variance difference percentage (VD; 87.5%), coincidence rate of range (CR; 94.27%) and variable rate of coefficient of variance (VR; 113.8%), which were more than threshold value of VD (80%), CR (80%), and VR (100%) required for good core collection. The coefficient of variation and Shannon–Weaver diversity indices were increased in the core set as compared with the whole collection. The low value of Kullback-Leibler distance (0.024–0.071) for all traits and quantile-quantile plots revealed a negligible difference between trait distribution patterns among the core set and entire assembly. Correlogram revealed that trait associations and their magnitude were conserved for most of the traits after sampling of the core set. The extraction of the INGB barley core set and identification of promising accessions for agronomically important traits in different genetic backgrounds will pave the way for expedited access to genetically diverse and agronomically important germplasm for barley breeding

Image guided sacroiliac joint corticosteroid injections in children: an 18-year single-center retrospective study

Abstract Background Sacroiliitis is commonly seen in enthesitis-related arthritis (ERA), a subtype of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Sacroiliitis is characterized by the inflammation of the sacroiliac (SI) joints (+/− adjacent tissues). The treatment options include systemic therapy with or without corticosteroid SI joint injections. Image guided SI joint injections are frequently requested in pediatric patients with sacroiliitis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of SI joint injections in children with sacroiliitis. Methods A retrospective study of patients referred to Interventional Radiology (IR) for SI joint corticosteroid injections (2000–2018). Clinical information was collected from Electronic Patient Charts and procedural details from PACS. Efficacy was determined clinically, by MRI, or both when available. Results 50 patients (13.8 years; M:F = 35:15) underwent image-guided SI joint corticosteroid injections. Most common indications were JIA (84%) and inflammatory bowel disease (14%). 80% had bilateral injections. 80% were performed under general anesthesia and 20% under sedation. The corticosteroid of choice was triamcinolone hexacetonide in 98% of patients. Needle guidance and confirmation was performed using CT and fluoroscopy (54%), Cone Beam CT (CBCT, 46%), with initial ultrasound assistance in 34%. All procedures were technically successful without any complications. 32/50 patients had long-term follow-up (2 years); 21/32 (66%) had clinical improvement within 3-months. Of 15 patients who had both pre- and post-procedure MRIs, 93% showed short-term improvement. At 2 years, 6% of patients were in remission, 44% continued the same treatment and 47% escalated treatment. Conclusion Image-guided SI joint injections are safe and technically feasible in children. Imaging modalities for guidance have evolved, with CBCT being the current first choice. Most patients showed short-term clinical and imaging improvement, requiring long-term maintenance or escalation of medical treatment

Vegetation Characteristics Based Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment of Temperate Forests of Western Himalaya

Forests are under stress due to variety of climatic and non-climatic factors. Therefore for suitably managing the forests, vulnerability of the forests needs to be understood. The present paper attempts to estimate the vulnerability of various temperate forests of Western Himalaya due to climate change by analyzing the patterns of different taxonomical indices, based on primary data i.e., vegetation data. The paper presents a novel approach for climate change vulnerability assessment based on field data through a bottom-up approach. The vulnerability of the forests was assessed through the IPCC framework by suitably selecting indicators (taxonomy indices and climatic parameters) for the three dimensions of vulnerability i.e., exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. The field data were collected from 17 different temperate forests distributed at the elevation “1600 to 3500 m” in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, India. Abundance and richness for each forest were collected by randomly laying ten quadrats of size 0.1 ha each. The analysis resulted into identifying the most and the least vulnerable temperate forests of the western Himalaya to climate change. The analysis showed that the Neoza Pine; Moist Deodar; Ban Oak and Dry Broadleaved and Coniferous forest were the most vulnerable forests in the Himalayan temperate forests due to climate change. Moreover, the variation in the levels of the vulnerability status of the selected forests was insignificant with elevational range as well as exposure to climate. The proposed method will serve for vulnerability estimation of forests due to climate change based on the actual realization of the species in the field