Utility of bone marrow aspiration and trephine biopsy in various haematological malignancies

Background: The bone marrow examination is a useful and cost-effective diagnostic procedure in haematological practice for the diagnosis of haematological disorders. It may either confirm the clinically suspected disease or may provide the previously unsuspected diagnosis. The bone marrow examination can be done by bone marrow aspiration as well as by performing bone marrow biopsy. The aim of the study is to compare the diagnostic accuracy and rate of concordance between two modalities of bone marrow examination in diagnosis of haematological malignancies. Methods: The study was conducted at haematology section of the Department of Pathology, Government Medical College, Jammu spanned over a period of 2.5 years from June 2020 to December 2022. The clinical data along with physical examination, relevant haematological, biochemical and radiological investigations were also reviewed. After taking the informed consent bone marrow aspiration and bone marrow biopsy were done under aseptic precautions. Results: A total of 250 cases of haematological malignancies were studied over a 2.5 year period. The most common haematological malignancy was found to be leukemia 194 (77.6%) cases, followed by plasma cell dyscrasia with 30 (12%) cases, lymphomas and myeloproliferative disorders each with 11 (4.4%) cases and metastatic deposits 4 (1.6%) cases. In the present study, 64/250 (25.6%) patients underwent BMA and trephine biopsy simultaneously. A positive concordance was seen in 46 (71.8%) of the cases between the two methods and diagnostic discordance was observed in 10 (16.3%) of the cases. Conclusions: Bone marrow aspiration and biopsy both complement each other and should be evaluated simultaneously. This study emphasizes the need for greater vigilance in the early diagnosis and an interdisciplinary approach for the effective management of patients as well as inclusion of trephine biopsy as regular procedure for complete evaluation of patients with haematological malignancies

Ethno-medicinal use of monitor lizard Varanus bengalensis (Daudin, 1802) by the ‘Adi’ tribe at East Siang, Arunachal Pradesh

749-753A recent visit to the remote villages of East Siang District, Arunachal Pradesh, revealed a unique medicinal approach practiced by the Adi tribe (earlier Abor tribe) using monitor lizard tails. Following reports of being a traditional medicine for humans, this case study emphasizes on the administration pattern to treat their livestock, veterinary purposes by the indigenous tribe of Arunachal Pradesh. The use of animal parts in traditional medicines negatively impacts and contributes to the overexploitation of wild animals for meat and remedial purposes. We raise our concerns of wildlife being harvested by the local communities for such unscientific use as a traditional medicine which harms species survival and a challenge for wildlife law enforcement

Ethno-medicinal use of monitor lizard Varanus bengalensis (Daudin, 1802) by the ‘Adi’ tribe at East Siang, Arunachal Pradesh

A recent visit to the remote villages of East Siang District, Arunachal Pradesh, revealed a unique medicinal approach practiced by the Adi tribe (earlier Abor tribe) using monitor lizard tails. Following reports of being a traditional medicine for humans, this case study emphasizes on the administration pattern to treat their livestock, veterinary purposes by the indigenous tribe of Arunachal Pradesh. The use of animal parts in traditional medicines negatively impacts and contributes to the overexploitation of wild animals for meat and remedial purposes. We raise our concerns of wildlife being harvested by the local communities for such unscientific use as a traditional medicine which harms species survival and a challenge for wildlife law enforcement

Ancient mtDNA from the extinct Indian cheetah supports unexpectedly deep divergence from African cheetahs

Abstract: The Indian cheetah was hunted to extinction by the mid-20th century. While analysis of 139 bp of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has confirmed that the Indian cheetah was part of the Asiatic subspecies (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus), the detailed relationships between cheetah populations remains unclear due to limited genetic data. We clarify these relationships by studying larger fragments of cheetah mtDNA, both from an Indian cheetah museum specimen and two African cheetah, one modern and one historic, imported into India at different times. Our results suggest that the most recent common ancestor of cheetah mtDNA is approximately twice as ancient as currently recognised. The Indian and Southeast African (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus) cheetah mtDNA diverged approximately 72 kya, while the Southeast and Northeast African (Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii) cheetah mtDNA diverged around 139 kya. Additionally, the historic African cheetah sampled from India proved to have an A. j. jubatus haplotype, suggesting a hitherto unrecognised South African route of cheetah importation into India in the 19th century. Together, our results provide a deeper understanding of the relationships between cheetah subspecies, and have important implications for the conservation of A. j. venaticus and potential reintroduction of cheetahs into India

Ancient mtDNA from the extinct Indian cheetah supports unexpectedly deep divergence from African cheetahs

Abstract: The Indian cheetah was hunted to extinction by the mid-20th century. While analysis of 139 bp of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has confirmed that the Indian cheetah was part of the Asiatic subspecies (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus), the detailed relationships between cheetah populations remains unclear due to limited genetic data. We clarify these relationships by studying larger fragments of cheetah mtDNA, both from an Indian cheetah museum specimen and two African cheetah, one modern and one historic, imported into India at different times. Our results suggest that the most recent common ancestor of cheetah mtDNA is approximately twice as ancient as currently recognised. The Indian and Southeast African (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus) cheetah mtDNA diverged approximately 72 kya, while the Southeast and Northeast African (Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii) cheetah mtDNA diverged around 139 kya. Additionally, the historic African cheetah sampled from India proved to have an A. j. jubatus haplotype, suggesting a hitherto unrecognised South African route of cheetah importation into India in the 19th century. Together, our results provide a deeper understanding of the relationships between cheetah subspecies, and have important implications for the conservation of A. j. venaticus and potential reintroduction of cheetahs into India

Properties of some cyanide crystals

The values of force constant, compressibility, i.r. absorption frequency, Debye temperature, lattice energy, Grüneisen parameter, Anderson-Grüneisen parameter, and Moelwyn-Hughes parameter are reported for the cubic NaCN. KCN and RbCN crystals using a logarithmic form of potential and a recent method of calculation. Using the computed lattice energies we estimate ΔH°f.(CN–)(g) = 44.6 kJ mol–1,ΔH°solv(CN–)(g) = –337.4 kJ.mol–1,the proton affinity of the gaseous CN- ion to be–1 445.7 kJ mol–1,electron affinity of the cyanide radical to be390.5 kJ.mol–1.Using the calculated values of thermodynamic data for CN– ion, energetics for several other cyanide crystals are also estimated. The computed values of various parameters compare well with the available literature data