A study on prevalence of refractive error and its associated factors among school children in Krishnagiri District, Tamilnadu- 2015.

Refractive Error is an avoidable cause of visual impairment. Children do not complain of defective vision. This warrants early detection and treatment of these problems to prevent future blindness. Objectives: The study was conducted with the primary objective of estimating the prevalence of refractive error in school children and its associated factors among them. The secondary objective was to assess the extent to which children with refractive error are wearing corrective spectacles. Materials and methods: This was a cross sectional study conducted in randomly selected four schools of Krishnagiri district in Tamilnadu. A semi structured questionnaire was used to collect the details of associated factors. The students were screened for refractive errors. Snellen’s chart placed at 6 meters was used to test distant vision. Details of near work and outdoor activities were collected from their parents. Data was analysed using SPSS. Results: Among the 422 students screened, 86 (20.4%) had refractive error. Only 18.6% (N=16) of those with refractive error were already diagnosed and using corrective spectacles for refractive error. The prevalence of refractive error showed significant association in univariate analysis with age, education and occupation of parents, socio economic status, parental history of refractive error, duration of watching television and BMI. Conclusion: Refractive errors among school children can be easily identified by regular eye screening programmes, promptly treated can be protected from future complications. Periodic screening of school children is very essential to improve the quality of eye-sight

ISOLATION AND MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION OF PLASTIC DEGRADING BACTERIA FROM DUMPED GARBAGE SOIL

Objective: Plastics are polymers that are widely in application in our day-to-day life. The plastic wastes accumulation is causing threat to the environment as it causes environmental pollution and creates imbalance in the ecosystem. The natural degradation of plastic is too time consuming and the ways to do it are not highly successful. An eco-friendly approach to plastic degradation is using microbial degradation method. Microorganisms play an important role in biological decomposition of various materials in our environment. Thus, the main objective of the present study is isolation and molecular characterization of plastic degrading bacteria from dumped garbage soil. Methods: The samples were collected from two different locations in Bengaluru and further subcultured to obtain pure culture. Gram’s staining was performed to identify bacterial strains and few tests were conducted to find out the biochemical properties of the bacteria. Molecular characterization of isolated bacteria was performed using 16S rRNA method, BLAST and phylogenetic tree were constructed. Results: The bacterial isolates were found to be, namely, Aeromonas caviae, Aeromonas hydrophila, Salmonella enterica, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The polythene bag biodegradation was analyzed by incubation for a period of 2 months in liquid culture method. Conclusion: The results of the study ensure that A. hydrophila showed more degrading capability which is followed by A. caviae, whereas Pseudomonas aeruginosa and S. enterica did not contribute in much of the plastic degradation. The weight loss of polythene bag is maximum with higher incubation period rate. From the observation, we conclude that bacteria have more capability to cleave polymer

Standardization of optimum melatonin concentration for drought tolerance at germination and early development stage in rice (CO-54)

Drought stress poses a serious threat to production and nutritional security. In recent years, foliar application of plant growth regulators (PGRs) and nutrients are increasingly employed to overcome physiological constraints resulting in enhanced crop production. Melatonin is a new biomolecule recently found to ameliorate the effect of biotic and abiotic stresses in crop plants. Hence, the present experiment was conducted to assess the optimum concentration of melatonin to mitigate the adverse effect of drought stress on germination and growth components in rice variety CO-54. In this experiment, PEG-mediated drought stress (-0.5 MPa) was imposed with different concentrations of melatonin (at doses of 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 µM) seed treatments. Together, these results indicated that 200 µM melatonin-treated seeds showed a greater germination percentage (60%), root length (12.23cm), shoot length (8.23cm), fresh and dry weight (0.126g and 0.095g), high vigor index (1910.22), promptness index (64.83), and germination stress index (100) respectively. The result of this experiment provides a shred of strong evidence suggesting that seed treatment of 200 µM melatonin could be considered an effective technique for mitigating the detrimental effects of drought by promoting seed germination and thereby increasing the growth components of seedlings in rice. The study demonstrates that melatonin can shield rice seedlings from the effects of drought stress

Role of Melatonin in Directing Plant Physiology

Melatonin (MT), a naturally occurring compound, is found in various species worldwide. In 1958, it was first identified in the pineal gland of dairy cows. MT is an "old friend" but a "new compound" for plant biology. It brings experts and research minds from the broad field of plant sciences due to its considerable influence on plant systems. The MT production process in plants and animals is distinct, where it has been expressed explicitly in chloroplasts and mitochondria in plants. Tryptophan acts as the precursor for the formation of phyto-melatonin, along with intermediates including tryptamine, serotonin, N-acetyl serotonin, and 5-methoxy tryptamine. It plays a vital role in growth phases such as the seed germination and seedling growth of crop plants. MT significantly impacts the gas exchange, thereby improving physio-chemical functions in plant systems. During stress, the excessive generation and accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) causes protein oxidation, lipid peroxidation, nucleic acid damage, and enzyme inhibition. Because it directly acts as an antioxidant compound, it awakens the plant antioxidant defense system during stress and reduces the production of ROS, which results in decreasing cellular oxidative damage. MT can enhance plant growth and development in response to various abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, high temperature, flooding, and heavy metals by regulating the antioxidant mechanism of plants. However, these reactions differ significantly from crop to crop and are based on the level and kind of stress. The role of MT in the physiological functions of plants towards plant growth and development, tolerance towards various abiotic stresses, and approaches for enhancing the endogenous MT in plant systems are broadly reviewed and it is suggested that MT is a steering compound in directing major physiological functions of plants under the changing climate in future

The Epidemiology of under-nutrition in Irular tribal pre-school children in Chengam, Tamilnadu, India.

Background: Under-nutrition among the children under the age of five renders them vulnerable to recurrent infections, growth retardation, low efficiency in future and even death. Under-nutrition as a global health problem is indeed of serious concern in tribal community which is a vulnerable sector. Various studies have highlighted the burden of under-nutrition nation-wide among different tribal groups in India. This study is aimed to explore the malnutrition among Irular tribal children in Tamilnadu, India. Methods: A Community based cross-sectional survey was designed among the 450 tribal mothers and children in Chengam, Tamilnadu, India during January to December 2021. Mothers were interviewed with semi-structured Tamil questionnaire with socio-demographic details, nutrition, health-seeking behavior, Clinical and anthropometric examination of children. Under-nutrition was defined - weight for age (Z-Score) < 2 SD. Median for age and sex-WHO standards. Data was entered in SPSS. Chi Square and Logistic regression were used for analysis. A p<0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: Prevalence of Under-weight was 44%, stunting-28.4%, wasting-37.8% and Severe Acute Malnutrition-8.7%. Majority were females. Overall, the nutritional status was poor. Advancing age, sex, maternal illiteracy, lack of awareness on nutrition, food insecurity and under-utilization of health services were the major underlying determinants. Conclusion: The burden of under-nutrition is indeed a serious concern in the preschool children in Irular tribes in Tamilnadu, India wherein the socio-cultural, nutritional determinants and health seeking behavior have to addressed at the level of Primary Health care to combat malnutrition and prevent morbidities as well as mortality

Analysis of unused blood products and its management during peak COVID period in a rural based teritiary care hospital

Background: Blood donation is one of the most noble gestures a human can make to save life. Even after so many advances in the field of blood donation till now no alternative of human blood is easily available in all places. The aim of  the study is to analyse various unused blood products their causes,during the peak covid period and its management. These are done by formulating guidelines for proper donor screening, component separation, TTI screening,and proper handling  of  blood products. Methods: A total of 1960 whole blood units from both voluntary and replacement donors were collected from September 2020 to August 2021 in the Department of Transfusion Medicine, Vinayaka Mission Medical college Salem.Out of which 214 units were unused(4.78%) units. Results: The study showed out of 214 units,113units(52.80%) were from platelet components, 30(14.02%) were PRBC,71(33.18%)were FFP. The primary cause of discard wasexpiry of units(45.79%), andsecond major cause was returning of units 24 (27.57%), which can be managed by following certain guidelines before issuing.&nbsp

Laboratory Germination Experiment for Assessing the Phytotoxic Effect of Arsenic on the Growth Attribute of Different Crops

Arsenic (As) pollution is a major environmental and agricultural issue across the world. Due to industrialization and over exploitation of ground water are the two most important factors for the occurrence of arsenic in the water. The irrigation of arsenic contaminated water poses threat not only to the plant system ultimately it affects all the living forms on the global. Early germination of seedlings is affected by the concurrent increase in As exposure in agricultural fields. The arsenic in very low levels also brings damage to the plant system phenotypically and metabolically. This study was carried out to evaluate the germination performance, initial growth characteristics and chlorophyll content of different crops viz., rice, maize, black gram, groundnut and tomato in response to the different level of As concentration (0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1, 10, 20, 40 and 60 mgL-1) in the growing solution. Growth metrics in all crops were reduced as As content was increased. Among these crops rice was most tolerant to the level of 60 mgL-1 of As concentration compared to other crops. The current study's findings revealed that tomato was most susceptible to As concentrations, whereas rice was the most resistant to As stress