Efficacy of Retrograde Intrarenal Surgery Versus Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy In Treating Lower Pole Stones of 1-2 cms

Introduction Urologists are always inclined to find techniques with minimal complication and hospital stays with maximum stone-free rates to mitigate not only health concerns but financial burdens too. PCNL is known as the gold standard for large stones, however, RIRS is known for its less invasive and minor complications. Methodology This is a cross-sectional, prospective study conducted at the public hospital of Jamshoro. Patients with renal stones located at the lower pole, measuring 1-2 cm were included. Patients were evaluated before enrollment and detailed history was taken. Intraoperative and post-operative details were documented. SPSS 21 was used to analyze the data, and to assess significance chi-square test was used, a p-value < 0.05 was considered significant. Results The mean age was 42.7 ± 12.8 and 43.2 ± 13.2 in the RIRS and PCNL groups respectively. The RIRS group showed 07 (17.5%) partial clearance cases while PCNL group showed 02 (5%). Hemoglobin drop was measured as minimal (< 2.5ml) and excessive (>2.5ml) after surgery, and only 01 (2.5%) cases of RIRS had excessive blood loss, PCNL group had higher hemoglobin drop cases with 3 (7.5%) cases. Blood transfusion was required in 1 (2.5%) and 2 (5%) cases in the RIRS and PCNL groups respectively. Conclusion RIRS can be beneficial in small stones while PCNL can be an ideal procedure for lower pole renal stones of 1-2 cm size

Innovative way to break the stone: Master lithoclast for bilateral simultaneous Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy

The objective of our study was to evaluate the efficacy of Master Lithoclast, also known as trilogy lithoclast, in simultaneous bilateral Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy (PCNL). The study was a prospective case series, involving 40 patients undergoing bilateral simultaneous PCNL, with 20 (50%) males and 20 (50%) females. The mean age of subjects was 32.9 ± 7.9 years. In Guy’s stone scoring 7(17.5%) patients classified in Group I, 28 (70%) in group II and the remaining 5(12.5%) patients were placed in group III. Total operative time observed was 74.8 ± 17.9 minutes. Complete stone clearance was observed in 30 (75%) patients. In conclusion, study data confirmed that Master Lithoclast provides faster stone clearance and is unaffected by the composition of stones, ease of usability, and improved tissue safety with reduced chances of fragments blocking are key factors. Keywords: Master lithoclast, Simultaneous bilateral PCNL, Trilogy lithoclast, Renal stone

Genetic dissection of drought and heat tolerance in chickpea through genome-wide and candidate gene-based association mapping approaches.

To understand the genetic basis of tolerance to drought and heat stresses in chickpea, a comprehensive association mapping approach has been undertaken. Phenotypic data were generated on the reference set (300 accessions, including 211 mini-core collection accessions) for drought tolerance related root traits, heat tolerance, yield and yield component traits from 1-7 seasons and 1-3 locations in India (Patancheru, Kanpur, Bangalore) and three locations in Africa (Nairobi, Egerton in Kenya and Debre Zeit in Ethiopia). Diversity Array Technology (DArT) markers equally distributed across chickpea genome were used to determine population structure and three sub-populations were identified using admixture model in STRUCTURE. The pairwise linkage disequilibrium (LD) estimated using the squared-allele frequency correlations (r2; when r2<0.20) was found to decay rapidly with the genetic distance of 5 cM. For establishing marker-trait associations (MTAs), both genome-wide and candidate gene-sequencing based association mapping approaches were conducted using 1,872 markers (1,072 DArTs, 651 single nucleotide polymorphisms [SNPs], 113 gene-based SNPs and 36 simple sequence repeats [SSRs]) and phenotyping data mentioned above employing mixed linear model (MLM) analysis with optimum compression with P3D method and kinship matrix. As a result, 312 significant MTAs were identified and a maximum number of MTAs (70) was identified for 100-seed weight. A total of 18 SNPs from 5 genes (ERECTA, 11 SNPs; ASR, 4 SNPs; DREB, 1 SNP; CAP2 promoter, 1 SNP and AMDH, 1SNP) were significantly associated with different traits. This study provides significant MTAs for drought and heat tolerance in chickpea that can be used, after validation, in molecular breeding for developing superior varieties with enhanced drought and heat tolerance

Correction: Genetic Dissection of Drought and Heat Tolerance in Chickpea through Genome-Wide and Candidate Gene-Based Association Mapping Approaches

<p>Correction: Genetic Dissection of Drought and Heat Tolerance in Chickpea through Genome-Wide and Candidate Gene-Based Association Mapping Approaches</p

Significant marker trait associations (MTAs) for δ¹³C and 100 seed weight mapped on to “<i>QTL-hotspot</i>” on CaLG04 of intra-specific map of chickpea.

<p>(a) Genome wide association scan for δ13C; the Y-axis represent -log₁₀(P) values of the P-value of the MTAs, while linkage groups are indicated on X-axis. (b) Genome wide association scan for 100SDW. (c) “<i>QTL-hotspot</i>” on CaLG04 of chickpea intra-specific genetic map harboring QTLs for drought tolerance related traits. Significant MTAs for 100SDW and δ13C falling in the QTL region are indicated using the arrows in red, the traits are indicated using dotted rectangles in green.</p

Candidate gene- based marker trait associations

<p>Candidate gene- based marker trait associations</p

Geographic origin and population structure of chickpea reference set.

<p>a) the distribution of chickpea reference set, <i>desi</i> in red, <i>kabuli</i> in green, pea-shaped in orange and wild in yellow color dots b) ΔK is function of k from the structure run, the plateau at k = 3 indicates number of sub-populations in the reference set; c) Clustering of chickpea set genotypes into three groups (Group I, Group II and Group III).</p

Linage disequilibrium (LD) decay across all linkage groups.

<p>The overall LD decay across the genome is at 5</p

Significant marker-trait associations (MTAs) identified for different traits

<p>Significant marker-trait associations (MTAs) identified for different traits</p