Diurnal variation of phytoplankton community in the coastal waters of South Andaman Island with special emphasis on bloom forming species

1383-1397Species composition, abundance and distribution of phytoplankton dynamics were studied from the coastal waters of South Andaman Islands during December 2015 to February 2016. Physico-chemical parameters and phytoplankton species composition were observed during the study. Environmental parameters such as surface water temperature - 33ºC (r=0.96; pppp-1) were recorded. A total of 82 species under 50 genera of phytoplanktons were recorded belonging to Bacillariophyceae, Dinophyceae, Cyanophyceae and Silicoflagellate groups. Diatoms were represented by 68 species belonging to 40 genera, Dinoflagellates were represented by 12 species belonging to 8 genera, and 1 species belonging to a genera Cyanophyceae and Silicoflagellate were observed. Among the diatoms, Coscinodiscus centralis, Rhizosolenia alata, R. imbricata, Bacteriastrum furcatum, Leptocylindrus danicus, Odentella sinensis, Pleurosigma sp., Skeletonema costatum and Thalassionema nitzschioides and among the dinoflagellates, Ceratium furca, Prorocentrum micans, P. divergens and Pyrophacus sp. were the most prevalent diatoms and dinoflagellates encountered in the samples. The population density fluctuated between in the range of 53-63034 cells.mL-1. The highest population density was recorded in January at (St.1) Chatham bay due to the blooming of diatom R. imbricata (63000 cells.mL-1), were observed. Moreover, increase in water temperature and salinity was also found to be an influencing co-factor that had contributed to the algal bloom

Severe primary hypothyroidism leading to life threatening heavy menstrual bleeding: a case report

Thyroid disorders are one of the leading causes of abnormal uterine bleeding in women of all age groups and in India its prevalence in women is about 26%. Sequelae of thyroid disorders may vary from infrequent menstrual cycle, light menstrual bleeding to even a very severe life threatening heavy menstrual bleeding leading to anemia &shock. It occurs due to anovulation, endometrial hyperplasia and coagulation defects. Thyroid screening is important while investigating all cases of AUB. A 18 year old girl was brought to Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar Memorial Hospital Raipur with very severe anemia (Hb: 1.1gm/dl) and grade IV hemorrhagic shock (BP 50/30mm of Hg) but surprisingly pulse rate was normal (80bpm). Her peripheries were cold and clammy. SpO2 -80% on room air, she had facial puffiness and grade III pitting edema over her hands and feet. Her TSH was very high >100 µIU/ml with decreased (T4 - 0.678µg/dl, T3 - 0.359 µg/ml) suggestive of severe primary Hypothyroidism. USG was suggestive of bulky uterus with 14 mm endometrial thickness. Her shock was managed and tablet norethisterone, tranexamic acid, levothyroxine and iron supplements started. Severe hypothyroidism can cause life threatening uterine bleeding. This case is of peculiar interest because of profound hypothyroidism associated with hemorrhagic shock. Early recognition and proper management is important to prevent hazardous complications

Habitat Ecology and Ichthyofaunal Diversity of Two Creeks and Their Associated Streams from Port Blair, South Andaman Islands

Habitat ecology and ichthyofaunal diversity were analyzed from two creeks and their associated streams in Port Blair: one was perennial and the other one was seasonal. Various habitat types like riffles, pools, and major and minor bends in both streams were studied. The perennial stream has 12 riffles and 14 pools from head point to the entering point of the creek. The seasonal stream has 15 riffles and 13 pools from the starting point to the sink. The perennial stream was found to have higher ichthyofaunal diversity than the seasonal stream: 1701 individuals constituting 8 orders, 30 families, 42 genera, and 54 species were recorded. Among these, 395 specimens represented by 21 species were found in perennial stream, 291 specimens with 11 species were found in seasonal stream, 863 specimens by 48 species were noted in creek, and 152 specimens constituting 14 species in sink were recorded. The physicochemical parameters of the habitats showed more or less a similar trend. The average dissolved oxygen value of the perennial stream was higher than that of the seasonal stream. Higher temperature values were noted during the postmonsoon season. This study has indicated a wide lacuna in the knowledge of the fresh water habitats and their inhabitants on these islands

Food and Feeding Dynamics of Stolephorus commersonnii

The feeding dynamics of Stolephorus commersonnii along the coastal waters of South Andaman during October, 2011, to September, 2012, were examined by employing “point’s method.” The results of the present study has shown that S. commersonnii mainly is a planktonivorous carnivore chiefly feeding in the pelagic realm on planktonic crustaceans, bivalves, gastropods, and miscellaneous food items. The copepods formed the main prey item, contributing their maximum during November 2011 (47.55%) and lowest in December (24.21%) which was confirmed by various food preference indices. There was no significant seasonal variation in the feeding preference. Lower length classes fed mainly on planktonic copepods and amphipods whereas the higher length classes fed mainly on postlarval shrimps and planktonic crustaceans like Lucifer sp. and Acetes sp. Feeding intensity was seasonal, but independent of the length of fish. Gastrosomatic index was highest during monsoon, indicating active feeding. During the period when a maximum percentage of fully mature individuals were present, the feeding intensity was found to be low. The trophic level of this species was found to be 2.96±0.11

Psychopathology in never-treated schizophrenia

Abstract The effect of drug treatment and its adverse effects confound studies on symptoms and associated factors in schizophrenia. Knowledge of psychopathology in the untreated state would identify the natural state of the illness and is relevant to understand pathology underlying the illness. We report here symptoms of schizophrenia as measured by Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale in 143 patients with schizophrenia living in the community never treated with antipsychotic drugs. Positive symptoms were more frequent than negative ones. Negative subscale scores correlated negatively with positive subscale scores and positively with general psychopathology subscale scores. Age correlated negatively with negative and general psychopathology subscale scores independent of duration of illness. Duration of illness and the proportion of life spent in psychosis did not correlate with any Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale scores. The factors (negative, positive, anxiety-depression, motor, and excitement) extracted by a forced 5-factor analysis explained 56% of variance. This factor structure resembled that of treated patients reported in most studies except for the identification of a motor symptom cluster. Psychopathology in the never-treated schizophrenia varied in some aspects from descriptions in the treated state. The differences can be said to demarcate the natural features of the illness from medication effects on the relationship of symptoms with one another and to sex, age, duration of illness, and age at onset.

Minni Payaru [Vigna stipulacea (Lam.) Kuntz.]: an underutilized ancient legume of India

Minni Payaru [Vigna stipulacea (Lam.) Kuntz] is an underutilized traditional legume species mainly used for food, animal fodder and green manure, particularly in Southern India. In the era of global climate change, this indigenous crop has the ability to survive under harsh environment and also has resistance against various biotic and abiotic stresses. Based on acquired knowledge about this crop, farmers prefer Minni Payaru compared to other commercial kharif pulses. Though Minni Payaru has huge potential to be used as main legume crop, it has not gained popularity in India. Currently, the cultivation of Minni Payaru is restricted to the Southern regions of India. The present review summarises the budding role of Minni Payaru in human nutrition, animal fodder and green manure

Agro-morphological characterization of lentil germplasm of Indian National Genebank and Development of a core set for efficient utilization in lentil improvement programs

Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) is one of the major cool-season pulse crops worldwide. Its increasing demand as a staple pulse has led to the unlocking of diverse germplasm collections conserved in the genebanks to develop its superior varieties. The Indian National Genebank, housed at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi, India, currently has 2,324 accessions comprising 1,796 indigenous and 528 exotic collections. This study was conducted to unveil the potential of lentil germplasm by assessing its agro-morphological characteristics and diversity, identifying trait-specific germplasm, and developing a core set. The complete germplasm set was characterized for two years, i.e., 2017-2018 and 2018-2019, and data were recorded on 26 agro-morphological traits. High phenotypic variability was observed for nine quantitative and 17 qualitative traits. A core set comprising 170 accessions (137 Indian and 33 exotic) was derived based on the characterization data as well as geographical origin using a heuristic method and PowerCore software. This core set was found to be sufficiently diverse and representative of the entire collection based on the comparison made using Shannon-Weaver diversity indices and χ2 test. These results were further validated by summary statistics. The core set displayed high genetic diversity as evident from a higher coefficient of variance in comparison to the entire set for individual traits and overall Shannon-Weaver diversity indices (entire: 1.054; core: 1.361). In addition, the total variation explained by the first three principal components was higher in the core set (70.69%) than in the entire collection (68.03%). Further, the conservation of pairwise correlation values among descriptors in the entire and core set reflected the maintenance of the structure of the whole set. Based on the results, this core set is believed to represent the entire collection, completely. Therefore, it constitutes a potential set of germplasm that can be used in the genetic enhancement of lentils