Albinism in Engraved catfish from Northeast Arabian Sea

In Maharashtra, catfishes form 2.3% of fishery landings and is dominated by ariid catfishes. The major species supporting the fishery include Osteogeneiosus militaris, Plicofolis tenuispinis, P. dussumieri, Nemapteryx caelata and Netuma thalassina. In October 2018, two albino specimens of the Engraved cattfish Nemapteryx caelata (measuring 37 and 40 cm in Total Length, TL) was collected from the landings of a commercial trawler operated off Mumbai at 50 m depths (Fig.1). Though an estimated 2.7 tonnes of catfishes were landed in the same week, additional albino specimens were not observed. Albinism or lack of pigmentation is caused by a disorder in an enzyme that controls melanin metabolism. Albinism in marine fishes has been sparsely reported and documented and reports from India indicate most of them are from the northern Arabian Sea. Both albino specimens of the Engraved catfish N.caelata mentioned in the current report are retained in the museum collections of ICARCMFRI at Mumbai

An analytical study of abnormal uterine bleeding in women of child bearing age group

Background: AUB (abnormal uterine bleeding) is defined as any variation from the normal menstrual cycle including alteration in its frequency, regularity of menses, duration of flow and amount of blood loss. In India, the reported prevalence of AUB is 17.9%. It can occur any time between menarche to menopause. A good clinician tries to recognize and identify the causative factors responsible for the disease, reverse the abnormality and induce or restore the cyclic predictable menses which should have normal volume and duration.Methods: 200 cases of AUB fitting the selection criteria were taken from OPD and gynecology ward between September 2020 to June 2021.Results: AUB was more common in the age group 41-45 years, that is, perimenopausal age group, more in multiparous women and women with previous surgeries on uterus and adnexa. Heavy menstrual bleeding was the most common complaint. Endometrial hyperplasia was the most common finding on ultrasound examination. Medical therapy was beneficial in some patients, rest had to undergo surgical intervention later.Conclusions: Transvaginal sonography is very accurate in assessing the endometrium as well as uterus and adnexa and diagnosing their abnormalities. Medical therapy is the first line of management in most cases. Dilatation and curettage should be used along with hysteroscopy for better results. LNG-IUS gives very good result in suitable cases. Hysterectomy is the final measure if everything else fails. Vaginal hysterectomy is preferred wherever possible

Fusion Nuclear Data activities at FNL, IPR

This paper briefly describes the current fusion nuclear data activities at Fusion Neutronics Laboratory, Institute for Plasma Research. It consist of infrastructure development for the cross-section measurements of structural materials with an accelerator based 14 MeV neutron generator and theoretical study of the cross-section using advanced nuclear reaction modular codes EMPIRE and TALYS. It will also cover the proposed surrogate experiment to measure 55Fe (n, p) 55Mn using BARC-TIFR Pelletron facility at Mumbai

PHARMACOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION ON METHANOLIC EXTRACT OF LEAVES OF Diospyros peregrina GURKE ON ALLOXAN INDUCED HYPERGLYCEMIA IN RATS

Diospyros peregrina, commonly known as Kalatendu, is widely used in different parts of India for the treatment of diabetes mellitus. The present study was designed to evaluate the antihyperglycemic effect of a methanolic extract of Diospyros peregrina leaves (DPLE) in alloxan diabetic rats. Hyperglycemia was induced by single intravenous injection of alloxan (70mg/kg body weight). The extract was administered orally at a dose of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight, to normal and alloxan diabetic rats. No effect of the extract was observed in normal rats. Significant effect of the extract was observed in alloxan diabetic rats. Metformin was the reference drug used in the experiments. Glucose tolerance test was also performed. The studies indicate that the crude extract exhibited statistically significant antihyperglycemic activities in glucose tolerance test and alloxan induced diabetic rats

Alleviation of alloxan-induced diabetes and its complications in rats by Actinodaphne hookeri leaf extract

Leaves of Actinodaphne hookeri Meissn (Family Lauraceae; local name: Pisa) has been in use traditionally for the treatment of diabetes and disorders of the urinary tract which are more common in Chattisgarh and eastern part of India. In the present study, leaves of A. hookeri were subjected to phytochemical investigation and evaluated for anti-diabetic activity. The ethanol and the chloroform extract were found to have significant (p<0.01) blood glucose lowering effect. The extracts also significantly (p<0.01) lowered the increased serum cholesterol and low density lipoprotein levels. Preliminary phytochemical investigation revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, triterpenoids and glycosides as the major constituents in the ethanol extract. The chloroform extract also showed significant (p<0.01) antihyperglycemic activity and contained alkaloids and triterpenes. It is concluded that the antidiabetic activity of A. hookeri may be due to the presence of alkaloids and triterpenes, and might be promising for the development of phytomedicine for diabetes mellitus along with its associated complications

Genetic structure of Plasmodium falciparum field isolates in eastern and north-eastern India

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Molecular techniques have facilitated the studies on genetic diversity of <it>Plasmodium </it>species particularly from field isolates collected directly from patients. The <it>msp-1 </it>and <it>msp-2 </it>are highly polymorphic markers and the large allelic polymorphism has been reported in the block 2 of the <it>msp-1 </it>gene and the central repetitive domain (block3) of the <it>msp-2 </it>gene. Families differing in nucleotide sequences and in number of repetitive sequences (length variation) were used for genotyping purposes. As limited reports are available on the genetic diversity existing among <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>population of India, this report evaluates the extent of genetic diversity in the field isolates of <it>P. falciparum </it>in eastern and north-eastern regions of India.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A study was designed to assess the diversity of <it>msp-1 </it>and <it>msp-2 </it>among the field isolates from India using allele specific nested PCR assays and sequence analysis. Field isolates were collected from five sites distributed in three states namely, Assam, West Bengal and Orissa.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>P. falciparum </it>isolates of the study sites are highly diverse in respect of length as well as sequence motifs with prevalence of all the reported allelic families of <it>msp-1 </it>and <it>msp-2</it>. Prevalence of identical allelic composition as well as high level of sequence identity of alleles suggest a considerable amount of gene flow between the <it>P. falciparum </it>populations of different states. A comparatively higher proportion of multiclonal isolates as well as multiplicity of infection (MOI) was observed among isolates of highly malarious districts Karbi Anglong (Assam) and Sundergarh (Orissa). In all the five sites, R033 family of <it>msp-1 </it>was observed to be monomorphic with an allele size of 150/160 bp. The observed 80–90% sequence identity of Indian isolates with data of other regions suggests that Indian <it>P. falciparum </it>population is a mixture of different strains.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The present study shows that the field isolates of eastern and north-eastern regions of India are highly diverse in respect of <it>msp-1 </it>(block 2) and <it>msp-2 </it>(central repeat region, block 3). As expected Indian isolates present a picture of diversity closer to southeast Asia, Papua New Guinea and Latin American countries, regions with low to meso-endemicity of malaria in comparison to African regions of hyper- to holo-endemicity.</p