U.S. Patent Literature Survey of Agrobacterium-Mediated Transformation of Sweet Potato (Ipomoea Batatas)

A team of researchers and patent information scientists at Franklin Pierce Law Center were asked to evaluate the patent and literature landscape related to the Agrobacterium-mediated transformation in sweet potato with respect to the U.S. patents and patent applications. This report provides a patent landscape of the Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of sweet potato. The report includes the applicable methods of transformation and has also included certain patents and patent applications which claim a transformed plant by virtue of these methods. In certain cases, the claim structure covers Agrobacterium-mediated transformation technology via system and composition of matter claims and not the more prevalent method claims. Sweet potato plant (Ipomoea batatas) is adaptable to a broad range of agroecological conditions and fits in low input agriculture. It is highly productive even under adverse farming conditions. Sweet potato is grown in more than 100 countries as a valuable source of food, animal feed and industrial raw material. It is a staple crop in many South East Asian and African countries. Traditional plant breeding has contributed to the improvement of sweet potato, especially in developed countries such as the U.S.A. and Japan. Because of the biological complexities of sweet potato, sexual hybridization strategies have not been very effective in developing improved cultivars. Confidential Therefore, biotechnological tools, such as gene transfer, are very attractive in sweet potato improvement, as they enable direct introduction of desirable genes from other sources into preadapted cultivars

Significance of abdominal manifestations in dengue fever

Background: Dengue Fever is an Infectious condition caused by flavo virus. It is an epidemic since 4 years and its prevalence is increased in the recent years in India. The increase in India is due to rapid urbanization, population growth, increased international travel and global warming. But dengue fever is now being reported from rural backgrounds due to poor sanitation and stagnant water sources.Methods: This is an institutional cross sectional study in which we took patients presenting with fever and various other complaints related to viral fevers for 9months from 2016 June to March 2017 at Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Ongole. In this study we included patients who are NS1 Ag positive and dengue ELISA positive only. We excluded whose NS1 Ag test positive but their dengue IgM ELISA report is negative.Results: In this study we have included 94 patients of all age groups who are diagnosed with dengue fever. Next in the list are nausea/vomiting (43.6%) and diarrhea (40.4%) respectively. We highlighted this in conclusion to consider abdominal manifestations association while evaluating pyrexia patients.Conclusions: As usually fluid management and regular monitoring is the main role in the management of dengue cases than platelet or blood transfusions and antibiotics. We concluded that there is significant association between abdominal manifestations and dengue fever. So abdominal manifestations should be considered while evaluating pyrexia patients to rule out dengue association in those patients and prognosis of dengue fever

Assessment of risk factors in cardiac failure after myocardial infarction

Background: Cardiac failure is a clinical syndrome that may result from any structural or functional cardiac disorders that impairs the pumping ability of the heart. Post infarction cardiac failure is one of the common complications of Acute Myocardial Infarction which is influenced by factors like extent of MI, Life style, associated co-morbid conditions.Methods: The present study comprises of 50 cardiac failure patients with history of MI in the past and who presented with myocardial infarction with cardiac failure were included in this study. This study was conducted at Rajivgandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Kadapa, YSR District, Andhra Pradesh. The study was carried out for a period of 2 years. Informed consent was taken from each and every patient included in the study.Results: In our study 42 (84%) are males and 8 (16%) are females. Out of 50 patients 37 (74%) are smokers and 32 (64%) are alcoholics. In our study maximum number of patients i.e. 60% of the patients are sedentary in nature. Among 42 male patients 28 are having WHR >0.9 and 8 female patients WHR >0.8 is quite significant.Conclusions: Post MI cardiac failure is more common in males and sedentary lifestyles. Smoking, alcohol consumption and associated co morbid conditions have linear relationship with incidence of post infarction Cardiac failure. Abdominal obesity has positive effect on incidence of post MI cardiac failure

Prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in pregnancy and its impact on maternal and fetal outcome: a prospective study in a tertiary care hospital in Maharashtra, India

Background: Thyroid dysfunction is the commonest endocrinological disorder in pregnancy. A broad spectrum of adverse outcomes in pregnant women and the fetus have been reported which can be prevented by early diagnosis and treatment of thyroid dysfunction. Thyroid dysfunction in pregnancy has not yet been extensively studied in India. Hence, this study was conducted for assessment of the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in pregnancy and effect on the mother and her fetus.Methods: This study is a prospective study conducted in the department of obstetrics and gynecology, MIMER Medical College and Hospital, Talegaon Dabhade, Maharashtra. A 3 years study. Antenatal women attending the outpatient and inpatient department of the hospital. The total sample population comprised of 698 pregnant women with uncomplicated singleton intra-uterine pregnancy. All participants were screened by estimation for serum TSH in first trimester. Immediately after delivery the cord blood sample was collected and cord blood TSH levels were estimated. Babies, whose cord blood TSH levels were elevated, were called for follow-up on day 5 of neonatal life and TSH, free T3 and free T4 levels were estimated. Among these babies, those diagnosed with congenital hypothyroidism were started on appropriate treatment.Results: The prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in pregnancy in present study was 17.90% whereas 82.1% patients were euthyroid (control group). Among the 17.9% patients with thyroid dysfunction, 14.6% had subclinical hypothyroidism, 1.9% had overt hypothyroidism and 1.4% had hyperthyroidism.Conclusions: With this study, we can come to the conclusion that there is high prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in pregnancy. Thus, an early diagnosis and prevention of the aftermaths of thyroid dysfunction in pregnancy is of utmost importance

Prevalence of thyroid dysfunctions in pregnant women: a prospective study in a tertiary care hospital in Maharashtra, India

Background: Thyroid dysfunction is known to be the commonest endocrinological disorder in pregnancy. A range of adverse outcomes in pregnant women and the fetus have been reported. These can be prevented if the thyroid dysfunction is diagnosed and treated as early as possible. There are limited studies conducted on the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in pregnancy in India. Hence, this study was conducted for assessment of the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in pregnancy.Methods: The present study is a prospective study conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, MIMER Medical College and Hospital, Talegaon, Dabhade, Maharashtra. The total sample population comprised of 705 pregnant women with uncomplicated singleton intra-uterine pregnancy. All participants were screened by estimation for serum TSH in first trimester.Results: The prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in the present study is 13.9%. Of this, prevalence of hypothyroidism is 12.76% and that of hyperthyroidism is 1.13%.Conclusions: With this study, we conclude that there is high prevalence of thyroid dysfunction in pregnancy even in rural population. Thus, a universal screening helps in early diagnosis and preventing the aftermaths of thyroid dysfunction in pregnancy

Introduction to Satellite Education on Quality Management

Education provides access to subject matter experts, interaction with career role models. It provides interaction with students in other schools, increases access to information instructional resources, offers opportunities for staff development/in-service training, and increase school community linkages. The rapid growth of satellite networks has generated interest by many state officials in statewide satellite networks. Rural areas are showing great interest in interactive satellite instruction as a way to resolve teacher shortages and meet rigorous graduation requirements. Televised classes permitting live teacher-student interaction via satellite communication systems, and regular telephone lines provide equity increasing quality of educational opportunity

Assessment of Carbon Storage and Biomass on Minelands Reclaimed to Grassland Environments Using Landsat Spectral Indices

This study investigated carbon (C) storage and biomass in grasslands of West Virginia reclaimed surface minesites. Mine-related disturbance and subsequent reclamation may be an important component of C cycling. Biomass and C storage generally increased for the first five years after reclamation, but then declined, suggesting a nonlinear pattern to vegetation recovery. Three 2007 Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper and Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus images were used to assess the potential to predict biomass from raw red and near infrared radiance, the tasseled cap transformation (TC), and four vegetation indices [normalized difference vegetation index, enhanced vegetation index (EVI), triangular vegetation index, and the soil adjusted vegetation index]. TC greenness and EVI were most strongly correlated with biomass and illustrate a modest potential for monitoring vegetation recovery in reclaimed minelands. Additionally, a number of regression models that included age since reclamation and spectral indices were statistically significant suggesting a temporal recovery pattern amongst minesites in this study

Impact of preoperative right-ventricular function and platelet transfusion on outcome after lung transplantation

Objective: Lung transplantation has become an established treatment option for end-stage pulmonary diseases. However, outcome depends on preoperative condition and co-morbidity. Furthermore, perioperative blood-product use is known to be associated with worse outcome even in transplant surgery. We investigated the impact of poor preoperative right-ventricular function and blood-product use on outcome after lung transplantation. Methods: The medical records of 169 lung-transplant recipients from 1996 to 2006 were examined. Duration of hospital stay, hours on mechanical ventilation, duration of stay in the intensive care unit, perioperative complications, death during hospital stay, and long-term survival were recorded. These outcome parameters were analyzed regarding coherence with right-ventricular function and the perioperative administration of crystalloids, colloids, allogeneic red blood cells, fresh frozen plasma, and platelets. Results: Patients with poor preoperative right-ventricular function had a significant increase in postoperative hours on ventilation (p=0.005), intensive care stay (p=0.003), and in-hospital death (p=0.012). The hours on ventilation increased also with high intra-operative fluid administration (p=0.026). Blood-product use was associated with prolonged mechanical ventilation and intensive care stay. After multivariate analysis, transfusion of platelets (p=0.022) was an independent prognostic factor for in-hospital death. Hours of mechanical ventilation was the only independent prognostic factor for long-term mortality (p=0.014). Conclusions: Perioperative transfusion of platelets is an independent prognostic factor for perioperative mortality. Furthermore, the study indicated that poor preoperative right-ventricular function might worsen perioperatively after lung transplantation. Therefore, pre-transplant treatment of pulmonary hypertension to protract right-ventricular failure and a restrictive use of allogeneic blood products may be options to improve outcom

A Review of Morphological and Chemical Properties of Porous Asphalt

Porous asphalt mixture is also known as gap graded mixture with less amount of fine aggregate has led the mixture contains high air voids, tends to make the mixture less durable and high porousity. Hence, past researchers has investigate on how to increase the strength of porous asphalt mixture by the addition of additive such as fiber and nanomaterials. The chemical and physical properties of porous asphalt mixture was highlighted in this paper to compare its structure, the bonding between the materials and its chemical composition that exist. This paper reviews on how additive affect the asphalt mixture in terms of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-Ray Diffractions (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). These tests are selected to improve the asphalt mixture according to the morphological and chemical properties of porous asphalt. This study is expected to identify the morphological and chemical composition of the materials in asphalt mixture