Lateral location of placenta on ultrasound as a predictive test for preeclampsia

Background: Hypertensive disorders represent the most common medical complication of pregnancy Pre-eclampsia complicates approximately 2-7% of pregnancies and is a major cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity This has led to the interest in screening. The placenta is located laterally in majority of patients with abnormal flow velocity waveforms. In the light of these observations, we designed a prospective study to find out whether the lateral location of placenta as seen by ultrasound at II and III trimester of gestation can be used to predict the development of preeclampsia.Methods: A prospective observational study was done in PESIMSR, Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh. The aim of the study was to find out whether placental laterality as determined by ultrasound can be used as a predictor of development of gestational hypertension, development of preeclampsia/eclampsia During the study period of November 2013 to November 2014, all antenatal women attending the OPD in II and III trimester without any medical disorders likeDM, HTN, renal disease, cardiac disease or smoking, who undergo ultrasound in II and III trimester were included. The location of the placenta was determined by real time ultrasound in II and III trimester. The placenta will be classified as central when it is equally distributed between the right and the left side of the uterus irrespective of anterior, posterior or fundal position. When 75% or more of the placental mass is to one side of the midline, it is classified as unilateral right or left placenta. subjects were followed upto delivery for development of gestational hypertension/ preeclampsia/eclampsia as per the ACOG criteria.Results: 66% patients in the lateral placenta group developed preeclampsia. Only 36%in the central group developed preeclampsia. The association of lateral placenta as a predictor of preeclampsia had a P value of <0.001 which is statistically significant. Incidence of preclampsia is more in primigravidas compared to multigravidas. Most of the pre eclamptics had their onset at 29 – 32 weeks of gestation.Conclusions: The study shows that placental position determined by ultrasonogram in II and III trimester of gestation is an excellent screening tool for the prediction of pre-eclampsia. The test is ideal because it is simple, non-invasive, cost effective and convenient to the women

Genetic Variability in Candidate Plus Trees of \u3cem\u3eAcacia nilotica\u3c/em\u3e--An Important Fodder Tree under Agroforestry System

The realization of the effects of climate change redirected the focus on agroforestry, which deals with the management of land use system for increased sustainability. Enhancement of fodder production per unit area per unit time is essential to meet the demand from livestock sector for which different land use systems are being developed. Acacia nilotica is one of the important agroforestry species which fits into in silvipastoral system under agroforestry, in arid and semi-arid regions. It is known as babool, kikkar or Indian gum arabic, which has ability to improve nitrogen content of soil through its interaction with symbiotic bacteria on drought prone and degraded soils, tolerant to waterlogged conditions. It is an important source of fodder, the leaves and pods together will supplement the protein component in the livestock feed and when everything is dry; Acacias serve as the only green fodder source during peak summer season. It is a good source of timber, fuel wood, industrial source for the raw material tannin and as protective hedge and hence plays an important role in rural farming. The studies on maximization of forage production and wasteland development has reported that babool has highest survivability among fodder trees and has higher dry fodder production/tree/year. Tree growth and canopy diameter contributes to the production of green as well as dry fodder biomass. Assessing the variation within and among the provenance selections for different traits will help selection of genotypes for different use in the silvipastoral agroforestry system. In view of this, the present study was undertaken to study the genetic variability present in the candidate plus trees of different provenances collected from central India

Genetic Evaluation of Leucaena Genotypes in Bundelkhand Region of Central India

During the 1970s and 1980s, Leucaena was known as the “miracle tree” native to Central America and Mexico, because of its worldwide success as a long-lived and highly nutritious forage tree. It is estimated to cover 2-5 million ha area worldwide. The genus Leucaena is one of the most widely grown tropical fodder trees and is the subject of extensive research. This is mainly due to its long life span; high productivity even under regular defoliation; its adaptation to wide climatic and edaphic tolerances; excellent palatability and digestibility and many uses including wood for timber and fuel wood. The species possesses enormous wealth of variability and great potential for economic yield which attract the breeders in utilizing the species in hybridization. A logical way to start any breeding programme is to survey the variations present in the germplasm. Precise information on the nature and degree of genetic divergence in respect of important traits is a prerequisite for undertaking meaningful breeding programme towards the improvement and conservation of a species. Further an investigation into the nature and degree of divergence among populations will be useful in understanding the course of evolution and for classifying the tree population into groups based on the diversity, particularly when they are overlapping in one more characters. Therefore, the present study was conducted to estimate genetic divergence among different germplasm of genus Leucaena

Thresholds, sensitive stages and genetic variability of finger millet to high temperature stress

Finger millet [Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.] is an important coarse cereal crop grown in the arid and semi‐arid regions and often experiences high temperature (HT) stress. The objectives of this research were (i) to quantify effects of season‐long HT stress on physiological and yield traits, (ii) to identify the developmental stages most sensitive to HT stress and (iii) to quantify the genetic variability for HT stress tolerance in finger millet. Research was conducted in controlled environment conditions. HT stress decreased the chlorophyll index, photosystem II activity, grain yield and harvest index. Maximum decrease in number of seeds per panicle and grain yield per plant was observed when stress was imposed during booting, panicle emergence or flowering stages. Maximum genotypic variation was explained by panicle width and number of seeds per panicle at optimum temperature (OT) and grain yield per plant at HT and number of seeds at HT. Based on the stress response and grain yield, tolerant or susceptible genotypes were identified. Finger millet is sensitive to HT stress during reproductive stages, and there was genotypic variability among the finger millet genotypes for number of seeds per panicle and grain yield under HT, which can be exploited to enhance stress tolerance

Nutrient content in selected commercial rice in Malaysia: An update of Malaysian food composition database

Abstract There is an increase need and demand to update Malaysian Food Composition Database (FCD) which was last updated in 1997. The current FCD program was designed to expand the quantity and improve the quality of the existing database. The present work was aimed to determine the nutrient content of commercial rice products from three rice varieties classified as raw and processed foods, namely Basmati, Siam, and Fragrant rice. A total of six brands from each type of rice were sampled from a local supermarket within Klang Valley. Analyses were carried out for 27 nutrients that include proximate (Energy, Water, Protein, Fat, Carbohydrate, Total Dietary Fibre, and Ash), minerals (Magnesium, Calcium, Sodium, Iron, Zinc, and Copper), water soluble vitamins (C, B1, B2, B3, B6 and B9), fat soluble vitamins (A and E), total sugar, fatty acids (total saturated fat, total monounsaturated fat and total polyunsaturated), trans fatty acids, and cholesterol. The three rice varieties were found to contain comparable nutrient levels except for vitamin C, B1, A, E and total sugar which were not detected in all samples. The fatty acid (total saturated, total monounsaturated, and total polyunsaturated) as well as transfatty acid were detected at very low levels. Cholesterol was not detected in all samples. These findings can be utilised in raising public awareness and assistance to better estimate nutrient contents and intake depending on the varieties of rice

Masonry compressive strength prediction using artificial neural networks

The masonry is not only included among the oldest building materials, but it is also the most widely used material due to its simple construction and low cost compared to the other modern building materials. Nevertheless, there is not yet a robust quantitative method, available in the literature, which can reliably predict its strength, based on the geometrical and mechanical characteristics of its components. This limitation is due to the highly nonlinear relation between the compressive strength of masonry and the geometrical and mechanical properties of the components of the masonry. In this paper, the application of artificial neural networks for predicting the compressive strength of masonry has been investigated. Specifically, back-propagation neural network models have been used for predicting the compressive strength of masonry prism based on experimental data available in the literature. The comparison of the derived results with the experimental findings demonstrates the ability of artificial neural networks to approximate the compressive strength of masonry walls in a reliable and robust manner.- (undefined

Pigeonpea nutrition and its improvement

Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan [L.] Millsp.), known by several vernacular and names such as red gram, tuar, Angola pea. yellow dhal and oil dhal, is one of the major grain legume crops of the tropics and sub-tropics. It is a crop of small holder dryland fmmers because it can grow well under subsistence level of agriculture and provides nutritive food, fodder, and fuel wood. It also improves soil by fixing atmospheric nitrogen. India by far is the largest pigeonpea producer it is consumed as decorticated split peas, popularly called as 'dhaL' In other countries, its consumption as whole dty and green vegetable is popular. Its foliage is used as fodder and milling by-products [onn an excellent feed for domestic animals. Pigeonpea seeds contain about 20-22% protein and appreciable amounts of essential amino.acids and minerals. DehuHing and boiling treatments of seeds get rid of the most antinutritional factors as tannins and enzyme inhibitors. Seed storage causes considerable losses in the quality of this legume. The seed protein of pigeonpea has been successfully enhanced by breeding from 20-22% to 28-30%. Such lines also agronomically performed well and have acceptable and color. The high-protein lines were found nutritionally superior to the cultivars because they would provide more quantities of utilizable protein and sulfur-containing amino acids