31 research outputs found
In vitro regeneration of Brahmi (Bacopa monnieri (Linn.) Pennell) - an important medicinal herb through nodal segment culture
An efficient and cost effective in vitro plant regeneration protocol through nodalsegment culture was achieved in the medicinally important herb Bacopa monnieri (L.)Pennell, the Memory Plus plant through axillary shoot proliferation in Murashige and Skooge medium augmented with varying concentrations of 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP)1 - 5 mg/l. BAP at 2 mg/l was the most effective in multiple shoot induction and mean number of leaves, which gave an average of 17 shoots and 31.11 leaves, compared toother concentrations of the hormone tried in 35 days of culture. Regarding mean shoot length and number of nodes, basal MS giving 2.66 cm long shoots with 7.44 nodes is thebest. MS basal medium, even though not promoting shoot multiplication, gave highershoot length with elongated internodes. Healthy rooting of the in vitro developed shootswas achieved in half and full strength MS basal solid medium without the addition ofany hormones. The healthy and vigorous in vitro regenerated micro shoots wereseparated out and were hardened on transfer to plastic cups with sterile soil and sandand were successfully acclimatized ex vitro in pots with potting mixture under greenhouse conditions for 3 weeks. The survival rate was 100% and the plants establishedwell in green house resembled the mother plants in habitat without any morphological variations. The very simple and cost effective protocol developed can be used to produceelite stable clones for en masse propagation for the large-scale cultivation of this very important medicinal herb
In vitro propagation of Lesser Galangal (Alpinia calcarata Rosc.) - a commercially important medicinal plant through rhizome bud culture
An efficient protocol has been established for clonal propagation of Alpinia calcarata, a commercially important medicinal plant on Murashige and Skooge medium usingrhizome bud explants. Of the different concentrations of 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) andBAP in combination with different levels of kinetin, the best response of axillary shootproliferation was achieved in a combination of 1.5 mg/l of kinetin in combination with 0.5mg/l of BAP producing 13.6 shoots per explant in 6-8 weeks of culture followed by 2 mg/lkinetin and 0.5 mg/l BAP with an average of 6.2 shoot buds from each of the explants.Rooting of the shoots also occurred in the same medium in 3 weeks of subculture. Shootstransferred to half strength MS medium with 0.5 mg/l IBA was optimum for healthyrooting. The healthy in vitro rooted plants were hardened on plastic cups in sterile sand andwere transferred to pots containing potting mixture under green house conditions for 3-4weeks for acclimatization. The survival rate was 87-90% and the plants established well inthe field and developed rhizomes after 4-6 weeks of growth under shade house. Thisprotocol proves its utility for rapid propagation of A. calcarata, which can be exploited forpharmaceutical and commercial purpose
Biology of squids
This section is. based on the data collected in the squid jigging
survey made by two vessels, M.F.V. Matsya Sugandhi and M.V. Blue
Fin on the southwest coast of India during the 9-month period from
June 19&& to February 19&9. The data were collected onboard by the
scientists of CMFRI who partici;>ated in the survey.
Three species of squids were jigged during the survey, and
to understand some aspects of the biology of each of these species
a general idea about their distribution and Telative abundance in space
and time is necessary. For this' purpose, a one-degree square where
jigging was done during the period is taken as a unit area
Oceanic squids - their distribution, abundance and potential in the EEZ of India and contiguous seas
FORV Sagar Sampada collected a good number of oceanic squids belonging
to several families from the Indian EEZ and contiguous seas. Of these, the most
important species was the purpleback flying squid Symplectoteuthis oualaniensis
which forms a potential oceanic squid resource. This species was caught in pelagic
trawl at depths up to.200-250 m from surface in the oceanic areas. Though the squid
is known to be distributed throughout India's oceanic waters, it frequently occurred
in comparatively more abundance, up to 318 squids per haul, in the northneastem
Arabian Sea. There was wide variation in the size of this squid (from 20 mm to 472
mm), the largest individual weighing 4.5 kg. The diamondback squid Thysanoteuthis
rhombus, the largest specimen of which measured 585 mm in length and 5.3 kg in
weight, was also caught from a few stations. Besides these large species, several
others belonging to families such as Onychoteuthidae, Histioteuthidae, Enoploteuthidae
and Cranchiidae are also distributed in the EEZ. A large number of oceanic squids
were collected at night, which is indicative of their diel vertical migration towards
surface layers during night hours
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Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021
BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021
BackgroundDisorders affecting the nervous system are diverse and include neurodevelopmental disorders, late-life neurodegeneration, and newly emergent conditions, such as cognitive impairment following COVID-19. Previous publications from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor Study estimated the burden of 15 neurological conditions in 2015 and 2016, but these analyses did not include neurodevelopmental disorders, as defined by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11, or a subset of cases of congenital, neonatal, and infectious conditions that cause neurological damage. Here, we estimate nervous system health loss caused by 37 unique conditions and their associated risk factors globally, regionally, and nationally from 1990 to 2021.MethodsWe estimated mortality, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs), by age and sex in 204 countries and territories, from 1990 to 2021. We included morbidity and deaths due to neurological conditions, for which health loss is directly due to damage to the CNS or peripheral nervous system. We also isolated neurological health loss from conditions for which nervous system morbidity is a consequence, but not the primary feature, including a subset of congenital conditions (ie, chromosomal anomalies and congenital birth defects), neonatal conditions (ie, jaundice, preterm birth, and sepsis), infectious diseases (ie, COVID-19, cystic echinococcosis, malaria, syphilis, and Zika virus disease), and diabetic neuropathy. By conducting a sequela-level analysis of the health outcomes for these conditions, only cases where nervous system damage occurred were included, and YLDs were recalculated to isolate the non-fatal burden directly attributable to nervous system health loss. A comorbidity correction was used to calculate total prevalence of all conditions that affect the nervous system combined.FindingsGlobally, the 37 conditions affecting the nervous system were collectively ranked as the leading group cause of DALYs in 2021 (443 million, 95% UI 378–521), affecting 3·40 billion (3·20–3·62) individuals (43·1%, 40·5–45·9 of the global population); global DALY counts attributed to these conditions increased by 18·2% (8·7–26·7) between 1990 and 2021. Age-standardised rates of deaths per 100 000 people attributed to these conditions decreased from 1990 to 2021 by 33·6% (27·6–38·8), and age-standardised rates of DALYs attributed to these conditions decreased by 27·0% (21·5–32·4). Age-standardised prevalence was almost stable, with a change of 1·5% (0·7–2·4). The ten conditions with the highest age-standardised DALYs in 2021 were stroke, neonatal encephalopathy, migraine, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, diabetic neuropathy, meningitis, epilepsy, neurological complications due to preterm birth, autism spectrum disorder, and nervous system cancer.InterpretationAs the leading cause of overall disease burden in the world, with increasing global DALY counts, effective prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation strategies for disorders affecting the nervous system are needed
Rapid in vitro micropropagation of non-bitter vegetable type Aloe vera L. (IC333202)
Non bitter vegetable type Aloe vera (IC333202) is an elite medicinal plant grown in different parts of the world. A protocol for large scale Aloe vera production was established using micropropagation of axillary shoots. The explants were placed on semi solid MS medium with the addition of various concentrations of BAP and kinetin. After 8 weeks, the best proliferation of shoots per explant (16.7) and the best rooting was observed in IBA free medium. The rooted plant lets were gradually acclimatized in mud pots containing mixture of sand and soil
A protocol for micropropagation of Aloe vera L. (Indian Aloe) – a miracle plant
Emerging axillary shoots of Aloe vera (Indian Aloe) produced new plants and roots simultaneously when cultured in MS medium supplemented with BAP 1.5 mg l-1. Each explant produced on average 14 shoots and roots simultaneously within 8 weeks. Explant multiplication could be continued even after a year by transferring each divided shoot explant to the same medium. Regenerated plantlets could be successfully transferred to the soil where they grew well within 4-6 weeks with 83% survival