Antagonistic Potentiality of Trichoderma harzianum Against Cladosporium spherospermum, Aspergillus niger and Fusarium oxysporum

Many species of genus Trichoderma are used as an important source of biological agents. The potential efficacy of Trichoderma harzianum against the pathogenic fungi like Cladosporium spherospermum, Aspergillus niger and Fusarium oxysporum was evaluated on the fungal growth by culture pattern in which radial growth extension rates of two categories of fungal colonies were analyzed. All the fungal species were isolated from the rhizosphere of Juglans regia L. and cultured on the separate sterilized potato dextrose agar (Hi Media). Antagonism of T. harzianum was observed when all the fungal isolates were grown on the same PDA petri-plate in vitro by using the dual culture techniques. Trichoderma harzianum had a discernible inhibitory effect on the growth of pathogens in dual culture. The mycelial growth of pathogenic isolates was noticeably constrained after a period of 10 days at the temperature of 250C and pH of 5.6. T. harzianum caused the maximum growth inhibition in A. niger (75%) followed by C. spherospermum (72.2%) and F. oxysporum (25%) at the specific temperature and pH, which justifies that T. harzianum is a promising biological agent for restricting the wilt and other fungal diseases. Keywords; Trichoderma harzianum, pathogenic fungi, antagonism, radial growt

Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe

Multidetector Computed Tomography Evaluation of Uncommon Acute Post-Caesarean Section Complications

Introduction. The most common major abdominal surgery in women is caesarean section. Despite being a safe procedure, a variety of complications, both acute and chronic, can occur. About 14.5% of caesarean sections result in complications. Infection followed by postpartum haemorrhage is the most frequent complication. Imaging modalities such as ultrasonography and multidetector computed tomography are often used in the evaluation of suspected uncommon post-caesarean complications. Computed tomography has been found to be a good initial modality for assessing acute postoperative complications after caesarean delivery. The objective of the research was to evaluate the imaging findings and the characteristic visual manifestations of atypical acute complications of caesarean section, other than common complications such as postpartum haemorrhage, wound infection, etc. Materials and Methods. This prospective study was carried out at the Department of Radiodiagnosis and Imaging, Government Medical College, Srinagar from June 2019 to February 2020 in collaboration with the Department of General Surgery and Gynaecology and Obstetrics of the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences. All patients with suspected complication in the immediate post-caesarean period were evaluated with contrast-enhanced multidetector computed tomography. Results. Out of 427 patients who underwent caesarean section, 25 patients were suspected of having uncommon acute complications. Out of 25 patients evaluated for suspected immediate post-caesarean complication, only 5 patients had bladder flap hematoma, 8 patients were diagnosed with uterine dehiscence, 6 patients had uterine rupture, 3 patients suffered from ureteral injury, 1 patient had gossypiboma, 2 patients developed pelvic sepsis. Conclusions. Multidetector computed tomography plays an important role in detection and confirmation of multiple acute complications after caesarean delivery and can also help in guiding the management of complications as well

Effect of addition of dexamethasone to ropivacaine in supraclavicular brachial plexus block

Background and Objectives: We evaluated the effect of adding dexamethasone to ropivacaine for supraclavicular brachial blockade. The primary endpoints were the onset and total duration of sensory and motor block, quality of analgesia, and duration of analgesia. Materials and Methods: Eighty patients of age group 20-50 years, scheduled for various elective orthopedic surgeries on forearm and around the elbow under supraclavicular brachial block were divided into two equal groups in a randomized, double-blinded fashion. In group R (n = 40), 30 ml (150 mg) of 0.5% ropivacaine + 2 ml saline; and in group RD (n = 40), 30 ml (150 mg) of 0.5% ropivacaine + 2 ml dexamethasone (8 mg) were given. Motor and sensory block onset times, block durations, quality of intraoperative analgesia, and duration of analgesia were recorded. Results: Demographic data and surgical characteristics were similar in both groups. The sensory and motor block onset time was earlier in group RD as compared to group R (P 0.05). The mean pulse rate at different time intervals was statistically insignificant between the groups (P > 0.05). Conclusions: Dexamethasone added to ropivacaine for supraclavicular brachial plexus block prolongs the duration of the block and the duration of postoperative analgesia

Factors affecting outcome after the use of the Ponseti method for the management of idiopathic clubfoot, a retrospective study in an orthopaedic referral institute

From the last two decades Ponseti method has replaced soft tissue releases as the gold standard in the management of idiopathic clubfoot. The purpose of this study was to retrospectively analyse various attributes of the patients associated with poor outcome after use of Ponseti method in idiopathic clubfoot management. Seventy nine patients with one hundred and twenty three idiopathic clubfeet treated with Ponseti method by single orthopaedic surgeon were followed for a period of two years and recurrence of the deformity was studied in relation to age of patient at presentation (< 3 months or more), sex of the patient, severity of the deformity, compliance to post tenotomy bracing, educational level of parents and access of parents to internet and odds ratio for recurrence  and level of significance determined for each

Nutritional and bioactive characteristics of buckwheat, and its potential for developing gluten-free products: An updated overview

In the present era, food scientists are concerned about exploiting functional crops with nutraceutical properties. Buckwheat is one of the functional pseudocereals with nutraceutical components used in the treatment of health-related diseases, malnutrition, and celiac diseases. As a preferred diet as a gluten-free product for celiac diseases, buckwheat is a good source of nutrients, bioactive components, phytochemicals, and antioxidants. The general characteristics and better nutritional profile of buckwheat than other cereal family crops were highlighted by previous investigations. In buckwheats, bioactive components like peptides, flavonoids, phenolic acids, d-fagomine, fagopyritols, and fagopyrins are posing significant health benefits. This study highlights the current knowledge about buckwheat and its characteristics, nutritional constituents, bioactive components, and their potential for developing gluten-free products to target celiac people (1.4% of the world population) and other health-related diseases

Barium Enema in the Diagnosis of Hirschsprung's Disease: A Comparison with Rectal Biopsy

Aim: The aim of the present study was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of a barium enema in Hirschsprung's disease with respect to a rectal biopsy. Materials And Methods: This study was conducted on 60 consecutive patients of clinically suspected cases of Hirschsprung's disease admitted to a tertiary care hospital in Kashmir over a period of three and a half years. All the patients were subjected to a barium enema and a full-thickness rectal biopsy. Results: The mean age was 3.5 + 0.5 years. A rectal biopsy revealed absence of ganglion cells in 36 (60%) patients, absence of ganglion cells with nerve hypertrophy in 4 (6.66%) patients and ruled out Hirschsprung's disease in 20 (33.33%) patients. A barium enema was compatible with Hirschsprung's disease in 20 (33.33%), suggestive in 14 (23.33%) and unremarkable in 26 (43.33%) patients. A barium enema had a diagnostic accuracy of 76.67% with a positive predictive value of 88.23%, a negative predictive value of 61.53%, specificity of 80% and a sensitivity of 75%, and a rectal biopsy had a diagnostic accuracy of 100% (P value < 0.0001). Conclusion: Barium enema is a valuable diagnostic tool for the diagnosis of patients with Hirschsprung's disease. We recommend a barium enema as a routine initial workup in the management of patients of suspected Hirschsprung's disease. [Arch Clin Exp Surg 2013; 2(4.000): 224-228