Successful pregnancy outcome in a rare case of complete situs inversus in a primigravida

Complete situs inversus is a rare syndrome, of autosomal recessive inheritance, resulting from inversion of rotation of the cardiac tube during embryogenesis. It occurs in 1 in 10,000 births. We report here an interesting case where situs inversus was diagnosed during pregnancy followed by uneventful course of pregnancy. A 28 year old primigravida, presented to our hospital for first antenatal visit at 16 weeks of gestation. On physical examination she was found to have her cardiac apex on the right side in right 5th intercostal space. Presence of dextrocardia prompted a thorough physical examination, with other findings raising suspicion of total situs inversus. Confirmation of situs inversus was done by ultrasound imaging of abdomen and transthoracic echocardiography. Her obstetric ultrasonographic examination was unremarkable and showed a single alive intrauterine gestation 14 weeks gestation. She was regularly followed up & her pregnancy course was uneventful. She was admitted at term gestation, with premature rupture of membranes. An attempt to induce labour was done with four doses of oral misoprostol. Eventually she underwent emergency cesarean section due to failure of induction and an alive term female baby of weight 2.7 kg was delivered . Intra and post-operative period was uneventful. She was discharged on sixth post-operative day. Her six week postpartum follow up was uneventful. Situs inversus with pregnancy is a rare clinical entity. However, these patients are likely to have uneventful course during pregnancy

Patterns Of Striga Resistance In Sorghum And Millets With Special Emphasis On Africa

Although host plant rcsistance in sorghum was denlonstrated as carly as 1920 both in Africa and India, its exploitation it1 breeding broad-spectrum stablc resistant cultivars started only recently. In pearl millet, however, the cxistcncc of host plant resistance is not yet clearly demonstrated. Striga-resistant sorghum varieties are in general agronomically poor. Multi-locational evaluation in Africa revealed that Framida ahd N 1 3 are the most stable rcsistant varieties. These two varieties were resistant to both S. asiatica and S-. herm-onthica. Some of the varieties like Najjadh, 12610C and IS 9830 revealed a narrow spectrum of rcsistance when tcsted across different seed samples of S. hcrmonthica. Ccnetic analysis of field rcsistancc in sorghum revealed that it is controlled predominantly by additive genc action and thus straight selection is effective. A pedigree approach to transfer resistance into elite agronomic backgrounds was successful. Several sclcctions with promising levels 01 resist~nce, stablc grain yiclds and good grain quality wcre identified and arc now in 'on farm' tests. In millet, a few less susceptible lincs have been identified. Intercrossing them and following the pedigree system of selection resulted in increased levels of rcsistancc and grain yields, The need for integrated Striga rnanagemcnt, ~ncluding resistant cultivars and complementary agronomic control practices, is cmphasised

Two-crystal, synchronously pumped, femtosecond optical parametric oscillator

We demonstrate a femtosecond optical parametric oscillator based on two nonlinear crystals synchronously pumped by a single ultrafast laser for efficient intracavity signal amplification and output power enhancement. By deploying two identical MgO:PPLN crystals in a single standing-wave cavity, and two pump pulse trains of similar average power from the same Kerr-lens-mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser, a minimum enhancement of 56% in the extracted signal power is achieved, with un-optimized output coupling, when temporal synchronization between the two intracavity signal pulse trains is established, resulting in a corresponding enhancement of 49% in pump depletion. Using intracavity dispersion control, near-transform-limited signal pulses with clean spectrum are obtainedPeer ReviewedPreprin

Physiological Specialization Of Striga Hermonthica And Crop Specificity

Six samples of Strlga hermcnthica (Del.) Benth. from sorghum and eight from millet (Pennisetum anlerlcanuls (L.) K. Schum) were tested against two susceptible cultivars each cf sorghum and millet in 1981 and 1982 pot exparlments to present evldence for crc'p specificity. The Striga seed samples were collected from latitudes renging from 10°42'N to 13O29'N ariS ~~IiY€pSie Sti2ta ~~arro&rr ~&7k;!..:,: di~tribdtior,o f Stri~a-h -e rrcz?k!ce<. The results indicate that sorghun cultivars were able t,o germinate and support Striga from both sorghum and nlllet hosts whereas millets could orily support Striga from millet. However, ~n certain regions both the crops were attacked by both types of Striga. Extreme host specificity was not exhibited by the Striga samples Included in the present investigation. They represent intermediate forms which were able to attack sorghum more than 11,~:1esti nce sorghum is more exter~slvelyg rown in the region under study. In areas where millet Strlpa :aqjles were collected they attackfd mlilet but also retained the capsc:ty to attack sorghums. It is sugyrst~r: tt,;>t speclallzatlon is the outcorte of the Intensity with which a particular i'ost crop is grown at the exclusion of the other thus creating a r3L;roduct ~veis olation between so:gii~l...s qd ~IllIet Strlg? strains

Variable Rate LPPT Based Droop Controlled Operation of Photovoltaic System for Microgrid Frequency Regulation

The objective of this thesis is to improve the frequency regulation of an islanded microgrid system consisting of photovoltaic (PV) system. Operating the PV system in Limited power point tracking (LPPT) mode gives provision for the application of droop control on the PV system active power, which in turn enhances the frequency regulation of the microgrid. LPPT is a control technique used for extracting the desired amount of power that may be less than the maximum available power from the PV system. Variable rate LPPT is the superior control technique among the available LPPT control techniques, which is employed in the work. The droop controller implemented in this thesis provides the required power reference command for the limited power operation of a PV system based on the deviation of bus frequency from its nominal value (50 Hz/60 Hz). A case study is presented to validate the effectiveness of the above-mentioned concept

Pregnancy outcome in working women with work place stress

Background: The employment rate of mothers has increased worldwide in recent years. So, there is concern about possible effects of work related risk factors and pregnancy outcome in working women. As a growing percentage of women work outside home before, during, and after pregnancy in most countries and its related occupational factors deserve to be studied in relation to pregnancy outcomes. To identify the effect of work place stress, on pregnancy and perinatal outcome.Methods: 100 pregnant working women, who were visiting the antenatal care unit and labour room taken into study. They were interviewed using predesigned questionnaire, Physical activity questionnaire, Workplace Stress Survey. Statistical analysis performed using SPSS version 21.Results: Mean age was 27yrs, with hrs of working/wk of 47hrs, 41 women studied were working in garment factories,46% of them had complications during their antenatal period, 56% of them were primigravidas.  Among studied working conditions, working more than 40 hours/ week was significantly associated with high rates of preterm delivery (12%) and Small for gestational age (SGA) (22%) was significantly increased with high work stress.Conclusions: Among the studied, work conditions for working women working more than 40 hours/week, social stress index were found to be a significant risk factor for adverse pregnancy outcomes. General practice physical activity (GPPA) 80% of both active and moderately active women had some problems. In work place stress survey (WSS), 100% of women encountering problems at work place had problems during their pregnancy, 72% of women who handled stress moderately had problems. Therefore, as long as the health of the pregnant woman permits her to continue work during pregnancy that is not stressful or overloading for her, no adverse effect on pregnancy outcomes is expected

Abundance and relationship of bacteria with transparent exopolymer particles during the 1996 summer monsoon in the Arabian Sea

Bacterial abundance and production, numbers, sizes and concentrations of transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) and total organic carbon (TOC) were measured during the 1996 summer monsoon to understand the relationship between TEP, the most labile particulate organic carbon, and bacteria. While high regional variability in the vertical distribution of TOC was discernible, TEP concentrations were high in surface waters at 18-20&#176;N along 64&#176;E with concentrations well over 25 mg alginic acid equivalents I-1 due to upwelling induced productivity. Their concentrations decreased with depth and were lower between 200 and 500 m. Bacterial concentrations were up to 1.99 &#215; 108 I-1 in the surface waters and decreased by an order of magnitude or more at depths below 500 m. A better relationship has been found between bacterial abundance and concentrations of TEP than between bacteria and TOC, indicating that bacterial metabolism is fueled by availability of TEP in the Arabian Sea. Assuming a carbon assimilation of 33%, bacterial carbon demand (BCD) is estimated to be 1.017 to 4.035 gCm-2 d-1 in the surface waters. The observed TEP concentrations appear to be sufficient in meeting the surface and subsurface BCD in the northern Arabian Sea