Clinical, hormonal and ovarian morphological correlation in women with polycystic ovary syndrome

Background: Aim of the study was to study the correlation between clinical, ultrasonographical and hormonal features in women diagnosed as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and association with vitamin D levels.Methods: This prospective study was conducted among women attending gynecological outpatient department (OPD) of Subharti Medical College, Meerut over a period of two years among 100 patients with clinical diagnosis of PCOS/PCOD according to Rotterdam criteria (2013) were included in this study. All biochemical investigations to be carried out for levels of luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), vitamin D levels, lipid profile to understand the endocrinal and metabolic derangements if any in the patient. Ultrasound pelvis for ovarian study was conducted to know the ovarian morphology, no of follicles if any and their size, which were helpful in the diagnosis of PCOS.Results: Nulliparity and multiparity was reported among 32% and 68% of the subjects respectively. Most common complaint was hirsuitism (43%). According to ultrasonography (USG), PCOS was found to be positive and negative among 87% and 13% of the subjects respectively. Most of the subjects had vitamin D level of 20-50 while <20 vitamin D level was found among 27% of the subjects. Vitamin D deficiency was found to be more in subjects having morphological presence of PCOS as compared to subjects with morphological absence of PCOS with statistically significant difference.Conclusions: On correlating ultrasonological findings with clinic hormonal changes in PCOS women we found that hirsuitism and vitamin d deficiency was significantly more common in women with sonological findings suggestive of PCOS

Regional Association Analysis of MetaQTLs Delineates Candidate Grain Size Genes in Rice

Molecular mapping studies which aim to identify genetic basis of diverse agronomic traits are vital for marker-assisted crop improvement. Numerous Quantitative Trait Loci (QTLs) mapped in rice span long genomic intervals with hundreds to thousands of genes, which limits their utilization for marker-assisted genetic enhancement of rice. Although potent, fine mapping of QTLs is challenging task as it requires screening of large number of segregants to identify suitable recombination events. Association mapping offers much higher resolution as compared to QTL mapping, but detects considerable number of spurious QTLs. Therefore, combined use of QTL and association mapping strategies can provide advantages associated with both these methods. In the current study, we utilized meta-analysis approach to identify metaQTLs associated with grain size/weight in diverse Indian indica and aromatic rice accessions. Subsequently, attempt has been made to narrow-down identified grain size/weight metaQTLs through individual SNP- as well as haplotype-based regional association analysis. The study identified six different metaQTL regions, three of which were successfully revalidated, and substantially scaled-down along with GS3 QTL interval (positive control) by regional association analysis. Consequently, two potential candidate genes within two reduced metaQTLs were identified based on their differential expression profiles in different tissues/stages of rice accessions during seed development. The developed strategy has broader practical utility for rapid delineation of candidate genes and natural alleles underlying QTLs associated with complex agronomic traits in rice as well as major crop plants enriched with useful genetic and genomic information

Indian Plant Germplasm on the Global Platter: An Analysis

<div><p>Food security is a global concern amongst scientists, researchers and policy makers. No country is self-sufficient to address food security issues independently as almost all countries are inter-dependent for availability of plant genetic resources (PGR) in their national crop improvement programmes. Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research (CGIAR; in short CG) centres play an important role in conserving and distributing PGR through their genebanks. CG genebanks assembled the germplasm through collecting missions and acquisition the same from national genebanks of other countries. Using the Genesys Global Portal on Plant Genetic Resources, the World Information and Early Warning System (WIEWS) on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and other relevant databases, we analysed the conservation status of Indian-origin PGR accessions (both cultivated and wild forms possessed by India) in CG genebanks and other national genebanks, including the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) genebanks, which can be considered as an indicator of Indian contribution to the global germplasm collection. A total of 28,027,770 accessions are being conserved world-wide by 446 organizations represented in Genesys; of these, 3.78% (100,607) are Indian-origin accessions. Similarly, 62,920 Indian-origin accessions (8.73%) have been conserved in CG genebanks which are accessible to the global research community for utilization in their respective crop improvement programmes. A total of 60 genebanks including 11 CG genebanks have deposited 824,625 accessions of PGR in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV) as safety duplicates; the average number of accessions deposited by each genebank is 13,744, and amongst them there are 66,339 Indian-origin accessions. In principle, India has contributed 4.85 times the number of germplasm accessions to SGSV, in comparison to the mean value (13,744) of any individual genebank including CG genebanks. More importantly, about 50% of the Indian-origin accessions deposited in SGSV are traditional varieties or landraces with defined traits which form the backbone of any crop gene pool. This paper is also attempting to correlate the global data on Indian-origin germplasm with the national germplasm export profile. The analysis from this paper is discussed with the perspective of possible implications in the access and benefit sharing regime of both the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and the newly enforced Nagoya Protocol under the Convention on Biological Diversity.</p></div

Year-wise export profile of Indian-origin germplasm from India to other countries.

<p>The bar graph data represents a total of 91, 403 accessions exported by India. The superimposed line graph represents the number of export indents received by India.</p

Global distribution of Indian-origin germplasm conserved by national and international genebanks.

<p>The radius of each circle is relative to the number of Indian-origin accessions conserved, and the circle sizes were partitioned into 10 size classes. Circles with red indicator represent the CG genebanks.</p

Year-wise profile of number of beneficiary countries that received germplasm from India.

<p>Year-wise profile of number of beneficiary countries that received germplasm from India.</p

Germplasm of Indian-origin conserved in major national genebanks.

<p>The table lists the number of accessions of Indian origin, conserved in the major national genebanks. The genebanks are listed by ‘No. of accessions of Indian origin’ in descending order.</p><p>Germplasm of Indian-origin conserved in major national genebanks.</p