Prawn fauna (Crustacea: Decapoda) of India - An annotated checklist of the Penaeoid, Sergestoid, Stenopodid and Caridean prawns

Twenty four species of Pandalid shrimps reported from the Indian waters, of which six genera (Chlorotocella, Chlorotocus, Chlorocurtis, Dorodotes, Heterocarpoides and Stylopandalus) are represented by single species each. The genera, Plesionika and Heterocarpus are represented by eleven and seven species respectively. Plesionika adensameri (Balss, 1914) a deep-sea shrimp hitherto unreported from Indian waters is recorded from west coast of India. Information on some biological aspects of few Pandalid shrimps from Indian waters is also reported in the present paper

Suitability of external controls for drug evaluation in Duchenne muscular dystrophy

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the suitability of real-world data (RWD) and natural history data (NHD) for use as external controls in drug evaluations for ambulatory Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). METHODS: The consistency of changes in the 6-minute walk distance (Δ6MWD) was assessed across multiple clinical trial placebo arms and sources of NHD/RWD. Six placebo arms reporting 48-week Δ6MWD were identified via literature review and represented 4 sets of inclusion/exclusion criteria (n = 383 patients in total). Five sources of RWD/NHD were contributed by Universitaire Ziekenhuizen Leuven, DMD Italian Group, The Cooperative International Neuromuscular Research Group, ImagingDMD, and the PRO-DMD-01 study (n = 430 patients, in total). Mean Δ6MWD was compared between each placebo arm and RWD/NHD source after subjecting the latter to the inclusion/exclusion criteria of the trial for baseline age, ambulatory function, and steroid use. Baseline covariate adjustment was investigated in a subset of patients with available data. RESULTS: Analyses included ∼1,200 patient-years of follow-up. Differences in mean Δ6MWD between trial placebo arms and RWD/NHD cohorts ranged from -19.4 m (i.e., better outcomes in RWD/NHD) to 19.5 m (i.e., worse outcomes in RWD/NHD) and were not statistically significant before or after covariate adjustment. CONCLUSIONS: We found that Δ6MWD was consistent between placebo arms and RWD/NHD subjected to equivalent inclusion/exclusion criteria. No evidence for systematic bias was detected. These findings are encouraging for the use of RWD/NHD to augment, or possibly replace, placebo controls in DMD trials. Multi-institution collaboration through the Collaborative Trajectory Analysis Project rendered this study feasible

A new species of mealybug (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Pseudococcidae) from Tectona grandis L.f. (Lamiaceae) in southern India

A new species of mealybug, Formicococcus tectonae Joshi, Bindu & Gullan sp. n., is described and illustrated based on adult females collected from teak, Tectona grandis (Lamiaceae), in plantations in Thrissur district, Kerala, southern India. The mealybug lives in tunnels made by the teak trunk borer, Cossus cadambae (Moore) (Lepidoptera: Cossidae). Ants of a Tapinoma species were found in the tunnels, tending the mealybugs. The new mealybug is most similar morphologically to F. polysperes Williams and F. robustus (Ezzat & McConnell) comb. rev. A key to adult females of all the Formicococcus species recorded from India is provided

Genetic variation in the Giant African Snail Lissachatina fulica (Bowdich, 1822) in its invasive ranges of Asia and West Africa

The rapidly spreading Giant African Snail Lissachatina [=Achatina] fulica (Bowdich, 1822) has been introduced to many parts of the world since the 1800s and is one of the world’s most invasive species. We compared cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences from four invasive ranges: India, United Arab Emirates (UAE), China and West Africa. Sixteen distinct haplotypes were identified, with nine found in India, four in the UAE, one in China and four in West Africa. Haplotype 5 was the most common haplotype in Asia and haplotype 1 the most common in West Africa. Network analysis suggests that all haplotypes in India, the UAE, China and West Africa were derived from the most common haplotype 5 which is present in all three invasive ranges in Asia. Higher levels of genetic variation were observed in the invasive ranges of Asia than in West Africa. The high genetic variation observed in Asia, together with high levels of trade as exemplified by wood import data, supports the hypothesis that there could have been multiple invasion events in India and the UAE. Additional sampling from the native and invasive ranges in Africa and from other regions of invasion is essential for understanding the movement and spread of L. fulica

Perirolandic Sparing and Pituitary Apoplexy in Adult Brain with Global Hypoxia. A Case Report

Global hypoxia in adult brain usually manifests as ischemic lesions in watershed territories. Acute profound hypoxia involves the cortex especially the perirolandic area, white matter and deep grey matter. Perirolandic sparing in adult global hypoxia is not described in literature. Few cases of perirolandic sparing are described in conditions like anoxia in term infants in the post-neonatal period and hepatic encephalopathy. We report a case of global hypoxia in adult brain with perirolandic sparing and unique association with pituitary apoplexy. It is well known that the "diving reflex" redistribution of cerebral blood flow to the high metabolically active regions occurs when the hypoxic insult is prolonged and partial. The perirolandic sparing in our case could be explained by this phenomenon, wherein the patient acutely developed hypoxia, which was profound and prolonged but not prolonged enough for deep grey matter sparing

Cryogenian magmatism and crustal reworking in the Southern Granulite Terrane, India

Understanding Neoproterozoic crustal evolution is fundamental to reconstructing the Gondwana supercontinent, which was assembled at this time. Here we report evidence of Cryogenian crustal reworking in the Madurai Block of the Southern Granulite Terrane of India. The study focuses on a garnet-bearing granite – charnockite suite, where the granite shows in situ dehydration into patches and veins of incipient charnockite along the contact with charnockite. The granite also carries dismembered layers of Mg–Al-rich granulite. Micro-textural evidence for dehydration of granite in the presence of CO₂ -rich fluids includes the formation of orthopyroxene by the breakdown of biotite, neoblastic zircon growth in the dehydration zone, at around 870°C and 8 kbar. The zircon U–Pb ages suggest formation of the granite, charnockite, and incipient charnockite at 836 ± 73, 831 ± 31, and 772 ± 49 Ma, respectively. Negative zircon εHf (t) (-5 to−20) values suggest that these rocks were derived from a reworked Palaeoproterozoic crustal source. Zircon grains in the Mg–Al-rich granulite record a spectrum of ages from ca. 2300 to ca. 500 Ma, suggesting multiple provenances ranging from Palaeoproterozoic to mid-Neoproterozoic, with neoblastic zircon growth during high-temperature metamorphism in the Cambrian. We propose that the garnet-bearing granite and charnockite reflect the crustal reworking of aluminous crustal material indicated by the presence of biotite + quartz + aluminosilicate inclusions in the garnet within the granite. This crustal source can be the Mg–Al-rich layers carried by the granite itself, which later experienced high-temperature regional metamorphism at ca. 550 Ma. Our model also envisages that the CO₂ which dehydrated the garnet-bearing granite generating incipient charnockite was sourced from the proximal massive charnockite through advection. These Cryogenian crustal reworking events are related to prolonged tectonic activities prior to the final assembly of the Gondwana supercontinentP.M. George, M. Santosh, Nengsong Chen, V. Nandakumar, T. Itaya, M.K. Sonali, R.P. Smruti and K. Sajee

Fine-scale geographical sampling and molecular characterization of the giant African land snail in its invasive range in Asia shows low genetic diversity, new haplotypes and the emergence of another haplotype from the Indian Ocean Islands

Native to East Africa, the giant African snail Lissachatina [=Achatina] fulica (Bowdich, 1822) is a tropical crop pest and one of the world’s top 100 invasive species. It is now present in at least 52 countries worldwide, with an actively expanding range. Lissachatina fulica was first introduced to India in 1847, but subsequent arrivals in India and local patterns of spread remain unclear. This study uses the 16S rRNA gene to identify the extent of genetic variation in India by sampling Indian populations and comparing them with published sequence data. A total of 307 snails were collected from 178 localities in India and from a single locality in the UAE, and the 16S rRNA gene was amplified and sequenced. Eight haplotypes were identified from India of which four are newly recognized. The new haplotypes identified in this study have increased the number of L. fulica 16S rRNA haplotypes from 19 to 23. Examination of haplotype and nucleotide diversities revealed that genetic variation is low in India, the UAE and across Asia as a whole. The number of haplotypes was higher in India when compared to other invasive regions but all of the Asian haplotypes appear to be closely related to the most common haplotypes in the Indian Ocean Islands. Heavy trade between the snail-infested and native-range countries suggests that the variation observed in India might be traced back to its native range, but the lack of sampling and paucity of sequences from East Africa currently prevents a comparison. Tracing back the emergent haplotypes by additional sampling could throw more light on the spread of L. fulica

Large enhanced dielectric permittivity in polyaniline passivated core-shell nano magnetic iron oxide by plasma polymerization

Commercial samples of Magnetite with size ranging from 25–30nm were coated with polyaniline by using radio frequency plasma polymerization to achieve a core shell structure of magnetic nanoparticle (core)–Polyaniline (shell). High resolution transmission electron microscopy images confirm the core shell architecture of polyaniline coated iron oxide. The dielectric properties of the material were studied before and after plasma treatment. The polymer coated magnetite particles exhibited a large dielectric permittivity with respect to uncoated samples. The dielectric behavior was modeled using a Maxwell–Wagner capacitor model. A plausible mechanism for the enhancement of dielectric permittivity is propose