Anthelmintic Activity of Trikatu Churna and its Ingredients

The alcoholic extract of Trikatu churna and its ingredients were evaluated for anthelmintic activity. The dried fruits of Piper nigrum L. (Piperaceae), Piper longum L. (Piperaceae) and rhizome of Zingiber officinale Roscoe. (Zingiberaceae) were powdered and mixed together in equiproportions to get a polyherbal formulation, Trikatu churna. All these three ingredients are spicy, commonly used in our daily diet, also well known for their tremendous therapeutic potential, since from the Vedic period. The alcoholic extract of Trikatu churna and its ingredients were screened for preliminary phytochemical studies and also tested for anthelmintic activity against Pheritima posthuma and recorded the time taken for induction of paralysis and death. Piperazine citrate (10 mg/ml) was included as standard reference and distilled water as control. The results demonstrated that, the extracts of Trikatu churna and its plant ingredients showed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, lignins and steroids, these test samples were also exhibited potent anthelmintic activity, but the highest activity was noticed in Trikatu churna, this might be due to the multifunctional effect of all the three plant ingredients of Trikatu churna. Based on the above results, it is confirmed that, combination of Piper nigrum, Piper longum and Zingiber officinale in Trikatu churna offered promising anthelmintic effect than using the ingredients alone

Heterotic expression in inbreds derived from four different base populations in maize (Zea mays L.).

The concepts of combining ability and heterosis are the fundamental tools for enhancing productivity of different crops. The main objective is to study the usefulness of inbreds derived from four different base populations namely advanced generations of single cross hybrids, three way cross hybrids, hybrid mixtures and composites by analyzing the combining ability of inbreds and crosses derived and the heterosis obtained for important characters. One hundred and forty four maize inbreds derived from four different base populations namely advanced generations of single cross hybrids, three way cross hybrids, hybrid mixtures and composites were studied for their heterotic expression. The results indicated that composite and hybrid mixture base populations shall be of great use in deriving genetically divergent inbreds and single cross hybrids with significant standard heterosis suitable for commercial exploitation

Dynamical quantum Cherenkov transition of fast impurities in quantum liquids

The challenge of understanding the dynamics of a mobile impurity in an interacting quantum many-body medium comes from the necessity of including entanglement between the impurity and excited states of the environment in a wide range of energy scales. In this paper, we investigate the motion of a finite mass impurity injected into a three-dimensional quantum Bose fluid as it starts shedding Bogoliubov excitations. We uncover a transition in the dynamics as the impurity's velocity crosses a critical value which depends on the strength of the interaction between the impurity and bosons as well as the impurity's recoil energy. We find that in injection experiments, the two regimes differ not only in the character of the impurity velocity abatement, but also exhibit qualitative differences in the Loschmidt echo, density ripples excited in the BEC, and momentum distribution of scattered bosonic particles. The transition is a manifestation of a dynamical quantum Cherenkov effect, and should be experimentally observable with ultracold atoms using Ramsey interferometry, RF spectroscopy, absorption imaging, and time-of-flight imaging.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures + 4 pages, 3 figure

Prospective study of the functional outcome of uncemented bipolar hemiarhroplasty in displaced fracture neck of femur in elderly

Background: Hip fractures in older patients are associated with impaired mobility, excess morbidity, mortality and loss of independence. To avoid the drawbacks of internal fixation and for early mobilization, hemiarthroplasty is performed in elderly. The bipolar prosthesis was developed to overcome the shortcomings of the unipolar fixed-head prosthesis. An additional site of motion would be expected to decrease the amount of loosening, dislocation, and head migration. The aim of the study is to assess the functional outcome of the patients with fracture neck of femur treated with bipolar hemiarthroplasty.Methods: In this study, 20 patients above the age of 60 years with acute displaced fracture neck of femur underwent hemireplacement arthroplasty with bipolar prosthesis in Department of Orthopaedics, KIMS, Bangalore. The patients were followed up on 6th, 12th, 18th, 24th week post operatively. Functional outcome was assessed with Harris hip score.Results: In our study, mean average age was 72.3 years with predominantly female patients with 75% of the patients with left sided fracture. 95% of the patients had slight or no pain, 85% of patients had slight or no limp. 50% of the patients could walk without support, 65% of the patients could walk a distance of 6 blocks or more. Average Harris hip score was 82%.Conclusions: These results suggest functional outcome following bipolar hemiarthroplasty is good. Early mobilisation, pain free hip and with good level of activity is obtained following bipolar hemiarthroplasty

Comparative study of fixation of intertrochanteric fracture of the femur by proximal femur nail versus dynamic hip screw

Background: Intertrochanteric fractures are common in old age group, but uncommon in younger age group. The goal of treatment of intertrochanteric fractures is restoration to pre-injury status at the earliest. The purpose of this study is to compare the functional outcome of the two fixation devices proximal femur nail (PFN) and dynamic hip screw available for intertrochanteric fractures in terms of the eventual functional outcome of the patient.Methods: Prospective study of 30 cases of Intertrochanteric fractures admitted and operated in KIMS hospital from November 2017 to May 2019. Follow-up of these patients was done at 6 weeks, 12 weeks and 24 weeks with functional evaluation was done using Harris hip score at the 24th week.Results: The results at the end of 24 weeks follow-up were calculated by the Harris hip score were better with the PFN. 66.7% of the patients operated with PFN gave excellent results as compared to 60% of patients operated with dynamic hip screw (DHS).Conclusions: We conclude that the use of PFN for the fixation of trochanteric fractures against the proven DHS offered better results along with a few advantages. PFN required smaller incision, shorter duration of surgery, less blood loss and faster recovery and better functional outcome at the end of 24 weeks. But still PFN is technically more demanding than the DHS and was found to have longer fluoroscopy exposure. 

Evaluating tropical single cross maize hybrids for adaptability and commercial value

Stability analysis was carried out to study stability in performance and genotype x environment interactions for sixty single cross hybrids along with three checks viz., 900M Gold, CP 818 and NK 6240 in three research farms of Foliage Crop Solutions Private Limited viz., Attur (Tamilnadu), Hosur (Tamilnadu), and Renebennur (Karnataka) un- der irrigated conditions during 2011-13. Data were recorded on different morphological and yield parameters viz., days to 50% silking, days to maturity, plant height, number of leaves, ear length, number of kernels row-1, number of kernels ear-1, hundred seed weight, and grain yield and the mean was used for statistical analysis. Analysis of variance carried out for all the characters revealed that the variance due to genotypes was highly significant for all the characters studied in all the three environments. Pooled analysis of variance for stability done using Eber- hart and Russel model of stability revealed that the variance due to genotypes, environments and environment components were highly significant for all the characters studied. However, it was found that the variance due to genotype x environment (linear) component was non-significant only for ear length and number of kernel rows and significant for the remaining characters

Trends in clinical and oncological outcomes of robot-assisted radical prostatectomy before and after the 2012 US Preventive Services Task Force recommendation against PSA screening: a decade of experience

Objective: To assess the influence of the 2012 US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendation against prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-based screening on oncological and functional outcomes following robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP). Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analysed patients who underwent RALP between 2008 and 2018 with a minimum of 12-month follow-up from a prospectively collected institutional review board-approved database. The impact of the USPSTF recommendation against PSA screening on our surgical outcomes was assessed using a logistic regression model using two groups comprising patients treated before/after the USPSTF statement and indicating time trends for each successive year. Results: The mean preoperative PSA increased from 6.0 to 7.4 ng/mL after the USPSTF recommendation. We detected statistically significant time-trend changes after 2012, including an increase in the positive slope of Gleason ≥3 + 4 or ≥pT3 disease. We detected a fall in bilateral full nerve-sparing and an increase in partial nerve-sparing. The total positive surgical margin (PSM) rate increased after the USPSTF recommendation; however, PSM rates pertinent to each pathological stage did not change significantly after 2012. There was a significant negative trend change in the postoperative 12-month continence and potency rates, indicating a breakpoint in functional outcomes after 2012. We detected a 1.7-fold increase in 12-month biochemical recurrence (BCR) rates. The 12-month BCR, potency and continence rates were maintained in young (<55 years) patients with a Sexual Health Inventory for Men score >22 and low-volume disease. Conclusion: Since the USPSTF’s recommendation in 2012, we have seen a significant increase in the incidence of high-risk disease that has forced us to modify our approach to the procedure and the grade of nerve-sparing used, leading to a wider resection, in order to reduce PSMs. This has led to a decrease in postoperative functional recovery. Patients with favourable characteristics had good outcomes before and after the USPSTF’s recommendation, implying that the quality of surgery did not change over time