Priority Changes for Strengthening Women's Role as Producers, Processors and Providers of Food and Nutrition

The mutual dependence between access to food, nutrition and women's agency brings women to the centre stage of the discourse on food justice. The contemporary discourse needs to engage with wide?ranging issues pertaining to the agrarian crisis, feminisation, and new institutional arrangements facing the sector. Prima facie , this would imply changing the priorities right from research and extension, through resource allocation and crop choice, to subsidies and incentives at local and national levels. As an important prerequisite, the growth approach for agriculture is to be geared towards valuing women's work in a holistic framework. This, essentially, would call for the mobilisation, consolidation and strengthening of the right forces working within communities and groups of people committed to working towards the common goal of a gendered growth in agriculture and food security in India. Civil society organisations may take a lead in anchoring the process

Endosalpingiosis with concurrent endometriosis of ovary masquerading as ovarian malignancy

Endosalpingiosis is a rare gynecological disorder of müllerian origin, characterized by the presence of tubal epithelium outside the fallopian tube, which involves structures of the female genital tract, peritoneum, and sub-peritoneal tissues. Endosalpingiosis can be associated with endometriosis or endocervicosis, although it often appears alone. Authors report a case of endosalpingiosis with concurrent endometriosis in a 42-year-old P2L1 patient. The patient presented to us with complaints of heaviness in lower abdomen, a feeling a lump in the lower abdomen and low-grade fever for 15 days. On per abdominal examination, a large solid cystic mass up to 20 weeks size was felt, which was more on the left side. Cervix was normal on speculum examination, the same mass was felt on per vaginal examination, separate from the uterus, the right fornix appeared free. Patient was asked to get a set of investigations done and to review as early as possible. An exploratory laparotomy with peritoneal wash cytology, total abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-ophorectomy with supracolic and infracolic omentectomy and bilateral pelvic lymph nodes dissection was done on 18/07/18. Per operatively, there was a large cystic mass occupying the abdominal cavity adhered to the bowel and to posterior wall of the uterus, adhesiolysis followed by staging laparotomy was done.Patient’s postoperative course was uneventful and she was discharged on the 5th day of surgery in stable condition. The final histopathology report was suggestive of endosalpingiosis with concurrent endometriosis

Understanding migration : do the commons matter?

This policy brief is based on SANDEE working paper no. 10-05, "Land degradation and migration in a dry land region in India"Across South Asia people are on the move – migrating in search of work and to escape hardship. Understanding the circumstances that compel migration in arid areas is particularly important since environmental constraints can drive rural households into making decisions that place them in even deeper poverty. What factors motivate people to move? In particular, does degradation of natural resources matter for migration decisions? And, do the poor in the region follow the same path as the wealthy? A recent SANDEE study looks into some of these issues by studying migration in three districts in Gujarat in India

Similar prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms in any ICU survivor patient relative

Background: Iwashyna et al defined a chronic critically ill (CCI) patient as any patient requiring care in ICU for more than or equal to 10 days. Physicians often assume that the prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms in relatives of CCI patients would be higher than in those patients who are not CCI. We hypothesized that there would be no difference in the prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms of relatives of a CCI and those whose patients are not CCI. We aimed to establish that the prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms are similar in relatives of any ICU survivor patient. Methods: The study was a non-interventional, observational, cross-sectional study. Relatives were evaluated as early as possible after day ten following ICU admission for CCI patients and non-CCI patients on or a day before discharge from ICU. During this evaluation, anonymous demographic data of relatives were captured, and PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scales were administered and completed by the relative. Results: A total of 418 relatives consented and were included in the study [104 in CCI patient group and 314 in non-CCI group]. Overall, the prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms in the entire study cohort was 23.2% (95% CI, 19.4-27.5) and 16.5% (95% CI, 13.2-20.4), respectively. There was no statistical difference between the two groups in the proportion of PHQ-9 total score >9 (p value: 0.577) as well as the GAD-7 total score (p value: 0.816). Conclusions: There was no difference in the prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms in relatives of a CCI versus those whose patients are not CCI

Manipulation of Human Primary Endothelial Cell and Osteoblast Coculture Ratios to Augment Vasculogenesis and Mineralization

Tissue-engineering scaffolds are often seeded with a single type of cell, but there has been more focus on cocultures to improve angiogenesis and bone formation for craniofacial applications. Investigation of bone-derived osteoblasts (OBs) is important because of the use of bone grafts and migration of OBs from native bone into constructs in vivo and therefore, their contribution to bone formation in vivo. The limitation of primary OBs has been their inability to mineralize without osteogenic factors in vitro. Through coculture of OBs and endothelial cells (ECs) and manipulation of the coculture ratio, mineralization can be achieved without osteogenic media or additional growth factors, thus enhancing their utility for tissue-engineering applications. An optimal ratio of EC/OB for vasculogenesis and mineralization has not been determined for human primary cells. Human umbilical vein ECs were cultured with normal human primary OBs in different EC/OB ratios, namely, 10:1, 5:1, 1:1, 1:5, and 1:10 with EC and OB monocultures as controls. The number of vasculogenic networks in a collagen matrix was highest in ratios of 5:1 and 1:1. ECs lined up and formed capillary-like networks by day 10, which was not seen in the other groups. On polystyrene, cells were cocultured with ECs and OBs in direct contact (direct coculture) or separated by a transwell membrane (indirect coculture). At day 21, Alizarin Red staining showed mineralization on the 1:5 and 1:10 direct coculture ratios, with 1:5 having more mineralization nodules present than 1:10. No mineralization was seen in other direct coculture ratios or in any of the indirect coculture ratios. Alkaline phosphatase secretion was highest in the 1:5 direct coculture group. Vascular endothelial growth factor secretion from OBs was present in the 1:5 and 1:10 direct coculture ratios at all time points and inhibited after day 1 in other coculture groups. To improve vasculogenesis, cocultures of primary human ECs and OBs in ratios of 5:1 should be used, but to improve bone formation, the 1:5 direct coculture ratio results in most mineralization

Shifting trends of lung tumours and its diagnosis by lung biopsy: a study of 78 cases

Background: The objective of the study was to study the spectrum of pathological lesions in patients with lung mass and to study correlation between clinical findings, histopathological pattern and immunohistochemical stains in various biopsy specimen for differentiation and typing of tumors.Methods: This retrospective study was done for the period of three years at Department of Pathology, New Civil Hospital, Surat, India, which is a tertiary health care Centre. Here we studied 78 cases of lung biopsy received in formalin, which were subjected to histopathological examination. Immunohistochemistry was performed as and when required.Results: Total 78 lung biopsy specimens were examined. Out of which, 59 cases (75.6%) were neoplastic, 12 cases(15.4%) were non-neoplastic and 7 cases (9%) were inconclusive. The commonest histological type of malignancy was adenocarcinoma which is associated with peripheral mass lesion, female gender and in non-smokers. Commonest non-neoplastic lesion was tuberculosis.  Malignancy was seen quite common in patients presented with lung masses in our institute.Conclusions: Lung tumours are quite common in patients presented with mass lesion. Similar to global trend, adenocarcinoma is the commonest histological type now and associated with change in incidence among women, in non-smokers, molecular alteration and prognosis which need further investigation. Immunohistochemistry is helpful in cases which are not accurately subtyped by histomorphology alone.

Land degradation and migration in a dry land region in India

The study analyzes the impact of degradation of private land as well as common land resources on migration decisions in three dryland districts in Gujarat. The study concludes that overall, in dry areas such as Gujarat, access to irrigation, rather than land ownership is likely to deter migration. The poorest rural households in dry land regions are the least likely to migrate. Thus, any employment creation in rural dryland regions is most likely to help the poorest. Further, it was found that degradation of common-pool land resources influences short-term but not long-term migration

Differentiated adipose-derived stem cell cocultures for bone regeneration in polymer scaffolds in vivo.

Critical-sized bone defects can lead to significant morbidity, and interventions are limited by the availability and donor-site morbidity of bone grafts. Polymer scaffolds seeded with cells have been explored to replace bone grafts. Adipose-derived stem cells have shown great promise for vascularization and osteogenesis of these constructs, and cocultures of differentiated stem cells are being explored to augment vessel and bone formation. Adipose-derived stem cells were differentiated into endothelial cells and osteoblasts, and in vitro studies showed increased proliferation of cocultured cells compared with undifferentiated adipose-derived stem cells and monocultures of endothelial cells and osteoblasts. The cells were seeded into polylactic acid gas-plasma-treated scaffolds as cocultures and monocultures and then implanted into critical-sized rat calvarial defects. The cocultures were in a 1:1 osteoblast to endothelial cell ratio. The increase in proliferation seen by the cocultured cells in vitro did not translate to increased vascularization and osteogenesis in vivo. In vivo, there were trends of increased vascularization in the endothelial cell group and increased osteogenesis in the osteoblast and endothelial monoculture groups, but no increase was seen in the coculture group compared with the undifferentiated adipose-derived stem cells. Endothelial cells enhance vascularization and osteoblast and endothelial cell monocultures enhance bone formation in the polymer scaffold. Predifferentiation of adipose-derived stem cells is promising for improving vascularization and osteogenesis in polymer scaffolds but requires future evaluation of coculture ratios to fully characterize this response