Idiopathic aplastic anemia: a rare case report in Jammu and Kashmir region, India

Idiopathic aplastic anemia is a pancytopenia disorder that is a rare but life threatening for both mother and fetus during pregnancy. Association of aplastic anemia with pregnancy is unclear but considered to be interrelated. Bone marrow transplantation is the most effective treatment for adult aplastic anemia but is inadvisable to perform during pregnancy because of the teratogenic effect of immunosuppressive agents or radiation therapy to the growing fetus. Supportive care, withdrawal from offending drugs and involving erythrocytes and platelets transfusion is a promising way to save the life. Here author present a case report of 36-year-old lady with idiopathy aplastic anemia. In this case medical investigation revealed severe anemia of unknown origin. The patient was treated with hematinics, blood transfusion and glucocorticoids. A healthy baby was delivered without evidence of hemolysis at her eight month and one week of pregnancy, the patient recovered and discharged with normal incidence. Being a rare case, it becomes a necessity to report such life-threatening disorder and management. Moreover, to our knowledge this is the first case reported of its kind from Jammu and Kashmir Division of India

A Methodology to Analyze Soil Moisture Characteristics Using GIS and Modeling Approach for Sustainable Crop Production

This chapter introduces the importance of soil moisture to attain optimum crop production. Various soil properties that play crucial role in managing irrigation system have been discussed. In addition, the lesson presents a detailed description of the in situ techniques for measuring the moisture content of different soils. In areas where field measurement of soil moisture is a cumbersome practice, remote sensing, GIS, and modeling have been emerged as a boon. The role of all three approaches has been studied to analyze the soil moisture characteristics of particular area to select suitable crop and cropping pattern. Salinity and waterlogging are two major problems caused due to improper and unbalanced transport of water and solutes in the soil. A complete methodology has been proposed which includes data collection and measurement of various soil parameters, estimating and simulating future salinity and waterlogging conditions based on current water management practices, quantifying severity levels of saline and water-logged areas and their effect on crop production and optimum policies for managing salinity and waterlogging for better crop productivity. The proposal is an integrated approach comprises of field as well as laboratory measurements, with efficient use of GIS, simulation, and optimization techniques

Knowledge attitude and practice of pharmacovigilance among nursing professionals in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Dehradun, Uttarakhand

Background: Pharmacovigilance deals with identification, assessment and prevention and reporting of adverse drug reaction (ADR), play a pivotal role in ensuring safe use of drugs. However, in spite of having well established ADR reporting system in India and worldwide, the ADR underreporting is a big challenge till date. It is therefore very important to assess the level of awareness of Pharmacovigilance among healthcare professionals to identify the factors affecting ADRs reporting. The objective of the study was to evaluate knowledge, attitude and practice of pharmacovigilance among nursing professionals in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Dehradun, India.Methods: It was a cross sectional observational study conducted at HIMS over a period of 1 year. Nursing professionals who work in internal medicine, Surgery, PAC and intensive care unit (ICU) were included in this study. A self-administered questionnaire comprising of 15 items related to ADRs and Pharmacovigilance programme of India (PvPI) activity was provided to them and sufficient time to fill the questionnaire was given. The completely filled questionnaire was collected and data was analyzed using SPSS ver.20.0.Results: A total of 415 participants were included in the study. The mean age of the participant was 28.52 years. The number of female was more than male participants. Majority of participant (56%) couldn’t answer the meaning of pharmacovigilance. Only 25% participants were aware about ADR reporting process to ADR monitoring centre (AMC). Although majority of the participants understand the necessity of ADR reporting and aware about AMC centre and PvPI, but most of them showed unfamiliarity about ADR reporting form and previous experience of any kind of ADR. The most common reason for not reporting the ADR was difficulty in deciding the nature of adverse effects (AE) (44%) followed by lack of time (30%). Majority of participant (67%) denied any previous pharmacovigilance training and almost all (98%) have shown their interest in PvPI training.Conclusions: Nursing professionals in our hospital may lack adequate knowledge about ADR reporting and may need more education and training on the National Pharmacovigilance System and ADR reporting process

PROSOPIS CINERARIA (L) DRUCE: A DESERT TREE TO BRACE LIVELIHOOD IN RAJASTHAN

The Prosopis cineraria (L) Druce is an important tree (Khejri- a local name in Rajasthan)for the Thar Desert withhard climatic adaptation and one of the lifeline in desert habitat as mentioned in ancient literature. This is a speciesrepresenting all five F viz., Forest, Fiber, Fuel, Fodder and Food. This tree is also mythological important in localcommunities. High value of this species recognized as a State symbol (state tree of Rajasthan). Prosopis cineraria(L.) Druce is a tree endemic to hot deserts of India, belonging to the family Leguminosae. Pods locally called“Sangri” are considered as dry fruit of desert and are one of the main ingredients of quintessential Rajasthani dish -The Panchkuta. In the present article, we have attempted to review different characteristics of the pods, tounderstand its health benefits. Various phytoconstituents like tannins (gallic acid), steroids (stigmasterol,campesterol, sitosterol, etc.), Flavone derivatives (prosogerin A, B, C, D, and E), alkaloids (spicigerine,prosophylline), etc. have been isolated from the sangri pods .As this plant is found in water stress (or deficient area)so antioxidant potential of pods has also been discussed. Prosopis cineraria (L) Druce is one of the highly valuedplant in the Indigenous System of Medicine. P. cineraria pods provide protein, iron, vitamins A and C and othermicro minerals Unripe pods are also nutritious and are used to prepare curries and pickles. Its bark is said to be apotent drug for several ailments such as leprosy, dysentery, bronchitis, asthma, leucoderma, piles, muscular tremors,asthma, rheumatism and inflammations. Pharmacological activities like analgesic, antipyretic, antihyperglycemic,antioxidant, antihypercholesterolemic, antitumor, nootropic anthelmintic, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral andanticancer activities have been reported from different plant extracts. In view of its medicinal importance, thepresent review is focused to delineate its chemical constitution and therapeutic potentiality, precisely

Slit-Surface Electrospinning: A Novel Process Developed for High-Throughput Fabrication of Core-Sheath Fibers

In this work, we report on the development of slit-surface electrospinning – a process that co-localizes two solutions along a slit surface to spontaneously emit multiple core-sheath cone-jets at rates of up to 1 L/h. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that production of electrospun core-sheath fibers has been scaled to this magnitude. Fibers produced in this study were defect-free (i.e. non-beaded) and core-sheath geometry was visually confirmed under scanning electron microscopy. The versatility of our system was demonstrated by fabrication of (1) fibers encapsulating a drug, (2) bicomponent fibers, (3) hollow fibers, and (4) fibers from a polymer that is not normally electrospinnable. Additionally, we demonstrate control of the process by modulating parameters such as flow rate, solution viscosity, and fixture design. The technological achievements demonstrated in this work significantly advance core-sheath electrospinning towards commercial and manufacturing viability

THE COMPLEX ISSUE OF POACHING EXPLORING A TECHNOLOGICAL APPROACH TO CONSERVATION

Illegal animal hunting or poaching endangers the environment, human health, and the global economy. This practice causes wildlife populations to dwindle, impacting gene pools, species interdependence, and vegetation loss. Furthermore, poaching can result in health risks such as SARS and Ebola, as well as a negative influence on tourism. This research investigates the consequences of poaching and suggests an approach in the form of an ankle-worn monitoring and tracking device. Under certain conditions, the device can send out a distress signal, aiding in the rescue and tracking of the wearer. The device's successful application can help save endangered animals while also addressing environmental, health, and economic concerns. This study emphasizes the importance of addressing poaching and protecting wildlife and provides a novel solution to this ongoing issue

Anesthetic management for patients with perforation peritonitis

Perforation peritonitis is a common surgical emergency. Anesthesia in patients with perforation peritonitis can be challenging. Delayed presentations, old age, hemodynamic instability, presence of sepsis and organ dysfunction are some of the predictors of poor outcome in such patients. Pre-operative optimization can reduce intraoperative and post-operative morbidity and mortality, but surgery should not be unnecessarily delayed. Intensive care in critical care settings may be essential

Assessment of genetic diversity among sugarcane cultivars using novel microsatellite markers

Genetic diversity based on the characterization of genetic makeup, using molecular markers is of utmost importance for breeders in crop improvement programme. A total of 26 microsatellite primers were used to determine the genetic diversity among 40 sugarcane genotypes including their parents. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products were examined for both size and polymorphism using these primers. Overall alleles are amplified with an average of 2.3 per locus in this study. Of the total 26 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers, only 10 (38.4%) displayed polymorphism, with polymorphism index contents (PIC) values ranging from 0.15 to 0.67. The observed homozygosity (Ho) and gene diversity (Nei’s) for individual loci varied from 0.0000 to 0.277 and 0.129 to 0.473, respectively. Shannon’s informative index (I) was found to be highest (0.661) in SKM04 while the lowest was 0.252 in SKM01 SSR loci with an average of 0.524. Fixation index was also calculated which was in the range of -0.074 to 1.00. A genetic relationship among cultivars and parental genotype was also analyzed by cluster analysis using unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA), the average-linkage method, with the similarity matrix as input data. The genetic relationship and genetic diversity among the cultivars depicted from this study can be used to select the parents in sugarcane breeding programme. Keywords: Sugarcane, microsatellite, genetic diversity, SSRAfrican Journal of Biotechnology, Vol 13(12), 1444-145