Scoliosis correction in children-anaesthetic challenge: A case report

Kyphoscoliosis is a challenging surgery to surgeons but even more challenging to anaesthesiologist to give anaesthesia and maintain it throughout the surgery and post operative pain relief and ventilation. Here we are describing the case of 3 years old male child weighing 9kg for surgical correction of spine deformity with instrumentation

Isolation, screening and characterization of bacteria from Rhizospheric soils for different plant growth promotion (PGP) activities: an in vitro study

Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are a group of bacteria that can be found in the rhizosphere, in association with roots which can enhance the growth of plant directly or indirectly. A large number of bacteria including species of Pseudomonas, Azospirillum, Azotobacter, Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Alcaligenes, Arthrobacter, Burkholderia, Bacillus, Rhizobium and Serratia have reported to enhance plant growth. In the present study, six French bean rhizospheric soil samples were collected from different location of Shimla and Solan in H.P (India). A total of thirty bacteria were isolated and in vitro screening was done for different plant growth promotion activities i.e. phosphate solublization, IAA production, ammonia production, ACC deaminase activity, HCN production and catalase. In the present work twelve bacterial isolates were positive for phosphate solublization. IAA production was shown by almost all the bacterial isolates. Three isolates were positive for ammonia production. ACC deaminase activity was shown by nine isolates. Two isolates were positive for HCN production and all the isolates were found to be catalase positive. Seven isolates were showing maximum plant growth promotion activities and further identified on the basis of colony morphology, Gram staining and biochemical tests. These isolates were identified as Acinetobacter sp., Bacillus sp., Enterobacter sp., Micrococcus sp., and Pseudomonas sp. As PGPR are environmental friendly and offer sustainable approach to increase production of crops and health. Therefore, these isolates can be utilized for biofertilizer formulation under local agro-climatic conditions of Himachal Pradesh

Health Food for Soldiers

One of the biggest challenges the Indian army has been confronting is maintaining its troops at tough high altitude battle field of more than 18,000 feet.  At such high altitude, troops are exposed to inclement weather, perilous altitude, difficult terrain and psychological problems arising out of being isolated from the main land miles away from their near and dear ones.  Under such circumstances if an army has to keep its soldiers physically fit and in high morale to fight against the enemy and protect the integrity of the nation, it has to be provided with palatable, healthy and adequate nutritious food.  Hence, it is essential to formulate health foods keeping in aid the real need of the soliders to alleviate such situations also. There are hundreds of phytochemicals reported to possess therapeutic effects. The health foods containing these phytochemicals can be classified in to six categories, viz. health promotion - to improve health on a regular basis, sickness prevention - to prevent seasonal climate related problems, disease control - to fight early symptoms of health problems, supporting - to complement the primary treatment and to combat adverse side effects of harsh drugs during sickness, recuperating - to revive and regain vitality after sickness, rejuvenating - to repair damages and body malfunctions to restore healt

Genome-based trait prediction in multi- environment breeding trials in groundnut

Genomic selection (GS) can be an efficient and cost-effective breeding approach which captures both small- and large-effect genetic factors and therefore promises to achieve higher genetic gains for complex traits such as yield and oil content in groundnut. A training population was constituted with 340 elite lines followed by genotyping with 58 K ‘Axiom_Arachis’ SNP array and phenotyping for key agronomic traits at three locations in India. Four GS models were tested using three different random cross-validation schemes (CV0, CV1 and CV2). These models are: (1) model 1 (M1 = E + L) which includes the main effects of environment (E) and line (L); (2) model 2 (M2 = E + L + G) which includes the main effects of markers (G) in addition to E and L; (3) model 3 (M3 = E + L + G + GE), a naïve interaction model; and (4) model 4 (E + L + G + LE + GE), a naïve and informed interaction model. Prediction accuracy estimated for four models indicated clear advantage of the inclusion of marker information which was reflected in better prediction accuracy achieved with models M2, M3 and M4 as compared to M1 model. High prediction accuracies (> 0.600) were observed for days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, hundred seed weight, oleic acid, rust@90 days, rust@105 days and late leaf spot@90 days, while medium prediction accuracies (0.400–0.600) were obtained for pods/plant, shelling %, and total yield/plant. Assessment of comparative prediction accuracy for different GS models to perform selection for untested genotypes, and unobserved and unevaluated environments provided greater insights on potential application of GS breeding in groundnut

Twelve-month observational study of children with cancer in 41 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction Childhood cancer is a leading cause of death. It is unclear whether the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted childhood cancer mortality. In this study, we aimed to establish all-cause mortality rates for childhood cancers during the COVID-19 pandemic and determine the factors associated with mortality. Methods Prospective cohort study in 109 institutions in 41 countries. Inclusion criteria: children <18 years who were newly diagnosed with or undergoing active treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, retinoblastoma, Wilms tumour, glioma, osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, medulloblastoma and neuroblastoma. Of 2327 cases, 2118 patients were included in the study. The primary outcome measure was all-cause mortality at 30 days, 90 days and 12 months. Results All-cause mortality was 3.4% (n=71/2084) at 30-day follow-up, 5.7% (n=113/1969) at 90-day follow-up and 13.0% (n=206/1581) at 12-month follow-up. The median time from diagnosis to multidisciplinary team (MDT) plan was longest in low-income countries (7 days, IQR 3-11). Multivariable analysis revealed several factors associated with 12-month mortality, including low-income (OR 6.99 (95% CI 2.49 to 19.68); p<0.001), lower middle income (OR 3.32 (95% CI 1.96 to 5.61); p<0.001) and upper middle income (OR 3.49 (95% CI 2.02 to 6.03); p<0.001) country status and chemotherapy (OR 0.55 (95% CI 0.36 to 0.86); p=0.008) and immunotherapy (OR 0.27 (95% CI 0.08 to 0.91); p=0.035) within 30 days from MDT plan. Multivariable analysis revealed laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (OR 5.33 (95% CI 1.19 to 23.84); p=0.029) was associated with 30-day mortality. Conclusions Children with cancer are more likely to die within 30 days if infected with SARS-CoV-2. However, timely treatment reduced odds of death. This report provides crucial information to balance the benefits of providing anticancer therapy against the risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children with cancer

Pakshaghat and its Management through Panchakarma: A Case Study

Vata among tridosha is considered as the controller of everything in the Sharira. Vitated Vata itself effects the Dusyas which pervades the entire body or a part of it and gives rise to different types ailment is called Vatavyadhi. Pakshaghata is one of the important diseases of such criteria which is popularly known as Hemiplegia. A 60 years old male Patient, K/C/O of HTN Since 3 year & Stroke 3 Months ago complaining of Kinchita Vak-Aspastata (incomplete speech), Bhar-Vruddhi (Heaviness of left limbs), Vama bahu Karma alpata (Left upper limb weakness), Vama amsha sandhi stabhata (Left shoulder stiffness) since 3 Month. Patient was on various treatment methods for the past 2 months but did not get complete improvement. He came to Parul Ayurveda Hospital.  The patient was treated with Panchakarma procedure, Shamana Aushadhi and Physiotherapy. This study shows the effective result of Panchakarma treatment along with Shamana Aushadhi and Physiotherapy in Pakshaghata disease. It also helps to understand the pathophysiology of Pakshaghata through Ayurveda. In this study an attempt has been made to describe all Scientific effect of Panchakarma procedures, Shaman Aushadhis and effect of Physiotherapy has been explained in this case.&nbsp

Phylogenomic Based Comparative Studies on Indian and American Commensal Staphylococcus epidermidis Isolates

Staphylococcus epidermidis is a prominent commensal member of human skin microbiome and an emerging nosocomial pathogen, making it a good model organism to provide genomic insights, correlating its transition between commensalism and pathogenicity. While there are numerous studies to understand differences in commensal and pathogenic isolates, systematic efforts to understand variation and evolutionary pattern in multiple strains isolated from healthy individuals are lacking. In the present study, using whole genome sequencing and analysis, we report presence of diverse lineages of S. epidermidis isolates in healthy individuals from two geographically diverse locations of India and North America. Further, there is distinct pattern in the distribution of candidate gene(s) for pathogenicity and commensalism. The pattern is not only reflected in lineages but is also based on geographic origin of the isolates. This is evident by the fact that North American isolates under this study are more genomically dynamic and harbor pathogenicity markers in higher frequency. On the other hand, isolates of Indian origin are less genomically dynamic, harbor less pathogenicity marker genes and possess two unique antimicrobial peptide gene clusters. This study provides a basis to understand the nature of selection pressure in a key human skin commensal bacterium with implications in its management as an opportunistic pathogen

Understanding role of genome dynamics in host adaptation of gut commensal, L. reuteri

Lactobacillus reuteri is a gram-positive gut commensal and exhibits noteworthy adaptation to its vertebrate hosts. Host adaptation is often driven by inter-strain genome dynamics like expansion of insertion sequences that lead to acquisition and loss of gene(s) and creation of large dynamic regions. In this regard we carried in-house genome sequencing of large number of L. reuteri strains origination from human, chicken, pig and rodents. We further next generation sequence data in understanding invasion and expansion of an IS element in shaping genome of strains belonging to human associated lineage. Finally, we share our experience in high-throughput genomic library preparation and generating high quality sequence data of a very low GC bacterium like L. reuteri