Managing aplastic anaemia in pregnancy: a unique obstetric challenge

Aplastic anaemia during pregnancy poses a unique obstetric challenge due to its rarity and potential life-threatening consequences. This article explores the intricate management of aplastic anaemia in pregnancy through a detailed case report of a 23-year-old primigravida. Despite the absence of clear guidelines, the patient successfully navigated pregnancy with multiple transfusions, presenting a compelling example of obstetric and neonatal success. The discussion digs into the complex relationship between pregnancy and aplastic anaemia, emphasizing the need for a multidisciplinary approach and careful decision-making to balance maternal and foetal well-being. The conclusion highlights the importance of a comprehensive strategy, including vigilant transfusion techniques, foetal growth monitoring, and delivery planning at tertiary centres

Integrated nutrient management for improving crop yields, soil properties, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions

Recently, most agrarian countries have witnessed either declining or stagnant crop yields. Inadequate soil organic matter (SOM) due to the poor physical, chemical, and biological properties of the soil leads to an overall decline in the productivity of farmlands. Therefore, the adoption of integrated nutrient management (INM) practices is vital to revive sustainable soil health without compromising yield potential. Integrated nutrient management is a modified nutrient management technique with multifarious benefits, wherein a combination of all possible sources of plant nutrients is used in a crop nutrition package. Several studies conducted in various parts of the world have demonstrated the benefits of INM in terms of steep gain in soil health and crop yields and at the same time, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other related problems. The INM practice in the cropped fields showed a 1,355% reduction in methane over conventional nutrient management. The increase in crop yields due to the adoption of INM over conventional nutrient management was as high as 1.3% to 66.5% across the major cropping systems. Owing to the integration of organic manure and residue retention in INM, there is a possibility of significant improvement in soil aggregates and microbiota. Furthermore, most studies conducted to determine the impact of INM on soil health indicated a significant increase in overall soil health, with lower bulk density, higher porosity, and water-holding capacity. Overall, practicing INM would enhance soil health and crop productivity, in addition to decreasing environmental pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and production costs

Penile entrapment: A case where innovation is the need of the hour

Penile entrapment is a rare and unique condition requiring urgent decompression to preserve the organ function and prevent complications. There is no universal method that is applicable to all cases as there are hardly any guidelines. Management of a 35-year-old male who presented to our emergency room with a metal ring around his penis has been described here. The case report highlights the need to devise one's own method to decompress the entrapped penis based on the available technology and manpower on hand in a given situation

Use of a stopwatch to measure ejaculatory latency may not be accurate among Indian patients

Introduction: Although the use of a stopwatch is recommended to record intravaginal ejaculatory latency time (IELT) for premature ejaculation, there is no Indian literature which assesses the reliability of this method among our patients. Hence, we assessed the accuracy of stopwatch-measured IELT and compared it with other methods such as number of thrusts and self-assessed IELT in an Indian context. Methods: Between January 2015 and December 2015, couples with premature ejaculation (PE) confirmed with the Premature Ejaculation Diagnostic Tool were enrolled in this study. They were asked to report self-assessed IELT for the first 2 weeks, number of thrusts before ejaculation following vaginal penetration for the next 2 weeks, and stopwatch-clocked IELT for the last 2 weeks. At each 2-week interval, the couples answered erectile/ejaculatory performance anxiety index questionnaire (EPAI). The data were analyzed at the end of 6 weeks. Results: A total of 42 couples with an average married life of 5.53 years were included in the study. Average stopwatch-clocked IELT was almost 1 min more than the self-reported IELT, which was statistically significant. The average number of thrusts reported was 6.31. Anxiety on the EPAI scale was maximum while using stopwatch to measure IELT. Conclusion: Use of stopwatch to clock the IELT does not appear to represent true IELT in Indian patients. Self-assessed IELT correlated more accurately with symptoms of PE

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Not AvailableImproving oil yield of Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) is exigent as it is a major oilseed crop of Indian subcontinent, which has severe shortage of vegetable oil production in the world. Some of the regulators of seed development have been shown to improve oil yield in Arabidopsis. Arabidopsis KLUH (AtKLUH), a maternal regulator of seed size, has been shown to control seed oil content. In this study, we identified three homologs of AtKLUH in B. juncea, BjKLUH1, BjKLUH2-1 and BjKLUH2-2. We observed that BjKLUH1 differentially expresses in developing seeds in B. juncea accessions with varying seed size and oil content. Further, analyses for seed oil content in B. juncea transgenics carrying AtKLUH demonstrated an increase in seed oil up to 8.3% compared to wild-type plants. The results of this study suggest that KLUH may have a role in seed development and is a good candidate for engineering seed oil accumulation in B. juncea.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableWild relatives of Brassica are a rich reservoir of genes that are invaluable for the improvement of cultivated species. Sinapis alba is a close relative of crop Brassicas that possesses several desirable traits such as tolerance to Alternaria black spot disease, heat stress, insect pests and nematodes. This study is aimed at developing and characterizing hybrids between Brassica juncea and S. alba with the ultimate goal of transferring genes for tolerance to Alternaria brassicae and heat stress, the traits that are lacking in cultivated Brassica. We generated three hybrids between B. juncea and S. alba through protoplast fusion. The hybridity was confirmed through cytology and molecular markers. While two of the hybrids were symmetric, the third one was asymmetric and had greater resemblance to B. juncea. Hybrids showed some characteristic features of the parents and were fully male and female fertile and also set seeds upon back crossing with the parent species. In vitro leaf assay and field inoculation studies revealed that the hybrids are highly resistant to A. brassicae. Besides, hybrids set seeds at temperature of >38 °C when parents failed to produce seeds indicating that hybrids possess heat tolerance. These stable hybrids provide a reliable genetic resource for transfer of genes from S. alba into cultivated Brassica speciesNot Availabl