Agroforestry systems practiced in Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh, India

Chhattisgarh state has very diverse forest ecosystem and long history of traditional agroforestry. An agroforestry practice is location specific and depends on nature of agro-climatic zone. In Chhattisgarh, farmers are doing this farming practices based on fulfilling their diverse need and improvement of socioeconomic condition but stilldata is insufficient to explore more agroforestry practices in the state. In this context, assessment of different agroforestry models gives not only sufficient data but also open a door for conservation of biological diversity.. Different models like’s Boundary plantations, Agri-silviculture system, Horti-silvicuture, Silvi-pasture, Kitchen garden and Block plantation are used by farmers in Dhamtari. All models are dependent on location characteristic, land use type, soil type, climate and market requirement. This paper highlights the different models of Agroforestry, specific model for the specific sites, lacuna in models faced by farmers and role of agroforestry models in socioeconomic upliftment

ROLE OF MRI IN EVALUATION OF EPILEPSY IN PEDIATRIC AGE GROUP IN A TERTIARY CARE CENTRE OF JHARKHAND, INDIA- A PROSPECTIVE STUDY.

Background: Childhood epilepsy is a prevalent neurological disorder. Imaging, especially MRI of the brain, plays a pivotal role in diagnosing the underlying cause. This study aimed to assess the frequency of causative factors of epilepsy detected in MRI. Materials and Methods: This hospital-based prospective observational study was conducted in the Radiology Department at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi, Jharkhand, India from November 2021 to October 2022 in 100 children of 0 to 12 years of age referred from Pediatrics department for an MRI brain scan. MRI of the brain was performed in all cases and findings were analyzed and causes of epilepsy were assessed. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) was also done when required for confirmation of diagnosis. Results: Positive findings in MRI were detected in 87% of children, and no abnormalities were detected in 13%. The majority of children belonged to the age group of 10-12 years (37%) and were predominantly males (66%). The most common cause of epilepsy was infections (27%) followed by hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (22%). Tuberculoma was the most common infective cause of epilepsy in 59.3%. These were further followed by temporal lobe epilepsy and congenital malformations (11% each). The rest were other miscellaneous and idiopathic causes. Conclusion: MRI findings were specific to various conditions, helping in the localization and characterization of etiologies and playing a significant role in the evaluation of children who were newly diagnosed with epilepsy, especially those with partial seizures. Recommendation: Further research with a larger sample size and meta-analysis is recommended for more conclusive results

Comparative study of laparoscopic appendicectomy versus open appendicectomy in appenidicitis patients

Laparoscopy in patients with a clinical suspicion of acute appendicitis has not gained wide acceptance and its use remails controversial. Laparoscopic appendicectomy has been shown to be both feasible and safe in randomized comparisons with open appendicectomy. In addition to improved diagnostic accuracy, laparoscopic appendicectomy confers advantages in terms of fewer wound infection,less pain faster recovery and earlier return to work. However laparoscopic appendicectomy is more time consuming is associated with increased hospital costs. It has been argued that the advantages of laparoscopic appendicectomy achieved by experienced laparoscopic surgeons are marginal compared with open appendicectomy, which can also be performed by surgeons in training through a short, cosmetically acceptable incision with minimal complications and a short hospital stay. Although the most people have concluded that the laparoscopic technique is as least good as open technique, there has been considerable controversy as whether laparoscopy is superior. Aims and Objectives: In this study the different aspects, e.g. intra operative diagnosis, operating time and other advantages and complications of laparoscopic appendicectomy were observed and compared to that of open appendicectomy in our setup.Materials and Methods:The present prospective study has been carried out in the Department of General Surgery, Rajendra Institute Of Medical Sciences, Ranchi from September 2020 to August 2021. 50 patients presented in the hospital with the clinical features of acute appendicitis were selected for the study. These patients were divided into two groups in a random way, 25 patients underwent open surgery and 25 patients underwent laparoscopic surgery.Conclusion :Laparoscopic appendicectomy has the advantage to directly visualize the entire peritoneal cavity and can deal with other associated pathologies. Besides good cosmesis it has the disadvantage of being expensive and having increasing operating time. Complicated cases may have to converted to open procedure. Open appendicectomy is not only cheap and faster but also has good cosmesis in uncomplicated cases. Even the complicated cases can be managed better and has lower incidence of residual intra abdominal abscess. So to conclude open appendicectomy is safe, cost effective and remains the procedure of choice in our set up

A multigene phylogeny reveals the occurrence of fourteen dominant Penicillium species in India

168-181Penicillium contains 483 accepted species worldwide but the occurrence of predominant species in India is still unknown. Therefore, 35 isolates of 15 different states of India were procured from Indian Type Culture Collection (ITCC), New Delhi. All these isolates were made into eight species of Penicillium viz., “P. aethiopium”, “P. chrysogenum”, “P. crustosum”, “P. mononematosum”, “P. oxalicum”, “P. polonicum”, “P. singorense”, “P. spinulosum” and one species of “Talaromyces pinophilus” based on morphology and multigene analysis comprises ITS, cal, rpb2 and β–tub genes. Phylogenetic analyses using these sequences through maximum parsimonious method showed β-tub gene as a potential region for DNA barcoding to differentiate the species of Penicillium with maximum inter population diversity (2.15), coefficient of differentiation (8.54), barcode gap (1.93) and probability of correct identification (0.081) and it can be used as secondary barcode apart from ITS as universal primary barcode. The β-tub gene was also validated using six more species of Penicillium (P. canescens, P. daleae, P. janthinillum, P. ochrochloron, P. simplicissimum and P. vasconiae) isolated from soils of Delhi and Meghalaya states, where all the species showed clear differentiation from one another. In conclusion, fourteen predominant Penicillium species was established through morpho-molecular approach and three Penicillium species (P. mononematosum, P. singorense and P. vasconiae) were reported first time from India and β-tub sequence-based identification was the best to confirm the morphological based identification

Phase III Pivotal comparative clinical trial of intranasal (iNCOVACC) and intramuscular COVID 19 vaccine (Covaxin®)

Abstract One of the most preferable characteristics for a COVID-19 vaccine candidate is the ability to reduce transmission and infection of SARS-CoV-2, in addition to disease prevention. Unlike intramuscular vaccines, intranasal COVID-19 vaccines may offer this by generating mucosal immunity. In this open-label, randomised, multicentre, phase 3 clinical trial (CTRI/2022/02/40065; ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05522335), healthy adults were randomised to receive two doses, 28 days apart, of either intranasal adenoviral vectored SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (BBV154) or licensed intramuscular vaccine, Covaxin®. Between April 16 and June 4, 2022, we enrolled 3160 subjects of whom, 2971 received 2 doses of BBV154 and 161 received Covaxin. On Day 42, 14 days after the second dose, BBV154 induced significant serum neutralization antibody titers against the ancestral (Wuhan) virus, which met the pre-defined superiority criterion for BBV154 over Covaxin®. Further, both vaccines showed cross protection against Omicron BA.5 variant. Salivary IgA titers were found to be higher in BBV154. In addition, extensive evaluation of T cell immunity revealed comparable responses in both cohorts due to prior infection. However, BBV154 showed significantly more ancestral specific IgA-secreting plasmablasts, post vaccination, whereas Covaxin recipients showed significant Omicron specific IgA-secreting plasmablasts only at day 42. Both vaccines were well tolerated. Overall reported solicited reactions were 6.9% and 25.5% and unsolicited reactions were 1.2% and 3.1% in BBV154 and Covaxin® participants respectively