Prevalence of hepatitis-C viral infection among opioid dependent injectable drug users: a study conducted at regional hospital drug de-addiction and treatment centre, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India

Background: There are a limited number of studies regarding the prevalence of hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV infections among the drug addicts in Himachal Pradesh; C virus (HCV) infection in north India especially Himachal with very high rates of substance abuse. The present study was attempted to study the prevalence of hepatitis C among the injectable drug users, which is more important in a country like India where viral hepatitis is estimated to be among the top ten causes of deaths.Methods: A study was conducted in 2019-2020 (July-April). HBsAg, anti-HBs, anti-HCV and anti-HIV tests in 235 drug addicts were studied. Urine samples obtained from drug addicts were analyzed for cannabis, opiate and cocaine metabolites.Results: The subjects included were 235 IDUs who were opioid dependent. All the 235 drug users were males, and their mean age was 30.69±9.494 years; 112 (47.7%) of them were in the age group ranging 20 - 29 years (p <0.05). Of 235 drug addicts, 113 (48.1%) and 115 (48.9%) were only cannabis and opiate users, respectively. The frequencies of HBsAg, anti-HBs and anti-HCV among drug addicts were 2.6%, 38.3%, and 9.4%, respectively.Conclusions: The obtained results showed that HCV infection was an alarming problem among opiate users in this part of Himachal. It is suggested to rapidly diagnose the infected persons; thus preventive measures and appropriate control may limit further transmission of these infections

Determination of the prevalence and pattern of menstrual disorders in college going adolescent girls in rural Haryana

Background: Adolescence is the transitional period from puberty to adulthood, causing rapid physical, cognitive, social and emotional changes. Any deviation of normal menstrual pattern is one of the reasons of severe stress and academic losses on many. The aim of the study was to determine prevalence and pattern of menstrual disorders in college going adolescent girls.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in a medical college of Gurugram district of Haryana, North India. A semi-structured, pretested questionnaire was used to ask about the characteristics of girl’s menstruation: age of menarche; regularity/irregularity of menstruation, interval and duration; presence of amenorrhoea; amount of blood loss; degree of pain during menstruation; activity during menstruation and BMI.Results: All the girls were in the age group 17 to 19 years i.e.; in the late adolescent period with the mean age of 18.2±0.7 3 years. 81.66% girls attained menarche between 12 to 14 years of age. 3.66% girls attained early menarche and 0.33% girls attained menarche late. 19 had scanty menstrual bleeding and 7 suffered from secondary amenorrhea. 27 girls suffered from heavy menstrual bleeding. 78.3% adolescent girls had various degrees of dysmenorrhea with 8.66% had severe dysmenorrhea. 17.66% girls had high BMI and 11% girls for underweight.Conclusions: There was a high prevalence of menstrual disorders among adolescent girls which affects their social and academic lives. Thus, more attention should be paid to identify and treat these menstrual morbidities

Primitive neuroectodermal tumor with inferior vena cava thrombus: A rare case report

Primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNETs) are rare type of small cell, aggressive tumors, commonly seen in the central nervoussystem, and PNET of the kidney with inferior vena cava thrombus is an extremely uncommon presentation of this entity. There are noestablished distinctive signs or radiological characteristics for diagnosis, but a majority of cases report positivity for CD99 marker.The patients usually present in the advanced stages of the disease and require progressive techniques of immunohistochemicalanalysis and expertise of multidisciplinary team of physicians to arrive at a correct diagnosis and have a proper management.Although rare, these tumors should be considered in the differential diagnosis of all patients with large renal masses, especially inthe younger population. We present a case of a 23-years-old female, with PNET of the left kidney, treated with radical nephrectomyand adjuvant chemotherapy

Evaluating substance use in an urbanizing town of mid hills of Northern India

Background: Substance use is emerging as a major cause of morbidity and mortality across the world. Solan, a fast urbanizing town of India has witnessed mushrooming of industries and educational institutes. A surge in the persons booked under the Narcotic Drug and Psychoactive Substance Act 1985 led us to look into the determinants of the substance use in this region.Methods: We undertook a cross sectional study of one year secondary data analysis of 750 substance users screened at the de-addiction centre of Solan Hospital. The data mining was done by the cluster analysis technique. SPSS 16 and STATA 13 software were employed.Results: Mean age of users was 31 years with dominance of males (89.20 %), two third of total users were married, 75% were unemployed, 42% had upper school level education. About 60 and 38% were using cannabis and chitta (a synthetic opioid) respectively. Only 2% were consuming tobacco and alcohol. 62% of substance users had the fear of legal action and 44% had no family history of substance use. 39% had only single parent, 54% had started substance use under peer pressure and duration of use varied between 6 to 24 months.  Alcohol and cannabis were used more in urban and rural areas respectively. 63 and 70% had family history and experience of peer pressure respectively.Conclusions: Cluster analysis has generated substance specific socio-demographic determinants of substance use which would help in planning appropriate substance use alleviation strategies.

Identification of Comamonas species using 16S rRNA gene sequence

A bacterial strain Bz02 was isolated from a water sample collected from river Gomti at the Indian city of Lucknow. We characterized the strain using 16S rRNA sequence. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the strain formed a monophyletic clade with members of the genus Comamonas. The closest phylogenetic relative was Comamonas testosteroni with 95% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity. It is proposed that the identified strain Bz02 be assigned as the type strain of a species of the genus Comamonas (Comamonas sp Bz02) based on 16S rRNA gene sequence search in Ribosomal Database Project, small subunit rRNA and large subunit rRNA databases together with the phylogenetic tree analysis. The sequence is deposted in GenBank with the accession number FJ211417

Chemical denaturants induced folding unfolding pathway of the recombinant zebrafish dihydrofolate reductase

148-156Denaturation of proteins plays a crucial part in cellular activities. In this study, we have investigated the folding unfolding pathways of zebrafish dihydrofolate reductase (zDHFR) in presence of different chemical denaturants which were found to be an influential factor for the refolding yield by UV-visible spectrophotometric analysis. The activity change of zDHFR has been observed in presence of three different denaturants like Acetic Acid (AcOH), Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate (SDS), and Ethanol (C2H5OH). Spectrophotometric analysis reveals that protein unfolded completely at different concentrations and times by these denaturants. The spontaneous refolding experiments of chemically denatured zDHFR were also conducted to verify the spontaneous refolding yield. These investigations have helped us to decipher a picture about the denaturants contributing to achieving the refolding yield. We observed that acetic acid is a stronger denaturant among all, and the spontaneous refolding yields were higher from SDS denaturation. In the light of the above findings, higher spontaneous refolding yields were obtained from the low concentration of denaturants

Patterns of migration/mobility and HIV risk among female sex workers: Andhra Pradesh 2007-08

This report presents the findings from the female sex workers study in Andhra Pradesh, India implemented by TNS India Private Limited and the Population Council in New Delhi. Specifically the study was undertaken to assess the volume and patterns of mobility of female sex workers; to describe the characteristics of mobile female sex workers; and too examine the determinants of HIV risk among female sex workers, with particular emphasis on mobility-related characteristics. The report concludes that targeting such highly mobile female sex workers in intervention programs requires a comprehensive understanding of their places of solicitation and sex. Female sex workers who move frequently to different places and who visit other areas for a short time are at greater risk of HIV, and special efforts are needed in HIV-prevention programs to address the needs of such workers

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal (AM) Fungi as a Tool for Sustainable Agricultural System

A sustainable agriculture is a type of agriculture that focuses on producing long-term crops and livestock without having any adverse effect on the environment. However, agricultural malpractices like excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, as well as climate change have aggravated the effects of biotic and abiotic stresses on crop productivity. These led to the degradation of ecosystem, leaving bad impacts on the soil qualities and water body environment. As an alternative to the rising agricultural energy, the use of Vesicular– Arbuscular Mycorrhizae (AM) may be a better option. Being natural root symbionts, AM provide essential inorganic nutrients to host plants, thereby improving its growth and yield even under stressed conditions. AM fungi can also potentially strengthen the adaptability of a plant to the changing environment, as a bio-fertilizer. The chapter provides a comprehensive up-to-date knowledge on AM fungi as a tool for sustainable agricultural system. Thus, further research focusing on the AM -mediated promotion of crop quality and productivity is needed

Promoting gender equity as a strategy to reduce HIV risk and gender-based violence among young men in India

The Horizons Program, CORO for Literacy, MAMTA, and Instituto Promundo developed, piloted, and scaled-up a behavior-change intervention in India to examine the effectiveness of interventions to improve young men’s attitudes toward gender roles and sexual relationships, and to reduce HIV risk behaviors and partner violence. The results of this study suggest that young men became less supportive of inequitable gender norms after participating in the interventions. Similarly, there were significant improvements among intervention participants in key outcome indicators, including condom use, partner communication, partner violence, and attitudes toward PLHIV. To maximize the chances of long-term sustainability of these positive changes, there is a need to regularly reinforce the messages related to alternative forms of masculinity and to further facilitate a supportive environment for these changes. While findings suggest that the interventions were successful in a variety of ways, the study showed that change in attitudes and behaviors is a complex process. Promoting gender equity takes ongoing effort, but led to some important changes that resulted in reduced HIV risk for the young men and their partners