Stability of visual acuity after cessation of occlusion therapy in patients of amblyopia

Background: It is generally recognized that most children with amblyopia have an improvement of visual acuity (VA) with treatment, little is known about the course of vision once treatment is decreased or stopped in a child. The treatment of amblyopia in children is frequently discussed in the literature; however, there is a lack of research into which method of treatment cessation is the most appropriate once therapy has been completed. We undertook this specifically designed prospective study to directly compare the potential relationship between the method of therapy cessation and the short-term (12-weeks) recurrence of amblyopia.Methods: Fifty children of 5-14 years of age group with different types of amblyopia fulfilling the inclusion criteria were included in the study. Once BCVA was achieved, the subjects were randomized into one of two groups; abrupt cessation group or therapy tapering group. In subjects of tapered group occlusion was reduced from full-time occlusion to 50% of waking hours at BCVA and then additional by 50% at the 4-week’s study visit with occlusion being discontinued completely at the 8-week’s visit. All subjects in the abrupt cessation group stopped their full-time occlusion completely at the Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA). All subjects were followed for 3 consecutive 4-weeks intervals, for a total of 12 weeks, to assess the short-term recurrence rate of amblyopia.Results: The overall results show that at 12-weeks study outcome visit, 9 of the 50 subjects developed recurrence. Out of the total of 9 recurrences, 5 (20%) occurred in abrupt cessation group and 4 (16%) occurred in gradual cessation group. Comparing the time of occurrence of recurrence of amblyopia between the 2 studied groups, the recurrence of amblyopia was more during first 4 weeks of study 60% in abrupt group, whereas in gradual group all the recurrences occurred between 8 and 12 weeks visits. The pre-treatment VA and BCVA had a significant impact on the recurrence of amblyopia.Conclusions: In present study, the results demonstrate that the overall risk of amblyopia recurrence is 18% and the difference in the risk of amblyopia recurrence between the abrupt cessation group and the gradual cessation group (20% vs. 16%) is not statistically significant

Dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome-rare complication of dapsone therapy

Among several other adverse effects of dapsone therapy, dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome is extremely rare but most life-threatening complication. Here we report a case of severe dapsone hypersensitivity syndrome in a 27-year-old female student diagnosed as immune thrombocytopenic purpura on dapsone therapy who was admitted with remittent fever, lymphadenopathy and skin rash and was managed successfully with drug withdrawal and systemic glucocorticoid therapy. The idea of reporting this case is to recognise the rare potentially life threatening adverse effect of dapsone therapy, its timely diagnosis and favourable outcome with systemic glucocorticoid therapy

Patient safety with special reference to adverse events taking place in the cases discussed in mortality and morbidity meets

Background: There is an increasing belief that an institution’s ability to avoid patient harm will be realized when it creates a culture of safety among its staff members. Aims to study the cases discussed in mortality meets.Methods: Critical analysis of cases discussed in mortality and morbidity meet were done for one year by using WHO Structured questionnaire on patient safety (RF-1 & RF-2 forms) along with their record review and interview to the concerned staff.Results: 62 mortality and morbidity meetings were conducted during the study period of one year. Cardiac/ Respiratory arrest was the most common adverse event studied (67.7%) followed by unexpected death (48.4%). 52.7% of studied adverse events showed signs of healthcare team responsible for causing adverse events, mainly related to the therapeutic care (64.8%). 47% of adverse events were categorized preventable.Conclusions: Mortality and Morbidity Meets should be made mandatory in all hospitals

Patient safety with reference to the occurrence of adverse events in admitted patients on the basis of incident reporting in a tertiary care hospital in North India

Background: A good quality report should lend itself for detailed analysis of the chain of events that lead to the incident. This knowledge can then be used to consider what interventions, and at what level in the chain, can prevent the incident from occurring again. Aim was to study the occurrence of adverse events on the basis of incident reporting.Methods: Critical analysis of incident reporting of adverse events taking place in admitted patients for one year by using WHO Structured questionnaire on patient safety (RF-1 & RF-2 forms) along with their record review and interview to the concerned staff.Results: 253 incidents of adverse events were reported during the study period of one year. Most common screening criteria being, Patient/family dissatisfaction with care received, documented or expressed during the current (221 incidents i.e. 87.35%), followed by hospital acquired infection/sepsis (29 incidents i.e. 11.46%). 13 incidents (5.13%) were reported for unexpected deaths due to adverse events. 38.9% of reported adverse events studied showed signs of health care team responsible for causing adverse events. 39% of adverse events were found preventable and 61% of adverse event was found non-preventable.Conclusions: Incident reporting of adverse events should be encouraged in all hospitals. 

A comparative study on patient safety with reference to methods of detection of adverse events in a tertiary care hospital in North India

Background:Considerable investments have been made to devise methods to detect actual and potential adverse events in health care in order to address risk and improve patient safety. Objective of the study was to compare the methods of detection of number of adverse events taking place in admitted patients.Method: A prospective study for a period of one year. Three adverse events detection modules were studied, i.e. current record review, Incident reporting and cases discussed in Mortality Meets. A World Health Organization structured questionnaire on patient safety Review form-1 (RF-1) and Review form-2 (RF-2) was used. RF-1 form was used to screen adverse events. Screened positive patients were subjected to RF-2 form to calculate preventability of adverse events. Adverse events as well as preventability were compared to detect the preferred module of detection of errors in care.Results: Current record review was able to detect 15.5% of adverse events with 71.33% preventability. Incident reporting module was able to detect only 0.73% of adverse events with 39% of preventability and mortality meets were able to study only 0.17% of adverse events with 47% of preventability.Conclusion: Current record review was found to be preferred module of detection of adverse events.

Participatory rural appraisal and farmers’ perception about common bean varieties in temperate Kashmir

Present investigation was undertaken during 2012 to 2014 in which 54 genotypes, both pole and bush type of Common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) were selected among a number of germplasm lines, land races and research material in order to generate information on the farmer’s’ perception about the Common bean varieties. Participatory rural appraisal was conducted in 32 villages of Kashmir through a broad questionnaires comprising of questions pertaining to the socio-economic conditions, farming systems, production constraints and varietal preferences of the common bean. The Participatory Rural Appraisal results revealed that common bean is generally grown as a rainfed crop (70 %) and is intercropped with maize/ potato/vegetable and merely as sole crop (20.66 %). Low yielding varieties and diseases (68.27 %) are considered as major challenges in the success of common bean crop, while as red colour with kidney shaped types (50 %) are highly being preferred as a pulse crop. The exercise of Participatory Rural Appraisal was carried out to generate basic information by assessing the need based constraints and devise the target breeding approach, by taking into consideration all constraints and also devise future breeding programme. A successful PRA provides the information needed to specify the characteristic in a new variety regarding its physical environment and the existing varietal diversity. For a breeding program, well applied Participatory Rural Appraisal techniques or customer profiling results in better client orientation and makes possible efficient goal setting or product design. Successful PRA provides everything that could be included in the full design specification of a new crop variety

Effects of foliar application of melatonin on gas exchange and certain biochemical characteristics broccoli cv. Palam Samridhi

Considering the rich nutritional status and possibility of broccoli in improving the profitable yield, and wide role of Mel in regulating the plant physiological process, an investigation was carried out at the division of Basic Sciences and Humanities during 2017 to investigate the effect of foliar application of Mel on leaf photosynthetic and biochemical attributes broccoli. Thirty days old and uniform seedlings of broccoli cv. Palam Samridhi were transplanted in the field at a spacing of 45 × 45cm. Different concentrations of Mel, viz. 0, 20, 40, 60 and 80 ppm were sprayed on the plant foliage at 15 days after transplanting (DAT) replicating each treatment four times. Leaf gas exchange and biochemical attributes were tested following the standard procedures. The Results showed the lowest stipulated rate of photosynthesis (10.87 µmole.m-2.sec-1), stomatal conductance (301.44 mole H2O.m-2ses-1) and leaf transpiration (1. 14 mole H2O.m-2ses-1) in untreated plants.  Different doses of Mel significantly increased the values of these attributes and the highest values of photosynthesis (18.63 µmole.m-2.sec-1), stomatal conductance (324.37 mmole.m-2.ses-1) and leaf transpiration (3.23 mmole.m-2.ses-1) with Mel 60 ppm were recorded. The alterations in different biochemical attributes were also evident due to foliar application of Mel and maximum leaf sugar (77.0 and 85.9µg/g), protein (56.9 and 77.3 µg/g), total phenols (260.1 and 339.9 mg/100g), antioxidants (142.8 and 159.9 mg GAE /100g DW) and MSI (94.89 and 97.43 percent) values with Mel 60ppm at 30 and 60DAT, respectively. Therefore, the present study signifies the useful effects of Mel in regulating the physio-biochemical properties of broccoli

Genome-wide association analysis to delineate high-quality SNPs for seed micronutrient density in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Chickpea is the most important nutrient-rich grain legume crop in the world. A diverse core set of 147 chickpea genotypes was genotyped with a Axiom(®)50K CicerSNP array and trait phenotyped in two different environments for four seed micronutrients (Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn). The trait data and high-throughput 50K SNP genotypic data were used for the genome-wide association study (GWAS). The study led to the discovery of genes/QTLs for seed Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn, concentrations in chickpea. The analysis of seed micronutrient data revealed significant differences for all four micronutrient concentrations (P ≤ 0.05). The mean concentrations of seed Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn pooled over the 2 years were 45.9 ppm, 63.8 ppm 146.1 ppm, and 27.0 ppm, respectively. The analysis of results led to the identification of 35 SNPs significantly associated with seed Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn concentrations. Among these 35 marker-trait associations (MTAs), 5 were stable (consistently identified in different environments), 6 were major (explaining more than 15% of the phenotypic variation for an individual trait) and 3 were both major and stable MTAs. A set of 6 MTAs, MTAs (3 for Mn, 2 for Fe, and 1 for Cu) reported by us during the present study have been also reported in the same/almost same genomic regions in earlier studies and therefore declared as validated MTAs. The stable, major and validated MTAs identified during the present study will prove useful in future chickpea molecular breeding programs aimed at enhancing the seed nutrient density of chickpea

Genome‑wide association analysis to delineate high‑quality SNPs for seed micronutrient density in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Chickpea is the most important nutrient-rich grain legume crop in the world. A diverse core set of 147 chickpea genotypes was genotyped with a Axiom(®)50K CicerSNP array and trait phenotyped in two different environments for four seed micronutrients (Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn). The trait data and high-throughput 50K SNP genotypic data were used for the genome-wide association study (GWAS). The study led to the discovery of genes/QTLs for seed Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn, concentrations in chickpea. The analysis of seed micronutrient data revealed significant differences for all four micronutrient concentrations (P ≤ 0.05). The mean concentrations of seed Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn pooled over the 2 years were 45.9 ppm, 63.8 ppm 146.1 ppm, and 27.0 ppm, respectively. The analysis of results led to the identification of 35 SNPs significantly associated with seed Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn concentrations. Among these 35 marker-trait associations (MTAs), 5 were stable (consistently identified in different environments), 6 were major (explaining more than 15% of the phenotypic variation for an individual trait) and 3 were both major and stable MTAs. A set of 6 MTAs, MTAs (3 for Mn, 2 for Fe, and 1 for Cu) reported by us during the present study have been also reported in the same/almost same genomic regions in earlier studies and therefore declared as validated MTAs. The stable, major and validated MTAs identified during the present study will prove useful in future chickpea molecular breeding programs aimed at enhancing the seed nutrient density of chickpea

SSR markers in revealing extent of genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships among chickpea core collection accessions for Western Himalayas

Background The exploration of genetic diversity is the key source of germplasm conservation and potential to broaden its genetic base. The globally growing demand for chickpea suggests superior/climate-resilient varieties, which in turn necessitates the germplasm characterization to unravel underlying genetic variation. Methodology and results A chickpea core collection comprising of diverse 192 accessions which include cultivated Cicer arietinum, and wild C. reticulatum, C. echinospermum, and C. microphyllum species were investigated to analyze their genetic diversity and relationship, by assaying 33 unlinked simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The results amplified a total of 323 alleles (Na), ranging from 2 to 8 with an average of 4.25 alleles per locus. Expected heterozygosity (He) differed from 0.46 to 0.86 with an average of 0.68. Polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged from 0.73 to 0.98 with an average of 0.89. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed that most of the variation was among individuals (87%). Cluster analysis resulted in the formation of four distinct clusters. Cluster I represented all cultivated and clusters II, III, and IV comprised a heterogeneous group of cultivated and wild chickpea accessions. Conclusion We report considerable diversity and greater resolving power of SSR markers for assessing variability and interrelationship among the chickpea accessions. The chickpea core is expected to be an efficient resource for breeders for broadening the chickpea genetic base and could be useful for selective breeding of desirable traits and in the identification of target genes for genomics-assisted breeding