Marital adjustment in spouses of the patient with obsessive compulsive disorder

Background: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) creates challenges for both patients and their family system and affects several areas of life. This is a long-lived disorder that affects about 2.3% of the general population. Marital relationship is the foundation of family life due to the union between a male and a female as husband and wife but the presence of OCD hamper the smooth and usual functioning of marital life adjustment.  Aim: The present study aims to assess the marital adjustment of the spouses of a patient with obsessive compulsive disorder. Materials and Method: The study included a total of thirty-three patients diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder along with their spouses. Participants were recruited from OPD/IPD, at the Institute of Mental Health, Pt. B D Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana. This study was a cross-sectional hospital-based research. The severity of symptoms was assessed by Yale Brown’s obsessive-compulsive scale, and a Marital Adjustment questionnaire was used for assessing marital life, Written informed consent was taken from the participants before starting the information gathering. The socio-demographic profile of the patient and their spouse were recorded on a self-designed proforma for the study. Results: Only one (33.3%) male and two third (66.7%) female individuals participated in the study. The Y-BOCS score indicated that most of the participants suffered from severe levels of symptoms 45.5%, and only 3.0% of participants were living with extreme levels. The mean value of the overall Marital Adjustment Questionnaire (MAQ) score was 31.00 indicative of poor marital adjustment among the participants. Conclusion: Both male and female spouses have significant deterioration in marital adjustment. Keywords:  Obsessive compulsive disorder, spouses, marital adjustmen

A VACCINATION APPROACH TO DEVELOP EXPERIMENTAL MODEL OF MALARIA VIA IMMUNIZATION OF MICE AGAINST PLASMODIUM YOELII NIGERIENSIS SOLUBLE ANTIGENS USING QS-21 AS ADJUVANT

Objective: Malaria is the deadliest infectious diseases affecting millions of people worldwide. Several strategies have been under extensive research since decades including chemoprophylaxis and other disease antimalarial interventions like malaria vaccine. The vaccine development is more difficult to predict than drug development and presents a unique challenge as already there has been no vaccine effective against a parasite. For development and screening of malaria vaccine, a suitable animal model is the prime requirement. Non-human primate models are considerably a good choice to mimic human malarias, but due to various reasons like ethical, cost effective, maintenance and relative ease of conducting experiments. Rodent's malaria vaccination models remain the preferred choice. Methods: To develop such model we required 100% lethal host/parasite system that would be an ideal system for experimental vaccination studies. Such a rigorous model is particularly required for the identification and development of suitable adjuvant/co-adjuvant(s) for future human malaria vaccines. Results: Because, P. yoelii nigeriensis invariably causes a 100% lethal fulminating infection in Swiss mice, so in present studies, we vaccinate Swiss mice with P. yoelii nigeriensis total P. yoelii nigeriensis - Soluble antigen (Pyn-SA)and saponin as adjuvant, following 100% lethal study homologous challenge and then followed by passive transfer of experiment. Conclusion: P. yoelii nigeriensis caused a fulminant 100% lethal infection in mice (as saw in the control groups). The protection observed in the vaccinated group of mice can be unambiguously ascribed to vaccine-induced protective immunity only

DEVELOPMENT AND IN VITRO-IN VIVO EVALUATION OF GLIPIZIDE LOADED MULTIUNIT PULSATILE FORMULATION FOR TREATMENT OF DIABETIC PATIENTS

The aim of the present study was to develop oral multiparticulate pulsatile drug delivery system for hypoglycemic agent ‘glipizide'. Time dependent rupturable system was selected for delivering glipizide in a pulsatile pattern. In the present study, two types of particles were prepared i. e. Type 1 (immediate release type) and Type 2 (delayed release type). Extrusion and spheronization process was selected to prepare particles, wherein lactose and microcrystalline cellulose mixture (2:1) was used as processing aid. Various parameters of extrusion and spheronization process were optimized in order to meet desired particle size distribution, shape and flow properties. Immediate release Type 1 particle was optimized to achieve more than 80% drug release within 30 min for which surfactant approach was employed to overcome the dissolution rate related issue of the glipizide. Delayed release pattern of Type 2 particles was achieved by coating hydroxypropylmethylcellulose and ethyl cellulose. Various coating parameters were optimized to attain efficient coating of the particles. Different concentrations of hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (5 and 3.5% w/w E-15 grade) and ethyl cellulose (5 and 3% w/w) were studied for release pattern for Type 2 particles. Final formulation was characterized using for particles size, flow properties and surface morphology. To examine the drug release, dissolution studies were performed. Pharmacokinetics studies in Sprague Dawley rats reveal improved oral bioavailability of glipizide following oral administration

Lower Socio-economic Status and Cardiovascular Disease: Role of Healthcare Facility and Policy in India

Background: Cardio-vascular disease (CVD) is one of the main cause of mortality Worldwide and India is no exception. Unlike developed countries, where both CVD prevalence and mortality has been established to affect lower socio-economic status (SES), in India there is no consensus among researchers over socio-economic patterning of CVD prevalence but the mortality rate has been reported to disproportionately affect the economically weaker sections. Aims & Objectives: This article, focuses at the issue of how lack of good healthcare facilities and non-supportive health policies are affecting CVD mortality positively among lower SES of India. Challenges of the Indian healthcare system in context of lower SES can be described in terms of the issue of availability, accessibility and affordability. Inadequate policy and public healthcare system either leads to the problem of high Out-of-Pocket Payments (OPP) or opting out of the treatment, which further increases poverty and mortality among them. Moreover, limited insurance coverage and inadequate regulatory policies for alcohol and tobacco-leading CVD risk factors among lower SES groups – do little to discourage its use among them. Conclusion: Since, lower SES people in India are already under the burden of communicable diseases, government should take immediate steps to control the mortality among them by creating a supportive environment through pro-poor health policies and healthcare facilities

In Silico Identification and Comparative Genomics of Candidate Genes Involved in Biosynthesis and Accumulation of Seed Oil in Plants

Genes involved in fatty acids biosynthesis, modification and oil body formation are expected to be conserved in structure and function in different plant species. However, significant differences in the composition of fatty acids and total oil contents in seeds have been observed in different plant species. Comparative genomics was performed on 261 genes involved in fatty acids biosynthesis, TAG synthesis, and oil bodies formation in Arabidopsis, Brassica rapa, castor bean and soybean. In silico expression analysis revealed that stearoyl desaturase, FatB, FAD2, oleosin and DGAT are highly abundant in seeds, thereby considered as ideal candidates for mining of favorable alleles in natural population. Gene structure analysis for major genes, ACCase, FatA, FatB, FAD2, FAD3 and DGAT, which are known to play crucial role in oil synthesis revealed that there are uncommon variations (SNPs and INDELs) which lead to varying content and composition of fatty acids in seed oil. The predicted variations can provide good targets for seed oil QTL identification, understanding the molecular mechanism of seed oil accumulation, and genetic modification to enhance seed oil yield in plants

Repertoire of SSRs in the Castor Bean Genome and Their Utilization in Genetic Diversity Analysis in Jatropha curcas

Castor bean and Jatropha contain seed oil of industrial importance, share taxonomical and biochemical similarities, which can be explored for identifying SSRs in the whole genome sequence of castor bean and utilized in Jatropha curcas. Whole genome analysis of castor bean identified 5,80,986 SSRs with a frequency of 1 per 680 bp. Genomic distribution of SSRs revealed that 27% were present in the non-genic region whereas 73% were also present in the putative genic regions with 26% in 5′UTRs, 25% in introns, 16% in 3′UTRs and 6% in the exons. Dinucleotide repeats were more frequent in introns, 5′UTRs and 3′UTRs whereas trinucleotide repeats were predominant in the exons. The transferability of randomly selected 302 SSRs, from castor bean to 49 J. curcas genotypes and 8 Jatropha species other than J. curcas, showed that 211 (∼70%) amplified on Jatropha out of which 7.58% showed polymorphisms in J. curcas genotypes and 12.32% in Jatropha species. The higher rate of transferability of SSR markers from castor bean to Jatropha coupled with a good level of PIC (polymorphic information content) value (0.2 in J. curcas genotypes and 0.6 in Jatropha species) suggested that SSRs would be useful in germplasm analysis, linkage mapping, diversity studies and phylogenetic relationships, and so forth, in J. curcas as well as other Jatropha species

Investigation of fixed point of copper in the metal-in-graphite blackbody cavity using standard photoelectric linear pyrometer

The phase transition temperature of high purity copper has been used as fixed point temperature to calibrate standard thermometers of both contact as well as non-contact type. In the present work the freezing point of copper has been measured by a spectral radiation pyrometer using copper-in-graphite black body crucible fabricated in the form of a cavity with an aperture of 10 mm. A recently procured detector based photoelectric pyrometer, LP4 has been used as transfer standard in the measurement process. The output signal of photocurrent due to radiation from the source of copper blackbody cavity at wavelength of 650 nm in vacuum has been measured during the period when metal changes its phase from solid to liquid and liquid to solid. The stability of fixed point has been determined from the melting and freezing curves plotted between the photocurrent or corresponding temperature and the time period of the whole cycle. The uncertainty in the measurement of copper point has been evaluated to be ± 0.530 ºC and thus the copper freezing point has been determined to be 1083.41 ºC (± 0.53 ºC, at k =2) differing from the assigned value in the international temperature scale of 1990 (ITS-90) by 1.21 ºC lower while the melting point of copper has been determined to be 1084.23 °C differing by 0.39 °C lower respectively than the defined value of ITS-90

Combining ability studies for yield and contributing traits in okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench)

The present investigation was carried out to identify desirable parents and F1 hybrids in okra by involving eight diverse parents in a diallel mating design excluding reciprocals. Genotypes i.e., P-20 and VRO-4 for earliness; 9801 for first fruit producing node (-0.085), internodal length (-0.659) and fruit length (0.201); HU for average fruit weight (0.603); Tulsi-I for nodes per plant (0.429), fruit length (0.271) and plant height (12.068) were found good general combiners appeared to be worthy of exploitation in future breeding. It is suggested that involving these lines, new genotypes may be developed through multiple crossing for isolating high yielding varieties. The cross combinations VRO-4 × HU, Tulsi-I × SKBS-11, P-20 × Tulsi-I and P-8 × Tulsi-I showed high SCA effects as well as per se performance for yield per plant. The crosses showing high SCA effects and per se performance for yield per plant suggested that these hybrids may be exploited in further breeding programme

Purification and characterization of a Bacillus subtilis keratinase and its prospective application in feed industry

We have isolated a Bacillus subtilis strain (RSE163) from soil and explored for keratinase production. Keratinase was purified using chromatographic methods (Sephadex G-75 and Q Sepharose) resulting in 8.42-fold purification with 3303 U/mg specific activity.The purified enzyme displayed 3 bands in close proximity between 20 to 22 kDa in SDS-PAGE which were apparent to the zone of hydrolysis in gelatin zymogram. Enzyme was stable over a wide pH (7.0-10.0) and temperature (30 °C to 70 °C) range with optimum activity at pH 9.0 and 60 °C. Keratinase activity was stimulated in presence of Mn2+, β-mercaptoethanol and surfactants (Triton-X and Tween-80) and inhibited by Fe3+, Cd2+, K+, PMSF (phenyl methane sulfonyl fluoride) and other chelating and reducing agents. The enzyme efficiently hydrolyzed a variety of complex protein substrates (chicken feather, keratin hydrolyzate and casein) and enzyme kinetics parameters were determined using Lineweaver Burk plot (Km = 6.6 mg/ml, Vmax = 5 U/ml/min). Hydrolyzed feather keratin obtained through fermentation with B. subtilis RSE163 has been explored for its cytotoxicity using liver cell line (HepG2). No cytotoxicity has been determined up to 0.015% concentration of hydrolyzed product indicating its potential applicability as feed supplement