Studies on Training Systems and NAA Application on Bell Pepper Production in Polyhouse

Capsicum (Capsicum annuum L.) is an important off-season vegetable crops grown in the mid-hills of Himachal Pradesh. Production and productivity of this crop is low because of high flower and fruit drop. The present investigation was carried out to find out the best training system and an appropriate concentration of naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). Two-stem training system was the best for most traits except, number of flowers per plant and days to first picking which were best under control, i.e., on plants not trained at all. Two sprays of NAA @ 15 ppm proved best for plant height, total number of flowers per plant, per cent flower drop, per cent fruit set, days to first picking, number of fruits per plant, fruit weight and total yield per plant

Evaluation of Onion Varieties under Low Hill Conditions of Himachal Pradesh

An experiment was conducted to identify promising varieties of onion suited for cultivation under low hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh. Ten varieties were evaluated at Research Farm of the Institute of Biotechnology and Environmental Science, Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Neri, Hamirpur, for two consecutive seasons (2010- 2011 and 2011-2012). The farm is located at an altitude of 620m above mean sea level, with average mean maximum and minimum temperatures of 31.3°C and 12.4°C, respectively, and is a representative site of the low hill region of Himachal Pradesh. Standard package of practices was followed for raising the crop as recommended by the University. Observations were recorded on various horticultural traits, viz., plant height, number of leaves per plant, days to harvest, neck thickness, bulb diameter, bulb weight, TSS, and total yield. In addition, all the varieties were screened for resistance against purple blotch disease. Maximum days to harvest (129.33 days) were seen in the variety Holland Louis, while, variety Agrifound Rose showed minimum number of days (109). Varieties Palam Lohit, Nasik Red, N-53 and Agrifound Dark Red recorded significantly higher bulb yield (275.00, 240.67, 239.25 and 232.37 q/ha, respectively) than the other varieties evaluated. None of the varieties was able to resist the disease totally; however, 'Agrifound Dark Red' was moderately resistant, exhibiting just 13.78% disease incidence. Varieties Palam Lohit, Nasik Red and Agrifound Dark Red had medium bulb size and higher yield. These can be advocated for commercial cultivation under low hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh

Facebook Role Play Addiction – A Comorbidity with Multiple Compulsive–Impulsive Spectrum Disorders

Problematic Internet use (PIU) is an emerging entity with varied contents. Behavioral addictions have high comorbidity of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obsessive–compulsive spectrum disorders. Social networking site (SNS) addiction and role playing game (RPG) addiction are traditionally studied as separate entities. We present a case with excessive Internet use, with a particular focus on phenomenology and psychiatric comorbidities. Case presentation Fifteen-year-old girl with childhood onset attention deficit disorder, obsessive–compulsive disorder, adolescent onset trichotillomania, and disturbed family environment presented with excessive Facebook use. Main online activity was creating profiles in names of mainstream fictional characters and assuming their identity (background, linguistic attributes, etc.). This was a group activity with significant socialization in the virtual world. Craving, salience, withdrawal, mood modification, and conflict were clearly elucidated and significant social and occupational dysfunction was evident. Discussion This case highlights various vulnerability and sociofamilial factors contributing to behavioral addiction. It also highlights the presence of untreated comorbidities in such cases. The difference from contemporary RPGs and uniqueness of role playing on SNS is discussed. SNS role playing as a separate genre of PIU and its potential to reach epidemic proportions are discussed. Conclusions Individuals with temperamental vulnerability are likely to develop behavioral addictions. Identification and management of comorbid conditions are important. The content of PIU continues to evolve and needs further study

Expression of transforming growth factor ? and its correlation with lipodystrophy in oral submucous fibrosis: an immunohistochemical study

Objective: In our routine review of Oral Submucous Fibrosis (OSMF) biopsies, we observed decreased adipose tissue even though most are from buccal mucosa. Pathogenesis of OSMF has demonstrated the role of Transforming Growth Factor ? (TGF ?), in causing fibrosis. This study aims to correlate the role of TGF ? with loss of adipose tissue in OSMF. Study Design: From our archives, 84 OSMF cases (24 early and 60 advanced OSMF) were screened for adipose tissue. Immunoexpression of TGF ? in these cases were investigated. Results: Adipose tissue was seen in 67% of early OSMF and in 13% of advanced cases. Early cases showed more intense TGF ? staining of epithelium, fibroblast, macrophages and inflammatory cells than the advanced cases. Conclusion: These findings suggest that TGF ? plays a key role in causing lipodystrophy in OSMF and is secreted more during early course of the disease than in advanced stage

Patients Operated By Female Surgeons Have Lower Risk-Adjusted Adverse Postoperative Outcomes

        Surgery is the modality of treatment whereby injury, deformity or disease is managed by removal, repair or readjustment of the tissue or organs. One may have to incise and cut open the body cavity to remove or repair the diseased organ. Surgical branches attract the doctors right from their student life. It requires deep knowledge, surgical skill, decision power, and determined mind to handle the complications. In modern era it has been observed that gender ratio in the medical college admissions is shifting more towards female candidates compared to male. Few decades back gynaecology was the preferred branch of medicine for female doctors to pursue their further post graduate studies. In modern times with changing social scenario, we see female doctors in other surgical branches like ENT, ophthalmology, general surgery and even orthopaedics! As our institute is a teaching hospital to affiliated a medical college in outskirt of Baroda city draining vast surrounding peripheral areas and serves to provide free of cost maternal and child health services under various govt maternal and child health schemes, labour rate in our hospital whorls around 300 per month on an average. Unregistered and complicated emergency patients referred from peripheral referral units constitute a sizeable bulk of patients . On average 8 to 10 major and 10 to 12 minor surgeries are performed in our hospital. Post graduate admissions fetch good number of female doctors to the hospital for training.  In view of good no of operable patients and a decent ratio of male and female doctors we were inspired to carry out this study.         In view of the changing trends a study was carried out at Dhiraj hospital to determine the surgeon’s gender based post operative outcome of surgery in patients operated by male and female surgeons. It was observed that the patients operated by female surgeons had lower risk adjusted adverse post operative outcomes considering mortality, readmissions and complications.&nbsp

Preparation and characterization of rice husk derived cellulose and polyvinyl alcohol blended heat sealable packaging film

453-459A greener route for efficient extraction of chemically modified cellulose (CMC) from rice husk has been demonstrates. The extracted CMC is solution blended with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) under optimized conditions to prepare CMC blended polyvinyl alcohol (CMC-b-PVA) packaging film. Further, the developed film has been characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer, shore D, optical microscope, universal testing machine and soil burial test. The obtained results disclose the significant improvements in the mechanical properties by 1.49 times and reduced water vapor transmission rate by 33.33 % than PVA film due to reinforcement effect of CMC in PVA matrix. Furthermore, a heat sealed packet from the developed CMC-b-PVA film has been developed, which exhibits the comparable properties to commercially used flexible polyvinyl chloride films in packaging of edible packets along with optimized water barrier and biodegradable nature

Inactivation of the von Hippel-Lindau tumour suppressor gene induces Neuromedin U expression in renal cancer cells.

BACKGROUND: 209 000 new cases of renal carcinoma are diagnosed each year worldwide and new therapeutic targets are urgently required. The great majority of clear cell renal cancer involves inactivation of VHL, which acts as a gatekeeper tumour suppressor gene in renal epithelial cells. However how VHL exerts its tumour suppressor function remains unclear. A gene expression microarray comparing RCC10 renal cancer cells expressing either VHL or an empty vector was used to identify novel VHL regulated genes. FINDINGS: NMU (Neuromedin U) is a neuropeptide that has been implicated in energy homeostasis and tumour progression. Here we show for the first time that VHL loss-of-function results in dramatic upregulation of NMU expression in renal cancer cells. The effect of VHL inactivation was found to be mediated via activation of Hypoxia Inducible Factor (HIF). Exposure of VHL expressing RCC cells to either hypoxia or dimethyloxalylglycine resulted in HIF activation and increased NMU expression. Conversely, suppression of HIF in VHL defective RCC cells via siRNA of HIF-α subunits or expression of Type 2C mutant VHLs reduced NMU expression levels. We also show that renal cancer cells express a functional NMU receptor (NMUR1), and that NMU stimulates migration of renal cancer cells. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that NMU may act in an autocrine fashion, promoting progression of kidney cancer. Hypoxia and HIF expression are frequently observed in many non-renal cancers and are associated with a poor prognosis. Our study raises the possibility that HIF may also drive NMU expression in non-renal tumours