Sizes of induration and nutritional status in children with positive Mantoux test

Background: The immune status of children is always affected by nutrition. Sometime severe malnutrition is associated with falsenegative Mantoux test. There is a need to study to observe the effect of nutritional status on the size of indurations in Mantoux positivechildren. Study Design: Observational analytical cross-sectional study. Methods: The study population consisted of 310 patients,belonging to both sexes and age of 1-14 years, attending the outpatient department of UP Rural Institute of Medical Sciences andResearch, Saifai, Etawah. Only Mantoux positive cases were included in the study. Their sizes of indurations of skin reaction weremeasured and recorded in mm. The nutritional status was calculated as the weight for age and height for age standard (Z-score), usingthe NCHS charts of for males and females. Results: Out of 800 children screened for tuberculosis, 310 children had positive Mantouxtest and were recruited in the study. Mean induration (20 mm) was similar in all the groups. However, the size of indurations rangedfrom 10-40 mm, 11-33 mm, and 12-24 among normal weight, underweight, and overweight Z-score groups. Mean induration was same(20 mm) in two Z-score height for age groups (normal height, stunting), while it was 20.6 mm in the over-height group. Although, therange of Mantoux positivity ranges from 10-35 mm, 11-40 mm, and 18-22 mm among normal height, stunting, and over height Z-scoregroups. Conclusion: Although, nutritional status can affect the positivity of Mantoux test; in Mantoux positive children, the size ofindurations does not depend on their nutritional status

Development of genic-SSR markers by deep transcriptome sequencing in pigeonpea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millspaugh]

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pigeonpea [<it>Cajanus cajan </it>(L.) Millspaugh], one of the most important food legumes of semi-arid tropical and subtropical regions, has limited genomic resources, particularly expressed sequence based (genic) markers. We report a comprehensive set of validated genic simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers using deep transcriptome sequencing, and its application in genetic diversity analysis and mapping.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, 43,324 transcriptome shotgun assembly unigene contigs were assembled from 1.696 million 454 GS-FLX sequence reads of separate pooled cDNA libraries prepared from leaf, root, stem and immature seed of two pigeonpea varieties, Asha and UPAS 120. A total of 3,771 genic-SSR loci, excluding homopolymeric and compound repeats, were identified; of which 2,877 PCR primer pairs were designed for marker development. Dinucleotide was the most common repeat motif with a frequency of 60.41%, followed by tri- (34.52%), hexa- (2.62%), tetra- (1.67%) and pentanucleotide (0.76%) repeat motifs. Primers were synthesized and tested for 772 of these loci with repeat lengths of ≥18 bp. Of these, 550 markers were validated for consistent amplification in eight diverse pigeonpea varieties; 71 were found to be polymorphic on agarose gel electrophoresis. Genetic diversity analysis was done on 22 pigeonpea varieties and eight wild species using 20 highly polymorphic genic-SSR markers. The number of alleles at these loci ranged from 4-10 and the polymorphism information content values ranged from 0.46 to 0.72. Neighbor-joining dendrogram showed distinct separation of the different groups of pigeonpea cultivars and wild species. Deep transcriptome sequencing of the two parental lines helped <it>in silico </it>identification of polymorphic genic-SSR loci to facilitate the rapid development of an intra-species reference genetic map, a subset of which was validated for expected allelic segregation in the reference mapping population.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We developed 550 validated genic-SSR markers in pigeonpea using deep transcriptome sequencing. From these, 20 highly polymorphic markers were used to evaluate the genetic relationship among species of the genus <it>Cajanus</it>. A comprehensive set of genic-SSR markers was developed as an important genomic resource for diversity analysis and genetic mapping in pigeonpea.</p

Synthesis, Structural, and Antimicrobial Studies of Some New Coordination Compounds of Palladium(II) with Azomethines Derived from Amino Acids

Some new coordination compounds of palladium(II) have been synthesized by the reaction of palladium(II) acetate with azomethines in a 1 : 2 molar ratio using acetonitrile as a reaction medium. Azomethines used in these studies have been prepared by the condensation of 2-acetyl fluorene and 4-acetyl biphenyl with glycine, alanine, valine, and leucine in methanol. An attempt has been made to probe their bonding and structures on the basis of elemental analyses and IR, 1H, and 13C NMR spectral studies. Pd(II) compounds have been found to be more active than their uncomplexed ligands as both of them were screened for antibacterial, antifungal, and insecticidal activities

LANGUAGE IN INDIA Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow Volume 12 : 2 February 2012 Language Learning Strategies for English (Second Language) Teachers

Abstract People need to learn a second language because of globalization; connections are becoming inevitable among nations, states and organizations which create a huge need for knowing another language or more multilingualism. The uses of common languages are in areas such as trade, tourism, international relations between governments, technology, media and science. Therefore, many countries such as Japan and China frame education policies to teach at least one foreign language at primary and secondary school level. However, some countries such as India, Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines use a second official language in their governing system. Many Indian people are giving enormous importance to foreign language learning, especially learning the English Language. This article provides an overview of language learning strategies (language learning strategies hereafter LLS) for second and foreign language (hereafter L2/FL) teachers