Search

Purpose: The aim of this research was to study if clustering of sleep characteristics of medical students at King George Medical University, Lucknow has any role in the effect of flaxseed on Total Sleep Time (TST). Methods: Polysomnographic and DLMO data of Ninety-six medical students who were randomly selected have been used in the study. Cluster analysis is a powerful multivariate tool for detecting structures in datasets. In the absence of known classification variable or the kind of relationship between observations, the method of cluster analysis, an unsupervised method is popularly used for knowing subgroups in data. Using agglomerative hierarchical clustering, we grouped data with complete linkage aggregation method on mutual similarity. The goal was to divide the students into groups with relatively homogeneous anthropometric and objective sleep features and study the role of consuming flaxseed for one month on students’ sleep time. As an intervention the students were given flaxseeds to eat daily continuously for 30 days. After this treatment, they were again assessed on their sleep characteristics. Results: Using complete linkage methodology on the pre-treatment sleep characteristics of 96 students, we obtained four clusters dominated by objective sleep characteristics whose centroids were significantly different. TST in clusters is bifurcated at 5 hrs sleep. Influence of flaxseeds on the total sleep time was obtained in first three clusters. Post treatment centroid of third cluster with about 5.5 hours TST was significantly higher than first two clusters. Conclusion: Mebsolt tetrad variables BMI, TST, sleep latency and DLMO might help to form subgroups of students to study the effect of flaxseed on TST. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chronic airflow obstruction (CAO) is a chronic lung condition that interferes with normal breathing. In common practice, CAO includes chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema. The present study was planned to be carried out in a tertiary care center to evaluate the profile of patients with chronic airflow obstruction with an aim to establish a cause-effect relationship between various disorders with chronic airflow obstruction. Aims and Objectives: The aim of the study was to find out the prevalence of different respiratory diseases among patients diagnosed as cases of chronic airflow obstruction and to evaluate the clinical and demographic profile of patients to find out risk factors and their role in etiology of chronic obstructive airflow. Materials and Methods: We studied demographic details of the patients, smoking history, biomass exposure, and tubercular history. All the patients were clinically examined and were subjected to pulmonary function assessment. The diagnosis of the patients was made on the basis of clinical features and outcome of spirometry. COPD was graded depending on post-bronchodilator FEV1% predicted as (GOLD, 2022). Results: Among patients with chronic airway obstruction, the number of patients diagnosed as COPD was highest (68%) followed by bronchial asthma (19%) and bronchectasis (13%). Among COPD population, 48% were smokers and 20% were non-smokers. Age of patients with bronchial asthma was significantly lower than that of other groups. In the present study, proportion of males diagnosed as COPD (NS) was significantly lower (P<0.001) as compared to other groups. Conclusion: The findings in the present study highlighted that different types of CAO can affect a wide variety of population groups and share a number of risk factors; however, some demographic and clinical factors help in understanding the specific risks and type of disorder. A Change in environmental conditions and lifestyle can change the spectrum of CAO disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being part of a faith group aids individuals cope and make meaning during extenuating conditions. Research suggests that social connection to a spiritual group facilitates individuals' and communities' well-being. The Covid-19 pandemic presented various socio-emotional difficulties. The present study aims to understand if being a part of a spiritual group helps cultivate spirituality, resilience, hope, and social connectedness and if these factors helped women cope during the pandemic. The study uses a quantitative comparative design, with two groups of women participants (18-40 years). The first group (30) of women belonged to a spiritual group (WSG), and the second (35) group of women were not a part of any spiritual group (WNSG). The data was collected through snowball sampling in Lucknow, and participants completed online self-report measures on Spirituality (Spirituality Assessment Scale), Resilience (Brief Resilience Scale), Hope (Adult Hope Scale), and Social Connectedness (Social Connectedness Scale). To study the level of participation with the spiritual group and their experiences during the pandemic a few open-ended questions were employed. The findings reveal that WSG was more spiritual, resilient, hopeful, and socially connected than WNSG. The association with the spiritual group provided them the means to utilize various adaptable socio/emotional strategies, helping them cope during the pandemic. The current study has significant implications for spirituality and positive psychology in terms of offering efficient stress-reduction techniques for coping. Mental health practitioners can utilize spiritual practices as therapeutic interventions to enhance hope and resilience while facing stressful situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The women who have been pregnant more than four times are fewer than 18or over 35-years-old, or have at least one medical issue before or during pregnancy, the pregnancy is considered high-risk. Increased maternal and foetal mortality and morbidity are linked to these risk factors. MTP in itself is a blind and risky procedure and performing it in High Risk Pregnancy (HRP) is a challenge for obstetrics and gynecology personnel. When performed with all pre, intra and post-op precautions, results are good and patient-friendly. Aims and Objectives: Aims of the study were to calculate the number, high-risk factors, method used, and its outcome of MTP in HRP. Materials and Methods: The present study was a retrospective observational study done at QMH, KGMU, Lucknow performed on subjects admitted for MTP from January 2018 to December 2018. Total admitted patients seeking MTP were 450 out of which 93 belonged to High-Risk Group who underwent surgical and medical abortion accordingly. All precautions and norms defined by Govt. of India were taken care of. Cases were evaluated on the basis of high-risk factors-Age, parity, obstetrical and medical illnesses, and interval since last delivery. Results: Out of 93 high-risk cases, 88 cases were of 1st trimester and 5 were of 2nd trimester abortion. Six cases required suction evacuation while seven cases were managed medically using medical abortion kit. Contraception was given to all subjects according to their needs. Seventy-one women were of more than 35 yrs, while two were teenagers. 21 women were grand multipara. Women of obstetrical risk were 17 while the rest were having medical illnesses. Conclusion: This study concludes that there are a large number of high-risk groups for MTP again showing unmet need and lack of specialized counseling of HR patients according to their mental and physical condition. Early recognition of pregnancy and timely intervention can be lifesaving in these women and proper contraceptive counseling is required to prevent future pregnancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hydrocephalus is an abnormal excessive accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the cavity and spaces of the brain. Endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) has been an established treatment modality for congenital hydrocephalus. However, in very young infants, the results are challenging. In our study, we have evaluated whether ETV really offers an acceptable complication-free postoperative course.Objective: To study the complication and mortality rate in infants having congenital hydrocephalus treated with ETV.Materials and Methods: This is a single-center prospective study conducted at the Department of Neurosurgery, K. G. M. U, Lucknow, from January 2019 to February 2020. We studied 40 infants presenting with clinical and radiological features suggestive of congenital hydrocephalus. Follow-up was done at the first, third, and sixth months after discharge.Results: Nineteen infants (47.5%) required a second CSF diversion procedure at 6 months of follow-up. The failure rate was significantly higher in infants less than 3 months of age (P value of 0.04). The ETV site bulge was the most frequent complication encountered in the postoperative period, occurring in 20% of the cases. Eventually, all these infants required a ventriculoperitoneal shunt; 15% developed clinical features consistent with the diagnosis of post-ETV meningitis. The ETV site CSF leak occurred in 10% of the patients. Subdural hygroma developed in 7.5% of the patients; 17.5% of the patients contributed to mortality with a mean time of expiry of 22 days post-procedure. All these deaths had multifactorial causes and could not be said as a complication or failure of ETV.Conclusion: We do not recommend ETV for infants less than 3 months because of a high failure rate. The ETV site bulge was the most reliable and earliest marker of failure and a second CSF diversion surgery should be immediately considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Availability of quality planting materials is the major impediment in extension of cultivation of low chilling peach in northern plans. Plum suckers are mostly used as rootstocks for raising peach; however nematode infestation is a major problem. Seeds of all peach cultivars do not germinate under subtropical climate of plains of Northern India. Hence, an experiment was carried out at ICAR-CISH, Lucknow on seed germination and subsequent growth of seedlings of low chilling peaches. Methods: Fully mature seeds of peach cv. Florda Prince, Pant Peach 1 and Sharbati were collected during June. Some of the seeds were sown direct in-situ during 1st week of December and remaining seeds were sown in the field after 2 months of stratification in the refrigerator at 7-8°C. Result: Stratification had significant effect on seed germination and late matured peach cv. 'Sharbati' exhibited higher seed germination. Good linear seedling growth and maximum percentage of buddable seedlings was found in stratified sown seeds of 'Sharbati' peach. Thus the study indicated that harvesting of 'Sharbati' and 'Pant Peach-1' seeds can be done during June and pre-sown stratification is necessary for better germination and growth of seedlings under subtropical climate of Lucknow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In a normal healthy adult, sympathetic and parasympathetic system should be in synergy. Measuring resting heart rate is a one of the methods to assess health condition. It can be affected by different factors such as exercise, mental health, any disease, etc. Normal subjects with reduced heart rate are associated with better cardiovascular health. Physical inactivity is associated with high level of inflammatory markers. Increased inflammatory markers are related to inflammation and chronic diseases. C-Reactive Protein (CRP) is a biomarker of inflammatory diseases. High CRP level is a potent risk factor for obesity, diabetes, atherosclerosis, etc. Aim: To study the effect of short-term endurance and resistance exercises in healthy young adults on resting heart rate, CRP body mass index and also to compare the changes between two exercise groups. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from May 2019 to May 2020 in the Department of Physiology at King George's Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. The study included 60 healthy young subjects with normal Body Mass Index (BMI) (18.5-24.9 kg/m2) and age between 18-25 years participated. Subjects were equally divided into endurance (group I) and resistance exercise (group II) groups. Subjects did moderate intensity exercise (based on maximum heart rate) for five days in a week for eight weeks. Endurance group did jogging. Resistance group did pushup, pull-up and squats. Target heart rate during moderate intensity of activities is 64-76% of maximum heart rate. Heart rate measurement was done before the start of exercise and after five to seven minutes of exercise when it reached 64-76% of maximum heart rate. It was measured by pulse oximeter. Follow-up was done after eight weeks of exercise training in both the groups. Evaluation was done by comparing resting heart rate and CRP level before the start of training and after the completion of training programme. Statistical analysis was done using student t-test and paired t-test. Results: Mean age of subjects of group I was found to be higher (19.98±1.26 years) as compared to group II (19.97±0.98 years). Mean pre-intervention BMI of both the groups was found to be similar (21.97±1.78 kg/m2). No statistically significant change in resting heart rate was found in both resistance group (p-value=0.096) and endurance group (p-value=0.326) after exercise training. Statistically significant increase in CRP was found in resistance group (p-value<0.001) and endurance group (p-value<0.001). The increment in CRP was more in endurance group (55.04%) than resistance group (35.34%). Conclusion: Short duration of exercises increase inflammation but no significant effect on resting heart rate was seen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The camps have been organized for rural cervical cancer screening in the villages of Lucknow which offer valuable platform for the detection of infertility in young women and their cytological examination. The cervical cytology has been studied in the cases of infertility to find out if there is any increase in abnormal cytology and compare them with those obtained in fertile women (controls). Since its inception in May 2013, the camps organized were 186 in number and 5682 women attended these camps. Primary infertility was found in 182 and the secondary infertility in 31 women. The incidence of Squamous intraepithelial lesions of cervix (SIL) was found to be 14.8% in women suffering from primary infertility and 16.1% in the secondary infertility cases and was comparable with SIL rate of 17.4% in the controls. Persistent vaginal infections caused by the poor personal genital hygiene practiced by the rural women may be the reason for a high SIL rate in the fertile women. The SIL rate was seen high in the younger women upto 30 years with pain in lower abdomen and erosion cervix in the primary infertility cases while the high SIL rate was seen in 21-30 years age groups with parity 2 in secondary infertility cases with no SIL seen with symptoms and clinical lesions. Mostly young women upto 30 years of age complained of infertility and showed high SIL rate. These women were referred to the Hospital of Era Medical College, Lucknow for further investigation and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Mitral Valve Replacement (MVR), an important treatment for rheumatic mitral valve disease, is being widely promoted worldwide. MVR using the total leaflet preservation technique can produce good results; however, patient-specific factors and anatomical considerations must be taken into account when selecting the appropriate surgical approach. Aim: To investigate the benefits of Posterior Leaflet Preservation (PLP) in MVR in individuals with severe mitral stenosis. Materials and Methods: The current prospective interventional study included patients with Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) who had severe mitral valve stenosis and/or regurgitation and underwent MVR between December 2019 and December 2021 in the Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. The study included 50 patients with MVR (PLP) to preserve the posterior leaflets and 50 patients with classic MVR (no PLP). Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction (LVEF), Left Ventricular End-Systolic Diameter (LVESD), and Left Ventricular End-Diastolic Diameter (LVEDD) were measured before surgery, one, three, and six months after surgery. Results: The majority of patients in the present study were between 23 and 46 years old. The PLP group consisted of 17 men and 33 women, while the non-PLP group had 16 men and 34 women. The difference in cross-clamp time between Group-A and B was significant (p=0.0001). Cardiopulmonary Bypass (CPB) time was significantly different between Group-A and B (p=0.001). Only 4 (8%) patients in Group-A had low cardiac output syndrome, compared with 8 (16%) of patients in Group-B. Comparison of LVEF between groups over time revealed no significant difference (p=0.05). The mean change in LVEF from pre-operative to six months in Group-A was significant (p=0.004), but there was no significant change in Group-B (p=0.25). Conclusion: PLP had no improved beneficial outcome on left ventricular performance in cases with rheumatic stenosis during the six-month follow-up. Even after long-term follow-up, haemodynamic valve properties do not alter with adequate PLP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worl dover the most important yardstick for the countrys progress and prosperity is the Maternal Mortality Ratio and Infant Mortality Rate. Every year countries make a concreted efforts to better their figures and a most important aspect is the utilization of the maternal and neonatal services. Maternal health services have a very important bearing on the Maternal and Infant mortality rate and the prevailing socio economic and services offered are an important determining influences. Various studies in India have concluded socio-economic factors and service delivery environment as important determinants influencing maternal health services. Use of ANC increases the likelihood of skilled attendance at delivery, which later increases the use of postnatal care. To determine the factors influencing the Antenatal Care services. To assess the antenatal care services and socio-demographic factors affecting ANC services in rural areas of Lucknow. It was a community based Cross sectional study . This study was conducted for a period of 3 months, from July 2014 to September 2014. Sample Size: a total of 100 RDW were included in the study. Multistage random sampling technique was used to select 100 RDW .Information was collected on Age, Religion, Caste, Educational status of RDW, Type of Family and Socioeconomic class, ANC registration, Number of ANC visits, Number of TT Injection received, IFA received and consumed, Antenatal check up etc. 56% of RDW, belong to age group 18-25, years.Majority of RDW were Hindu(61%).60% of RDW had Nuclear type of family, most of the RDW (60%) belonged to class IV. Amongst these 48% RDW had three antenatal visits, where as 41% had more than three antenatal visits.100 % of RDW had government health facility as a place of ANC registration. no statically significant association was observed between the religion of RDW,and antenatal visits/IFA tablet consumption.(p>.05).Variables such as,socioeconomic status and educational status of RDW, were not significantly associated with either antenatal visits or IFA tablets,(p>.05) for all. In this study Antenatal care services were received by majority of RDW . The Utilization of ANC services was encouraging in the study area. Counseling on antenatal care is one of the main component of MCH services, but it was found to be lagging with respect to following components of antenatal care like birth preparedness and safe delivery, personal hygiene, rest, nutrition and management of ANC complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In many Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) negative women, the Squamous Intraepithelial Lesions (SIL) of cervix often show persistence or progression of the lesion on followup which shows involvement of other risk factors of carcinoma cervix. Aim: The aim of the study was to evaluate the different risk factors of cervical cancer in persistent, progressed and regressed cases of SIL to identify the prominent ones among them. Materials and Methods: The study had been of a screening type for early detection of cervical cancer and it was done in the women population of west Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India (May, 2013-February, 2020). Cervical smears were collected in 2949 women attending the camps whose cytological examination revealed 498 cases of SIL and follow-up was available in 254 of them done through home visits after 1-4 years. Persistence of SIL was seen in 60 women on follow-up while in the remaining 194, the SIL had regressed to normal. The percentage of different risk factors seen with the persistence or regression of SIL was studied. Results: Among the different risk factors identified, prominent were of young age between 16-30 years with vaginal discharge and their percentage were insignificantly higher with persistence of SIL than in the regression group. Multiparity was also highly associated with both persistence and regression of SIL. The erosion of cervix was significantly associated with SIL persistence while associated inflammation was insignificantly higher in persistent than in the regression group. The percentage of all these factors except erosion of cervix was found higher in HPV- positive than in the HPV negative women. Conclusion: It appears that all the identified risk factors are present both in persistent and regression group but their percentage is higher with persistence of SIL. Hence, presence of any of these factors in these two groups should be viewed with caution to rule out any progression/recurrence of SIL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carcinoma cervix is a major health problem faced by Indian women and situation is very alarming in rural population because of illiteracy and poverty. There is urgent need of creating awareness regarding the risk factors of cervical cancer such as early marriage and multiparity in the rural women and the importance of early detection of the cervical cancer. With aim for providing single life time Pap smear cover to the rural women, cervical cancer screening program was initiated in May 2013 by Era's Lucknow, Medical College and Hospital, Lucknow, through organizing camps in the villages of Lucknow, west. Till December 2019, a total of 183 camps have been organized and 5209 women attended these camps (28.5%). Pap smear examination could be done in only 2912 women (55.9%). The incidence of squamous intraepithelial lesions of cervix (SIL) was found to be very high in these women (17.1%) though majority of SIL were of low grade (LSIL). This may be related to the poor personal genital hygiene prevailing in rural women due to illiteracy. In the present review, the SIL incidence has been extensively analyzed in relation to different predisposing factors of cervical carcinogenesis and problems faced during camp organization and the benefits derived from these camps to rural women have been highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Micronuclei counts were performed in cervical smears with low‐grade squamous intraepithelial lesions of the cervix (LSIL) to assess its potentiality as tumour marker in cervical carcinogenesis. Methods: The cases studied were from the ongoing rural cervical cancer screening in west Lucknow, India. Micronuclei counts were performed in the cervical smears of 100 LSIL cases, and the number of cells with micronuclei was defined as micronucleated cells (MNC) and the number of micronuclei per 1000 cells as MNC score. Human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing was also done in 100 LSIL cases by GeneNav qPCR test. Results: A high MNC score was found in 20 of the 100 LSIL cases while the counts were low in the remaining 80. Persistence of LSIL was seen in 19 of the 20 LSIL cases with high MNC score while only six cases of the 80 cases with low MNC score showed persistence. The persistence of LSIL was very high in cases with high MNC score. The multiple high‐risk HPV types such as 18, 31, 33 and 35 were seen in 12 of the 100 LSIL cases and a high positivity rate was seen in women with high MNC score. The persistence of LSIL was also higher with HPV positivity. Conclusion: The study revealed correlation between high MNC score, persistence of LSIL and HPV positivity. Hence, MNC score can prove to be very useful in discriminating high‐risk LSIL cases that are less likely to regress and possibly may progress to high‐grade squamous intraepithelial lesions or carcinoma. Micronuclei counts were carried out in 100 low grade (LSIL) cases to assess their potential as tumor marker in cervical carcinogenesis. The study revealed a correlation between high micronuclei counts and persistance of LSIL. The HPV postivity was also found to be higher in persistent LSIL cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Falls are a major health issue amongst elderly. Early identification of falls in elderly would certainly reduce morbidity and mortality. Most of the falls in elderly can be attributed to the combination of both extrinsic and intrinsic factors. A wide array of factors may be attributed to the falls in elderly. World Health Organization concept of Active Ageing could only be conceptualized if the risks of falls could be identified early in the course of an aging individual. However falls cannot be completed eliminated as risk factor of falls in elderly as it depends upon a wide array of factors. This study was conducted in the urban and rural field practice areas of Era's Lucknow Medical College and Hospital. This consists of Villages of Kakori block & mohallas of old Lucknow. People of either sex, 60 yrs of age and above residing in the field practice areas of Department Of Community Medicine constitute the study unit. It was a community based cross sectional study. The period of study was one year from October 2011 to September 2012 which was used for the development of study tools, collection of data, analysis and presentation of findings. Taking Prevalence as 50% and the value of allowable error, d to be as 5% the sample size was 400. A predesigned and pretested interview schedule was used to elicit information on sociodemographic characteristics and required information. In the present study 43.8% of the elderly males and 66.7% of the females in rural area had a fall within 12 months. However, 63.7% males and 69.7% females of urban area had a fall within 12 months. Less than one third 28.1% of males and 55.9% females in rural area had got injured due to fall within 12 months. In our study most common problem that was associated both with males and females elderly in rural areas were musculoskeletal problems that was followed by Eye problems and that was followed by cardiovascular problems. Majority of 76.4% of males and 78.4% of females of rural areas had musculoskeletal problems and 58.1% of males and 71.1% of females in urban areas had musculoskeletal problems. Overall 65.7% of males and 75.4% of females had musculoskeletal problems. India's elaborate system of Rural health care would be failing if the common problems of elderly are not addressed given to the fact that the proportion of elderly population are increasing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: There is likelihood of development of premalignant changes in the cervix in the teenagers due to early sexual activity. This assumes importance under rural conditions in India where majority of marriage of girls are performed at young age below 20 years. Aim: The present cytological study was carried out in the three cohorts of rural girls- adolescents (16-20 years), young adult girls (21-25 years) and adult women (26-30 years) to see the effect of early increasing sexual exposure. Materials and Methods: The study cases were derived from the cervical cancer screening which is in progress in the rural population of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. Of the 1185 study cases, 97 were adolescents, 338 young adult girls and remaining 750 were adult women. Results: The Atypical Squamous Cell Changes of Unknown Significance (ASCUS) were found higher in the adolescents than in young adult girls and adult women while Squamous Intraepithelial Lesions of cervix (SIL) rate was almost equal in the three cohorts. Follow-up revealed progression of ASCUS to Low grade SIL (LSIL) almost equal in the three groups while the persistence of SIL was higher in the young adult girls and adult women. The gynaecological symptoms especially vaginal discharge was more common in the last two groups than in adolescents but the SIL rate was higher with all symptoms in the adolescents. The cervical lesions were more common in the young girls and adult women and SIL rate was higher with different cervical lesions. The majority of adolescents were nulliparous with high SIL rate while in the young adult girls and adult women, the SIL incidence showed rising trend with increasing parity. Conclusion: The study highlights the importance of cytological screening of all the rural young girls and adult women specially who reveal cervical lesions or are symptomatic. This will yield large number of pre-cancerous cases, timely treatment of which will check the progression of SIL to malignancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Costus speciosus (J. Koenig) Sm. (Syn. Cheilocostus speciosus) is an ethnic anti-diabetic plant, used for its high diosgenin content. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the seasonal variation of diosgenin content in Costus speciosus rhizome, quantified through validated RP-HPLC method. Materials and Methods: The rhizomes were collected in four different seasons, such as rainy (August), autumn (October), winter (February) and summer (May), from Lucknow, India. The HPLC method validation was done in terms of linearity, precision, repeatability, accuracy, sensitivity and robustness. Results: Diosgenin was separated under isocratic elution on an RP-HPLC column (4.6 × 250 mm, 5 µm) with a mobile phase consisting of methanol and water, eluted at retention time (Rt) of 18.396 min and content was calculated with the help of standard curve. The limit of detection and limit of quantification (LOQ) was found to be 522.68 and 1583.90 ng (nanogram), respectively. The diosgenin content varies significantly in different seasons. Conclusion: The diosgenin content was found higher in rainy (193.97 µg/mg) season and was concluded to be optimum season for collection of rhizomes as quality raw material. Harvesting at optimal season may fulfill the commercial demand of diosgenin and may reduce the diosgenin-intended overexploitation of the species from the wild. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A total of 250 samples-including fruits, fruit juices, and baby foods (50 samples each), vegetables (70 samples), and cereals (30 samples)-were collected from Lucknow, India, and analyzed for the presence of imidacloprid residues. The QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe) method of extraction coupled with high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis were carried out, and imidacloprid residues were qualitatively confirmed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Imidacloprid was not detected in samples of fruit juices and baby foods. It was, however, detected in 38 samples of fruits, vegetables, and cereals, which is about 15.20% of the total samples. Of samples of fruits, 22% showed the presence of imidacloprid, and 2% of samples showed residues above the maximal residue limit. Although imidacloprid was detected in 24% of vegetable samples, only 5.71% showed the presence of imidacloprid above the maximal residue limit. However, 33% of cereal samples showed the presence of imidacloprid, and about 3% of samples were above the maximal residue limit. The calculated estimated daily intake ranged between 0.004 and 0.131 µg/kg body weight, and the hazard indices ranged from 0.007 to 0.218 for these food commodities. It is therefore indicated that lifetime consumption of vegetables, fruits, fruit juices, baby foods, wheat, rice, and pulses may not pose a health hazard for the population of Lucknow because the hazard indices for imidacloprid residues were below one. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2013;32:723-727. © 2012 SETAC [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To study the knowledge and practices related to newborn care in urban slums of Lucknow city, UP, and to identify critical behaviors, practices, and barriers that influence the survival of newborns. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study in urban slums of Lucknow city, UP, included 524 women who had a live birth during last 1 year preceding data collection. Data were analyzed using statistical software SPSS 10.0 for windows. Results: Study findings showed that about half of the deliveries took place at home. Majority (77.1%) of the mothers believed that baby should be bathed with warm water and dried with clean cloth and 79.7% mothers practiced it. Only 36.6% mothers initiated breast-feeding within 1 h of birth and 30.2% initiated after 1 day. The mothers who have not given colostrum to their baby, in majority the reason was customs. Conclusion: In majority of cases, correct knowledge and correct practices regarding newborn care were lacking among mothers and this should be promoted through improved coverage with existing health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The intra-specific chemical variations in Ocimum viride are rarely reported. • Chemical variations among seven genotypes of Ocimum viride were studied. • GC-FID analysis revealed high eugenol (37.8−45.7%) and (Z)-β-ocimene (9.3−29.5%). • The (−)-germacrene D was most predominant isomer with 99.1 % enantiomeric excess. • Genotypes, 129 and 132 were the best for essential oil and high eugenol proportions. Ocimum viride is known for its diverse medicinal uses. However, most previous studies have been conducted on phytochemical assessment, but intra-specific chemical variations are rarely reported. Chemical variations among seven genotypes of O. viride were studied over three consecutive years in the experimental farm in CSIR-CIMAP, Lucknow. The essential oils obtained by hydro-distillation from the aerial parts of O. viride genotypes were subjected to GC, enantiomeric GC, and GC/MS analyses for their chemical characterization. GC-FID analysis revealed maximum proportions of eugenol (37.8 %–45.8 %) along with monoterpenes such as (Z)-β-ocimene (9.3 %–29.5 %). The sesquiterpenoids identified were β-caryophyllene (3.1 %–4.6 %), α- trans -bergamotene (5.5 %–7.4 %) and germacrene D (5.9 %–10.6 %). Chiral separation of germacrene D enantiomers [(+)– and (−)–form] were achieved using a cyclodextrin-based capillary column in each genotype. (−)–Germacrene D was found to be the most predominant enantiomer in all genotypes. Genotype 133 was recorded with the highest enantiomeric excess (≥ 99 %) for (−)–germacrene D. Besides, genotype 131 contained high monoterpenoids. Major chemical constituents such as eugenol were isolated through column chromatography, and structure elucidation was carried out using 1D and 2D NMR experiments. The thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) showed the stability pattern of extracted essential oils and revealed the complete volatile degradation ranged from 160 °C–200 °C. The statistical analysis was performed to select the best genotypes. The study revealed the best genotypes based on the correlation between constituents × years (C × Y) interaction. These analyses helped better estimate essential oil yield analysis, chemical diversity, and herb yield analysis on a field experiment basis. In conclusion, genotypes 129 and 132 had the highest essential oil output and eugenol content (%). Eugenol, a marker chemical ingredient, was reported with the highest proportions in genotype 132 at the full bloom stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Human ABO blood groups antigens exhibit alternative phenotypes and genetically derived glycoconjugate structures that are present on the surface of red blood cells and play an active role in the cellular Physiology and Pathology. Blood groups antigens are thought to be among hereditary determinate and play a vital role to understand genetics and disease susceptibility. Materials and Methods: Type of study - Cross -Sectional study Place of study - Department of Physiology, OPD of Integral Institute of Medical Sciences & Research, Lucknow. Biological sample: Human Blood Results: Shows highest prevalence of T2DM patients having blood group B followed by blood group O, A & AB and Table.7 show prevalence of blood group in general population. Conclusion: The present study had concluded that blood group B is more frequent than any other blood groups in both cases and controls, while Rh+ve blood group is found to be more common among both cases and control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To assess the impact of a behaviour change communication (BCC) intervention on qualified medical care-seeking for sick newborns in urban Lucknow, northern India. Methods Before and after intervention study conducted at two urban public hospitals at Lucknow. Neonates who did not have any morbidity or congenital malformation and were residents of Lucknow were enrolled within 48 h of birth and followed once between 6 and 8 weeks at the outpatients’ clinic or home to assess the primary outcome measure which was qualified medical care-seeking for any neonatal illness. Mothers in the after-intervention phase received BCC intervention at enrolment, targeted at identification of danger signs of neonatal illnesses and promotion of qualified medical care-seeking. Analysis was by intention to treat. Results In the before-intervention phase, 510 neonates were enrolled (from March 2007 to August 2007) and 481 (94.3%) were followed up. In the after-intervention phase, 510 neonates were enrolled (September 2007–April 2008) and 490 (96.1%) were followed up. Neonatal morbidity was 50.3% (242/481) and 44.3% (217/490) in before and after intervention phases, respectively. Qualified medical care-seeking for neonatal illnesses was significantly higher among mothers after-intervention (OR = 2.12; 95% CI = 1.42–3.16; P = 0.0001). Conclusion Since the behaviour change intervention package led to significant improvement in qualified medical care-seeking for sick newborns, this may be tested for effectiveness in other settings and considered for scaling up here, with rising proportion of institutional deliveries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess symptom-specific care-seeking practices for newborns and behavioral factors associated with them to inform strategies to enhance newborn care seeking in urban Lucknow, Northern India. This was a prospective follow-up study of consecutive 326 neonates delivered at an urban reproductive and child health (RCH) center. Focused Group Discussions (n=5) were also conducted in urban slums (n=3) at the RCH center (n=1) and at a district hospital (n=1). Overall, 326 neonates were recruited within 48 h of birth and 289 (88.7%) were followed up at 6 weeks (±15 days) at home. Parents of 51.2% (148/289) neonates reported at least one symptom of illness. Among these, 27.3% (79/289) neonates had at least one reported Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illnesses (IMNCI) danger sign, of which 15 (18.9%) did not receive any modern medical care, 5(33.3%) of which were dead by early infancy. Care seeking from unqualified providers (spiritual/traditional) was 33.3% (3/9) for persistent diarrhea and 23.5% (4/17) for pneumonia. Qualitative data from Focused Group Discussions showed that when pictures of some danger signs were shown like sunken eyes, reduced skin turgor, chest in-drawing and bulged fontanel, care seeking for these as well as fast breathing were influenced by ‘local beliefs’, which considered them to be untreatable by modern medicines alone. Thus, care seeking from multiple providers and use of traditional/home remedies delayed appropriate and timely medical care seeking. Almost half of the neonates had an illness symptom of which half had an IMNCI danger sign, of which one fifth did not receive medical care. Therefore, there is an urgent need to introduce a locally modified community IMNCI program here, for promoting care seeking from qualified providers for sick neonates.Journal of Perinatology (2008) 28, S69–S75; doi:10.1038/jp.2008.169 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents disadvantaged households' ‘mental models’ about low‐fee private (LFP) schooling for their daughters in a study in Lucknow District, Uttar Pradesh. It argues that assumptions in the dominant discourse on girls' schooling in India obscure the complex negotiations and trade‐offs disadvantaged families make when considering schooling choices for their daughters. Furthermore, they obscure a focus on change resulting from and intertwined with changing socio‐economic structures and institutional contexts for schooling over time. The changing institutional context for education through increased LFP provision is the focus for analysis. Data show that participants were not selective in choosing the LFP sector by gender, and thought of it as representing the best chance for their daughters' livelihoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using follow-up data on a sample of mothers who gave birth at a Lucknow city hospital, the family size ideals of the women were examined in relation to experienced and perceived levels of child mortality and socioeconomic and demographic characteristics.The fear of child mortality and their own experience tended to increase the size of family which the mothers considered to be ideal. Lower ideal family size was found among younger women, those who married at later ages and those currently using contraception. Family size preferences were also influenced by rural/urban background, religion, caste, type of family, education, income and occupation of husband and type of housing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using data collected through follow-up home visits to a sample of mothers, whose singleton babies were born at the Dufferin Hospital, Lucknow, September 1976—August 1977, estimates are made of infant mortality in Lucknow city, and its differentials by socioeconomic, demographic and health care characteristics of the infants and their families. Infant mortality was 74·5 per 1000 births during the year 1976–77 and there is evidence of some recent decline in it.Among socioeconomic factors considered, infant mortality is found to be inversely related with caste status among Hindus, education of mother, father's monthly income, and father's occupation. Infant mortality exhibits a J-shaped distribution in relation to maternal age and parity and a reversed J-shaped distribution in relation to maternal age at marriage. Among health and health care factors, antenatal care of the mother appears to exercise a negative influence on infant mortality, which also shows a marked negative relationship with birth weight and feeding index of the child. The findings suggest important policy implications, which, if followed, would help to reduce infant mortality, and would thus remove a serious obstacle in the way of acceptance of the small family norm and its achievement through the adoption of family planning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Phosphorous (P) that upholds life become unattainable as most of them become unavailable due to the formation of insoluble complexes with cations such as Ca2+, Al3+ and Fe3+ forming a complex calcium phosphate (Ca3(PO4)2), aluminum phosphate (AlPO) and ferrous phosphate (FePO) that results in the decrease of soluble P to a greater extent. There are several reports stating that several rhizospheric fungal species play an important role in solubilizing these insoluble phosphates into a soluble form by the excretion of enzymes like phosphatase, phytase enzymes, and organic acids. In view of this, so we have collected twenty fungal isolates having probable phosphate solubilizing efficiency from different regions of Lucknow, India. Their morphological and biochemical characteristics were tested. Among all, six efficient fungal isolates were further checked at molecular level by using 18S rRNA universal primers and by RAPD means. A dendrogram indicated 40-90% homology i.e., highest similarity was found in between species of Aspergillus flavus and A. biplanus with 33.8% similarity while minimum similarity was observed among A. flavus and Fusarium oxysporum. These findings suggest RAPD proves as, a reliable molecular tool that helps in strain specific discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction:Cervical carcinoma is the second most common malignancy in women worldwide. It is estimated that over a million women worldwide currently have cervical cancer. Worldwide, cervical cancer is both the fourth-most common cancer and the fourth-most common cause of death from cancer in women. In 2012, 528, 000 new cases of cervical cancer were diagnosed, and 266, 000 women died of the disease (GLOBOCAN 2012), nearly 90% of them in lowto middle-income class countries. Multifactorial causation, potential for prevention, and the sheer threat it poses make cervical cancer an important disease for in-depth studies, as has been attempted by this paper by studying the hypoxic marker. Recently, there has been increasing interest in the identification of biomarkers able to predict both response to treatment and survival. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of hypoxic marker Carbonic anhydrase (CAIX) markers to predict the clinical outcome of patients with cervical carcinoma. Materials and methods:This study was conducted on biopsy proven previously untreated cases of cancer cervix who presented to the Department of Radiotherapy at King George's Medical University (KGMU), Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. The study was a single institution, non-randomised, prospective study to evaluate carbonic anhydrase IX as a biomarker in cancer cervix patients undergoing radiotherapy. Sample size: Total 75 samples • 25 healthy control subjects (Age and sex matched) • 25 cancer cervix patients (duplicate samples i.e. baseline and follow up). Approximately 2 ml of blood was withdrawn before initiation of treatment and at the time of first follow up. Standard treatment was given as external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) with concurrent chemotherapy followed by intracavitary radiotherapy (ICRT). Blood samples was analysed for the level of CAIX..Statistical analyses was performed with the SPSS software package v13.0. Results: Pre-treatment high level of carbonic anhydrase IX correlated with poor treatment outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Childhood obesity is increasingly being observed with changing lifestyles of families. The magnitude of overweight ranges from 9% to 27.5% and obesity ranges from 1% to 12.9% among Indian children. Objectives: The present study was undertaken to study the magnitude of overweight/obesity and its determinants among children in Lucknow city. Materials and Methods: A list of government and private school was procured from Office of Basic Shiksha Adhikari. Three government and three private schools were selected by Simple Random Sampling. Students of 5th to 12th grades available at the time of study were included as study unit. Predesigned and pretested questionnaire was used to elicit the information on family characteristics and individual characteristics. Height and weight were measured and BMI was calculated. Children with BMI of 25 and above were considered overweight and children with BMI more than 30 were considered obese. Results: Overweight and obesity was found to be 4.17% and 0.73%, respectively; they together constitute 4.91% for overweight/obesity. The study revealed that the important correlates of overweight/obesity were father's education, father's occupation, class, children playing outdoor games for less than 30 min, and those consuming fast foods. Conclusions: Children of higher classes (above 8th standard) belonging to higher socioeconomic group with less outdoor activities and consuming fast foods were more predisposed to overweight/obesity. As a preventive strategy, there is a need to apply health and nutritional education programs for inculcating healthy life styles, and incorporating more outdoor activities in Physical Education Department of school curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the need of strengthening the ethics committees (ECs) in India. He mentions a symposium held at the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), Lucknow, in which the topics related to monitoring of ECs, selection of members and clinical research were discussed. He suggests the need to strive registration and accreditation through improvement in ethical review processes by institutes to promote outsourcing of clinical trials to developing countries.

Objective: The English version of the Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities (SDSCA) measure is the most often used self-reporting instrument assessing diabetes self-management. This study was aimed at translating English SDSCA into the Hindi version and validating and evaluating its psychometric properties. Methods: The Hindi version of SDSCA was developed based on the guidelines provided by the World Health Organization (2008) for translation and adaptation of tool. Following steps were adopted: (1) Cultural and linguistic validation, (2) content validity testing, (3) construct validity testing, and (4) internal validity testing. Sixty women diagnosed with GDM were selected for the purpose of this study. Results: The tool showed promising and satisfactory results. Of mention are the results related to Cronbach's alpha (0.82). The exploratory factor analysis showed three factors that fit the data satisfactorily. Conclusions: This study provided evidence for the reliability and validity of the Hindi Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities instrument, which may be used in the future to assess diabetes self-management activities among the pregnant women diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus among Hindi-speaking population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A field experiment was conducted for two cropping seasons during 2016–19 at the ICAR-Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India, with the objectives to study the effect of i) K nutrition and variable sources of K on growth analysis of sugarcane ratoon crop, ii) the response of K on the photosynthetic rate of crop and iii) contribution of K on yield attributes, sugarcane, and sugar yields. Mean results of two cropping seasons indicated that the application of potassium brought forth a 12.08% improvement in tiller population over no K (107.3 thousand/ha). Potassium application through K2SO4 (SOP) showed the highest net rate of photosynthesis (15.28 µmol/m2/s) which was about 30.71% higher than the control. Among the various sources of K, SOP was found the best in improving sugarcane and sugar yields. Application of SOP resulted in 18.69% ratoon cane yield improvement over the control. Application of 75% K through K2SO4 resulted in a higher sugar yield (12.01 t/ha) which was 25.76% higher than the control (9.55 t/ha). Potassium ammonium sulfate (PAS) and murate of potash could not produce better results as compared to K2SO4. Potassium application through SOP showed the highest net rate of photosynthesis (15.28 µmol/m2/s) during the grand growth phase. Application of 50.4 kg K/ha (75% more than recommended) through K2SO4 increased 18.69% sugarcane (106.7 t/ha) and 25.76% (12.01 t/ha) sugar yields over the control (no K) and was found to the best and could be recommended for improving sugarcane and sugar yields of ratoon in subtropical India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about the topics discussed at Birbal Sashni Palaeobotanical Society's Conference in Lucknow, India from November 16-17, 2009 is presented. Topics include the fields of paleobotany and the important role of plant fossils in the prevention of climate change. The conference featured several keynote speakers including N. C. Mehrotra, R. N. Lakhampal and D. C. Garg.

Introduction: In various parts of the country, school dental screening has been regularly conducted as well as in many countries as a part of school health programme. The objective of the study was to assess that school dental screening improves utilization rates in dental clinics and increases acceptance of preventive care. Methodology: A total of 12 schools were randomly selected and divided into 2 groups, study group (n=1832) and control group(n=1899), 6 schools in each group. Utilization rates were determined within 3 months period from the start of screening program. Chi-square test was used to test the difference between groups. Results: The attendance rate for utilizing dental care in the study group was 55.54% and in the control group was 24.97%. Preventive care was seeked in 40.09% of the study group and in 49.80% of the control group. Conclusion: Screening programs significantly improved the follow up at dental clinics. Preventive care was seeked in both groups, after coming to the college, at the advice of a dentist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores 'Indicator Kriging' approach for assessment of health risk from exposure to trace elements concentration (δ t e ) in drinking water resources of the Central Ganga Alluvial Plain (CGAP), northern India. The estimates for δ t e were generated using analysis of groundwater samples (n = 100) collected from the Lucknow monitoring area to map the predicted area of health risk. The predicted probability maps have reclassified into a unified scale to generate Trace Element Risk Index (TERI), which has further integrated with human population count data to generate Health Risk Index of Lucknow. The results indicate that the risk is potentially alarming in urban areas as relatively high δ t e there are referring to the local (point) sources of contamination. Approximately 23.15% human population residing in about 69.77% of the total area is at moderate-to-high health risk probability. The findings of this study could help planning substantial remediation measures on long-term basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Immunization remains one of the most important public health interventions and a cost-effective strategy to reduce both the morbidity and mortality associated with infectious diseases. Over two million deaths are delayed through immunization each year worldwide. Aims: This study sought to identify specific factors associated with immunization coverage in order to advance improved intervention, policies/strategies therefore raising overall immunization coverage. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among a total of 198 children aged 12-23 months at Urban Health and Training Centre (UHTC), Era's Lucknow Medical College, Lucknow, over a period of 6 months i.e., from July 2012-December 2012. Data were collected, compiled and tabulated using Microsoft Excel and analyzed using SPSS 17.0 version. Results: A total of 198 children of age 12-23 months were included in this study, of which 74.7% of children were fully immunized, 11.1% were partially immunized and 14.1% were not immunized at all. The most common reason for partial or nonimmunization was family problems (24%) of the respondents followed by lack of knowledge of immunization (20%), and fear of side effects (16%). The odds of risk of partial/non-immunization in illiterate women is 5.78 more than the graduate women (P = 0.039). Conclusions: Although in the present study, majority of the children were immunized, it is still not up to the mark. We have to make it 100%, so that we can reduce mortality due to vaccine-preventable diseases. Increasing awareness and reducing fear of side effects of immunization among parents through health education, counseling, etc. can increase the percentage of immunized children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Oral diseases are considered a public health problem due to their high prevalence. It is the primary concern of oral health educators to impart positive oral health knowledge and behavior in the society. Health workers' knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) toward oral health to a great extent influence the community as they can extend health education at the first contact in the community. Thus, the aim of the study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices of health care workers. Material and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was designed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices towards oral health among health care workers. The study was conducted among health care workers aged between 20 and 60 years working in Primary Healthcare Centres and Community Healthcare Centres of Lucknow district. Informed consent was obtained from health care workers before the start of the study. The data were collected via a predesigned and pretested questionnaire. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics-version 21. Results: The results of the study showed that 70.2% of the respondents ever visited the dentist due to somereason of which 19.2% visited once in a year. In addition, 38.9% of the respondents were daily smokers of which the majority belonged to the age group 20–40 years. A total of 63.9% of the respondents were daily chewable tobacco users, and 12.4% were routine users of alcohol. Conclusion: The present study gives a brief insight into the oral health knowledge, attitude, and practices of health care workers which were of fair degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hypertension is the most common disorder which is encountered in outdoor patients. The existing data suggests that there is an increase in the prevalence of pre-hypertension and hypertension in India. The prevalence of hypertension will increase even further, unless broad and effective preventive measures are implemented. The main objective of this study was to find out the prevalence of hypertension amongst the adult outdoor patients of an urban health centre of Lucknow district. Materials and Methods: This observational, Out Patients Department based study involved a survey on 306 male and 1203 female respondents who were aged 18 years, who attended the Urban Health Training Centre of the Department of Community Medicine, Era's Lucknow Medical College and Hospital, Lucknow, India. A structured, pretested schedule was used to collect the data with regards to the demographic characteristics and the blood pressure pattern. The Chi- square test and ANOVA were used to analyze the data. Results: The prevalence of hypertension was found to be 44.46%. The proportion of hypertension showed an increasing trend with age. The mean systolic as well as diastolic blood pressure patterns were found to be higher, with an increase in age. Conclusion: Hypertension was found to be highly prevalent among the outdoor patients of an urban health centre of Lucknow. An early detection of hypertension can be facilitated by periodically screening people regularly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial and transport activities are the two major sources of noise pollution in any metropolitan city. Lucknow city, the capital of the largest populated state Uttar Pradesh in India has an area of 310 sq. km and is rapidly growing as a commercial, industrial and trading centre of northern India. The population of Lucknow city as per census 2001 is 22.45 Lacs. It is expected that by the year 2021 it will make 45 Lacs. The total vehicle population in Lucknow city on 31 March 2008, was nearly 1 million with almost 80% two wheelers, 12% cars, 1.36% three wheelers, 0.45% buses etc. A study was carried out to assess the existing status of noise levels and its impacts on the environment with a possibility of further expansion of the city. Ambient noise levels were measured at different locations selected on the basis of land use such as silence, heavy traffic and residential and commercial zones. It was found that noise levels at all selected locations were much higher (75-90 dB) than the prescribed limits. The observed traffic volume and data on road geometry were used to predict noise levels using Federal Highway Administration Agency (FHWA) model and the calculated noise levels were compared with the observed levels for checking the suitability of this model for predicting the future levels. It was established that the results obtained by FHWA model were very close to the observed noise levels and that the model was suitable to be used for other similar metropolitan cities in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Chenopodium spp. is being used as a leafy vegetable and subsidiary grain crop in different parts of the world due to its rich nutritional quality and its ability to grow in stress conditions. A field experiment was conducted in Lucknow (India) to assess the genetic diversity in 40 accessions of Chenopodium spp. based on mineral composition of the leaves. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed that the first 4 PCs (Principal Component) accounted for 74.70% of the total variance among the accessions. The first PC (PC1) accounted for 41.96% of the total qualitative variation and had nickel, zinc and chromium with high positive and copper with high negative coefficients. The most important loadings for PC2 were calcium and potassium. Cluster analysis grouped the accessions into 4 major clusters. The first cluster, which showed maximum diversity, had 17 accessions, all of C. quinoa having high content of most of the heavy metals viz. zinc, chromium, nickel and cadmium. Cluster II was the largest consisting of 18 accessions which had low content of nickel, cadmium and chromium. Cluster III contained 3 accessions that had lowest amount of calcium, iron, magnesium and zinc, while accessions in cluster IV were characterized by high levels of calcium, sodium, magnesium, nickel, chromium and cadmium. Significant genotypic differences existed in the heavy metal uptake by plants. Mineral uptake and concentration in Chenopodium spp. corresponds to the taxonomic categorization in the genus and could also be utilized as a supplementary taxonomic tool for grouping together of closely related taxa. Conclusively the diversity can be exploited in plant breeding programs for increasing nutritional value and for bioremediation purposes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Two hitherto Alternaria species, viz., A. ashwinii and A. dilkushana causing leaf spot on the margins of flavescent and older leaves of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) are being reported for the first time from sub-tropical India. The new strain of fungi was isolated and morpho-taxonomic characters were studied in depth and compared to previous reported Alternaria strains on sugar beet crop in local cultivated field. The comparative analysis revealed variations within different fungal identification traits, viz., symptomatology, hyphae, conidiophore and conidial characteristics that differentiate from previous reported Alternaria strains on sugar beet crop in local area. The new taxon has been proposed as A. ashwinii Mall, Misra, Kumar and Pathak sp. nov. (MB 827099) and A. dilkushana Mall, Misra, Kumar and Pathak sp. nov. (MB 827096). This study will help in giving new direction to molecular diagnostics of these strains. The study also opens up path for future work on its ITS region (referred to as official DNA barcoding), in identifying the various protein coding genes used for boosting or replacing ITS region in species identification of fungi. Diseases are foremost restraint in attaining high sucrose content and yield in Sugar beet. Amongst the various diseases of Sugar beet, foliar diseases are the most common ones. Foliar diseases are often ignored though they cause substantial losses to yield and sucrose content. Identified two new fungal strains of Alternaria in sugar beet in sub-tropical India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Gingivitis is codified as the most familiar oral disease in children and teenagers. Several studies reported that most of the children and adolescents have negative impact on quality of life (QoL) due to gingivitis or destructive periodontal disease or poor oral health status. Existing literature in this context on Indian population is sparse. Hence, this study has been shouldered to find out possible coalition between gingivitis and COHRQoL. Objective: This study desires to evaluate the confederation of gingivitis and child oral health-related quality of life (COHRQoL) among school children of Lucknow. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in school going children with the age group of 11–14 years, with a representative sample of 400 students in Lucknow city. For data on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL), a predesigned questionnaire (CPQ11-14) was used for demographic information and questions on oral symptoms, functional limitations, emotional, and social well-being. Gingival status was evaluated by Gingival index (Loe and Silness 1963). Results: QoL was found to be moderately affected in children with severe gingivitis as compared with children with no gingivitis, mild, and moderate gingivitis, but this difference was found to be statistically nonsignificant (P = 0.896). Conclusion: The present findings indicated that the existence of substantial levels of gingivitis might be fatalistically related with how children perceive their oral health and daily life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To test an infographic two-pager on medication abortions (MA) aimed to improve pharmacists counseling in India.Methods: A quantitative baseline survey was conducted among 283 pharmacists in three districts around Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh in January 2018. The intervention (infographic) was given to 117 of these pharmacists a few weeks later and a follow-up survey was conducted 3 months later with 281 pharmacists. In addition, mystery clients were sent to 115 of the pharmacists.Results: A statistically significant improvement in knowledge post-intervention was found, compared to pre-, for almost all quality items measured. Difference-in-difference estimators showed a difference in knowledge among indicators related to misoprostol in particular. However, mystery client reports showed few differences in pharmacist behaviors between intervention and control pharmacists.Conclusion: This simple, paper-based intervention, which required no training, showed a significant improvement in pharmacists' knowledge and was welcomed by the providers. Translating knowledge into behavior change, however, seems more difficult to impact. Adapting this simple intervention to motivate providers to change behaviors could improve the quality of care provided by pharmacists in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of good management for cancer survivors should not be limited to only clinical care, but rather it should also include best quality of life (QOL). The objective of this study was to find out various factors affecting QOL in cervical cancer patients so that by modifying these factors, the best QOL can be provided to them.Materials and Methods: This was a prospective cohort study conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Department of Radiotherapy, King George's Medical University (KGMU), Lucknow, from May 2015 to July 2016. The cases were selected from patients visiting the outpatient department or who were admitted to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Department of Radiotherapy, KGMU. The data information was collected in the form of face-to-face interview using European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer general cancer QOL Score 30 (EORTC QLQ C-30) and EORTC QOL questionnaire cervical cancer module (QLQ CX-24) questionnaire.Results: QOL was assessed in 85 patients. Health-related QOL was separately studied in terms of overall general QOL and cancer cervix-specific QOL, and various factors affecting QOL were studied by multivariate analysis.Conclusion: Education, tobacco use, degree of differentiation of tumor, and size of tumor were the independent factors found to have statistically significant effect on QOL of cervical cancer survivors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Method: A cohort study was carried out for a year to evaluate the presence of G-to-A transition in 5′-untranslated region of ankylosis human (ANKH) gene in Indian Khatri patients (closely resembling Europeans of primary knee osteoarthritis (OA), residing in Lucknow, India. Results: In the total participants, 25 were Khatri primary knee OA patients (cases) residing in Lucknow and 101 were random blood donors' samples (controls) collected from a blood bank. All were studied for the abovementioned mutation using real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). GG genotype was present in 72.3% of controls and 76% of Khatri knee OA patients. The studied G-to-A mutation was found to be positive in 24.8% of controls and 16% of cases, odds ratio (95% confidence interval) being 0.6 (0.19–1.98, P = 0.42). The frequency of AA (D) genotype found around 3% (cases) and 8% (controls) with P value of 0.70. The combined frequency of both homozygous and heterozygous mutation (GA and AA) in the studied population was 28 (27.7%) in controls and 6 (24%) in cases with the odds ratio (OD) ratio of 0.82 (0.29–2.27, P = 0.70). No significant differences were observed at both genotype and allelic level in the distribution of ANKH-4 G-to-A gene polymorphism in studied subjects. Conclusion: This study did not show any significant G to A mutation in the studied subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noise is a universal problem that is particularly prominent in developing nations like India. Short-term noise-sensitive events like New Year's Eve, derby matches, DJ night, Diwali night (celebration with firecracker) in India, etc. create lots of noise in a short period. There is a need to come up with a system that can predict the noise level for an area for a short period indicating its detailed variations. GIS (Geographic Information System)-based google maps for terrain data and crowd-sourced or indirect collection of noise data can overcome this challenge to a great extent. Authors have tried to map the highly noisy Diwali night for Lucknow, a northern city of India. The mapping was done by collecting the data from 100 points using the noise capture app (30% were close to the source and 70% were away from the source (receiver). Noise data were predicted for 750 data points using the modeling interpolation technique. A noise map is generated for this Diwali night using the crowd-sourcing technique for Diwali night. The results were also varied with 50 test points and are found to be within ±4.4 dB. Further, a noise map is also developed for the same site using indirect data of noise produced from the air pollution open-sourced data. The produced noise map is also verified with 50 test points and found to be ±6.2 dB. The results are also corroborated with the health assessment survey report of the residents of nearby areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: 1) To determine the prevalence of isolated systolic hypertension (ISH) in the adult population of Lucknow district. 2) To study the determinants of ISH especially the relationship with age. Materials and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in four randomly selected areas of Lucknow district. A total of 800 subjects, aged 20 years and above, 400 from urban and 400 from rural area of Lucknow district were included in the study. The statistical tools used for analysis were Pearson's Chi-square test and multiple logistic regression. Results: The prevalence of ISH according to JNC-7 criteria was 4.3%, which was 5.1% in men and 3.6% in women. A significant increase in the prevalence of ISH was seen with an increase in age. Multivariate logistic regression analysis of the determinants showed that age, BMI and smoking were significant independent risk factors of ISH. Conclusions: Given the risk of cardiovascular disease associated with ISH, the findings of this study emphasize the need for further research to document the impact of modifiable risk factors of ISH and the effect of hypertension screening and specific health promotion in bringing down the burden of ISH and related cardiovascular morbidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The occurrence and distribution of four major hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) isomers (α-, β-, γ- and δ-) were studied in vegetation samples of a highly contaminated area close to a small-scale industrial belt in Lucknow (North India). Eight species of plants were collected at different points of the contaminated area and different parts of the plants were separated in order to study the difference in uptake and accumulation. The samples were extracted by matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD) extraction and finally determined by a gas-chromatograph equipped with 63Ni electron capture detector (ECD). HCH isomers were present in almost all samples and the concentration of total HCH in the plant sample analyzed varied between 13 and 44mgkg−1, being the main isomer of β-HCH (8–22mgkg−1). Lindane (γ-HCH) was present in all samples (1–9mgkg−1). Solanum torvum Sw., and Erianthus munja shows the highest and lowest capacity for accumulation of HCH, respectively with a significant difference at p <0.01 level. The highest concentration of HCH residue in root samples indicates the most likely mechanism of HCH accumulation in these plants was sorption of soil HCH on roots. Solanum torvum Sw., and Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal could accumulate considerable levels of HCH isomers (44 and 34mgkg−1, respectively). The results reflect the importance of plants in monitoring purposes and their potential for phytoremediation of HCH contaminated soils. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]