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Background: Levamisole is an increasingly common cutting agent used with cocaine. Both cocaine and levamisole can have local and systemic effects on patients., Methods: A retrospective case series was conducted of patients with a cocaine-induced midline destructive lesion or levamisole-induced vasculitis, who presented to a Dundee hospital or the practice of a single surgeon in Paisley, from April 2016 to April 2019. A literature review on the topic was also carried out., Results: Nine patients from the two centres were identified. One patient appeared to have levamisole-induced vasculitis, with raised proteinase 3, perinuclear antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies positivity and arthralgia which improved on systemic steroids. The other eight patients had features of a cocaine-induced midline destructive lesion., Conclusion: As the use of cocaine increases, ENT surgeons will see more of the complications associated with it. This paper highlights some of the diagnostic issues and proposes a management strategy as a guide to this complex patient group. Often, multidisciplinary management is needed.

A seroprevalence study of the peste des petits ruminants (PPR) in small ruminants was carried out in the different states (Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura) in the North Eastern Region (NER) of India using serum samples collected from April 2017 to March 2018. A total number of 4,163 sera [sheep (n = 508) and goats (n = 3,655)] collected from 345 epi‑units/villages covering 176 municipalities in NER were screened by competitive ELISA kit for the detection of PPR virus antibodies. The results revealed that the seroprevalence of PPR in small ruminants in Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura was 34.3%, 10.3%, 4.7%, 15.7%, 14.7%, and 5.5%, respectively with an overall 14.5% prevalence.Association between the presence of antibodies and goats has been showed to be significant (p < 0.01) at the NER level level and within every single state. This manuscript highlights the need for continuous monitoring of this important disease as for the severe economic impact PPR may have in the affected countries.

Introduction: The primary aim of this study was to evaluate efficacy, safety and short-term pain relief after ESWL for large pancreatic calculi in over 5000 patients at a single center., Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data. Patients with painful calculi >5 mm, located in the head, neck and body region in the MPD, who were not amenable for extraction by the standard procedure of endoscopic pancreatic sphincterotomy were subjected to ESWL using a third generation dual focus lithotripter. Patients were followed up at 6 months for outcome evaluation., Results: A total of 5124 patients (66% males) were subjected to ESWL. Majority of stones (79.2%) were radiopaque. Single calculi were seen in 3851 (75.1%).The majority of stones were located in head region of MPD in 2824 (55.1%) patients. 4386 (85.5%) patients required 3 or less sessions for fragmentation and complete stone clearance was achieved in 3722 (72.6%). EPS was performed in 5022 (98%) while PD stenting was required in 3536 (69%) patients. Of the 4280 patients followed up for 6 months, 3529 (82.6%) patients were pain free. Another 512 (11.9%) patients had significant reduction in VAS score. In 229 (5.3%) there was no decrease in pain intensity. Minor and self-limiting complications were reported in 1153 (22.5%)., Discussion: Our study confirms the safety and efficacy and short-term pain relief of ESWL for large calculi in the MPD. In properly selected patients, this should be offered as the first line of therapy for all large MPD calculi not amenable to the standard techniques of stone extraction., (Copyright © 2019 IAP and EPC. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Fermented product of combination of five major substances obtained from cow, viz., urine, milk, ghee, curd, and dung, is known as Panchagavya. Its pro-agricultural and medicinal value has been traditionally known to Indian farmers from Vedic period. In this study, the proteolytic properties of Panchagavya were investigated using Skim Milk Agar (SMA) form, a commercially available Panchagavya product. Proteolytic bacteria, SNCK-3, was successfully isolated. Further identification using 16s rDNA sequencing revealed that SNCK-3 belonged to Acinetobacter spp., which is a species of biofertilizer group. This observation justified the pro-agricultural role of Panchagavya. The present study represents primary data and it is essential to develop a new area of research for exposing the invisible or dormant Vedic biotechnological concepts, like Panchagavya., (Copyright © 2017 Transdisciplinary University, Bangalore and World Ayurveda Foundation. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Leptospira is the causative agent of leptospirosis, which is an emerging zoonotic disease. Recent studies on Leptospira have demonstrated biofilm formation on abiotic surfaces. The protein expressed in the biofilm was investigated by using SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting in combination with MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. The proteins expressed in Leptospira biofilm and planktonic cells was analyzed and compared. Among these proteins, one (60 kDa) was found to overexpress in biofilm as compared to the planktonic cells. MALDI-TOF analysis identified this protein as stress and heat shock chaperone GroEL. Our findings demonstrate that GroEL is associated with Leptospira biofilm. GroEL is conserved, highly immunogenic and a prominent stress response protein in pathogenic Leptospira spp., which may have clinical relevance., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Unlabelled: Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease often encountered during post-monsoon season due to exposure with contaminated water. Leptospires have long been regarded as solitary organisms that persist in soil and aquatic environments. Here, the presence of leptospires in the aquatic biofilm exposed in the paddy field, sewers and stagnant rain water was demonstrated. Biofilm samples from paddy field water, submerged paddy leaves, sewers and stagnant rain waters from urban and rural areas were collected. Total genomic DNA was extracted and pathogenic leptospiral specific gene amplification was carried out to determine the spatial distribution of the bacteria. The degree of pathogenic Leptospira in biofilms from paddy field surface water, submerged leaf, were 33·3% and 27·2% respectively, whereas in rural and urban area, the sampling sites such as stagnant rain water, domestic sewer and collective sewers showed 11·1%, 13% and 16·6% with leptospires respectively. Higher proportion of pathogenic Leptospira in aquatic ecosystems, such as paddy field, could be one of the main factors for the occurrence of disease, more among the agricultural workers. This study would help to identify various survival strategies of leptospires in the environment and thus disease transmission., Significance and Impact of the Study: Little is known regarding the mechanisms by which pathogenic leptospires persist in aqueous environment, outside the mammalian host. In this view this is the first report of the distribution of Leptospira in environmental biofilm such as sewers and paddy leaf surfaces. This ability of pathogenic Leptospira to survive in aquatic ecosystems especially in biofilms could be one of the main factors which facilitate its survival in the environment, and thus disease transmission among the risk groups, such as sewage and agriculture worker. This study will encourage researchers in the field to consider biofilm as an important factor, when detecting leptospires in environment., (© 2015 The Society for Applied Microbiology.)

Marker assisted backcross breeding was employed to incorporate the blast resistance genes, Pi2 and Pi54 and bacterial blight (BB) resistance genes xa13 and Xa21 into the genetic background of Pusa Basmati 1121 (PB1121) and Pusa Basmati 6. Foreground selection for target gene(s) was followed by arduous phenotypic and background selection which fast-tracked the recovery of recurrent parent genome (RPG) to an extent of 95.8% in one of the near-isogenic lines (NILs) namely, Pusa 1728-23-33-31-56, which also showed high degree of resemblance to recurrent parent, PB6 in phenotype. The phenotypic selection prior to background selection provided an additional opportunity for identifying the novel recombinants viz., Pusa 1884-9-12-14 and Pusa 1884-3-9-175, superior to parental lines in terms of early maturity, higher yield and improved quality parameters. There was no significant difference between the RPG recovery estimated based on SSR or SNP markers, however, the panel of SNPs markers was considered as the better choice for background selection as it provided better genome coverage and included SNPs in the genic regions. Multi-location evaluation of NILs depicted their stable and high mean performance in comparison to the respective recurrent parents. The Pi2+Pi54 carrying NILs were effective in combating a pan-India panel of Magnaporthe oryzae isolates with high level of field resistance in northern, eastern and southern parts of India. Alongside, the PB1121-NILs and PB6-NILs carrying BB resistance genes xa13+Xa21 were resistant against Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae races of north-western, southern and eastern parts of the country. Three of NILs developed in this study, have been promoted to final stage of testing during the ​Kharif 2015 in the Indian National Basmati Trial., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Leaves of the plant Boesenbergia rotunda are used by the Nicobarese tribe of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India, to prepare traditional medicine for treating fever, headache and body ache. In the present investigation, methanol fraction of these leaves were analysed by GC/MS that revealed the presence of 25 compounds. The anti-leptospiral activity of methanol crude extract was determined by both microdilution and macrodilution methods. The MICs of the extract were tested against 24 pathogenic leptospiral strains and ranged between 62.5-125 μg/mL in both microdilution and macrodilution. The range of MBCs was 250 and 500 μg/mL in macrodilution and microdilution respectively. The crude extract was subjected to cytotoxic studies and found to have negligible or no haemolytic activity, exhibiting IC50 values of greater than 4 mg/mL. Further in vivo studies are needed to investigate the pharmacological and toxicological properties of Boesenbergia rotunda, before it can be considered as a new anti-leptospiral agent.

Background: Surgical options for the management of early lumbosacral spondylolisthesis and degenerative disc disease with instability vary from open lumbar interbody fusion with transpedicular fixation to a variety of minimal access fusion and fixation procedures. We have used a combination of micro discectomy and axial lumbosacral interbody fusion with presacral screw fixation to treat symptomatic patients with lumbosacral spondylolisthesis or lumbosacral degenerative disc disease, which needed surgical stabilization. This study describes the above technique along with analysis of results., Materials and Methods: Twelve patients with symptomatic lumbosacral (L5-S1) instability and degenerative lumbosacral disc disease were treated by micro discectomy and interbody fusion using presacral screw stabilization. Patients with history of bowel, bladder dysfunction and local anorectal diseases were excluded from this study. Postoperatively all patients were evaluated neurologically and radiologically for screw position, fusion and stability. Oswestry disability index was used to evaluate results., Results: We had nine females and three males with a mean age of 47.33 years (range 26-68 years). Postoperative assessment revealed three patients to have screw placed in anterior 1/4(th) of the 1(st) sacral body, in rest nine the screws were placed in the posterior 3/4(th) of sacral body. At 2 years followup, eight patients (67%) showed evidence of bridging trabeculae at bone graft site and none of the patients showed evidence of instability or implant failure., Conclusion: Presacral screw fixation along with micro discectomy is an effective procedure to manage early symptomatic lumbosacral spondylolisthesis and degenerative disc disease with instability.

We present the results of synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements on powdered single-crystal samples of BaFe(2-x)Ru(x)As2, as a function of Ru content, and as a function of temperature, across the spin-density wave transition in BaFe(1.9)Ru(0.1)As2. The Rietveld refinements reveal that with Ru substitution, while the a-axis increases, the c-axis decreases. In addition, the variation of positional coordinates of As (z(As)), the Fe-As bond length and the As-Fe-As bond angles have also been determined. In the sample with x = 0.1, temperature-dependent XRD measurements indicate that the orthorhombicity shows the characteristic increase with a decrease in temperature, below the magnetic transition. It is seen that the c-axis, the As-Fe-As bond angles, Fe-As bond length and positional coordinates of the As show definite anomalies close to the structural transition. The observed anomalies in structural parameters are analysed in conjunction with restricted geometric optimization of the structure using ab initio electronic structure calculations.

Mössbauer measurements have been carried out in powdered single crystalline samples of BaFe(2-x)RuxAs(2), for Ru concentration in the x = 0.0-0.5 range. The internal hyperfine field (B(hf)) measured at 5 K is found to decrease with an increase in Ru concentration, consistent with the disappearance of a magnetic ground state with Ru substitution. The temperature dependent Mössbauer measurements have been used to study the evolution of magnetic ordering at the Fe sites, in samples with a Ru fraction of x = 0.1 and 0.5. From the analysis of the data, it is surmised that the isomer shift increases with a decrease in temperature, with a characteristic slope change at the structural transition in both samples studied. In both the x = 0.1 and x = 0.5 samples, a low B(hf) centred around 0.5 Tesla is seen to occur well above the structural transition temperature, the contribution from which is suppressed with a decrease in temperature. Below the structural transition temperature, a bimodal distribution of B(hf) centred at about 3 Tesla and 5 Tesla emerges, the contribution from which increases with a further decrease in temperature. Spin polarized density functional calculations suggest the occurrence of different magnetic moments at the Fe sites in the Ru substituted compounds, and provide a rationale for the experimentally observed multimodel B(hf).

In this present era, when a significant number of patients seeking orthodontic treatment are adults, importance of multidisciplinary treatment approach cannot be overemphasized. Higher susceptibility of plaque accumulation in patients undergoing orthodontic treatment makes involvement of periodontist almost unavoidable. Also, orthodontic treatment frequently results in undesirable periodontal changes which require immediate attention. More recently, orthodontics has been used as an adjunct to periodontics to increase connective tissue support and alveolar bone height. The purpose of this article is to review the adverse effects of orthodontic treatment on the periodontal tissues and to discuss the mutually beneficial relationship shared between the two specialties.

The present study assessed the benefits of integration of animals with fish production in optimizing the bio mass production from unit land in subtropical hill agro ecosystem. Hampshire pigs and Khaki Campbell ducks were integrated with composite fish culture. The pig and duck excreta were directly allowed into the pond and no supplementary feed was given to fish during the period of study. The average levels of N, P and K in dried pig and duck manure were 0.9, 0.7 and 0.6 per cent and 1.3, 0.6 and 0.5 per cent, respectively. The average body weight of pig and duck at 11 months age was 90 and 1.74 kg with an average daily weight gain of 333.33 and 6.44 g, respectively. The fish production in pig-fish and duck-fish systems were 2209 and 2964 kg/ha, respectively while the fish productivity in control pond was only 820 kg/ha. The total biomass (animal and fish) production was higher (p<0.05) in commercial feeding system compared to the traditional system, however the input/output ratio was 1:1.2 and 1:1.55 for commercial and traditional systems, respectively. It was inferred that the total biomass production per unit land was high (p<0.05) when animal and fish were integrated together.

The background to heart rate variability (HRV) and blood pressure variability (BPV), and their determinants and physiological correlates, remain obscure. The impact of age must be taken into account if HRV and BPV are used for predictive purposes in clinical settings. Healthy subjects show wide inter-individual variation in their heart rate behaviour and the factors affecting heart rate dynamics are not well known. This paper has undertaken to evaluate heart rate variability (HRV) and baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) in a random sample of subjects without evidence of heart disease, and to estimate the relation of HRV and BPV behaviour to age. The aim of this study was to analyse the effects of ageing on HRV and BPV for simultaneous recordings of electrocardiograph (ECG) and blood pressure (BP) signals at rest in healthy subjects. We studied eight young (21-34 years old) and eight elderly (68-85 years old) rigorously screened subjects from the Fantasia Database to make the reproducibility and comparability of the results more extensive. Time- and frequency-domain analysis of HRV and BPV was performed on 5-minute ectopic-free recordings. BRS on the heart was estimated by frequency-domain analysis of spontaneous variability of systolic blood pressure (SBP) and RR interval. It has been observed that compared to young the elderly subjects have (i) diminished HRV; (ii) a shift in the power spectral density and median frequency to low frequency side for HRV and to higher frequency side for BPV; and (iii) increased low-frequency alpha index and decreased high-frequency alpha index of BRS with overall alpha index augmented. The results convey that normal ageing in the absence of disease is associated with lesser parasympathetic regulation of heart rate. Thus it is concluded that the age is an important factor to be considered for prognosis and diagnosis by HRV and BPV. For reliable clinical applications, more research needs to be done on a broad spectrum of subjects. In addition, these observations will prove to be useful for dynamic modelling of cardiovascular regulation for testing the authentication of new techniques for analysis purposes.

Spectral analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) is an accepted method for assessment of cardiac autonomic function and its relationship to numerous disorders and diseases. Various non-parametric methods for HRV estimation have been developed and extensive literature on their respective properties is available. The RR interval time series can be seen as a series of non-uniformly spaced samples. To analyse the power spectra of this series using the discrete Fourier transform (DFT), we need to interpolate the series for obtaining uniformly spaced intervals. The selection of sampling period plays a critical role in obtaining the power spectra in terms of computational efficiency and accuracy. In this paper, we shall analyse the RR interval time series from selected subjects for different sampling frequencies to compare the error introduced in selected frequency-domain measures of HRV at a constant frequency resolution for a specific duration of electrocardiogram (ECG) data. It should be pointed out that, although many other error causes are possible in the frequency-domain measures, our attention will be confined only to the performance comparison due to the different sampling frequencies. While the choice of RR interval sampling frequency (f(s)) is arbitrary, the sampling rate of RR interval series must be selected with due consideration to mean and minimum RR interval; f(s = )4 Hz was proposed for a majority of cases. This is an appropriate sampling rate for the study of autonomic regulation, since it enables us to compute reliable spectral estimates between dc and 1 Hz, which represents the frequency band within which the autonomic nervous system has significant response. Furthermore, resampled RR intervals are evenly spaced in time and are synchronized with the samples of the other physiologic signals, enabling cross-spectral estimates with these signals.

Seeds of 4 crosses of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.), 'Robut 33-1' x 'Chico', 'Robut 33-1' x 'NC Ac 17090', 'Robut 33-1' x 'PI 298115' and 'MK 374' x 'GAUG 1', were irradiated with 30 kR. In the F1, some branches of each plant were intermated with other plants at random and others selfed in each cross to produce S2 and F2 seeds. They were evaluated for pod yield, shelling percentage and 100-kernel weight. The frequency of plants superior to F[in1] was much higher in S2 than in F2, which was, in general, true for the values of yield and its components. The S2 and F2 were advanced to third generation by selfing. The families descending from S2 showed clear superiority over those from F2. The reason for such superiority was suggested to be the recombination of genes from the upper and lower ends of the genotypic distribution under intermating.