Birth prevalence of neural tube defects and orofacial clefts in India: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: In the last two decades, India has witnessed a substantial decrease in infant mortality attributed to infectious disease and malnutrition. However, the mortality attributed to birth defects remains constant. Studies on the prevalence of birth defects such as neural tube defects and orofacial clefts in India have reported inconsistent results.

FAmily-Led RehabiliTaTion aftEr Stroke in INDia: the ATTEND pilot study.

Background: The aim of this pilot study was to determine the feasibility of a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial in India of a family-led, trained caregiver-delivered, home-based rehabilitation intervention vs. routine care.

Methods: A prospective, randomized (within seven-days of hospital admission), blinded outcome assessor, controlled trial of structured home-based rehabilitation delivered by trained and protocol-guided family caregivers (intervention) vs.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluation of developmental delay in pediatric patients.

Introduction: Developmental delay is defined as significant delay in one or more developmental domains. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is the best modality to investigate such patients. Evaluation of a child with developmental delay is important not only because it allows early diagnosis and treatment but also helpful for parental counseling regarding the outcome of their child and to identify any possible risk of recurrence in the siblings.

Community based maternal death review: lessons learned from ten districts in Andhra Pradesh, India.

Maternal death is as much a social phenomenon as a medical event. Maternal death review (MDR), a strategy for monitoring maternal deaths, provides information on medical, social and health system factors that should be addressed to redress gaps in service provision or utilisation. To strengthen MDR implementation in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India.

Prevalence and risk factors for diabetes and diabetic retinopathy: results from the Nigeria national blindness and visual impairment survey.

Background: In Nigeria, urbanisation and increasing life expectancy are likely to increase the incidence of non-communicable diseases. As the epidemic of diabetes matures, visual loss from diabetic retinopathy (DR) will increase unless mechanisms for early detection and treatment improve, and health systems respond to the growing burden of non-communicable diseases.

Methods: A nationally-representative population-based sample of 13,591 participants aged ≥40 years selected by multistage-stratified-cluster-random-sampling with probability-proportional-to-size procedures were examined in 305 clusters in Nigeria between January 2005 to June 2007.

Preparation of natural three-dimensional goat kidney scaffold for the development of bioartificial organ.

The high prevalence of end-stage kidney diseases demands new treatment strategies. Decellularization approach may provide a viable option grow organs using a regenerative medicine approach. Goat kidney was decellularized by perfusion decellularization using detergents to produce an cellular construct for kidney scaffold.

Tibialis anterior partial rupture mimicking muscle hernia: a rare case report.

Rupture of tibialis anterior tendons is infrequently described in literature, and those described were around the ankle, either at the origin or in the tendon substance. To our known knowledge only very few cases of rupture of the tibialis anterior at musculotendinous junction were reported. We highlight the occurrence of rupture at the musculotendinous junction in tibialis anterior muscle after trauma, presenting as a soft tissue mass, the need to differentiate it from traumatic muscle hernia, mechanism of injury and its ultrasound and MRI findings.

Phytochemical, antioxidant and antibacterial potential of Elaeagnus kologa (Schlecht.) leaf.

Objective: To screen different solvent extracts of Elaeagnus kologa (E. kologa) leaf to determine the phytochemicals, potent antioxidant and antibacterial activity to find out the possible source of applied pharmaceutical formulations.

Methods: Solvent extracts of leaf material were prepared using the Soxhlet apparatus.

Psychological well-being of parents and family caregivers of children with hearing impairment in south India: influence of behavioural problems in children and social support.

Parents of children with hearing impairment are at increased risk of mental health morbidities. We examined the predictive factors associated with caregiver's strain and psychological morbidities in parents and family caregivers of children with hearing impairment. In total, n = 201 parents and family caregivers of children with and without hearing impairment aged 3 to 16 years were recruited.

Challenges in Developing Competency-based Training Curriculum for Food Safety Regulators in India.

Context: The Food Safety and Standards Act have redefined the roles and responsibilities of food regulatory workforce and calls for highly skilled human resources as it involves complex management procedures.

Aims: 1) Identify the competencies needed among the food regulatory workforce in India. 2) Develop a competency-based training curriculum for food safety regulators in the country.

Assessing the prevalence of sensory and motor impairments in childhood in Bangladesh using key informants.

Objectives: The study was conducted to determine whether trained key informants (KI) could identify children with impairments.

Design: Trained KI identified children with defined impairments/epilepsy who were then examined by a medical team at a nearby assessment centre (Key Informant Methodology: KIM). A population-based household randomised sample survey was also conducted for comparing the prevalence estimates.

Effect of hyperglycaemia in pregnancy on adiposity in their infants in India: a protocol of a multicentre cohort study.

Introduction: The carbohydrate 'fuel' metabolism in a pregnant woman may have a long-term impact on the development of her offspring ('fuel-mediated teratogenesis' hypothesis) including in utero exposure to maternal hyperglycaemia leading to fetal hyperinsulinaemia, and the consequent increase in fetal fat cells. Therefore, a feed-forward loop can exist of rising adiposity and hyperinsulinaemia throughout childhood, perhaps leading to obesity and diabetes in later life. There is a need for prospective examination of body fat distribution in children born to mothers with different glycaemic levels to understand the plausible association between glucose metabolism and future risk of diabetes in offspring.

Prevalence of gastro intestinal parasites in ruminants and poultry in Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh.

The prevalence study was conducted on gastrointestinal parasites of cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat and poultry belongs to in and around Korutla, Karimangar district (Telangana region) of Andhra Pradesh. The prevalence of Fasciola sp., Amphistome sp.

Novel magnetism of Ir5+(5d4) Ions in the double perovskite Sr2YIrO6.

We synthesize and study single crystals of a new double-perovskite Sr2YIrO6. Despite two strongly unfavorable conditions for magnetic order, namely, pentavalent Ir5+(5d4) ions which are anticipated to have Jeff=0 singlet ground states in the strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC) limit and geometric frustration in a face-centered cubic structure formed by the Ir5+ ions, we observe this iridate to undergo a novel magnetic transition at temperatures below 1.3 K.

Prevalence and risk factors for lens opacities in Nigeria: results of the national blindness and low vision survey.

Purpose: Investigate prevalence and risk factors for lens opacities among a nationally representative sample of Nigerians aged ≥ 40 years.

Methods: Across 305 clusters, 13,591 adults were examined. Every seventh participant (n = 1722) was sampled systematically and examined in detail, including lens opacity grading.

Optimization of microwave-assisted hot air drying conditions of okra using response surface methodology.

Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) was dried to a moisture level of 0.1 g water/g dry matter using a microwave-assisted hot air dryer. Response surface methodology was used to optimize the drying conditions based on specific energy consumption and quality of dried okra.

Exploring inhibitory potential of Curcumin against various cancer targets by in silico virtual screening.

Various types of cancer accounts for 10% of total death worldwide which necessitates better therapeutic strategies. Curcumin, a curcuminoid present in Curcuma longa, shown to exhibit antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticarcinogenic properties. Present study, we aimed to analyze inhibitory properties of curcumin towards virulent proteins for various cancers by computer aided virtual screening.

Therapeutic management of sarcoptic mange in a sheep flock.

Sarcoptic mange infested sheep showed pruritis, excoriation, crusts, lichenification and secondary alopecia on face and ears. All the infested sheep were treated successfully with Ivermectin at 200 μg/kg body weight and complete recovery of skin was observed between 10th and 14th day post treatments. Sarcoptic mange is highly contagious and the spread of Sarcoptes scabiei is usually by close contact but in goats not same because it has natural resistance against sheep mange.

Reproductive health of women with and without disabilities in South India, the SIDE study (South India Disability Evidence) study: a case control study.

Background: Evidence shows that women with disability have adverse pregnancy outcomes compared to those without a disability. There is a lack of published data on reproductive health of women with disability in India till date. The objective of the South India Disability Evidence (SIDE) Study was to compare reproductive health parameters including pregnancy experience, health access during pregnancy and type of delivery among women with disability compared to women with no disability.

Coregulation of host-response genes in integument: switchover of gene expression correlation pattern and impaired immune responses induced by dipteran parasite infection in the silkworm, Bombyx mori.

The activation of host response proteins against parasitic infection is dependent on the coregulation of immune gene expression. The infection of commercially important silkworm Bombyx mori through endoparasite Exorista bombycis enhanced host-response gene expression in integument early in the infection and was lowered asymptotically. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed heterogeneity while explaining ∼80 % variance among expression timings.

Cataract, visual impairment and long-term mortality in a rural cohort in India: the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease Study.

Background: A large-scale prevalence survey of blindness and visual impairment (The Andhra Pradesh Eye Diseases Study [APEDS1]) was conducted between 1996-2000 on 10,293 individuals of all ages in three rural and one urban clusters in Andhra Pradesh, Southern India. More than a decade later (June 2009-March 2010), APEDS1 participants in rural clusters were traced (termed APEDS2) to determine ocular risk factors for mortality in this longitudinal cohort.

Methods And Findings: Mortality hazard ratio (HR) analysis was performed for those aged >30 years at APEDS1, using Cox proportional hazard regression models to identify associations between ocular exposures and risk of mortality.

The Indian isolate of Densovirus-2 - Impact of infection and mechanism of resistance in Bombyx mori L.

The Indian Bombyxmori Densovirus type 2 isolate (DNV-2), revealed closer homology with Japanese Yamanashi isolate. PCR and qPCR analyses indicated severe and widespread prevalence of the virus in flacherie diseased B. mori under Indian field conditions.

Prevalence and risk factors for hypertension and association with ethnicity in Nigeria: results from a national survey.

Objective: Non-communicable diseases are now a global priority. We report on the prevalence of hypertension and its risk factors, including ethnicity, in a nationally representative sample of Nigerian adults recruited to a survey of visual impairment.

Methods: multi-stage, stratified, cluster random sample with probability proportional to size procedures was used to obtain a nationally representative sample of 13 591 subjects aged ≥ 40 years.

Delayed diagnosis of infected posterior mediastinal teratoma.

Mediastinal teratomas are rarely reported in children. We report a 12-year-old child, diagnosed and treated as empyema thoracis in a peripheral setting for 18 months. In our centre, CT scan performed revealed a well circumscribed multiloculated cystic lesion containing fat, bone and teeth, suggestive of a teratoma.

Molecular characterization of DnaJ 5 homologs in silkworm Bombyx mori and its expression during egg diapause.

A comparison of the cDNA sequences (1 056 bp) of Bombyx mori DnaJ 5 homolog with B. mori genome revealed that unlike in other Hsps, it has an intron of 234 bp. The DnaJ 5 homolog contains 351 amino acids, of which 70 contain the conserved DnaJ domain at the N-terminal end.