The Cadaver Conundrum: Sourcing and Anatomical Embalming of Human Dead Bodies by Medical Schools during and after COVID-19 Pandemic: Review and Recommendations.

COVID-19 pandemic has posed a new challenge for medical schools across the world regarding the acceptance of donated and unclaimed dead bodies for academic purpose. Uncertainty of the COVID-19 status among the donated bodies poses a health risk for embalming personnel and medical students who handle the embalmed cadavers. There is a paucity of literature delineating the criteria for accepting or rejecting the bodies during COVID-19 pandemic. Similarly, there is no recommended standard operating procedure for anatomical embalming during COVID-19. We propose certain criteria for accepting and rejecting the human dead bodies for anatomical embalming. And we propose some technical modifications to the conventional procedure of formalin-based anatomical embalming. A guarded approach and diligent screening of donated bodies is the way forward during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Communications between the tendons of flexor hallucis longus and flexor digitorum longus: a cadaveric study.

INTRODUCTION: Tibialis posterior tendon insufficiency in adult acquired flat foot deformity (AAFFD) is treated by reinforcing the posterior tibial tendon (PTT) using grafts from flexor hallucis longus (FHL) and flexor digitorum longus (FDL). The communication between FHL and FDL will influence the length of the graft that can be harvested from FHL and FDL. In this study, we aim to study the patterns of communications between FHL and FDL tendons and the location of Master Knot of Henry (MKH) and point of division of FDL tendons in Indian population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this observational descriptive study, 36 formalin-fixed cadavers were sourced from Subbaiah Institute of Medical Sciences, Shimoga, Karnataka, India, and JIPMER, Puducherry, India, during the period of 2017-19. Various parameters of the foot to locate the MKH and point of division of FDL tendons and various types of communications between FHL and FDL were observed. RESULTS: Among the various types of communications between FHL and FDL tendons, type I was present in 61.76% of cases, type II in 2.94% of cases, type III in 7.35% of cases, type IV in 14.70% of cases, type V in 8.82% of cases, type VI in 0% of cases, type VII in 1.47% of cases and an unusual type in 2.94% of cases. CONCLUSION: In the present study done in Indian population, we found that type I variety is present more commonly followed by type IV. FHL and FDL tendon grafts can be lengthened based on the communications between them. In type I variety, the communication can be severed at the FDL end to lengthen the tendon graft for harvest.

Water-repellent coatings prepared by modification of ZnO nanoparticles.

Superhydrophobic coatings with a static water contact angle (WCA)>150° were prepared by modifying ZnO nanoparticles with stearic acid (ZnO@SA). ZnO nanoparticles of size ∼14nm were prepared by solution combustion method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies reveal that as prepared ZnO has hexagonal wurtzite structure whereas the modified coatings convert to zinc stearate. Field emission scanning electron micrographs (FE-SEM) show the dual morphology of the coatings exhibiting both particles and flakes. The flakes are highly fluffy in nature with voids and nanopores. Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectrum shows the stearate ion co-ordinates with Zn(2+) in the bidentate form. The surface properties such as surface free energy (γ(p)) and work of adhesion (W) of the unmodified and modified ZnO coatings have been evaluated. The electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy reveals that surface defects play a major role in the wetting behavior.

Development of EST-SSR markers in castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) and their utilization for genetic purity testing of hybrids.

Expressed sequence tag (EST) databases offer opportunity for the rapid development of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers in crops. Sequence assembly and clustering of 57 895 ESTs of castor bean resulted in the identification of 10 960 unigenes (6459 singletons and 4501 contigs) having 7429 SSRs. On an average, the unigenes contained 1 SSR for every 1.23 kb of unigene sequence. The identified SSRs mostly consisted of dinucleotide (62.4%) and trinucleotide (33.5%) repeats. The AG class was the most common among the dinucleotide motifs (68.9%), whereas the AAG class (25.9%) was predominant among the trinucleotide motifs. A total of 611 primer pairs were designed for the SSRs, having repeat length more than or equal to 20 nucleotides, of which a set of 130 markers were tested and 92 of these yielding robust amplicons were analyzed for their utility in genetic purity assessment of castor bean hybrids. Nine markers were able to detect polymorphism between the parental lines of nine commercial castor bean hybrids (DCH-32, DCH-177, DCH-519, GCH-2, GCH-4, GCH-5, GCH-6, GCH-7, and RHC-1), and their utility in genetic purity testing was demonstrated. These novel EST-SSR markers would be a valuable addition to the growing molecular marker resources that could be used in genetic improvement programmes of castor bean.

A novel orf108 co-transcribed with the atpA gene is associated with cytoplasmic male sterility in Brassica juncea carrying Moricandia arvensis cytoplasm.

Mitochondrial atpA transcripts were examined in cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) and fertility restorer lines of CMS (Moricandia arvensis) Brassica juncea. Male sterile flowers had longer atpA transcripts than male fertiles. The mitochondrial atpA region of the CMS line was cloned and sequenced. The 5' and 3' ends of the atpA transcripts of the CMS and the fertility restorer lines were mapped and full-length transcripts were cloned and sequenced. A novel orf108 (open reading frame 108) co-transcribed with the atpA gene was found in the male sterile flowers. In the fertility restorer line, the transcript was cleaved within orf108 to yield monocistronic atpA transcripts.

Cytoplasmic male sterility in alloplasmic Brassica juncea carrying Diplotaxis catholica cytoplasm: molecular characterization and genetics of fertility restoration.

The present study was aimed at characterizing cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) and identifying the fertility restorer gene for CMS (Diplotaxis catholica) Brassica juncea derived through sexual hybridization. The fertility restorer gene was identified by crossing the CMS line with progeny plants derived from somatic hybrids of B. juncea and D. cathoilca. The CMS line is comparable to the nuclear donor B. juncea in all respects except for flower and silique characteristics. In CMS plants, the flowers have smaller nectaries, and anthers are converted into petals or tubular structures. Gynoecium exhibits a crooked style and trilocular ovary. Seed fertility was reduced in the CMS line. Genetic segregation data indicated that a single, dominant, nuclear gene governs fertility restoration. Restored plants showed a high female fertility and lacked gynoecium abnormalities. In fertility-restored plants, petal development was found to be variable; some flowers had the normal number of four petals, while others had zero to three petals. Interestingly, the trilocular character of the ovary was found to co-segregate with CMS and became bilocular upon male-fertility restoration. Thus, this trait appears to be affected by the interaction of nuclear and mitochondrial (mt) genomes. Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis indicated that mt-genome of D. catholica is highly divergent from that of B. juncea. However, in Northern analysis, out of eight mt genes studied, an altered transcript pattern was recorded for only atpA. In fertility-restored plants, the atpA transcript became shorter, thereby showing its association with CMS.

Random chloroplast segregation and mitochondrial genome recombination in somatic hybrid plants of Diplotaxis catholica+Brassica juncea.

Detailed molecular analysis of the somatic hybrid plants of Diplotaxis catholica+B. juncea indicated random chloroplast segregation. One of the five hybrid plants analyzed derived its chloroplasts from D. catholica and two hybrids had chloroplasts of B. juncea origin. Two hybrid plants maintained mixed population of chloroplasts. The mitochondrial (mt) genomes of the fusion partners had undergone recombinations. Occurrence of fragments specific to both the parents in HindIII digestion followed by atp 9 probing, as in hybrid DJ5, provided evidence for intergenomic mitochondrial recombination between D. catholica and B. juncea. Similar mt genome organization in two hybrids (DJ3 and DJ6) suggested that intergenomic recombination may be preferred at specific sites. Hybrid DJ1 had about 70% similarity to D. catholica in mt genome organization. mt genomes of hybrids DJ2, 3, 5, and 6 differed from B. juncea by 14.3-28%. The significance of these novel mt genome organizations in developing novel male sterility systems is discussed.