The Australian Medical Journal, August 1846.

Medical journals started appearing formally in Europe in the 17th century and in North America in the 18th century. In Australia, the first issue of Australian Medical Journal (AMJ) was issued in Sydney, under the stewardship of a New South Wales (NSW) senior surgeon William Brooks working in Newcastle (NSW) in August 1846. This article refers to that issue of AMJ exploring its contents and context. In terms of original articles, only one on the surgical procedures carried out on two patients suffering strangulated hernias in the Parramatta-Public Hospital by Surgeon Thomas Robertson occurs. The other inclusions are précis from contemporary British medical journals. The AMJ appeared only for a year; why it ceased publication in 1847 is not clear. It was resurrected by the Medical Society of Victoria, Melbourne in 1856, issuing 40 annual volumes uninterruptedly until 1895. With the incorporation of other regional Australian medical journals, AMJ was re-named as the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) in 1914. As MJA, it continues to perform to-date. Natl Med J India 2023;36:263-8.

Public hospitals in Madras and people associated with them.

In this follow-up article, we refer to the other public hospital facilities of Madras, viz. the Lock and Naval Hospitals, the Native Infirmary, Lunatic Asylum, Eye Infirmary, Maternity Hospital (Egmore), and the Queen Victoria Hospital for Caste and Gosha Women, some of which are operational today. We also include brief notes on a few of the pioneering men and women, who contributed to the development of these facilities.

On the quarter-millennial anniversary of the Madras General Hospital.

The General Hospital (GH) of Madras (presently Chennai) grew out of a hospital intended for the personnel attached to the Madras army-a Military Hospital (MH)-established within the Fort St George in 1664. Although the GH grew out of this MH, its relocation at its present Périamét (then known as Narimédu, Hog's Hill) site in 1772, bearing the name 'General Hospital' marks its 250th anniversary in 2022. From being MH that serviced the 'white' residents of Madras, it opened to locals in 1899. In 2011, it was renamed as the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. Today, it has grown into a stunning medical facility in India treating about 12 000 patients a day. We chronicle the growth of the MH into the GH. Notable that the first formally conducted medical forensic examination in the whole of India occurred in this facility in August 1693, when this institution was MH. Surgeon Samuel Browne's erroneous dispensation of a medication resulted in the death of James Wheeler, a prominent English-East India Company (EEIC) civil servant in Madras. Following an order to execute an investigation by the Governor, Fort St George, an autopsy of the body of Wheeler was carried out by Surgeon Edward Bulkley. Further to referring to such landmark historical details of early time segments of the MH and GH, we briefly refer to the remarkable medical work of Charles Donovan, William Niblock and Mysore Ramaswami Guruswami Mudaliar, who worked at the GH in the early decades of the 20th century.

Cancer incidence in Madras Presidency in 1892-1901: William Niblock's commentary of 1902.

William J. Niblock (WJN), an Assistant Surgeon at the Madras General Hospital (MGH), published a paper 'Cancer in India' (2 pages of text and 3 pages of tables) in the Indian Medical Gazette in 1902. He appears to have been a popular surgeon in Madras who surgically treated mouth cancers, testicular filariasis, and calcareous stones in the liver, gall bladder, and kidney. His 'Cancer in India' article is a compilation of numerical data of different cancers recorded in MGH from 1892 to 1901 mostly, and from 1896 to 1901 occasionally. In this article, WJN refers to cancers of different internal organs and external parts. He attributes the mouth cancers to constant chewing of 'betel' (the betel quid), which he explains as giving rise to leukoplakia, forerunner of buccal carcinoma. He supplies many, easily comparable, paired tables. These tables are made of raw numbers about the diverse human populations living in Madras, such as the Indians (Hindus and Muslims), Europeans, and Eurasians (Anglo-Indians) extracted from the 10-year records of MGH. None of the tables has been analyzed statistically. Nevertheless, he supplies the total numbers of admissions into MGH, which serve usefully as denominators in this study; occasionally, he presents data as percentages. Despite the lack of parametric statistical analysis, WJN's article, written in 1902, impresses as a useful contribution, because it provides a cross-sectional view of cancer incidence in Madras, particularly in defiance of Saldanha's supposition that cancers do not manifest in dark-skinned people, such as Indians.

Checklist and comments on the jumping plant-lice (Hemiptera: Psylloidea) from the Indian subcontinent.

A checklist comprising information on taxonomy, distribution and host plants is provided for 161 species of jumping plant-lice from the Indian subcontinent (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka) based on published records and museum material. In addition there are 15 species recorded in the literature which are identified to genus only. Museum material provides eight new country and two new state (within India) records. The taxonomy is updated and following nomenclatorial acts are proposed: new genus (1), new generic synonymies (2), designation of type species (1), new species synonymies (5), replacement names for primary homonyms at species level (3), new status of subspecies (3), new combinations (23). Toonapsylla Burckhardt, gen. nov. is described for Psylla cedrelae (Kieffer, 1905). The new genus belongs to Mastigimatinae (Calophyidae) and is probably closest related to Bharatiana and Mastigimas, both associated with Cedrela and Toona (Meliaceae). The new genus is diagnosed and a key is provided for the world genera of Mastigimatinae. The Neoptropical genus Allophorina Hodkinson is transferred here from Mastigimatinae (Calophyidae) to Psyllinae (Psyllidae).

A pituitary tumor turned-to-be a glioma: A surgical case from the Madras General Hospital 1928.

A three-page paper entitled "A case of glioma (embryonal neurocytoma) of the brain simulating pituitary tumour," written by K. G. Pandalai, Surgeon at the Madras General Hospital, and T. B. Menon, Pathologist at the Madras Medical College, was published in the Indian Medical Gazette. This paper refers to an occasional finding of a brain tumor (a glioma), presurgically diagnosed as a pituitary tumor, in 1928. This was close to the period when surgeons across the developed world believed in that cancers were by no means common among the native people of India as it was in Europe. Leopold Rogers of the Bengal Medical Service, Calcutta, in 1925 refuted this belief indicating that malignant tumors were equally common in Bengal (India) and England. Nevertheless, this report by Pandalai and Menon strikes a unique chord since the tumor was subsequently determined as a glioma - an embryonal neurocytoma -- with adequate evidences drawn from the state-of-the-art volume "A classification of the tumors of the glioma group on a histogenetic basis with a correlated study of prognosis" by Percival Bailey and Harvey Cushing published in Philadelphia in 1926. This Pandalai--Menon report impresses as pioneering and trailblazing, on a brain tumor detected in 1928, given that earliest exclusive departments of neurosurgery were established in Christian Medical College, Vellore, and Madras Medical College, Madras, by Jacob Chandy and Balasubramanian Ramamurthi, respectively, nearly two decades later.

Early decades of Madras Medical College: Apothecaries.

The Government at Fort St George determined that a school for instructing and training candidates towards the titles of 'apothecary' was necessary to improve medical help to people in the 1830s. This led to the establishment of the medical school in Madras (presently Chennai) in 1835. The school got renamed as the Madras Medical College in 1850. From 1835, the Madras Medical School offered formal training to personnel to be called either 'apothecaries' or 'dressers' under the superintendence of William Mortimer, who was assisted by George Harding in teaching at the school. Apothecary D'Beaux and Dresser P. S. Muthuswami Mudaliar were subordinate assistants. These apothecaries were recruited essentially under the Subordinate Medical Service of Madras, which was established in 1812 and included non-commissioned medical servants. The Madras apothecaries launched the Madras Apothecaries Society in 1864, which aimed at promoting and advancing medical science and knowledge. This society existed until 1871. Formal training of apothecaries ceased in Madras by the later decades of the 19th century, although informal training continued, especially for army cadets and women. Establishment of medical schools in Royapuram (which developed as the Stanley Medical College and Hospital), Tanjavur and Madurai, in the early decades of the 20th century and the 'branch' of Madras Medical College in Calicut during the Second World War changed the complexion of training of medical personnel immensely in pre- 1947 Madras Presidency. The Royapuram and other Medical Schools in Madras trained medical practitioners granting the title 'Licensed Medical Practitioner' (LMP). Whether the apothecary-dresser training at the 'old' Madras Medical College had a role to play in these developments remains to be verified.

Oviposition preference and larval performance of Epiphyas postvittana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) on Botrytis cinerea (Helotiales: Sclerotiniaceae) infected berries of Vitis vinifera (Vitales: Vitaceae).

In this paper we tested the behavior of gravid Epiphyas postvittana in selecting the most-appropriate site for oviposition thus benefitting offspring performance. Our hypothesis was built on Jaenike's preference-performance hypothesis (also referred to as the "mother-knows-the-best" hypothesis). To test this, we used the interacting Epiphyas postvittana, its host Vitis vinifera, and the pathogenic microbe Botrytis cinerea system. Populations of E. postvittana and B. cinerea often exist concurrently on V. vinifera in Australasia and their interaction and mutual influence are currently being explored, although the suggestion presently is that the relationship between E. postvittana and B. cinerea is mutualistic. We tested the effect of volatiles from B. cinerea-infected berries and uninfected (control) berries of V. vinifera on the oviposition behavior of E. postvittana. We also characterized the effects of B. cinerea infection on the berries of V. vinifera on the growth and development of E. postvittana. Contrary to the preference-performance hypothesis, oviposition choices made by gravid E. postvittana did not result in the best offspring survival, development, and performance. The preference for oviposition by E. postvittana was strongly influenced by the olfactory and tactile cues. She laid fewer eggs on B. cinerea-infected berries compared to uninfected berries of V. vinifera. The larvae of E. postvittana showed no preference to uninfected berries of V. vinifera. The larvae fed on B. cinerea-infected berries of V. vinifera showing greater survival rate, shorter time to pupation, greater pupal mass, and on becoming adults they laid more numbers of eggs than the larvae that were enabled to feed on uninfected berries. The larvae of E. postvittana transport the conidia of B. cinerea and transmit grey-mould disease to uninfected berries of V. vinifera.

Salt effects on proline and glycine betaine levels and photosynthetic performance in Melilotus siculus, Tecticornia pergranulata and Thinopyrum ponticum measured in simulated saline conditions.

We measured proline and glycine betaine levels and photosynthetic performance (net-photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (gs), maximum quantum yield of PSII (Fv/Fm) and non-photochemical quenching (NPQ)) in relation to Na+ and Cl- accumulation in Melilotus siculus (Turra) B.D.Jacks. (Fabaceae), Tecticornia pergranulata (J.M.Black) K.A.Sheph. & Paul G.Wilson (Amaranthaceae: Salicornioideae) and Thinopyrum ponticum (Podp.) Z.-W.Liu & R.-C.Wang (Poaceae) grown under saline conditions in the greenhouse. These plants were selected in this study because of their known salt-tolerance capacity and value as forage plants. Moreover, the pasture legume M. siculus is considered to have particular potential for saline land remediation because of its salinity and waterlogging tolerance. Maximum Na+ and Cl- accumulation occurred in Te. pergranulata shoots. Minimum was in Th. ponticum shoots. Maximum Na+ accumulation occurred in the roots of Te. pergranulata, whereas that of Cl- occurred in the roots of Th. ponticum. Accumulation of both Na+ and Cl- was the least in M. siculus roots. Te. pergranulata metabolized high levels of glycine betaine (110µmolg-1 DW). M. siculus metabolized high levels of proline (6µmolg-1 DW). Th. ponticum accumulated intermediate levels of these organic osmolytes. No significant change occurred in Fv/Fm values. Pn value increased and NPQ value decreased in Te. pergranulata with increasing salinity and the reverse occurred in both M. siculus and Th. ponticum. A negative significant correlation occurred between Pn and glycine betaine in M. siculus and Th. ponticum. A positive significant correlation occurred between NPQ and glycine betaine in M. siculus. No correlation occurred between proline and Pn, proline and NPQ in the tested three plants. Te. pergranulata could maintain cell-osmotic balance by synthesising high levels of organic osmolytes especially glycine betaine and concurrently showing the most efficient photosynthetic performance. Compared with the levels of osmolytes in Te. pergranulata, the levels of osmolytes that occur in M. siculus and Th. ponticum were insufficient to maintain cell-osmotic balance and also that M. siculus and Th. ponticum showed a lower level of photosynthetic performance. We conclude that glycine betaine is potentially the vital organic osmolyte for Te. pergranulata and Th. ponticum enabling salinity stress tolerance. However, in M. siculus, proline appears to be the potential organic osmolyte in salinity stress tolerance. In terms of the potential of these species for stabilising saline soils in central-western New South Wales, Te. pergranulata would be the candidate of choice; however, for greater pasture value Th. ponticum would be the next.

Is a Gall an Extended Phenotype of the Inducing Insect? A Comparative Study of Selected Morphological and Physiological Traits of Leaf and Stem Galls on Machilus thunbergii (Lauraceae) Induced by Five Species of Daphnephila (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) in Northeastern Taiwan.

Mature galls induced by Daphnephila truncicola, D. taiwanensis, D. sueyenae, D. stenocalia, and D. ornithocephala on Machilus thunbergii in northern Taiwan were examined to verify the dictum that the morphology of galls is an expression of the extended phenotype of the respective gall-inducing insect. Based on their length-width ratio, the materials were grouped into either fleshy (those induced by D. taiwanensis and D. sueyenae) or slim galls (those induced by D. truncicola, D. stenocalia, and D. ornithocephala). Stem galls induced by D. truncicola showed an energy level of 0.0178 kJ/g. Among leaf galls, the greatest energy level was in the one induced by D. stenocalia (0.0193 kJ/g), followed by D. sueyenae (0.0192 kJ/g), D. taiwanensis (0.0189 kJ/g), and D. ornithocephala (0.0160 kJ/g). The numbers of reserve and nutritive cell layers in galls were greater in the stem galls induced by D. truncicola, similar to those in the fleshy leaf galls, than in the slim leaf galls. Based on the fungal taxa isolated from the larval chambers and considering the similarities and divergences among gall characteristics, the galls induced by D. truncicola and D. taiwanensis clustered into one, whereas those of D. sueyenae aligned with the 'D. stenocalia-D. ornithocephala' cluster. The present study verified that shapes, structure, nutritive tissues, energy levels, and multiple coexisting fungal taxa within galls reinforce that they are extended phenotypes of the respective gall-inducing Daphnephila species and they represent adaptive evolution of Daphnephila on M. thunbergii.

Nymphal development and lerp construction of Glycaspis sp. (Hemiptera: Psylloidea) on Eucalyptus sideroxylon (Myrtaceae) in central-west New South Wales, Australia.

The ability to form lerps is common in Australian Psylloidea. Various species of Glycaspis Taylor (Aphalaridae) form conical lerps on different species of Eucalyptus. Lerps, being a rich sugar source, are preferentially fed by bell miners (Aves: Meliphagidae). In this paper we report the process of lerp construction by a purported new species of Glycaspis living on Eucalyptus sideroxylon. This taxon constructs lerps with anal sugary exudates first building the ribs of the lerps and later filling the space between the polymerized ribs with horizontal tractions of the same sugary substance. Developmental events in this taxon do not follow Dyar's rule strictly. Oviposition induces a non-lethal hypersensitive response in the host leaf. Population trends assessed in 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 showed distinct variations, which have been related to environmental factors. In the 2012-2013 sampling, oviposition occurred preferentially proximally to leaf cracks (possibly induced by intense frost events); we infer that this could be a strategy of this taxon to establish an 'easier' access to moisture. Sensillar designs vary between the nymphal instars and adults. The trichoid sensilla and sensillar cavities on the antennae perform mechanosensory and olfactory functions. The mouthpart complex includes a relatively long stylet bundle.

Influence of fungal endophyte infection on phenolic content and antioxidant activity in grasses: interaction between Lolium perenne and different strains of Neotyphodium lolii.

Lolium perenne is a major forage and turf grass, which is often naturally infected with a "wild-type" strain (E(WT)) of the fungal endophyte Neotyphodium lolii , establishing a symbiotic relationship. In this study, the impacts of different strains wild type E(WT), AR1 (E(AR1)) and AR37 (E(AR37)), of N. lolii on the phenolic profile, phenolic content, and antioxidant capacity of L. perenne were examined. Samples could be ranked according to their phenol content as follows: E(AR1) > E(AR37) ≥ E(-) > E(WT). Radical-scavenging assays showed the same relative ranking of extracts. Flavonoid glycosides and hydroxycinnamic acids were the most abundant polyphenols in L. perenne extracts. Chlorogenic acid and its derivatives were the major compounds responsible for the antioxidant activity. Infection with N. lolii significantly influenced L. perenne phenolic content and antioxidant activity. In conclusion, changes in phenolic composition were merely quantitative. Endophyte infection can have zero, positive, or negative effect on phenol content depending on the endophyte strain.