Mechanistic and recent updates in nano-bioremediation for developing green technology to alleviate agricultural contaminants.

The rise in environmental pollutant levels in recent years is mostly attributable to anthropogenic activities such as industrial, agricultural and other activities. Additionally, these activities may produce excessive levels of dangerous toxicants such as heavy metals, organic pollutants including pesticide and herbicide chemicals, and sewage discharges from residential and commercial sources. With a focus on environmentally friendly, sustainable technology, new technologies such as combined process of nanotechnology and bioremediation are urgently needed to accelerate the cost-effective remediation process to alleviate toxic contaminants than the conventional remediation methods. Numerous studies have shown that nanoparticles possess special qualities including improved catalysis and adsorption as well as increased reactivity. Currently, microorganisms and their extracts are being used as promising, environmentally friendly catalysts for engineered nanomaterial. In the long term, this combination of both technologies called nano-bioremediation may significantly alter the field of environmental remediation since it is more intelligent, safe, environmentally friendly, economical and green. This review provides an overview of soil and water remediation techniques as well as the use of nano-bioremediation, which is made from various living organisms. Additionally, current developments related to the mechanism, model and kinetic studies for remediation of agricultural contaminants have been discussed.

Molecular characterization of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor from Bemisia tabaci.

The N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) are ionotropic ligand gated channels that are highly permeable to calcium ions. In insects, NMDARs are associated with glutamatergic neurotransmission governing diverse physiological and biological processes like vitellogenesis and ovarian development. Therefore, NMDAR may act as attractive target for insect pest control. In present study, we performed structural and functional characterization of NMDARs in Bemisia tabaci, a highly invasive crop pest and potent virus vector. We identified that NMDAR consists of three subunits each encoded by single gene in whiteflies which are highly conserved among different insect orders. Expression analysis suggests that subunit 1 (BtNR1) and subunit 2 (BtNR2) are the main functional units. External supplementation of NMDAR ligand or BtNRs silencing was lethal to insects, which suggested that NMDAR function is highly balanced in whiteflies.

A new species of Neolebouria Gibson, 1976 (Opecoelidae: Plagioporinae) from the whitecheek monocle bream, Scolopsis vosmeri (Perciformes: Nemipteridae), from the Panjim coast at Goa, with a checklist of parasites previously reported from this fish.

Neolebouria capoori n. sp. (Opecoelidae: Plagioporinae) is described from the whitecheek monocle bream, Scolopsis vosmeri (Bloch) (Perciformes: Nemipteridae) from the Panjim coast on the central west coast of India at Goa. The new species differs from both Neolebouria cantherhini (Li, Qiu & Zhang, 1988) as originally described from Thamnaconus modestus (Günther) (syn. Cantherines modestus Günther ) and Neolebouria confusum (Overstreet, 1969) as originally described from Ocyurus chrysurus (Bloch) by having the cirrus sac surpassing the ventral sucker posteriorly in N. cantherhini and being entirely preacetabular in N. confusum compared to terminating near the midlevel of the ventral sucker in N. capoori n. sp. The new species is most similar to N. confusum, but it further differs from this species by having the vitelline fields terminating near the level of the esophageal bifurcation compared to terminating near the level of the posterior margin of the pharynx, a larger sucker ratio (1:1.7-1:2.0 compared to 1:1.4-1:1.7), a somewhat shorter cirrus sac relative to body length (160-448, representing 9-18% of the body length compared to about 367, representing 22%), and the egg of the new species has a boss at the anopercular end that is not present in N. confusum. This study represents the first report on an opecoelid from S. vosmeri. A review of the parasites reported from S. vosmeri is included.

Limnochemistry and nutrient dynamics in Upper Lake, Bhopal, India.

In limnetic ecosystem, water quality depends upon physical, chemical, and biological factors. Effects of temperature, light scattering, and absorption by suspended and dissolved matter, transport, and mixing of nutrients within the lake are the significant factors as far as water quality is concerned. Nutrient loading into the lake and internal cycling of nutrients is always a matter of concern and critical to number of processes. During the winter season, heat and momentum transfer at the lake surface and the temperature-density relation of water destabilize the water column and drive vertical mixing and transport processes. The deepening of the surface layer produces nutrient transfer from the hypolimnion into the euphotic zone of epilimnion. It may also resuspend sediments that would have settled under stratified conditions, or redistribute particles that may still be in suspension. Thus, there exists a complex connection between the hydrodynamics and water quality issues. Present study is an effort to understand how seasonal changes in the limnetic ecosystem regulate the limnochemistry and movement of nutrient. The study revealed that significant variations of nutrients and organic load were observed between epilimnion and hypolimnion during summer season, and the lake was found in hyper-eutrophic condition throughout the study period.

Genome wide characterization of the SERK/SERL gene family in Phalaenopsis equestris, Dendrobium catenatum and Apostasia shenzhenica (Orchidaceae).

Somatic embryogenesis receptor kinases (SERKs) play a significant role in morphogenesis, stress/defense and signal transduction. In the present study, we have identified two SERK and 11 SERK-like (SERL) genes in Phalaenopsis equestris, two SERK and 11 SERL genes in Dendrobium catenatum, and one SERK and eight SERL genes in Apostasia shenzhenica genome. Characterization of the SERK proteins revealed the presence of a signal peptide, a leucine zipper, five leucine-rich repeats (LRRs), a serine proline proline (SPP) motif, a transmembrane region, a kinase domain, and a C-terminus. Most of the SERK/SERL proteins were characterized with similar physicochemical properties. The presence of transmembrane region predicted their membranous localization. Tertiary structure prediction of all the five identified SERK proteins had sequence identity with BAK1 protein of Arabidopsis thaliana. Generally, all the SERK/SERL genes shared similar gene architecture and intron phasing. Gene ontology analysis indicated the role of SERKs in receptor and ATP binding, signal transduction, and protein phosphorylation. Phylogenetic analysis revealed the clustering of SERKs and SERLs in distinct clades. Expression of SERKs in reproductive tissues like floral bud, floral stalk, whole flower and pollen was reported to be higher than their expression in vegetative tissues with an exception of PeSERK1 and DcSERK1 which showed higher expression in leaves and roots, respectively. Likewise, a higher expression of AsSERK1 was observed in tubers. However, lower expression of SERLs was observed in majority of tissues studied irrespective of their vegetative or reproductive origin. This work paves way for future studies involving functional characterization of SERK/SERLs and their potential role in embryogenesis/organogenesis as an aid to regeneration and multiplication of endangered orchids.

Accelerated test system strength models based on Birnbaum-Saunders distribution: a complete Bayesian analysis and comparison.

Several models for studies related to tensile strength of materials are proposed in the literature where the size or length component has been taken to be an important factor for studying the specimens' failure behaviour. An important model, developed on the basis of cumulative damage approach, is the three-parameter extension of the Birnbaum-Saunders fatigue model that incorporates size of the specimen as an additional variable. This model is a strong competitor of the commonly used Weibull model and stands better than the traditional models, which do not incorporate the size effect. The paper considers two such cumulative damage models, checks their compatibility with a real dataset, compares them with some of the recent toolkits, and finally recommends a model, which appears an appropriate one. Throughout the study is Bayesian based on Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation.

Admitting Deserving Medical Students from Rural and Disadvantaged: Patan Academy of Health Sciences' Approach.

BACKGROUND: Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS) aims to produce physicians who would be able and willing to serve in the rural areas. Recognizing the critical importance of student selection strategy, among others, in achieving the program goals, it has adopted an innovative scheme for selecting medical students. This paper describes PAHS medical student selection scheme that favors enrollment of deserving applicants from rural and disadvantaged groups so as to help improve distribution of physicians in rural Nepal. METHODS: A student admission committee comprising a group of medical educators finalized a three-step student selection scheme linked with scholarships after reviewing relevant literatures and consultative meetings with experts within and outside Nepal. The committee did local validation of Personal Quality Assessment (PQA) that tested cognitive ability and personality traits, Admission OSPE (Objective Structured Performance Examination) that assessed non-cognitive attributes of applicants. It also provided preferential credits to applicants' socio-economic characteristics to favor the enrollment of deserving applicants from rural and disadvantaged groups through Social Inclusion Matrix (SIM). Three different categories of scholarship schemes namely Partial, Collaborative and Full were devised with Partial providing 50% and other two categories each providing 100% coverage of tuition fee. RESULTS: PAHS student selection scheme succeeded in enrolling more than half of its students from rural areas of Nepal, including about 10% of the students from that of the most backward region of the country. About one third of students were female and about the same were from public and community school. Sixty percent of students receive different categories of scholarships. CONCLUSIONS: Limited findings indicate the success of the selection scheme in enrolling high proportion of applicants from rural and disadvantageous groups and enable them to pursue study by providing scholarships.

Development of Community Based Learning and Education system within Undergraduate Medical Curriculum of Patan Academy of Health Sciences.

BACKGROUND: In response to continuing health disparities between rural and urban population, Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS) was established in 2008. It aimed to produce physicians who would be able and willing to serve in the rural areas. In order to empower them with understanding and tools to address health issues of rural population, an innovative curriculum was developed. This paper aims to describe the community based learning and education (CBLE) system within the overall framework of PAHS undergraduate medical curriculum. METHODS: A Medical School Steering Committee (MSSC) comprising of a group of committed medical educators led the curriculum development process. The committee reviewed different medical curricula, relevant literatures, and held a series of consultative meetings with the stakeholders and experts within and outside Nepal. This process resulted in defining the desirable attributes, terminal competencies of the graduates, and then the actual development of the entire curriculum including CBLE. RESULTS: Given the critical importance of population health, 25% of the curricular weightage was allocated to the Community Health Sciences (CHS). CBLE system was developed as the primary means of delivering CHS curriculum. The details of CBLE system was finalized for implementation with the first cohort of medical students commencing their studies from June 2010. CONCLUSIONS: The CBLE, a key educational strategy of PAHS curriculum, is envisaged to improve retention and performance of PAHS graduates and, thereby, health status of rural population. However, whether or not that goal will be achieved needs to be verified after the graduates join the health system.

Outbreak Investigation of Influenza in Pajaru VDC of Jajarkot District of Nepal.

BACKGROUND: An outbreak investigation study was conducted in Pajaru, one of the initially affected Village Development Committees (VDCs) of the Jajarkot district in Nepal following an outbreak of respiratory illness in early 2015. The objectives of this study were to identify the cases and magnitude of the outbreak. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out in mid-April 2015 covering five most affected wards of Pajaru VDC to assess the patients using standard case definition for Influenza like Illness (ILI). Throat and nasal swabs were collected and sent to the National Influenza Center (NIC) in Kathmandu for laboratory confirmation. RESULTS: The throat swab samples tested at NIC found Influenza A H1N1 pdm09. The attack rate was calculated to be 3% in ward number 9 and 41% in ward number 8. Wavelength of the infection was nearly two weeks in both the wards. Nearly 54% of the specimens were positive for Influenza A H1N1 pdm09. There was no ILI case fatality in the study area. Children aged 0-15 years were most affected. Majority of the patients presented with symptoms of fever, cough and sore throat. CONCLUSIONS: There was gradual decline in the number of cases in all five wards suggestive of development of natural immunity in the community. True severity of the outbreak was not accurately reflected as compared to media reports.

Effect of salt-tolerant plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria on wheat plants and soil health in a saline environment.

Salt-tolerant plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (ST-PGPR) significantly influence the growth and yield of wheat crops in saline soil. Wheat growth improved in pots with inoculation of all nine ST-PGPR (ECe = 4.3 dS·m(-1) ; greenhouse experiment), while maximum growth and dry biomass was observed in isolate SU18 Arthrobacter sp.; simultaneously, all ST-PGPR improved soil health in treated pot soil over controls. In the field experiment, maximum wheat root dry weight and shoot biomass was observed after inoculation with SU44 B. aquimaris, and SU8 B. aquimaris, respectively, after 60 and 90 days. Isolate SU8 B. aquimaris, induced significantly higher proline and total soluble sugar accumulation in wheat, while isolate SU44 B. aquimaris, resulted in higher accumulation of reducing sugars after 60 days. Percentage nitrogen (N), potassium (K) and phosphorus (P) in leaves of wheat increased significantly after inoculation with ST-PGPR, as compared to un-inoculated plants. Isolate SU47 B. subtilis showed maximum reduction of sodium (Na) content in wheat leaves of about 23% at both 60 and 90 days after sowing, and produced the best yield of around 17.8% more than the control.

The treatment of stage IV carcinoma of cervix by radical dose radiotherapy.

During 1974-1979, 92 patients (14% of all carcinoma cervix cases) were assigned to Stage IV; 68 (10%) to Stage IVa and 24 (4%) to Stage IVb. Fifty-five patients were treated radically using 4 MeV X-rays (42.5 Gy in 20 fractions) followed by a 137Cs insertion (33.5 Gy to the A points). Twenty-six patients were treated palliatively and 11 received no treatment. Sixteen per cent of radically treated patients were alive at 5 years, whereas all patients treated palliatively were dead in 18 months. Pelvic tumour was eliminated in 22/55 (40%) treated radically, but in only 1/26 treated palliatively. The 5-year survival for Stage IVa treated radically was 18% and 19/44 (43%) had local tumour control. Only one patient in Stage IVb (involvement of vulva) was alive at 5 years. The overall 5-year survival for Stage IV patients in this series was 11/92 (12%).

Learning disability in rural primary school children.

In rural primary school children observed for two years, 12.97 per cent of those having IQ greater than or equal to 90 were found to have poor achievement in arithmetic test and teacher's assessment. These learning disabled children had impaired perceptual maturity and conceptual grasp as observed on MISIC (Indian modification of WISC), Bender Gestalt test and Piaget's test. On WISC Bannatyne categories learning disabled children scored highest in verbal conceptualization (similarities, vocabulary, comprehension), followed by spatial (picture completion, object assembly, block design) and sequencing (arithmetic, digit span, coding) abilities. These children on Bender Gestalt test made more errors particularly distortions (distortion of parts, incorrect number of dots, shape of design lost etc). They also showed delayed development on Piagetian tasks class inclusion, conservation (for length, substance, liquid and number) ordinal relation and one to one correspondence. These observations indicate impaired perceptual maturity, conception and information processing deficit.

Influence of malnutrition on social maturity, visual motor coordination & memory in rural school children.

The social competence, visual motor coordination and memory functions of 1336 rural primary school children in the age group 6-8 yr were studied in relation to their nutritional status and socio-environmental factors. Children with grades, I, II and III malnutrition scored 4.4, 8.5 and 11.8 points lower respectively as compared to those in normal nutrition for the total social quotient. The effect was more marked in stunted wasted children. These rural children performed poorly on areas; communication, socialization and occupation, in grades II and III malnutrition their scores being below average (less than 90). Environmental factors like family size and type, economic sufficiency, and father's education also played a significant role in determining the social competence in girls. The scores for visual motor coordination (Bender Gestalt test) increased with severity of malnutrition (scores normal, 9.9 and grade III, 11.3) being statistically significant (P less than 0.01). Observations on memory test indicated that malnutrition had a significant but very weak relationship with immediate and delayed memory. The boys in grade II malnutrition had significantly lower immediate memory scores, as compared to normal boys for all the 3 modes of presentation (P less than 0.05, P less than 0.05; and P less than 0.001 respectively). In the girls, this was true only with respect to pictures. Further, for delayed memory, boys in grade II malnutrition scored poorly for pictures and words (P less than 0.05 for both).

Influence of malnutrition on intellectual development.

The relationship between malnutrition and intellectual performance was studied in 1336 rural primary school children (6-8 yr). Observations showed that the relative risk of having an IQ less than or equal to 89 in severe, moderate and mild malnutrition was 3.5, 2.7 and 1.4 times for boys and in girls it was 2.4, 1.7 and 1.4 times respectively. Mean full scale, verbal and performance IQ as well as the scores for various subtests decreased with the severity of malnutrition. However, though the decrease in IQ scores was significant, below average performance of malnourished children was observed only for performance IQ (87.6 +/- 9.13), and subtests information (87.9 +/- 10.5), digit span (79.6 +/- 11.9), picture completion (88.6 +/- 13.9), object assembly (81.1 +/- 18.1), and coding (80.5 +/- 14.4). Further, the stunted children had lower IQ scores as compared to those who were wasted. Multiple regression analysis showed that besides nutrition, socio-economic status had significant influence on verbal IQ; economic sufficiency on picture completion and block design, psychosocial and family environment on vocabulary and digit span subtests. However, the values of correlations obtained were too low to be used for prediction of scores. The overall observations demonstrate that even moderate degree of malnutrition influences the IQ scores and its effect is of a higher magnitude on immediate memory, visual perception, and visual motor integration as compared to verbal reasoning and comprehension.

Sequelae of early undernutrition on reaction time of rural children at 11-14 years.

85 undernourished rural school children at 11-14 yr of age were randomly selected on the basis of their nutritional status during first five years of life for assessment of reaction time (RT). Audio-visual RT apparatus and electromyograph were used for the study. Early life undernourished children had prolonged RT as compared to their matched control maintaining normal nutrition status in first five years of life. The total, premotor and motor RT for audio as well as visual stimuli were affected in these undernourished children. The RT increased with severity of current undernutrition; those achieving normal nutritional status at this age continued to have prolonged RT. The study suggests that the early life undernutrition affects perceptual abilities, information processing and analytical capabilities.

Effect of mid-day meal programme on physical growth & mental function.

The effect of food supplementation in rural primary school children was studied on physical growth and mental functions. Children (146) received 450-500 calories with 10-12 g of protein for an average of 172 days a year, for 2 yr (1984-1986). Height was found not to differ significantly in the supplemented group as compared to controls. However, there was marginally better weight gain. More children in the supplemented group remained in grade I in contrast to the controls who shifted to grade II nutritional status after 2 yr. Children receiving the supplementation showed marginal increment in full scale, verbal and performance IQ. The improvement was significant for all subtests except for comprehension and maze tests. The observations on unstructured Piagetian developmental tasks also indicated that the performance of children on task conservation of liquid was improved marginally after supplementation. However, on Bender Gestalt test, no change was observed. The scores on arithmetic achievement test showed improvement of 12-14 points in the supplementation group. It appears that nutrition supplementation is beneficial for better school attendance, and reduction in the drop out rate; it also improves intelligence and cognitive function to a marginal extent. However, as this age group falls in the slow growth period, no catch up was observed in physical growth.

Neurobehavioural assessment of newborns.

Twenty-one full term appropriate for gestational age (FT-AGA), 18 full term small for gestational age (FT-SGA), 18 preterm appropriate for gestational age (PT-AGA) and 15 babies who suffered birth anoxia constituted study subjects. They were subjected to neurobehavioural assessment using Brazelton neurobehaviour assessment scale. FT-SGA babies performed significantly poorly on motor and interactive processes only. No differences were found in terms of overall state organisation. PT-AGA also performed poorly on interactive and motor processes but were placed better than SGA babies. Here also no definite pattern was observed in organisational dimension. No significant effect of asphyxia on behavioural pattern of FT-AGA babies was observed when compared to FT-AGA non-anoxic babies.

Perceptual development in relation to nutritional status.

The present study was conducted on 180 children in the age group 5-10 years. These children were divided accordingly their ages into 3 sub-groups i.e. 5-6, 7-8 and 9-10 years respectively. In each group 60 children were studied. For the assessment of perceptual skills each child was tested with the help of Picture Ambiguity Test. Responses to the ambiguous cards were scored with respect to time taken to react in each card and ability of the child to perceive figure and ground relationship i.e. centration and decentration. The observations showed that with increase in age, centration effect reduces and majority of the children start decentring their perception by middle childhood. Further, children in higher age group took lesser time to respond on different ambiguous cards. When the responses of well-nourished and undernourished children were compared for perceptual flexibility in terms of part-whole perception i.e. centration and decentration; no difference was observed between the two groups. There was a significant difference in the performance of well-nourished and undernourished children when time to respond on ambiguous card was compared. Well-nourished children took lesser time to respond on different ambiguous cards. These observations in general suggest that poor nutrition may result in impaired perceptual abilities in children.

Growth and behavior development in rural infants in relation to malnutrition and environment.

A group of 224 children from a rural cohort of 625 children registered from 1981 to 1983 in 10 villages of KV Block, Varanasi was assessed for morbidity, physical growth, and behavior development (Gesell's developmental schedule). By first birthday children of normal nutrition grade were reduced to one fourth and numbers in Grade II and III malnutrition doubled. This deterioration in nutritional status was probably due to high morbidity, i.e., gastrointestinal, respiratory infections, etc. The skull circumference was 43 cm at the age of one year, being lower by 3 cm than the average size. Children having Grades II and III malnutrition showed poor development in all the areas of behavior, i.e., motor, adaptive, language and personal social. Besides malnutrition, environmental factors like mother's involvement in teaching, encouraging the child, talking to him or being within the visual range; the parental education, their caste and the child's birth order contributed significantly to the development of the child during infancy.

PIP: The goal of this study was to better understand the risk of developing malnutrition, the age of onset and its severity, and common morbidities and causes of mortality. The aim was also to determine whether malnutrition or other behavioral factors affected behavior development. A cohort of 625 children born between November 1981 and March 1983 from 10 rural villages in KV Block, Varanasi, India, was registered and followed for 1 year. Data from 224 children, who provided continuous data for at least 4 age points out of 5, was analyzed. Information was obtained on morbidity, physical growth, and behavior based on Gesell's development schedule. Children were grouped based on degrees of malnutrition (weight-for-age schedule of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics) at 4, 16, 28, and 52 weeks. Some Caldwell Home Inventory items and other environmental and socioeconomic measures were obtained by questionnaire. The village population mirrored the characteristics of the 120,000 rural population in the surrounding 112 villages covering 147 sq. miles. The male/female ratio was 10009:39. Infant mortality rates were 133/1000 live births; neonatal mortality rates were 64/1000 live births. 26% have low birth weight (2500 g). 13% of preschool children suffer from severe malnutrition and 50% from mild malnutrition. 79.4% of mothers and 21.2% of fathers were illiterate. 56% had an income of less than Rs.100/year/capita. The findings showed that the height and weight of study children declined from the 20th centile at 3 months to the 3rd centile after 6 months. By 1 year, those children with normal nutrition were reduced by 25% and the numbers of children with Grade II and III malnutrition doubled. Underfeeding as well as high morbidity may be responsible for the deterioration. The skull circumference was 3 cm smaller than the average of 43 cm at 1 year of age. All areas of behavioral development were poorer among children with Grade II and III malnutrition. Environment influenced development later in infancy, particularly mother's teaching, encouraging, or talking and parental education, caste, and birth order.

Growth, behavior, development and intelligence in rural children between 1-3 years of life.

In a rural cohort of 625 children registered from 1981 to 1983 in 10 villages of K.V. Block, Varanasi, 196 children were assessed for physical growth, development, intelligence and concept development between 1 and 3 years of age. Home environment was also assessed using Caldwell Home inventory. These rural children remained below 3rd centile of NCHS standard for weight, height, skull and mid-arm circumferences throughout the study. Malnourished children scored poorly in all the areas of development, i.e., motor, adaptive, language and personal social, 9% in Grade I and 16.6% children in Grade II + III had IQ less than 79 (inferior). Concept for color shape and size was poorly developed in malnourished children. Maternal involvement and stimulation was strongly associated with better behavior development and intelligence. Multiple regression analysis showed that the effect of home environment on development and intelligence was of a higher magnitude as compared to status and family variables and nutritional status during 1-3 years of age.

PIP: The effects of nutrition and home environment on behavior development and intelligence of mild, moderate, and severely malnourished children are examined for a sample population of 196 children born in 1981-83 from 10 villages of Kashi Vidyapeeth Block of Varanasi district, India. Development was followed from the 1st year of life until 3 years of age. Children were grouped by degree of malnutrition at 18, 24, 30, and 36 months using the National Center for Health Statistics 50th centile weight for age as a reference point. Gesell's developmental schedule was also administered at the aforementioned ages. Some of the Caldwell Home Inventory and socioeconomic measures were used to measure home environment. The general characteristics of the villages mirror the larger rural population of 112 villages in the area. The developmental quotient (DQ) for motor, adaptive, language, and personal social areas was determined for the Gesell inventory, and the Binet Kulshrestha Intelligence Scale was used to determine level of cognitive ability at 36 months. Concept development was measured with the Block-Sort test. The findings indicate that all children were below the 3rd percentile for height and weight at all ages. Head and chest circumference mean values were statistically significantly below the average for affluent Varanasi children at all ages. The mid-arm circumference was below the 3rd centile, which indicates moderate to severe undernutrition. 50-60% of children were malnourished at Grade II and III. DQ decreased with the severity of malnutrition; scores for all except personal social development were below average for children with Grade III malnutrition. Significant differences in language and social development scores were found between Grade II and III malnourished and normal children, even with increases at 36 months for motor, language, and social behavior scores. Inferior IQ scores were found for 9% of Grade I malnourished and 16.6% of Grade II and III malnourished children. There were significant differences in scores between the normal, Grade I, and Grade II and III scores. The most critical period for delays is 10-12 months, when home environment vitally influences physical growth and mental development.