Improving Perinatal Health: Are Indian Health Policies Progressing In The Right Direction?

BACKGROUND: Strategic investments and policy directives of the Indian Government has demonstrated highest degree of political commitment for maternal and child health care. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the impact of the rise in institutional deliveries in India on perinatal mortality. METHODS: Hospital delivery rate and perinatal mortality rate (PNMR), reported by Sample Registration System, Registrar General of India, on a representative sample was used. The correlation between relative change in hospital deliveries and PNMR was examined. RESULTS: In rural areas of India, hospital deliveries have increased during 2005-2013 from 24.4 to 69.7% and PNMR has declined from 40 to 28 per 1000 births. At the state level, there was significant correlation between the rise in hospital delivery rate and decline in PNMR (r 0.4, p 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Decline in perinatal rates can be attributed to India's strategic initiatives in health policy and planning for increasing deliveries in hospitals.

Recessive loci Pps-1 and OM differentially regulate PISTILLATA-1 and APETALA3-1 expression for sepal and petal development in Papaver somniferum.

The involvement of PISTILLATA (PI) and APETALA (AP) transcription factors in the development of floral organs has previously been elucidated but little is known about their upstream regulation. In this investigation, two novel mutants generated in Papaver somniferum were analyzed--one with partially petaloid sepals and another having sepaloid petals. Progeny from reciprocal crosses of respective mutant parent genotypes showed a good fit to the monogenic Mendelian inheritance model, indicating that the mutant traits are likely controlled by the single, recessive nuclear genes named "Pps-1" and "OM" in the partially petaloid sepal and sepaloid petal phenotypes, respectively. Both paralogs of PISTILLATA (PapsPI-1 and PapsPI-3) were obtained from the sepals and petals of P. somniferum. Ectopic expression of PapsPI-1 in tobacco resulted in a partially petaloid sepal phenotype at a low frequency. Upregulation of PapsPI-1 and PapsAP3-1 in the petal and the petal part of partially petaloid sepal mutant and down-regulation of the same in sepaloid petal mutant indicates a differential pattern of regulation for flowering-related genes in various whorls. Similarly, it was found that the recessive mutation OM in sepaloid petal mutant downregulates PapsPI-1 and PapsAP3-1 transcripts. The recessive nature of the mutations was confirmed by the segregation ratios obtained in this analysis.

Latex-less opium poppy: cause for less latex and reduced peduncle strength.

A genotype 'Sujata' developed earlier at CSIR-CIMAP from its parent 'Sampada' is considered to be the latex-less variety of Papaver somniferum. These two genotypes are contrasting in terms of latex and stem strength. Earlier we have carried out microarray analysis to identify differentially expressing genes from the capsules of the two genotypes. In this study, the peduncles of the two genotypes were compared for the anatomy revealing less number of laticifers in the cortex and vascular bundles. One of the important cell wall-related genes (for laccase) from the microarray analysis showing significantly higher expression in 'Sampada' capsule was taken up for further characterization in the peduncle here. It was functionally characterized through transient overexpression and RNAi suppression in 'Sujata' and 'Sampada'. The increase in acid insoluble lignin and total lignin in overexpressed tissue of 'Sujata', and comparable decrease in suppressed tissue of 'Sampada', along with corresponding increase and decrease in the transcript abundance of laccase confirm the involvement of laccase in lignin biosynthesis. Negligible transcript in phloem compared to the xylem tissue localized its expression in xylem tissue. This demonstrates the involvement of P. somniferum laccase in lignin biosynthesis of xylem, providing strength to the peduncle/stem and preventing lodging.