Morpho-physiological traits and SSR markers-based analysis of relationships and genetic diversity among fodder maize landraces in India.

BACKGROUND: Maize is an excellent fodder crop due to its high biomass, better palatability, succulency, and nutrition. Studies on morpho-physiological and biochemical characterization of fodder maize are limited. The present study aimed to explore the genetic variation in fodder maize landraces for various morpho-physiological traits and estimation of genetic relationship and population structure. METHODS AND RESULTS: The study on 47 fodder maize landraces revealed significant variation for all morpho-physiological traits except leaf-stem ratio. Plant height, stem girth, leaf-width and number of leaves showed positive correlation with green fodder yield. Morpho-physiological traits-based clustering grouped the landraces into three major clusters, whereas neighbour joining cluster and population structure analysis using 40 SSR markers revealed four and five major groups, respectively. Most landraces of Northern Himalaya-Kashmir and Ludhiana fall into a single group, whereas rest groups mainly had landraces from North-Eastern Himalaya. A total of 101 alleles were generated with mean polymorphic information content value of 0.36 and major allele frequency of 0.68. The pair wise genetic dissimilarity between genotypes ranged from 0.21 to 0.67. Mantel test revealed weak but significant correlation between morphological and molecular distance. Biochemical characterisation of superior landraces revealed significant variation for neutral detergent fibre, acid detergent fibre, cellulose and lignin content. CONCLUSION: Interestingly, significant, and positive correlation of SPAD with lignin content can be explored to bypass the costly affair of invitro quality assessment for digestibility parameters. The study identified superior landraces and demonstrated the use of molecular markers in genetic diversity assessment and grouping of genotypes for fodder maize improvement.

Genomic profile of antibiotic resistant, classical ctxB positive Vibrio cholerae O1 biotype El Tor isolated in 2003 and 2005 from Puri, India: A retrospective study.

OBJECTIVES: To examine eight strains of Vibrio cholerae O1 isolated in 2003 and 2005 from Puri, India, for antibiotic susceptibility, presence of virulence and regulatory genes, cholera toxin (CT) production, CTX arrangement and genomic profiles. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Bacterial strains were tested for antibiotic susceptibility using disc diffusion assay. Polymerase chain reaction determined the presence of antibiotic resistance, virulence and regulatory genes. To determine the type of cholera toxin subunit B (ctxB), nucleotide sequencing was performed. Southern hybridisation determined the number and arrangement of CTXΦ. Ribotyping and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) were used to determine the genomic profile of isolates. RESULTS: All the eight strains, except one strain, showed resistant to nalidixic acid, sulphamethoxazole, streptomycin and trimethoprim and possessed the sullI, strB, dfrA1 and int SXT genes. All the strains carried the toxin-co-regulated pilus pathogenicity island, the CTX genetic element, the repeat in toxin and produced CT. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis showed that V. cholerae O1 possess a single copy of the CTX element flanked by tandemly arranged RS element. Nucleotide sequencing of the ctxB gene showed the presence of classical ctxB. RFLP analysis of conserved rRNA gene showed two ribotype patterns. PFGE analysis also showed at least three PFGE patterns, irrespective of year of isolations, indicating the genomic relatedness among them. CONCLUSION: Overall, these data suggest that classical ctxB-positive V. cholerae O1 El Tor strains that appeared in 2003 continue to cause infection in 2005 in Puri, India, and belong to identical ribotype(s) and/or pulsotype(s). There is need to continuous monitor the emergence of variant of El Tor because it will improve our understanding of the evolution of new clones of variant of V. cholerae.

Growth in the first year in children following IAP Policy on Infant Feeding.

OBJECTIVE: To study the growth pattern in the first year in children fed according to recommendations of IAP Policy on Infant Feeding. DESIGN: Longitudinal. SETTING: Department of Pediatrics, S.C.B. Medical College Hospital, Cuttack, Orissa. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: 114 infants (68 boys and 46 girls) with birth weight greater than or equal to 2500g from upper and middle S-E status were regularly followed up from birth to 12 mo of age and fed according to recommendations of IAP Policy on Infant Feeding. Mean and standard deviations of weight for age (W/A) and length for age (L/A) and mean Z scores for W/A, L/A and W/L (weight for length) were calculated separately for boys and girls with reference to NCHS-WHO and BFDS data. OBSERVATIONS: Mean Z scores for W/A with reference to NCHS-WHO data showed a positive trend from birth upto the age of 3 to 4 months, subsequently declining upto one year. The Z scores for L/A showed only a minimal downward trend. The W/L Z score remained above the baseline value up to 3 months in boys and 7 months in girls. When BFDS was taken as the reference, W/A Z scores showed consistent positive increments, from birth in girls and 1 mo in boys. L/A Z scores increased from 3 months in boys and 11 months in girls. Using NCHS data as the reference, the percentage of infants below -2SD for weight was 0 to 7% during first 6 months and 14% at 12 months. Ten% were below -2SD for length at 12 months. With BFDS as the reference, the percentage of infants below -2SD for weight was 25% at birth, 5% at 6 months and 12% at 1 yr. For length, it was 12% at birth and 8% at 1 year. The increments in weight and length closely followed BFDS upto 12 mo age. CONCLUSION: The IAP Policy on Infant Feeding results in adequate growth of non low birth weight infants in the first year of life.

Impact of population structure on intensity of cropping in the plain of Pagladia-Puthimari Basin, Assam.

PIP: This study quantitatively analyzes whether any significant correlation exists between population pressure and cropping intensity in Assam, India, and if a relationship exists between cropping intensity and socioeconomic and sociocultural behaviors of the different peasant communities settling throughout the region. Rural population in the region totaled 1,080,778 in 1971, with an average density 390 persons/sq. km. Results show the sociocultural behavior of a particular social group of peasants to be most important for increasing cropping intensity, particularly in traditional backward agrarian regions. Population density has less impact. Accordingly, Boserupian theory may not apply universally in tropical areas.^ieng

Fine needle aspiration biopsy cytology in diagnosis of salivary gland tumours.

Fine needle aspiration biopsy cytology of salivary gland tumours was performed in 97 patients. Histological confirmation was available in all cases except 9 cases of sialo-adenitis which responded to antibiotics. Accuracy of cytological diagnosis in exact categorisation of benign and malignant tumours was 93.7% and 91.1% respectively. False negative was 4.1%. The overall accuracy was 95.8%. There was no false positive report. Exact classification of tumour was made in 94.1% cases, ie, 80 out of 85 tumours. No complication was encountered in this procedure.

Reflex sympathetic dystrophy in children.

Six patients with reflex sympathetic dystrophy were investigated during the period between 1973 and 1978. Children do not develop the severe, disabling pain nor the patchy osteoporosis (Sudeck's atrophy) which are considered essential features of reflex sympathetic dystrophy in adults. In contrast to the adult variety, reflex sympathetic dystrophy in children is a self-limiting condition which usually responds well to mild analgesics and physical therapy. Frequently it may be necessary to administer the physical therapy in an intensive, inpatient program, both to break the pain-disability cycle and to remove the patient from a stressful family environment that may have initiated or prolonged the syndrome. The use of steroids (dexamethasone) had no appreciable effect on the clinical course in these children.