Recent Advances and Prospects for Dragon Fruit (Hylocereus spp.) Plant Propagation Techniques

Dragon fruit (Hylocereus spp.) is a recently introduced super fruit in India, gaining popularity both in rural and urban areas because of its attractive colour, delicious taste, and high nutritive and medicinal values. It is adaptable to humid as well as semi-arid tropical and subtropical conditions. The growing acceptance of this fruit along with its enormous medicinal and antioxidant properties has increased the demand for its cultivation followed by quality planting materials in the desired quantity. Propagation of Dragon fruit can be done by both micropropagation sexual via seeds and asexual methods via stem cuttings, grafting, and micropropagation. In this review, attempts have been made to cover various fruit propagation methods along with other related crop features about which there is relatively scanty information. The assessment also attempted to highlight the prospective propagation locations for dragon fruit, which calls for additional study to produce more information and advance crop propagation methods.

Effects of bilateral superficial cervical plexus block on sevoflurane consumption during thyroid surgery under entropy-guided general anesthesia: a prospective randomized study / 대한마취과학회지

BACKGROUND: Bilateral superficial cervical plexus block (BSCPB) provides good postoperative analgesia, but its effect on anesthetic consumption is unknown. This study evaluated the effects of BSCPB on sevoflurane consumption during thyroid surgery. METHODS: Fifty patients were randomly allocated into groups A and B of 25 each in this prospective double-blind study. Group A received BSCPB with 20 ml 0.25% bupivacaine, whereas group B received 20 ml saline immediately before entropy-guided general anesthesia. Intraoperative hemodynamic parameters, end-tidal sevoflurane concentration, minimum alveolar concentration, and sevoflurane consumption were recorded. Postoperative pain was assessed using a visual analog scale, and the time of the first request for analgesia was noted. All side effects were recorded. RESULTS: Demographics were comparable. Mean sevoflurane consumption [for 30 min: group A = 7.2 (1.1) ml, group B = 8.8 (2.0) ml, P = 0.001; for 60 min: group A = 13.5 (1.7) ml, group B = 16.5 (3.9) ml, P = 0.002] and mean end-tidal sevoflurane concentration [for 30 min: group A = 1.2% (0.2%), group B = 1.4% (0.2%), P = 0.008; for 60 min: group A = 1.2% (0.1%), group B = 1.4% (0.2%), P = 0.010] were significantly lower in group A. Patients in group A had a longer duration of analgesia [361.6 (79.5) min vs. 151.0 (60.2) min, P < 0.001] compared to those in group B. CONCLUSIONS: Preinduction BSCPB during thyroid surgery significantly reduced sevoflurane consumption and increased the duration of postoperative analgesia.

Evaluation of Botanicals Against Rodent Pests in Irrigated Paddy.

Rodents are the major limiting factor right from nursery to harvest stage in paddy. Repeated application of rodenticides for managing rodent damage may lead to development of resistance among rodents, environment risks and human health hazards. Hence, Field experiments were carried out to evaluate the efficacy of various botanicals as alternatives against rodent pests instead of continuous application of rodenticides in irrigated rice ecosystem during kharif and rabi seasons of 2011-12. The efficacy of botanicals was assessed by live burrow count before and after imposition of treatments at 7 and 15 days after treatment during tillering and panicle initiation stage of the rice crop. Among all the botanicals evaluated for their efficacy against rodent pests the commercial castor based product, Ecodon recorded highest percent control success ranging from 44.36 to 59.20 % followed by crude castor oil (10%). The Crude castor oil (10%) was also proven to be superior next to Ecodon in order of efficacy against rodent pests. The other botanicals like pongamia oil, neem oil and papaya extract shown no significant control success in suppression of rodent pests. It is inferred from the present study that botanicals cannot substitute the rodenticides in rodent management but can be used in combinations and alternate applications in minimizing their incidence in irrigated paddy.

Hydrochemistry of groundwater of Thirumanur area, Tamil Nadu (India).

Perambalur is the most backward district in the state of Tamil Nadu (India). It has ten unions, of which Thirumanur union has historical importance and is blessed with fertile lands. Thirumanur union has Kollidam river and Pullambadi canal as rich sources of water for irrigation. Thirumanur union has large number of Chozha temples at various places like Thirumalapadi, Periyamanai, Kamarasavalli, Thoothur, Senapathimudikondan, Kandaradhitham, Keelapalur and Melapalur. Thirumanur union being the south end union of Perambalur district, has Trichy district and Tanjore district as its neighbours. Thirumanur union has an area of 64 hectare, of which 48 hectare is under cultivating land. This union has maximum number of thirty-six villages. Though most of the villages use river water as their major source of drinking, they also use groundwater as their other source. Lot of work has been done and published already on the groundwater quality of many villages in other different unions of the Perambalur district. But in the Thirumanur union, there was need to undertake the study to assess the drinking water quality in the region. Hence, ten villages of Thirumanur union were selected, where the people use groundwater for drinking, and the water samples were subjected to systematic analysis. The depth of the bore wells varied from 100-200 feet. The values obtained for different parameters were compared with the standard values given by ISI / ICMR / WHO and the variations were notable for the parameters like nitrate and total hardness for few samples. Therefore, a medical survey was carried out to study the harmful effects on the society due to these two parameters at the villages-Keelapazhur, Palanganatham and Venganur.

Unusual presentation of a retroperitoneal lymphangioma.

A 3 year old child presented with hemorrhagic ascites of short duration. Based on clinical manifestation and investigations a differential diagnosis of peritoneal tuberculosis, pancreatic ascites or malignant ascites was considered. Laparotomy revealed a huge retroperitoneal cystic lymphangioma confirmed by histopathology. The unusual presentation of retroperitoneal tumours as pseudoascites is discussed.

Patterns of heavy metal resistance in marine Pseudomonas MR1.

Pseudomonas strain MR1 isolated from the coastal waters of Bay of Bengal was found to resist Hg, As, Cd, Cu, Zn and Pb. It efficiently detoxified both organic and inorganic mercuric compounds to non toxic metallic mercury by an inducible enzyme, mercuric reductase. Its resistance to arsenic might be due to energy-dependent arsenate efflux system. Cadmium was detected intracellularly and in the surrounding medium. The bacterium accumulated copper and lead intracellularly.