Bioremediation of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) using rhizosphere technology

The remediation of polluted sites has become a priority for society because of increase in quality of life standards and the awareness of environmental issues. Over the past few decades there has been avid interest in developing in situ strategies for remediation of environmental contaminants, because of the high economic cost of physicochemical strategies, the biological tools for remediation of these persistent pollutants is the better option. Major foci have been considered on persistent organic chemicals i.e. polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) due to their ubiquitous occurrence, recalcitrance, bioaccumulation potential and carcinogenic activity. Rhizoremediation, a specific type of phytoremediation that involves both plants and their associated rhizospheric microbes is the creative biotechnological approach that has been explored in this review. Moreover, in this review we showed the significance of rhizoremediation of PAHs from other bioremediation strategies i.e. natural attenuation, bioaugmentation and phytoremediation and also analyze certain environmental factor that may influence the rhizoremediation technique. Numerous bacterial species were reported to degrade variety of PAHs and most of them are isolated from contaminated soil, however few reports are available from non contaminated soil. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomons fluoresens, Mycobacterium spp., Haemophilus spp., Rhodococcus spp., Paenibacillus spp. are some of the commonly studied PAH-degrading bacteria. Finally, exploring the molecular communication between plants and microbes, and exploiting this communication to achieve better results in the elimination of contaminants, is a fascinating area of research for future perspective.

Oral health in relation to nutritional status, age and sex among14-18 years children of Naraingarh, Haryana / Saúde Bucal em relação ao estado nutricional, idade e sexo de crianças de 14-18 anos de Naraingarh, Haryana

Objetivo: Descrever a prevalência de cárie dentária e estudar a associação entre o estado nutricional e de saúde bucal baseada em vários índices, em adolescentes de comunidades sob privilegiados. Material e Métodos: O estudo teve uma amostra transversal de 196 crianças aparentemente saudáveis (104 meninos e 92 meninas), na faixa etária de14 a 18 anos, pertencentes a comunidades menos privilegiadas. Cada indivíduo teve a altura e o peso corporal medidos para determinar o estado nutricional. Vários traços de saúde bucal como cárie dental, placa, cálculo e gengivite foram analisados clinicamente. Resultados: O índice CPOD (dentes cariados, perdidos devido à cárie e dentes obturados)foi baixo entre os adolescentes; sendo 0,48 para os meninos e 0,93 para as meninas. A prevalência de cálculo foi maior entre as meninas de todas as faixas etárias, enquanto a prevalência de placa foi maior entre os meninos. As diferenças entre os gêneros foram significantes apenas para os índices de placa e CPOD. A falta de adequação da alimentação não foi um fator determinante para a magnitude observada de depósitos, placa e índices de cálculo, com exceção para os índice de condições de saúde bucal e CPOD, nos quais foram observados maiores índices em crianças com baixo peso. Conclusão: O estado nutricional inadequado não foi um dos principais determinantes da saúde oral, indicando a consciência geral de higiene oral e sua observância como ator importante. As meninas foram mais propensas a cárie dentária do que os meninos, sendo a severidade da cárie também maior para as meninas.

determinant of oral health indicating the generalawareness of oral hygiene and its observance wasa major factor. Females were more prone to dental caries than the males and the severity was also significantly higher in the former.

Extensively drug resistance (XDR) tb is not always fatal.

The chance of incidence of XDR TB is on the rise due to improper use of second line anti-tubercular drugs. XDR-TB is very difficult to treat successfully and is often referred to as "virtually untreatable form of TB". We herein report a case of XDR TB confirmed by bacteriological examination in a WHO recognised laboratory who after 12 months of regular treatment improved both clinically and radiologically with sputum smear conversion. To the best of our knowledge, there has been no previous report of any similar case in literature.

Cardiac herniation following atrial septal defect closure using port access surgery.

Cardiac herniation, a rare entity, is seen most commonly after traumatic rupture of the pericardium or following pneu-monectomy with partial pericardiactomy. It is rarely seen to occur following closure of a sinus venosus atrial septal defect through the port access technique. A review of the literature in English did not reveal any such case report.

Genetic epidemiology of epilepsy: a twin study.

The study explored the genetic susceptibility and prevalence of epilepsy in twins. The data on epilepsy were retrieved from the health records of 199 pairs of twins. Proband concordance rate in monozygotic (MZ) twins was four times more than that in dizygotic (DZ) twins (0.67 vs. 0.17). Three of 15 (20%) affected twin kinships had epileptic first-degree relatives. These findings indicated significant underlying genetic susceptibility to epilepsy with the Holzinger's heritability estimate being 0.45. The prevalence of epilepsy was similar in MZ (45.45), DZ (45.11) twins, and their non-twin siblings (47.60). In the general population from various nationalities, the mean prevalence rate of epilepsy varied from 5 to 17 per 1000. The appreciably higher prevalence rate in twin kinships could be attributed to peculiar development factors associated with the twinning process or the intrauterine environment of mothers having tendencies to bear twins. Of the genetic markers, PTC locus seemed to be associated with the susceptibility to epilepsy. The allele frequency of non-tasters (t) seemed greater in epileptic twin kinships (0.71) than that in the general population (0.53). The frequency of non-tasters was similar in MZ and DZ twins and singletons: 27.3%, 26%, and 27.7% respectively. The PTC data on the general population was based on a sample of 278 individuals.

Minimally invasive mitral valve surgery.

BACKGROUND: To reduce surgical trauma and the drawbacks associated with sternotomy, we performed robotically controlled, video-assisted mitral valve surgery, using either the port-access or the transthoracic clamp technique. METHODS AND RESULTS: Between September 1997 and September 2000, 221 patients (78 males, 143 females) underwent mitral valve surgery through a small right minithoracotomy using the port-access endovascular cardiopulmonary bypass system. Mitral valve exposure was facilitated with an endoscope attached to a voice-controlled robotic arm (AESOP 3000) allowing stabilization and voice-activated camera positioning. Twenty-six patients underwent mitral valve repair and 195 had valve replacement. In 197 patients, mitral valve surgery was the primary operation, while 24 were redo cases. Skin-to-skin mean operating time was 3.5 +/- 1.2 hours and aortic cross-clamp time was 58 +/- 16 min, mean intensive care unit stay was 22 +/- 7 hours and hospital stay 6.4 +/- 1.2 days. There was no re-exploration for bleeding. There was no late death or re-operation on mean follow-up of 16.4 +/- 12.2 months. Patients showed improvement in their NYHA functional class from 2.6 +/- 0.5 to 1.4 +/- 0.8 postoperatively. Outcomes were compared with those of our previous 220 patients who underwent mitral valve surgery with the median sternotomy approach. CONCLUSIONS: The use of video and robotic assistance in port-access mitral valve surgery not only minimizes the length of the incision, but also gives full visualization of the entire mitral valve apparatus. This approach provides comparable results with the sternotomy approach, as well as marked advantages of reduced intensive care unit stay. ,ower blood transfusion requirement, better cosmesis and earlier hospital discharge.