Yield and fibre quality associated with cotton leaf curl disease of Bt-cotton in Punjab.

Cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD), caused by Gemini virus and transmitted through whitefly (Bemisia tabaci ) is a serious problem in Northern India, affecting the productivity to a great extent. Depending upon the severity of infection in susceptible varieties, the disease can cause upto 90.0 % yield losses besides this, it also causes deterioration in fibre quality. The objective of the present study was to determine the effect of cotton leaf curl disease on seed cotton yield and fibre characters of two popular Bt-cotton hybrids in Punjab. The disease caused 52.7 % reduction in number of bolls and 54.2 % in boll weight in Bt cotton hybrid RCH 134. Similarly, it reduced the fibre length from 29.1 to 26.2 mm (9.9%); fibre uniformity from 68.9 to 68.1 % (1.1%); fibre strength from 29.1 to 26.9 g per texture (7.5%) and miconaire value from 5.2 to 5.0 g inch-1 (3.8%). Similar results were reported in Bt cotton hybrid MRC 6304, where the disease reduced the boll number and boll weight by 46.1 and 43.4 %, respectively. However, to the fibre quality was not much affected by varying level of disease severity. The studies clearly reflect the adverse impact of CLCuD on yield and fibre quality especially 2.5% span length. Thus suggesting the management of disease using integrated disease management strategies to avoid quantitative and qualitative losses.

Religious beliefs, coping skills and responsibility to family as factors protecting against deliberate self-harm

Background. Deliberate self-harm (DSH) ranges from behaviours aiming to communicate distress or relieve tension; but where suicide is not intended, to suicide. Not all individuals are prone to DSH, which suggests that there are factors that protect against it. Identifying these could play an important role in the management and prevention of DSH. Objectives. This study examined whether religious beliefs, coping skills and responsibility to family serve as factors protecting against DSH in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. Method. A cross-sectional comparative study assessed DSH patients consecutively admitted or directly referred to Queen Elizabeth General Hospital and Hospital Mesra Bukit Padang during the period December 2006 - April 2007. DSH patients (N=42) were matched with controls (N=42) for gender, age, religion, race, occupation and marital status. The DSH and control groups were compared using psychosocial tests that assess coping skills, religious beliefs and responsibility to family. Results. There were significant differences in religious beliefs (p=0.01) and responsibility to family (p=0.03) between the DSH patients and the control group. There were also significant differences in coping skills, DSH patients tending to use emotion-orientated coping (p=0.01) as opposed to taskand avoidance-orientated coping. caution is required in generalising the results owing to limitations of the study. Further extensive research on religious and psychotherapeutic interventions and prospective studies on protective factors will be helpful

Inappropriate shocks in patients receiving internal cardioverter-defibrillators for malignant ventricular arrhythmias.

Implantation of internal cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) for treatment of malignant ventricular arrhythmias is complicated by failure of therapy or inappropriate shocks. We studied 81 patients (age range 16-72 years; mean 48 +/- 13 years) who underwent ICD implantation for device therapy. The underlying aetiology was ischaemic heart disease (39%), cardiomyopathies (32%) and others (28%). Information regarding shocks was collected using Holter monitoring, telemetry or device memory (stored electrograms) and lastly by clinical follow-up. Fifty-eight patients completed 36 months of follow-up. Thirty-five patients experienced 337 spontaneous shocks, appropriate in 21, inappropriate in 12, and both in two patients. Of the 74 episodes of inappropriate discharges for rhythms other that ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation(VF), 55 percent were due to supraventricular arrhythmias (atrial flutter or fibrillation). Lead malfunction occurred in four and the device was replaced in two. Additional drugs controlled AF in one. There was no mortality in any of the 81 patients. The frequency of shocks was highest in the first six months after implantation and atrial fibrillation remains the main cause. In conclusion, inappropriate shocks are frequent in patients undergoing ICD implantation.