Tracing the genetic root of Trinket cattle: an endangered cattle population of a small isolated island of Nicobar group of islands

Trinket cattle are the inhabitant of a small island called Trinket, which is one of the picturesque islands of Andaman. This herd is thought to be of Danish leftover during their dynasty in Nicobar archipelago. When the island was abandoned by foreign invaders, indigenes utilized the animals for the purpose of meat. As a result, the cattle became semi-feral in nature. After the Great Sumatra earthquake and tsunami of Indian Ocean in 2004, Trinket island was left abandoned by indigenes and the cattle became totally feral in nature. To trace the genetic root of the cattle, this study has been undertaken based on the sequence information of the mitochondrial D-loop and cytochrome b gene. The genomic DNA was extracted from the blood samples of the Trinket cattle and was used for amplification of mitochondrial markers, and the sequence information was generated by Sanger sequencing. The analysis of sequence information revealed that the Trinket cattle belongs to Bos indicus (I) haplotype, sub-haplotype I2. The presence of I2 sub-haplotype in Trinket cattle may be due to the expansion of this I2 haplotype towards Southeast Asian countries. This is a novel input for the formulation of breeding strategy towards conservation of eco-friendly sustainable livestock in the isolated island ecosystem.

The Ethics of Facial Plastic Surgery.

In a modern world of aesthesis, the role of surgery is ever broadening and with this healthcare professionals must be in constant vigilance of ethical values. We discuss the role of facial plastic surgery in modern society and the ethical standpoint of the field in the context of aesthetics.

Psychiatric morbidity in cancer patients.

One hundred and two patients of cancer were studied by two stage screening methods to detect the psychiatric morbidity in these patients. The General Health Questionnaire (60 item version) was used to detect the psychiatric morbidity. The psychiatric diagnosis was made according to DSM-IIIR criteria. Eighty seven patients (85.29%) were found to have psychiatric illness, depression being the commonest illness (45.10%). Anxiety disorder was present among 18.63% and other minor emotional disorders in 21.56%. Fifteen patients (14.71%) were found to be free from any psychiatric symptoms.