Anxiety and Depression among the Caregivers of patients with Neurological illness.

Caregivers of the patients have shown to demonstrate high levels of psychological distress and depression; increased rates of physiological illness and personal, financial, family, and social problems. It is important to assess the mental health status and attend to the needs of care givers. The study was carried out in the Neurology in-patient setting in a tertiary care hospital. Thirty consecutive patients receiving in-patient care were included in the study. The anxiety and depression levels of these individuals were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Male and female caregivers differed significantly on the total HADS score as well as the Anxiety and Depression subscale scores of HADS. The female care givers had significantly higher scores on HADS-Total, HADS-Anxiety and HADS-Depression sub scales. Additionally there was a significant correlation between the number of family members with chronic illness and HADS-Anxiety sub scale scores. It is crucial to screen the care givers, especially female care giver, of the patients with neurological illness for presence of anxiety and depression. This approach will help timely identification and proper management of these individuals.

High regenerative nature of Metha arvensis internodes.

Media and incubation conditions have been defined for highly efficient regeneration of shoots from internode explants of slow and fast growing cultivars of Mentha arvensis. Internodal segments excised from the in vitro raised shoots were inoculated on the MS medium supplemented with combinations of 5 concentrations of l-napthalene acetic acid (NAA) and 3 concentrations of 6-benzyl amino purine (BAP). The media containing 2 Ilg ml-1 NAA, 10 Ilg ml-1 BAP and I Ilg ml-1 NAA, 5 Ilg ml-1 BAP proved best for shoot regeneration and growth responses on cv Himalaya and cv Kalka explants, respectively. In 12 weeks time, on average one explant of cv Himalaya produced about 200 shoots and that of cv Kalka produced about 180 shoots. The Himalaya explants required higher concentrations of NAA and BAP for high efficiency proliferation as compared to the Kalka explants. The experiments demonstrated that internodal tissue in Mentha arvensis can be induced to obtain direct shoot regenerants with high efficiency. The analysis of the RAPD profiles of 100 regenerated plantlets each of cv Himalaya and Kalka showed more than 99.9% homogeneity in bands with respect to the parents.