Harnessing the Potentialities of Arsenic Resistant Fungal Endophytes for Improved Growth Promoting Traits under in vitro Condition

Endophytic fungi enhance the plant’s ability to tolerate stressful conditions including heavy metal stress via secretion of numerous secondary metabolites. However, the role of heavy metal resistant fungal endophytes in growth promotion of plants in extreme environments is need to be understood. Therefore, eight endophytic fungal isolates having arsenic tolerance potential up to 2000 ppm explored from the arsenic stressed plants were subjected to various in vitro growth promoting traits viz., phytohormones production, phosphate solubilization, siderophore production, ammonia production, HCN production and ACC deaminase activity under normal and arsenic stress (100 ppm) condition. Indole acetic acid produced by fungal endophytes ranged between 120-610 ?g/ mL, which was reduced to 50-340 ?g/ mL when they were grown on arsenic induced medium. In the siderophore production test, fungal isolate S3P1S1 produced significantly higher siderophore (96 ±?0.002 ?mol) compared to other isolates and reference culture. In addition, HCN production was observed in only one isolate. Therefore, present study clearly identified specific traits in the fungal endophytes, which make them good candidates as PGPR and might contribute to plant adaption to arsenic contaminated soils. These fungal endophytes, possessing metal tolerance as well growth promoting properties under in vitro conditions could have vital implications for the agricultural sector if used as biofertilizer.

The impact of intrapartum amniotic fluid index on perinatal outcome

Background: Fetal distress in labour is a common occurrence and is of great concern. Evaluation in early labor which could predict the risk of fetal distress could aid in the management of labour. Aim: The purpose of the study was to determine the value of routine intrapartum amniotic fluid assessment on perinatal outcome. Materials and methods: Study was done on 240 admitted patients in labou. They had an intrapartum AFI determined by four-quadrant technique subsequently these patients delivered during the same hospitalization. AFI determined was graded as Oligohydramnios was defined as AFI ≤ 5 cm (n = 48), Borderline as AFI 5.1- 8 cm (n = 50), Normal as AFI 8.1-24 cm (n = 142) and Women with AFI > 24 cm were not included in the study. The three groups were compared with regard to intrapartum and postpartum variables. Results: In present study, 20% of women were in oligohydramnios group, 21% in borderline group and 59% in normal group. Hence, the cesarean section rate for fetal distress was 54% in oligohydramnios and 28% in borderline group. The incidence of instrumental delivery for fetal distress was 12% in oligohydramnios and 14% in borderline. The incidence of APGAR score < 7 at 1 min and 5 min in oligohydramnios and borderline group were respectively 54%, 35%; and 30%, 14%. The incidence of birth weight <2500 gms in oligohydramnios group was 37% and borderline was 24%. NICU admissions in oligohydramnios group were 40% and 8% in borderline group. The percentage of neonatal deaths among oligohydramnios group was 4.2% and nil in borderline. The efficacy of intrapartum determination of oligohydramnios predicting cesarean delivery for fetal distress gave a sensitivity of 64%, specificity of 89%, positive predictive value of 53% and negative predictive value of 93%. Conclusion: Intrapartum detection of oligohydramnios is a valuable screening test for subsequent fetal distress requiring cesarean delivery

Translation and validation of brief patient health questionnaire against DSM IV as a tool to diagnose major depressive disorder in Indian patients.

CONTEXT: Depression is frequently encountered in the primary care setting but is often unrecognized and hence untreated. There is a need for a uniform user-friendly screening instrument for depression for primary healthcare personnel in India. AIMS: Translation and validation of the brief patient health questionnaire (BPHQ) as a screening tool for depression in major Indian languages. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a prospective study conducted at 18 sites, in psychiatric and general clinics. The English version of the BPHQ was translated into 11 Indian languages. The translations were reviewed by experts and volunteers and proofread for the final translated BPHQ. The validation exercise included more than 3000 subjects. A psychiatrist and a psychiatry social worker / coordinator conducted the study under the supervision of the principal investigator. For each language, the presence or absence of major depressive disorder (MDD) as diagnosed with the help of a patient-completed BPHQ and the psychiatrist DSM-IV diagnosis was matched. The kappa coefficient was used as a measure of inter-observer agreement between the two diagnostic methods. RESULTS: Seven languages failed the primary validation exercise. These translations were reviewed and the updated versions, after proofreading were re-run for validation. The self-administered BPHQ was successfully translated and validated for diagnosis of MDD against DSM-IV diagnosis made by a psychiatrist, in English, Hindi, Marathi oriya, Malayalam, Assamese, Gujarati, Kannada, Telugu, Bengali and Tamil. CONCLUSIONS: BPHQ is a simple, quick and reliable instrument, which facilitates rapid and accurate diagnosis of depression in the primary care setting in our country.