Medicated Prickly Pear (Opuntia Ficus Indica)-The New Emerging Agricultural Crop in Arid and Semi Arid Regions of India.

The present investigation deals with the development of agro-techniques for Opuntia ficus indica (Prickly pear)-OFI cultivation. Standardization and development of best spacing for opuntia plantation, fertilization imposition to achieve good fruit and biomass yield and alternatively fruit quality and biomass parameters was observed and concluded as the better agro-technique among the all imposed treatments. The effect of different spacing and fertilizers composition treatment on cladode yield, fruit yield, harvesting index, stem area index (SAI), Total soluble solids (TSS), Titrable acidity and Ascorbic acid (Vit-C). Correlation studies of treatments revealed that all the six characters of cladode yield, harvest index, Stem area index, TSS, TA and Vit-C exhibited non significant, positive correlation with fruit yield.

Giant Morgagnian hernia masquerading as pleural effusion.

Morgagnian hernia is a congenital diaphragmatic hernia which occurs through anteromedial defect in the diaphragm. A 58-year-old lady was referred for surgical management of chronic massive pleural effusion. High-resolution CT scan of the chest demonstrated an anteromedial defect in the diaphragm and with contents being colon and great omentum. She required anterolateral thoracotomy and reduction of hernia with repair of formen of Morgagni with prolene mesh. Blind needle aspiration would have punctured the colon; hence the case is being reported to highlight the necessity of CT scan/ultrasound of chest in investigating a chronic massive pleural effusion much before a needle is put for aspiration blindly.

Therapeutic action of acetylcholine in malathion toxicity.

Administration of malathion to the developing Philosamia ricini larvae induces accumulation of acetylcholine, marked inhibition of acetylcholinesterase activity, depletion of all nutrients, heavy weight loss and high mortality. Pre-treatment of the larvae with acetylcholine via feed, reduces malathion toxicity and conversely, feeding of acetylcholine to malathion-treated larvae reverses the toxic effects. Resumption of normal control feed to malathion-treated insects results in higher mortality than in insects fed acetylcholine after exposure to malathion. This emphasizes the therapeutic action of acetylcholine. Feeding of a mixture of equal quantities of malathion and acetylcholine recorded significantly lower mortality among insects in comparison to those fed malathion alone. This further supports the protective action of acetylcholine. Reversal of malathion toxicity and the protective action of acetylcholine have been attributed to the mediation of choline, an essential insect vitamin that gets released as a catabolic product of acetylcholine.