Plant Growth-Promoting Microbes from Herbal Vermicompost

Overreliance on chemical pesticides and fertilizers has resulted in problems including safety risks, outbreaks of secondary pests normally held in check by natural enemies, insecticide resistance, environmental contamination, and decrease in biodiversity. The increasing costs and negative effects of pesticides and fertilizers necessitate the idea of biological options of crop protection and production. This includes the use of animal manure, crop residues, microbial inoculum, and composts. They provide natural nutrition, reduce the use of inorganic fertilizers, develop biodiversity, increase soil biological activity, maintain soil physical properties, and improve environmental health

Management and treatment efficacy of drug and alcohol problems: what do doctors believe?

We conducted a survey of the attitudes of postgraduate medical trainees in Australia on the management of drug and alcohol problems and examined the medical practitioner's role in managing drug and alcohol problems, factors influencing prognosis and beliefs about the efficacy of a number of treatment interventions. Of 2461 trainees enrolled in specialty training programmes in internal medicine, psychiatry and general practice 1361 (55%) participated There was a high level of acceptance of responsibility for management of alcohol and drug problems, with the strongest support observed among psychiatry trainees. However, views of the efficacy of various treatment interventions were less positive. Alcoholics Anonymous was considered to be an approach well supported by the research literature. Dynamic psychotherapy was less well supported, and there was considerable uncertainty about the evidence for brief advice and cognitive-behaviour therapies. The opinions expressed on treatment efficacy were in many cases in striking contrast to the research evidence. The implications for future training in drugs and alcohol in specialty programmes are discussed

Association between serum free thyroxine concentration and atrial fibrillation.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have suggested that minor changes in thyroid function are associated with risk of atrial fibrillation (AF). Our objective was to determine the relationship between thyroid function and presence of atrial fibrillation (AF) in older subjects. METHODS: A population-based study of 5860 subjects 65 years and older, which excluded those being treated for thyroid dysfunction and those with previous hyperthyroidism. Main outcome measures included tests of thyroid function (serum free thyroxine [T(4)] and thyrotropin [TSH]) and the presence of AF on resting electrocardiogram. RESULTS: Fourteen subjects (0.2%) had previously undiagnosed overt hyperthyroidism and 126 (2.2%), subclinical hyperthyroidism; 5519 (94.4%) were euthyroid; and 167 (2.9%) had subclinical hypothyroidism and 23 (0.4%), overt hypothyroidism. The prevalence of AF in the whole cohort was 6.6% in men and 3.1% in women (odds ratio, 2.23; P<.001). After adjusting for sex, logistic regression showed a higher prevalence of AF in those with subclinical hyperthyroidism compared with euthyroid subjects (9.5% vs 4.7%; adjusted odds ratio, 2.27; P=.01). Median serum free T(4) concentration was higher in those with AF than in those without (1.14 ng/dL; interquartile range [IQR], 1.05-1.27 ng/dL [14.7 pmol/L; IQR, 13.5-16.4 pmol/L] vs 1.10 ng/dL; IQR, 1.00-1.22 ng/dL [14.2 pmol/L; IQR, 12.9-15.7 pmol/L]; P<.001), and higher in those with AF when analysis was limited to euthyroid subjects (1.13 ng/dL; IQR, 1.05-1.26 ng/dL [14.6 pmol/L; IQR, 13.5-16.2 pmol/L] vs 1.10 ng/dL; IQR, 1.01-1.21 ng/dL [14.2 pmol/L; IQR, 13.0-15.6 pmol/L]; P=.001). Logistic regression showed serum free T(4) concentration, increasing category of age, and male sex all to be independently associated with AF. Similar independent associations were observed when analysis was confined to euthyroid subjects with normal TSH values. CONCLUSIONS: The biochemical finding of subclinical hyperthyroidism is associated with AF on resting electrocardiogram. Even in euthyroid subjects with normal serum TSH levels, serum free T(4) concentration is independently associated with AF