In vitro studies of inhibitory activity of plant extracts and cow urine on mycelial growth of stem rot, Sclerotimoryzae of rice

Soil borne phytopathogen Sclerotiumoryzae significantly affect rice production. To reduce load of chemical pesticides, antifungal activity of plant extracts and cow urine against mycelial growth of S.oryzaewere tested using poisoned food technique under in vitro condition. Plant extracts of 2.5%, 5.0%, 7.5% and 10% concentration was prepared from Allium cepa, Azadirachtaindica, A. sativum, Ricinuscommunisand Syzygiumcumini. Inhibition of mycelial growth of S.oryzaewas recorded only in case of A. sativum and A. cepa while Azadirachtaindica, Ricinuscommunisand Syzygiumcumini did not show any inhibition of mycelial growth as compared to control. A.sativum plant extracts showed maximum inhibition of mycelia growth of 68.88% at concentration 10% followed by 32.96%, 22.96% and 18.88% at concentration 7.5%, 5.0% and 2.5% resepectively. 22.60%, 19.62%, 17.77% and 8.88% inhibition of mycelial growth as compared to control was recorded at 10%, 7.5%, 5.0% and 2.5% concentration of plant extracts of A.cepa. All the concentration of cow urine inhibited the mycelial growth of S. oryzae. Cow urine at the concentration 5, 7.5 and 10.0 per cent resulted in 100 per cent inhibition of mycelia growth of test pathogen as compared to control. Maximum inhibition of 98.14 per cent was observed at 2.5 per cent concentration followed by 1.25 per cent (63.7%) concentration. This study showed that A.sativum and A.cepa and cow urine possess antifungal activity under in vitro condition. It can also be tested for antifungal activity under in vivo condition

Asymptomatic Proteinuria and Hematuria in School Going Children

Background: This study was undertaken because many cases of asymptomatic proteinuria and hematuria are present in school children.Aims and Objectives:The study was under taken to evaluate asymptomatic proteinuria and hematuria in 100 school children of both sexes from 6 to 15 years of age. Material and Methods: Samples were collected randomly from students of different classes at the Government Kannada Primary School, K H B Colony,Bijapur, Karnataka (India). The midstream urine sample was collected in a clean wide mouth jar,examined by dipsticks for proteinuria and hematuria by microscopy. Results:We found that asymptomatic proteinuria and hematuria was more prevalent amongst the children between 10 to 13 years of age group with female predominance i.e.16% proteinuria and 5% of microscopic hematuria respectively. Conclusion:By this study we conclude that it would be possible to screen a large population of children for asymptomatic proteinuria and hematuria at a relatively low cost

Prevalence and fungal profile of pulmonary aspergillosis in immunocompromised and immunocompetent patients of a tertiary care hospital

Background: Aspergillus is a fungus which may present an array of pulmonary manifestations, depending on the patient’s immunological and physiological state. Although the incidence of pulmonary aspergillosis occurs primarily in immunocompromised patients but the incidence is also rising in immunocompetent individuals, especially in developing countries. Aim: The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence and predisposing factors of pulmonary aspergillosis along with species identification. Materials and Methods: One hundred and three patients admitted to the Department of Chest and Tuberculosis and in the Department of Medicine from Jan 2012 to Jan 2013 were included in this study. The patients were epitomized on the basis of clinical signs and symptoms, physical examination, chest radiography, CT scans, histopathological examination, bronchoscopy and fungal examination including potassium hydroxide mount, fungal culture of sputum and bronchoalveolar lavage. Species identification was done by colony characteristics, slide culture and Lactophenol Cotton blue mount. Results: Out of the 103 patients, (63 males and 40 females) Aspergillus species has been isolated from 17 (16.5%) males and 07 (6.79%) females. Various predisposing factors of pulmonary aspergillosis have been identified in which pulmonary tuberculosis, chronic smoking and environmental exposure to asbestos, cement its tops the list. Many of the patients had multiple predisposing factors. Aspergillus species were isolated in 24 (23.3%) cases. Aspergillus fumigatus was the predominant species isolated in 13 (54.16%) cases followed by Aspergillus flavus in 07 (29.16%) cases, Aspergillus niger in 03 (12.5 %) and Aspergillus terrus in 1 (4.16%) cases. Conclusion: It is concluded that the prevalence of pulmonary Aspergillosis is quite high in immunocompromised individuals and low in immunocompetent individuals. An adequate and efficient evaluation of the etiological agents has a crucial role in the management of such patients

Performance criteria for verbal autopsy-based systems to estimate national causes of death: development and application to the Indian Million Death Study.

BACKGROUND: Verbal autopsy (VA) has been proposed to determine the cause of death (COD) distributions in settings where most deaths occur without medical attention or certification. We develop performance criteria for VA-based COD systems and apply these to the Registrar General of India's ongoing, nationally-representative Indian Million Death Study (MDS). METHODS: Performance criteria include a low ill-defined proportion of deaths before old age; reproducibility, including consistency of COD distributions with independent resampling; differences in COD distribution of hospital, home, urban or rural deaths; age-, sex- and time-specific plausibility of specific diseases; stability and repeatability of dual physician coding; and the ability of the mortality classification system to capture a wide range of conditions. RESULTS: The introduction of the MDS in India reduced the proportion of ill-defined deaths before age 70 years from 13% to 4%. The cause-specific mortality fractions (CSMFs) at ages 5 to 69 years for independently resampled deaths and the MDS were very similar across 19 disease categories. By contrast, CSMFs at these ages differed between hospital and home deaths and between urban and rural deaths. Thus, reliance mostly on urban or hospital data can distort national estimates of CODs. Age-, sex- and time-specific patterns for various diseases were plausible. Initial physician agreement on COD occurred about two-thirds of the time. The MDS COD classification system was able to capture more eligible records than alternative classification systems. By these metrics, the Indian MDS performs well for deaths prior to age 70 years. The key implication for low- and middle-income countries where medical certification of death remains uncommon is to implement COD surveys that randomly sample all deaths, use simple but high-quality field work with built-in resampling, and use electronic rather than paper systems to expedite field work and coding. CONCLUSIONS: Simple criteria can evaluate the performance of VA-based COD systems. Despite the misclassification of VA, the MDS demonstrates that national surveys of CODs using VA are an order of magnitude better than the limited COD data previously available