Influence of Body Mass Index on Heart Rate Variability (HRV) in evaluating cardiac function in adolescents of a selected Indian population

Background: Heart Rate Variability (HRV) analysis is easy to perform, has good reproducibility and provides prognostic information about Coronary Heart Disease. Objective: This work was devised to correlate exercise induced HRV with BMI and compare gender variability among healthy Indian children aged 13-20 years. Methods: The Heart Rate Variability of sixty-five students in the 13-20 years age group was assessed by time- domain methods during resting and after exercise. On the basis of BMI, the subjects were grouped into T1 group (BMI<18) and T2 group (≥18). The HRV of these groups were analyzed. In addition, based on gender, male students were divided on the basis of BMI as follows: M1 group <18 and M2 group ≥ 18. Likewise females were grouped into F1 and F2 groups. The HRV of 3 male groups and 3 female groups were also separately analysed. A paired t- test was used for the dependent variables and an unpaired t-test was carried out for normally distributed variables using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 11.0 for windows. Results: Females showed higher HRV than males during resting condition. But immediately after exercise, the HRV increased in all groups and there was no difference in HRV based on gender and BMI. When recorded 5 minutes after exercise, the HRV decreased further regardless of gender and BMI. However, the HRV taken 30 minutes after exercise behaved more like the resting condition. The HRV recorded 30 minutes after exercise increased from the “5 minutes after exercise��ú value but still remained lower in all groups regardless of gender and BMI. Conclusions: The results demonstrate that, in healthy adolescents, the parasympathetic activity is higher in females than in males during the rest period. Exercise induced sympathetic activity lasts longer in females with higher BMI and lower age, resulting in decreased HRV

RAPD MARKER-BASED GENETIC DIVERSITY AMONG RELEASED FINGER MILLET (ELEUSINE CORACANA. GAERTN.) CULTIVARS WITH KNOWN PEDIGREE

The validity of concern regarding the narrow genetic base of released finger millet cultivars was explored. Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) marker-based assay of 35 finger millet cultivars with known pedigree indicated substantial inter-cultivar genetic distance ranging from 0.90 to 0.26. While the cultivars, MR 2 and HR 911 were highly similar, Indaf 9 and OEB 57 were highly divergent at RAPD loci. The cultivars could be grouped into nine clusters based on their genetic distance. The cultivars within a cluster had similar parentage and those grouped into different clusters had diverse parental origin. The preliminary evidences from the study did not completely support the hypothesis of narrow genetic base of finger millet cultivars developed and released for commercial cultivation in India

In vitro propagation of Aloe barbadensis Miller, a miracle herb

Aloe vera has valuable medicinal properties and is commercially used inpharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries. An efficient micro propagation method hasbeen developed in Aloe vera plants using the shoot tip explants cultured on MS mediumwith different phyto hormonal supplements for shoot proliferation and rooting. Theshoot proliferation was found best (80%) in the MS medium containing Benzyl aminopurine (BAP) 2.0 mg/L. Seventy percent of adventitious root formation was observed inhalf strength MS medium supplemented with Indole butyric acid (IBA). After two weeks,in vitro grown plants were transferred to the poly-cups containing 1:1 ratio of soil an

Meta-analysis of gene–environment-wide association scans accounting for education level identifies additional loci for refractive error

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Myopia is the most common human eye disorder and it results from complex genetic and environmental causes. The rapidly increasing prevalence of myopia poses a major public health challenge. Here, the CREAM consortium performs a joint meta-analysis to test single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) main effects and SNP × education interaction effects on refractive error in 40,036 adults from 25 studies of European ancestry and 10,315 adults from 9 studies of Asian ancestry. In European ancestry individuals, we identify six novel loci (FAM150B-ACP1, LINC00340, FBN1, DIS3L-MAP2K1, ARID2-SNAT1 and SLC14A2) associated with refractive error. In Asian populations, three genome-wide significant loci AREG, GABRR1 and PDE10A also exhibit strong interactions with education (P<8.5 × 10(-5)), whereas the interactions are less evident in Europeans. The discovery of these loci represents an important advance in understanding how gene and environment interactions contribute to the heterogeneity of myopia

Knowledge, Attitude, Perceptions of Child’s Parents Towards Pulp Therapy of Primary Teeth: A Clinic Survey

Background: Primary teeth are vital for children\u27s oral health, serving roles in chewing, speech development, and spacing for permanent teeth. This study assesses parents\u27 knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions regarding pulp therapy for primary teeth in Puducherry.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 1000 parents of children under 13 years at Mahatma Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Dental Sciences, Puducherry. A structured questionnaire collected data on demographics, knowledge, and attitudes toward primary teeth and pulp therapy. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests, with a significance level of p &lt; 0.05.Results: Among the participants, 68.3% were from urban areas and 31.7% from rural areas. Educated parents showed significantly higher awareness about primary teeth (72.4% vs. 39.0%, p = 0.001). Urban parents also demonstrated greater awareness compared to rural parents. Significant differences were observed in dental care practices, with educated and urban parents more likely to seek timely dental care and agree to necessary treatments.Conclusion: The study reveals a considerable knowledge gap among parents regarding the care of primary teeth, with educated and urban parents exhibiting better awareness and attitudes towards pulp therapy. These findings highlight the need for targeted educational interventions to improve parental knowledge and pediatric dental care

Biosynthetic ε-poly-L-lysine for the treatment of extensively- and pan-drug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) represents a major cause of antimicrobial resistance-related morbidity and mortality. The recent emergence of highly fatal infections, caused by carbapenem-resistant PA, has called for novel antimicrobial therapies and strategies. In this study, we highlight the therapeutic potential of ε-poly-L-lysine (εPL), an antimicrobial polymer for treating extensively-and pan-drug-resistant-PA. εPL displayed potent antimicrobial activity against all eight drug-resistant PA, including carbapenem- and polymyxin-resistant PA. It exhibited a low risk of AMR evolution, with no evidence of cross-resistance with polymyxin B (a last-line treatment for drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria). We further demonstrated promising in vivo efficacy and safety of εPL against PA in a pre-clinical PA keratitis model, with comparable effects to topical levofloxacin (a gold standard treatment of infectious keratitis) in terms of clinical scoring, corneal health/thickness, and bacterial bioburden. In view of its broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, low risk of AMR evolution and cross-resistance with existing last-line antibiotics, and general acceptance of safety when orally administered, εPL serves as a promising novel antimicrobial agent for further clinical development and translation to tackle antimicrobial resistance

Transglutaminases (TGs) in Ocular and Periocular Tissues: Effect of Muscarinic Agents on TGs in Scleral Fibroblasts

10.1371/journal.pone.0018326PLoS ONE64