Determination of teliospore concentration as surface contaminants in Karnal bunt-infected seed samples of wheat using indirect ELISA

The study describes the indirect ELISA method for the determination of teliospore concentration in infected seed lots employing anti-teliospore antiserum generated against intact teliospores of Tilletia indica – a quarantined pathogen. The detection limit is as small as 5–1000 teliospores. The teliospores were extracted by washing seed either one or three times using detergent to ensure complete removal of teliospores present as surface contaminants in wheat samples with varying per cent of Karnal bunt infection. To ensure the concentration of teliospores within the sensitivity range, optimal volume of different extracted samples was determined. The ELISA reactivity was used to extrapolate the number of teliospores present in wheat samples. Forty-nine wheat samples received for certification based on per cent of infection were also subjected to indirect ELISA to determine the sensitivity of the protocol. The samples having 0.05–26% infection were having teliospore concentration in the range of 7×10² to 6.6×10⁴/1000 seeds.     

Concurrent occurrence of dens evaginatus and dens invaginatus in maxillary incisors: a case report and review

Dens evaginatus (DE) and dens invaginatus (DI) are developmental anomalies that affect the shape of the teeth. Although they have been found singly and in association with other developmental anomalies in the same patient, it is uncommon to observe these two anomalies in the same tooth. There are only a few published cases of concurrent DI and DE in the same tooth. The patient in the case reported here was a 27-year-old man who exhibited a novel combination of DE and DI in permanent maxillary incisors. Early diagnosis of this anomaly is necessary. The clinician then can take particular care when performing prophylactic odontoplasty for the DE, keeping in mind that the associated DI presents an increased risk of early pulpal involvement. This article focuses on the management aspects of DE and DI.     

Intracerebral haematomas after deep brain stimulation surgery in a patient with Tourette syndrome and low factor XIIIA activity

A 24-year-old male patient with refractory Tourette syndrome was treated with deep brain stimulation (DBS) and developed subsequent bilateral subcortical haematomas. Additional blood tests revealed abnormalities of plasma factor XIIIA and tryptophan levels, which may be associated with Tourette syndrome. Neurosurgeons who perform DBS surgery on patients with Tourette syndrome must be aware of possible disastrous complications resulting from factor XIIIA disorders of blood haemostasis. Routine screening for this condition is not typically performed prior to surgery in these patients.     

Fungal adhesion protein guides community behaviors and autoinduction in a paracrine manner

Microbes live mostly in a social community rather than in a planktonic state. Such communities have complex spatiotemporal patterns that require intercellular communication to coordinate gene expression. Here, we demonstrate that Cryptococcus neoformans, a model eukaryotic pathogen, responds to an extracellular signal in constructing its colony morphology. The signal that directs this community behavior is not a molecule of low molecular weight like pheromones or quorum-sensing molecules but a secreted protein. Znf2, a master regulator of morphogenesis in Cryptococcus, is necessary and sufficient for the production of this signal protein. Cfl1, a prominent Znf2-downstream adhesion protein (adhesin), was identified to be responsible for the paracrine communication. Consistent with its role in communication, Cfl1 is highly induced during mating colony differentiation, and some of the Cfl1 proteins undergo shedding and are released from the cell wall. The released Cfl1 is enriched in the extracellular matrix and acts as an autoinduction signal to stimulate neighboring cells to phenocopy Cfl1-expressing cells via the filamentation-signaling pathway. We further demonstrate the importance of an unannotated and yet conserved domain in Cfl1’s signaling activity. Although adhesion proteins have long been considered to be mediators of microbial pathogenicity and the structural components of biofilms, our work presented here provides the direct evidence supporting the signaling activation by microbial adhesion/matrix proteins.     

Can nutrition rehabilitation centers address severe malnutrition in India?

Madhya Pradesh has made remarkable progress in facility based management of severe acute malnutrition, and has developed a model that is being replicated in many states. India has uniquely high prevalence of both stunting and wasting, implying that both severe acute malnutrition and severe chronic malnutrition co-exist. This study sought to explore design issues of nutritional rehabilitation centers in order to inform its effectiveness in settings where the prevalence of chronic poverty and malnutrition is high. Our analysis attributes the limited success (marked by poor cure rates and high non-responder rates) to high prevalence of chronic malnutrition, particularly in nutritional rehabilitation centers located in pheripheral areas. There is a failure to recognize severe chronic malnutrition as an epidemiological entity and gear wide-ranging programmatic and social interventions.     

Health and Poverty: Global Health Problems and Solutions

Poor outcomes from behavioral treatments of severe obesity have led to a dependence on invasive medical interventions, including surgery for morbidly obese individuals. Improved methods to self-regulate eating will be required to reduce obesity. The use of self-regulation methods for completing physical activity may carry over to increased self-regulation for eating through improved feelings of competence (self-efficacy) and mood. The study recruited women (Mean_age = 43 years) with morbid obesity (Mean_BMI = 44 kg/m²) to participate in 26 weeks of cognitive-behavioral support of physical activity paired with either nutrition education (n = 51) or cognitive-behavioral nutrition (n = 51) methods. Data collected were from 2011 and 2012. Significant improvements in self-regulation for physical activity, self-regulation for eating, overall mood, and self-efficacy for eating, with greater improvement in self-regulation for eating, were observed in the cognitive-behavioral nutrition group. Changes in mood and self-efficacy for eating significantly mediated the relationship between changes in self-regulation for physical activity and self-regulation for eating. When subscales of overall mood and self-efficacy were entered into separate regression equations as mediators, the only significant mediators were vigor, and controlling eating when socially pressured and when increased cues to overeat were present.     

The internal medicine subinternship: a curriculum needs assessment

Despite broad acceptance of the internal medicine subinternship rotation by the undergraduate medical education community, only a small fraction of programs provide students with explicit learning objectives. To design a curriculum for the medical subinternship, we surveyed 3 different groups of educational stakeholders--subinternship directors, residency program directors, and housestaff--in order to identify and prioritize the competencies that should be learned during this rotation. This study provides a starting point for the development of a structured curriculum for the fourth-year subinternship rotation.