Congenital Ranula in a Newborn: A Rare Presentation

Ranulas are cystic lesions in the floor of the mouth. Case reports published worldwide have been very few. They are formed either as retention cyst or as pseudocyst due to extravasation of mucus in the surrounding tissue. We report the case of a full term female neonate with a congenital ranula in the floor of mouth on left side. The swelling caused no discomfort or complication and hence no immediate intervention was required. The ranula was treated by aspiration using a wide bore needle and did not recur on 4 months follow up. Other methods of treatment include excision of ranula, marsupialization, cryosurgery, sclerotherapy. As many congenital cysts resolve or rupture spontaneously, they should be observed for potential resolution for several months in uncomplicated cases.     

Status of Two Threatened Astavarga Herbs,Polygonatum cirrhifolium and Malaxis muscifera,in West Himalaya: Conservation Implications

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, India Section B: Biological Sciences - Populations of Polygonatum cirrhifolium (Wall.) Royle and Malaxis muscifera (Lindl.) Kuntze are restricted to...     

Biodegradation of Isoproturon by Bacillus pumilus K1 Isolated from Foothill Agroecosystem of North West Himalaya

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, India Section B: Biological Sciences - Isoproturon (IPU) degrading bacterium was isolated from herbicide treated soils. Morphological, biochemical...     

Diversity and Distribution Pattern of Orchids Along an Altitudinal Gradient: Pindari Valley,West Himalaya

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, India Section B: Biological Sciences - The present study for the first time explored the diversity and distribution of terrestrial orchids in...     

Genetic and epigenetic markers in colorectal cancer screening: recent advances

Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a heterogenous disease which develops from benign intraepithelial lesions known as adenomas to malignant carcinomas. Acquired alterations in Wnt signaling, TGFβ, MAPK pathway genes and clonal propagation of altered cells are responsible for this transformation. Detection of adenomas or early stage cancer in asymptomatic patients and better prognostic and predictive markers is important for improving the clinical management of CRC.

Area covered: In this review, the authors have evaluated the potential of genetic and epigenetic alterations as markers for early detection, prognosis and therapeutic predictive potential in the context of CRC. We have discussed molecular heterogeneity present in CRC and its correlation to prognosis and response to therapy.

Expert commentary: Molecular marker based CRC screening methods still fail to gain trust of clinicians. Invasive screening methods, molecular heterogeneity, chemoresistance and low quality test samples are some key challenges which need to be addressed in the present context. New sequencing technologies and integrated omics data analysis of individual or population cohort results in GWAS. MPE studies following a GWAS could be future line of research to establish accurate correlations between CRC and its risk factors. This strategy would identify most reliable biomarkers for CRC screening and management.     

Arabidopsis thaliana MCM2 plays role(s) in mungbean yellow mosaic India virus (MYMIV) DNA replication

Geminiviruses are plant pathogens with single-stranded (ss) DNA genomes of about 2.7 kb in size. They replicate primarily via rolling-circle replication (RCR) with the help of a few virally encoded factors and various host-cell machineries. The virally encoded replication initiator protein (Rep) is essential for geminivirus replication. In this study, by interaction screening of an Arabidopsis thaliana cDNA library, we have identified a host factor, MCM2, that interacts with the Rep protein of the geminivirus mungbean yellow mosaic India virus (MYMIV). Using yeast two-hybrid, β-galactosidase and co-immunoprecipitation assays, we demonstrated an interaction between MYMIV-Rep and the host factor AtMCM2. We investigated the possible role of AtMCM2 in geminiviral replication using a yeast-based geminivirus DNA replication restoration assay and observed that the AtMCM2 protein complemented the mcm2? mutation of S. cerevisiae. Our data suggest the involvement of AtMCM2 in the replication of MYMIV ex vivo. The role of MCM2 in replication was confirmed in planta by a transient replication assay in both wild-type and mutant Arabidopsis plants through agroinoculation. Our data provide evidence for the involvement of AtMCM2 in geminiviral DNA replication, presumably in conjunction with other host factors, and suggest its importance in MYMIV DNA replication.     

Persistence Behavior of Penoxsulam Herbicide in Two Different Soils

Penoxsulam, a new post emergence herbicide is suspected to be toxic to aquatic organisms, crop plants and also to soil microbial community even at low concentrations. Laboratory studies were therefore performed to examine the persistence of, penoxsulam in two different soils at two application rates (0.5 and 1.0 µg g^?1). The study revealed that the dissipation followed the first order kinetics with a half life of 3.48 and 3.57 days at 0.5 µg g^?1 and 4.1 and 4.17 days at 1.0 µg g^?1 fortification rate. Both microbial- and photo-degradation seemed to play a vital role in the dissipation of penoxsulam. The results of LC MS/MS revealed that one minor and five major metabolites were formed during the degradation process of the herbicide and the cleavage of sulfonamide bridge served as the major metabolic pathway.