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Fulltext Seasonal variations in markers of stress and oxidative stress in rats

Bhat S, Rao G, Murthy KD, Bhat PG

Indian J Clin Biochem, 2008 Apr;23(2):191-4.
PMID: 23105750 DOI: 10.1007/s12291-008-0042-2

High ambient temperature has been reported to increase oxidative stress by increasing lipid peroxidation and decreasing antioxidant defence in transition dairy cows. It is also known to cause an increase in plasma cortisol levels in goats, European hedgehog and human volunteers. High levels of glucocorticoids have been reported to decrease blood glutathione and erythrocyte superoxide dismutase activity in rats. Although institutional animal houses in research laboratories of developed countries maintain animals in air-conditioned rooms at constant temperature, the same is not true of animal houses in the developing countries especially those belonging to smaller institutions and this could affect the results of the experiments being conducted on these animals. The present research study was done to assess the effects of seasonal variations on the status of erythrocyte oxidative damage, antioxidant defence and plasma cortisol levels in adult female Wistar rats. Rats were kept in their home cages and were left in non-air-conditioned procedure rooms in two different seasons, Hot season (March-May) and Cool season (June to September). Erythrocyte Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and plasma cortisol levels were significantly increased in rats exposed to high ambient temperature and humidity of the hot season as compared to the rats of the cool season. Erythrocyte reduced glutathione levels, erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase activities were significantly decreased in the hot season group of rats. The results of our experiments showed that exposure of adult female Wistar rats to high ambient temperature and humidity of the hot season increases neuroendocrine stress, oxidative stress and decreases antioxidant defence in them.
Influence of alignment of the pyramid on its beneficial effects

Bhat S, Rao G, Murthy KD, Bhat PG

Indian J Exp Biol, 2007 May;45(5):455-8.
PMID: 17569288

The present study was aimed to find out whether a change in the alignment of the pyramid from the north-south axis causes any variation in the effects produced by it on plasma cortisol levels and markers of oxidative stress in erythrocytes of adult-female Wistar rats. Plasma cortisol and erythrocyte TBARS levels were significantly lower whereas erythrocyte GSH was significantly higher in rats kept in pyramid that was aligned on the four cardinal points--north, east, south and west, as compared to normal control rats. Although there was a significant difference in the plasma cortisol level between normal control group and the group of rats kept in randomly aligned pyramid, there was no significant difference between these two groups for the other parameters. Erythrocyte TBARS levels in the group of rats kept in the randomly aligned pyramid was significantly higher than that in the group kept in the magnetically aligned pyramid. The results suggest that the north-south alignment of the pyramid is crucial for its expected effects.
Enhanced wound contraction and epithelization period in steroid treated rats: role of pyramid environment

Kamath S, Rao SG, Murthy KD, Bairy KL, Bhat S

Indian J Exp Biol, 2006 Nov;44(11):902-4.
PMID: 17205711

Contribution and role of a pyramid/square box on the wound healing suppressant effect of dexamethasone was studied in rats of either sex using excision wound model to record the wound contraction rate and epithelization period. The results showed enhanced wound contraction rate and decreased epithelization period in the pyramid-exposed rats as compared to controls. Thus, it appears that pyramid environment facilitates the process of wound healing. Also, the wound healing suppressant effects of dexamethasone were significantly reduced.
Examining students' intention to perform voluntary blood donation using a theory of planned behaviour: A structural equation modelling approach

Hossain Parash M, Suki NM, Shimmi SC, Hossain ABMT, Murthy KD

Transfus Clin Biol, 2020 Apr;27(2):70-77.
PMID: 32139133 DOI: 10.1016/j.tracli.2020.02.002

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to examine the behavioural intention of students to make voluntary blood donations. Moreover, it uses a theory of planned behaviour as its guiding principle and does so within the context of Malaysia, a developing nation.
METHODS: Data were collected via a self-administered questionnaire from a sample of 500 students at a public higher learning institution in Malaysia. Structural equation modelling approach (SEM) was performed to assess the strength of the hypothesized relationships of the proposed model simultaneously via the two-stage model-building process.
RESULTS: The SEM approach revealed that knowledge was the most influential predictor of students' intention to make a voluntary blood donation. With the knowledge that the more blood they donate, the more lives will be saved, the inclination to donate blood is intensifying among students. Moreover, all of the TPB constructs applied were also seen to significantly influence students' response to voluntary blood donation.
CONCLUSIONS: The nexus of attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, and knowledge about students' intention to perform voluntary blood donation are evidenced in a developing nation. The implications of the study and directions for future research are provided.
First report of Cephalerous virescens causing Algal leaf spot of Averrhoa carambola in India

Deepak Reddy B, Srilatha P, Murthy KGK, Madhusudhan Reddy S, Reddy IVS, Neelima P, et al.

Plant Dis, 2023 Sep 08.
PMID: 37682227 DOI: 10.1094/PDIS-08-23-1563-PDN

Averrhoa carambola (Star fruit) is a drought resistant edible fruit belongs to family Oxalidaceae. It is native of Malaysia and further cultivation is extended to China, Southeast Asia, India and Northern South America. Star fruit has juicy texture and used in salads, beverages and traditionally it has been used for ayurvedic medicines in India, Brazil and China (Abduh et al. 2023). In early January 2023, we observed the symptoms of raised, more or less circular, orange to dark brown, velvet textured, scattered algal leaf spots (1-4 mm) on the upper surface of A. carambola leaves at College farm, Agricultural College, Aswaraopet (17.252039 latitude, 81.109573 longitude) (Supplementary Fig 1). The disease was observed in 2 hectare model orchard with incidence of 45% causing leaf defoliation and thereby reducing the yield and quality of fruits. Transverse section cutting of algal spots revealed the algal thalli at subcuticular region and causing necrosis of epidermal cells. Sporangiophores (n=20) raised from algal leaf spot were cylindrical, 4 to 5 celled, 200-450 µm long x 8-20 µm wide, and forming a head cell with suffultory cells and sporangia on the top. Sporangia (n=20) were spherical to elliptical, rusty brown and 17.5-29 µm long × 18-23.6 µm wide and the total number of sporangia produced by each sporangiophores varies from 1 to 6. Setae (n=20) were filamentous with three to six celled, 17.5-50 µm long × 2.5-7.5 µm wide (Supplementary Figure 2). In our collection, mature gametangia were not observed. Morphological characters were studied on 20 diseased leaf samples collected from randomly selected five plants. To isolate pathogen, fresh algal thalli (n=5) were scraped from host tissue, surface sterilized (70% alcohol (30 s), 1% sodium hypochlorite (30 s) and sterile distilled water (3 × 60 s), inoculated to trebouxia liquid media and incubated at 25 ± 2 °C with a 12 hours photoperiod for 72 hours (Vasconcelos et al. 2018). The resultant five algal filaments were subjected to PCR amplification. The primer pair PNS1/NS41 was used in a PCR to amplify a fragment of 18S rRNA (Davis and Kaur 2019). The 18S rRNA gene sequences of the algae were compared using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast/Blast.cgi) showed that our partial sequence had 99.5% similarity to C. virescens (KM020142.1). Hence, it was classified as C. virescens and sequences was deposited in NCBI-GenBank with accession numbers (OR053653, OR243777, OR429406, OR429407 and OR243779). For proving pathogenicity, algal filaments obtained from trebouxia liquid media were inoculated to 6 months old healthy A. carambola plant. Pathogenicity test was negative and typical symptoms could not be produced even up to 150 days of inoculation. In previous studies also, due to difficulty with production of zoospores in synthetic media, Koch's postulates of C. virescens as a plant pathogen has not been demonstrated experimentally (Sunpapao et al. 2017; Sanahuja et al. 2018; Kumar et al. 2019). In the second experiment, zoosporangia spore suspension were prepared from small pieces of algal leaf spot tissue processed in a sterile pestle and mortar and filtered through sterile cheesecloth (Sunpapao et al. 2017). A total of five isolates of zoosporangia spore suspension (1 x 102 to 1 x 104/ml of water) was sprayed on healthy, surface sterilized leaves of A. carambola plants (n=5) until runoff with a handheld airpump sprayer and incubated in green house (T: 25 oC, H: 80%). During the experiment leaves were remain attached to plant (5 days old) and plants were 6 months old grown in plastic pots under controlled conditions. Two plants were inoculated with each isolate and three non inoculated control plants were included. Non inoculated controls were sprayed with sterile distilled water. The pathogenicity experiment was repeated. The initial symptoms were produced 60 days after inoculation and complete algal thalli was observed on 90 days after inoculation, control plants were without any symptoms upto 150 days. Reisolated algal thalli from symptomatic plants were morphologically similar to original algal thalli and molecularly identified as C. virescens (accession number OR067193 and OR243810). Red rust caused by C. virescens is a major algal disease in the world and causing severe leaf defoliation in various horticultural crops viz., Mangifera indica (Vasconcelos et al. 2018), Manilkara zapota (Sunpapao et al. 2017), Psidium guajava (Rajbongshi et al. 2022), Ziziphus mauritiana (Shareefa et al. 2022) and Anacardium occidentale (Dooh et al. 2022). The available literature suggest that, this is the first report of algal leaf spot on A. carambola caused by C. virescens in India. This report extends the range of known pathogens associated with A. carambola plant and serves as a basis for development and implementing disease management strategies.
Fulltext The Global Burden of Cancer 2013

Global Burden of Disease Cancer Collaboration, Fitzmaurice C, Dicker D, Pain A, Hamavid H, Moradi-Lakeh M, et al.

JAMA Oncol, 2015 Jul;1(4):505-27.
PMID: 26181261 DOI: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2015.0735

IMPORTANCE: Cancer is among the leading causes of death worldwide. Current estimates of cancer burden in individual countries and regions are necessary to inform local cancer control strategies.
OBJECTIVE: To estimate mortality, incidence, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) for 28 cancers in 188 countries by sex from 1990 to 2013.
EVIDENCE REVIEW: The general methodology of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2013 study was used. Cancer registries were the source for cancer incidence data as well as mortality incidence (MI) ratios. Sources for cause of death data include vital registration system data, verbal autopsy studies, and other sources. The MI ratios were used to transform incidence data to mortality estimates and cause of death estimates to incidence estimates. Cancer prevalence was estimated using MI ratios as surrogates for survival data; YLDs were calculated by multiplying prevalence estimates with disability weights, which were derived from population-based surveys; YLLs were computed by multiplying the number of estimated cancer deaths at each age with a reference life expectancy; and DALYs were calculated as the sum of YLDs and YLLs.
FINDINGS: In 2013 there were 14.9 million incident cancer cases, 8.2 million deaths, and 196.3 million DALYs. Prostate cancer was the leading cause for cancer incidence (1.4 million) for men and breast cancer for women (1.8 million). Tracheal, bronchus, and lung (TBL) cancer was the leading cause for cancer death in men and women, with 1.6 million deaths. For men, TBL cancer was the leading cause of DALYs (24.9 million). For women, breast cancer was the leading cause of DALYs (13.1 million). Age-standardized incidence rates (ASIRs) per 100 000 and age-standardized death rates (ASDRs) per 100 000 for both sexes in 2013 were higher in developing vs developed countries for stomach cancer (ASIR, 17 vs 14; ASDR, 15 vs 11), liver cancer (ASIR, 15 vs 7; ASDR, 16 vs 7), esophageal cancer (ASIR, 9 vs 4; ASDR, 9 vs 4), cervical cancer (ASIR, 8 vs 5; ASDR, 4 vs 2), lip and oral cavity cancer (ASIR, 7 vs 6; ASDR, 2 vs 2), and nasopharyngeal cancer (ASIR, 1.5 vs 0.4; ASDR, 1.2 vs 0.3). Between 1990 and 2013, ASIRs for all cancers combined (except nonmelanoma skin cancer and Kaposi sarcoma) increased by more than 10% in 113 countries and decreased by more than 10% in 12 of 188 countries.
CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Cancer poses a major threat to public health worldwide, and incidence rates have increased in most countries since 1990. The trend is a particular threat to developing nations with health systems that are ill-equipped to deal with complex and expensive cancer treatments. The annual update on the Global Burden of Cancer will provide all stakeholders with timely estimates to guide policy efforts in cancer prevention, screening, treatment, and palliation.