Exploration of a quality improvement process to standardised preoperative tests for a surgical procedure to reduce waste.

Background: Preoperative tests are done to determine a patient's fitness for anaesthesia and surgery.

Local Problem: Although routine tests before surgery in the absence of specific clinical indications are not recommended, we observed high volumes of routine preoperative tests were performed in our institution. We describe a process to implement a standardised preoperative investigational approach to reduce unnecessary testing before surgeries.

Breeding of a new potato variety 'Nagasaki Kogane' with high eating quality, high carotenoid content, and resistance to diseases and pests.

'Nagasaki Kogane' is a new potato variety bred from a cross between 'Saikai 35' as a female parent and 'Saikai 33' as a male. 'Saikai 35' is resistant to bacterial wilt, contains the and genes for resistance to the potato cyst nematode (PCN) and potato virus Y (PVY), respectively, and has high carotenoid content, while 'Saikai 33' has large and high-yielding tubers and is resistant to both bacterial wilt and PCN. The carotenoid content of 'Nagasaki Kogane' is higher than that of 'Dejima', a common double cropping variety.

Effect of yoga on cognitive abilities in schoolchildren from a socioeconomically disadvantaged background: a randomized controlled study.

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the effect of yoga, compared to physical activity on the cognitive performance in 7-9 year-old schoolchildren from a socioeconomic disadvantaged background.

Design: Two hundred (200) schoolchildren from Bangalore, India, after baseline assessment of cognitive functioning were randomly allocated to either a yoga or a physical-activity group. Cognitive functions (attention and concentration, visuo-spatial abilities, verbal ability, and abstract thinking) were assessed using an Indian adaptation of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children at baseline, after 3 months of intervention, and later at a 3-month follow-up.

Insulin sensitivity and cardiac autonomic function in young male practitioners of yoga.

Background: While yoga is thought to reduce the risk of chronic non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, there are no studies on insulin sensitivity in long term practitioners of yoga. We assessed insulin sensitivity and cardiac autonomic function in long term practitioners of yoga.

Methods: Fifteen healthy, young, male practitioners of yoga were compared with 15 young, healthy males who did not practice yoga matched for body-mass index.