Hindfoot flexibility assessment of cavovarus and planovalgus feet by modified Shriners Hospitals for Children - Greenville (mSHCG) foot model.

Background: Multi-segment foot models have been used to quantify foot kinematics during walking. However, walking kinematics is not sufficient to assess hindfoot flexibility (available range of hindfoot varus-valgus motion). The modified Shriners Hospitals for Children - Greenville (mSHCG) foot model has been used to quantify hindfoot flexibility with Coleman block test (peak hindfoot valgus) and Root test (peak hindfoot varus).

Metagenomics analysis of water samples collected from the Yamuna River of Agra city, India.

Yamuna River water in Agra city of India is contaminated with toxic pollutants, including heavy metals that cause damage to the environment and human health. At present, the direct use of river water for drinking purposes and household activities lead to the direct exposure of society to the contaminants. In this study, Yamuna River water samples were collected from three different sites in Agra city during the monsoon, summer, and winter seasons.

Barriers and Enablers for Physical Activity Engagement Among Individuals From India With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Mixed-Method Study.

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a complex, chronic condition that can cause multiple complications due to poor glycemic control. Self-management plays a crucial role in the management of T2DM. Lifestyle modifications, including physical activity (PA), are fundamental for self-management.

Is peak hamstrings muscle-tendon length criterion a sufficient indicator to recommend against surgical lengthening of hamstrings?

Background: Excessive knee flexion during stance in children with cerebral palsy is often treated by surgical hamstrings lengthening. Pre-operative hamstrings muscle-tendon length can be estimated from kinematics and often used for decision making to rule out surgical lengthening if peak hamstrings muscle-tendon length is 'Not Short'.

Research Question: If peak hamstrings muscle-tendon length is within two standard deviations of typical, is that a sufficient indicator to rule out surgical hamstrings lengthening?

Methods: Three motion analysis centers retrospectively identified children with cerebral palsy, age 6-17 years, who had consecutive gait analyses with knee flexion at initial contact > 20° and popliteal angle > 35° at initial study.

Does use of ankle foot orthoses affect the dynamic motor control index during walking in cerebral palsy and idiopathic toe walking populations?

Background: The dynamic motor control (walk-DMC) index during walking is a measure of the complexity of muscle activation pattern. Ankle Foot Orthoses (AFO) are frequently used to improve the gait of children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) and Idiopathic Toe Walking (ITW). The purpose of this study was to assess the change in walk-DMC index secondary to AFO use.

Surgical Management of Severe Equinus Deformity in Ambulatory Children With Cerebral Palsy.

Background: Tendo Achilles lengthening (TAL) for the management of equinus contractures in ambulatory children with cerebral palsy (CP) is generally not recommended due to concerns of over-lengthening, resulting in weakness and plantar flexor insufficiency. However, in some cases, surgical correction of severe equinus deformities can only be achieved by TAL. The goal of this study is to assess the outcomes following TAL in these cases.

Clinical profile of Thrombocytopenia in Acute Febrile Illnesses; a hospital-based study.

Background Thrombocytopenia is a common haematological abnormality noted in clinical practice, however, it can be missed in cases where specific investigations are not asked for. Acute Febrile Illness with thrombocytopenia is a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge, as thrombocytopenia has an inverse relation to mortality and morbidity in various febrile illnesses. Vector-borne and zoonotic diseases (like malaria, dengue, scrub typhus, and leptospirosis), infections and sepsis are some of the common causes of fever with thrombocytopenia.

Synthetic Biology in Plants, a Boon for Coming Decades.

Recently an enormous expansion of knowledge is seen in various disciplines of science. This surge of information has given rise to concept of interdisciplinary fields, which has resulted in emergence of newer research domains, one of them is 'Synthetic Biology' (SynBio). It captures basics from core biology and integrates it with concepts from the other areas of study such as chemical, electrical, and computational sciences.

Serum total triiodothyronine (T3) as a predictor of mortality and morbidity in critically ill patients and its correlation of predictability with acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II score: A prospective observational study.

Background: The aim is to assess the prognostic value of total T3, total T4, and thyroid-stimulating hormone among critically ill patients admitted to the medical intensive care unit (ICU) in association with mortality and its correlation with the acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II) score.

Methods: : Our prospective observational study consists of 257 patients without known thyroid diseases admitted to the medical ICU. The baseline characteristics of the patients were recorded, including the APACHE II score and thyroid hormone levels at ICU admission.

Energy and carbon budgeting of traditional land use change with groundnut based cropping system for environmental quality, resilient soil health and farmers income in eastern Indian Himalayas.

Energy intensive traditional cereals based monoculture often lead to high greenhouse gas emissions and degradation of land and environmental quality. Present study aimed at evaluating the energy and carbon budget of diversified groundnut (Arachis hypogea L) based cropping system with over existing traditional practice towards the development of a sustainable production technology through restoration of soil and environmental quality and enhancement of farming resiliency by stabilizing farmers' income. The trials comprised of three introduced groundnut based systems viz.

Outcomes of Patellar Tendon Imbrication With Distal Femoral Extension Osteotomy for Treatment of Crouch Gait.

Background: Crouch gait is a frequent gait abnormality observed in children with cerebral palsy. Distal femoral extension osteotomy (DFEO) with the tightening of the extensor mechanism is a common treatment strategy to address the pathologic knee flexion contracture and patella alta. The goal of this study was to review the results of a patellar tendon imbrication (PTI) strategy to address quadriceps insufficiency in the setting of children undergoing DFEO.

Dietary self-management practices among persons with T2DM: An exploratory qualitative study from western-coast of India.

Background: Diabetes is a significant public health challenge for India. Self-management, including dietary management, physical activity, stress management, and adherence to medication, is critical in glycaemic control. Though data concerning self-management, in general, are available among persons with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), exclusive research on dietary self-management was limited.

Center of pressure metrics derived from spatially registered typically developing data.

Background: Pedobarography is a commonly used testing procedure in clinical gait analysis, yet has limited roles in quantification for treatment planning, outcome assessment, and classification. Spatial registration between plantar pressure and motion capture data allows for accurate quantitative assessment and metric development based on a typically developing cohort.

Research Question: This study assesses the validity of new center of pressure based metrics of anatomically registered pedobarography data by evaluating kinematic relationships over a broad spectrum of feet and by evaluating the sensitivity of these metrics to pathologies, interventions, and outcomes in two common clinical foot pathologies.

Improvement in fluoride remediation technology using GIS based mapping of fluoride contaminated groundwater and microbe assisted phytoremediation.

Fluoride (F) in groundwater is a major issue of water pollution. Geo-statistical analysis of groundwater quality in Newai Tehsil, (India) has been done in order to identify the possible spatial distribution of water quality parameters and to assess the spatial dependence of water properties with the help of principal component analysis (PCA) structure. Two types of maps (spatial map and principal component map) of groundwater quality have been developed.

Isolation and characterization of bacteriophages from India, with lytic activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Bacteriophages are being considered as a promising natural resource for the development of alternative strategies against mycobacterial diseases, especially in the context of the wide-spread occurrence of drug resistance among the clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. However, there is not much information documented on mycobacteriophages from India. Here, we report the isolation of 17 mycobacteriophages using Mycobacterium smegmatis as the bacterial host, where 9 phages also lyse M.

A Prospective Analysis of Drug Interactions in Patients of Intensive Cardiac Care Unit.

Introduction: Drug-Drug Interaction (DDI) is a serious concern in cardiac patients due to polypharmacy.

Aim: The present study was aimed to identify the potential DDI among hospitalized cardiac patients and evaluate the mechanism and severity of such interactions.

Materials And Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted in intensive cardiac care unit of a tertiary care hospital for six months.

Hemocytome: deep sequencing analysis of mosquito blood cells in Indian malarial vector Anopheles stephensi.

Hemocytes are tiny circulating blood cells of insects known to play multiple roles in physiological as well as cellular immune responses. However, the molecular nature of hemocytes in blood feeding insects, especially mosquitoes which transmit several deadly diseases such as malaria, dengue etc. is still limited.

Natural inflation and quantum gravity.

Cosmic inflation provides an attractive framework for understanding the early Universe and the cosmic microwave background. It can readily involve energies close to the scale at which quantum gravity effects become important. General considerations of black hole quantum mechanics suggest nontrivial constraints on any effective field theory model of inflation that emerges as a low-energy limit of quantum gravity, in particular, the constraint of the weak gravity conjecture.

A study of pattern of nonvenereal genital dermatoses of male attending skin OPD at a tertiary care center.

Background: Nonvenereal dermatoses tend to create confusion from venereal dermatoses. This may be responsible for considerable concern to the patient as well as may cause diagnostic dilemma to the physicians. Nonvenereal dermatoses may not be restricted to genitalia alone; it may affect skin and mucous membrane also.

Kinematics and kinetics of normal and planovalgus feet during walking.

Planovalgus deformity is prevalent in cerebral palsy patients, but very few studies have quantitatively reported differences between planovalgus and normal foot function. Intersegmental foot kinetics have not been reported in this population. In this study, a three segment (hindfoot, forefoot, hallux) kinematic and kinetic model was applied to typically developing (n=10 subjects, 20 feet) and planovalgus (n=10 subjects, 18 feet) pediatric subjects by two clinicians for each subject.