Integrating evidence-based treatments for common mental disorders in routine primary care: feasibility and acceptability of the MANAS intervention in Goa,India

Common mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety, pose a major public health burden in developing countries. Although these disorders are thought to be best managed in primary care settings, there is a dearth of evidence about how this can be achieved in low resource settings. The MANAS project is an attempt to integrate an evidence based package of treatments into routine public and private primary care settings in Goa, India. Before initiating the trial, we carried out extensive preparatory work, over a period of 15 months, to examine the feasibility and acceptability of the planned intervention. This paper describes the systematic development and evaluation of the intervention through this preparatory phase. The preparatory stage, which was implemented in three phases, utilized quantitative and qualitative methods to inform our understanding of the potential problems and possible solutions in implementing the trial and led to critical modifications of the original intervention plan. Investing in systematic formative work prior to conducting expensive trials of the effectiveness of complex interventions is a useful exercise which potentially improves the likelihood of a positive result of such trials.     

Localization of the calcium release channel gene in cattle and horse by in situ hybridization: evidence of a conserved synteny with glucose phosphate isomerase

In situ hybridization techniques were used to localize regionally the calcium release channel (CRC) gene on cattle and horse chromosomes, using a porcine CRC cDNA probe. In cattle, the hybridization signal peaked on the 18q23-q26 bands and in horse on the 10pter region. Previous studies have shown that the glucose phosphate isomerase (GPI) gene localizes at the same site in both species, indicating that the two loci are syntenic. As CRC and GPI are syntenic in human, pig and mouse, the present results in cattle and horse represent another example of synteny conservation in the evolution of mammalian chromosomes.     

FIRST REPORT OF THE FERTILE PLANT GENUS UMKOMASIA FROM LATE PERMIAN BEDS IN INDIA AND ITS BIOSTRATIGRAPHIC SIGNIFICANCE

Abstract:  The genus Umkomasia Thomas, a female fructification of Dicroidium , is reported from Late Permian beds exposed in the Behra Rivulet near the village of Karaonda in the Tatapani-Ramkola Coalfield, Chhattisgarh, India. This is the first record of this genus from the Late Permian, and from Indian Gondwana. Two species have been recognized: Umkomasia polycarpa Holmes and U. uniramia Axsmith, Taylor, Taylor and Cuneo. The find suggests that the genus Dicroidium appeared in the Late Permian before reaching its acme in the Middle–Upper Triassic.