sub-Himalayan Region Of West Bengal Research Articles

Exploring the Role of Serum Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) Levels in Manic Depressive Psychosis in Terms of Its Association, Diagnostic Ability, and Severity Prediction: Findings From a Tertiary Care Center in North Bengal.

Manic depressive psychosis (MDP) or bipolar disorder, a prevalent psychiatric condition globally and in the Indian population, has been attributed to various pathological mechanisms. Hydrogen sulphide (H2S), a member of the gasotransmitter family, may be linked to the development of bipolar disorder because it plays a crucial role in maintaining proper neuronal function in terms of excitability, plasticity, and homeostatic functions. There is very little data regarding the role of the gasotransmitter H2S in MDP in terms of its association, diagnostic ability, and severity prediction, which led us to conduct this study among MDP patients in the Sub-Himalayan region of West Bengal. This was an observational case-control study performed in the Department of Biochemistry, North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, Siliguri, West Bengal, India, from January 2022 to December 2022. Fifty diagnosed MDP patients and 50 healthy age- and sex-matched control subjects satisfying the inclusion and exclusion criteria were studied. The H2S level in the blood was assayed using the standardised spectrophotometric methylene blue method. The severity of depression was assessed by Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) scoring. Of the 50 MDP patients, 45 (90%) were in the depressive phase, and five (10%) were in the manic phase. Of the 45 depressive patients, eight (17.8%) had mild depression, 12 (26.7%) had moderate depression, 19 (42.2%) had severe depression, and six (13.3%) had very severe depression. The mean H2S level in MDP patients (41.98±18.88 μmol/l) was significantly (P<0.05) lower than that in control subjects (99.20± 15.20 μmol/l). It was also observed that the mean H2S level in MDP patients decreased with the duration of the disease but was not statistically significant. The mean H2S levels in the different depression severity groups were found to be significantly different (P<0.001). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis revealed that a cut-off value of H2S <78.5 μmol/l was associated with MDP, with a sensitivity of 96%and a specificity of 88%,and a cut-off value of H2S < 53 μmol/lpredicted the severity of depression with a sensitivity of 89.3% and a specificity of 76.5%. The significant association of the gasotransmitter H2S in MDP patients and its role as a diagnostic and severity predictive marker can help us to employ proper measures for better management of MDP and improving quality of life.

Distribution of ABO and Rhesus (D) blood group antigens among the Indian Kami population from the Sub-Himalayan region of West Bengal and Sikkim, India

Abstract BACKGROUND: Limited information is available regarding the distribution of ABO and Rhesus (Rh) blood groups among the populations from the sub-Himalayan regions. The present study was undertaken to understand the phenotypic, genotypic, and allelic frequencies of ABO and Rh antigens among the Kami population. METHODS: A total of 1420 Kami individuals were included in the study from the sub-Himalayan region of West Bengal and Sikkim. The ABO and RhD blood groups were determined among 158 individuals by standard slide agglutination method, and from 1262 individuals blood group, data were collected who had undergone routine blood group tests in diagnostic laboratories. RESULTS: The frequency of blood group O (31.06%) was found to be the highest followed by B (29.15%), A (27.54%), and AB (12.25%). A total of 97.89% individuals were Rh (D) positive and 2.11% were Rh (D) negative. The allele frequencies of ABO were found to be 0.200 for IA (p), 0.243 for IB (q), and 0.557 for IO (r). For Rh (D), the calculated gene frequencies were 0.855 for Rh positive (ID) and 0.145 for Rh negative (Id). Among the subcaste of Kami population, a significantly high frequency of blood group A was observed among Baraily and Lamgade, O among Sashankar, Dural, Diyali, and Dutraj, and B among Ramudamu, Koirala, and Silal. CONCLUSION: The study is the first of its kind to comprehensively describe the ABO blood group distribution among the Kami population which shows the same trend as the general Indian population.

Contributors and associated risk factors of neonatal mortality in a tertiary care hospital in the sub-Himalayan region of West Bengal

Background: Lack of revision of knowledge on the magnitude of problem, cause and factors associated with neonatal mortality hampering early interventions and thus preventing reduction of neonatal mortality rate in India. Neonatal mortality statistics are sensitive indicators of the utility, convenience and effectiveness of maternal child health service in the community. This study was done to see the mortality pattern of neonates and contributing factors at the special newborn care unit (SNCU) and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of a rural tertiary care hospital so that special attention to those cause and factors can lead to favourable outcomes.Methods: This was a cross sectional retrospective study done in the SNCU and NICU of rural tertiary care centre of West Bengal for a period of three years with neonates admitted before 28 days of life. Data were collected in pre-designed proforma by analysing the case sheets from the records section of the hospital. Results were analysed by descriptive analytical method.Results: Total 13738 babies were admitted in the study period (7143 inborn and 6595 outborn). Majority of the inborns (86.8%) and outborns (68.4%) were discharged during that period while 9.4% inborns and 19.5% outborns were expired and only those expired cases were included in this study. HIE/moderate-severe birth asphyxia (41.2%) was the major contributor of death in inborns but in outborns the most common contributor of death was sepsis/pneumonia/meningitis (34.8%). Prematurity and low birth weight were the most common associated risk factors in both the groups.Conclusions: This study delineating the mortality patterns and associated risk factors of neonates in a rural tertiary care hospital of West Bengal which is unique in its kind. Outcome analysis showed that neonatal mortality rate for outborn babies was higher than in relevant recent studies.

Status and Participation of Nepali Women in Agrarian Class Structure in the Himalayan and Sub-Himalayan Region of West Bengal: An Empirical Study

Status and Participation of Nepali Women in Agrarian Class Structure in the Himalayan and Sub-Himalayan Region of West Bengal: An Empirical Study

HLA-A -B and -DRB1 distribution in Kami: A caste population of Gorkha community from the sub-Himalayan region of West Bengal, India

The present investigation is the first of its kind to understand the HLA profile of Kami population from the Indian Gorkha community of sub-Himalayan West Bengal, India. A total of 158 individuals from Kami population were genotyped at first field resolution by HLA ABDRB1 PCR SSP typing kit. The genotype assignment to the individuals was performed by Ready Gene V.1.0.0.0′ software. The data were analysed by PopWin32-0.7.0 software. All the loci typed were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The genotype data is accessible at Allele Frequencies Net Database with the name India, sub-Himalayan West Bengal, Kami number 3720.

Determinants of household livelihood vulnerabilities to climate change in the himalayan foothills of West Bengal, India

The impact of climate change and variability on household livelihood in the Himalayan region is hardly studied due to their locational inaccessibility. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to determine the factors which affect rural household vulnerability in sub-Himalayan West Bengal, India. How the socio-economic conditions of the households and climate change have been affecting the overall livelihood of this region? To understand the determining factors of household livelihood vulnerabilities, four main domains of vulnerabilities have been considered, namely, ‘income loss’, ‘crop loss’, ‘housing loss’, and ‘overall livelihood loss’ due to climate changes. The study has applied ordinal logistic regression along with focus group discussion to find out the determining factors. The survey data shows that specific variables such as the size of agricultural land, occupation of the households' heads, caste, membership of self-help groups, and perception of precipitation trends are the main determining factors of income loss in maximum households. Moreover, housing type, mainly non-concrete and semi-concrete houses are responsible for household vulnerability to climate change. Every household of this region loses a significant amount of crop due to the heavy rainfall or floods; although several households have adopted new resilient crop varieties. Nevertheless, crop loss is a major climatic threat in the sub-Himalayan region of West Bengal. Further, the results of the present study also suggest that the low adaptive capacity of the rural households of this region, such as low-income opportunities and inadequate infrastructure are the primarily reasons for most livelihood vulnerabilities.

Correction to: Model-based strategic planning for strengthening mushroom entrepreneurship: insights from a sub-Himalayan Region of West Bengal, India

In the original publication, there are few mistakes in Figs. 1, 2, and Table 5. The corrected version is given as follows.

Prevalence of iodine deficiency disorders among school student of Purba Medinipur, 2018: a cross sectional study

Background: Iodine deficiency disorder is one of the preventable public health diseases in India. Prevalence of goiter is also still prevalence at sub-Himalayan region of West Bengal. Study was conducted to assess prevalence of goiter among school students between 6 and 12 years age, to find out urinary excretion of iodine and iodine content in salt sample and to recommend for consuming iodized salt.Methods: We conducted the study among the school students aged 6 to 12 years during the month of June 2018 in Purba Medinipur district, West Bengal, India. Multistage cluster sampling method was conducted for selecting the study population. Clinical examination was done by medical officer to detect goiters. Salt and urine samples were taken from the selected students and were sent to State Iodine Monitoring Laboratory, Kolkata for examination of iodine content in household salt samples and urine samples.Results: Total 2821 students were examined for survey. Over all prevalence of goiter was 3.75% (109/2821). Girls had more prevalence 4.63% than boys 3.18%. Average urinary iodine excretion (UIE) level is 184.74% in 30 clusters of 339 urine samples. Only 5.60% showed UIE level ≤100 microgram/liter. Total 541 household salt samples were tested for iodine and average iodine content was 22.85%. Among them 91.5% (495) had iodine ≥15 ppm indicating adequate iodine contents in salt samples.Conclusions:Purba Medinipur may be considered a non-endemic district. We recommended continuing use of iodized salt.

Model-based strategic planning for strengthening mushroom entrepreneurship: insights from a sub-Himalayan Region of West Bengal, India

Model-based strategic planning for strengthening mushroom entrepreneurship: insights from a sub-Himalayan Region of West Bengal, India

Awareness and Perception about Risk of Zoonoses among Livestock Farmers in Sub-Himalayan Region of West Bengal

Awareness and Perception about Risk of Zoonoses among Livestock Farmers in Sub-Himalayan Region of West Bengal

Comparative phytochemical profiling of Clerodendrum infortunatum with some selected medicinal plants predominant in the Sub-Himalayan region of West Bengal.

The aim of the present study was to quantify the phytochemicals of Clerodendrum infortunatum root and correlate on the basis of phytochemicals present with other medicinal plants belonging to different families. Various standard biochemical and spectrophotometric methods were employed to study the phytochemical status of the root of C. infortunatum. All the analysis was performed in multiple sets. Various statistical methods like principal component analysis, dendogram, Euclidean distance and correlation study were done to compare the phytochemical profile of C. infortunatum with different selected medicinal plants belonging to different families. Results indicated the presence of various phytochemicals like phenol, alkaloid, flavonoid, tannin, thiamine, riboflavin, etc. Among the estimated phytochemicals, phenol had the highest quantity (65.59±1.26 mg/g) followed by lipid (27.51±0.23 mg/g) and tannin (16.40±0.07 mg/100 g). The phytochemical contents of C. infortunatum are much higher than those of the other reference plants. It may be concluded from the present study that the root of C. infortunatum contains very high amount of phytochemicals which are chiefly responsible for various medicinal properties. Therefore, the presence of the bioactive compounds in high quantity may lead to the potent medicinal value of C. infortunatum root.

Nutrient adequacy and its correlation in a sub-Himalayan region of West Bengal, India.

Introduction:Nutrient adequacy is the level of intake of an essential nutrient in relation to the nutrient requirement for adequate health, which is expressed as the percentage of recommended dietary allowance. To develop an effective nationwide preventive program to combat malnutrition, it is necessary not only to assess the nature and magnitude of the problem of nutrient inadequacy but to identify factors affecting it especially at the household level.Objective:To estimate the prevalence of nutrient adequacy in a sample of households in a rural area of Darjeeling district and to find out the factors associated with nutrient adequacy.Materials and Methods:A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out from January 2014 to December 2014 in 821 households of Darjeeling district, India. The major dependent variable used in this study was the mean nutrient adequacy ratio of a household and the independent variables were number of family members, number of under-five children in the family, literacy of head of the family, literacy of the wife of the head of the family, income of the family, and percentage expenditure on food.Results:The prevalence of nutrient adequate households was found to be 35.3% among the study households. It was observed that the percentage expenditure on food had the highest contribution toward nutrient adequacy, followed by number of under-five children in the family and literacy of the wife of the head of the family. Undernutrition was found to be prevalent in 56.6% of the households.Conclusion:Majority of the study population had a diet less than the required amount and expectedly, undernutrition was also present in huge proportions.

Study of the Genetic Diversity of the Ornamental FishBadis badis(Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822) in the Terai Region of Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, India

Dwarf chameleon fish orBadis badis, a lesser known ornamental freshwater fish, has recently been included in the Indian threatened category of fish list. There are insufficient studies with regard to the assessment of genetic background of this ichthyofauna, especially in the western sub-Himalayan region of West Bengal, India, popularly known as the Terai. The present study is the first attempt to investigate the present status of the genetic background of this species in the Mahananda and Balason rivers, major streams of this region. Twenty-one selective RAPD primers generated 53 and 60 polymorphic fragments in the Mahananda and Balason populations, respectively. The proportion of polymorphic loci, Nei’s genetic diversity (H), and Shannon’s index(H′)were 0.4416,0.1654±0.2023, and0.2450±0.2907, respectively, in Mahananda river population and were 0.5041,0.1983±0.2126, and0.2901±0.3037, respectively, in Balason river population. Inbreeding coefficient and degree of gene differentiation were also calculated. TheHandH′were found to be0.1601±0.1944and0.2363±0.2782, respectively, in overall Mahananda-Balason river system. Our study revealed considerable lack of genetic variation among the individuals ofBadis badis. The genetic data obtained from the present study lend support to the view that there is a scope of stock improvement for this ichthyofauna.

Genetic Diversity of Empoasca flavescens Fabricius (Homoptera: Cicadellidae), an Emerging Pest of Tea from Sub-Himalayan Plantations of West Bengal, India

Empoasca flavescens Fabricius (Homoptera: Cicadellidae), is an emerging insect pest of tea, Camelia sinensis L. (Theaceae), in sub-Himalayan region of West Bengal. Use of synthetic insecticides in tea plantations against insect pests may have resulted in development of resistant E. flavescens populations. This was tested by recording genetic variations in the populations of E. flavescens collected from three different locations of North Bengal. Three populations were studied using RAPD-PCR. Polymorphism in populations was assayed using eight random primers resulting in amplification of 53 loci. The polymorphic loci recorded were 83.02, 84.92 and 88.68 % in Darjeeling hill, Terai and the Dooars populations, respectively. The genetic distance between Darjeeling hill and Terai, Darjeeling hill and the Dooars populations were found to be 0.0255 and 0.0332, respectively. UPGMA dendrogram based on the ‘Nei’s (Genetics 89: 583–590, 1978) genetic distance method’ showed greater genetic distance of Darjeeling population from Terai as compared to Dooars populations.

Seasonal fluctuation in the population of Leucinodes orbonalis Guen. in the sub-himalayan region of West Bengal, India and its control on eggplant (Solanum melongena L.)

Eggplant is one of the most common vegetable crops grown in India and other parts of the world. Leucinodes orbonalis is the key pest infesting eggplant, with international importance as it causes heavy damage in all eggplant growing areas. It is very difficult to control this pest since it feeds inside the shoot and fruit, and there is every possibility of toxic residues remaining in the fruits as they are harvested at frequent intervals and are consumed after little cooking. In the sub-himalayan region of West Bengal, India the pest was found to be most active during summer and the rainy season, particularly during May–August, and caused 49.5–81.0% damage to fruits. Peak infestation (81.0% fruit damage) was noticed in the first week of June (22nd standard week), when the mean temperature, mean relative humidity and weekly rainfall were 27.8°C, 79.2% and 81.2 mm respectively. The pest became less active during winter months particularly in December–January. Borer infestation showed a significant positive correlation (P = 0.05) with maximum and mean temperature, minimum and mean relative humidity and rainfall, whereas with maximum relative humidity the correlation was negative but non-significant. The insecticides evaluated in the field for L. orbonalis control on eggplant revealed that avermectin (Vertimec 1.9 EC; 0.5 ml/l) was the most effective in suppressing dead heart caused by the pest, closely followed by Beauveria bassiana (Biorin 107 conidia/ml; 1 ml/l) and Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner (Biolep 5 × 107 spores/ml; 1 g/l). Significantly lower levels of fruit damage were recorded after avermectin treatment, closely followed by DDVP (0.05%) (Nuvan 76 SL; 2 ml/3 l) when compared with the untreated control. The other insecticides tested, including a neem formulation (Neemactin 0.15 EC; 2.5 ml/l) and malathion (0.05%) (Malathion 50 EC; 1.0 ml/l), were less effective. None of the insecticides evaluated produced satisfactory results against L. orbonalis. However, avermectin, besides being environmentally safe, was effective for a longer duration and could thus be recommended for Integrated Pest Management programmes on eggplant.