N. K. Sharma

Specialty dentistry for the hemophiliac: Is there a protocol in place?

Restorative dental care for the hemophiliac patient is of paramount importance for the fact that advanced dental conditions and subsequent treatments prove to be more complicated and risky. Quite often, dental health is neglected by hemophiliacs for fear of bleeding during procedures. Surprisingly, even dental specialists avoid these candidates and contribute to the conversion ofa simple dental patient to an oral surgical patient. The complexities involved in diagnosing a bleeding disorder and the rarity of a standardized protocol to handle such patients contribute to this problem. This article prescribes a simple protocol to diagnose bleeding disorders and a modified scheme for endodontic and periodontal therapy in a hemophiliac patient.

Effect of water stress on leaf nutrient status and frequency of irrigation in various cultivars of kiwifruit

The five cultivars of kiwifruit viz., Allison, Hayward, Abbott, Monty and Bruno during the years 2011 and 2012 in the Department of Fruit Science, Dr. Y. S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India. Two irrigation treatments i.e. standard irrigation (at 80% field capacity) and deficit irrigation (at 60 % F C) were applied to these cultivars from March to October with three replications in Randomized Block Design (RBD). The leaf nutrient content (%) and frequency of irrigation (irrigation interval in days) were investigated in kiwifruit in response to these irrigation treatments. The leaf nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), Potassium (K), Calcium (Ca) and Magnesium (Mg) contents varied with cultivars under two irrigation regimes. The leaf N content and Ca content (%) was observed highest in cultivar Monty; P content in Allison; K content in Hayward; Mg content (%) in Abbott and Monty under standard irrigation treatment. These nutrient contents reduced significantly at 0.05 % level of significance with deficit irrigation treatment in different cultivars. The % reduction in these nutrients with deficit irrigation treatment was found to be highest in cultivar Hayward and the least in Bruno. The total number of irrigation applied under standard and deficit irrigation were 16 and 10 respectively, during both the years. The response of Bruno cultivar in terms of leaf nutrient content under water deficit condition is much better in comparison to all other cultivars. Bruno is considered to be drought tolerant cultivar and Hayward to be drought sensitive. Thus, the Bruno cultivar should be preferred for cultivation in water scarce regions.

Effect of spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) supplementation on growth, haematology and serum metabolites in Barbari kids

Astudy was conducted to examine the effect of spirulina (Spirulina platensis) supplementation on growth and blood profile in Barbari kids. Eighteen male Barbari kids (3–4 months-old with average body weight of 9.02±0.25 kg) were divided into three groups as control (Gr 1) and treatment groups (Gr 2 and Gr 3). All the animals were fed with complete pellet feed made up of bengal gram straw and concentrate mixture in 60: 40 ratio. In Gr 1, spirulina was not supplemented. In Gr 2 and Gr 3, spirulina was supplemented @ 0.25% and 0.50% of dry matter intake (DMI), respectively. Feeding trial was conducted for 90 days. Fortnightly body weights and dry matter intake were recorded. Blood samples were collected at 0, 45th and 90th days of experimental feeding. Average daily gain and dry matter intake were similar in all the three groups. Feed conversion ratio was improved non-significantly in Gr 3 (8.94) as compared to Gr 1 (10.69) and Gr 2 (9.82). There was non-significant effect of spirulina supplementation on haematobiochemical characters. Serum calcium and phosphorus were similar between control and treatment groups. From the present study, it was concluded that supplementation of spirulina @ 0.25 and 0.50% of DMI had non-significant effect on growth and blood profile of Barbari kids.