BACKGROUND Neural tube defects (NTDs) are the most common congenital malformations affecting the brain and spinal cord and have a multifactorial etiology. Genetic and environmental factors have been found to cause these defects, both individually and in combination. METHODS A 2-year hospital-based prospective study was carried out from November 2013 to October 2015 to determine the incidence,...

Corncob is an agriculture waste found to consist of 38.9% cellulose and 43.4% hemicellulose on dry solid (w/w %) basis and thus considered a potential source for fermentable sugars. These sugars can potentially be extracted through combined chemical pretreatment and enzymatic saccharification. The present study is aimed to optimized the pretreatment process by using variety of alkali and acids ...

Panjab plains, with numerous valleys stretching from the central vale up into the higher ranges. It lies N.W. and S.E. a long oval between Lat. 34? 7' and 33c 5' N., and Long. 74? and 75? 3' E. The actual area within the ring of hill summits surrounding Kashmir proper is about 3,900 square miles, being 116 miles long by from 40 to 75 miles wide. The valley itself is 89 miles long and 20 to 25 m...

The purpose of this study was to explore how to successfully collect demographic, lifestyle and health behavior data, followed by an educational intervention on a culturally sensitive topic, breast cancer, in the politically fragile Kashmir Valley. Survey results of 520 women identified challenges that impact the general health of women, including literacy, hygiene and water safety, as well as ...

Esophageal cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide. It is a multifactorial disease, and no single agent has been identified so far as the sole cause of the cancer. Many factors like smoking, the consumption of alcohol, fungal-contaminated, spicy and various nitrosamine-containing food stuffs and hot beverages, nutritional deficiency of some vitamins like β-carotene, vitamin A, C and ...

A total of 480 samples, comprising 429 faecal samples from healthy adult birds and 51 tissue samples from dead birds, were collected from four government poultry farms in the Kashmir valley from September 2007 to April 2008. In all, 33 Salmonella isolates were obtained. Of these, 28 (84.85%) isolates were Salmonella Gallinarum, 3 (9.09%) were Salmonella Enteritidis and the remaining 2 (6.06%) w...

Fresh aerial parts of Angelica glauca, growing wild in Kashmir valley in higher Himalaya (Jammu and Kashmir, India), collected at flowering stage from different locations, on hydro-distillation provided a refreshing light pale coloured essential oil with characteristic floral woody flavour. The oil was found to be a complex mixture of mono- and sesquiterpenes and 34 compounds accounting for nea...

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a dreadful zoonotic neglected disease that affects public health globally. The infection highly endemic in northern India (Kashmir valley). present survey based study was done to know the seroprevalence of cystic among residents north and central Kashmir valley identify risk variables linked this infection. In addition collecting 462 serum samples (244 males 218 fe...

Mission Dispensary was opened in Sirinagar, the capital of Kashmir, under the auspices of the Punjab Medical Mission Society, and was kept open till the middle of October, when the season, as it is called, comes to an end, and all Europeans, whatever may bo the nation to which they belong, are compelled to quit the valley, unless they be in the pay of Hi3 Highness the Maharaja of Kashmir and Ju...