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•Different doses of Chlorpyrifos were administered orally.•Disruption in estrous cycle was observed.•Increase in lipid peroxidation and erythrocyte osmotic fragility was ...observed.•There was an increased proliferation in the ovarian, uterine and mammary gland tissues.
Chlorpyrifos (CPF) is an organophosphate (OP) insecticide extensively used in agricultural and domestic settings. Healthy adult female albino rats were divided into three groups of six rats in each. Two groups were dosed orally with CPF in vegetable oil (0.1 and 2.5mg/kg/day) and third group was given vegetable oil for 8weeks. Non-significant changes were observed for body weight and feed intake. A disruption in estrous cyclicity was observed with a prolonged metestrous. Erythrocyte osmotic fragility and lipid peroxidation levels increased significantly. Mammary gland whole mounts revealed a significant (P<0.05–0.0001) increase in the ductal thickness, number of branches, alveolar and terminal end bud number and terminal end bud diameter. A significant increase in ovarian surface epithelium height, follicular diameter and follicular atresia was observed in treated rats (P<0.05–0.0001). A similar significant increase in the uterine surface epithelium height, endometrial gland epithelium height and myometrium thickness in higher dose group was recorded (P<0.05–0.0001). Luminal epithelium height and endometrial gland diameter was increased significantly in both the treated groups (P<0.05–0.0001). The results indicate that sub-chronic exposure of CPF causes oxidative stress and negative effects on the reproductive organs of female rats, which may be a pointer towards beginning of cancer incidence.
The unregulated discharge of untreated municipal sewage water to the natural water bodies is a major threat to the aquatic ecosystems. In the present study, the fingerlings of
Labeo rohita
were ...exposed to treated sewage water and 1/10
th
of LC
50
and 1/20
th
of LC
50
of untreated sewage water (UT) obtained from sewage water treatment plant, Ludhiana, India. After determining 96-h LC
50
value of UT, fingerlings were divided into four groups: control, treated, 1/10
th
of LC
50
UT and 1/20
th
of LC
50
UT and exposed for a period of 2 months. Our study revealed that 1/10
th
LC
50
UT and 1/20
th
LC
50
UT groups had significant reduction in body weight, total body length, standard body length and gills somatic index in comparison with the control and treated groups. Histopathological alterations in cellular structure of gills such as ruptured primary lamellae, broken secondary lamellae, distorted chloride cells and goblet cells, missing lamellae and disintegrated lamellar epithelium were also observed in 1/10
th
LC
50
UT and 1/20
th
LC
50
UT groups. A significantly high frequency of micronucleated (MN) cells was observed in 1/10
th
LC
50
UT and 1/20
th
LC
50
UT groups along with the presence of binucleated cells (BN), elongated nuclei (EN) and nuclear buds in gill cells. Genotoxic nature of UT was further confirmed from significantly high values of genetic damage index (GDI) and percentage (%) DNA damage in gill cells of fingerlings exposed to sub-lethal concentrations of UT. The study concluded that untreated sewage water has potential to induce anatomical and physiological defects in gills cells and the severity of toxicity increases with the increase in duration of exposure.
Present work describes a laboratory study aiming at assessing the impact of sewage treatment plant (STP) effluents on fish health by means of biochemical and histopathological biomarkers in muscular ...tissue of fish.
Labeo rohita
(7.62 ±0.25 cm, 8.25±0.32 g) was exposed to sub-lethal concentrations of untreated (UT) and treated (T) sewage water obtained from STP, Ludhiana, India. Following the determination of the 96h lethal concentration (LC
50
), the fish were exposed to control (de-chlorinated tap water), treated sewage water, 1/10
th
of LC
50
UT and 1/20
th
of LC
50
UT sewage water. The experiment was conducted for the period of 60 days. Experimental results depicted significant reduction (
p
<0.05) in muscle-somatic index of 1/10
th
LC
50
UT and 1/20
th
LC
50
UT groups compared to control and treated groups. Fish toxicity induced by untreated sewage water was evident from the significant decrease (
p
<0.05) in the levels of proteins and significant increase (
p
<0.05) in content of total lipids in muscular tissue of exposed group fingerlings. Drastic changes in the fatty acids profile and severe histological abnormalities viz. shortening of muscle bundles, edema, hyper-vacuolization, elongation of muscle bundles, gap formation in myofibrils, degenerated myotomes, hemorrhage, inter-myofibrillar space, necrosis, were also recorded in muscular tissue of exposed fingerlings. The intensity of muscular damage in
L.rohita
was found to increase with increase in duration of exposure. Results demonstrated that untreated sewage water could potentially induce physiological stress and somatic cell toxicity in fish
L.rohita.
Genotoxicity studies on germ cells of
L.rohita
fingerlings are further suggested to examine the genotoxic potential of untreated sewage water at high concentrations; this is especially of interest given that many effluents are genotoxic to fish.
Background: The uncertainty about the impact of the lockdown in wake of COVID-19 on their future academic and carrier prospects, besides other concerns; makes college students, particularly ...vulnerable to stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gaming has been recognized as a coping mechanism against stress in the previously published literature. Objectives: The current study aimed to assess the gaming behavior of college students during the lockdown following COVID-19. Methods: Data were collected from a cohort of students that constituted the sampling frame of an ongoing project. A total of 393 college students were enrolled. All the eligible students were subsequently contacted through E-mail and WhatsApp messenger and invited to share the details. Results: About half (50.8%) of the participants reported that their gaming behavior had increased, whereas 14.6% reported a decrease in their gaming during the lockdown period. In binary logistic regression analysis, hours of gaming per day (odds ratio OR 1.75 1.29-2.36), increase in gaming due to examination related stress (OR 4.96 1.12-21.98), and belief that gaming helps managing stress (OR 4.27 1.65-11.04), were found to be independently associated with gaming behavior during lockdown period.Conclusion: In the lockdown period following COVID-19 pandemic, the increase in gaming behavior was associated with examination-related stress and the belief that gaming helps combat stress. These observations highlight the need to focus on the coping style of the students to ascertain the likelihood of them engaging in gaming behavior as a coping mechanism against stress.
Objectives
To describe the pattern and clinical-psychiatric profile of patients presenting with deliberate self-harm attempt to an emergency setting.
Methods
The study involves the analysis of the ...case records of 109 consecutive patients with deliberate self-harm evaluated by the psychiatric emergency team at a premier, tertiary care hospital in India over a period of 13 months (January 2015–January 2016).
Results
Deliberate self-harm had a clinical prevalence of 16.4% (109/666) among total mental and behavioral emergencies attended in the same period. A large majority of attempters were in the age range of 18–39 years (84.4%), and females (58.7%) outnumbered males in total sample. Married females and unmarried males had significantly higher chances of attempting deliberate self-harm (χ2 = 6.57, p = 0.01). More than half (52.3%) of patients were found to have a diagnosable psychiatric illness at the time of presentation, most common being depressive disorder in 19.3% of overall sample. Past history of a psychiatric illness was evident in only 12.5% of patients. Common methods of deliberate self-harm were prescription drug/psychotropic overdose, poisoning with ingestion of phenyl cleaner or rat-killer poison. Significant gender differences were observed in the nature of precipitating events for deliberate self-harm, with interpersonal relationship problems being significantly more common in women (p = 0.03).
Conclusion
This study adds relevant and useful information on cross-cutting as well as gender-specific characteristics of patients presenting with deliberate self-harm attempt, from a developing country context. The study findings bear implications for designing interventions for primary and secondary prevention of such behavioral emergencies at a community level.
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