India is undergoing rapid nutritional transition, resulting in excess consumption of calories, saturated fats, trans fatty acids, simple sugars, salt and low intake of fiber. Such dietary transition and a sedentary lifestyle have led to an increase in obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases (type 2 diabetes mellitus [T2DM], cardiovascular disease [CVD], etc.) predominantly in urban, but also in rural areas. In comparison with the previous guidelines, these consensus dietary guidelines include reduction in the intake of carbohydrates, preferential intake of complex carbohydrates and low glycemic index foods, higher intake of fiber, lower intake of saturated fats, optimal ratio of essential fatty acids, reduction in trans fatty acids, slightly higher protein intake, lower intake of salt, and restricted intake of sugar. While these guidelines are applicable to Asian Indians in any geographical setting, they are particularly applicable to those residing in urban and in semi-urban areas. Proper application of these guidelines will help curb the rising "epidemics" of obesity, the metabolic syndrome, hypertension, T2DM, and CVD in Asian Indians.

Reproductive endocrine functions were studied in men with primary hypothyroidism during the hypothyroid phase and after achieving euthyroid status with thyroxine substitution therapy. Hypergonadotropism [luteinising hormone (LH), 18.7 ± 7.3 IU/1; follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), 6.3 ± 2.0 IU/1], low serum testosterone (6.1 ± 2.8 nmol/l), low serum sex-hormone-binding globulin (SHBG; 13.2 ± 2.0 nmol/l) and subnormal testosterone response to human chorionic gonadotropin hCG; (30% increase in serum testosterone following hCG) observed during the hypothyroid phase were restored to normal (LH, 7.2 ± 2.0 IU/1; FSH, 2.7 ± 0.9 IU/1; testosterone, 12.9 ± 2.7 nmol/l; SHBG, 26.5 ± 8.4 nmol/l, and 2-fold increase in serum testosterone following hCG) with thyroxine substitution therapy. Some improvement in sperm count and motility was also observed.

Iodine status of aborted fetuses (11-25 wk gestation) was determined on the basis of maternal thyroid status and urinary iodine excretion. Fetal cerebral cortex thyroxin and 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine (T3) contents peaked at 15-18 wk gestation and then fell in iodine sufficiency. In mild iodine deficiency T3 concentration was maintained at a higher level until week 22, although it were still significantly less than in the iodine-sufficient group. Reverse T3 (rT3) rose from 11 to 22 wk gestation without any effect of iodine status. The activity of 5' and 5-monodeiodinase also increased from 11 to 22 wk gestation, with 5' monodeiodinase activity significantly increased by mild and moderate iodine deficiency. In contrast, cerebral cortex 5-monodeiodinase activity was significantly lower in moderate iodine deficiency at 15-18 wk gestation. The observations indicate that cerebral cortex 5' and 5 monodeiodinase activities are modulated in iodine deficiency to enhance T3 production from thyroxin (T4) during the period that coincides with neuroblastogenesis.

BackgroundGrazed grassland management regimes can have various effects on soil fauna. For example, effects on earthworms can be negative through compaction induced by grazing animals, or positive mediated by increases in sward productivity and cattle dung pats providing a food source. Knowledge gaps exist in relation to the behaviour of different earthworm species i.e. their movement towards and aggregation under dung pats, the legacy effects of pats and the spatial area of recruitment. The present study addressed these knowledge gaps in field experiments, over 2 years, using natural and simulated dung pats on two permanent, intensively grazed pastures in Ireland.ResultsDung pats strongly affected spatial earthworm distribution, with up to four times more earthworms aggregating beneath pats, than in the control locations away from pats. In these earthworm communities comprising 11 species, temporally different aggregation and dispersal patterns were observed, including absence of individual species from control locations, but no clear successional responses. Epigeic species in general, but also certain species of the anecic and endogeic groups were aggregating under dung. Sampling after complete dung pat disappearance (27 weeks after application) suggested an absence of a dung pat legacy effect on earthworm communities. Based on species distributions, the maximum size of the recruitment area from which earthworms moved to pats was estimated to be 3.8 m2 per dung pat. Since actual grazing over 6 weeks would result in the deposition of about 300 dung pats per ha, it is estimated that a surface area of 1140 m2 or about 11% of the total grazing area can be influenced by dung pats in a given grazing period.ConclusionsThis study showed that the presence of dung pats in pastures creates temporary hot spots in spatial earthworm species distribution, which changes over time. The findings highlight the importance of considering dung pats, temporally and spatially, when sampling earthworms in grazed pastures. Published comparisons of grazed and cut grasslands probably reached incorrect conclusions by ignoring or deliberately avoiding dung pats. Furthermore, the observed intense aggregation of earthworms beneath dung pats suggests that earthworm functions need to be assessed separately at these hot spots.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12898-018-0216-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.