One hundred and twenty-seven children who presented with features of acute hepatitis during the period February 1995 to January 1996 were studied. Specific aetiologic agents were identified in 89 per cent. Of these, 67.7 per cent were due to a single virus, whereas 21.3 per cent were due to two or more hepatitis viruses. Hepatitis A virus (HAV) was the sole infecting agent in 38.6 per cent of cases, hepatitis B virus (HBV) in 13.4 per cent of cases, and hepatitis E virus (HEV) in 15.7 per cent of cases. Mixed infections were due to HAV and HBV co-infection (7.1 per cent), HAV and HEV (13.4 per cent), and the combination of HAV, HBV, and HEV (0.8 per cent). In 11 per cent, none of the markers (HAV to HEV) were identified. Acute sporadic hepatitis in children can occur due to a single hepatitis virus type or, at times, due to co-infection with a combination of two enterally transmitted viruses or enteral and parenterally transmitted viruses. Improving personal hygiene and active immunization are essential in the prevention of these viral illnesses. This study was done in a referral centre and hence we report a higher morbidity (13.4 per cent) and mortality (12.6 per cent) rate in all groups of infection. Hence, apart from the viruses, factors such as the age of the child, nutritional status, and treatment taken prior to hospitalization should be taken into consideration to predict the prognosis in a given child.

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In recent days, several technological innovations were proposed in order to improve the production and sustainability through a significant reduction in use of agrochemicals. One 0f the best approach to increase crop productivity is the utilisation of environment-friendly organic products such as “Biostimulants”. There are different types of substances that act as biostimulants namely humic and fulvic acid, protein hydrolysates and other N-containing compounds, Seaweed extract and botanicals, Chitosan and other biopolymers, Inorganic compounds, beneficial fungi and bacteria. These biostimulants plays an important role in improving the plant growth, yield and quality of the product. The guava fruits coated with chitosan 1% and stored at 12°C had shown higher firmness, TSS, titratable acidity and maintained greenness with a slow increase in yellow colour by the end of storage. Knowledge on effective use of these biostimulants by understanding their properties has become a challenge to the researchers to improve yield, quality and shelf life of different horticultural products.

The study was conducted in the laboratory of the Department of Food Trade and Business Management, College of Food Technology, Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth, Parbhani, to screening of sorghum varieties for papad preparation. Papads were prepared from different sorghum varieties and analyzed for proximate composition, physicochemical analysis and organoleptic evaluation. Parbhani Moti sorghum variety was selected among five sorghum varities based on sensory evaluation of papads. The result revealed that moisture, protein, fat, ash and total carbohydrate content in the Sorghum papadprepared from Parbhani Moti sorghum variety were found as 9 %, 1.05%, 12.64 %, 76.77% and 0.54% respectively.

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