No abstract

No abstract

The Disability of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) questionnaire was originally designed as a measure of disability in patients with disorders of the upper limb, but the DASH score is also affected by disability because of lower limb disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the construct validity of the DASH questionnaire and to create a revised DASH questionnaire, the Manchester-modified or M 2 DASH, with fewer questions that is more specific to the upper limb. Patients were asked to fill in the DASH questionnaire in a fracture clinic after ethical approval. This included 79 patients with upper limb injuries, 61 patients with lower limb injuries, and 52 control subjects. The mean DASH scores for the three groups varied significantly, and the lower limb group had a mean score of 16. The M 2 DASH questionnaire was developed using questions more specific to the upper limb and included questions 1-4, 6, 13-17, 21-23, and 26-30 from the original questionnaire. The mean M 2 DASH score for the lower limb group was 9 and, unlike the original DASH score, was not statistically different from the control group. The M 2 DASH scores were then calculated for the upper limb group and a correlation study showed highly significant correlation between the original DASH scores and the M 2 DASH scores. Our study shows that the original DASH questionnaire is not specific for the upper limb. The M 2 DASH questionnaire has the advantage of being more specific for the upper limb than the DASH questionnaire, and it correlates well with the original DASH questionnaire when looking at isolated upper limb injuries.

A micropropagation system through leaf explant culture has been developed for Withania coagulans. Shoot bud proliferation occurred through both adventitious and de novo routes depending on the hormonal regime of the culture medium. Green compact nodular organogenic callus developed on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 2.3 lM kinetin (Kn) and lower levels of 6-benzyladenine (BA) (13.3 lM) while multiple adventitious shoot bud differentiation occurred on medium fortified with 2.3 lM kinetin (Kn) and higher levels of BA (22.2 lM). Shoot buds were transferred to proliferation medium containing 2.2 lM BA, 2.3 lM Kn, and 3.9 lM phloroglucinol (PG) for further growth and development of shoot system. Elongated shoots were rooted using a two-step procedure involving pulse treatment of 7 days in a medium containing 71.6 lM choline chloride (CC) and 3.9 lM PG and then transferred to rooting medium containing MS, 1.2 lM IBA, 3.6 lM PAA, and 14.3 lM CC for 3 weeks. Well-rooted plants were transferred to a greenhouse for hardening and further growth. Random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) showed monomorphic bands in all the plants thereby confirming clonality of the regenerants. Thin layer chromatography (TLC) showed the presence of withanolides in the regenerated plants. Quantification through reverse-phase HPLC revealed increased concentration of withanolides in the regenerated plants compared to the field-grown mother plant. Accumulation of withaferin A and withanolide A increased up to twofold and that of withanone up to tenfold. Direct regeneration via leaf explants will be useful for Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation, and will facilitate pathway manipulation using metabolic engineering for bioactive withanolides.