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Rabies encephalitis has a classical clinical presentation and its diagnosis is unmistakable. In about a fifth of cases rabies occurs as its paralytic form, which lacks the classic symptoms and may mimic other diseases, especially acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM). Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain in rabies shows a distinct abnormal pattern that differentiates it from ADEM. Hence it may be a useful tool in diagnosis of paralytic rabies. Failure to administer post-exposure rabies immunoglobulin along with the rabies vaccine may result in vaccine failure.

There is some "grey zone" in thyroid cytology where the diagnostic efficacy declines sharply rendering it difficult to categorize the lesions resulting in discrepancy. So, a cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the accuracy of FNAC in diagnosis of thyroid swelling and to assess the correlation between preoperative cytological diagnosis and post operative histopathological diagnosis. It was observed that FNAC is reliable, safe and accurate method as a first line of evaluation in thyroid swelling before the surgery. FNAC is more sensitive in detecting thyroid gland malignancy and therefore histopathological analysis still remains essential for final diagnosis.

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Backyard poultry farming is an age-old practice among rural people of NorthEastern Region of India including Assam. It is a potent tool for livelihood promotion of the rural people of Assam. Commercial layer farming is practically non-existent in Assam (Sapcota and Mahanta, 2007). Backyard poultry farming by and large was a low input or no input venture (Singh and Johari, 1990; Saha, 2003). Besides income generation, backyard poultry helps in alleviation of malnutrition of the rural people through production of valuable animal protein and empowers rural women. In spite of low productivity, the contribution of backyard poultry towards Indian egg production is about 30 to 40 per cent (Panda et al., 2008). In Assam, the eggs and meat of indigenous chicken fetch fair prices as compared to that of commercial chicken. Backyard poultry do not require large investment to start and maintain as compared to commercial poultry (Alders et al., 2009). Vanaraja, a dual purpose chicken has become popular among the rural people of as one of the income generating activity especially for the rural women (Niranjan et al., 2008a). In the context of the above, the present study was undertaken to compare the performance of Vanaraja with that of indigenous chicken under rural backyard system of rearing in Jorhat and Nagaon districts of Assam.