Objective: Parkinson’s disease (PD) affects approximately 2% of individuals over the age of 60. With more than two billion Muslims observing Ramadan, individuals with PD encounter specific challenges, such as deteriorating motor skills, sleep disturbances, and an increased risk of falls during fasting. Methods: Our study focused on 75 patients with idiopathic PD divided into two groups: the Ramadan Regime group, which consisted of 50 patients whose medication was adjusted to twice daily at Suhoor and Iftar, and the Nontreatment group, which included 25 patients who abstained from medication for religious reasons. Both groups were instructed to wear a Parkinson’s KinetiGraph (PKG) wrist device. Results: The study findings revealed that motor function worsened in the Nontreatment group (p<0.001) but improved in the Ramadan Regime group (p=0.007). Daytime sleepiness also significantly increased in the Nontreatment group (p<0.001). Conclusion Overall, the findings suggest that the Ramadan regime significantly enhances patient health and quality of life.

Background:In India, the Home Based Postnatal Newborn Care programme by Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) under the National Rural Health Mission was initiated in 2011 to reduce neonatal mortality rates (NMRs). ASHAs get cash incentives for six postnatal home visits for newborn care. We studied newborn care practices among mothers in Mewat, Haryana, having a high NMR and determined risk factors for unsafe practices and described the knowledge and skills of ASHAs during home visits.Methods:A cross-sectional survey was conducted among mothers who had delivered a child during the previous seven months using cluster sampling. We interviewed mothers and ASHAs in the selected subcentres using semi–structured questionnaires on the six safe newborn care practices, namely safe breastfeeding, keeping cord and eyes clean, wrapping baby, kangaroo care, delayed bathing and hand washing.Results:We interviewed 320 mothers, 61 ASHAs and observed 19 home visits. Overall, 60% of mothers adopted less than three safe practices. Wrapping newborns (96%) and delayed bathing (64%) were better adopted than cord care (49%), safe breastfeeding (48%), hand washing (30%), kangaroo care (20%) and eye care (9%). Cultural beliefs and traditional birth attendants influenced the mother’s practices. The lack of supervision by auxiliary nurse midwives (ANM), delayed referral and transportation were the other challenges.Conclusion:Knowledge–practice gaps existed among mothers counselled by ASHAs. Poor utilization of reproductive and child health services decreased opportunities for ASHA–mother dialogue on safe practices. Recommendations included training ANMs, training TBAs as ASHAs, innovative communication strategies for ASHAs and improved referral system.

Repetitive DNA sequences are a major component of eukaryotic genomes and may account for up to 90% of the genome size. They can be divided into minisatellite, microsatellite and satellite sequences. Satellite DNA sequences are considered to be a fast-evolving component of eukaryotic genomes, comprising tandemly-arrayed, highly-repetitive and highly-conserved monomer sequences. The monomer unit of satellite DNA is 150-400 base pairs (bp) in length. Repetitive sequences may be species- or genus-specific, and may be centromeric or subtelomeric in nature. They exhibit cohesive and concerted evolution caused by molecular drive, leading to high sequence homogeneity. Repetitive sequences accumulate variations in sequence and copy number during evolution, hence they are important tools for taxonomic and phylogenetic studies, and are known as‘‘tuning knobs’’ in the evolution. Therefore, knowledge of repetitive sequences assists our understanding of the organization, evolution and behavior of eukaryotic genomes. Repetitive sequences have cytoplasmic, cellular and developmental effects and play a role in chromosomal recombination. In the post-genomics era, with the introduction of next-generation sequencing tech-nology, it is possible to evaluate complex genomes for analyzing repetitive sequences and decipher-ing the yet unknown functional potential of repetitive sequences.