We observed a high prevalence of physiologically significant hypovitaminosis D among pregnant women and their newborns, the magnitude of which warrants public health intervention.

Recent advances in molecular technology have revolutionized research on all aspects of the biology of organisms, including ciliates, and created unprecedented opportunities for pursuing a more integrative approach to investigations of biodiversity. However, this goal is complicated by large gaps and inconsistencies that still exist in the foundation of basic information about biodiversity of ciliates. The present paper reviews issues relating to the taxonomy of ciliates and presents specific recommendations for best practice in the observation and documentation of their biodiversity. This effort stems from a workshop that explored ways to implement six Grand Challenges proposed by the International Research Coordination Network for Biodiversity of Ciliates (IRCN‐BC). As part of its commitment to strengthening the knowledge base that supports research on biodiversity of ciliates, the IRCN‐BC proposes to populate The Ciliate Guide, an online database, with biodiversity‐related data and metadata to create a resource that will facilitate accurate taxonomic identifications and promote sharing of data.

Original Research ArticleAwareness, attitude and practice of family planning methods in a tertiary care hospital, Uttar Pradesh, India Uruj Jahan, Kavita Verma*, Shruti Gupta, Renu Gupta, Simmi Mahour, Neha Kirti, Poonam Verma INTRODUCTIONIncreasing population growth is a worldwide problem today and our country with a growth rate of 16 million each year is the second most populous in the world. Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACTBackground: Family planning services have the potential to improve the quality of the lives of people and their economic welfare. The objective of the study was to assess the level of awareness, attitude, and current practice of different family planning methods and to elicit reasons for couples not using any method. Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study was done among 1050 married women of reproductive age . Results: Most of the women were between 21-34 years of age (60.1%) and had primary level of education (40%).It was observed that with increase in level of education, awareness also increased (77.7%). The most common source of information was mass media (53.2%). Contraceptive prevalence rate was 62.9%, higher than the national data as 28.5%. Most of them (93.1%) were aware of atleast one family planning method. The most commonly known were OCPs (74.8%), condom (68.8%) and IUCD (56.6%). Awareness about female sterilisation (36.4%) was more than male sterilisation (25.3%). 62.9% had used atleast one contraceptive method, three prevailing methods used were condom (65.1%), OCPs (31.8%) and IUCD (9.09%). Reasons precluding women from practicing contraception were desire to have a child (60.5%), lack of knowledge (42.4%), and unbearable side effects (25.5%). Majority (92.4%) thought that contraceptive use was beneficial but only (27.2%) expressed the willingness to start practicing contraception if they received more information about the subject. Conclusions: Majority of women had optimal knowledge and favourable attitude, still there is need to educate and motivate couples to improve family planning services.

The association of Wegener's granulomatosis and pregnancy is rare and poses unique therapeutic challenges, particularly when active disease presents in early pregnancy. We describe a 22-yr-old woman who recovered successfully from her initial episode of Wegener's granulomatosis with a standard course of treatment with prednisolone and cyclophosphamide. Two and a half years later, she presented with relapse during the first trimester of pregnancy (primigravida). Since the clinical features suggested mild disease, she was started on prednisolone at a dose of 1 mg/kg/day, to which she seemed to respond very well for 3 months. Unfortunately, she had a spontaneous abortion at 5 months of gestation while on 25 mg/day of prednisolone. At this time, her disease flared further, with clinically manifest lung disease which was not part of her initial presentation. She was treated with another course of oral cyclophosphamide and prednisolone, and a remission was achieved in 4 months. There are no agreed guidelines on the treatment of Wegener's granulomatosis during pregnancy. In this report, the therapeutic issues are discussed against the background of the available literature.

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Ciliates are highly divergent unicellular eukaryotic organisms with nuclear dualism and a highly specialized ciliary pattern. They inhabit all biotopes and play crucial roles in regulating microbial food webs as they prey on bacteria, protists and even on microscopic animals. Nevertheless, subtle morphological differences and tiny sizes hinder proper species identification for many ciliates. In the present review, an attempt has been made to elaborate the various approaches used by modern day ciliate taxonomists for species identification. The different approaches involved in taxonomic characterization of ciliates such as classical (using live-cell observations, staining techniques, etc.), molecular (involving various marker genes) and statistical (delimitation of cryptic species) methods have been reviewed. Ecological and behavioural aspects in species identification have also been discussed. In present-day taxonomy, it is important to use a 'total evidence' approach in identifying ciliates, relying on both classical and molecular information whenever possible. This integrative approach will help in the mergence of classical methods with modern-day tools for comprehensive species description in future.

Pheochromocytoma is a catecholamine secreting tumor that originate from chromaffin cells. Usually, it is solid neoplasm of the adrenal medulla, however cystic pheochromocytoma is a rare neuro-endocrine tumour that is frequently asymptomatic and often diagnosed incidentally on imaging or intra-operatively. Only a few cases of cystic pheochromocytomas have been reported in the world literature. We present a case of giant cystic pheochromocytoma in a 65 years old lady who presented with a large retroperitoneal lump, which is probably the world's third largest pheochromocytoma as per the available indexed literature.

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