Phylogenetic analysis of the genus Anabaena based on PCR fingerprinting

In this study, ten species of Anabaena were used to test the congruence between the traditional morphological classification system and the present molecular classification system. For morphological classification, strains were categorized into two different groups based on the whether or not the akinetes were directly adjacent to heterocysts in the trichome. Genetic diversity was assessed using the banding patterns of repetitive DNA sequences including the short tandemly repeated repetitive (STRR) sequences and long tandemly repeated repetitive (LTRR) sequences that arepresent in the cyanobacterial genome. The phylogenetic relationships inferred from comparison of the STRR sequences generally supported the traditional classification of cyanobacteria based on morphological criteria. The dendrograms based on the LTRR sequences did not show a clear correlation with the dendrogram based on morpholog

Pattern of Glomerulonephritis and changing trends at a Tertiary care centre.

INTRODUCTION : Numerous inflammatory and non-inflammatory diseases affect the glomerular and lead to alteration in glomerular permeability, structure and function. Many glomerular diseases come under the genomic title glomerular nephritis (GN) which implies that there is immune pathogenesis. Not all glomerular diseases are caused by immune pathogenesis and here to be considered in its differential diagnosis, particularly important are diabetic nephropathy and amyloidosis as well as hereditary nephropathy, most commonly Alport syndrome. Glomerular nephritis may be primary, restricted in clinical manifestations to the kidney or it may be part of multisystem disease, most frequently systemic lupus erythematosis and vasculitis. While the likelihood of a patient having glomerulo nephritis can be estimated with varying degree of confidence from the clinical setting and laboratory test it cannot ultimately be diagnosed without histological evidence of renal cortical tissue. The underlying cause of most glomerular diseases reminds unknown since knowledge of etiology and pathogenesis is rather limited. The most reliable classification of glomerular diseases based on clinical pathological and laboratory evidence of the disease. Different studies by various authors in western countries as well as in India have shown varying prevalence of glomerular diseases. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY : 1. To study and analyse the clinical pattern of Glomerulonephritis and to observe the changing pattern of Glomerulonephritis in our centre during two study periods, i.e. 2000-2006 and 2007-2008. 2. To compare our data with the data of other centre. MATERIALS AND METHODS : The study was done as prospectively from Jan 2007- Dec 2008. Retrospective data from Jan 2000-Dec 2006 were retrieved from case record. Study centre : Department of Nephrology , Government General Hospital , Madras Medical College , Chennai – 600 003 Plan of study: All patients who had clinical, laboratory and histopathological features of Glomerular disease were analysed. Detailed history and Clinical examination were done to find out evidence of volume status, BP measurements and Funduscopic examination followed by basic laboratory investigation like urine analysis complete blood count, coagulation profile, renal function test, liver function test, Chest X–Ray, Ultrasonographic examination of the Abdomen with done and basic serelogical and immunological workup like HBsAg, anti HCV, HIV, ASO Titre and ANA were done. After informed consent Ultrasound guided Renal Biopsy was done with spring loaded semi-automatic gun. All biopsies were evaluated by Light microscopy and immunoflorescence. Patients were grouped according to age, gender, presence of Hypertension, renal function and their results were analysed. CONCLUSIONS : Our studies show that the most common primary glomerular disease is FSGS, followed by PIGN, IGAN, MCNS and MGN, in that order, respectively. There is increased incidence of FSGS and PIGN during the year 2007-08. The mean age of presentation for FSGS and MGN was lower during 2007-08. The occurrence of FSGS, PIGN and MCN was seen more in younger age group, while in elderly patients, IgA nephropathy was common primary glomerular disease. Our studies have shown decreased incidence of MCD, FSGS, IgA nephropathy and MGN, and increased incidence of lupus nephritis compared to CMC studies. The incidence of Crescentic GN and diabetic nephropathy was similar in both the studies

Decomposition of tensor product of complete graphs into cycles and stars with four edges

A. Muthusamy is partially supported by the University Grant Commission, Government of India, New Delhi and the Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi.In this paper, we prove that the necessary conditions are sufficient for the existence of a decomposition of tensor product of complete graphs into cycles and stars with four edges.Publisher's Versio

A new high yielding black kolukattai grass variety CO 2 (Cenchrus setigerus) suitable for Pasture lands

Cenchrus setigerus is commonly known as black kolukkattai grass and is a herbaceous perennial pasture land grass. TNCS 265 is a selection from Kangayam local developed at Department of Forage Crops, Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. TNCS 265 had registered high biomass yield in Station Trials (38.9 t/ha), Multi Location Trials (50.5 t/ha) and in On Farm Trials (46.8 t/ha) which is 12.75, 21.3 and 19.7 per cent yield increase over the check CO 1, respectively. The culture TNCS 265 was promoted to All India Coordinated Research Projects on Forage Crops & Utilization trials during the year 2016 to 2018 and it was evaluated at nine locations in the South zone. Among the cultures evaluated, TNCS 265 registered a mean green fodder yield of 69.0 t/ ha than the national check CAZRI-76 (54.87 t/ha) and the qualifying variety IGFRI-96-706 (57.98 t/ha) which showed an improvement of 25.76 and 19.01 per cent yield increase over the check, respectively. It ranked first in green fodder yield in all three years of evaluation, under AICRP trials in south zone. It has the crude protein content of 8.18 per cent. The fibre fractions such as Acid Detergent Fibre (%) and Neutral Detergent Fiber (%) were comparatively lesser (42.5 & 64.17 %) than the national check CAZRI-76 (45.43 & 70.4 %) indicating higher digestibility and intake of green fodder of proposed entry. It was also evident from its higher value of in vitro Dry Matter Digestibility (55.47 %) than the national check CAZRI-76 (51.93 %). Hence, considering the stable performance of TNCS 265 (Cenchrus setigerus), it was proposed and released as black kolukkattai grass CO 2 for pasture land cultivation in the south zone of India during 2019 and notified as per Gazette Notification No. S.O. 99(E). dt. 06.01.2020 for general cultivatio

Design of bio-nanosystems for oral delivery of functional compounds

Nanotechnology has been referred to as one of the most interesting topics in food technology due to the potentialities of its use by food industry. This calls for studying the behavior of nanosystems as carriers of biological and functional compounds aiming at their utilization for delivery, controlled release and protection of such compounds during food processing and oral ingestion. This review highlights the principles of design and production of bio-nanosystems for oral delivery and their behavior within the human gastrointestinal (GI) tract, while providing an insight into the application of reverse engineering approach to the design of those bio-nanosystems. Nanocapsules, nanohydrogels, lipid-based and multilayer nanosystems are discussed (in terms of their main ingredients, production techniques, predominant forces and properties) and some examples of possible food applications are given. Phenomena occurring in in vitro digestion models are presented, mainly using examples related to the utilization of lipid-based nanosystems and their physicochemical behavior throughout the GI tract. Furthermore, it is shown how a reverse engineering approach, through two main steps, can be used to design bio-nanosystems for food applications, and finally a last section is presented to discuss future trends and consumer perception on food nanotechnology.Miguel A. Cerqueira, Ana C. Pinheiro, Helder D. Silva, Philippe E. Ramos, Ana I. Bourbon, Oscar L. Ramos (SFRH/BPD/72753/2010, SFRH/BD/48120/2008, SFRH/BD/81288/2011, SFRH/BD/80800/2011, SFRH/BD/73178/2010 and SFRH/BPD/80766/2011, respectively) are the recipients of a fellowship from the Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT, POPH-QREN and FSE Portugal). Maria L. Flores-Lopez thanks Mexican Science and Technology Council (CONACYT, Mexico) for PhD fellowship support (CONACYT Grant number: 215499/310847). The support of EU Cost Actions FA0904 and FA1001 is gratefully acknowledged

Development and characterization of phytosterol-enriched oil microcapsules for foodstuff application

Phytosterols are lipophilic compounds contained in plants and have several biological activities. The use of phytosterols in food fortification is hampered due to their high melting temperature, chalky taste, and low solubility in an aqueous system. Also, phytosterols are easily oxidized and are poorly absorbed by the human body. Formulation engineering coupled with microencapsulation could be used to overcome these problems. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of encapsulating soybean oil enriched with phytosterols by spray-drying using ternary mixtures of health-promoting ingredients, whey protein isolate (WPI), inulin, and chitosan as carrier agents. The effect of different formulations and spray-drying conditions on the microencapsules properties, encapsulation efficiency, surface oil content, and oxidation stability were studied. It was found that spherical WPI-inulin-chitosan phytosterol-enriched soybean oil microcapsules with an average size below 50 μm could be produced with good encapsulation efficiency (85%), acceptable level of surface oil (11%), and water activity (0.2–0.4) that meet industrial requirements. However, the microcapsules showed very low oxidation stability with peroxide values reaching 101.7 meq O2/kg of oil just after production, and further investigations and optimization are required before any industrial application of this encapsulated system

Monitoring and Control of Agriculture Parameters in a Greenhouse through Internet

Abstract: Greenhouse technology is the technique of providing favorable environment condition to the plants. It is rather used to protect the plants from the adverse climatic conditions such as wind, cold, precipitation, excessive radiation, extreme temperature, insects and disease. It is also of vital importance to create an ideal micro climate around the plants. It requires intensive sensing of the climate conditions at ground level and rapid communication of data to the central repository. Internet is an emerging field that can be used to monitor and control the agriculture parameters in order to make intelligent automated agriculture system. The system basically comprises of host computer having LabView software and internet connection, ZigBee wireless modules for transmitting and receiving the data signals and PIC microcontroller for calculating the agriculture parameters from the sensor voltage and to control the relays according to the control signals send by the user. PIC microcontroller converts the sensor output into serial data and passes it to the ZigBee module. The ZigBee modules are used to transmit the data from the greenhouse to the host computer. The data from sensing node is amplified and fed to ADC of the PIC microcontroller, this is then connected to the ZigBee module, which transmits the data and at the host end, another ZigBee module reads the data and displays on to the host computer via LabView. By using the LabView web publishing tool this data is published in the internet and secured by using username and password. The website is created by using PHP codes and simulated usin

Growth Differentiation Factor-15 (GDF-15) a Precursory Biomarker for Diabetic Patients with Coronary Artery and Chronic Kidney Disease

Background: Growth-differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) is emerging as an important biomarker, thus the current study aimed to determine the levels of GDF-15 among, T2DM subjects with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and coronary artery disease (CAD). Methodology: The present cross sectional study comprised of 80 T2DM subjects with mean age of 60.15 ± 1.8 years. The study subjects were divided into four groups Group-I: T2DM subjects (T2DM), Group-II: T2DM subjects with chronic kidney disease (CKD), Group-III: T2DM subjects with established coronary artery disease (CAD) and Group-IV: T2DM subjects with CKD and established CAD. Anthropometric, demographic and biochemical parameters were measured in all study subjects. The levels of GDF-15 were measured in plasma using ELISA. Results: The level of GDF-15 was significantly higher in diabetic subjects having both CAD and CKD when compared to other study groups and significant difference was observed between the study groups (p<0.0001). Comparisons of GDF-15 levels between group’s shows statistical significance among the group I vs. other groups (p <0.0001), similar scenario were observed in group II vs. III (p< 0.05), IV (p <0.0001) and group III vs. IV (p< 0.05). There is a positive correlation with the level GDF-15 with duration of diabetes, systolic blood pressure, HbA1c, Urea, Creatinine and Triglyceride. Negative correlation were observed in eGFR (r = - 0.35, p < 0.001) and HDL (r = - 0.25 p = 0.03). Conclusion: The levels of GDF-15 are markedly increased in diabetic subjects having both CAD and CKD. The study finding highlights the major role of GDF-15 as a promising biomarker of CAD and CKD in T2DM subjects