Conservation of fauna of Seshachalam Biosphere Reserve – An overview

The Indian Government has established 18 Biosphere reserves in India which protect larger areas of natural habitat and often include one or more National parks. Seshachalam hills, the first Biosphere Reserve in Andhra Pradesh, is located in southern Eastern Ghats of Chittoor and Kadapa districts. It is the richest floristic hot spot harboring many endemic and rare plants. Five Gecko species were recorded in this reserve, out of that the Golden Gecko Calodactylodes aureus are rare and endemic species in the biosphere reserve.12 species of lizards and 22 species of snakes are found Seshachalam Biosphere. The protection of habitat is an important aspect in the conservation of such species. The biospheres are sites where protection is granted to the flora and fauna of the protected region. Each biosphere reserve is intended to fulfil 3 basic functions such as conservative, development and logistic functions. The Wildlife is a potential source of useful products of global interest. Wildlife is nature’s gift and its decline has an adverse effect on ecology and hence there is an urgent need to protect the Wildlife. An awareness should be developed among the general public about the proper management and the necessity of conservation of natural ecosystem and wild Communities of plants and animals they contain. To ensure this certain legal steps are to be taken up by the Government to regulate the exploitation of Wildlife

Mechanical and fractured surface characterization of epoxy/red mud/fly ash/aluminium powder filled hybrid composites for automotive applications

In recent decades, one can observe a great increase in the replacement of traditional materials with polymer composites in high-strength and lightweight applications. High fuel consumption by automobile and aerospace vehicles built from legacy alloys has been a great challenge to material engineers. This has called for researches into lighter material development of the same or even superior mechanical properties to the existing materials in this area of applications. In the present study, epoxy based simple and hybrid composites were prepared with the incorporation of industrial waste as fillers at different weight percentages. Effect of filler type, combination and its concentration on mechanical properties such as tensile, impact and flexural strength were investigated. SEM analysis was carried out for fractured surfaces of composites, wherein minor voids, crack initiations and filler pullouts were seen indicating the necessity of coupling agent addition for still better performance. Among hybrid composites, epoxy/fly ash/red mud/aluminium powder (91/6/1.5/1.5 wt%) has showed the highest ultimate tensile modulus, flexural strength and hardness value compared to other composites under study

Influence of Air pollution on Central Nervous System –An Overview

Air pollution is a multifaceted environmental toxin capable of assaulting the CNS through diverse pathways. Air pollution is a complex mixture of environmental toxicants that assault the CNS through several cellular and molecular pathways to cause disease. Air pollution effects cross from the periphery to the brain through systemic inflammation, and translocation of nanoparticles to the brain, where both the physical characteristics of the particle itself and the toxic compounds adsorbed on the particle may cause damage. Air pollution has also been associated with diseases of the central nervous system (CNS), including stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and neurodevelopmental disorders. Air pollution causes neuroin?ammation, oxidative stress, microglial activation, cerebrovascular dysfunction, and alterations in the blood-brain barrier contribute to CNS pathology. The central nervous system (CNS) is the target organ for the detrimental effects of airborne pollutants. Air pollutants such as gases (e.g., ground-level ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur oxides, and nitrogen oxides), organic compounds (e.g., polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and bacterial endotoxins), and toxic metals (e.g., vanadium, lead, nickel, copper, and manganese) that can be found in outdoor and indoorair affect the CNS. Air pollution is a global problem and has become one of the major issues of public health as well as climate and environmental protection. Heavy traffic causes Air pollution, those effects on CNS damage and that there is a clear link between air pollution and neurological diseases. Understanding of the mediators and mechanisms of CNS injury due to air pollution will help to develop preventive and treatment strategies for the protection of individuals at risk

Biotechnological Perspective of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS)-Mediated Stress Tolerance in Plants

All environmental cues lead to develop secondary stress conditions like osmotic and oxidative stress conditions that reduces average crop yields by more than 50% every year. The univalent reduction of molecular oxygen (O2) in metabolic reactions consequently produces superoxide anions (O2•−) and other reactive oxygen species (ROS) ubiquitously in all compartments of the cell that disturbs redox potential and causes threat to cellular organelles. The production of ROS further increases under stress conditions and especially in combination with high light intensity. Plants have evolved different strategies to minimize the accumulation of excess ROS like avoidance mechanisms such as physiological adaptation, efficient photosystems such as C4 or CAM metabolism and scavenging mechanisms through production of antioxidants and antioxidative enzymes. Ascorbate-glutathione pathway plays an important role in detoxifying excess ROS in plant cells, which includes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) in detoxifying O2•−radical and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) respectively, monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDHAR), dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) and glutathione reductase (GR) involved in recycling of reduced substrates such as ascorbate and glutathione. Efficient ROS management is one of the strategies used by tolerant plants to survive and perform cellular activities under stress conditions. The present chapter describes different sites of ROS generation and and their consequences under abiotic stress conditions and also described the approaches to overcome oxidative stress through genomics and genetic engineering

Membrane processing for purification and concentration of β-glycosidases from barley (Hordeum vulgare)

Tangential flow ultrafiltration with a polyethersulfone (100 kDa) membrane was used for the purification and concentration of β-glycosidases (β-galactosidase and β-glucosidase) from aqueous extract of barley. The performances of mode 1 (concentration followed by diafiltration) and mode 2 (diafiltration followed by concentration) were compared. In mode 1 activity recoveries of 91.44 and 88% as well as purifications of 1.84 and 1.77-fold for β-galactosidase and β-glucosidase, respectively, were obtained in a total processing time of about 9 h. In mode 2 activity recoveries of 95.68 and 91.76% with purifications of 4.56 and 4.38-fold for β-galactosidase and β-glucosidase, respectively, were obtained in a total processing time of about 6 h. The removal of total carbohydrates and protein was 56.74 and 50.73%, respectively, in mode 1, whereas it was 81.46 and 79.04%, respectively, in mode 2. The diafiltration volume and volume concentration of 3 were maintained in both mode 1 and 2. Flux decline was severe in mode 1 and led to a long processing time of about 9 h. These results indicate that mode 2 was better than mode 1 for purification of β-glycosidases

Differential partitioning of β-galactosidase and β-glucosidase using aqueous two phase extraction

Aqueous two phase extraction (ATPE) is used for the first time for simultaneous separation and purification of β-galactosidase and β-glucosidase from barley (Hordeum vulgare). The influence of various process parameters such as polymer molecular weight and its concentration, salt type and its concentration, system pH, tie line length, phase volume ratio and neutral salt addition on separation and purification of these two enzymes was evaluated. The β-galactosidase and β-glucosidase were selectively partitioned to top and bottom phases, respectively. Suitable conditions for purification were found in aqueous two phase system, having 14% (w/w) polyethylene glycol 1500/13% (w/w) ammonium sulphate, at tie line length of 19.65% (w/w). Single stage of ATPE resulted in an activity recovery of 98.26% with purification of 2.1 fold of β-galactosidase and an activity recovery of 92.58% with purification of 3.3 fold of β-glucosidase. Second stage of ATPE with respective new phases increased the purification of β-galactosidase and β-glucosidase to 2.4 and 4.1 fold, respectively. During ATPE, conditions which enabled a balance between yield and purification of both the enzymes were selected. Further ultrafiltration in diafiltration mode increased the purification of enzymes (β-galactosidase 6.8 fold and β-glucosidase 7.7 fold) besides the removal of the phase components

Research Paper - Effect of shilajit on blood glucose and lipid profile in alloxaninduced diabetic rats

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of shilajit (a herbomineral preparation) on blood glucose and lipid profile in euglycemic and alloxan-induced diabetic rats and its effects on the above parameters in combination with conventional antidiabetic drugs. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Diabetes was induced in albino rats by administration of a single dose of alloxan monohydrate 5% (125 mg/kg, i.p.). Effects of three different doses of shilajit (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg/day, orally), alone for 4 weeks and a combination of shilajit (100 mg/kg/day, orally) with either glibenclamide (5 mg/kg/day, orally) or metformin (0.5 g/kg/day, orally) for 4 weeks were studied on blood glucose and lipid profile. RESULTS: In the diabetic rats, all the three doses of shilajit produced a significant reduction in blood glucose levels and also produced beneficial effects on the lipid profile. The maximum effect was observed with the 100 mg/kg/day dose of shilajit. Combination of shilajit (100 mg/kg) with glibenclamide (5 mg/kg/day) or metformin (0.5 gm/kg/day) significantly enhanced the glucose-lowering ability and improvement in lipid profile than any of these drugs given alone. CONCLUSION: Shilajit is effective in controlling blood glucose levels and improves the lipid profile

Mixed reverse micellar systems for extraction and purification of β-glucosidase

Mixed reverse micellar (MRM) systems of sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate (AOT) and nonionic surfactants (Tween 20, Tween 80, Tween 85 and Triton X-100) in iso-octane were used for the extraction and primary purification of β-glucosidase (EC 3.2.1.21) from the aqueous extract of barley (Hordeum vulgare) for the first time. Studies are carried out with both phase transfer as well as injection mode of reverse micellar extraction, among which, injection mode is observed to be more suitable for β-glucosidase extraction. The process parameters such as concentration of surfactants and their molar ratio, type of solvent, volume of sample injected and its protein concentration, pH and ionic strength of the initial aqueous phase for forward extraction, buffer pH, concentration of hexanol and salt during back extraction are varied to maximize the extraction efficiency. The molar ratio of AOT:nonionic above 4.5:1.0 only resulted in clear phase formation and below this ratio precipitation was observed at the interface during forward extraction. Mixed reverse micelles found to solubilize almost three times more volume of water and protein than AOT alone under otherwise similar conditions. Activity recovery was found to be in the order of AOT/Tween 20 > AOT/Tween 80 > AOT/Triton X-100 > AOT/Tween 85 > AOT. MRM system of 150 mM AOT/15 mM Tween 20 has resulted in maximum activity recovery of 95.18% and degree of purification of 4.8-fold

Reverse micellar extraction of β-galactosidase from barley (Hordeum vulgare)

The reverse micellar system of sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate (AOT)/isooctane was used for the extraction and primary purification of β-galactosidase (EC 3.2.1.23) from the aqueous extract of barley (Hordeum vulgare) for the first time. The process parameters such as the concentration of the surfactant, the volume of the sample injected, and its protein concentration, pH, and ionic strength of the initial aqueous phase for forward extraction, buffer pH, and salt concentration for back extraction are varied to optimize the extraction efficiency. Studies carried out with both phase transfer and injection mode of reverse micellar extraction confirmed the injection mode to be more suitable for β-galactosidase extraction. The extent of reverse micellar solubilization of proteins increased with an increase in protein concentration of the feed sample. However, back extraction efficiency remained almost constant (13–14.4%), which indicates the selectivity of AOT reverse micelles for a particular protein under given experimental conditions. β-Galactosidase was extracted with an activity recovery of 98.74% and a degree of purification of 7.2-fold

Separation and purification of bromelain by reverse micellar extraction coupled ultrafiltration and comparative studies with other methods

Reverse micellar extraction (RME) is a promising liquid-liquid extraction technique for downstream processing of biomolecules from dilute solutions. An integrated approach of coupling RME with ultrafiltration is attempted to improve the overall efficiency of extraction and purification of bromelain from aqueous extract of pineapple core. The performance of RME is compared with aqueous two-phase extraction (ATPE), another potential liquid-liquid extraction technique and conventional ammonium sulphate precipitation technique. The reverse micellar system of cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammoniumbromide/isooctane/hexanol/butanol used for RME resulted in an activity recovery of 95.8% and purification of 5.9-fold. The purification of bromelain increased to 8.9-fold after ultrafiltration. Alteration of aqueous phase pH during RME facilitated the differential partitioning of bromelain and polyphenoloxidase. Comparison of RME results with ATPE (activity recovery of 93.1% and purification of 3.2-fold) and the conventional ammonium sulphate precipitation (activity recovery of 82.1% and purification of 2.5-fold) indicated the improved performance of RME