ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY SCREENING OF M. MINUTA EXTRACTS

Objective: Infectious diseases are a leading cause of global disease burden with high morbidity and mortality especially in the developing world. Furthermore, there have been threats of new diseases during the past three decades due to the evolution and adaptation of microbes and the re-emergence of old diseases due to the development of antimicrobial resistance and the capacity to spread to new geographic areas. Since antiquity, humans have used plants to treat common infectious diseases and some of these traditional medicines are still included as part of the habitual treatment of various maladies. Objective of the study was to evaluate, one of the traditionally used drugs, Marselia minuta for its antimicrobial activity. Methods: Extracts of M. minuta was prepared using successive solvent extraction method and the antibacterial activity of thus prepared petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, alcohol and aqueous extracts of M. minuta was performed using agar well diffusion method. Four bacterial strains were used to assess the antimicrobial properties of the plant extracts viz Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pneumonia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Results: All the extracts showed activity towards the tested microorganisms except petroleum ether extract. Ethyl acetate extract was more active towards S. aureus and P. aeruginosa. Alcohol and chloroform extract was active toward E. coli and P. aeruginosa. Aqueous extract was active against E. coli and S. aureus. minimum inhibitory concentration were calculated for each extract and the Significant activity was observed for ethyl acetate extract (E. coli-11.33 mm, S. aeruginosa-16.0 mm) and alcoholic fractions (E. coli-15.33 mm and P. aeruginosa-10.66 mm) for concentration 500 mcg/ml. Conclusion: Thus, the result in the present experiment ensures the traditional use of M. minuta as antibacterial agent. Further, the most active extracts can be subjected for isolation of the therapeutic antimicrobials and its formulation which will be relatively safer than synthetic medicines and offering profound therapeutic benefits at the more affordable price

A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW ON PHARMACEUTICAL AND NUTRITIONAL APPLICATIONS OF INULIN

Inulin is a versatile, water-soluble polysaccharide that is commonly available in nature. In the pharmaceutical industry, the non-digestible function of inulin has made it attractive. Inulin is granted with GRAS status by the FDA and more than 30,000 plants in nature store inulin as a carbohydrate. The chicory is the key plant source of inulin out of all sources. It can be used as the sugar or fat replacer in the processed foods to influence the desirable characteristics. Good biocompatibility, essential chemical properties, and a wide variety of bioactivities have rendered inulin an outstanding natural nutrient. Regulating blood sugar, antioxidant, anticancer is some of the biological activities of inulin. Inulin can also be a carrier for colon/tumor targeting, as only specific enzymes in the colon zhydrolyze the inulin. It allows the growth of micro-flora, the good bacteria in the gut. Inulin is considered as a prebiotic as it is fermented by bacteria that normalize the colon. This review offers an in-depth insight into its novel Pharmaceutical applications as well as sources, processing, physicochemical properties, and nutritional and physiological activities. The chemically modified inulin is gaining a specific interest in the pharmaceutical field with its outstanding properties which are discussed in this review

Gauging the impacts and externalities of covid pandemic in marine fisheries sector of India: “Building Back Better”

The paper attempts to analyse and synthesise the findings from the various studies conducted across different sections and stakeholders pertaining to the fisheries sector across the world focusing specifically in the global south. While there have been studies on the immediate impact, the paper examined the direct and indirect impact of covid pandemic on the fisheries sector with particular attention paid to the externalities that have developed as unprecedented changes occurred. As a result of these changes, several adaptation and mitigation strategies have been implemented by stakeholders across the fisheries value chain which is presented in the paper. Keeping in mind the expanded scope, the current paper looked at over 65 peer reviewed research articles published during May 2020-March 2022 from Google scholar and Web of Science platforms. Additionally, reports from organisations such as FAO, Oxfam and World fish were examined. While it is certainly true that there have been devastating impacts of the pandemic across the fisheries sector, there are also lessons to be learnt in re-building the world better and therefore the paper also contributes to developing a framework of adaptation and mitigation strategies from the experiences of the countries in the global south

Design and Implementation of Video using Elliptical Curve Cryptography

Video encryption is gaining popularity in the recent times because of growing demands of communication over the internet. The video information has to pass to and fro through several transmissions between different senders and receivers. The existing cryptographic techniques involve a complex signal processing algorithm which utilize high bandwidth and requires high processing time. Elliptical Curve Cryptography (ECC) is an algorithm that provides security with reduced processing time because of its small key size. The implementation of this video encryption algorithm has been made in Python 2.7 version. The paper gives the basic understanding of ECC followed by methodology of implementation and shows the result of encryption and decryption of the sample video

Factors Influencing Source of Coping Strategies in Health in Marine Fishers During COVID-19 Pandemic: An Exploratory Study of Kerala, India

The southwestern state of Kerala has long been considered a model on account of its achievement in health and education at relatively lower levels of income. During the pandemic, the state achieved global attention in the handling of the pandemic and while there was universal acceptance of the role of the government in providing and maintaining health, the idea of health itself was widened to include aspects of well-being and the role of the community including neighborhood groups were prominent in the state. Thus, one could say that health and healthcare provision underwent a vital shift. As public health broadened to include aspects of well-being, there was a greater need to bring in communities and their perspectives as providers and facilitators of health, rather than as recipients of health services alone. In this aspect of constructing a novel approach to health provision, we believe our study based on the impact of COVID-19 on the marine fisheries sector proves to be particularly illuminating. We explore the various coping strategies in health (Institutional, economic and social) as well as sources that provide institutional, social and economic health strategies- whether it is the government, community, or self/family. Further, we try to find if socio-demographic factors influence the choices of the individual. Our findings point out that while universal policies in provision especially during events like the pandemic are crucial; there is a need to focus on individual factors affecting the choices. This could potentially assist in more equitable and efficient accessing and utilising the resources

Valuation of marine fish landings in India for period 2019-2021

The present study portrays the trend in the valuation of marine fish landings during the period 2019-2021 based on the price data of the commercially traded fish species which is collected on a weekly/ fortnightly basis through a well-structured schedule MAP (market price). The collected data is tabulated and the average prices are worked out taking into consideration the parameters of seasonality and size ranges. The study throws light on the average price realized and marketing efficiency of major species across the country. The data has been generated/ collected in the shadow of an important underlying event - the covid pandemic which certainly played (and continues to play) an important role in reconfiguring and restructuring the world fisheries sector including for India

A nationwide study of adults admitted to hospital with diabetic ketoacidosis or hyperosmolar hyperglycaemic state and COVID‐19

AimsTo investigate characteristics of people hospitalized with coronavirus-disease-2019 (COVID-19) and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) or hyperosmolar hyperglycaemic state (HHS), and to identify risk factors for mortality and intensive care admission.Materials and methodsRetrospective cohort study with anonymized data from the Association of British Clinical Diabetologists nationwide audit of hospital admissions with COVID-19 and diabetes, from start of pandemic to November 2021. The primary outcome was inpatient mortality. DKA and HHS were adjudicated against national criteria. Age-adjusted odds ratios were calculated using logistic regression.ResultsIn total, 85 confirmed DKA cases, and 20 HHS, occurred among 4073 people (211 type 1 diabetes, 3748 type 2 diabetes, 114 unknown type) hospitalized with COVID-19. Mean (SD) age was 60 (18.2) years in DKA and 74 (11.8) years in HHS (p < .001). A higher proportion of patients with HHS than with DKA were of non-White ethnicity (71.4% vs 39.0% p = .038). Mortality in DKA was 36.8% (n = 57) and 3.8% (n = 26) in type 2 and type 1 diabetes respectively. Among people with type 2 diabetes and DKA, mortality was lower in insulin users compared with non-users [21.4% vs. 52.2%; age-adjusted odds ratio 0.13 (95% CI 0.03-0.60)]. Crude mortality was lower in DKA than HHS (25.9% vs. 65.0%, p = .001) and in statin users versus non-users (36.4% vs. 100%; p = .035) but these were not statistically significant after age adjustment.ConclusionsHospitalization with COVID-19 and adjudicated DKA is four times more common than HHS but both associate with substantial mortality. There is a strong association of previous insulin therapy with survival in type 2 diabetes-associated DKA

Maintaining the health between people and water: Improving marketing to ensure nutrition along the fisheries value chain

In the global south, where most of the fish producing nations and global population coexist, the gap between the demand and supply is yet apparent. There have been concerted policies by governments to ensure adequate and nutritious food for citizens while international trade continues to play an important role in food systems especially concerning seafood. The Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana in India is a broad policy framework which, in addition to fish production and consumption, attends to the development of better and innovative marketing channels. This becomes particularly relevant in the context of the pandemic. The COVID pandemic has impacted both the supply and demand of fish. Our work spanned across coastal states in India and covered more than 800 consumers (in addition to other stakeholders in the sector). It pointed out that while there was an increase in fish landings following the “forced fishing holiday”, the consumers showed greater willingness to pay if the fish was from a trustworthy source. These changes indicate the importance in understanding the involvement of crucial stakeholders along the marine fisheries value chain (i.e. the marketing functionaries) to address relevant issues partially or wholly. By marketing functionaries, we include diverse actors from the fisher community: credit facilitators, purchase auditioners, fishing harbour workers (loading and unloading of fish), ice factory workers, and those transporting fish to the point of sale (wholesale or retail). While differences among these actors pertain, they can be classified into two types of marketing functionaries: credit suppliers and labour suppliers