Biosensor Applications in the Field of Antibiotic Research—A Review of Recent Developments

Antibacterials are among of the most important medications used in health care. However, their efficacy is increasingly impeded by a tremendous and globally spread bacterial resistance phenomenon. This bacterial resistance is accelerated by inadequate application of antibacterial drugs in humans, the widespread veterinary use of antibacterials, and antibacterial occurrence in the environment and food. Further, there is a lack of development of innovative novel drugs. Therefore, the search for novel antibacterials has to be intensified and the spread of antibacterials in the environment has to be restricted. Due to the fundamental progress in biosensor development and promising applications in the antibiotic field, this review gives for the first time an overview on the use and prospects of biosensor applications in that area. A number of reports have applied biosensors of different design and techniques to search for antibacterials in environmental and foodstuff matrices. These studies are discussed with respect to the analytical values and compared to conventional techniques. Furthermore, biosensor applications to elucidate the mode of action of antimicrobial drugs in vitro have been described. These studies were critically introduced referring to the informational value of those simulations. In summary, biosensors will be illustrated as an innovative and promising, although not yet comprehensively applied, technique in the antibacterial field

Reactive Nitrogen in Coastal and Marine Waters of India and Its Relationship With Marine Aquaculture

India is bordered in the soutii, south-west, and south-east with Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea (AS), and the Bay of Bengal (BOB), respectively. Indian coast is 7517 km long comprising 5423 km in the peninsular India and 2094 km in Andaman and Nicobar, and Lakshadweep Islands. The Indian exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is spread in 2.02 million sq km (0.86 million sq km in west coast, 0.56 m illion sq km in east coast and 0.6 million sq km in Andaman and Nicobar Islands). The Indian marine environmentconsisting of adjoining coastal areas and EEZ directly sustains useful habitats and suppons the livelihood of 3.9 million fishers. Nearly 25% of the country’s population resides in these areas and about 340 communities are primarily occupied in marine and coastal fisheries (MoEF, 2009; SACEP, 2014). Nitrogen (N) exists in various chemical forms, produced by marine biota through several chemical transformations during their growth and metabolism in the marine environment. Nitrogen as N2 is generally unavailable in marine conditions and thereby, the equilibrium of the processes of N2 fixation (conversion of atmospheric N2 to organic nitrogen) and denitrification (conversion of nitrate to N2) decides the bioavailable nitrogen supply and productivity (Gruber, 2008)

Blooms of \u3ci\u3eNoctiluca miliaris\u3c/i\u3e in the Arabian Sea - An In Situ and Satellite Study

Phytoplankton cell density, chlorophyll a (chl a) concentration and pigment data collected during a series of five cruises in the northern Arabian Sea in the Northeast Monsoon (NEM, Nov-Jan) and the Spring Intermonsoon (SIM, Mar-May) since 2003 contradicted the established notion that winter blooms mainly consist of diatom communities. Recent data show that following the NEM and well into the SIM, phytoplankton populations are dominated by the dinoflagellate Noctiluca miliaris Suriray (synonym Noctiluca scintillans Macartney). In the SIM they were often in association with the well-known blooms of the diazotroph Trichodesmium sp. Large blooms of N. miliaris have also begun making their appearance annually in the Gulf of Oman and off the coast of Oman. This study uses NASA\u27s recently developed product of merged SeaWiFS and Aqua-MODIS chl a data to investigate the temporal evolution and spatial extent of these taxonomically validated blooms. Satellite chl a in relation to Aqua-MODIS SST and altimetry data suggest that mesoscale eddies that populate the western Arabian Sea during the NEM contribute to the genesis and dispersal of these blooms from the Gulf of Oman into the central Arabian Sea. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved