DETERMINATION OF ENERGY CONTENT, PHYTOCHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF POTENTIAL WILD EDIBLE LEGUME; CANAVALIA ROSEA (SW.) DC. FROM NORTHERN KERALA

Objective: Major objective of this study is to determine the calorific value and antioxidant activity of Canavaliarosea. Methods: Petroleum ether extract of the seeds were tested qualitatively for twelve components. Calorific value in kJ/100g seed flour was determined based on the results of the proximate analysis. Enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants were analyzed by standard procedures using UV-Visible Spectrophotometer. Results: C. roseais a perennial creeper with roughly circular compound leaves. Flowers are brightly pink-purple, in racemes. It is having large fruits up to 8-12 cm, with brown dormant seeds inside. Seeds were collected from banks of ‘Kabani’ River (Panamaram) and from various tribal hamlets in Wayanad district, Kerela. Preliminary phytochemical screening reveals the presence of eight compounds such as, tannins,saponins, flavonoids, cardiac glycosides, terpenoids, phenols, coumarins and phlobatannins. The analysis of nutritive value of seed has a higher value of crude protein (48.71 %) and crude carbohydrate (34.07). The calorific value of seed material was 1529.9kJ/100g seed flour. Enzymatic antioxidants superoxide dismutase (38.134 u/mg fw) and catalase (19.051 u/mg dw) then non-enzymatic antioxidants poly phenols (12.81 u/mg dw) and ascorbic acid (10.301 u/mg fw) were tested. All those tests show significant levels of antioxidants in the sample. Conclusion: Hence, the present study providing details about the place of collection, ethnobotanical information, energy content and antioxidant activity of Canavaliarosea

PHYTOCHEMICAL EVALUATION OF ARTOCARPUS HIRSUTUS LAM. FRUIT EXTRACT: A POTENTIAL WILD ENDEMIC PLANT

Objective: The present study includes the qualitative and quantitative estimation of phytochemical constituents and HPTLC (High-performance thin layer chromatography) analysis of phenolic acids in the fruit extract of Artocarpus hirsutus. Methods: Qualitative and quantitative analysis of Artocarpus hirsutus methanol fruit extract using standard methods. HPTLC analysis was performed by the CAMAG HPTLC system (Switzerland) for gallic acid, caffeic acid and ferulic acid determination. Results: The Preliminary phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of phytoconstituents such as flavonoids, phenols, tannins, steroids, glycosides, alkaloids, carbohydrate and protein. The methanol fruit extract has high carbohydrate content (267±0.02 mg/g FW). And good amount of protein, phenol, flavanoid were also found. The results of mineral studies shows that elements such as potassium (1.601%) and nitrogen (1.4%) were present in higher quantity. The result showed the presence of caffeic acid within peak 7 with an Rf (Retension factor) value 0.49, ferulic acid within peak 8 with an Rf value 0.60, and gallic acid within peak 5 with an Rf value 0.25. Conclusion: The results indicated that the Artocarpus hirsutus fruit contains an appreciable amount of bioactive compounds

DIVERSITY OF UNDERUTILIZED WILD EDIBLE FRUITS OF KANNUR DISTRICT, KERALA, INDIA

Objective: To explore, collect, identify and preserve wild edible fruits of Kannur district, Kerala. Methods: Field survey was conducted for collecting information regarding utilization aspects of some underutilized fruits. The important wild fruits were selected on the basis of their easy availability and on their food and medicinal values in Kannur district. Results: Total thirty three wild edible fruits were collected, identified, and documented. All these fruits were good source of fat, protein, sugars and antioxidants. Most species were found to have many therapeutic uses. Conclusion: The documentation of wild fruits will benefit the community through the use of locally and freely available healthy food which will also preserve their cultural pride. And these wild fruit plants have important role in maintaining ecological balance

Heavy metal accumulation potential and medicinal property of Bacopa monnieri - a paradox

Bioaccumulation of Mercury and Cadmium in Bacopa monnieri (L.) Pennell, cultivated in Hoagland medium artificially contaminated with micro quantities of HgCl2 and CdCl2 is investigated. Bioaccumulation potential of B. monnieri is more towards Cd than Hg. Absorption and translocation of Hg and Cd are proportional to the availability of the metal in the growth media and period of growth. Effect of acidic pH showed enhanced accumulation while basic pH resulted in significant reduction in the accumulation of Hg and exorbitant reduction of Cd. As a result of combined treatment of HgCl2 and CdCl2, accumulation was very low in both acidic and basic pH. In addition to pH, antagonistic effect of Ca2+ present in lime water which was added to raise the pH of the growth medium also controls the accumulation and absorption of Hg and Cd ions. Bioaccumulation of Hg and Cd in B. monnieri reveals the phytoremediation potential while the bioaccumulation is hazards to health since the plant is highly medicinal and one important ingredient of many Ayurvedic preparations

MFV Reductions of MSSM Parameter Space

The 100+ free parameters of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) make it computationally difficult to compare systematically with data, motivating the study of specific parameter reductions such as the cMSSM and pMSSM. Here we instead study the reductions of parameter space implied by using minimal flavour violation (MFV) to organise the R-parity conserving MSSM, with a view towards systematically building in constraints on flavour-violating physics. Within this framework the space of parameters is reduced by expanding soft supersymmetry-breaking terms in powers of the Cabibbo angle, leading to a 24-, 30- or 42-parameter framework (which we call MSSM-24, MSSM-30, and MSSM-42 respectively), depending on the order kept in the expansion. We provide a Bayesian global fit to data of the MSSM-30 parameter set to show that this is manageable with current tools. We compare the MFV reductions to the 19-parameter pMSSM choice and show that the pMSSM is not contained as a subset. The MSSM-30 analysis favours a relatively lighter TeV-scale pseudoscalar Higgs boson and $\tan \beta \sim 10$ with multi-TeV sparticles.Comment: 2nd version, minor comments and references added, accepted for publication in JHE

Isolation and Identification of Phenol-Degrading Bacteria from Oil-Contaminated Sites

This work is aimed at isolating and identifying phenol-degrading bacteria from oil-contaminated sites. Five soil samples from three auto-mechanic workshops within Katsina metropolis were collected. The samples were analyzed by selective enrichment technique, which resulted in the isolation of four bacterial species. The species were further subjected to the Vitek 2 compact microbiological system analysis. Cupriavidus pauculus, Pontoea spp, Proteus mirabilis 1 and Proteus mirabilis 2 were identified. Result from the present study showed that the bacteria could utilize phenol as their carbon source. Proteus mirabilis 1 and Proteus mirabilis 2 showed lower phenol degradation potential, under similar conditions. Cupriavidus pauculus and Pontoea sp. showed significant increases (p<0.05) in their optical densities. The optical density increment is strongly correlated with increase in colony forming units of the bacteria. This study further showed that the isolates could tolerate high phenol concentrations and may serve as strong putative isolates in bioremediation of phenol-contaminated sites

Determination of use value and informant consensus factor on ethnobotanic knowledge about wild legumes used by natives of Wayanad district, Kerala

The present work is aimed to document the traditional knowledge about the various usages of leguminous plants (Fabaceae), by tribals of Wayanad district and its nearer places such as Vanimel and Vilangad villages of Kozhikkode district, Kerala. Ethnobotanical surveys/ interviews/ discossions were carried out in few randomly selected tribal hamlets for the data collection. Among these visits the plants used by tribal communities Paniya and Kattunaikka were focused for documentation. This study reports the data of 80 plants from the family Fabaceae. This report also observed that the tribal communities were deeply depending on various wild legumes for making infrastructures, agricultural utilities, making food/ fuel/ timber/ manure and they solve their health issues to a large extent also by using some wild legume species. Among the eighty species, fifty were used in various medicinal preparations and thirty species were used for dietary needs in combination or alone. At the same time major group of plants are unable to demarcate between food and medicine. Use Value analysis shows that the tree legume species Tamarindus indica is relatively more important with 64 use reports (UV 0.98). Analysis of Informant consensus factor reveals that the homogeneity of knowledge is more for the plants with medicinal properties (Fic 0.97); whereas maximum heterogeneity (Fic 0.92) was found about agricultural utilities of plants. According to the results of DMR analysis Dalbergia latifolia ranked first, so that this species is getting more exploited, because it is highly preferable for all five categories studied under DMR analysis. Moreover the present documentation of ethnic knowledge about wild legumes is an attempt to serve as indigenous information for future sustainable utilization and conservation

Determination of use value and informant consensus factor on ethnobotanic knowledge about wild legumes used by natives of Wayanad district, Kerala

404-415The present work is aimed to document the traditional knowledge about the various usages of leguminous plants (Fabaceae), by tribals of Wayanad district and its nearer places such as Vanimel and Vilangad villages of Kozhikkode district, Kerala. Ethnobotanical surveys/ interviews/ discussions were carried out in few randomly selected tribal hamlets for the data collection. Among these visits the plants used by tribal communities Paniya and Kattunaikka were focused for documentation. This study reports the data of 80 plants from the family Fabaceae. This report also observed that the tribal communities were deeply depending on various wild legumes for making infrastructures, agricultural utilities, making food/ fuel/ timber/manure and they solve their health issues to a large extent also by using some wild legume species. Among the eighty species, fifty were used in various medicinal preparations and thirty species were used for dietary needs in combination or alone. At the same time major group of plants are unable to demarcate between food and medicine. Use Value analysis shows that the tree legume species Tamarindus indica is relatively more important with 64 use reports (UV 0.98). Analysis of Informant consensus factor reveals that the homogeneity of knowledge is more for the plants with medicinal properties (Fic 0.97); whereas maximum heterogeneity (Fic 0.92) was found about agricultural utilities of plants. According to the results of DMR analysis Dalbergia latifolia ranked first, so that this species is getting more exploited, because it is highly preferable for all five categories studied under DMR analysis. Moreover the present documentation of ethnic knowledge about wild legumes is an attempt to serve as indigenous information for future sustainable utilization and conservation

The Effect of Nigella Sativa Extract on Alpha-ketoglutarate Activity and Histopathologic Changes on Rat Liver Induced by Monosodium Glutamate

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a commonly used food additive and found in most soups, fish and processed meat. The use of MSG in food is growing. Irrational fear had increased in the last few years due to the adverse reactions and toxicity of MSG, which effect on the liver. Nigella sativa is used as traditional medicine for the treatment of many diseases, it has been extensively investigated in recent years, traditional medicine for the treatment of many disease due to its notable pharmacological properties. NS can inhibit oxidative stress. The present study was undertaken to investigate different Doses of Nigella sativa on alpha KGDH activity and liver histology of MSG induced rat. The animals (n=30) Were grouped A as (control), B treated with MSG 1g/kg, C MSG treated with NS 0.01g/kg, D MSG treated with NS 0.02g/kg, E MSG treated with NS 0.04g/kg and F treated with NS 0.02g/kg then we investigated the effect alpha KGDH activity by ELISA method and liver histopathology by light microscope. alpha KGDH activity were significantly increased in treatment MSG compared with treatment negative control, MSG + NS 0.1g/kg, MSG + NS 0.02g/kg, MSG + NS 0.04g/kg, and NS 0.02g/kg. The histological changes in group B and C showed disturbed liver architecture, hemorrhage in the central veins, areas of necrosis, vacuolation and increased inflammatory cells infiltration while group D showed central vein is normal and vacuolation of cytoplasm, group E showed more normal liver architecture as shown less vacuolation in cytoplasm, central vein is normal, and group F showed no pathologic changes.These finding showed that administration of MSG increase alpha KGDH and induced damage in liver tissue. Nigella sativa extract can reduce alpha KGDH and prevent liver damage induced by MSG