An underwater image enhancement by reducing speckle noise using modified anisotropic diffusion filter

Underwater images are usually suffering from the issues of quality degradation, such as low contrast due to blurring details, color deviations, non-uniform lighting, and noise. Since last few decades, many researches are undergoing for restoration and enhancement for degraded underwater images. In this paper, we proposed a novel algorithm using modified anisotropic diffusion filter with dynamic color balancing strategy. This proposed algorithm performs based on an employing effective noise reduction as well as edge preserving technique with dynamic color correction to make uniform lighting and minimize the speckle noise. Furthermore, reanalyze the contributions and limitations of existing underwater image restoration and enhancement methods. Finally, in this research provided the detailed objective evaluations and compared with the various underwater scenarios for above said challenges also made subjective studies, which shows that our proposed method will improve the quality of the image and significantly enhanced the image

FORMULATION AND STORAGE STABILITY OF COCONUT FLOUR AND DIETARY FIBRE ISOLATE

Objective: The general objective of the study is to formulate high percentage dietary fibre isolate from coconut flakes, as a functional food, and the specific objectives are as follows: (a) to formulate coconut flour from coconut flakes (b) to determine the proximate composition and microbial analysis of coconut flakes, coconut flour and dietary fibre isolate (c) to analyse the storage stability of coconut flour and dietary fibre isolate.Methods: The coconut fibre isolate was prepared by hydrolysis with CaOH2 as per the established protocol.Results: The dietary fibre content of dietary fibre isolation was 72.25% and further it was found to be 42% and 48% in coconut flakes and coconut flour respectively. With respect CaOH2 to hydrolysis, 0.3M and 0.4M concentrations were found to be very ideal in suppressing the dominant coconut taste. With water holding, retention and swelling capacities, isolate was found to be the best (8.27, 7.42, 21.33 ml water/g samples,). According to BIS (Bureau of Indian Standard), the microbial load and peroxide value were within safe limits in isolate (up to 10 months).Conclusion: Results from the above study can be a basis in the development of dietary fibre isolate as a, functional food.Â

MOLECULAR DOCKING, DESIGN, SYNTHESIS, IN VITRO ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTI-INFLAMMATORY EVALUATIONS OF NEW ISOQUINOLINE DERIVATIVES

Objectives: To design and synthesis N-substituted (E)-4-arylidene-isoquinoline-1,3-dione derivatives as anti-inflammatory and antioxidant drug moieties using molecular docking as a tool.Methods: The structure of compounds (5a-h) was elucidated by means of FT-IR, GC-MS and NMR spectroscopy. Molecular docking was carried out to clarify the molecular aspects of the observed COX-inhibitory activities of the investigated compounds. DPPH radical scavenging analysis method was used to determine antioxidant activity and in-vitro anti-Inflammatory activity was conducted by Human Red Blood Cell (HRBC) membrane stabilization method utilizing Diclofenac sodium as standard.Results: Isoquinoline (N-substituted (E)-4-arylidene-isoquinoline-1,3-dione) derivatives were achieved using oxalic acid as the catalyst, by aldol condensation of the corresponding aldehydes and the corresponding N-substituted homophthalimides with a maximum yield of 92%. Ligand efficiency (LE) consequences being a clear indication that the action potential of the compounds 5e (-0.72) and 5d (-0.64) is high when compare with the standard (-0.63) for COX-1. While for COX-2, compounds 5e (-0.81) 5d (-0.79) and 5h (-0.98) were shown a remarkable ligand efficiency than the standard (-0.65). Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant studies on the compounds 5h<5d<5g was found best activity results.Conclusion: From our overall studies, it was understood that the activities of both in silico and in vitro anti-inflammatory results are coincide together. The p-values were significant for all the compounds 5(a-h) in both COX-1 and COX-2 activities which indicate that all the compounds have ‘competency' towards druggability for both anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, especially the compounds 5h<5d<5g<5e can be suggested for in vivo.Â

Comprehensive in vitro and in vivo evaluation of therapeutic potential of Bacopa-derived asiatic acid against a human oral pathogen Streptococcus mutans

Dental caries is a common human oral disease worldwide, caused by an acid-producing bacteria Streptococcus mutans. The use of synthetic drugs and antibiotics to prevent dental caries has been increasing, but this can lead to severe side effects. To solve this issue, developing and developed countries have resorted to herbal medicines as an alternative to synthetic drugs for the treatment and prevention of dental caries. Therefore, there is an urgent need for plant-derived products to treat such diseases. Bacopa monnieri, a well-documented medicinal plant, contains 52 phytocompounds, including the pentacyclic triterpenoid metabolite known as asiatic acid (ASTA). Hence, this study aimed to demonstrate, for the first time, the antibacterial activity of phytocompound ASTA against S. mutans. The findings revealed that ASTA significantly inhibited the growth of S. mutans and the production of virulence factors such as acidurity, acidogenicity, and eDNA synthesis. Molecular docking analysis evaluated the potential activity of ASTA against S. mutans virulence genes, including VicR and GtfC. Furthermore, toxicity assessment of ASTA in human buccal epithelial cells was performed, and no morphological changes were observed. An in vivo analysis using Danio rerio (zebrafish) confirmed that the ASTA treatment significantly increased the survival rates of infected fish by hindering the intestinal colonization of S. mutans. Furthermore, the disease protection potential of ASTA against the pathognomonic symptom of S. mutans infection was proven by the histopathological examination of the gills, gut, and kidney. Overall, these findings suggest that ASTA may be a promising therapeutic and alternative drug for the treatment and prevention of oral infection imposed by S. mutans

Expressing OsiSAP8, a Zinc-Finger Associated Protein Gene, Mitigates Stress Dynamics in Existing Elite Rice Varieties of the 'Green Revolution'

Key message: Overexpression of OsiSAP8 driven by Port Ubi2.3 from Porteresia coarctata imparts drought and salinity stress tolerance in transgenic rice. Stress associated proteins (SAPs) possess the zinc-finger domains that are wildly evolving functional and conserved regions/factors in plants to combat abiotic stresses. In this study, the promoter region of OsiSAP8, an intron-less, multiple stress inducible gene, was compared in silico with a strong constitutive promoter, Port Ubi2.3. This resulted in developing rice, resistant to drought and salinity expressing OsiSAP8 promoted by Port Ubi2.3. (Porteresia coarctata), through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation in the popular rice varieties, IR36 and IR64. Southern blot hybridization confirmed the integration of OsiSAP8, and the T0 transgenic lines of IR36 and IR64 were evaluated for their drought and salinity tolerance. The IR36-T1 progenies showed an enhanced tolerance to water withhold stress compared to wild type and IR64-T1 progenies. Physiological parameters, such as the panicle weight, number of panicles, leaf wilting, and TBARS assay, showed the transgenic IR36 to be superior. The transgenic lines performed better with higher 80-95% relative leaf water content when subjected to drought for 14 days. Gene expression analysis of OsiSAP8 in IR36 T1 showed a 1.5-fold upregulation under mannitol stress. However, IR64 T1 showed a two-fold upregulation in NaCl stress. An enhanced drought and salinity stress tolerance in the transgenic IR36 cultivar through overexpression of OsiSAP8 was observed as it had a native copy of OsiSAP8. This is perhaps the first study using a novel ubiquitin promoter (Port Ubi2.3) to generate drought and salinity stress-tolerant transgenic rice. Thus, we report the overexpression of a rice gene (OsiSAP8) by a rice promoter (Port Ubi2.3) in rice (IR36) to resist drought and salinity