Occurrence and Abundance of Phosphatase-Producing Bacteria in Mangrove Ecosystem

The study detailed the isolation and characterization of phosphatase producing bacteria (PPB) from rhizospheric, pneumatophoric and bulk sediments of Avicennia marina along Mumbai coast, India and also estimated alkaline phosphatase activity in sediment in addition to the Phosphatase enzymatic activity of isolates. The inorganic-organic nature of phosphorus was also examined. About, 42 PPB were isolated and identified from the sediment samples. 16S rDNA sequence revealed that all the isolates belong to the genus Bacillus except the one which belong to Geobacillus in the environment and B. anthracis str. Ames showed the phosphatase-producing activity of 84.11±0.01 µg p-NP released per 1×108 cfu in 72 hrs. The isolates, B. cereus strain APT23 and B. thuringiensis strain INRS4 showed the next best phosphatase activity. It was observed that PPB was very much abundant in A. marina mangroves. The pneumatophoric sediment showed significantly higher number of PPB with higher alkaline phosphatase activity, inorganic P and low organic P than those of other sediment types indicating that pneumatophoric region of A. marina harbours favourably the phosphatase-producers than the rhizospheric or bulk sediments and forms the first reference worldwide depicting this relationship. The isolates that showed higher phosphatase-producing potentials can be explored for using as phosphatic bio-fertilizer to enhance the agricultural, aquacultural and mangrove productivity on a larger scale

A Comparative study to assess the effectiveness and safety of cilnidipine versus amlodipine in patients with newly diagnosed essential hypertension: insights from a single centre prospective observational study

Background: Calcium channel blockers (CCBs) are proposed to play a pivotal role for the management and control of hypertension. Dihydropyridine-type calcium channel blockers (CCBs) like Amlodipine are frequently used because for their strong antihypertensive and minimal adverse side effects. However, it is commonly associated with the causation of pedal edema among the patients. Cilnidipine, which is a novel new generation calcium channel blocker, is presumed to cause lesser pedal edema with a satisfactory clinical control of hypertension along with negligible side effects. This study was carried out to compare clinical effectiveness and safety profile between Amlodipine and Cilnidipine.Methods: A prospective, randomized, open label study of 12 weeks’ duration was conducted amongst 60 patients with newly diagnosed essential hypertension. 30 patients of one group received Tab. Amlodipine 5 mg and 30 patients of same age groups received Tab. Cilnidipine 10mg.Results: There was a highly statistically significant decrease in the level of blood pressure in the Cilnidipine group compared to the Amlodipine group mainly at day 90 (P<0.001). Cilnidipine treated group had a fall in blood pressure of 23 ± 8 mmHg and the Amlodipine group had a decrease in the blood pressure of 12±7mmHg. Additionally, there was also significant reduction in pulse rate in the cilnidipine group. Only 4 patients in the Cilnidipine group developed ankle edema which completely disappeared at the end of 12 weeks of therapy compared to 9 patients in the Amlodipine group which persistently worsened at the completion of the study.Conclusions: Our study concluded that cilnidipine was a well-tolerated anti-hypertensive drug amongst patients with newly diagnosed essential hypertension and associated with minor adverse effects

The WiFeS S7 AGN survey: Current status and recent results on NGC 6300

The Siding Spring Southern Seyfert Spectroscopic Snapshot Survey (S7) is a targeted survey probing the narrow-line regions (NLRs) of a representative sample of ~140 nearby (z<0.02) Seyfert galaxies by means of optical integral field spectroscopy. The survey is based on a homogeneous data set observed using the Wide Field Spectrograph WiFeS. The data provide a 25x38 arcsec$^2$ field-of-view around the galaxy centre at typically ~1.5 arcsec spatial resolution and cover a wavelength range between ~3400 - 7100 $\AA$ at spectral resolutions of ~100 km s$^{-1}$ and ~50 km s$^{-1}$ in the blue and red parts, respectively. The survey is primarily designed to study gas excitation and star formation around AGN, with a special focus on the shape of the AGN ionising continuum, the interaction between radio jets and the NLR gas, and the nature of nuclear LINER emission. We provide an overview of the current status of S7-based results and present new results for NGC 6300.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, Refereed Proceeding of the "The Universe of Digital Sky Surveys" conference held at the INAF - Observatory of Capodimonte, Naples, on 25th-28th november 2014, to be published on Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings, edited by Longo, Napolitano, Marconi, Paolillo, Iodic

Investigations on Hepatoprotective Activity of Leaf Extracts of Aegle marmelos (L.) Corr. (Rutaceae)

The present study was carried out to screen and evaluate the hepatoprotective activity of leaf extracts of Aegle marmelos (L.) Corr. Hepatoprotective activities of ethanolic and aqueous extracts of A. marmelos were examined against carbon tetrachloride induced liver damage in mice using silymarin as control. Enzyme activities of Serum Glutamate Oxaloacetate Transaminase (SGOT), Serum Glutamate Pyruvate Transaminase (SGPT) and Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) were analyzed. Results indicate that ethanolic and aqueous leaf extracts of A. marmelos had moderate activity over carbon tetrachloride treatment as compared to control. Results of the present investigation confirm the traditional uses of this plant as a potential hepatoprotective agent

Studies on Hepatoprotective Properties of Leaf Extracts of Azadirachta indica A. Juss (Meliaceae)

The present study was carried out to evaluate the hepatoprotective role of leaf extracts of Azadirachta indica A. Juss. Hepatoprotective activities of ethanolic and aqueous extracts of A. indica were examined against carbon tetrachloride induced liver damage in mice using silymarin as control. Enzyme activities of Serum Glutamate Oxaloacetate Transaminase (SGOT), Serum Glutamate Pyruvate Transaminase (SGPT) and Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) were analyzed. Phytochemical leaf extracts of A. indica exhibited significant hepatoprotective activity. Ethanolic and aqueous leaf extracts of A. indica exhibited moderate activity over carbon tetrachloride treated animals. Results confirm the traditional - ethnomedicinal use of A. indica as a potential source of hepatoprotective agent

Giant metrewave radio telescope observations of the 2006 outburst of the Nova RS Ophiuchi: first detection of emission at radio frequencies &#60;1.4 GHz

The first low radio frequency (&#60;1.4 GHz) detection of the outburst of the recurrent nova RS Ophiuchi is presented in this Letter. Radio emission was detected at 0.61 GHz on day 20 with a flux density of ~48 mJy and at 0.325 GHz on day 38 with a flux density of ~44 mJy. This is in contrast with the 1985 outburst, when it was not detected at 0.327 GHz even on day 66. The emission at low radio frequencies is clearly nonthermal and is well explained by a synchrotron spectrum of index α ~ -0.8 (S &#8733; &#957;&#945;) suffering foreground absorption due to the preexisting, ionized, warm, clumpy red giant wind. The absence of low-frequency radio emission in 1985 and the earlier turn-on of the radio flux in the current outburst are interpreted as being due to higher foreground absorption in 1985 compared to that in 2006, suggesting that the overlying wind densities in 2006 are only ~30% of those in 1985