Extraction of Natural Dyes from Fungus – An Alternate for Textile Dyeing

A dye is a coloured substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied. The majority of natural dyes are from plant sources – roots, berries, bark, leaves, and wood, also from animals and microbes. Natural dyes are non-toxic, non-polluting and less health hazardous. Moreover, their antioxidant and antimicrobial nature further adds to their positive effects. The main idea of extracting dyes from natural sources is to avoid the environmental pollution and also to avoid toxic and allergic reactions associated with synthetic dyes. These natural dyes have emerged as an important alternative to synthetic dyes. In the present study, The pure cultures of fungal strains, Trichodermaspand Aspergillussp were isolated from soil samples using PDA plates. The fungal cultures were grown under static condition in PDB for the production of pigment. These pigments were tested for their colour production properties by taking absorbance at different time intervals during the incubation period. A set of 3 pieces of cloth (cotton, silk & silk cotton) were used for dyeing with the fungal pigments in both pre mordanted and unmordanted conditions. The fungal filtrates were bio autographed using chromatographic techniques (TLC & CC) to purify and identify the compounds present in it. The purified samples was analyzed further by GC – MS and the compounds present in the filtrates were identified. Keywords :Natural dyes,  Aspergillussp.  Trichodermasp. ,GC-M

Novel methods in diagnosis of endometriosis in future

Endometriosis causes severe pain and infertility affecting quality of life. According to ASRM it is a chronic inflammatory disease that requires life-long management plan and surgery has to be restricted only once in the life time of the patient. Earlier, the diagnosis of endometriosis was confirmed by surgical method and histo-pathological examination. There is often a diagnostic delay up to 7 years or even beyond, which will affect the patients getting earlier treatment. Recently, lot of non-invasive techniques for diagnosis of endometriosis have come into vogue so that, treatment can be planned without surgical diagnosis. Apart from imaging through USG, CT or MRI, earlier lesions can be picked up by biomarkers like IL-6, IL-8, CA 125, HE4, neutrophil-lymphocytic ratio, Hs-CRP, Tumour necrosis alpha and mi RNA, neural elements in endometrium, glyco-proteins like CA-125, CA-19.9, CA-15.3, CA-73, AFP and CEA. Urocortin, activin and follistatin are growth factors and VEGF, TNF-alpha, NK cells, i-SCAM-I, MCP-1 are immunologic markers for diagnosis of endometriosis. Circulating endometrial cells are also present in the peripheral blood of patients. miRNA in endometriosis is found to be a potential biomarker in the recent years and also associated with altered vaginal microbiome. There has been up-regulation and down-regulation of certain miRNAs in endometriosis patients. In patients with symptoms of endometriosis, miRNA study in peripheral blood can be used as a biomarker for confirmation of diagnosis. There is a strong association between mitochondrial DNA variation and endometriosis which is found to be rational biomarkers

Surveillance of multidrug resistant bacteria pathogens from female infertility cases

Antibiotic resistance is a public health problem of increasing magnitude. Female reproductive system is vulnerable to a number of diseases. Diseased condition results in infertility, menstrual irregularity, pregnancy loss, and in association with pregnancy, morbidity to both the mother and child increases. In the present work, the bacteria pathogens were isolated from the endometrial sample of 50 female infertility cases among which 42 cases were positive for the pathogens. This study reveals that Escherichia coli was the most dominant, followed by Enterococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus sp., and Enterobacter. The isolates were characterized and its susceptibility against important antibiotics were performed. Highest sensitivity was observed with gatifloxacin, imipenam and piperacillin and tazobactum. Thus, according to this study, these antibiotics can be recommended against multi drug resistant bacteria pathogens.Keywords: Multidrug resistance, female infertility, bacteria pathogensAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(26), pp. 4129-413

ISOLATION, IDENTIFICATION AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF BIOACTIVE COMPOUND FROM SARACA ASOCA

Objective: Saraca asoca which is also called Saraca indica is the ancient tree of the family Caesalpinaceae. This tree is considered as the first in medicinal values since the Buddist period. Ashoka is traditionally used in the treatment of excessive uterine bleeding, dysmenorrhoea and depression in women. It is also used to treat inflammation, indigestion and also abnormal vaginal discharge. It is found to have antimicrobial, anticancer, antimenorrhagic, anti oxytocic activities. The study focuses on to isolate and characterizes the bioactive compounds from the leaves of Saraca asoca by cold extraction method. Methods: The crude extracts of ethanol, petroleum ether, and aqueous extracts were spotted in TLC plate to fig. out the number of probable compounds in each extract. Column chromatography was performed to collect purified fractions. Phytochemical screening of crude samples were tested, the presence of flavonoids, steroids, tannins, alkaloids, glycosides, phenols, reducing sugars were identified. Antimicrobial activity of ethanol, petroleum ether fractions were tested using agar-well diffusion method, maximum activity was recorded in a concentration-dependent manner against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus sp, Streptococcus sp, Pseudomonas sp, Proteus sp, Bacillus sp, Aspergillus sp and Candida sp. Results: Among the total fractions obtained, few active fractions inhibited growth of organisms which would significantly serve as a potential source for new antimicrobial compounds. GCMS was performed to identify the potential compound to be Phytol exhibiting antimicrobial activity. Conclusion: The antimicrobial activity of the bioactive compounds was tested against various microorganisms and the diameter of the zone obtained was calculated where the petroleum ether fractions exhibited good inhibition and ethanolic fractions does not have inhibitory activity

Epidemiology of Endometriosis in Tamil Nadu, India

Endometriosis is an enigmatic disease of women of the reproductive age group. Pain and infertility are the main symptoms. This paper attempts to study the incidence of endometriosis among infertility patients undergoing laparoscopy. Following parameters such as age, SE status, body mass index (BMI), type of infertility, parity, symptoms, family history, menstrual history, medical history, ultrasound (USG) findings, stages of endometriosis, associated findings, and laparoscopy findings were analyzed. Incidence of endometriosis was higher between 26 and 35 years and at all ages stage 3 and stage 4 endometriosis were higher than stage 1 and stage 2. Endometriosis is more common in higher socio-economic class and in women with lower BMI and primary infertility. Among all the symptoms of endometriosis, dysmenorrhea is the most common and most important pointer towards the diagnosis of endometriosis. There is also higher incidence of family history among endometriosis patients. Menstrual cycles are invariably regular. Diagnosis of endometriosis is mainly through USG and rarely magnetic resonance imaging is performed to confirm the presence of endometriosis. In early stages of endometriosis, USG may not show any positive findings. USG can pick up endometriomas, deep infiltrative endometriosis, adenomyosis, and associated findings such as polycystic ovary syndrome, fibroids, and Mullerian anomalies. Laparoscopy is the gold standard in the diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis. Staging is done based on laparoscopy and simultaneously treatment is also carried out. Stage 1 and 2 patients underwent cauterization of the lesions. Advanced stages of endometriosis underwent cystectomy, adhesiolysis, and excision of the deep lesions and ultimately the pelvic anatomy is regained. Women were planned for further fertility treatment based on the staging of the disease

A novel approach of harvesting concentrated plasma-rich fibrin (PRF) with increased platelet count

Objectives: Platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) is an autogenous biomaterial, considered as the second-generation platelet concentrates rich in blood cells and growth factors entrapped in the fibrin matrix, which makes it as an ideal material with wound healing abilities. Studies have reported high harvest of cells using anticoagulants but the present study employs two different protocols to efficiently separate the platelet-rich layer at low centrifugal forces without the use of anticoagulants. Methods and Materials: Blood samples were collected with the consent of 20 volunteer donors. Ten blood samples were tested in each of the protocols studied, that is, protocol 1–200 g for 8 min (higher rpm and time) and protocol 2–60 g for 5 min (lower rpm and time). From the 12 ml of blood samples collected, 2 ml of blood was utilized for whole blood study; the remaining 10 ml was transferred into falcon tubes subjected to different rpm.Results: The present study employs a novel method to investigate segregation of cell types following low-grade centrifugation. One milliliter sequential pipetting technique was used to analyze number of leukocytes and platelets following centrifugation at two different g-forces. The protocols followed in the present study had 2–3-fold increase leukocytes concentration and 10–12-fold increases in platelet concentrations in the layers than the whole blood sample without the use of anticoagulants. Conclusion: The study concludes that protocol 1 was more efficient in harvesting platelets with less concentration of leukocytes, which is considered more suitable for various medical applications