Production and Optimisation of Tetracycline by Various Strains of Streptomyces under Solid State Fermentation using Pineapple Peel as a Novel Substrate

Pineapple peel is the principal solid waste product of the juice processing industry. The disposal of the fresh peels is becoming a major problem to many food processing industries. Dry pineapple peels are rich in biodegradable organic material and suspended solids; therefore, this waste was used as a novel substrate in present solid substrate fermentation. The effect of medium ingredients such as carbon, inorganic and organic nitrogen sources, inorganic salts on tetracycline production by various strains of Streptomyces [S. aureofaciens NCIM (2417, 2614, 2615), S. rimosus  NCIM 2213 and S. viridifaciens NCIM 2506] in solid-state fermentations (SSF) was observed. The 1.0-fold lower antibiotic yield than the control in the presence of glucose and sucrose in SSF at 10% w/w was observed , whereas peanut meal and ammonium sulphate was found to be a more favorable organic and inorganic nitrogen source than the control in SSF at 10% and 1% w/w. Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) as inorganic salt favored 0.5% higher antibiotic yield than the control at 1% w/w. Various crucial parameters such as initial moisture content, incubation temperature, initial pH, substrate particle size and inoculum size were derived; 65% moisture level, 35oC temperature, pH 5-0-6.5, 6 x 4 mm particle size and (1.0 x 108 spores/ ml) inoculum size was found to be suited for maximal tetracycline production. The maximum tetracycline production was observed following 3–7 days of fermentation cycle

The prescribing pattern for the management of dengue fever in pediatric patients of a tertiary care hospital: an observational study

Background: Dengue fever is a mosquito borne viral infection which has become a global health hazard, especially in tropical and subtropical areas. Children have higher risk of developing severe forms of dengue fever, however, studies show that paediatric complications/fatalities from dengue fever are potentially avoidable by proper management. Data about drug usage patterns for dengue are particularly lacking, especially in the paediatric age group, therefore this study will help facilitate the rational use of drugs and aid in establishing a more specific management for dengue fever. The objective of the present study was to identify the prescribing pattern of dengue fever in paediatric inpatients admitted to RajaRajeswari Medical College and Hospital and assess according to the WHO core prescribing indicatorsMethods: This prospective observational study took place from March 2017 to September 2017 in the paediatric general wards. Data was collected from case files of NS1 positive patients of both genders between 1-18years. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and expressed as percentages, means and standard deviations. The prescription pattern was analysed using the prescribing indicators mentioned in the World Health Organization core drug use indicators.Results: Total of 300 drugs were prescribed for 110 prescriptions that were analysed excluding IV fluids and blood products. Mean number of drugs prescribed was 2.7±0.8. Drugs prescribed by a generic name was 7.33%. Patients prescribed an antibiotic was 12.73%. Patients prescribed with an injection was 62.72% Majority of drugs prescribed in this study come from essential medicines list created by regulatory bodies. Intravenous fluids were administered to all patients with majority receiving normal saline (60.9%).Conclusions: Mainstay of treatment of dengue fever for paediatric patients is symptomatic along with focus on fluid management. Majority of drugs prescribed are from essential medicines lists formed by regulatory bodies. With dengue infections being a worldwide health hazard, more studies are needed to facilitate rational use of drugs in this disease

Automated Identification and Localization of Brain Tumor in MRI Using U-Net Segmentation and CNN-LSTM Classification

Nowadays, the use of computers to evaluate medical images automatically is critical part of the life. Today's treatment method relies heavily on early diagnosis and accurate disease identification, which were formerly difficult for medical research to achieve. Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is essential to the detection and treatment of brain tumor (BT). Tumor of the brain are the result of brain cell division that has gone awry or is otherwise out of control. The manual MRI segmentation of BT is a difficult and time-consuming process. The most critical factor in the effective treatment and identification of BT is the ability to accurately locate the tumor. The detection of BT is regarded as a difficult task in medical image processing. For analysing and interpreting MRI, there are semi-automatic and fully automated systems that require large-scale professional input and evaluation, with varying degrees of effectiveness. Automated identification and extraction of the tumor's localization from brain MRI will be proposed in this paper. To achieve this goal, the data collected from Kaggle and the collected data are processed. Then the U-Net is employed to segment the tumor region from the MRI. Next, the MRI is classified using DL models like Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), and the hybrid Convolutional Neural Network and Long Short-Term Memory (CNN-LSTM). Both process segmentation and classification are evaluated using the metrics. From the evaluation, it is identified that CNN-LSTM outperforms the CNN model

AN IN VITRO STUDY OF CINNAMOMUM ZEYLANICUM AS NATURAL INHIBITOR OF ANGIOTENSIN-CONVERTING ENZYME (ACE) ON SHEEP (OVIS ARIES) TISSUES

Objective: The present study was aimed to find the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity using the methanolic extract ofCinnamomum zeylanicum (as a natural inhibitor) on sheep tissues as the enzyme source.Methods: Hippuryl-histidyl-leucine (HHL) as a substrate, tissue ACE activity was measured spectrophotometrically at 228 nm. For an incubationperiod of 30 minutes at 37°C, the linearity of ACE activity of kidney, lung, and testis enzyme was established. A known medicinal plant C. zeylanicumwas used as natural inhibitor of ACE. In this enzyme assay, inhibitory effect of methanolic extract of C. zeylanicum on kidney, lung and testicular ACEwas determined. ACE activity was confirmed by captopril, a standard inhibitor of ACE.Results: In the presence of a methanolic extract of C. zeylanicum (10:1), ACE activity was determined and this has inhibited ACE activity verysignificantly. C. zeylanicum leaves extract has reduced sheep kidney, lung, and testis ACE activity by 70.06%, 12.63%, and 20.23%, respectively.Conclusion: Significant inhibition was observed in the kidney ACE than in lung and testis ACE activity. This can propose that there may be a possiblerole in controlling blood pressure or reduction in cardiovascular diseases. Some plants with the great medicinal property may be considered aspromising sources of natural inhibitors of ACE for medicine and commercial uses. This comprehensive study may show numerous beneficial effects asa potential therapeutic agent for lowering blood pressure.Keywords: Angiotensin-converting enzyme, Natural angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, Kinetic assay, Hippuryl-histidyl-leucine, Cinnamomumzeylanicum, Cardiovascular diseases

Microbial Cellulose Production from Bacteria Isolated from Rotten Fruit

Microbial cellulose, an exopolysaccharide produced by bacteria, has unique structural and mechanical properties and is highly pure compared to plant cellulose. Present study represents isolation, identification, and screening of cellulose producing bacteria and further process optimization. Isolation of thirty cellulose producers was carried out from natural sources like rotten fruits and rotten vegetables. The bacterial isolates obtained from rotten pomegranate, rotten sweet potato, and rotten potato were identified as Gluconacetobacter sp. RV28, Enterobacter sp. RV11, and Pseudomonas sp. RV14 through morphological and biochemical analysis. Optimization studies were conducted for process parameters like inoculum density, temperature, pH, agitation, and carbon and nitrogen sources using Gluconacetobacter sp. RV28. The strain produced 4.7 g/L of cellulose at optimum growth conditions of temperature (30°C), pH (6.0), sucrose (2%), peptone (0.5%), and inoculum density (5%). Characterization of microbial cellulose was done by scanning electron microscopy (SEM)

Study on the reproductive behavior among women of rural areas of Pondicherry

Background: The fertility rate in India is declining and it is necessary to know the factors responsible for such decline in different states. It was decided to study reproductive behavior of women contributing to decline in fertility in Pondicherry. The aim and objective of this study is known the reproductive behavior of women in the rural areas on Pondicherry.Methods: Sample of 300 married women aged between 30 and 60 years were selected randomly from village belonging to Katerikuppam PHC and the data collected using the pre tested semi open ended questionnaires by interviewing the subjects at their doorsteps during September to November 2014.Results: The mean age of the subjects was 41.5 ± 9.5 years. There were 793 total pregnancies and live births were 701 and abortions accounted for ten percent and still births were 9 in number. The mean number of pregnancies and live births were 2.6 ± 1.1 and 2.3 ± 1.0 per women respectively. The mean age at menarche, marriage and first pregnancy were 14.3 ± 1.4, 19.6 ± 3.1 and 21.1 ± 3.1 years respectively. The mean number of pregnancies were declined from currently older age to the lower age of the subjects and found to be statistically significant.Conclusions: The mean age at marriage and first pregnancy is increasing and the differences in the mean number of pregnancies and live births are showing declining trend.

Razvoj i validacija spektrofotometrijskih metoda za određivanje ceftazidima u farmaceutskim doziranim pripravcima

Two spectrophotometric methods for the determination of ceftazidime (CFZM) in either pure form or in its pharmaceutical formulations are described. The first method is based on the reaction of 3-methylbenzothiazolin-2-one hydrazone (MBTH) with ceftazidime in the presence of ferric chloride in acidic medium. The resulting blue complex absorbs at λmax 628 nm. The second method describes the reaction between the diazotized drug and N-(1-naphthyl)ethylenediamine dihydrochloride (NEDA) to yield a purple colored product with λmax at 567 nm. The reaction conditions were optimized to obtain maximum color intensity. The absorbance was found to increase linearly with increasing the concentration of CFZM; the systems obeyed the Beer’s law in the range 210 and 1050 µg mL1 for MBTH and NEDA methods, respectively. LOD, LOQ and correlation coefficient values were 0.15, 0.79 and 0.50, 2.61. No interference was observed from common excipients present in pharmaceutical formulations. The proposed methods are simple, sensitive, accurate and suitable for quality control applications.Razvijene su dvije spektrofotometrijske metode za određivanje ceftazidima (CFZM), čistog ili u farmaceutskim pripravcima. Prva metoda se temelji na reakciji 3-metilbenzotiazolin-2-on hidrazona (MBTH) sa ceftazidimom u prisutnosti željezovog(III) klorida u kiselom mediju. Nastaje plavi kompleks s maksimumom apsorpcije pri λmax 628 nm. Druga metoda se temelji na reakciji između diazotiranog lijeka i N-(1-naftil)etilendiamin dihidroklorida (NEDA), pri čemu nastaje ljubičasti produkt s λmax pri 567 nm. Reakcijski uvjeti su optimirani da se dobije maksimalni intenzitet boje. Apsorbancija raste linearno s porašću koncentracije CFZM; sustavi slijede Beerov zakon u koncentracijskom području 210 za MBTH metodu i 1050 µg mL1 za NEDA metodu. LOD i LOQ te vrijednosti korelacijskog koeficijenta su 0,15, 0,79 i 0,50, 2,61. Uobičajene pomoćne tvari ne smetaju određivanju ceftazidima. Predložene metode su jednostavne, osjetljive, točne i pogodne za primjenu u kontroli kvalitete

British Election Longitudinal News Study 2015–2019: Print news coverage with validated topics and candidate sentiment

The British Election Longitudinal News Study 2015–2019 (BELNS) covers campaign coverage relating to three general elections: 2015, 2017, 2019. The print newspaper component in this release tracks topic and general election candidate coverage across 46 national and local sources, including actor-level sentiment. For a full description, see Documentation.Corrected file version uploaded on 17-05-2021.The British Election Longitudinal News Study 2015–2019 (BELNS) covers campaign coverage relating to three general elections: 2015, 2017, 2019. The print newspaper component in this release tracks topic and general election candidate coverage across 46 national and local sources, including actor-level sentiment.Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC

Ellipsoidal particles at fluid interfaces

For partially wetting, ellipsoidal colloids trapped at a fluid interface, their effective, interface--mediated interactions of capillary and fluctuation--induced type are analyzed. For contact angles different from 90$^o$, static interface deformations arise which lead to anisotropic capillary forces that are substantial already for micrometer--sized particles. The capillary problem is solved using an efficient perturbative treatment which allows a fast determination of the capillary interaction for all distances between and orientations of two particles. Besides static capillary forces, fluctuation--induced forces caused by thermally excited capillary waves arise at fluid interfaces. For the specific choice of a spatially fixed three--phase contact line, the asymptotic behavior of the fluctuation--induced force is determined analytically for both the close--distance and the long--distance regime and compared to numerical solutions.Comment: 10 pages, submitted to EPJE (Special Issue Soft Matter Conference Aachen'07