Plant Growth Regulators in Mulberry

Plant growth regulators are organic compounds synthesized in specified plant parts in small quantity and are transported to the place of requirement leading to a change in physiological responses. Plant growth regulators can be classified into growth promoters and growth retardants. Plant growth regulators are auxins, gibberellin, cytokinin and growth retardants are Abscisic acid and ethylene. The latest one added to the growth promoter is Brassinosteroid, used to translocate the nitrogen and phosphorus. Triacontanol is one of the commercial formulations and used to increase the moisture and protein content of leaves, which ultimately built the disease resistance in silkworm. Plant growth promoting Rhizobacteria stimulates the plant growth regulators like auxins, gibberellins etc., and help in better nutrient uptake and increase tolerance. Vermicompost also contains some plant growth regulators. The combined effect of different plant growth regulators will give positive result in mulberry growth

OXIDATION OF BENZALDEHYDE BY QUINOXALINIUM DICHROMATE

The kinetics and mechanism of oxidation of benzaldehyde by quinoxalinium dichromate has been studied in the presence of perchloric acid in 70 % acetic acid - water medium. The reaction follows first order with respect to benzaldehyde, quinoxalinium dichromate and fractional order with respect to perchloric acid. There is no effect on the reaction rate with increase in ionic strength of the medium by adding sodium perchlorate. The rate of reaction increases with increase in the percentage of acetic acid. The reaction does not induce the polymerization with acrylonitrile. The rate of reaction decreases with increase in the concentration of manganoussulphate. The thermodynamic and activation parameters have been calculated and a probable mechanism has been proposed

Reproductive biology of Parapenaeopsis stylifera

Controversy exists regarding the incidence and reproductive habits of Parapenaeopsis stylifera along the coast of Kerala, India. Results are reported of a detailed study on the different aspects of the reproductive biology based on the trawl catches landed at Neendakara Coast for a period of one year. This species breeds throughout the year with peak breeding activity in May and November. The monsoon catches consist of juveniles. Life span of the species is 2.5 years and total length at first maturity is 75 mm. Measures for the effective management of the species in the area are discussed

A Network Structure for Diagnosis of Four Types of Faults in Reed-Muller Canonical Circuits

In this paper, a new network structure and its associated universal test set, independent of the circuit function, and dependent only on the number of function variables, with good fault diagnosing capabilities have been proposed for single stuck-at, double stuck-at, AND-bridging and OR-bridging faults in Exclusive-OR Sum of Products (ESOP) Reed-Muller Canonical (RMC) circuits

Effect of strong electric fields on phase transitions in some liquid crystals

An electric field couples to the orientational order in liquid crystals through dielectric anisotropy and is conjugate to the order. However the ionic flow produced by the field causes a dissipation of energy in the medium rendering an experimental study of the effect of the field on the order difficult. We have devised a method of measuring the local temperature of the sample, and both the dielectric constant whose value depends on the orientational order and the conductivity which is sensitive to the short range order in the medium. We report the electric field temperature phase diagrams of pentyl cyanobiphenyl (5CB) and octyloxy cyanobiphenyl (8OCB). The results include (a) the field induced enhancement of the orientational order (b) the critical field beyond which the nematic paranematic transition is continuous and (c) the effect of the field on the nematic-smectic A transition in 8OCB. The results are analysed using the appropriate Landau theories

QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS AND BACTERICIDAL ACTIVITY OF PELARGONIUM GRAVEOLENS L'HER

Objective: The present study investigates the qualitative and quantitative phytoconstituents and bactericidal effect of medicinally important Pelargonium graveolens L' Her leaves extracts. Methods: Preliminary phytochemical screening analyses were determined using standard protocol methods. In addition, antibacterial activities of the P. graveolens leaves extracts were evaluated by disc diffusion method against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Results: The results revealed that ethanolic extract of P. graveolens was found to be the predominant occurrence of phytochemicals (9/11) which contains flavonoid, phenol, tannins, saponins, reducing sugar, glycosides, terpenoids, anthraquinone, and phlorotannins while starch and steroids were absent. In quantitative estimation of bioactive phytoconstituents showed carbohydrates (74 mg/gdw), protein (41.25 mg/gdw), chlorophyll (2.2±0.05 mg/gdw), lipids (0.07 mg/gdw), tannins (135.3 gm/gdw), phenolic compounds (123.75 mg/gdw) and flavonoids (50 mg/gdw) were found to have higher amount in ethanolic extract followed by acetone, methanol and aqueous extract and also showed an inhibitory action on growth of tested bacteria. Conclusion: Ethanolic extract of the P. graveolens leaves hold promises as a potential source of pharmaceutically important phytochemicals and also have strong antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeroginosa and Klebsiella pneumonia. Keywords: Phytochemical screening, Primary and secondary metabolites, Antibacterial screening, Pelargonium graveolen

Performance Characteristics of Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistor based Immunosensor

Carbon nanotube biosensors are used to detect DNA and Proteins. Transistor with array of Carbon nanotubes has proved to enhance in their performance compared to that of conventional Si based. A device with array of Carbon nanotube to respond the Osteopontin (OPN) is a potential new biomarker of prostate cancer has been developed and proposed in this paper. The simulation of the biosensor is simulated using biosensor lab version-2 online through nanohub.org. The performance of the device is checked with a) settling time b) settling time and sensitivity. It is observed that the device reacts with change in time, molecule concentration, buffer-ion concentration. The settling time of the device is found to be 1 second

Oxidative stress in ageing

Background: Ageing is characterized by a gradual decline in body functions and decreased ability to maintain homeostasis. The free radical theory of ageing proposed by Harman D states that ageing is a result of cumulative damage incurred by free radical reactions. Free radicals are highly reactive molecular species with unpaired electrons; generated in the body by several physiological processes. Prime target to free radical attack are the polyunsaturated fatty acids of cell membranes causing lipid peroxidation. The free radicals are neutralized by the exogenous and endogenous antioxidant systems. Oxidative stress occurs when large number of free radicals are produced or the antioxidant activity is impaired. The present study is focused to find out the role of oxidative stress in ageing.Methods: A cross sectional observational study was undertaken to assess the oxidative stress in ageing; by determining the levels of lipid peroxidation product- malondialdehyde (MDA), the antioxidants- superoxide dismutase (SOD) and ceruloplasmin in various age groups. 150 healthy subjects were selected randomly and categorised into three different age groups of 20-30 years, 40-59 years and 60-90 years; with 50 subjects in each group. Results were expressed as mean ± standard deviation.Results: a significant elevation in serum MDA level and a decline in SOD were observed in 40-59 years and 60-90 years age groups. However, an elevated ceruloplasmin level was found in the above age groups.Conclusions: Aforementioned observations are suggestive of an association between oxidative stress and the progression of ageing process

Isolation, screening of Aspergillus flavus and its production parameters for á- amylase under solid state fermentation

The amylase producing fungi were isolated from spoiled fruits, vegetables and soil, in and around Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The isolates were identified and five fungal species were screened. The best amylase producer among them, Aspergillus sp was selected for enzyme production by both sub merged fermentation using mineral salt medium (MSM) and solid state fermentations using wheat bran as a solid substrate. The various parameters influencing solid state fermentation were optimized. The most important factors are such as pH, incubation temperature, incubation period, carbon sources, nitrogen sources and moisture content. The maximum amount of enzyme production was obtained when solid state fermentation was carried out with soluble starch as carbon source and beef extract (1% each) as nitrogen source, optimum conditions of pH 7.0, an incubation temperature of 25 (±2) °C, incubation time 96 h and 62% moisture content