36 research outputs found
Reaching remote Amazonian communities to eliminate trachoma
Worldwide, many indigenous peoples are at risk of developing trachoma, a bacterial eye disease that disproportionately affects the world’s poorest communities. In Colombia’s remote Amazonian districts, trachoma is still endemic amongst many of the indigenous communities that live there
The New Method Developed for Evaluation of Anthelmintic Activity by Housefly Worms and Compared with Conventional Earthworm Method
Evaluation of anthelmintic activity of any drug when carried out in laboratory conditions by using the isolated worms from nature cannot be adaptable with artificial laboratory conditions. Therefore, the present study aims at developing a new adaptable method for evaluation of anthelmintic activity. The present anthelmintic activity study reveals a new methodology with housefly worms cultured in laboratory conditions that resemble parasitic pinworms found in human being. We studied the anthelmintic activities of various drugs on housefly worms and earthworms. The results showed that the housefly worms had taken more time for paralysis and death. Even after paralysis the time taken for death is more in housefly worms in spite of smaller size and lesser weight of the worms compared to earthworms. The study concluded that the earthworms have not adapted to the artificial laboratory conditions leading to erratic results. Therefore, culturing of housefly worms was carried out to evaluate the anthelmintic activity and found an easy, prominent, eco-friendly, and reproducible method in all aspects such as equal age, size, and weight of worms used for the experiment
Assessing village-level carbon balance due to greenhouse gas mitigation interventions using EX-ACT model
Under National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) project, a range of climate smart agricultural practices were evaluated with on-farm demonstrations during 2011–2013 in eight climatically vulnerable villages of Andhra Pradesh, India. Proven climate smart practices viz residue recycling, soil, water and nutrient management, afforestation and feeding + breeding practices in livestock were implemented in annual and perennial crops, irrigated rice, horticulture, fodder, forestry and livestock. An EX-ante carbon-balance tool (EX-ACT) developed by the FAO was used with a combination of various climate smart interventions to know the mitigation potentials in eight climatically vulnerable villages of Andhra Pradesh, India. Based on our observations, EX-ACT model had shown that these practices were effective to mitigate CO2 emissions apart from enhancing soil productivity. In Nacharam, Yagantipalli, Sirusuwada and Matsyapuri villages, climate smart practices implemented in annual crops along with crop residue recycling, crop and water management practices resulted in negative carbon (C) balance by −16,410, −8851, −7271 and −6125 t CO2 e, respectively. The EX-ACT model predicted positive carbon balance with irrigated module in the rice-growing villages of Sirusuwada and Matsyapuri villages. The negative values suggest a sink, and positive values a source for CO2 emissions. In Chamaluru village, although there were CO2 emissions (source) due to livestock and non-forest and land use changes, there was a carbon sink due to other activities as predicted by the model. The results suggested that various climatic smart practices at the village level were successful in creating net sink of CO2 emissions (t CO2 e)
Dynamics of Hot QCD Matter -- Current Status and Developments
The discovery and characterization of hot and dense QCD matter, known as
Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP), remains the most international collaborative effort
and synergy between theorists and experimentalists in modern nuclear physics to
date. The experimentalists around the world not only collect an unprecedented
amount of data in heavy-ion collisions, at Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
(RHIC), at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in New York, USA, and the Large
Hadron Collider (LHC), at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland but also analyze these
data to unravel the mystery of this new phase of matter that filled a few
microseconds old universe, just after the Big Bang. In the meantime,
advancements in theoretical works and computing capability extend our wisdom
about the hot-dense QCD matter and its dynamics through mathematical equations.
The exchange of ideas between experimentalists and theoreticians is crucial for
the progress of our knowledge. The motivation of this first conference named
"HOT QCD Matter 2022" is to bring the community together to have a discourse on
this topic. In this article, there are 36 sections discussing various topics in
the field of relativistic heavy-ion collisions and related phenomena that cover
a snapshot of the current experimental observations and theoretical progress.
This article begins with the theoretical overview of relativistic
spin-hydrodynamics in the presence of the external magnetic field, followed by
the Lattice QCD results on heavy quarks in QGP, and finally, it ends with an
overview of experiment results.Comment: Compilation of the contributions (148 pages) as presented in the `Hot
QCD Matter 2022 conference', held from May 12 to 14, 2022, jointly organized
by IIT Goa & Goa University, Goa, Indi
The East Africa Trachoma/NTD Cross-border Partnership
Eastern Africa, which comprises Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, has the highest burden of trachoma in the world. In sub-Saharan Africa, there are 1,274 districts known to be endemic for trachoma (i.e., the incidence of trachomatous inflammation – follicular (TF) is > 5%). Of these, 769 are found within the seven Eastern African countries, which represents over 60% of the trachoma endemic districts and 50% of the at-risk population in sub-Saharan Africa
In vitro Evaluation of Antibacterial, Cytotoxic and Adherence Studies of Selected Commercial Probiotics
There is increasing scientific evidence and commercial interest for using probiotics for eliminating and handling of specific diseases. Probiotics can be evaluated for its role and performance against isolated pathogens from contaminating sources. The present work reports on invitro antimicrobial activity of commercial selected probiotics against pathogenic microbe Vibrio parahaemolyticus. The work also describes cytotoxic activities using MTT assay and adherence studies of selected probiotics. Results for the studies showed maximum zone of inhibition 13.66±0.46mm in probiotic enteroplus,12.33±0.93mm in lactobacillus (NCIM2056) and 10.66±0.93mm in Avant Bact. Cytotoxicity was expressed as IC50(µg/ml) values, observed on CaCO cell lines for different probiotics. Avant Bact showed a IC50 value of 104.7745, Lactobacillus (NCIM2056) a value of 58.13223 and Enteroplus a value of 50.09716. These values expressed different safety aspects of probiotics used for study. Finally the adherence study was done to check probiotic colonizing capacity. The probiotics showed varied adherence capacity against caco cell lines. Enteroplus has % adhesion of 10.25±0.74, Avant Bact. 7.25±0.82 and Lactobacillus (NCIM2056) 7.5±1.12. In conclusion antimicrobial results show importance of probiotics to be used against specific gastro intestinal diseases. Cytotoxicity determines safety aspects of probiotics and adherence study determines probiotic as a promising candidate for in vivo studies
Multifunctional P and Mn co-doped titania nanoparticles as efficient visible light driven photocatalyst
1384-1390Phosphorus and manganese co-doped titanium
dioxide nanoparticles have been synthesized by sol-gel method and characterized
by XRD, UV-visible DRS, XPS, SEM, TEM and BET. XRD data show the anatase phase in
all the samples, while XPS analysis shows the dopant phosphorus in the P5+
state and manganese in the Mn4+/Mn3+ states. The co-doped
catalysts show a particle size of 7 nm, with strong absorption in the visible
region. The photocatalytic activity of the
as-prepared catalysts has been tested by degradation of the azodye, acid orange
7 under artificial light as well as under direct sunlight. Photoluminiscence
studies with the co-doped catalysts show enhanced generation of hydroxyl
radicals, the key oxidative species in photocatalytic reactions. In addition,
the antibacterial activity of the nanoparticles against <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:
normal">Escherichia coli has also been investigated<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:
normal">. The results indicate that the as co-doped
TiO2 nanoparticles can be used not only as an efficient
photocatalyst for potential applications in the fields of pollution abatement
process but also as an excellent antibacterial agent