Isolation, characterization and antibiotic susceptibility profile of Staphylococcus aureus from raw milk samples in Nagpur district, India

The study was carried out from July 2010 to June 2011. The aim of the present investigation was to isolate Staphylococcus aureus from raw milk obtained from cow from different parts of Nagpur district, India and to determine their antibiotic susceptibility profile. General biochemical tests along with the MASTASTAPHTM rapid agglutination tests were employed for bacterial identification. All the well characterized isolates were further confirmed by amplifying coa gene by PCR. A total 95 S. aureus isolates were obtained during this study from 50 raw milk samples. When all the well characterized isolates were subjected to antibiotic susceptibility testing, erythromycin and chloramphenicol were the most effective antibiotics. A large proportion of isolates were found to be resistant to Co-trimoxazole (89%) followed by Linomycin (81%) and Penicillin (35%) It was concluded from the current study that the hygiene of the milk was poor and resistant strains contaminated the milk probably during the process of transportation

Citric acid: A potential permeabilizer against multiple drug resistance enteropathogenic Escherichia coli

Enteric diseases enter through the mouth and are usually spread by contaminated food, water or contact with contaminated vomit or feces. Enteric infection encompasses all the infections of the intestinal tract. These intestinal infections include organisms like Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Shigella, Klebsiella, Proteus etc. Out of these, E. coli are one of the common causes of enteric infection. In spite the introduction of a wide variety of antimicrobial agents against enteric diseases, life threatening infections caused by E. coli contributes to morbidity and mortality in patients. The present study was conducted to determine the antibiotic sensitivity pattern of E. coli obtained from stool samples and potentiation of antibiotic activity by citric acid against multiple drug resistant E. coli. Out of the 200 isolates of E. coli, 150 were found to be resistant to one or more antibiotics tested. 0.05% and 0.1% citric acid was found to be effective in increasing the potency of the all the antibiotics used in the study

Dental unit water lines: The infectious sources of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Water quality in the dental unit water lines (DUWLs) is important to the patients and dental healthcare personnel as they are at risk of being infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The aim of the present study was to determine the occurrence of P. aeruginosa contamination in DUWLs and to study the antibiotic resistant profile. A total of 101 dental water samples including air/water spray (26), Ultrasonic scalar (24), Air rotor compressor (26) and Distilled water (25) were screened for P. aeruginosa and 67 samples were found to be contaminated by P. aeruginosa. All these isolates were further subjected to antibiotic susceptibility testing. Among these, 63 (94.02%) showed resistance to ampicillin followed by 39 (58.20%) to amoxicillin, 11 (16.41%) to cefepime, 5 (7.46%) to aztreonam and 1 (1.49%) to gentamicin

Revolutionizing Healthcare: The Role of AI-Based Medical Expert Systems in Building a Better Future

Modern society has an increasing need for better architecture and medical care. However, this difficulty is not sufficiently addressed by present medical architecture. The Medicinal Expert technique can be used to help persons in need in order to address this issue. A tremendous amount of medical data, including patient medical histories, records, and new medications, can be managed and maintained using this technology. It can help with decision-making and fill in for specialists when they are not present. The Medicinal Expert approach is a complex computer software system that generates forecasts using empirical data and expert knowledge. Based on the available training data and knowledge base, these systems function intelligently. Additionally, there are numerous Medical Expert System tools that support clinicians, help with diagnosis, and are crucial for instructing medical students. In this study, we introduce an AI-based Medical Expert System, its features, and its potential to help patients and medical students. We also go through some key findings from recent and prior research on expert systems, as well as how these systems can make the world a better place

GGE biplot analysis to evaluate genotype, environment and their interactions in sorghum multi-location data

Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is a very important crop in the arid and semi-arid tropics of India and African subcontinent. In the process of release of new cultivars using multi-location data major emphasis is being given on the superiority of the new cultivars over the ruling cultivars, while very less importance is being given on the genotype × environment interaction (GEI). In the present study, performance of ten Indian hybrids over 12 locations across the rainy seasons of 2008 and 2009 was investigated using GGE biplot analysis. Location attributed higher proportion of the variation in the data (59.3–89.9%), while genotype contributed only 3.9–16.8% of total variation. Genotype × location interaction contributed 5.8–25.7% of total variation. We could identify superior hybrids for grain yield, fodder yield and for harvest index using biplot graphical approach effectively. Majority of the testing locations were highly correlated. ‘Which-won-where’ study partitioned the testing locations into three mega-environments: first with eight locations with SPH 1606/1609 as the winning genotypes; second mega-environment encompassed three locations with SPH 1596 as the winning genotype, and last mega-environment represented by only one location with SPH 1603 as the winning genotype. This clearly indicates that though the testing is being conducted in many locations, similar conclusions can be drawn from one or two representatives of each mega-environment. We did not observe any correlation of these mega-environments to their geographical locations. Existence of extensive crossover GEI clearly suggests that efforts are necessary to identify location-specific genotypes over multi-year and -location data for release of hybrids and varieties rather focusing on overall performance of the entries

Genetic diversity revealed utility of SSR markers in classifying parental lines and elite genotypes of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench)

Abstract Genetic diversity among 82 rainy and post-rainy sorghum genotypes from India was studied using a set of 35 SSR markers distributed across all the linkage groups. A total of 198 alleles were recorded with an average of 5.71 per primer pair. The polymorphism information content (PIC) values ranged from 0.02 (Xisep 0310) to 0.86 (sb5-206) with a mean of 0.49, indicating high discriminating ability of the SSR markers used. Jaccard's similarity coefficients and cluster analysis revealed substantial diversity among the genotypes. Very high estimate of fixation index (F ST = 0.35, P= 0.001) was obtained when genotypes were structured as rainy and post-rainy season adaptation, and a much higher estimate (F ST = 0.40, P= 0.001) was obtained when the genotypes were classified as varieties, maintainers, restorers and germplasm lines. This indicates strong distinction based on usage groups. Pairwise F ST values based on usage groups corresponded well with the Nei's genetic distances. We were able to distinguish parental lines of hybrids based on their fertility groups, especially lines from rainy season sorghum, using SSR markers. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report in sorghum demonstrating the utility of SSR markers in classifying lines based on their fertility groups. Our results have significant implications in classifying parental lines into heterotic groups for their use in heterosis breeding. The divergent maintainer and restorer lines identified based on Jaccard's similarity coefficients could serve as effective candidates for hybrid development

Genetic dissection of thousand-seed weight in linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) using multi-locus genome-wide association study

Flaxseed/linseed is an important oilseed crop having applications in the food, nutraceutical, and paint industry. Seed weight is one of the most crucial determinants of seed yield in linseed. Here, quantitative trait nucleotides (QTNs) associated with thousand-seed weight (TSW) have been identified using multi-locus genome-wide association study (ML-GWAS). Field evaluation was carried out in five environments in multi-year-location trials. SNP genotyping information of the AM panel of 131 accessions comprising 68,925 SNPs was employed for ML-GWAS. From the six ML-GWAS methods employed, five methods helped identify a total of 84 unique significant QTNs for TSW. QTNs identified in ≥ 2 methods/environments were designated as stable QTNs. Accordingly, 30 stable QTNs have been identified for TSW accounting up to 38.65% trait variation. Alleles with positive effect on trait were analyzed for 12 strong QTNs with r2 ≥ 10.00%, which showed significant association of specific alleles with higher trait value in three or more environments. A total of 23 candidate genes have been identified for TSW, which included B3 domain-containing transcription factor, SUMO-activating enzyme, protein SCARECROW, shaggy-related protein kinase/BIN2, ANTIAUXIN-RESISTANT 3, RING-type E3 ubiquitin transferase E4, auxin response factors, WRKY transcription factor, and CBS domain-containing protein. In silico expression analysis of candidate genes was performed to validate their possible role in different stages of seed development process. The results from this study provide significant insight and elevate our understanding on genetic architecture of TSW trait in linseed

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Not AvailableStudies on early-season and mid-season cold temperature stress on growth and yield components in diverse classes of winter sorghum are essential for targeting hybrid development that is otherwise confined only to rainy season-grown sorghum. The results showed that from among the 194 winter sorghum genotypes belonging to 5 groups – varieties, B-lines, R-lines, hybrids and germplasm lines, 81% of the genotypes were correctly placed in their respective groups based on discriminant analysis. Principal component analysis showed that most of the traits involved in the study are important and variability cannot be explained by a few traits and the traits recorded at seedling and maturity stages were explained by different principal components. Most of the traits recorded under cold stress at seedling stage did not correlate with those recorded under cold stress at anthesis. There is scope for improvement of individual groups for seedling dry fodder yield and grain yield, more so in the case of hybrids and female parental lines. Breeding for cold tolerance at seedling as well as anthesis stages has to be separately targeted. Thus, for developing new winter sorghum hybrids, female parental lines have to be diversified and improved for grain yield and percentage of seed set by crossing with promising germplasm lines identified in the study.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableFoxtail millet is one of the climate resilient crops having great capabilities to sustain agriculture production in near future. Forty four genotypes of foxtail millet were evaluated to study the genetic variability, correlation and path coefficients. The Estimates of genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variation were high for number of productive tillers plant-1, number of panicles plant-1, grain yield plant-1, straw yield plant-1 and iron content. All the traits except plant height had the maximum heritability. High genetic advance as per cent of mean coupled with high estimates of broad sense heritability (h2 b) (>60%) indicated that, the variation observed for most of the traits were heritable and selection would be effective for improvement of these traits. Grain yield plant-1 (g) was highly significant and positively correlated with number of productive tillers plant-1, panicle length, number of panicles plant-1, 1000-grain weight, straw yield plant-1 and protein content. The selection in positive direction for these traits with grain yield plant-1 (g) can be practiced for genetic enhancement of grain yield. Path coefficient analysis revealed that 1000-grain weight had the highest positive direct effects on grain yield plant-1. The indirect effect of number of panicles, panicle length (cm), number of productive tillers and straw yield through 1000-grain weight was positive and moderate to high indicating the direct selection for 1000-grain weight in foxtail millet will lead to simultaneous indirect selection of these traits for increased grain yield plant-1.Not Availabl