Occurrence of Chromosomal Polymorphism in a Striped Ichthyophid Caecilian (Amphibia: Gymnophiona) from Western Ghats of India

Mitotic and meiotic chromosomes prepared from specimens of Ichthyophis italics tricolor collected from either side of Palghat Gap from three different locations of Western Ghats revealed a diploid number (2n=42-44) with Fundamental Number (62-64). Highest diplod number (44) and occurrence of chromosomal polymorphism is documented for the first time for gymnophion amphibians. Role of chromosomal rearrangements involved in karyotypic derivation process is discussed

Karyology of the East African Caecilian Schistometopum Gregorii (Amphibia, Gymnophiona) from the Tana River Delta, Kenya

This report presents a male somatic karyotype (2N=22; FN=40) and late meiotic stages of Schistometopum gregorii that seems to fall in line with that of other taxa of the family Dermophiidae. In view of a different basic chromosome number prevailing for this species as well for this group, it appears possible to predict that this East African species posits more closely related towards Indian endemic Indotyphlidae

Karyological Characteristics of Two Species of Unstriped Ichthyophid Caecilians (Amphibia:Gymnophiona:Ichthyophiidae) of Western Ghats of India

Karyotypic details of two species of unicoloured caecilians namely Ichthyophis malabarensis (2n=42-44, FN=60,66) and Ichthyophis peninsularis (2n=42, FN=58) collected from Western Ghats of India, is reported for the first time. Role of chromosomal rearrangements involved in karyotypic derivation is discussed. The present chromosomal data suggest that there exists more than one species of unstriped ichthyophid caecilian species in Western Ghats of Indi

Service Providers' Perception of Barriers to Access Mental Health Services

Background: The literature shows that mental health services are yet not adequate and whatever is available is underutilized in India. The aim of the study was to identify the available mental health services; barriers to utilize and deliver mental health service and explore the strategies for effective delivery of mental health services. Methodology: The Expert Interview and Key Informant Interview were the methods of data collection. A standardized script for conducting the interviews was developed based on literature review and discussion with experienced qualitative researchers as per the objectives of the study. Results: The main themes identified under the study were - mental health services, services & facilities under District Mental Health Programme, mental health services in primary health centres, barriers to utilizing mental health services, policy-level barriers to provide mental health services, recommendations and suggestions from service providers to improve mental health service system. Conclusion: There are multiple barriers, which need to be addressed effectively. There is a need to create a network among all stakeholders. Keywords:  Mental health service, district mental health programme, Indi

Purification and characterisation of a carboxylesterase from the latex ofSynadenium grantii Hook, ‘f’

The latex ofSynadenium grantii was found to contain esterolytic activity. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic study coupled with substrate and inhibitor specificity studies revealed the presence of multiple forms of carboxylesterases and cholinesterases in the latex. One of the carboxylesterases of the latex was purified by acetone fractionation, carboxymethyl-Sephadex chromatography and Sepharose-6B gel filtration. The homogeneity of the enzyme was established by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, isoelectric focussing and sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The enzyme consists of a single polypeptide chain with a molecular weight of 14,000. The amino acid analysis of the purified enzyme revealed that it contained a greater number of neutral and acidic, compared to basic amino acid residues. The isoelectric pH of the enzyme was found to be 4.0. The enzyme was a glycoprotein as revealed by periodic acid Schiff-staining technique. Studies with different organophosphate and carbamate inhibitors showed that this enzyme was sensitive to organophosphates. The product inhibition studies with this enzyme showed linear competitive inhibition with acetate and linear non-competitive inhibition with 1-naphthol

Magnitude of bud blight disease of tomato caused by Peanut bud necrosis virus (PBNV) in Northern Eastern Karnataka

The present study on magnitude and spatial distribution of bud blight disease of tomato caused by Peanut bud necrosis virus in major tomato growing area of North Eastern Karnataka through GPS approach during 2014-15, revealed that disease was found to occur at all the stages of the crop with characteristic symptoms such as necrotic rings with green or yellow hallow spots on leaves, later tip necrosis and die back. Further, presence of longitudinal brown necrotic streaks on petioles, stem and characteristic brown ring and chlorotic ring spots on green and red ripened tomatoes respectively. GPS based survey indicated that the % disease incidence varied from location to location (spatial variation), with the mean incidence ranging from 14.52 to 62.13 per cent. Among the six districts, highest incidence of 62.13 per cent was recorded in Kalaburgi district followed by Raichur, Bidar, Yadgir and Koppal with 60.35, 57.96, 45.68 and 37.13 per cent incidence, respectively and the least disease incidence of 14.52 per cent was recorded in Ballari district. The GPS maps plotted based on PDI scale (0-4) represents high risk areas of the disease in North Eastern Karnataka and higher magnitude of disease was recorded in many of the location surveyed were the tomato fields surrounded by alternate hosts of PBNV. The study signifies PBNV diagnostic symptoms and its prevalence in North Eastern Karnatak

Immunopharmacological consequences of immune responses to therapeutic interferon beta

Protein therapeutics or biologics represent 30 % of current licensed pharmaceutical products. In general, biologics offer superior safety profiles compared to small molecules. However, significant clinical concerns have emerged in terms of development of anti-drug antibodies (ADAs), a phenomenon that is covered under the term, immunogenicity. Anti-drug antibodies can alter pharmacokinetics, reduce efficacy of the therapeutic and also can in some cases induce allergic reactions. Human recombinant interferon beta (IFN-β) is a biologic used for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) – a chronic, inflammatory and demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. Long-term treatment with IFN-β has been shown to lead to the development of anti-IFN-β antibodies that can cause total loss or reduced efficacy. Anti-drug antibodies can be non-neutralising (N-NAb) and neutralising (NAb) depending on the site to which they bind. This study aimed to conduct a systematic review to determine factors affecting the formation of neutralising antibodies against three different formulations of IFN-β Avonex™, Rebif™ and Betaseron/Betaferon™. Findings from the systematic review highlight the relative differences in immunogenicity risk of different IFN-β formulations Avonex™, Rebif ™ and Betaseron/Betaferon™ with Avonex™ having the lowest risk, Rebif™ has moderate risk and Betaseron/Betaferon™ has high risk. Characterising the immunoglobulin profile of the IFN-β ADAs from the plasma of ADA positive MS patients revealed that IFN-β ADAs are predominantly of the IgG1 and IgG4 subclass. We also characterised the neutralising potential of the major ADA IgG4 subclass using a IFN-β bioactivity assay and show that IgG4 antibodies may likely contribute to the neutralisation activity. The potential of the neutralising ADAs to cross-react with endogenous IFN-β was investigated using an in vitro bioactivity assay. Findings from this set of experiments revealed varying degrees of neutralisation of endogenous IFN-β. We next explored the potential immunological consequence of ADA with regards to formation of immune complexes and activation of complement. The interaction of ADAs with the biologic can result in formation of immune complex. Immune complexes can activate the complement system. The data revealed IFN-β ADAs can form immune complexes with IFN-β and therefore activate complement. We also attempted to identify IFN-β linear epitopes that the ADAs had the ability to bind. However, a combination of multipin peptide technology and in vitro peptide competitive binding assay failed to reveal a definitive linear epitope although there was some evidence for the existence of potential linear epitopes. We also examined the involvement of T helper cells and T regulatory cells (Tregs) in ADA development. The data revealed no significant differences in the frequency of Tregs among IFN-β ADAs positive, negative and healthy donors. Attempts were also made to identify T helper epitopes within IFN-β that could potentially drive immunogenicity. Using T-cell epitope prediction tools (IEDB-AR and ProPred) and T-cell functional assays we identified an immunogenic sequence of 36 amino acids within IFN-β (position 130-166). Our data revealed that one IFN-β peptide within this sequence is a potential T-cell immunogenic epitope. In addition we identified a possible association of one IFN-β derived peptide with the DRB1*1501HLA haplotype. In summary, the results presented in this thesis have provided essential information on subclass profile of IFN-β ADAs, the possible involvement of T helper cells and potential antibody epitopes within IFN-β. Future studies should be aimed at providing greater detail on the evolution of the ADA response and test strategies to remove immunogenic determinants from IFN-β

Kvercetin potpomaže akaricidnu aktivnost ivermektina u slučaju svinja prirodno oboljelih od sarkoptoze

Sarcoptic mange triggers continuous oxidative onslaughts, resulting in severe oxidative stress in pigs and, to date, no antioxidant has been evaluated for the treatment of naturally infested pigs. This randomized clinical trial aimed to assess the ameliorative potential of the antioxidant quercetin (QR) when integrated with ivermectin (IVM) in the treatment of sarcoptic mange in pigs. The control group (T0 , n=10) consisted of healthy subjects. The first treatment group (T1 , n=10) consisted of infested pigs receiving the standard treatment (subcutaneous IVM only) while the second treatment group (T2 , n=10) consisted of infested pigs receiving integrated treatment (subcutaneous IVM plus oral QR). On day 0, the circulating malondialdehyde (MDA) was significantly higher and superoxide dismutase (SOD), reduced glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT), total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and antioxidative minerals (zinc, copper, iron) were lower in all infested pigs compared to the healthy subjects. On day 14 post-treatment, maximum recovery was observed in the MDA, SOD, GSH, CAT, TAC, zinc, copper and iron in group T2 and the results returned to normal earlier in group T2 than in T1 . Likewise, more significant improvements in parasitological cure rate, scratching index and skin score were recorded after treatment in group T2 than group T1 . These results suggest the greater effectiveness of IVM plus QR than IVM alone against sarcoptic mange, and quercetin may be recommended as an ancillary therapy with IVM to negate severe oxidative stress, improve post-therapy convalescence and produce a speedy recovery in pigs.Sarkoptoza u svinja pokreće poremećaje koji rezultiraju teškim oksidacijskim stresom za koji još uvijek nije otkriven antioksidans kojim bi se prirodno infestirane svinje tretirale. Cilj je ovog randomiziranog kliničkog istraživanja bio procijeniti antioksidacijski potencijal kvercetina (QR) u kombinaciji s ivermektinom (IVM) u liječenju sarkoptoze u svinja. U kontrolnoj su skupini (T0 , n=10) bile zdrave jedinke. U prvoj su pokusnoj skupini (T1 , n = 10) infestirane svinje dobile standardnu terapiju (samo IVM primijenjen supkutano), dok su infestirane svinje u drugoj pokusnoj skupini (T2 , n = 10) primile integriranu terapiju (supkutano IVM i oralno QR). Nulti dan cirkulacijski je malondialdehid (MDA) bio znakovito veći, dok su superoksidna dismutaza (SOD), reducirani glutation (GSH), katalaza (CAT), ukupan anitoksidacijski kapacitet (TAC) i antioksidacijski minerali (cink, bakar i željezo) bili smanjeni u infestiranih svinja u usporedbi sa zdravim jedinkama. Četrnaesti dan poslije liječenja uočen je maksimalan oporavak u pogledu pokazatelja MDA, SOD, GSH, CAT, TAC, cinka, bakra i željeza u skupini T2 te njihov raniji povratak na uobičajene vrijednosti u skupini T2 u odnosu na skupinu T1. Osim toga, u skupini T2 u odnosu na skupinu T1 zapaženo je znakovito poboljšanje u stopi izliječenosti parazitoze, indeksu grebenja i bodovanju promjena na koži. Ovi rezultati upućuju na veću učinkovitost IVM-a u kombinaciji s QR-om nego IVM-a upotrijebljenog kao samostalna terapija sarkoptoze u svinja. Zaključuje se da bi kvercetin mogao biti dodatna terapija uz IVM kako bi se poništili teški učinci oksidacijskog stresa, poboljšala poslijeterapijska rekonvalescencija i ubrzao oporavak svinja

Global positioning system based spatial and temporal distribution of new leaf curl begomovirus disease on sunflower in Northern Karnataka

Leaf curl disease on sunflower caused by begomovirus genus of the family geminiviridae. Present investigations on field survey for disease incidence, field diagnostic symptoms and its spatial and temporal distribution in major sunflower growing parts of North Eastern Karnataka through GPS system during 2013-14, revealed that the disease was found to occur at all the stages of sunflower under field condition and exhibited symptoms such as vein thickening (enations) on abaxial surface of the leaves, upward curling and reduction in leaf size and severe discoluration of capitulum (Head) followed by bushy appearance. GPS based survey indicated that the % disease incidence varied from location to location (spatial variation) and also from season to season (temporal variation). The low incidence was noticed during Kharif condition which is ranged between 6.34-11.16, with the average incidence of 11.2%, 7.4% and 6.3% in Koppal, Raichur and Ballari districts repectively. Whereas during Rabi/summer season, high magnitude of disease noticed in many of the locations surveyed and is recorded upto 92.9 %. The GPS maps plotted based on PDI scale (0-3) represents high risk areas of the disease in Raichur and adjacent areas of Nort Eastern Karnataka and the result shows that the disease occurrence was more in rabi as compared to Kharif situations irrespective of locations. GPS survey map is an indicator to locate the nature of disease spread so as to conclude the hotspot areas

Specific identification, biology and symptoms of whitefly species infesting sunflower in South India

Whitefly species related to sunflower was identified as Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius). Further the identified whitefly species was confirmed to be indigenous B. tabaci on molecular basis by using B-biotype specific SCARs and biological silver leaf assay on sensitive pumpkin (cv Big variety). None of the whitefly samples could positive for the presence of B biotype. The results of the study on the pest life cycle under the laboratory conditions showed that, B. tabaci passed through four nymphal instars before the adult stage. The mean duration values of these stages were 5.6, 4.2, 4.4 and 5.6 days respectively. The total duration of the life cycle of B. tabaci ranged from 23- 42 days at the temperature of 29±2°C with a mean of 34.5. The damage to sunflower crop caused by the whitefly species is discussed with a special emphasis on its ability to transmit leaf curl viral disease