Sediment analysis

Air dry soil should be ground to pass through a 0.5 mm sieve. A 2.5 g soil sample is suspended in 50 ml of NaHCO3 solution of pH 8.5 along with 1 teaspoon of carbon black. Fine suspension is shaken for a period of 30 minutes. The solution is filtered through a Whatman No.40 or other suitable filter paper. A 5 ml aliquot of clear filtrate is pipetted in to 25 ml vol. flask. A volume of 5ml acid molybdate is added and the flask is allowed to stand for the generation of CO2. After that add 10 ml distilled water, then 1 ml stannous chloride (working solution), by immediate shaking and make up the volume to 25 ml and mix thoroughly. Prepare a blank as above and read the intensity of colour developed, at 660 nm, after 10 minutes and within 20 minutes

Development of herbarium for mangroves

Mangroves are salt tolerant succulent plants. The main constraint in developing a herbarium of mangrove species is defoliation i.e., withering of leaves from the stem during pressing. This can be overcome by using proper fixatives

Economic Importance of Mangroves, Afforestation and Reclamation

Reclamation/restoration of degraded mangroves by participatory afforestation will give life to an unique environment and form a part of national wealth. Afforestation with a single species of plant suitable for the location is the beginning. Later, mangrove associates and other bio-invasive plants will proliferate and ultimately culminate with the existence of a true mangrove eco-system provided human interventions are restricted. A positive aspect in the cost-benefit analysis of mangrove afforestation programmes is that it does not require any additional cost once the seedlings are properly planted as nature will take care of its further growth. Systematic plantation of mangroves in an area of one hectare costs about Rs.1.08 lakh with the break even cost of Rs.28.85 per tree (Table 1) generating multiple direct and indirect benefits

Mangrove vegetation

Mangrove vegetation includes plants ranging from herbs, shrubs to tall trees. In favourable conditions the mangrove trees can form dense forests in intertidal habitats. However; only a few species form a massive canopy. The main characteristic features of these special type of plants are the tidal amplitude, defined by the species, and their ability to tolerate high salinity and stress. The majority of the plant groups have adaptations like prop and stilt roots for fixing support and the pneumatophores otherwise called the breathing roots for exchanging gases and the viviparous germination. In addition to these, the plants have leathery, dark, ever green leaves with deeply embeded stomata and aquous tissues

Benthos - Polychaetes

Polychaetes are one of the major benthic group of animals just like molluscs and crustaceans. Globally 12,620 species of Polychaetes are supposed to be occurring and in India around, 1,093 species representing 8.66% of the total number of polychaete species are known. Polychaetes are very important in the marine and brackish water ecosystems extending from the abyssal depths to the inter-tidal regions. Its major role is through the biomass formation in the benthic as well as in the pelagic aquatic systems as sedentary and pelagic polychaetes and through the different larval forms released by them. It also forms the major food for crustaceans, molluscs as well as for fishes. Because of the special adaptive nature of this group, Polychaetes are distributed in almost all ecological conditions, both in the macro and micro environments having different ranges of salinities and dissolved oxygen. Certain species survive in the anaerobic conditions also

Micro algae

The present work pertains to the micro flora of selected mangroves of India. The littoral diatoms are found to occur in the sediment as well as attached to the decaying leaves of mangrove plants. Few of them are true plankton, which are brought to the mangroves during high tide. Altogether 48 genera and 2 general of blue green have been described under which 80 species have been found in the Indian mangroves

Mangrove ecosystems of Kerala: Resources north of Cochin

Mangroves are salt tolerant marshy vegetation found mainly along the tropical and subtropical intertidal regions of the world comprising trees and shrubs, adapted to thrive in shallow, muddy, salt and brackish waters. The canals, creeks and the estuarine environment provide home for a wide variety of aquatic fauna and the arid zone forms the nesting grounds for aquatic birds. Mangroves constitute the breeding and nursery grounds for the larvae and juveniles of commercially important species of prawns, fishes and molluscs

Outcome Prediction in Pneumonia Induced ALI/ARDS by Clinical Features and Peptide Patterns of BALF Determined by Mass Spectrometry

BACKGROUND: Peptide patterns of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were assumed to reflect the complex pathology of acute lung injury (ALI)/acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) better than clinical and inflammatory parameters and may be superior for outcome prediction. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A training group of patients suffering from ALI/ARDS was compiled from equal numbers of survivors and nonsurvivors. Clinical history, ventilation parameters, Murray's lung injury severity score (Murray's LISS) and interleukins in BALF were gathered. In addition, samples of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid were analyzed by means of hydrophobic chromatography and MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry (MALDI-ToF MS). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis for each clinical and cytokine parameter revealed interleukin-6>interleukin-8>diabetes mellitus>Murray's LISS as the best outcome predictors. Outcome predicted on the basis of BALF levels of interleukin-6 resulted in 79.4% accuracy, 82.7% sensitivity and 76.1% specificity (area under the ROC curve, AUC, 0.853). Both clinical parameters and cytokines as well as peptide patterns determined by MALDI-ToF MS were analyzed by classification and regression tree (CART) analysis and support vector machine (SVM) algorithms. CART analysis including Murray's LISS, interleukin-6 and interleukin-8 in combination was correct in 78.0%. MALDI-ToF MS of BALF peptides did not reveal a single identifiable biomarker for ARDS. However, classification of patients was successfully achieved based on the entire peptide pattern analyzed using SVM. This method resulted in 90% accuracy, 93.3% sensitivity and 86.7% specificity following a 10-fold cross validation (AUC = 0.953). Subsequent validation of the optimized SVM algorithm with a test group of patients with unknown prognosis yielded 87.5% accuracy, 83.3% sensitivity and 90.0% specificity. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: MALDI-ToF MS peptide patterns of BALF, evaluated by appropriate mathematical methods can be of value in predicting outcome in pneumonia induced ALI/ARDS