Silver triflate catalyzed synthesis of 3-aminoalkylated indoles and evaluation of their antibacterial activities

An efficient, one-pot synthesis was developed for 3-aminoalkylated indoles by three-component coupling reaction of aldehydes, N-methylanilines, and indoles using AgOTf as a catalyst. A series of twenty 3-aminoalkylated indoles was evaluated for their antibacterial activities against both Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria. Compounds 4b and 4r showed good antibacterial activity against both Gram positive and Gram negative strains. However, inversing the property of substituent (from 4r to 4q) resulted in the significant fall in the magnitude of antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli

Survival analysis of random censoring with inverse Maxwell distribution: an application to guinea pigs data

In real-life situations, performing an experiment up to a certain period of time or getting the desired number of failures is time-consuming and costly. Many of the available observations remain censored and only give the survival information of testing units up to a noted time and not about the exact failure times. In this article, the inverse Maxwell distribution having an upside-down hazard rate is considered a survival lifetime model. The censoring time is also assumed to follow the inverse Maxwell distribution with a different parameter. The probability of failure of an item before censoring and expected and observed time on the test is derived from a random censoring scheme. The maximum likelihood estimators with their confidence intervals for the parameters are obtained for a randomly censored setup. The Bayes estimators are also obtained by taking the inverted gamma distribution as a prior under squared error loss function. In Bayesian analysis, the two techniques i.e. Markov Chain Monte Carlo and Tierney-Kadane approximation methods are used for estimation purposes. For checking the performances of proposed estimators, we performed an extensive simulation study. A real data, guinea pigs, is analyzed to support the proposed study

Biocontrol of plant parasitic nematodes by fungi: efficacy and control strategies

Increasing knowledge and growing concern about the elevated cost of inorganic fertilizers or chemical pesticides with their vast applications on various crop plants has raised interest in the alternative method of plant disease protection caused by plant parasitic nematodes. These alternative methods are not only cost-effective but also eco-friendly to the environment and human health. Among the various rhizospheric microorganisms, opportunistic fungi like Paecilomyces lilacinus, Pochonia chlamydosporia, and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi have the potential to reduce the severity of diseases caused by plant parasitic nematodes and also improved the plant growth and biomass production. This chapter provides an overview on the biocontrol potential of opportunistic as well as AM fungi on the growth and development of various crop plants. The details about the interactions between these fungi and plant parasitic nematodes have been discussed. An overview of the recent cost-effective technologies used for the mass propagation of these beneficial rhizospheric microorganisms is also discussed

Mapping national information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure to the requirements of potential digital health interventions in low- and middle-income countries

Background Digital health can support health care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) by overcoming problems of distance, poor infrastructure and the need to provide community practitioners with specialist support. We used five RESPIRE countries as exemplars (Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan) to identify the digital health solutions that are valuable in their local setting, worked together with local clinicians and researchers to explore digital health policy, electricity/ICT infrastructure, and socio-cultural factors influencing users’ ability to access, adopt and utilise digital health. Methods We adopted the Joanna Briggs Institute’s scoping review protocol and followed the Cochrane Rapid Review method to accelerate the review process, using the Implementation and Operation of Mobile Health projects framework and The Extended Technology Acceptance Model of Mobile Telephony to categorise the results. We conducted the review in four stages: (1) establishing value, (2) identifying digital health policy, (3) searching for evidence of infrastructure, design, and end-user adoption, (4) local input to interpret relevance and adoption factors. We used open-source national/international statistics such as the World Health Organization, International Telecommunication Union, Groupe Speciale Mobile, and local news/articles/government statistics to scope the current status, and systematically searched five databases for locally relevant exemplars. Results We found 118 studies (2015-2021) and 114 supplementary online news articles and national statistics. Digital health policy was available in all countries, but scarce skilled labour, lack of legislation/interoperability support, and interrupted electricity and internet services were limitations. Older patients, women and those living in rural areas were least likely to have access to ICT infrastructure. Renewable energy has potential in enabling digital health care. Low usage mobile data and voice service packages are relatively affordable options for mHealth in the five countries. Conclusions Effective implementation of digital health technologies requires a supportive policy, stable electricity infrastructures, affordable mobile internet service, and good understanding of the socio-economic context in order to tailor the intervention such that it functional, accessible, feasible, user-friendly and trusted by the target users. We suggest a checklist of contextual factors that developers of digital health initiatives in LMICs should consider at an early stage in the development process

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Not AvailableThe ever growing human population coupled with reduced natural resources and the need for more environmentally friendly agricultural practices have highlighted the need for sustainable farming. The intricacies of the plant–microbiome interaction and its impact on plant health and productivity need to be understood for obtaining healthier and more productive plants. Suppressive soils represent an under utilised resource for the control of soil borne pathogens of food, fiber, and ornamental crops. Early research identified the characteristics of soil suppressiveness and the major groups of microorganisms involved, but in recent past due to availability of molecular tools, it has been made possible to characterize and identify the factors and mechanisms responsible for genetic and functional determinants underlying the activity of some biologically suppressive soils. Adoption of different agronomic practices by the farmers spectacularly altered the soil microbiome and considerably enhanced soil suppressiveness to various soilborne diseases. The use of organic amendments or composts for the suppression of plant pathogens could be a promising and environmentally benign alternative to chemical pesticides. The deeper understanding of microbial ecology processes could also provide directions for possible manipulations of the community, leading to a reproducible suppressive amendment. Combining measures of microbial structural diversity with functional traits should be explored in relation to soil and root health in agricultural systems. Manipulating soil quality to achieve an economic level of disease control via agronomic management has been deliberately reviewed with some skepticism. However, crop rotation, residue management practices, and various forms of organic amendments do contribute to the suppression of soil borne diseases. However, the level of understanding for the mechanisms involved in suppressive soils is still limited and not so clear. The benefits of applying organic amendments for disease control are incremental and long lasting depending upon soil ecosystems. The conventional agricultural systems need to be discouraged because of poor production efficiency due to reduced crop diversity, increased genetic uniformity, and shorter rotations. More attention is to be paid on conservation agriculture including maximum use of natural resources. Through the application of green and livestock manures, mulches, and composts, it is hoped that plant beneficial soil microbial populations will develop spontaneously. Selection of complementary rotation crops may also increase the buildup of beneficial microflora during suc- cessive field seasons. Plants can manage the development of beneficial microbial populations through the release of specific root exudates in the root zone. Recently, it has been proposed that plants may also be able to camouflage their presence to phytopathogens by blending into the soil microbial background through restricting the proliferation of root zone bacterial populations. Therefore, the future studies of biologically based soil suppressiveness will put new insights into the microbial ecology of agricultural soils and lay the foundation for the development of creative management strategies for the suppression of soilborne diseases.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableThe aim of this study was to assess the comparative efficacy of summer and monsoon season on the rhizospheric microbial population (actinomycetes, bacteria, fungi) and various soil enzymatic activities (acid and alkaline phosphatases, dehydrogenase and phytase) in three horticultural plant species of arid region. In general, microbial population, enzymatic activities and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) were higher in rhizosphere as compared to non rhizosphere soil. Monsoon season represents optimum conditions for proliferation of microbial population and thereby, increase in various enzymatic activities, which in turn was responsible for mobilization of unavailable nutrients for plants. During monsoon season rhizosphere soil of Z. mauritiana maintain 7.3% more moisture followed by E. officinalis (7.1%) and P. dactylifera (4.8%) as compared to non-rhizosphere soil. In general, an overall increase in acid phosphatase (65%), alkaline phosphatase (25%), phytase (30%), dehydrogenase (24%) and MBC (21%) was reported in rhizosphere as compared to non-rhizosphere soil.Not Availabl

A Hospital Based Study to Compare GENE XPERT (CB-NAAT) and Cytochemical Analysis of Pleural Fluid in Diagnosis of Tuberculosis in Exudative Pleural Effusion at a Tertiary Care Center in Western Rajasthan

Background: Pleural fluid analysis is the most useful test in differentiating possible causes and directing further investigations. Pleural fluid Adenosine Deaminase (ADA) levels are high in pleural tuberculosis, although an elevated value is non-specific and may occur in other infection and malignancy. The aim of this study to compared GENE XPERT (CB-NAAT) and cytochemical analysis in patients with exudative pleural effusion in diagnosis of tuberculosis.Materials & Methods: Present study was a hospital based cross-sectional study. All the patients with pleural effusion at our department were undergone diagnostic thoracocentesis. As per Light’s criteria; Patients with transudative pleural effusion were excluded from study. Total 50 patients were eligible as per the inclusion and exclusion criteria and were included in the study. We also recorded detailed history including socio-demographic profile, smoking habits, history of anti-tubercular treatment, occupational history, along with detailed respiratory and other systemic examinations in a pre-structured proforma.Results: Age ranges from 18 to 78 years. Male to female ratio was 3.16:1. 20 (40%) patients had history of addiction and out of which 16 were smokers, 3 were alcoholic and 1 had dual (alcoholic and smoker) addiction. The pleural effusion sensitivity of CB-NAAT was 10% and specificity were 90% in study population. It means positive predictive value in study were only 10 cases sensitive in population.Conclusion: We concluded that CB-NAATs have high specificity and could be used alongside ADA (or interferon-gamma) to increase sensitivity for ruling out disease and NAAT for high specificity to rule it in

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Not AvailableBook chapter on Arbuscular mycorrhizae: A dynamic microsymbiont for sustainable agriculture. In: Mycorrhizae: Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry. (Eds.) Siddiqui, Akhtar and Futai, Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp. 159-176.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableA simple, reproducible and new method (modified dehydrogenase activity measurement after 72 h; DHA 72) was developed to assess plant residue quality for decomposition. The method resulted in similar assessments of residue quality than measurements of the C:N ratio, lignin:N ratio, and lignin and polyphenol concentration (PRQI). Among 25 plant residues tested, there was a large variation of DHA 72 as found in other well-established methods. Based on cluster analysis, plant residues were grouped in four different classes; highly decomposable, moderately decomposable, slowly decomposable, and least decomposable. It is concluded that DHA 72 can very well be used to screen plant residues for residue quality judgment. The proposed method is very simple and easy to handle.Not Availabl