Changes in the pigment constituents of Gracilaria edulis (Gmelin) Silva cultured in open sea off Narakkal by reproductive method

Red alga Gracilaria edulis was cultured by reproductive method in floating rafts in the sea off Narakkal, Kochi. Pigment constituents such as Chlorophyll-a, Phycocyanin, Phycoerythrin and Allophycocyanin of the seaweed were estimated and correlated with growth and environmental parameters such as atmospheric temperature, salinity and rainfall during the culture period. On 60th day after transplantation all pigment contents were found to be very high coinciding with heavy rainfall. Growth and pigment contents also showed changes at different depths of water colum

Biochemical constituents of Gracilaria edulis cultured from spores

Gracilaria edulis was cultivated in west coast of India off Narakkal by reproductive method using the carpospores. The culture period was from November to March with regular sampling of growing plants for the estimation of biochemical constituents, quantitative and qualitative estimation of agar. The biochemical constituents like protein and carbohydrate content increased corresponding to the age of the plant whereas the lipid content declined. Harvesting of the crop can be determined from the qualitative and the quantitative estimation of agar along with other biochemical constituents. It was found out that crop harvested after 121 days of culture period had better quality of agar and also high protein conten

Influence of different concentrations of sodium bicarbonate on growth rate and chlorophyll content of Chlorella salina

Chlorella salina was grown in enriched medium supplemented with different concentrations of sodium bicarbonate to study the influence of inorganic carbon (C) on its growth and chlorophyll content. Linear growth was observed on the treatment with 0.004 and 0.005 M sodium bicarbonate whereas exponential growth was observed in control and 0.001 to 0.003 M bicarbonate treatment. The growth rate was maximum in 0.005 M concentration with a 1/ln value of 0 .270 + 0.01 on 15 days of culture. Increase in growth was observed with the increase of concentration of sodium bicarbonate from 0.001 to 0.005 M. Growth rate in 0.005 M concentration was 70% more than that of the control. There was steady decline of photosynthetic pigments (chl a & chl b) in both control and treatment in the initial period of growth. The decline was up to 4th day in the treatments from 0.002 to 0.005 M concentration whereas it was up to 7th day in control and 0.001 M treatment. Chl b was found to be steady from 7th to 15th days of treatment. Maximum chl a was observed in 0.005 M treatment (7.9 μg/ml) on 15th day and minimum during 4th day of culture (0.6 μg/ml). Chl a to chl b ratio showed increase in all the treatments until 13 days of culture period. In control and lower concentration of Ci treatment, the ratio increased to more than 2 after 9th day, whereas similar observation was found on 4th day of culture in 0.004M and 0.005 M treatments. This result leads to the conclusion that there is a need to augment inorganic carbon along with the enriched medium during the initial period of culture of Chlorella salina to improve the specific growth rate

The outcome of preterm births in pregnant women with hypertensive disorders: an observational study

Background: Hypertensive conditions occurring during pregnancy are linked to heightened chances of severe consequences, including preterm birth, intrauterine growth restriction, perinatal mortality and morbidity, acute kidney failure, sudden liver malfunction, excessive postpartum bleeding, HELLP Syndrome, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and seizures. Methods: A prospective hospital-based study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital of eastern Uttar Pradesh, over the period of one year. The total sample size calculated was 235. Data was collected using the structured questionnaire. This study recruited the hypertensive pregnant women with a blood pressure reading of 140/90 mmHg or higher, irrespective of the timing of the blood pressure elevation, who visited the hospital for delivery over the course of one year. Various maternal variables were examined, including age, gestational age, number of previous deliveries, the status of the mother's blood pressure, and the type of delivery. Results: In the present study, the births revealed the following distribution among different hypertensive disorders: chronic hypertension preterm: 100.0% 06 vs. term: 0% 0, eclampsia, preterm: 60.4% 64 vs. term: 39.6% 42, mild preeclampsia, preterm: 55.3% vs. term: 44.7%, severe preeclampsia, preterm: 48.5% vs. term: 51.5%, and gestational hypertension, preterm: 23.5% vs. term: 76.5%. Conclusions: Based on the findings of this study, it was determined that hypertensive disorders play a pivotal role in influencing both the frequency of preterm delivery and the associated complications in infants resulting from premature birth

Ascorbic Acid is an Abettor in Calcium Urolithiasis: An Experimental Study

Two sets of animal experiments using guinea pigs were planned to evaluate the effect of ascorbic acid supplementation on the lithogenic process. In the first set of experiments, 10, 40, and 60 mg doses of ascorbic acid/100g body weight/day were given for 105 days. Neither of the ascorbic acid doses given induced crystalluria, calcification or stone formation, thereby confirming our previous findings that ascorbic acid in the doses used by clinicians does not cause urolith formation. In the second set of experiments, ascorbic acid was supplemented in hypercalciuric (induced by calcium carbonate feeding) and hyperoxaluric (induced by sodium oxalate feeding) animals for 45 days. The results indicated that it exacerbated the calcification process in renal and bladder tissue

Seaweeds

Research works oti various aspects of seaweeds have been caried out since last five decades. They inchide resources survey, studies on distribution, Uixonomy, ecology, biology, phycocolioids, biochemicals, culture and utilisation of marine algae growing in Tamil Nadu, Kercda, Lakshadwe^p and Andaman-Nicobar Islands. Information was also gathered since 1978 on the quantity of seaweeds commercially exploited from the natural seaweed beds occurring in Tamil Nadu coast. The results obtained on these aspects are reviewed in this paper. The prospects of seaweed research, industry and utilisation in India are also briefly described

Live feed research for larviculture of marine finfish and shellfish

The major expansion of marine finfish and crustacean aquaculture since 1980s around the world can be attributed to the development of standard techniques for mass production of live feed. Even though most farmed marine animals are either carnivorous or omnivorous from their post-larval stage, microalgae are required for larval nutrition during a brief period either for direct consumption or indirectly as food for live prey fed to small larvae

Pond based grow out system of gracilaria verrucosa

Gracilaria verrucosa was successfully cultivated in a pond based aquaculture system at Narakkal. Kerala. India. Daily growth rate of seaweed was found to be maximum (19.22%) during 60 days of introduction. The growth. pigment constituents and the yield of agar were influenced by the environmental parameters. Agar yield and photosynthetic pigments declined in the initial period up to 50 days due to acclimatization of the plants lo new environment which was collected from Chennai, India and introduced in the pond at 'Narakkal. After 60 days, the algae started establishing in the bottom of the pond and an initial harvest of 230.25 kg was harvested after 90 days of culture period. Further regular harvest was made at every 10 days interval yielding 1015 kg of Gverrucosa during the culture period. The agar content ranged between 7-14.8% and bottom sample exhibited better yield of. agar than the plants cultured in the floating raft