Ceramic Materials (Phosphors) for Display Applications

Phosphors the ceramic materials should able to work in tough environment surrounded and bombarded by high energy Vacuum Ultra Violet (VUV), UV or electron beam radiations in any discharge tube. The plasma display panel (PDP) is increasingly gaining attention over conventional cathode ray tube (CRT)-based TVs as a medium of large format (60+”) television (TV), particularly high definition TVs (HDTVs). Improvements have been made not only in size but also in other areas such as resolution, luminescence efficiency, brightness, contrast ratio, power consumption, and cost reduction. The formation of a phosphor host and doping process by solid solution is critical and is highly dependent on the reaction temperature and conditions. Since the purity of starting chemicals is very important to the synthesis of phosphors, the starting chemicals are typically 99.9%, 99.999% in purity. Required amounts of starting ingredients are mixed in the presence of an appropriate flux (if necessary) and fired at high temperatures (1200 °C) in air or in a controlled atmosphere (N2, C, CO, or N2 with 2-5% of H2). The present paper reports the synthesis and luminescence characteristics of different ceramic materials (phosphors) for display applications

Antifungal attributes of Lactobacillus plantarum MYS6 against fumonisin producing Fusarium proliferatum associated with poultry feeds

Fumonisins, being common in occurrence in maize-based feeds, pose a great threat to animal and human health. The present study is aimed at determining the antifungal activity of Lactobacillus plantarum MYS6 against a fumonisin producing fungus, Fusarium proliferatum MYS9. The isolate was subjected to standard tests for determining its probiotic attributes and antifungal properties. L. plantarum MYS6 thrived well at pH 3.0 and 6.0, and exhibited strong resistance up to 3% bile. The isolate showed a high degree of cell surface hydrophobicity corresponding to its strong adhesion to chicken crop epithelial cells. Coinoculation with the fungus on modified de Man Rogosa Sharpe medium revealed the inhibitory effect of L. plantarum MYS6 on fungal growth and biomass. Observation using scanning electron microscopy showed distortion of hyphal structures, swollen tips and disrupted conidia. Conidia germination inhibition assay restrained germination and showed deformed hyphae. The bioprotective feature of the isolate was evident by the inhibition of fungal development in maize-kernel treated with the cell free supernatant of L. plantarum MYS6. Both the isolate and its extracellular metabolites lowered fumonisin content in feed model up to 0.505 mg/Kg of feed and 0.3125 mg/Kg of feed respectively when compared to the level of 0.870 mg/Kg of feed in control. The major antifungal compounds produced by the isolate were 10-Octadecenoic acid, methyl ester; palmitic acid, methyl ester; heptadecanoic acid, 16-methyl ester; stearic acid and lauric acid. L. plantarum MYS6 reduced 61.7% of fumonisin possibly by a binding mechanism. These findings suggest the application of L. plantarum MYS6 as an efficient probiotic additive and biocontrol agent in feed used in poultry industry. Additionally, the antifungal metabolites pose a conspicuous inhibition of Fusarium growth and fumonisin production

Probiotic Lactobacillus Strains the future biological missiles to treat autism spectrum disorder: a short communication

Autism is characterized by communication impairments, neurobehavioral, social abnormalities and immunological and metabolic dysfunction. Among these, gastrointestinal abnormalities are of clinical importance associated with the autistic individuals. Gastrointestinal abnormalities can affect the neuropathological and behavioral features and contribute to pathogenesis of autistic symptoms. Now a spate of new studies supports this notion and suggests that restoring proper microbial balance could alleviate some of the disorder's behavioral symptoms. Evidence is mounting that some of the beneficial intestinal microbiome called probiotics favors the individuals with autism supporting the gut-brain barrier. These probiotics may provide therapeutic strategies for neurodevelopmental disorders. Therapies that target the gut microbiome may hold the key for making progress against a wide range of notoriously difficult psychiatric illnesses. Thus, a probiotic supplementation early in life may reduce the risk of neuropsychiatric disorder development later in childhood possible by mechanisms not limited to gut microbiota composition

Probiotic lactobacillus strains and their antimicrobial peptides to counteract biofilm-associated infections: A promising biological approach

Biofilms keep the intimate relationship between human body and resident microbes. According to National Institutes of Health (NIH), the development of extracellular microbial communities, called biofilms contribute approximately 75% of pathogenic infections to human. The formation of biofilm confers several advantages during pathogen colonization and tolerates extreme conditions like exogenous stress caused by anti-infective agents. The interpretation and exploitation of anti-biofilm properties would help in future challenges, particularly in the control of human infections. The proven scientific evidence with regard to cellular association and exopolysaccharide production by probiotic bacteria could play an important role as anti-biofilm tools. These extracellular components may directly interact with the biofilms as they are actively transported to the bacterial environments via cytoplasmic membrane. The interactive ability of these extracellular metabolites to treat pathogenic biofilms is gaining significant research interest and their possibility to use as anti-biofilm agents. In this review, the extracellular probiotic bacterial markers and molecular approaches to control pathogenic biofilms have been reviewed and future perspectives and research interests are discussed as well

Carbonate Lumps in the Lawson's Bay Area, Visakhapatnam, East Coast of India

72-74Modern carbonate lumps are found in the Lawson's Bay area. The carbonate lumps are inferred to have been deposited by biochemical process in the littoral zone. Abundant high Mg-calcite with subordinate aragonite and dolomite are the minerals in the carbonates. Aragonite and dolomite are considered to have been formed by the diagenetic alteration of high Mg-calcite. Amphiroa fragilissima and Chaetomorpha sp. are the dominant algal forms present in the carbonates. No direct evidence on the age of carbonates in the bay could be obtained

Therapeutic potential of probiotic lactobacillus plantarum MYS94 against campylobacter jejuni

Campylobacter jejuni is one of the most common intestinal pathogen causes of human gastroenterocolitis thereby leading to diarrhea and other serious post-infectious complications. Controlling the C. jejuni infection is critical for reducing campylobacteriosis for a healthy gut. In the current study, Lactobacillus plantarum MYS94 was isolated from traditional fermented wine and characterized for its probiotics properties and therapeutic potential against C. jejuni.The probiotic attributes revealed that, the strain could resist the gut pH, bile salt tolerance, adherence ability to chicken crop epithelial cells, sensitivity to penicillin, amoxicillin, bacitracin and erythromycin, further the strain also exhibited inhibitory potential against common food pathogens. The neutralized cell-free supernatant of Lp MYS94 exhibited 62.04% inhibition of Pseudomonas aeruginosa MTCC 7903 biofilm. The study also evaluated the cholesterol-lowering property of the Lp MYS94 using hen egg yolk as the cholesterol source. The cholesterol in hen egg yolk was assimilated by 62.18% and 31.42% by Lp MYS94and its CFS respectively. In addition, Lp MYS94-CFS tested against C. jejuni by well diffusion and time kill assay revealed a significant effect on C. jejuni with strong inhibitory activity. Collectively, the results suggests that L. plantarum MYS94 could be useful as potential probiotic strain suppressing C. jejuni

Thermoluminescence characteristics of MgB₄O₇, MgB₄O₇:Mn and MgB₄O₇:Cu phosphors

456-458The thermoluminescence (TL) characteristics of gamma irradiated MgB4O7, MgB4O7:Mn and MgB4O7:Cu phosphors have been studied in the present paper. These phosphors are tried as candidates for PDP panel phosphors. The method of preparation is a standard solid state reaction method. Thermoluminescence studies of gamma irradiated MgB4O7 show a TL peak at 225°C with TL intensity around 65 units. The introduction of 1% dopants like Mn and Cu changes the TL pattern i.e TL peak temperature shifts towards higher side at 233°C. The introduction of Cu creates a hump around 290°C

Characterization of probiotic lactobacillus plantarum mys14 isolated from sannas, a traditional fermented food for its therapeutic potential

Background: Traditional fermented foods are a typical niche for probiotic Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) and are involved with many therapeutic attributes. Among LAB, Lactobacillus plantarum is one of the most versatile members. Several L. plantarum strains have been documented for their probiotic attributes. There are limited reports on the evaluation of probiotic potential along with the therapeutic properties such as antioxidative ability. With this background, the present study was carried out to screen ‘Sannas’ which is collected from the Coorg region of Karnataka state, India, in the presence of potential probiotic L. plantarum strains for their therapeutic potential. Methods: Sannas was screened for the potential probiotic strains and identified using physiological, biochemical and molecular methods. A series of probiotic attributes were assessed for the selection of potential probiotic strains. Further, the potential probiotic strains were assessed for the in vitro antibiofilm activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa MTCC 7903. In addition, the cholesterol lowering ability of the potential probiotic strain using four-percent commercial fresh hen egg yolk as the cholesterol source. On the other hand, the in vitro antioxidant activity was also determined by a series of assays. Furthermore, the toxicity assessment was also done by the mitotic index using onion root tips as the source of chromosomes. Results: L. plantarum MYS14 isolated from an unexploited traditional cereal-based fermented food had good functional probiotic attributes and the antibiotic susceptibility was an intrinsic feature, thus consumption of this strain does not possess any health risk to humans and animals. In addition, the strain exhibited strong radical scavenging activity which might be useful in controlling or slowing the progress of several oxidative stress related disorders. On the other hand, the strain also exhibited better cholesterol assimilation, antibiofilm ability and the mitotic index revealed the non-toxic effect of the CFS. Conclusion: The probiotic therapy is gaining significant research interest in relation to gut microbiota in an attempt to better understand the therapeutic potential of probiotic strains isolated from unexploited traditional cereal based foods. It is confirmed that this L. plantarum MYS14 strain possesses several characteristics suitable for the production of various antioxidant probiotic products. Collectively, the results suggest that L. plantarum MYS14 may be used as probiotic strain for therapeutic applications

Distribution of P₂O₅ in shelf sediments off Mangalore, West Coast of India

230-231Clay fractions of bottom sediment samples, collected during a cruise on INS Rohini, have bben subjected to chemical analysis to understand the distribution pattern of various major and minor elements in the shelf. As a part of the study, the dispersal pattern of P2O5 has been studied. Terrigenous and organic matter sources have been suggested for the P2O5 in the shelf sediments