Biology of moderately halophilic aerobic bacteria

The moderately halophilic heterotrophic aerobic bacteria form a diverse group of microorganisms. The property of halophilism is widespread within the bacterial domain. Bacterial halophiles are abundant in environments such as salt lakes, saline soils, and salted food products. Most species keep their intracellular ionic concentrations at low levels while synthesizing or accumulating organic solutes to provide osmotic equilibrium of the cytoplasm with the surrounding medium. Complex mechanisms of adjustment of the intracellular environments and the properties of the cytoplasmic membrane enable rapid adaptation to changes in the salt concentration of the environment. Approaches to the study of genetic processes have recently been developed for several moderate halophiles, opening the way toward an understanding of haloadaptation at the molecular level. The new information obtained is also expected to contribute to the development of novel biotechnological uses for these organisms

Determination of Montelukast Sodium and Bambuterol Hydrochloride in Tablets using RP HPLC

An accurate, specific and precise assay level gradient reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method was developed for simultaneous determination of montelukast sodium and bambuterol hydrochloride in tablet dosage form. An inertsil ODS C-18, 5 μm column having 250×4.6 mm I.D. in gradient mode, with mobile phase A, containing 0.025 M sodium phosphate buffer: methanol (85:15) and mobile phase B, containing acetonitrile:methanol (85:15) was used at different time intervals. The flow rate was 1.5 ml/min and effluent was monitored at 218 nm. The retention times of montelukast sodium and bambuterol hydrochloride were 21.2 min and 5.8 min respectively. The linearity for both the drugs was in the range of 0.25-0.75 mg/ml with correlation coefficients of 0.9999 and 0.9996 for montelukast sodium and bambuterol hydrochloride, respectively

Process technology development for LOVA gun propellant

100-104"LOVA" gun propellants are formulated with the use of a suitable inert binder and a cyclic nitramine as the energetic ingredient. For the technology development of LOVA gun propellant a suitable manufacturing method was required to be developed. Manufacture of propellant formulation using cellulose acetate and RDX was tried by conventional solvent process by two different methods. In the first method the fine RDX was first desensitised by the plasticiser coating and the desensitised fine RDX was incorporated with the inert binder. In the second method a two stage process technology was adopted. In the first stage, the basic composition is prepared by wet mixing process and in the second stage the dry basic mix is solvent incorporated for extrusion into the required size and shape. The first method was termed as dry process and the second method as wet process. The comparative analysis of the ballistic aspects as determined by closed vessel firing indicated that the propellant batches made by the wet mix process gave consistent and reliable results, and has been adopted for the manufacture of 'LOVA' gun propellants

Stability studies of cuticle degrading and mycolytic enzymes of <em>Myrothecium verrucaria</em> for control of insect pests and fungal phytopathogens

404-412Myrothecium verrucaria produced extracellularly hydrolytic enzymes which can hydrolyse the insect cuticle as well as fungal cell wall. The addition of polyols, such as glycerol, sorbitol, xylitol (1 M) during ultra-filtration or freeze- drying of enzyme mixture increased the recovery of the enzymes in a concentrated form. Polyols (5 M) increased the temperature and pH stability of the enzymes, in the presence of glycerol chitinase , β-1,3-glucanase, lipase and protease retained 50-60% of initial activities at 40°C after 3 h. While xylitol (5 M) was effective in stabilizing activities at pH 5.0 and 7.5 at 25°C for 7 d. In the freeze-dried powder form, > 90% at 4°C for 1 year and 80-85% at 25°C for 2 months enzyme activities were retained. The addition of glycerol (1 M) to the enzyme mixture protected enzyme activities under sunlight (60-65% activity at RT) for 5 d. Because of glycerol (1 M), the efficacy of M. verrucaria enzyme preparation to control Helicoverpa armigera infestation in chick pea was increased to 70 ± 19%. While without glycerol the efficacy was 55 ± 23%. The germination of peanut seeds infected with Sclerotium rolfsii was observed to be increased (70 ± 5%) in a pot irrigated with enzyme mixture