Effectiveness of an Educational Interactive Video-DVD on Dairy Health Management Practices in Terms of Knowledge Gain among Dairy Farmers

This study was undertaken with the goal of improving the Indian dairy sector by enhancing knowledge and skill among dairy farmers on animal health care; thereby enabling increased productivity and minimizing economic loss. The study focused on members of milk co-operative societies of Kannur district, Kerala, India. Though the milk co-operatives were organized institutions, they lacked much needed knowledge and skill enhancement of their member-farmers. Most rural households in Kerala own television sets and DVD players. Hence, an educational interactive video-DVD on dairy health management practices was considered as an appropriate medium to disseminate knowledge on dairy health management practices to them. Sixty dairy farmers owning a DVD player and a television were selected as the sample population for study by means of proportionate random sampling among four milk co-operative societies identified in Kannur block. The findings of the study revealed that the majority of the respondents possessed medium level of knowledge at the pre-exposure stage, while in the post-exposure stage, a majority rose to the high knowledge category. The respondents who had low knowledge regarding various livestock diseases, their causes, symptoms, prevention and control gained considerable knowledge after exposure to the educational interactive video-DVD. The difference observed between the mean scores of knowledge level of respondents in pre and post-exposure stages was found to be statistically significant

Phytochemical Screening and Profiling of Secondary Metabolites of Annona Muricata Bark

Screening of phytochemicals is a precious stair in the detection of bioactive principles present in medicinal plants and may lead to novel drug discovery). In present study aimed to investigate the preliminary phytochemical screening, fluorescence, and spectroscopic characterization in Annona muricata bark. The qualitative analysis of aqueous, hexane, ethanol, hydro-ethanolic and methanol extracts of Annona muricata bark were investigated. Among the various extracts, the hydro-ethanolic extract of Annona muricata bark contains a higher concentration of phytochemicals than other extracts and is used for subsequent studies. Quantitative analysis revealed that the Annona muricata bark has contain significant amount of phenol, flavonoids, saponin, tannin and alkaloids were present. Histochemical analysis further confirmed the presence of phytochemicals in Annona muricata bark. UV-VIS spectral analysis we can confirm that the presence of tannins and flavonoids. FTIR analysis had confirmed the presence of alcohol, phenol, aromatic, carboxylic acid, and aliphatic amines.  Results of the study concluded that rich source of phytochemicals in Annona muricata bark is responsible for their therapeutic effects. So, it is recommended as a plant of phytopharmaceutical importance and further studies are needed with these plants to evaluate their pharmacological potentials of the bioactive compounds responsible for their bio-activities and other medicinal values

Noise Propagation in Two-Step Series MAPK Cascade

Series MAPK enzymatic cascades, ubiquitously found in signaling networks, act as signal amplifiers and play a key role in processing information during signal transduction in cells. In activated cascades, cell-to-cell variability or noise is bound to occur and thereby strongly affects the cellular response. Commonly used linearization method (LM) applied to Langevin type stochastic model of the MAPK cascade fails to accurately predict intrinsic noise propagation in the cascade. We prove this by using extensive stochastic simulations for various ranges of biochemical parameters. This failure is due to the fact that the LM ignores the nonlinear effects on the noise. However, LM provides a good estimate of the extrinsic noise propagation. We show that the correct estimate of intrinsic noise propagation in signaling networks that contain at least one enzymatic step can be obtained only through stochastic simulations. Noise propagation in the cascade depends on the underlying biochemical parameters which are often unavailable. Based on a combination of global sensitivity analysis (GSA) and stochastic simulations, we developed a systematic methodology to characterize noise propagation in the cascade. GSA predicts that noise propagation in MAPK cascade is sensitive to the total number of upstream enzyme molecules and the total number of molecules of the two substrates involved in the cascade. We argue that the general systematic approach proposed and demonstrated on MAPK cascade must accompany noise propagation studies in biological networks

Growth pattern of stock cultures of five selected species of marine microalgae maintained under indoor controlled environment and under outdoor conditions

Growth pattern of five species of microalgae viz., Chaetoceros calcitrans, Dunaliella sp., Isochrysis galbana, Tetraselmis tetrahele and Nannochloropsis salina were studied under indoor controlled conditions (at 230C) and under outdoor (at 28-30°C) conditions. The variations in ammonia and pH levels in the culture flasks over a period of 90 days were also studied. Results revealed that the pattern of growth of all five species of algae were significantly different (p<0.05) in the two different conditions. The results clearly showed that the growth of all the five species of algae were faster in outdoor conditions and outdoor cultures were able to maintain only for a maximum period of three months. Ammonia and pH levels recorded were higher in outdoor cultures which indicated higher physiological activities and growth. Ammonia and pH levels were found to increase gradually in all the cultures, upto 30 days under both conditions and subsequently found almost constant throughout the study. Even though ammonia levels were found to rise with increase in pH and temperature, it did not increase to a level that is detrimental to the microalgal cultures

Synthesis and characterisation of nickel-iron bimetallic oxide nanoparticles via microwave irradiation technique

953-958Nickel- Iron bimetallic oxide nanoparticles have been synthesized in ethylene glycol using microwave irradiation technique. The microwave assisted synthesized Nickel and iron oxide nanoparticles are combined together in 1:1 molar ratio and treated under microwave irradiation followed by calcination to get Ni-Fe bimetallic oxide. The structure and composition of nanoparticles are characterized by UV-visible spectroscopy, FT-IR, X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersion spectroscopy (EDS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. The empirical formula of the nanoparticle is found as Ni1Fe1.6O2.9 at 500 ºC, Ni1Fe1.5O2.6 at 700 ºC and Ni1Fe2O2.7 at 900 ºC by varied reaction conditions. A maximum absorbance of 357.67 nm is observed in UV-visible spectrum. The average size of particles in all cases is found to be ~30 nm as confirmed from TEM images. Antibacterial and antifungal studies have not shown any appreciable results

Rare occurrence of Reinhardt’s cranch squid Liocranchia reinhardti (Cephalopod: Cranchiidae) from southeastern Arabian Sea

Single individual of the rare cranchiid squid Liocranchia reinhardti belonging to the Cranchiidae family was caught in a bottom trawl operated at 80 m in southeastern Arabian Sea. The morphometric measurements and indices of the specimen are provided. Statolith microstructure analysis revealed that the L. reinhardti with 118 mm dorsal mantle length (DML) had an age of 71 days with growth rate of 1.66 mm DML/day

Oyster Farming Techniques

Oysters, mussels, clams, scallops, cockles and abalones are major groups of molluscs which are cultured in different parts of the world. Edible oysters are the most important among them, as they are great delicacy and there is growing demand. There is an increasing interest in oyster culture in tropical countries in recent years. In India there is a growing demand for oyster meat in some parts of the country. They are highly esteemed sea food and considered a delicacy in USA, Europe, Japan etc. It is said that ‘oyster’ is scientifically the best known marine animal. It is one of the most widely cultivated species. As early as the first century BC the Romans were the first to develop simple methods of collecting oyster seeds and growing them for food