Evaluation of F1 Hybrids and their Parents for Growth, Yield and Quality in Cherry Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum Var. cerasiforme)

The present study was carried out to estimate the performance of F1 hybrids and their parents for various yield and yield-attributing traits in cherry tomato, at Division of Vegetable Crops, Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Bengaluru, during the year 2010-11. Among the seven parents used, three parents, namely, IIHR-2866 (yielding 3.03kg/plant), IIHR-2864 (2.87kg/plant) and IIHR-2865 (2.73kg/plant) were found to be high-yielding. Among the 21 F1 hybrids evaluated, three hybrids, namely, IIHR-2754 x IIHR-2860 (4.27kg/plant), followed by IIHR- 2754 x IIHR-2865 (3.97kg/plant) and IIHR-2864 x IIHR-2865 (3.40kg/plant) recorded higher yield than the Check varieties, whereas, three hybrids, viz, IIHR-2754 x IIHR-2865 (54.38t/ha), succeeded by IIHR-2863 x IIHR-2866 (46.46t/ha) and IIHR-2858 x IIHR-2866 (44.79t/ha), recorded higher estimated yield per hectare than the Check varieties. Hybrid IIHR-2754 x IIHR-2860 was found promising for most of the traits studied. The best performing parents can be used for breeding further while, the hybrids can be exploited commercially

Full factorial design for optimization, development and validation of HPLC method to determine valsartan in nanoparticles

AbstractHigh performance liquid chromatographic method was optimized, developed and validated as per the ICH guidelines. In this study the 20mM ammonium formate and acetonitrile in the 57:43 ratio were used as mobile phase for the analysis of valsartan. Full factorial design was used to optimize the effect of variable factors. The responses were peak area, tailing factor and number of theoretical plates. The quadratic effect of flow rate and wavelength individually as well as in interaction were most significant (p<0.0001 and p<0.0086, respectively) on peak area; the quadratic effect of pH of buffer was also most significant effect (p<0.0001) on tailing factor (5%) whereas the quadratic effect of flow rate and wavelength individually was significant (p=0.0006 and p=0.0265, respectively) on the number of theoretical plates. The high-performance liquid chromatographic separation was performed at the flow rate 1.0min/mL, UV detector wavelength 250nm and pH of the buffer 3.0 as optimized parameters using design of experiments. The retention time values of valsartan were found to be 10.177min. Percent recovery in terms of accuracy for the prepared valsartan nanoparticles was found in the range of 98.57–100.27%

Study of changes in non-stress test following antenatal corticosteroid therapy in preterm pregnancy

Background: Preterm birth is the largest unsolved problem in obstetrics and the single most significant cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. Preterm labour constitutes 5-10% of pregnancies and is the leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. It is a major public health problem in terms of loss of life, long term disability (cerebral palsy, blindness, deafness, chronic lung disease). The objectives of this study were to determine whether antenatal corticosteroid administration affects the non-stress test. To evaluate the effect of antenatal steroid on foetal movements. To assess the incidence of respiratory distress syndrome and neonatal mortality after antenatal corticosteroid administration.Methods: All antenatal cases between 28-32 weeks of gestation judged to be at risk for preterm delivery attending the outpatient department or admitted in a tertiary care hospital, Tamil Nadu during the study period of 3 years.Results: The present study was undertaken to evaluate the NST for a period of 3 days following antenatal corticosteroid administration and to study the immediate changes in the mother and the foetus. We found out that there was a statistically significant change (p <0.01) in non-stress test when compared with the pre-betamethasone assay.Conclusions: Corticosteroids can cause metabolic alterations in mother, short- and long-term effect in the foetus

Trends in ectopic pregnancy: a retrospective clinical study of 79 cases

Background: To know the age group, parity, risk factors, clinical features, modalities of treatment employed and their efficacies, morbidity and mortality associated with ectopic pregnancy.Methods: This is a retrospective study conducted in the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Chettinad Hospital and Research Institute; Chennai over a period of 3 years from January 2014 to December 2016. A total number of 79 cases of ectopic pregnancies were reported during this period. Data were collected, tabulated and analyzed.Results: 79 cases were diagnosed as ectopic pregnancies during the study period giving an incidence of 3.49%. Incidence of cases was maximum in women between the age group of 26-30 years (40.50%), in multiparous women (72.15%) and also in women of gestational age between 6 to 10 weeks (81.01%).72% of the cases had one or more identifiable risk factors. Ruptured ectopic was observed in 45 (56.96%)cases while unruptured in 31 (39.24%) cases. Tubal abortion was found in 3 (3.74%) cases. 2.53% cases were expectantly managed. 34.17% cases were medically managed. 63.29% cases were managed surgically. Morbidity due to ectopic pregnancy included anaemia, wound infection, SICU admission. No mortality observed.Conclusions: A high index of suspicion is needed in the diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy especially in women with high risk factors to arrive at early diagnosis, followed with conservative management, thus reducing the morbidity. We can reduce the incidence of ectopic pregnancy by awareness on safe sexual practices and contraception. The lady’s future fertility can be improved by focusing on prevention, early diagnosis and conservative management of ectopic pregnancy

Isolation, Purification, and Characterization of Fungal Laccase from Pleurotus sp.

Laccases are blue copper oxidases (E.C. 1.10.3.2 benzenediol: oxygen oxidoreductase) that catalyze the one-electron oxidation of phenolics, aromatic amines, and other electron-rich substrates with the concomitant reduction of O2 to H2O. They are currently seen as highly interesting industrial enzymes because of their broad substrate specificity. A positive strain was isolated and characterized as nonspore forming Basidiomycetes Pleurotus sp. Laccase activity was determined using ABTS as substrate. Laccase was purified by ionexchange and gel filtration chromatography. The purified laccase was a monomer showed a molecular mass of 40 ± 1 kDa as estimated by SDS-PAGE and a 72-fold purification with a 22% yield. The optimal pH and temperature were 4.5 and 65°C, respectively. The Km and Vmax values are 250 (mM) and 0.33 (μmol/min), respectively, for ABTS as substrate. Metal ions like CuSO4, BaCl2, MgCl2, FeCl2, ZnCl2 have no effect on purified laccase whereas HgCl2 and MnCl2 moderately decrease enzyme activity. SDS and sodium azide inhibited enzyme activity, whereas Urea, PCMB, DTT, and mercaptoethanol have no effect on enzyme activity. The isolated laccase can be used in development of biosensor for detecting the phenolic compounds from the effluents of paper industries

Clinical and hormonal profile of patients diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome at tertiary care hospital in Tamil Nadu

Background: In recent years due to the changing sedentary life style, irregular periods and infertility has become a major concern. There are many causes for infertility out of which ovulatory disorders contribute to a great extend. The main objective of the study was to assess the clinical and hormonal profile of patients diagnosed with polycystic ovarian disease at tertiary care hospital in Tamil Nadu.Methods: This study was a cross sectional study and was carried out at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at a tertiary care hospital of Tamil Nadu. The study was done for a period of 6 months. For confirming polycystic ovaries, patients were interviewed thoroughly about their menstrual and fertility history. Blood investigations like LH, FSH were done on D2/D3 of menstrual cycle. 125 patients with PCOS were included in this study. The data was analysed with SPSS-IBM (V.22.0) software.Results: The patients having polycystic ovaries were higher in women of 21-30 years of age. BMI was more than 25. Infertility was found that 57%, hirsutism 45%,  oligomenorrhoea 21% and amenorrhea 20%. On day 2, mean serum LH was 5.9±3.6 and serum FSH was 3.9±2.3. This study showed that the proportion of menstrual complaints is reported more in higher age group. Likewise lower income group presented with menstrual complaints. This was found to be statistically significant (P value <0.05).Conclusions: The study showed that patients diagnosed to have PCOS overweight. PCO in obese women had more severe ovulatory dysfunction. Infertility was the most common complaint

Enhanced production of amidase from Rhodococcus erythropolis MTCC 1526 by medium optimisation using a statistical experimental design

In the present work, statistical experimental methodology was used to enhance the production of amidase from Rhodococcus erythropolis MTCC 1526. R. erythropolis MTCC 1526 was selected through screening of seven strains of Rhodococcus species. The Placket-Burman screening experiments suggested that sorbitol as carbon source, yeast extract and meat peptone as nitrogen sources, and acetamide as amidase inducer are the most influential media components. The concentrations of these four media components were optimised using a face-centred design of response surface methodology (RSM). The optimum medium composition for amidase production was found to contain sorbitol (5 g/L), yeast extract (4 g/L), meat peptone (2.5 g/L), and acetamide (12.25 mM). Amidase activities before and after optimisation were 157.85 units/g dry cells and 1,086.57 units/g dry cells, respectively. Thus, use of RSM increased production of amidase from R. erythropolis MTCC 1526 by 6.88-fold

Mifepristone: an alternate to dinoprostone in induction of labour

Background: To assess and compare the efficacy, safety and fetomaternal outcome of mifepristone versus dinoprostone in priming the cervix and in inducing labour in pregnant women at term.Methods: This is a prospective comparative study done in Chettinad health and research institute, over a period of one year from October 2015 to October 2016. 50 pregnant women (Group 1) in 3rd trimester with unfavorable cervix were given 200mcg of mifepristone orally. If labour did not start or if the Bishop score remained poor at the end of 24hrs, induction was continued with 0.5mg of dinoprostone gel at a maximum of 3 gels at 6th hourly interval. Another 50 pregnant women (Group2) in 3rd trimester underwent induction according to the routine dinoprostone gel regimen of maximum 3 gels at intervals of 6hrs.Results: Improvement in Bishop score was significant with mifepristone by the end of 24hrs.But, in comparison, there was statistically significant improvement in Bishop score in favour of dinoprostone (Mean 4.7) than mifepristone (Mean 4.0). Also, the induction delivery interval was significantly less (Mean 11.5 hrs) with dinoprostone than mifepristone (Mean 20.3 hrs). Number of cases undergoing LSCS for failed induction was less in mifepristone group (4%). The rate of vaginal delivery, Caesarean sections, instrumental delivery and overall fetal outcome was comparable in both groups.Conclusions: Mifepristone is a safe, effective and suitable alternate agent for cervical ripening and initiation of labour when given 24 h before onset of labour.

Media optimization for biosurfactant production by Rhodococcus erythropolis MTCC 2794: artificial intelligence versus a statistical approach

This paper entails a comprehensive study on production of a biosurfactant from Rhodococcus erythropolis MTCC 2794. Two optimization techniques-(1) artificial neural network (ANN) coupled with genetic algorithm (GA) and (2) response surface methodology (RSM)-were used for media optimization in order to enhance the biosurfactant yield by Rhodococcus erythropolis MTCC 2794. ANN and RSM models were developed, incorporating the quantity of four medium components (sucrose, yeast extract, meat peptone, and toluene) as independent input variables and biosurfactant yield [calculated in terms of percent emulsification index (% EI24)] as output variable. ANN-GA and RSM were compared for their predictive and generalization ability using a separate data set of 16 experiments, for which the average quadratic errors were ~3 and ~6%, respectively. ANN-GA was found to be more accurate and consistent in predicting optimized conditions and maximum yield than RSM. For the ANN-GA model, the values of correlation coefficient and average quadratic error were ~0.99 and ~3%, respectively. It was also shown that ANN-based models could be used accurately for sensitivity analysis. ANN-GA-optimized media gave about a 3.5-fold enhancement in biosurfactant yield