Evaluation of growth of Chlorella ellipsoidea in different culture media

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the growth of Chlorella ellipsoidea in three different media viz,. medium I (pulse bran), medium II (soil extract) and medium III (inorganic) under the natural environmental conditions. The alga, C. ellipsoidea, reached maximum cell density of 56.32 × 106 cells ml-1 in 10 days in medium I (pulse bran), maximum cell density of 102.99 × 106 cells ml-1 in 11 days in medium II (soil extract) and maximum cell density of 64.23 × 106 cells ml-1 in 12 days in medium III (inorganic medium). The ranges of water temperature, air temperature and light intensity were 22 to 32ºC, 22 to 34ºC and 2.11 to 4.31 (× 103) lux, respectively during the culture period. The average sunshine period was 7.65 ± 1.57 hours. Total alkalinity, free CO2, pH, NO3-N, PO4- P of algal culture medium I, medium II and medium III were 220, 200 and 150 mg L-1 ; 26, 9 and 19 mg L-1; 7.9, 7.6 and 7.5; 45, 45 and 133.33 mg L-1; 10.9, 15.1 and 37.06 mg L-1, respectively. Cell densities of cultures of C. ellipsoidea under three treatments I, II and III, it can be concluded that cell densities under 3 treatments are significantly different (F=39.78) and treatment II (soil extract medium) is the best for algal (C. ellipsoidea) culture among three treatments. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/ijarit.v4i2.22636 Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. & Tech. 4 (2): 6-10, December, 201

Reproductive Biology of Feather Back, Chital (Notopterus chitala, Ham.) Cultured in a Pond of Bangladesh

Studies on Gonadosomatic index (GSI), ova diameter and histology of the gonad were performed to understand reproductive biology of Feather back, Chital (Notopterus chitala) for a period of 6 months from January to June 2010. Thirty live chital fish were used in this study. The mean GSI values for female chital were found to range between 0.20±0.013 and 4.63±0.50. The highest GSI value was found in June. The smallest diameter of ovum was recorded 0.04 mm (January) and the largest was 4.00 mm (June). During the experimental period, the fecundity was ranged from 8,238 to 18,569 (mean 13,052±4607) in fish samples with body weight range from 1,296 to 2,360 (mean 1,742.50±474.44 g) while the relative fecundity was 5.65 to 14.33. Histological study revealed that the percentage of late perinucleolus (LPN) stage was highest in April and Cortical alveoli (CA) stage appeared from April and reached to maximum in May. Vitellogenic stage (VG) appeared in the month of May and chronologically increased through June. Vitellogenic stage (VG) of oocyte as well as highest ova diameter reached to the peak in June. The variations in the gonad weight and GSI of the female fish reached to the peak during June indicating maturity of ovary and definite spawning season. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/ijarit.v2i1.13991 Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. & Tech. 2 (1): 26-31, June, 201

Growth and Production Performances of Crossbred Climbing Perch Koi, Anabas testudineus in Bangladesh

The study was performed for evaluating the growth and production performances of crossbred climbing perch (Anabas testudineus) during August to October 2009. The crossbred groups of fish were produced by crossing between native climbing perch and Thai climbing perch (A. testudineus). Growth and production performances was compared at grow out condition between crossbred groups in the two reciprocal crosses of treatments viz. T1: Native climbing perch (?) × Thai climbing perch (?) and T2: Thai climbing perch (?)×Native climbing perch (?. At the same time, they were compared also with their respective control F1 pure line groups i.e. T3: Native climbing perch (?) × Native climbing perch (?) and T4: Thai climbing perch (?) × Thai climbing perch (?). It was evident from the results that among the treatments in grow out system, the highest mean harvesting weight was 69.25±9.01 g found in T4 (Thai climbing perch), which was significantly different (P<0.05) from all other treatments. Whereas, T3 (native climbing perch) also showed the lowest mean harvesting weight 33.38±8.74 g and showed significant differences (P<0.05) among all the treatments. The mean harvesting weight of both the crossbred groups i.e. T1 and T2 were 50.83±6.65 and 59.94±7.83 g, respectively and these results were statistically insignificant (P>0.05) between them but significant among all other treatments. The highest (93.60%) and lowest (83.06%) survival rates were observed in Thai koi (T4) and native Koi (T3) parental stocks, respectively. Wider variations in terms of productions performances were observed among the treatments, where the gross production of T1, T2, T3 and T4 were 2,753±96.67, 3,401±73.26, 1,733±168.47 and 4,051±185 kg/ha, respectively. The productions obtained from crossbred groups were at intermediate compared to their control pure line groups. Higher FCR mean value was observed in native control line (T3), while, lower FCR mean value was observed in Thai control line (T4). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/ijarit.v2i1.13990 Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. & Tech. 2 (1): 19-25, June, 201

Antihyperglycemic and antinociceptive activity evaluation of ‘Khoyer’ prepared from boiling the wood of Acacia catechu in water

‘Khoyer’ is prepared by boiling the wood of Acacia catechu in water and then evaporating the resultant brew. The resultant hard material is powdered and chewed with betel leaves and lime with or without tobacco by a large number of the people of Bangladesh as an addictive psycho-stimulating and euphoria-inducing formulation. There are folk medicinal claims that khoyer helps in the relief of pain and is also useful to diabetic patients to maintain normal sugar levels. Thus far no scientific studies have evaluated the antihyperglycemic and antinociceptive effects of khoyer. The present study was carried out to evaluate the possible glucose tolerance efficacy of methanolic extracts of khoyer using glucose-induced hyperglycemic mice, and antinociceptive effects with acetic acid-induced gastric pain models in mice. In antihyperglycemic activity tests, the extract at different doses was administered one hour prior to glucose  administration and blood glucose level was measured after two hoursof glucose administration (p.o.) using glucose oxidase method. The statistical data indicated the significant oral hypoglycemic activity on glucose-loaded mice at all doses of the extracts tested. Maximum anti-hyperglycemic activity was shown at 400 mg extract per kg body weight, which was less than that of a standard drug, glibenclamide (10 mg/kg body weight). In antinociceptive activity tests, the extract also demonstrated a dose-dependent significant reduction in the number of writhing induced in mice through intraperitoneal administration of acetic acid. Maximum antinociceptive activity was observed at a dose of 400 mg extract per kg body weight, which was greater than that of a standard antinociceptive drug, aspirin, when administered at a dose of 400 mg per kg body weight. The results validate the folk medicinal use of the plant for reduction of blood sugar in diabetic patients, as well as the folk medicinal use for alleviation of pain.Key words: Acacia catechu, antihyperglycemic, antinociceptive, khoye

Evaluation of growth and yield potentialities of local boro rice varieties in south-west region of Bangladesh

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the growth and yield performance of local boro rice varieties. Twelve local boro rice varieties were included in this study namely Nayon moni, Tere bale, Bere ratna, Ashan boro, Kajol lata, Koijore, Kali boro, Bapoy, Latai balam, Choite boro, GS one and Sylhety boro. Growth parameters viz. plant height and number of tillers hill-1(at different days after transplanting); yield contributing characters such as effective tillers hill-1, panicle length, number of grains panicle-1, filled grains panicle-1, thousand grain weight, grain yield, straw yield, biological yield and harvest index were recorded. The result revealed that the plant height and number of tillers hill-1 at different days after transplanting varied significantly among the varieties. The plant height for all the varieties and number of tillers hill-1 for most of the varieties increased up to harvest. At harvest, the tallest plant (123.80 cm) was recorded in Bapoy and the shortest (81.13 cm) was found in GS one. The maximum number of tillers hill-1 (46.00) was observed in Sylhety boro and the minimum (19.80) in Bere ratna. All of the parameters of yield and yield contributing characters differed significantly at 1% level except grain yield, biological yield and harvest index. The maximum number of effective tillers hill-1 (43.87) was recorded in the variety Sylhety boro and the minimum (17.73) was found in Bere ratna. The highest (110.57) and the lowest (42.13) number of filled grains panicle-1 was observed in the variety Koijore and Sylhety boro, respectively. Thousand grain weight was the highest (26.35g) in Kali boro and the lowest (17.83g) in GS one. Grain yield was not differed significantly among the varieties but numerically the highest grain yield (5.01 t ha-1) was found in the variety Koijore and the lowest in GS one(3.17 t ha-1). Considering all parameters the varieties Koijore (5.01tha-1), Choite boro, Sylhety boro, Ashan boro, Bere ratna performed better for the southwest region of Bangladesh

Immunogenecity of Modified Alkane Polymers Is Mediated through TLR1/2 Activation

Background: With the advancement of biomedical technology, artificial materials have been developed to replace diseased, damaged or nonfunctional body parts. Among such materials, ultra high molecular weight alkane or modified alkyl polymers have been extensively used in heart valves, stents, pacemakers, ear implants, as well as total joint replacement devices. Although much research has been undertaken to design the most non-reactive biologically inert polyethylene derivatives, strong inflammatory responses followed by rejection and failure of the implant have been noted. Methodology/Principal Findings: Purification of the alkane polymers from the site of inflammation revealed extensive ‘‘in vivo’ ’ oxidation as detected by fourier transformed infra-red spectroscopy. Herein, we report the novel observation that oxidized alkane polymers induced activation of TLR1/2 pathway as determined by ligand dependent changes in intrinsic tyrosine fluorescence intensity and NF-kB luciferase gene assays. Oxidized polymers were very effective in activating dendritic cells and inducing secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Molecular docking of the oxidized alkanes designated ligand specificity and polymeric conformations fitting into the TLR1/2 binding grooves

Valorization, comparison and characterization of coconuts waste and cactus in a biorefinery context using NaClO2-C2H4O2 and sequential NaClO2-C2H4O2/autohydrolysis pretreatment

The search for new sources of lignocellulosic raw materials for the generation of energy and new compounds encourages the search for locations not well known and with a high potential for biomass availability as is the case of the Northeast Region of Brazil. Thus, the cactus (CAC), green coconut shell (GCS), mature coconut fibre and mature coconut shell were pretreated by NaClO2C2H4O2 and sequential NaClO2C2H4O2/autohydrolysis aiming at the obtention of high added-value compounds in the liquid fraction and solid phase. The yield of the solid phase was between 61.42 and 90.97% and the reduction up to 91.63% of lignin in the materials pretreated by NaClO2C2H4O2. After NaClO2C2H4O2/autohydrolysis pretreatment the obtained solids yield was between 43.57 and 52.08%, with a solubilization of the hemicellulose content up to 81.42%. For both pretreatments the cellulosic content remained almost unchanged. The pretreated solids were characterized by SEM, X-ray and crystallinity indexes showing significant modifications when submitted to pretreatments. These results were further confirmed by the enzymatic conversion yields of 81.6890.03 and 86.9790.36% of the LCMs pretreated by NaClO2C2H4O2 and pretreated by NaClO2C2H4O2/autohydrolysis, respectively. The resulting liquors had a total phenolic compounds content between 0.20 and 3.05 g/L, lignin recovered up to 7.40 g/L (absence of sulphur) and xylooligosaccharides between 16.13 and 20.37 g/L. Thus, these pretreatments showed an efficient fractionation of LCMs, especially in the GCS, being an important requirement for the generation of products and byproducts in the context of the biorefinery.The authors gratefully acknowledge the Brazilian research funding agencies CNPq and CAPES for financial support. Financial support from the Energy Sustainability Fund 2014-05 (CONACYT-SENER), Mexican Centre for Innovation in Bioenergy (CemieBio), Cluster of Bioalcohols (Ref. 249564) is gratefully acknowledged. We also gratefully acknowledge support for this research by the Mexican Science and Technology Council (CONACYT, Mexico) for the infrastructure project - INFR201601 (Ref. 269461) and CB-2015-01 (Ref. 254808).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Coexpression of EphB4 and ephrinB2 in tumour advancement of ovarian cancers

EphB4 and ephrinB2 expressions in ovarian cancers were studied to analyse EphB4/ephrinB2 functions against clinical backgrounds. EphB4 and ephrinB2 were dominantly localised in ovarian cancer cells of all cases studied. Both the histoscores and mRNA levels of EphB4 and ephrinB2 significantly increased with clinical stages (I<II<III<IV, P<0.001) in ovarian cancers, although there was no significant difference in EphB4 and ephrinB2 histoscores or in mRNA levels according to histopathological types. EphB4 as well as ephrinB2 histoscores in cancer cells correlated with the corresponding mRNA levels in each case (EphB4, P<0.001; ephrinB2, P<0.001). The 24-month survival rates of the 36 patients with high EphB4 and ephrinB2 expression were poor (25 and 27%, respectively), while for the other 36 patients with low EphB4 and ephrinB2 expression, they were significantly higher (68 and 64%, respectively). Therefore, EphB4/ephrinB2 may function in tumour advancement and coexpression of the Eph/ephrin system may potentiate tumour progression leading to poor survival. Thus, EphB4/ephrinB2 can be recognised as a novel prognostic indicator in the primary tumours of ovarian cancers