Extent of Heavy Metal Accumulation in Sewage Irrigated Soils and Their Impact on Distribution of Earthworm Communities: Linking Chromium and Zinc Toxicity on Growth and Reproduction in Selected Earthworm Species.

Soil ecosystem polluted by metals affect the structure of soil invertebrate population(s) and dynamics leading to altered distribution of species. This study focuses on earthworm distribution in sewage irrigated agricultural lands around Bangalore. The occurrence of reported species from the sampled areas is Eudrilus eugeniae, Lampito maurutii, Pontoscolex corethrurus, Polypheretima elongata, Perioynx excavates and Eisenia fetida. Laboratory studies conducted to evaluate feed ingestion rate and body mass changes in earthworms exposed to metal spiked soils revealed species specific pattern. Eudrilus eugeniae and Lampito maurutii showed a steep increase in body weight, while Pontoscolex corethrurus exhibited decreased trend upon Zn exposure. Contrarily a significant (p<0.05) decline in body weight was evident in all the three species upon exposure to Cr spiked soils. The observed alterations in feeding and body mass index concomitantly influenced the reproductive parameters. Rate of hatchability and reproductive function found to be decreased in Cr spiked soils in all the three species studied. Contrarily, increased hatchability was observed in E.eugeniea and L.maurutii followed by a decrease rate in P.corethrurus upon exposure of Zn spiked soils. However, reproductive rate found to be increased in E.eugeniea and P.corethrurus with decreased trend in L.maurutii. Thus, use of sewage polluted water for irrigation purpose has led to increased soil metal concentration impacting earthworm physiology and distribution

Effect of maternal exposure of fluoride on oxidative stress markers and amelioration by selected antioxidants in developing central nervous system of rats

Fluoride has been implicated as a pathol. mediator of fluorosis. Interestingly neuronal destruction, synaptic injury occurs by a mechanism involving oxidative stress, however, its effects in developmental stages of life, during maternal fluoride exposure and amelioration are not elucidated. In the present study, pregnant Wistar albino rats were exposed to 50 and 150 ppm fluoride in drinking water during gestation and post gestation. After parturition the pups born to the exptl. animals were administered daily with selected antioxidants for 21 consecutive days. Fluoride administration substantially enhanced fluoride accumulation, lipid peroxidn. and decreased the activity of superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione-​S-​transferase and glutathione levels in discrete regions of central nervous system. The results significantly (P < 0.05) demonstrated the effect of fluoride through exacerbated oxidative damage and disrupted antioxidant homeostasis, leading to altered neuronal integrity. The administration of antioxidants vitamin E, vitamin C, selenium and zinc produced a promising accost and timely intervention to the aggravated impairment during highly vulnerable early stage of life

Chlorpyrifos Induced Region Specific Vulnerability in Rat CNS and Modulation by Age and Cold Stress: An Interactive Study

Chlorpyrifos (CPF)​, an organophosphorus insecticide is known to cause ill health in non-​target animals by inducing oxidative stress. In this study influence of cold stress (15°C and 20°C) and age as modulating factors on CPF induced oxidative stress was addressed to assess age-​related differences and vulnerability in central nervous system of rats. The results indicated an interaction with age and cold exposure resulting in marked decreased activity levels of SOD (P < 0.05)​, CAT (P < 0.05)​, GPx (P < 0.05)​, GST (P < 0.05) followed by increased MDA (P < 0.05) and decreased GSH levels (P < 0.05)​. The ANOVA and Post-​hoc anal. showed that antioxidant enzymes decreased significantly (P < 0.05) on CPF exposure. Moreover synergistic action of CPF and cold stress at 15°C caused higher inhibition on comparison with CPF and cold stress alone and together at 20°C indicating the extent of peroxidative damage in discrete regions of CNS. Further this study showed young individuals to be more sensitive than adults

Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Aging Rat Brain Regions upon Chlorpyrifos Toxicity and Cold Stress: An Interactive Study

Mitochondrial dysfunction and consequent energy depletion are the major causes of oxidative stress resulting to bring alterations in the ionic homeostasis causing loss of cellular integrity. Our previous studies have shown the age-associated interactive effects in rat central nervous system (CNS) upon co-exposure to chlorpyrifos (CPF) and cold stress leading to macromolecular oxidative damage. The present study elucidates a possible mechanism by which CPF and cold stress interaction cause(s) mitochondrial dysfunction in an age-related manner. In this study, the activity levels of Krebs cycle enzymes and electron transport chain (ETC) protein complexes were assessed in the isolated fraction of mitochondria. CPF and cold stress (15 and 20 °C) exposure either individually or in combination decreased the activity level of Krebs cycle enzymes and ETC protein complexes in discrete regions of rat CNS. The findings confirm that cold stress produces significant synergistic effect in CPF intoxicated aging rats. The synergism between CPF and cold stress at 15 °C caused a higher depletion of respiratory enzymes in comparison with CPF and cold stress alone and together at 20 °C indicating the extent of deleterious functional alterations in discrete regions of brain and spinal cord (SC) which may result in neurodegeneration and loss in neuronal metabolic control. Hence, co-exposure of CPF and cold stress is more dangerous than exposure of either alone. Among the discrete regions studied, the cerebellum and medulla oblongata appears to be the most susceptible regions when compared to cortex and SC. Furthermore, the study reveals a gradual decrease in sensitivity to CPF toxicity as the rat matures

PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING AND IN VITRO ANTIOXIDANT POTENTIAL OF TRIBULUS TERRESTRIS FRUIT AND MESUA FERREA FLOWER EXTRACTS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the antioxidants and free radicals scavenging properties of ethanolic extracts from Tribulus terrestris fruit (TTF) and Mesua ferrea flower (MFF).Methods: The antioxidant and free radical scavenging activities were measured by using standard protocols against phytoextracts used at 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 µg/ml concentration. Total phenolic and flavonoid content were estimated using Folin-Ciocalteu and aluminium-chloride reagent assay methods.Results: Among the extracts, MFF showed the highest total antioxidant ability followed by TTF. With regard to various scavenging activities, MFF had the highest radical scavenging activity than TTF extract closely resembled the standards. Also, the reducing capacity on ferrous ion was high in MFF than TTF. The quantified phenolic contents of TTF and MFF ethanolic extracts were 27.0±0.36 and 57.0±0.32 mg gallic acid equivalent per gram extract respectively. A positive correlation (p value&lt;0.001) was observed between phenolic content and free radical scavenging efficiencies.Conclusion: The results confirm that both MFF and TTF are important sources of natural antioxidants and serves as an effective free radical scavengers and/or inhibitors. Hence, both extracts are suitable plant-based pharmaceutical products can be used to handle 'free radical-mediated diseases

Permethrin induced neuronal inefficiency in the supraoesophageal ganglion of mulberry silkworm, Bombyx mori. L

The primary target for pyrethroid insecticides is the nervous system. Available literature on the toxicity of pyrethroids to mulberry silkworm, are confined to specific tissues like haemolymph, fat body, eggs of silk moth and no study is indicated on supraoesophageal ganglion tissue, hence this study was conducted. In this study the changes occurring in the level of cholinergic and GABAergic transmitters (ACh and GABA)​; their connected enzymes viz., ChAT, AChE, GAD were studied in the supraoesophageal ganglionic tissue of silkworm Bombyx mori upon permithrin intoxication. Findings indicate that suppression of acetyl cholinesterase has led to the accumulation of ACh in greater quantities. Contrary to the cholinesterase suppression, a profound increase in GABAergic system was evident in the nervous tissue suggesting existence of an imbalance of excitatory-​inhibitory interplay in the supraoesophageal ganglia due to the toxic insult caused by permethrin; this substantially affects the growth, development, fecundity and silk prodn. In conclusion, the permethrin induced neurotoxicity resulted a series of perturbations in silkworm neurotransmitter metab

Advanced Fractal Image Coding Based on the Quadtree

Fractal image coding simply based on quad tree is a unique technique for still image compression. Compared with other image compression methods, fractal image coding has the advantage of higher compression ratio, higher decoding speed and decoded image having nothing to do with the resolution of image. It spends too much time to look for the best matching Ri block on encoding. To improve the encoding speed, we must narrow the search range and improve the search skills to ensure the best match block falls within our range. In this paper, an advanced fractal image compression algorithm based on quad tree is proposed. First, we can improve the construction method of search attractor by constructing directly from the big Di block, so it can save a lot of searching time in encoding. Second, the attractors can be self-constructed, so it is not happened that the attractor is not found in the traditional methods. Experimental result shows that the algorithm makes image coding faster and more efficiency