Hitherto unreported Agaricus species of Central India

Karwa A, Rai MK. 2010. Spesies Agaricus dari India Tengah yang belum dilaporkan sampai sekarang. Nusantara Bioscience 2: 141-145. Kawasan hutan Melghat di India Tengah disurvei untuk mengetahui keberadaan jamur yang berkhasiat obat dan kuliner selama tahun 2005-2008. Dari total 153 spesies jamur, sepuluh spesies Agaricus ditemukan di berbagai lokasi yang berbeda. Dari jumlah tersebut, tujuh spesies yaitu Agaricus bitorquis, A. subrufescens, A. augustus, A. placomyces, A. essettei, A. basioanolosus dan Agaricus sp. nov. (spesies baru) baru pertama kali dilaporkan keberadaannya di kawasan ini. Jamur komersial Agaricus bisporus tidak memiliki karakter perkembangbiakan yang baik karena secara alamiah bersifat bispora. Kerabat liar dari jamur ini dapat digunakan sebagai sumber manipulasi genetik pada strain yang ada dan juga untuk mengembangkan strain baru dengan karakter yang lebih baik. Kata kunci: Agaricus, India Tengah, komersial, dimakan, Melghat

Review: Colchicine, Current Advances and Future Prospects

Ade R, Rai MK. 2010. Colchicine, current advances and future prospects. Nusantara Bioscience 2: 90-96. Colchicine isa toxic natural compound and secondary metabolite commonly produced by plants like Colchicum autumnale and Gloriosa superba. Itis originally used to treat rheumatic complaints, especially gout, and still finds its uses for these purposes today despite dosing issuesconcerning its toxicity. It is also prescribed for its cathartic and emetic effects. Initially oral colchicine has not been approved as a drugby U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). But now FDA approved colchicine as a drug for some disorders. Colchicine's presentmedicinal use is in the treatment of gout and familial mediterranean fever. It is also being investigated for its use as an anticancer drug.In neurons, axoplasmic transport is disrupted by colchicine. Due to all the pharmacological application of colchicine, there is urgentneed to enhance the properties and increase the production of colchicine with the help of in vitro technologies. The present review ismainly focused on the chemistry of colchicine, its medicinal uses and toxicity

Gall bladder dysfunction in chronic diabetics (type 2): an ultrasonography based prospective study

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is commonest endocrine disorder now a days and its prevalence is continuously rising in India due to spread of modern life style so its associated complications are also increasing. Gall bladder is one of the commonly affected organs in chronic diabetics, most probably due to autonomic neuropathy which adversely affects gall bladder motility and provokes bile stasis.   Methods: This institution based prospective study had been performed among 100 chronic diabetics; randomly selected from diabetic clinic of department of medicine, people’s college of medical science and research centre, Bhopal M.P. India. Only those patients selected for study who have type 2 diabetes mellitus more than 5 yr and have well controlled sugar levels. 100 controls/volunteers were selected for comparative evaluation. All patients and volunteers had undergone abdominal ultrasonography for any existing hepatobiliary pathology and to measure fasting and post fatty meal gall bladder volume.Results: Among 100 chronic diabetics seventy-six (76%) patients didn’t show any hepatobiliary abnormality however cholelithiasis was seen in thirteen (13%) patients, cholecystitis in five (5%) patients and sludge was seen in six (6%) patients.  In group of 100 controls ninety-one (91%) didn’t show any hepatobiliary pathology however cholelithiasis was detected incidentally in four (4%) persons, cholecystitis in two (2%) persons and sludge in three (3%) persons.  Significant difference is observed in fasting gall bladder volume of chronic diabetics and controls (p value- 0.001). Major difference is also observed in percentage of gall bladder contraction among chronic diabetics and controls (p value- 0.001).Conclusions: Higher fasting gall bladder volume and decreased percentage of contraction both are observed in patients of chronic diabetes mellitus attributed to autonomic neuropathy. Prolonged stasis of bile leads to complications e.g. cholelithiasis, cholecystitis and sludge deposition as late outcome. Hepatobiliary ultrasonography in chronic diabetics can be used as screening tool for early diagnosis of complication and to avoid its serious consequences when presents in emergency and undergone for surgery.

Using the information value method in a geographic information system and remote sensing for malaria mapping: a case study from India

Background This paper explores the scope of malaria-susceptibility modelling to predict malaria occurrence in an area.Objective An attempt has been made in Varanasi district, India, to evaluate the status of malaria disease and to develop a model by which malaria-prone zones could be predicted using five classes of relative malaria susceptibility, i.e. very low, low, moderate, high and very high categories.The information value (Info Val) method was used to assess malaria occurrence and various time-were used as the independent variables. A geographical information system (GIS) is employed to investigate associations between such variables and distribution of different mosquitoes responsible for malaria transmission. Accurate prediction of risk depends on a number of variables, such as land use, NDVI, climatic factors, population, distance to health centres, ponds, streams and roads etc., all of which have an influence on malaria transmission or reporting. Climatic factors, particularly rainfall, temperature and relative humidity, are known to have a major influence on the biology of mosquitoes. To produce a malaria-susceptibility map using this method, weightings are calculated for various classes in each group. The groups are then superimposed to prepare a Malaria Susceptibility Index (MSI) map.Results We found that 3.87% of the malaria cases were found in areas with a low malaria-susceptibility level predicted from the model, whereas 39.86% and 26.29% of malaria cases were found in predicted high and very high susceptibility level areas, respectively.Conclusions Malaria susceptibility modelled using a GIS may have a role in predicting the risks of malaria and enable public health interventions to be better targeted

Review: Mycoendophytes in medicinal plants: Diversity and bioactivities

Rai M, Gade A, Rathod D, Dar M, Varma A. 2012. Review: Mycoendophytes in medicinal plants: Diversity and bioactivities. Nusantara Bioscience 4: 86-96. Endophytes are microorganisms that reside in internal tissues of living plants without causing any negative effect. These offer tremendous potential for the exploitation of novel and eco-friendly secondary metabolites used in medicine, the pharmaceutical industry and agriculture. The present review is focused on diversity of endophytes, current national and international bioactive secondary metabolite scenario and future prospects. Endophytic fungi as novel source of potentially useful medicinal compounds are discussed along with the need to search for new and more effective agents from endophytes to combat disease problems

Biofabrication of novel silver and zinc oxide nanoparticles from Fusarium solani IOR 825 and their potential application in agriculture as biocontrol agents of phytopathogens, and seed germination and seedling growth promoters

Introduction: Plant pathogenic microorganisms adversely affect the growth and yield of crops, which consequently leads to losses in food production. Metal-based nanoparticles (MNPs) can be a remedy to solve this problem.Methods: Novel silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) were biosynthesized from Fusarium solani IOR 825 and characterized using Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and measurement of Zeta potential. Antibacterial activity of NPs was evaluated against four plant pathogenic strains by determination of the minimum inhibitory (MIC) and biocidal concentrations (MBC). Micro-broth dilution method and poisoned food technique were used to assess antifungal activity of NPs against a set of plant pathogens. Effect of nanopriming with both types of MNPs on maize seed germination and seedlings growth was evaluated at a concentration range of 1–256 μg mL-1.Results: Mycosynthesis of MNPs provided small (8.27 nm), spherical and stable (zeta potential of −17.08 mV) AgNPs with good crystallinity. Similarly, ZnONPs synthesized by using two different methods (ZnONPs(1) and ZnONPs(2)) were larger in size (117.79 and 175.12 nm, respectively) with Zeta potential at −9.39 and −21.81 mV, respectively. The FTIR spectra showed the functional groups (hydroxyl, amino, and carboxyl) of the capping molecules on the surface of MNPs. The values of MIC and MBC of AgNPs against bacteria ranged from 8 to 256 μg mL-1 and from 512 to 1024 μg mL-1, respectively. Both types of ZnONPs displayed antibacterial activity at 256–1024 μg mL-1 (MIC) and 512–2048 μg mL-1 (MBC), but in the concentration range tested, they revealed no activity against Pectobacterium carotovorum. Moreover, AgNPs and ZnONPs inhibited the mycelial growth of Alternaria alternata, Fusarium culmorum, Fusarium oxysporum, Phoma lingam, and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. MIC and MFC values of AgNPs ranged from 16–128 and 16–2048 μg mL -1, respectively. ZnONPs showed antifungal activity with MIC and MFC values of 128–2048 μg mL-1 and 256–2048 μg mL-1, respectively. The AgNPs at a concentration of ≥32 μg mL-1 revealed sterilization effect on maize seeds while ZnONPs demonstrated stimulatory effect on seedlings growth at concentrations of ≥16 μg mL-1 by improving the fresh and dry biomass production by 24% and 18%–19%, respectively.Discussion: AgNPs and ZnONPs mycosynthesized from F. solani IOR 825 could be applied in agriculture to prevent the spread of pathogens. However, further toxicity assays should be performed before field evaluation. In view of the potential of ZnONPs to stimulate plant growth, they could be crucial in increasing crop production from the perspective of current food assurance problems