In vitro regeneration of pathogen free Kaempferia galanga L. - a rare medicinal plant

Kaempferia galanga L. is an aromatic and medicinal herb of the family Zingeberaceae.The plant is propagated through rhizomes for which various pathogens are transmittedthrough it. Conventional breeding methods are ineffective for producing disease free cropbut in vitro regeneration can serve the purpose. Direct in vitro regeneration using shoot budsin Murashige and Skoog media supplemented with various concentrations and combinationsof cytokinin were used for regeneration. The sprouts responded within 3-4 weeks. Maximumnumber of plantlets were observed in the media supplemented with 4 mg/L BAP (4.33shoots/explant) when different cytokinins were used alone. Combinations of BAP andkinetin produced better results. Maximum regeneration was observed in mediasupplemented with 3 mg/l BAP + 4 mg/l kinetin (6.52). Decline in the rate of regenerationwere observed after 1st or 2nd subcultures depending upon the plant growth regulator/s.Rooting followed shooting in all the hormone combinations. High survival percentage wasobserved on hardening. The regenerated plantlets were detected to be pathogen free

Efficient in vitro regeneration of pathogen free mango ginger (Curcuma amada Roxb.) from rhizome bud explants

Curcuma amada is an aromatic and medicinal plant belonging to Zingiberaceae. Like all other Zingiberous crops, the plant is propagated vegetatively by rhizome for which the pathogen is easily transmitted by the planting material and lack of seed set hinders breeding efforts by conventional techniques. In vitro regeneration techniques can be used to overcome this problem. Reports on production of disease free clones of Curcuma amada is lacking. So, the present study was designed. Young rhizome sprouts were cultured in Murashige and Skoog basal medium supplemented with BAP and Kinetin. BAP gave better results compared to kinetin. Combinations of cytokinins were more potential in regeneration rather than when they were used alone. Moderate rooting were observed in all the cultures. The regenerated plants showed a survival percentage of 92 % in poly cups and 98 % in field. The plantlets produced were found disease free. Â

On Finding a Defect-free Component in Nanoscale Crossbar Circuits

AbstractWe propose a technique for the analysis of manufacturing yield of nano-crossbar architectures for different values of defect percentage and crossbar-size. We provide an estimate of the minimum-size crossbar to be fabricated wherein a defect-free crossbar of a given size can always be found with a guaranteed yield. Our technique is based on logical merging of two defective rows (or two columns) that emulate a defect-free row (or column). Experimental results show that the proposed method provides higher defect-tolerance compared to that of previous techniques

Characterization of non polar-polar solvent extracts from some tea plantation shade tree leaves with special reference to antioxidant and antibacterial activities

Beneficial properties of shade trees of tea plantations other than their medicinal properties have been extensively studied. This research was initiated to explore the properties of some shade trees with special emphasis on their antioxidant and antibacterial properties. Leaves from shade tree like Dalbergia sissoo (DS), Cassia siamea (CS), Derris robusta (DR), Leucaena leucocephala (LL), Acacia lenticularis (AL) and Melia azedarach (MA) were used for the study. Characterization of shade tree leaves by determination of moisture, crude fibre and ash content and tests of non polar – polar solvent extracts for steroid, tannins, cardiac glycosides and coumarin, free radical scavenging, ferric reducing power, NO scavenging activities, quantification of Flavonoids and antibacterial activity were conducted. The average moisture, crude fibre and ash percentage of shade tree plants were found to be 62.95, 11.28 and 1.86 respectively. Methanol, ethanol, acetone and ethyl acetate respectively proved to be the most potent solvent for various phytochemical extractions as it gave positive results for tests like tannin, steroid, cardiac glycosides and coumarin. AL (91.46%), DR (92.69%), LL (94.32%) and MA (93.34%) leaf extracts showed a high level of DPPH scavenging activity in their water extracts. In DS (88.11%) and CS (83.23%) maximum DPPH scavenging activity was observed in Diethyl ether and Methanol extracts respectively.  Acetone extracts were more active than the water extracts in exhibiting ferric reducing power and NO scavenging activity. Summation of the quantity revealed that DS showed maximum presence of flavonoids and acetone as most potential for isolation of flavonoids. The decreasing order of summative antibacterial activity was recorded in DS, followed by CS, DR, AL, MA and LL. Chloroform showed the highest summative inhibition zone followed by ethanol, ethyl acetate, diethyl ether, acetone, water,  hexane, benzene and methanol. The antioxidant and antibacterial potential of shade trees were established

Micropropagation, genetic fidelity assessment and phytochemical studies of Clerodendrum thomsoniae Balf. f. with special reference to its anti-stress properties

Clerodendrum thomsoniae commonly known as bleeding heart vine or bag flower which is a good candidate for a new crop for the floriculture industry. In this study, in-vitro callus regeneration of C. thomsoniae through nodal culture has been attempted. Murashige and Skoog’s medium supplemented with 2 mg/l BAP and 0.5 mg/

PNEUMOCONIOSIS IN A SPOONBILL - A CASE REPORT

Pneumoconiosis has been identified in an adult dead spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) from a Zoo in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. An environmental automobile pollutants present around that ambient may be the cause of pneumoconiosis

Endemic and endangered ethno-herbal medicinal climber of Darjeeling hills (Edgaria darjeelingensis C.B. Clarke) is a treasure of anti-cancer molecules: A study on GC-MS analysis and probable biosynthetic pathways

Carcinogenesis, oncogenesis or tumourigenesis is a complex biomolecular mechanism that could progressively transform normal cells to malignant forms. Proper diet constituting natural fruits and vegetables enriched in bioactive components can reduce the risk factors of several forms of human cancer and other critical ailments. Endemic and endangered Cucurbitaceous climber of Darjeeling hills, Herpetospermum darjeelingense (C.B. Clarke) H. Schaef. & S.S. Renner [Edgaria darjeelingensis C.B. Clarke] is a repository of bioactive anti-cancer metabolites as depicted by the presence of fourteen anti-carcinogenic molecules explored via GC-MS analysis, which could potentially minimize the threats of various forms of cancer. The anti-cancer compounds cover about 79.22% of total GC-MS area percentage out of the total thirty four compounds detected. The explored cellular biosynthesis pathway of these anti-carcinogenic metabolites seems to follow a systemic metabologenesis pattern that may be required for the day-to-day survival of the plant and not a mere chance factor, which could have stressed the plant to produce those biochemical molecules. Isolation, pharmaceutical screening of these compounds and their medical application can revolutionise the dimension of the global cancer research in the near future.

HIV Transmission Potential Among Local and Migrant Factory Workers in Kolkata, India

Migrant workers in India play a key role in the spread of HIV. Kolkata is a common destination for workers, who may acquire infection and transmit it to their wives and/or other sexual partners. We investigated sexual relations and condom use by factory workers. Migrant and local factory workers were randomly selected from five wards of Kolkata. Information was collected about demographic and socio-economic characteristics, sexual relationships, condom usage, and perceptions and intent to use condoms. Condom use was very low in both groups of workers, particularly among migrants. Many married workers visited female sex workers but never used condoms. Few intended to use condoms, and if they did, it did not always translate into actual usage. There is great potential for transmission of HIV/sexually transmitted infections by these workers. Carefully designed intervention and education programs in the context of low literacy and cultural norms are urgently needed

Estimating Completeness in Streaming Graphs

Finding the completeness of a graph is important from various aspects. Considering the massive growth and dynamics of real-life networks, we readdress this problem in a streaming setting. We approach the problem of verifying the completeness of a graph by estimating the eigen values of a sketch of its adjacency matrix. Here, we provide the first approximation algorithm for estimating the completeness of abipartitegraphinthestreamingmodel. Theapproachis further generalized for any arbitrary simple graph. We employ some useful recent results on `1 heavy eigen-hitters to construct the algorithms working in linear time and consuming sublinear space. The implementation of the algorithms have also been done and tested on a couple of networks. We illustrate the e↵ectiveness of the proposed approaches in analyzing social, biological and other real-life networks