COMPARISION OF PHYTOCHEMICALS IN THE FLOWER BUDS, PEDICELS AND LEAVES OF SYZYGIUM AROMATICUM (L.) MERRIL AND PERRY

Objective: To analyse and compare the major chemical components in the flower buds, pedicels and leaves of Syzygium aromaticum by Gas-Chromatography Mass spectrometry technique. Methods: Healthy and mature flower buds, pedicels and leaves were shade dried and pulverized using a mechanical grinder. The powder was successively extracted with ethanol (40-60o C). The extracts were concentrated under reduced pressure in a rotary evaporator. The ethanolic extracts of the plant parts such as leaves, pedicels, and buds were used for GC-MS analysis.Results: The major constituent is eugenol. Pedicels contain 79.75% eugenol, buds contain 74.12% eugenol and leaves contain 51.03% eugenol. In addition to eugenol, other important components are Acetyl eugenol, Caryophyllene, Humulene and Caryophyllene oxide.Conclusion: Eugenol has a wide range of medicinal properties such as antiseptic, anaesthetic, analgesic anti-inflammatory. Commercially pedicel is not used for eugenol extraction. Present study has revealed that it could be used as a promising one in pharmaceutical industry in addition to flower buds

Comparative foliar anatomical study of six different varieties of Piper betle L.

The present investigation on a few selected cultivars of Piper betle L. was undertaken mainly to understand the anatomy and tissue components of the stem, leaves and petiole. This was accomplished by using basic anatomy techniques such as free hand and microtome sectioning. The varieties selected were: HY1, HY2, JB, KB, LV and SG. Major aspects of the present inquiry were - macro morphology, anatomy and histochemistry. The main focus of the study was on the internal structure of leaves and petioles to understand the role of specialised cells like enlarged hypodermal cells and mucilage cavities in retaining moisture and thereby preserving the shelf life of harvested leaves

PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF SOME SELECTED VARIETIES OF PIPER BETLE L.

Objective: To Analyse the major phytochemical components in selected varieties of P. betle leaves using GC-MS.Methods: P. betle leaves were shade dried and pulverized to powder in a mechanical grinder. The powder was successively extracted with ethanol (40-60 °C). The extracts were concentrated under reduced pressure in a rotary evaporator. The ethanolic extracts of the plant leaves were used for GC-MS analysis.Results: In the present study ten chemicals were identified and compared from the P. betle varieties, the major component being Eugenol, which is responsible for the flavour and aroma of the leaves.Conclusion: Variety Karpoori possesses the highest content of Eugenol and could be used as a promising variety in the pharmaceutical industry. The components of essential oil can also serve as a determinant to distinguish different varieties of betle vine cultivars

Antidiabetic activity of Manomani chooranam aqueous extract on female wistar albino rats

Background: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the antidiabetic potential of Manomani chooranam (MMC), an indigenous polyherbal siddha formulation in Streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic female Wistar albino rats.Methods: Aqueous extract of MMC was prepared. Wistar albino rats were divided into six groups (n=6). Group 1 was kept as normal control, Group 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 were induced diabetes. After induction, the group 2 was kept as diabetes control; Group 3 received the standard drug metformin (100 mg/kg), whereas Groups 4, 5 and 6 were treated with the aqueous extract of MMC at 500 mg/kg, 1000 mg/kg and 1250 mg/kg doses, respectively for the 21 days. Blood sugar was estimated at the end of each week. At the end of the study, rats were sacrificed and the pancreas was analyzed for histopathological changes. Data expressed as mean±standard error of the mean. Statistical analysis was done using one-way ANOVA followed by post hoc Tukey's test. p<0.05 considered statistically significant.Results: The groups which received aqueous extract of MMC at 500 mg/kg, 1000 mg/kg and 1250 mg/kg showed a significant decrease in the mean blood sugar level when compared to normal level. The groups which received MMC shows significant reduction in blood sugar level in comparison with standard drug metformin 100 mg/kg.Conclusions: The aqueous extract of MMC was able to decrease the elevated blood sugar levels in dose dependent manner

Does economic development and democracy translate to happiness? a global perspective

This paper explores the relatively intriguing area of research on the “economics of happiness”. The present study was designed to determine the effects of economic development and democratic freedom on happiness. A cross-sectional econometric analysis is employed to examine the impact of the economic variables of income and democracy on happiness across thirty eight countries in 2011. Democracy and economic development were found to contribute positively to happiness. The findings also indicate a bi-directional relationship between happiness and its dual determinants of income and democratic freedom. It was found that countries reporting higher levels of well-being tend to enjoy higher incomes and seem to choose democracy over other political overtures. Institutions of democracy were found to enhance economic development and this relationship is bi-directional. The study concludes with an examination of policy implications of the findings

Pigeonpea nutrition and its improvement

Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan [L.] Millsp.), known by several vernacular and names such as red gram, tuar, Angola pea. yellow dhal and oil dhal, is one of the major grain legume crops of the tropics and sub-tropics. It is a crop of small holder dryland fmmers because it can grow well under subsistence level of agriculture and provides nutritive food, fodder, and fuel wood. It also improves soil by fixing atmospheric nitrogen. India by far is the largest pigeonpea producer it is consumed as decorticated split peas, popularly called as 'dhaL' In other countries, its consumption as whole dty and green vegetable is popular. Its foliage is used as fodder and milling by-products [onn an excellent feed for domestic animals. Pigeonpea seeds contain about 20-22% protein and appreciable amounts of essential amino.acids and minerals. DehuHing and boiling treatments of seeds get rid of the most antinutritional factors as tannins and enzyme inhibitors. Seed storage causes considerable losses in the quality of this legume. The seed protein of pigeonpea has been successfully enhanced by breeding from 20-22% to 28-30%. Such lines also agronomically performed well and have acceptable and color. The high-protein lines were found nutritionally superior to the cultivars because they would provide more quantities of utilizable protein and sulfur-containing amino acids

In vitro microrhizome production in Decalepis hamiltonii

Microrhizomes were produced from leaf disc derived callus of a threatened endemic medicinal plant - Decalepis hamiltonii. Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 2 mM 6-benzyleaminopurine (BAP) and 6 mM 1-napthaleneacetic (NAA) acid was found to be optimum for rapid callus induction and establishment from leaf disc explants. Further differentiation of callus into microrhizome was conquered in MS medium supplemented with 4 mM indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and 8 mM NAA. A maximum of 20 microrhizomes in a cluster was produced within 90 days. Yeast extract (0.05%) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (0.05%) further enhanced the microrhizome formation when supplemented along with plant growth regulators (PGRs).Keywords: Decalepis hamiltonii, microrhizome, herbal medicine, secondary metabolitesAfrican Journal of Biotechnology, Vol 13(11), 1308-131

Advanced golden jackal optimization-based fractional-order integral terminal sliding-mode (FO-ITSM) controller for level control of the conical tank system

This article examines a conical tank nonlinear system's level control. A crucial component of facilities like milk processing plants and sugarcane mills is the conical tank. The fluid drains entirely due to the conical shape of the tank. The conical form of the system causes nonlinear dynamics. The conical tank nonlinear system transfer mechanism is not easily accessible, and different operating heights require different transfer mechanisms, making controller design difficult. Developing the Fractional-Order Integral Terminal Sliding-Mode (FO-ITSM) Controller system for Advanced Golden Jackal Optimisation (GJO) based conical tank systems is the main objective of this paper. This is utilised to deliver real-time liquid level management in non-linear conical systems. The dynamics of these models make it possible to identify the conical tank system that produces control signals from liquid samples taken at reference levels with greater accuracy. This system, which is employed on multiple platforms, maintains and controls the liquid level while meeting all design specifications, including time constant, no overshoot, less settling, and rise time. For research simulation work, MATLAB software's FOMCON toolbox is utilised

Cocoa and Oil palm putative gene database

Oil palm and cocoa are important plantation crops and require bioinformatics tools to hasten the research output and aid in crop improvement programmes. The current work was undertaken to assign putative function to available Expressed Sequence Tags (EST's) of oil palm and cocoa. Annotated EST's of cocoa and oil palm were developed into searchable database. EST's of oil palm and cocoa were first retrieved from dbEST. FASTA formatted EST sequences were converted into contigs by running in CAP3. The contigs sequences were run in BLAST tool and their putative functions were predicted based on homology. A database of annotated ESTs was developed using MySQL and PHP programs. In this database, EST's of cocoa and oil palm, BLAST results and gene information were stored as different tables. The database homepage contains six menus namely 'Home', 'About database', 'Tool', 'Useful links', 'Site map' and 'Contact us'. The same page contains annotated gene information for cocoa and oil palm separately. For browsing the annotated ESTs of cocoa and oilpalm, separate text boxes are provided such as 'ESTs', 'blast results' and 'gene information'. The text box 'EST's' of oil palm has links to six different tables which stores information about six different tissues and cocoa contains seven different tables, which stores information about seven different tissues. The 'gene information' contains the 'contig number', 'similarities found in each organism', 'accession number', 'structure accession number' and 'gene function'. The cocoa and oil palm putative gene database - COPGENE is hosted at CPCRI bioinformatics website (www.bioinfcpcri.org)