Cytotoxic effect of the purified lectin from locally Isolate Acinetobacter baumannii on Hep-2 tumor cell line

Lectins are glycoproteins of non-immune origin which have a wide range of application in medical field. In this study, a novel strain, Acinetobacter baumannii S4 gave the highest production level of lectin by microscopic glass slide and microtiter plate methods and found that lectin agglutinated non-specifically red blood cells of human type A+, B+, AB+ and O+ also  the blood group O+ was the best among the other blood groups. Purification of the lectin was achieved by35% saturation ammonium sulfate followed by affinity ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE -cellulose column and  gel filtration chromatography Sephadex G-75 column with a yield of 36% and a purification fold of 4.66.This study showed that the purified lectin has a cytotoxic effects on cancer cell (Hep-2) as could be seen from their effects on inhibition percentage and the significant differences (p<0.05) which was observed by increasing the inhibition percentage as the concentration and time were increased. The higher level of inhibition(64%) was obtained at concentration56.25?g/ml after 72hour of exposure and when the concentration was increased more than56.25?g/ml, the inhibition rate was decreased

Isolation and Characterization of Bacteria Species Related to Food Contact Surfaces in Selected Cafeterias in a Tertiary Institution Campus in ABU, Zaria, Nigeria

The study was carried out to isolate and characterize bacterial species from selected cafeterias in tertiary institution campus in Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria. A total of ten samples were selected for analysis which include; spoons, plates, forks, chopping boards, worktops, tables, hands, washing water, plate rinsing water1 and plate rinsing water2. The bacteriological analysis was carried out using the nutrient agar (NA) media, which was prepared by dissolving 28g of the NA powder in 1litre of distilled water, autoclaved and allowed to cool. The growth of the microorganisms were then observed and counted per ml. The identified species include; Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermis, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus mirabilis and Bacillus anthracis. The food contact surfaces analyzed revealed that Chopping board has the highest bacterial load with 28 x 105, followed by Hand 27 x 105, Worktop 20 x 105, Table 18.8 x 105, Washing water 16 x 105, Plate 13.6 x 105, Fork 12 x 105, Spoon 7.2 x 105, plate rinsing water1 6 x 105, plate rinsing water2 5 x 105. The frequency of occurrence of the isolated organisms include; Staphylococcus aureus 3(10.3), Staphylococcus epidermis 9 (31.1), Escherichia coli 4(13.8), Klebsiella pneumonia 6(20.7), Pseudomonas aeruginosa 3(10.3), Proteus mirabilis 2(6.9) and Bacillus anthracis 2(6.9). It was observed that Staphylococcus epidermis have the highest incidence of occurrence, Bacillus anthracis and Proteus mirabilis have the least incidence of occurrence

Dissection of genetic diversity present in eggplant populations using simple sequence repeat markers

Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) is the third most important solanaceous vegetable and most diversified within species spread across the world-geographical area. A study was conducted to assess the genetic diversity among the selected fifty-four eggplant genotypes (sub-categorized into five sub-population) using twenty-three SSR markers. The Analysis of Molecular Variance among the five sub-population of eggplant revealed the existence of 90.67% variation within populations and 9.34% variation among populations. The SSR markers analysis revealed important locus-wise information like mean Observed-Heterozygosity (0.216), mean Expected-Heterozygosity (0.496), Shannon’s Information Index (0.879), mean number of different alleles (3.209), mean number of effective alleles (2.535), Fixation-Index (0.649). Further, Phylogenetic-analysis clearly categorize genetically distinct individuals in which the most diversified clusters was cluster-1 (C1) out of total of five clusters and especially, wild cultivars were grouped into cluster-5 (C5). The obtained results can be used in eggplant breeding and germplasm conservation in a resourceful manner

Sesquiterpenes from aerial parts of Ferula vesceritensis

From the dichloromethane extract of aerial parts of Ferula vesceritensis (Apiaceae), 11 sesquiterpene derivatives were isolated. Among them five were compounds designated as 10-hydroxylancerodiol-6-anisate, 2,10-diacetyl-8-hydroxyferutriol-6-anisate, 10-hydroxylancerodiol-6-benzoate, vesceritenone and epoxy-vesceritenol. The six known compounds were identified as feselol, farnesiferol A, lapidol, 2-acetyl-jaeschkeanadiol-6-anisate, lasidiol-10-anisate and 10-oxo-jaesckeanadiol-6-anisate. All the structures were determined by extensive spectroscopic studies including 1D and 2D NMR experiments and mass spectroscopy analysis. Two of the compounds, the sesquiterpene coumarins farnesiferol A and feselol, bound to the model recombinant nucleotide-binding site of an MDR-like efflux pump from the enteropathogenic protozoan Cryptosporidium parvum

Visual similarity effects on short-term memory for order: The case of verbally labeled pictorial stimuli

Four experiments examined the effect of visual similarity on immediate memory for order. Experiments 1 and 2 used easily nameable line drawings. Following a sequential presentation in either silent or suppression conditions, participants were presented with the drawings in a new, random order and were required to remember their original serial position. In Experiment 3, participants first learned to associate a verbal label with an abstract matrix pattern. Then they completed an immediate memory task in which they had to name the matrices aloud during presentation. At recall, the task required remembering either the order of the matrices or the order of their names. In Experiment 4, participants learned to associate nonword labels with schematic line drawings of faces; the phonemic similarity of the verbal labels was also manipulated. All four experiments indicate that the representations supporting performance comprise both verbal and visual features. The results are consistent with a multiattribute encoding view