Allelopathic Effect of Ixora coccinea Linn. on Seed Germination and Early Seedling Growth of Paddy (Oryza sativa L.)

Experiments were conducted to evaluate the allelopathic potential of Ixora coccinea aqueous (leaf, flower and leaf-flower) extracts on paddy (Oryza sativa L.) var. ambai-16 seed germination and seedling growth under in vitro condition. The results indicated that the leaf extract of Ixora showed more negative allelopathic (stimulatory) effect on seed germination, seedling growth, biomass production, seedling vigour index and tolerance index of paddy at low concentration as compared to control, while the higher concentrations of leaf extract and all concentrations of flower and leaf-flower extracts showed positive allelopathic (inhibitory) effect on seed germination and seedling growth parameters of paddy recorded

In vitro studies on antioxidants and free radical scavenging activities in the extracts of Loranthus longiflorus desr. bark samples obtained from two host trees

Antioxidant compounds and their free radical scavenging (FRS) activities in various solvent extracts of Loranthus longiflorus bark samples collected from Casuarina equisetifolia and Ficus religiosa host trees were assessed. The results obtained confirm the presence of total flavonoids, total phenols and total tannins in all extracts at different proportions. Among the extracts tested, ethyl acetate extract shows maximum total phenols (301.25mg/g and 307.27mg/g) and total tannins (11.46mg/g and 204.83mg/g),while chloroform extract favours more amount  of flavonoids (18.92mg/g and 26.13mg/g) in Loranthus bark samples collected from the host Casuarina and Ficus, respectively. Among the extracts of Loranthus bark samples, collected from Casuarina and Ficus, ethanol extract shows maximum scavenging activity on DPPH (4681.8% and 4890.6% at 1500µg), on Hydroxyl (49.37% and 55.58% at 250 µg), ethyl acetate (49.79%) and water extract (48.28%) on Nitric oxide (at 250µg) and ethanol (33.71%) chloroform (34.85%) on Superoxide (at 250 µg), respectively, as compared to other extracts. All the FRS activities, tested, were concentration dependent. The inhibitory concentration (IC50) was determined in ethanol extracts as 5.70µg/ml and 5.32µg/ml for DPPH-FRS activity; as 34.34µg/ml and 38.35 µg/ml for HO-FRS activity, as 108.93µg/ml and 104.32µg/ml for SO-FRS activity and ethyl acetate extract as 188.5µg/ml and 116.1µg/ml for NO-FRS activity of Loranthus bark samples collected from Casuarina and Ficus, respectively, than other extracts, tested. The ferric reducing antioxidant power of Loranthus bark samples, from Casuarina and Ficus hosts, was maximum in ethanol extract (4053.53 and 4199.03mMol Fe (II)/mg extract, respectively) than other extracts tested. These results indicate that the host trees, on which the hemiparasite infested, influence the variations in antioxidant constituents and free radical scavenging activities of L. longiflorus bark extracts

GC-MS Determination of Bioactive Compounds of Polygonum glabrum (Wild).

In this study, the bioactive compounds of Polygonum glabrum have been evaluated using GC-MS. The chemical compositions of the whole plant ethanol extract of P. glabrum were investigated using Perkin-Elmer Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, while the mass spectra of the compounds found in the extract was matched with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) library. GC-MS analysis of P. glabrum whole plant ethanol extract revealed the existence of the ether compound –Propane 1,1-diethoxy- (64.86%), alkane compound -2-Heptane, 5-ethyl-2,4-dimethyl- (13.51%), sulphur compound –Tiophene-2-Carboxamide, N-(2-furfuryl)- (8.!!%), alcoholic compound -1,14-Tetradecanediol (5.41%), and plasticizer compounds -1,2-Benzenedicarboxylic acid, isodecyloctyl ester (5.41%) and 1,2,3-Benzenetriol (2.79%). The results of this study offer a base of using P. glabrum as herbal alternative for the synthesis of antimicrobial agents

Hormetic UV-C seed treatments for the control of tomato diseases

© 2019 British Society for Plant Pathology Hormesis is a dose response phenomenon in which low, non-damaging doses of a stressor bring about a positive response in the organism undergoing treatment. Evidence is provided here that hormetic UV-C treatments of tomato seed can control disease caused by Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (FOL) and f. sp. radicis-lycopersici (FORL) on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). Treating seeds with a 4kJm−2 dose of UV-C significantly reduced both the disease incidence and progression of B.cinerea, with approximately 10% reductions in both on cv. Shirley. Disease severity assays for FOL and FORL on cv. Moneymaker showed dose-dependent responses: UV-C treatments of 4 and 6kJm−2 significantly reduced the disease severity scores of FOL, whilst only the 6kJm−2 showed significant reductions for FORL. To determine the effects of treatment on germination and seedling growth, UV-C doses of 4, 8 and 12kJm−2 were performed on cv. Shirley. No negative impacts on germination or seedling growth were observed for any of the treatments. However, the 8kJm−2 treatment showed significant biostimulation, with increases in seedling, root and hypocotyl dry weight of 11.4%, 23.1% and 12.0%, respectively, when compared to the control. Furthermore, significant increases in the root-mass fraction (10.6%) and root:shoot ratio (13.1%) along with a decrease in shoot-mass fraction (2.0%) indicates that the 8kJm−2 treatment stimulated root growth to the greatest extent. There was no effect on hypocotyl and primary root length or the number of lateral roots, indicating no adverse effects to basic root architecture or seedling growth

Discrepancies in Kappa Opioid Agonist Binding Revealed through PET Imaging

Kappa opioid receptor (KOR) modulation has been pursued in many conceptual frameworks for the treatment of human pain, depression, and anxiety. As such, several imaging tools have been developed to characterize the density of KORs in the human brain and its occupancy by exogenous drug-like compounds. While exploring the pharmacology of KOR tool compounds using positron emission tomography (PET), we observed discrepancies in the apparent competition binding as measured by changes in binding potential (BP ND , binding potential with respect to non-displaceable uptake). This prompted us to systematically look at the relationships between baseline BP ND maps for three common KOR PET radioligands, the antagonists [ 11 C]LY2795050 and [ 11 C]LY2459989, and the agonist [ 11 C]GR103545. We then measured changes in BP ND using kappa antagonists (naloxone, naltrexone, LY2795050, JDTic, nor-BNI), and found BP ND was affected similarly between [ 11 C]GR103545 and [ 11 C]LY2459989. Longitudinal PET studies with nor-BNI and JDTic were also examined, and we observed a persistent decrease in [ 11 C]GR103545 BP ND up to 25 days after drug administration for both nor-BNI and JDTic. Kappa agonists were also administered, and butorphan and GR89696 (racemic GR103545) impacted binding to comparable levels between the two radiotracers. Of greatest significance, kappa agonists salvinorin A and U-50488 caused dramatic reductions in [ 11 C]GR103545 BP ND but did not change [ 11 C]LY2459989 binding. This discrepancy was further examined in dose-response studies with each radiotracer as well as in vitro binding experiments

Purification and characterization of chitinase from Alcaligenes faecalis AU02 by utilizing marine wastes and its antioxidant activity

Marine waste is an abundant renewable source for the recovery of several value added metabolites with potential industrial applications. This study describes the production of chitinase on marine waste, with the subsequent use of the same marine waste for the extraction of antioxidants. A chitinase-producing bacterium isolated from seafood effluent was identified as Alcaligenes faecalis AU02. Optimal chitinase production was obtained in culture conditions of 37°C for 72 h in 100 ml medium containing 1% shrimp and crab shell powder (1:1) (w/v), 0.1% K2HPO4, and 0.05% MgSO4·7H2O. The molecular weight of chitinase was determined by SDS-PAGE to be 36 kDa. The optimum pH, temperature, pH stability, and thermal stability of chitinase were about 8, 37°C, 5–12, and 40–80°C, respectively. The antioxidant activity of A. faecalis AU02 culture supernatant was determined through scavenging ability on 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) as 84%, and the antioxidant compound was characterized by TLC and its FT-IR spectrum. The present study proposed that marine wastes can be utilized to generate a high-value-added product and that pharmacological studies can extend its use to the field of medicine

Highly Diastereo- and Enantioselective CuH-Catalyzed Synthesis of 2,3-Disubstituted Indolines

A diastereo- and enantioselective CuH-catalyzed method for the preparation of highly functionalized indolines is reported. The mild reaction conditions and high degree of functional group compatibility as demonstrated with substrates bearing heterocycles, olefins, and substituted aromatic groups, renders this technique highly valuable for the synthesis of a variety of cis-2,3-disubstituted indolines in high yield and enantioeselectivity.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Award GM46059)Danish Council for Independent Research (Postdoctoral Fellowship

Development of Bio-analyzer for the Determination of Urinary Chloride

A high performance Microcontroller P89C668 based Biomedical Analyzer to measure the Urinary Chloride Concentration is designed and developed. The implemented system incorporates light source, Photodiode GASPG1104, Sample holder, LCD for displaying patient test results and key board for executing functions. The details of the interfacing circuit and the software to compute the concentration of Chloride ion is explained in this paper. To determine the run to run precision of the implemented system, human control serum AccutrolTM Normal (Sigma) is analyzed and the Chloride concentration is found to be 10 4± mmol/l (mean ± SD, n=5), which closes to the certified value. Good recovery results are obtained with the range of 98 % to 99 %. The results obtained using the designed instrument is in agreement with those obtained by the clinical analyzer. The sensitivity and linearity of the microcontroller based instrument are high enough to determine the concentration of Chloride ion without any significant interference