Low height-for-age among Limbu and Mech children and adolescents from two districts of West Bengal, India

Background: Low height-for-age (stunting) is a state of chronic undernutrition in children and adolescents. Studies reported that India has very high prevalence of stunting in children, particularly from rural and tribal communities. Objective of the present study was to record prevalence of stunting in 6 to 18 year-old boys and girls from two tribal communities (Limbu and Mech) in Darjeeling and Alipurduar districts of West Bengal, India. The study also aimed to compare height-for-age of the participants with standard growth reference curves. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the sample comprises 1523 individuals of both sexes from Limbu (377 boys, 379 girls) and Mech (365 boys, 402 girls) communities. Height data was normalized using LMS. Results: Overall frequency of stunting among 6 to 18 year-old boys (33%) and girls (34.7%) was remarkably high. Prevalence of stunting was higher in Limbu boys (43.5%) and girls (44.6%) than their age-peers from Mech community (boys 22.2%, girls 25.4%). Height data after normalization, shows that all centile curves of height of Limbu and Mech boys and girls are consistently below the standard height-for-age reference curves of the WHO. Limbu and Mech children appear to be taller with respect to their median (50th percentile) height when compared with the median height of children in the dataset of Indian Council of Medical Research. Conclusion: High frequency stunting in Mech and limbu children was recorded and situation of girls was worse. There was a tendency of decline in prevalence of stunting with advancement of age among children

Process optimization of ultrasonication-assisted extraction to obtain antioxidant-rich extract from Spirulina platensis

In this study highlights on the optimization of extraction process parameters of total phenolic content and antioxidant activity from Spirulina platensis, through ultrasonication (probe) technology. Especially, optimization of ultrasonication parameters was carried out employing Box-Behnken Design (BBD) and response surface methodology. Alongside the three levels of extraction parameters i.e. solvent volume, extraction time and frequency have been fixed. As responses, the total yield of extract, total phenolic content and DPPH radical scavenging activity (IC50) of the extracts were determined. The variability of each response variable was determined by developing multiple linear regressions. The statistical analysis (ANOVA) of developed mathematical models allowed the prediction of the behaviour of the responses, as a function of the variables involved in the process. The optimized extraction conditions were obtained at 58.76 kHz frequency, 10 mL of solvent volume for 6 min. Simultaneously this extract exhibited the highest content of total phenolic content (30.89 mg GAE/g powder), IC50 for DPPH activity (151.27 µg/mL). The extract exhibited an important antioxidant i.e. caffeic acid, which was quantified as 660.72±41.05 µg/g of dry algal powder using HPLC. In spite of fact that, this study offers an alternative method for obtaining natural antioxidants from algae for food and pharmaceutical applications. Keywords: Microalgae; Probe sonication extraction; Total phenolic content; Antioxidant activit

Spray Dried Extract of Phormidium valderianum as a Promising Source of Natural Antioxidant

Microencapsulation of antioxidant-rich fraction obtained by supercritical carbon dioxide extraction (at 50 ∘ C, 500 bar with extraction time of 90 min, and flow rate of CO 2 at 2 L/min) of lyophilized biomass of Phormidium valderianum was carried out in a spray dryer using maltodextrin and gum arabic. Microencapsulation conditions that provided the best combination of phytochemical properties such as antioxidant activity, phenolic content, and reducing power with reasonable powder yield were an inlet temperature of 130 ∘ C and wall material composition as maltodextrin: gum arabic = 70 : 30. Toxicological study reported that the Anatoxin-a content of this encapsulated powder was below the limit of detection of HPLC. Storage study established that encapsulation of this antioxidant-rich algal extract resulted in eight times enhancement of half-life ( 1/2 ) values. The release profile of microencapsulated antioxidant-rich fraction from the encapsulated powder was found to follow first order anomalous transport kinetics. Therefore, this microencapsulated algal extract with minimum toxicity is a source of natural antioxidant and could have promising use as novel dietary supplement

Development of a new equation in fuzzy logic analysis for ascertaining appropriate dose of gamma irradiation of virgin coconut oil

Our previous investigation had established 4.2 kGy to be the appropriate dosage of gamma irradiation for removal of obnoxious rancid-acid-odor of virgin coconut oil (VCO) on the basis of sensory and electronic nose (e nose) studies. This study endeavored to revalidate the sensory data employing fuzzy logic analysis. An equation has been developed for the first time for deriving defuzzified scores, when the sum of the first and third coordinates of the triplet (a b c) of overall sensory score was greater than 100, i.e. (a + c) > 100. This study reaffirmed 4.2 kGy to be the most preferred dose for deodorization of VCO. Besides, ranking of the VCO samples were similar by either approach. • According to the fuzzy logic method, overall sensory scores were assigned to the VCO samples under investigation, these sensory scores have been represented by a triangle and a polygon when (a+c) is less and more than100, respectively. • The coordinates of the polygon were determined and a new equation has been developed for evaluating defuzzified scores, which has been validated by similarity value analysis. • This new methodology of fuzzy logic analysis can be used to rank samples rapidly and reliably, without any complexity of conventional similarity value approach. Keywords: Deodorized coconut oil, Shelf-life study, Sensory evaluation, Fuzzy logic, New developed equation, Similarity value

Development of suitable solvent system for downstream processing of biopolymer pullulan using response surface methodology.

Downstream processing is an important aspect of all biotechnological processes and has significant implications on quality and yield of the final product. Several solvents were examined for their efficacy on pullulan precipitation from fermentation broth. Interactions among four selected solvents and their effect on pullulan yield were studied using response surface methodology. A polynomial model was developed using D-optimal design and three contour plots were generated by performing 20 different experiments and the model was validated by performing optimization experiments. The results indicated that lower concentration of ethanol in combination with the other three solvents has resulted in higher yield of polymer from fermentation broth and the optimized solvent system was able to recover 1.44 times more pullulan as compared to the conventional ethanolic precipitation method. These observations may help in enhancing efficiency of pullulan recovery from fermentation broth and also result in reduced cost of production for the final product

Parity plot: showing the relation between actual and predicted values for pullulan recovery.

<p>Parity plot: showing the relation between actual and predicted values for pullulan recovery.</p

Deliberate Self-harm: A Search for Distinct Group of Suicide

Objective: Some persons attempt suicide with a strong intention to die and some are not. Presently, no distinctive grouping has been done on the basis of the suicidal intention, though there is a significant variation in the psycho-socio-demographic profile, suicidal ideation, and intent within the persons making suicidal attempt. The aim of our study was to find the psycho-socio-demographic profile, suicide intent in survivors of suicide attempt, categorizing them by suicide intent, and finally to define the deliberate self-harm (DSH) group. Materials and Methods: It was a cross-sectional study. Two hundred patients who survived suicide attempt were evaluated by a psychiatrist. The data were recorded for sociodemographic variables, psychiatric disorder, suicide intent, and lethality of suicide attempt. Grouping was done by using suicide intent as the determining dimension. The DSH group was defined by psycho-socio-demographic characteristics of the patient. Results: The mean age of the DSH group was 26.72 years, mostly females (50.5%), semiskilled workers (43.43%) and housewives (32.32%), from nuclear family (60.6%) with no psychiatric disorder (35.35%). Most of them attempted a nonlethal suicide attempt (87.87%) by organophosphorus poisoning (87.87%). Conclusions: The DSH group is a distinct group among suicide attempters, having different psycho-socio-demographic characteristics

Supercritical carbon dioxide extracts of small cardamom and yellow mustard seeds have fasting hypoglycaemic effects: diabetic rat, predictive iHOMA2 models and molecular docking study

In the present investigation, the supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) extracts of small cardamom (SC) and yellow mustard (YM) seeds have been investigated for their efficacies in combating type 2 diabetes in streptozotocin-induced Wistar albino rats. Fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels in the rats were monitored on days 8, 15 and 21. On day 15, FBG level reduced appreciably by 31·49 % in rats treated with SC seed extract and by 32·28 % in rats treated with YM seed extract, comparable to metformin (30·70 %) and BGR-34 (a commercial polyherbal drug) (31·81 %) administered rats. Either extract exhibited desirable effects on hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) and catalase activities in controlling diabetes. A molecular docking exercise was conducted to identify specific compounds in the extracts which possessed augmenting effect on G6PD. The results revealed that all the bioactive compounds in the extracts have binding affinities with the enzyme and contributed to the antidiabetic efficacies of the extracts as G6PD augmenters. The effects of the extracts on insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake were investigated using non-invasive modelling by iHOMA2 software. This in vitro approach indicated that extract administration resulted in increased both insulin sensitivity of the liver and glucose uptake in the gut. The findings of the present study attest these SC-CO2 extracts of the spices as safe alternatives of metformin and BGR-34 in combating type 2 diabetes and could be safely subjected to clinical studies. These extracts could also be employed in designing proactive food supplements in mitigating the metabolic disorder