Practices towards prevention of food borne diseases among females in rural area of Trichy, India

Background: Food borne diseases are of great importance since it leads to multiple health problems resulting in illness, malnutrition, mortality and economic loss. These diseases share a significant proportion in the occurrence of communicable diseases. Objectives was to study the knowledge about food borne diseases and food safety among women residing in rural area.Methods: This was a cross sectional study involving 150 adult females who were residing in rural field practice areas of a tertiary care teaching hospital. Practices of safe food handling were assessed using an interviewer administered questionnaire. Informed consent was obtained, and confidentiality was maintained. Appropriate descriptive statistical analysis was done.Results: Out of 150 females, 147 (98%) were aware of the importance of washing hands before cooking. Sixty four (42.7%) females had a habit of washing the vegetables with water twice before cooking. 102(68%) females consumed stored food after reheating, 48(32%)females consumed without heating. Though 70% were aware of food adulteration, none of the participants have lodged compliant against adulteration.Conclusions: Through our study we found that most of the females practiced proper hand washing before cooking and proper storage of the leftover food. The proportion of females who followed adequate cleaning of non-vegetarian food items and vegetables were found to be inadequate.

N′-[(1E)-3-Bromo-5-chloro-2-hy­droxy­benzyl­idene]-4-tert-butyl­benzo­hydrazide ethanol monosolvate

In the title compound, C18H18BrClN2O2·C2H6O, the hy­droxy group forms an intra­molecular O—H⋯N hydrogen bond, which influences the conformation of the Shiff base mol­ecule, where the two aromatic rings form a dihedral angle of 21.67 (8)°. Inter­molecular N—H⋯O and O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link two Shiff base mol­ecules and two solvent mol­ecules into a centrosymmetric heterotetra­mer. Weak inter­molecular C—H⋯O inter­actions link further tetra­mers related by translation along the a axis into chains

Crop–livestock-integrated farming system: a strategy to achieve synergy between agricultural production, nutritional security, and environmental sustainability

IntroductionClimate change, nutritional security, land shrinkage, and an increasing human population are the most concerning factors in agriculture, which are further complicated by deteriorating soil health. Among several ways to address these issues, the most prominent and cost-effective means is to adopt an integrated farming system (IFS). Integrating farming systems with livestock enables a way to increase economic yield per unit area per unit of time for farmers in small and marginal categories. This system effectively utilizes the waste materials by recycling them via linking appropriate components, thereby minimizing the pollution caused to the environment. Further integrating livestock components with crops and the production of eggs, meat, and milk leads to nutritional security and stable farmer's income generation. So, there is a dire need to develop an eco-friendly, ecologically safe, and economically profitable IFS model.MethodsAn experiment was conducted to develop a crop–livestock-based integrated farming system model for the benefit of irrigated upland farmers in the semi-arid tropics for increasing productivity, farm income, employment generation, and food and nutritional security through efficient utilization of resources in the farming system.Results and discussionThe IFS model has components, viz., crop (0.85 ha) + horticulture (0.10 ha) + 2 cattles along with 2 calves in dairy (50 m2) + 12 female goats and 1 male goat (50 m2) + 150 numbers of poultry birds (50 m2) + vermicompost (50 m2) + kitchen garden (0.02 ha) + boundary planting + supporting activities (0.01 ha) in a one-hectare area. The model recorded a higher total MEY (162.31 t), gross return (689,773), net return (317,765), and employment generation (475 mandays). Further negative emissions of −15,118 CO2-e (kg) greenhouse gases were recorded under this model. The study conclusively reveals that integration of crop, horticulture, dairy, goat, poultry, vermicompost production, kitchen garden, and boundary planting models increases the net returns, B:C ratio, employment generation, nutritional security, and livelihoods of small and marginal farmers

Biosurfactants produced by Bacillus subtilis A1 and Pseudomonas stutzeri NA3 reduce longevity and fecundity of Anopheles stephensi and show high toxicity against young instars

Anopheles stephensi acts as vector of Plasmodium parasites, which are responsible for malaria in tropical and subtropical areas worldwide. Currently, malaria management is a big challenge due to the presence of insecticide-resistant strains as well as to the development of Plasmodium species highly resistant to major antimalarial drugs. Therefore, the present study focused on biosurfactant produced by two bacteria Bacillus subtilis A1 and Pseudomonas stutzeri NA3, evaluating them for insecticidal applications against malaria mosquitoes. The produced biosurfactants were characterized using FT-IR spectroscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), which confirmed that biosurfactants had a lipopeptidic nature. Both biosurfactants were tested against larvae and pupae of A. stephensi. LC50 values were 3.58 (larva I), 4.92 (II), 5.73 (III), 7.10 (IV), and 7.99 (pupae) and 2.61 (I), 3.68 (II), 4.48 (III), 5.55 (IV), and 6.99 (pupa) for biosurfactants produced by B. subtilis A1 and P. stutzeri NA3, respectively. Treatments with bacterial surfactants led to various physiological changes including longer pupal duration, shorter adult oviposition period, and reduced longevity and fecundity. To the best of our knowledge, there are really limited reports on the mosquitocidal and physiological effects due to biosurfactant produced by bacterial strains. Overall, the toxic activity of these biosurfactant on all young instars of A. stephensi, as well as their major impact on adult longevity and fecundity, allows their further consideration for the development of insecticides in the fight against malaria mosquitoes

Contribution of infection and vaccination to population-level seroprevalence through two COVID waves in Tamil Nadu, India.

This study employs repeated, large panels of serological surveys to document rapid and substantial waning of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies at the population level and to calculate the extent to which infection and vaccination separately contribute to seroprevalence estimates. Four rounds of serological surveys were conducted, spanning two COVID waves (October 2020 and April-May 2021), in Tamil Nadu (population 72 million) state in India. Each round included representative populations in each district of the state, totaling ≥ 20,000 persons per round. State-level seroprevalence was 31.5% in round 1 (October-November 2020), after India's first COVID wave. Seroprevalence fell to 22.9% in round 2 (April 2021), a roughly one-third decline in 6 months, consistent with dramatic waning of SARS-Cov-2 antibodies from natural infection. Seroprevalence rose to 67.1% by round 3 (June-July 2021), with infections from the Delta-variant induced second COVID wave accounting for 74% of the increase. Seroprevalence rose to 93.1% by round 4 (December 2021-January 2022), with vaccinations accounting for 63% of the increase. Antibodies also appear to wane after vaccination. Seroprevalence in urban areas was higher than in rural areas, but the gap shrunk over time (35.7 v. 25.7% in round 1, 89.8% v. 91.4% in round 4) as the epidemic spread even in low-density rural areas

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Not AvailableThe composition of sperm proteins influences the fertilizing ability of sperm and hence the present study was conducted (i) to profile sperm proteins expression patterns in bulls of differing fertility index and (ii) to identify and relate the abundant sperm proteins with bull fertility. The semen samples were collected from Holstein-Friesian bulls (n = 12) varying in conception rate (CR) (high/low). The frozen semen straws (three ejaculates, from each bull) were used to study (a) sperm kinetic parameters, (b) plasmalemma integrity, (c) mitochondrial membrane potential, and (d) chromatin distribution. Three bulls were randomly selected from each group (n = 3) and the neat sperm pellets were subjected to percoll purification, followed by protein isolation using 0.1% Triton X100. The sperm kinetic parameters, plasmalemma integrity, mitochondrial membrane potential, and the chromatin distribution did not differ significantly between groups. The number of acidic (pI; 3.1-5.6, 37%) and basic (pI; 7.9-10.0, 27%) proteins and their pattern of expression varied significantly (p < 0.05) between high and low fertile bulls. The abundant sperm protein spots in 2D-gel electrophoresis (2DE) were identified as seminal plasma protein PDC-109 (i.e., protein with N-terminus aspartic acid, D and carboxy terminus cystine, having 109 amino acids) and its isoform and spermadhesin-1 (SPADH1). The western blot analysis confirmed the presence of PDC-109 isoform proteins at 15.4 kDa (pI 5.3 and 5.5). The seminal plasma protein PDC-109 was abundant in the low fertile when compared to the high fertile group (p < 0.05). This study suggests that the imbalance in acidic and basic sperm proteins may influence sperm fertility and sperm PDC-109 levels above a certain threshold affects bull fertility.Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of Indi

Practices towards prevention of food borne diseases among females in rural area of Trichy, India

Background: Food borne diseases are of great importance since it leads to multiple health problems resulting in illness, malnutrition, mortality and economic loss. These diseases share a significant proportion in the occurrence of communicable diseases. Objectives was to study the knowledge about food borne diseases and food safety among women residing in rural area.Methods: This was a cross sectional study involving 150 adult females who were residing in rural field practice areas of a tertiary care teaching hospital. Practices of safe food handling were assessed using an interviewer administered questionnaire. Informed consent was obtained, and confidentiality was maintained. Appropriate descriptive statistical analysis was done.Results: Out of 150 females, 147 (98%) were aware of the importance of washing hands before cooking. Sixty four (42.7%) females had a habit of washing the vegetables with water twice before cooking. 102(68%) females consumed stored food after reheating, 48(32%)females consumed without heating. Though 70% were aware of food adulteration, none of the participants have lodged compliant against adulteration.Conclusions: Through our study we found that most of the females practiced proper hand washing before cooking and proper storage of the leftover food. The proportion of females who followed adequate cleaning of non-vegetarian food items and vegetables were found to be inadequate.

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Not AvailableSpermatozoal transcripts expression levels could be used to assess fertility potential of a male. The objective of the present study was to elucidate the predictive ability of the expression levels of growth, apoptosis and homeostasis regulating transcripts on sperm functions and fertility. The expression levels of spermatozoal RNA isolated from the neat semen samples were related to the good (discarded ejaculate, 40%, n = 6) quality semen producer and bulls (n = 12) with known conception rate. The relative fold expression levels of BMP2 were significantly (p < 0.01) higher in good than the poor semen producers and positively associated with post-thaw sperm velocity parameters (LIN and VAP). The NGF expressions fold levels had significant (p < 0.05) positive relationship with mitochondrial membrane potential of neat semen samples. The genes involved in the apoptotic, UBE2D3 (r = −0.61, p = 0.02), CASP3 (r = −0.57, p = 0.03) and homeostatic, HSFY2 (r = −0.61, p < 0.02) regulators had significant negative correlation with the percentage of post-thaw fast progressive motile spermatozoa. The expression level of TRADD had significant negative influence on the mitochondrial membrane potential (r = −0.54, p = 0.05) of neat semen samples and conception rate (r = −0.57, p < 0.05). The expression levels of BMP2 had highly significant positive correlation with NGF (r = 0.99, p < 0.01) and CASP3 (r = 0.56, p = 0.05). The BMP2 expression level might be used to predict the quality of the semen and TRADD determine the conception rate of the bull. The study provides ample evidence that the sperm transcripts expression levels might be used to predict quality semen production and bull fertility.Not Availabl

HUGC - MS ANALYSIS OF LEAF AND STEM BARK OF CLEIDION NITIDUM (MUELL. – ARG.) THW. EX KURZ. (EUPHORBIACEAE)

Objective: GC-MS (Gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy) analysis of ethanol extracts of leaf and stem bark of Cleidion nitidum was carried out to detect the bioactive components. Methods:  The chemical compositions of the ethanolic extract of leaves and bark of Cleidion nitidum were investigated using Perkin – Elmer Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectra while mass spectra of the compounds found in the extract was matched with the National Institute of Standards of Technology (NIST) library.  Results:  Gas chromatography mass spectra (GC-MS) analysis revealed the presence of 16 compounds from leaves and 5 compounds from bark of the Cledion nitidum were identified. In GC-MS analysis , some of the phytocomponents screened were squalene, 3, 7, 11, 15-Tetramethyl-2, hexadecen-1-ol , Phytol and Vitamin E in leaves whereas, Thiophene-3-carbonitrite tetrahydro-4-oxo-, Dimethyl-2,6,10-dodecatrien-1-ol , D-Mannotetradecane-1,2,3,4,5-pentaol and Octanal 7-methoxy-3-7-dimethyl (5.13%) major compounds in the bark extract.  Conclusion: These results indicate the ethanol extract of leaf and stem bark of Cleidion nitidum possesses potent anti-tumor, anticancer, cancer preventive, anti-inflammatory antioxidant, antibacterial and pesticide effects so that it can be recommended as a plant of phytopharmaceutical importance.Keywords: Cleidion nitidum, GC-MS, Squalene, Phytol, vitamin-E and various application