Effect of Media Strength and pH on the Growth of Hairy Roots and Production of Gymnemic Acid from Gymnema Sylvestre

Gymnema sylvestre (Madhunashini) is one of the most important medicinal plants used as a crude drug for its preventive and therapeutic properties. Among other constituents of Gymnema, gymnemic acid is a major component responsible for biological and pharmacological actions. The present study deals with the influence of different media strength and initial medium pH on the growth of hairy roots and gymnemic acid production from Gymnema sylvestre. Higher strength of the media (1.5X) favoured the biomass production (114.64 g/L FW and 12.63 g/L DW) and gymnemic acid content (11.7 mg/g DW) in the tested range of 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 X strength. Among the different hydrogen ion concentration (pH) of 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5, 5.8, 6.0 and 6.5, initial medium pH of 6.0 favoured the biomass production (102.41 g/L FW and 11.52 g/L DW) and medium pH of 5.8 favoured the gymnemic acid production (11.30 mg/g DW)

Occurrence of powdery mildew disease of Gerbera in Kerala

A purposive sampling survey on the hilly tracts of Wayanad, Kerala revealed the existence of powdery mildew disease in gerbera crops, grown under both protected and open field condition. Among the other fungal diseases of gerbera, powdery mildew disease causes decisive damage to the ornamental cut flower crop, thereby decline in the industrial value of the crop. Symptom of the disease include as white powdery mat on the upper surface of leaf lamina that gradually turned pale yellow to brown. Powdery mildew existed in two locations of Wayanad viz., Ambalavayal and Chulliyode where highest per cent disease severity (PDS) of 50.72 was observed at Chulliyode and 47.2 per cent was observed at Ambalavayal during November-December. In Ambalavayal, the disease was non-significant and no correlation existed between weather parameters and disease progress. But, in Chulliyode, correlation studies revealed that it was significant with positive correlation to relative humidity and a reverse relation existed with temperature and rainfall. The weather data clearly depicts that at a low rainfall of 96 mm and above average relative humidity of 80.27 per cent during November-December was the congenial factor influencing the disease development. But during summer, decline in relative humidity (78.37%) and rainfall (63.13 mm) caused a slight reduction in mean per cent disease severity of 49.12 per cent and 33.6 per cent at Chulliyode and Ambalavayal respectively. Morohological and cultural characters of the pathogen depicts presence of two distinct organism viz., Golovinomyces cichoracearum (Erysiphe cichoracearum) and Podosphaera sp. as the causative organism of the disease. Golovinomyces cichoracearumproduced hyaline, septate mycelia with globose conidia with irregular peripheral end formed in a chain and Podosphaera sp. produced superficial, hyaline, coenocytic mycelium with oval or ellipsoidal, catenate conidia with dimension ranging from 22.1-30.18 x 13.36-18.08ìm formed in unbranched erect conidiophores

A critical review of anticancer properties of Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal with respect to the biochemical mechanisms of its phytochemical constituents

Cancer is a leading cause of mortality worldwide, the conventional chemotherapeutic drugs have been known for their toxicity and numerous side effects. A new approach to treat cancer involves phytochemical drugs. In the present review, anti-cancer activity of a class of steroidal lactones called withanolides obtained from Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal is discussed. The commonly studied bioactive compounds namely withaferin-A, withanoside IV, withanoside VI and withanolide-A among others obtained from methanolic and chloroform extract of the leaves and various alcoholic, aqueous and chloroform extract of roots have shown inhibition to various human cancer cell lines including skin, breast, colon, prostate, liver, ovary, cervical and lung. Prominent mechanisms of action include induction of apoptosis by NOS upregulation, ROS production and NBS2 or COX-2 inhibition; cytotoxicity by humoral and cell mediated immune response, activation of p53 and pRB and inhibition of various viral oncoproteins; cell cycle arrest by Cdc2 facilitated mitotic catastrophe, cyclin-D1 down-regulation and inhibition of transcription factors. Cancers are also controlled by inhibition of angiogenesis and metastasis of the tumor cells. In addition to anti-tumorogenic properties, W. somnifera also holds properties that make it a potential adjuvant in integrated cancer therapeutics and in enhancing the effectiveness of ongoing radiation therapy

Effect of grey zone sample testing of transfusion transmissible infectious diseases on safety of blood-experience of a tertiary care referral teaching hospital blood bank from South India

Background: Grey zone samples with optical density (OD) lying between cut-off OD and 10% below the cut-off OD (cut-off OD × 0.9) were identified during routine transfusion transmissible infectious disease (TTIs) screening. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) used for this purpose can sometimes fail to detect blood donors who are recently infected or possessing the low viremia. Estimation of a grey zone in ELISA testing and repeat testing of grey zone samples can further help in reducing the risks of TTI in countries where nucleic acid amplification testing for TTIs is not feasible.Methods: On performing repeat ELISA testing on grey zone samples in duplicate, the samples showing both OD values below grey zone were marked nonreactive, and samples showing one or both OD value in the grey zone were marked indeterminate. The samples on repeat testing showing one or both OD above cut-off value were labelled reactive.Results: Of the 21,908 blood donors screened during the study period, a total of 144 blood donors were found to be in grey zone. On repeat testing of these grey zone samples, 35 (24.30%) were found to be reactive for TTIs.Conclusions: Estimation of grey zone samples with repeat testing can further enhance the safety of blood transfusion in resource poor developing nations where more sophisticated and sensitive methods such as nucleic acid amplification test (NAT) is not available in all the blood banks

Effect of oil palm sustainability certification on deforestation and fire in Indonesia.

Many major corporations and countries have made commitments to purchase or produce only "sustainable" palm oil, a commodity responsible for substantial tropical forest loss. Sustainability certification is the tool most used to fulfill these procurement policies, and around 20% of global palm oil production was certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in 2017. However, the effect of certification on deforestation in oil palm plantations remains unclear. Here, we use a comprehensive dataset of RSPO-certified and noncertified oil palm plantations (∼188,000 km2) in Indonesia, the leading producer of palm oil, as well as annual remotely sensed metrics of tree cover loss and fire occurrence, to evaluate the impact of certification on deforestation and fire from 2001 to 2015. While forest loss and fire continued after RSPO certification, certified palm oil was associated with reduced deforestation. Certification lowered deforestation by 33% from a counterfactual of 9.8 to 6.6% y-1 Nevertheless, most plantations contained little residual forest when they received certification. As a result, by 2015, certified areas held less than 1% of forests remaining within Indonesian oil palm plantations. Moreover, certification had no causal impact on forest loss in peatlands or active fire detection rates. Broader adoption of certification in forested regions, strict requirements to avoid all peat, and routine monitoring of clearly defined forest cover loss in certified and RSPO member-held plantations appear necessary if the RSPO is to yield conservation and climate benefits from reductions in tropical deforestation

Heat shock-induced phosphorylation of TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) by MAPK/ERK kinase regulates TDP-43 function

TAR DNA-binding protein (TDP-43) is a highly conserved and essential DNA- and RNA-binding protein that controls gene expression through RNA processing, in particular, regulation of splicing. Intracellular aggregation of TDP-43 is a hallmark of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and ubiquitin-positive frontotemporal lobar degeneration. This TDP-43 pathology is also present in other types of neurodegeneration including Alzheimer's disease. We report here that TDP-43 is a substrate of MEK, a central kinase in the MAPK/ERK signaling pathway. TDP-43 dual phosphorylation by MEK, at threonine 153 and tyrosine 155 (p-T153/Y155), was dramatically increased by the heat shock response (HSR) in human cells. HSR promotes cell survival under proteotoxic conditions by maintaining protein homeostasis and preventing protein misfolding. MEK is activated by HSR and contributes to the regulation of proteome stability. Phosphorylated TDP-43 was not associated with TDP-43 aggregation, and p-T153/Y155 remained soluble under conditions that promote protein misfolding. We found that active MEK significantly alters TDP-43-regulated splicing and that phosphomimetic substitutions at these two residues reduce binding to GU-rich RNA. Cellular imaging using a phospho-specific p-T153/Y155 antibody showed that phosphorylated TDP-43 was specifically recruited to the nucleoli, suggesting that p-T153/Y155 regulates a previously unappreciated function of TDP-43 in the processing of nucleolar-associated RNA. These findings highlight a new mechanism that regulates TDP-43 function and homeostasis through phosphorylation and, therefore, may contribute to the development of strategies to prevent TDP-43 aggregation and to uncover previously unexplored roles of TDP-43 in cell metabolism

FORMULATION DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF ALMOND GUM BASED SUSTAINED RELEASE MATRIX TABLET OF INDOMETHACIN

Objective: The aspiration of the current research involves employing various concentrations of polymer and filler to develop indomethacin sustained release (SR) matrix tablets. The objective of this research work is to reduce dosing frequency thereby increasing patients compliance and enhanced therapeutic activity.Methods: Polymers such as Almond gum (AG), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), and starch at different concentrations were used for formulating SR polymeric matrix tablets. Evaluation of pre-compression and post-compression parameters was done for both granules and formulated tablets.Results: Results obtained from pre-compression parameters and post-compression parameters suggested that all the parameters are within the prescribed limits, demonstrating that formulated granules had shown better flow properties. The morphological characteristics of the developed tablet were observed by employing scanning electron microscope where the surface of the tablet was found to be smooth from the in vitro dissolution study, combination of AG (30 mg) with PVP (30 mg), and starch used as a filler has sustained the release of drug up to 10 h.Conclusion: Therefore, developed polymeric matrix tablet exhibited enhanced potency over a conventional tablet by exhibiting an excellent dissolution profile for a period of 10 h

An efficient Agrobacterium tumefaciens -mediated genetic transformation of bitter melon (Momordica charantia L.)

Abstract A simple and efficient protocol for Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated genetic transformation of bitter melon (Momordica charantia L.) has been developed. Pre-cultured leaf explants were transformed by co-cultivation with Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain LBA4404 harbouring a binary vector pBAL2 carrying the reporter gene β-glucuronidase intron (gus) and the marker gene neomycin phosphotransferase (nptII). After co-cultivation, explants were transferred in to a callus induction medium containing 7.7 μM naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) with 2.2 μM thidiazuron (TDZ), 100 mg L -1 kanamycin and 300 mg L -1 carbenicillin. Regeneration of adventitious shoots from callus was achieved on MS medium containing 5.5 μM TDZ, 2.2 μM NAA, 3.3 μM silver nitrate (AgNO 3 ), 100 mg L -1 kanamycin and 300 mg L -1 carbenicillin. Transgenic shoots were excised from callus and elongated in MS medium fortified with 3.5 μM, gibberellic acid (GA 3 ), 100 mg L -1 kanamycin and 300 mg L -1 carbenicillin. The transgenic elongated shoots were rooted in MS medium supplemented with 4.0 μM indole 3-butyric acid (IBA) and 100 mg L -1 kanamycin. The putative transgenic plants were acclimatized in the greenhouse and seeds were subsequently collected from mature fruits. Further, the presence of acetosyringone (300 μM) in the co-cultivation medium, infection of explants for 30 min and 3 days of co-cultivation proved to be critical factors for greatly improving the transformation efficiency. Histochemical GUS assay and polymerase chain reaction of field-established transgenic plants and their offspring confirmed the presence of the gus and nptII genes, respectively. Integration of T-DNA into the genome of putative transgenics was further confirmed by Southern blot analysis. The nptII gene expression in transgenic plants was confirmed by RT-PCR. A transformation efficiency of 7% was obtained