Influence of biochemicals on regulation of bud break, green leaf yield and crop distribution in tea

Tea (Camellia sp.) undergoes winter dormancy for a period of 3 to 4 months in north east India. An attempt was made to hasten the bud break and regulate crop distribution by exogenous application of certain biochemicals viz. Jibika (a commercial mixture of GA3+GA4+GA7), indole-3-acetic acid, cycocel, thiourea, methanol, succinic acid and sucrose besides deionised water as control. It was observed that the bud break was hastened by 11 days and the bushes reached 50% bud break stage by 9.3 days earlier due to Jibika treatment as compared to control. The number of primary shoots (158.0) and dry weight of tipped-in primaries (22.1 g/bush) were the highest in Jibika treated bushes while shoot (25.3 cm) and internodal (4.3 cm) length was maximum in thiourea treated bushes. The mean monthly green leaf yield showed a significant variation due to treatments and the total annual green leaf yield was higher (816.8 g/bush) due to sucrose application. Significant increase was recorded in terms of crop distribution by sucrose treat-ment during early (12.4 %) and mid (18.6 %) season while cycocel treatment produced 27.3 % increase in green leaf during end season with respect to control. Early season crop is important from quality point of view and it was effectively enhanced by sucrose. It seems that besides phytohormones, other chemicals can also regulate growth and green leaf yield and thus, could have a great potential in the tea industry

Exiguobacterium mediated arsenic removal and its protective effect against arsenic induced toxicity and oxidative damage in freshwater fish, Channa striata

AbstractArsenic is a toxic metalloid existing widely in the environment, and its removal from contaminated water has become a global challenge. The use of bacteria in this regard finds a promising solution. In the present study, Exiguobacterium sp. As-9, which is an arsenic resistant bacterium, was selected with respect to its arsenic removal efficiency. Quantification of arsenic in the water treated with bacterium showed that Exiguobacterium efficiently removed up to 99% of arsenic in less than 20h. In order to reveal the possible effect of this bacterium in removal of arsenic from water and protecting fishes from the detrimental effects of arsenic, we initiated a range of studies on fresh water fish, Channa striata. It was observed that the fishes introduced into bacteria treated water displayed no symptoms of arsenic toxicity which was marked by a decreased oxidative damage, whereas the fishes exposed to arsenic revealed a significant (p<0.05) increase in the oxidative stress together with the elevated levels of malondialdehyde. Determination of the bioaccumulation of arsenic in the liver tissues of C. striata using hydride generation atomic absorption spectrophotometry (HG-AAS) revealed an increased As(III) accumulation in the fishes exposed to arsenic whereas the arsenic level in the control and bacteria treated fishes were found below the detectable limit. In conclusion, this study presents the strategies of bacterial arsenic removal with possible directions for future research

Comparative study of medicinal plants on feeding behaviour of seven day old larvae of Tobacco caterpillar, Spodoptera litura (Fab.) and Bihar hairy caterpillar, Spilarctia obliqua (Walk.)

Eight medicinal plants viz., Sinduri, Bixa orellana (Bixaceae); Dalchini, Cinnamomum zelanicum (Lauraceae); Camphora, Cinnamomum camphora (Lauraceae); Gular, Ficus racemosa (Moraceae); Arjun, Terminalia arjuna (Combretaceae); Nagkesar, Messua ferrea (Calophyllaceae); Sarpgandha, Rauwolfia serpentina (Apocynaceae); Putranjeeva, Putranjeeva roxburghii (Euphorbiaceae) at 5% and 10 % concentrations were tested for the feeding against larvae of Spodoptera litura and Spilarctia obliqua. At 10% conc. C.camphora (hexane, diethyl ether, and acetone) was found extremely antifeedant against the larvae of both insects (S.litura and S.obliqua) while C.zeylanicum (hexane, diethyl ether, and acetone) and P.roxbughii (diethyl ether, and acetone), B.orellana (Acetone) showed extremely antifeedant activity only against the larvae of S.litura. At 5% concentration, the same plants were also effective against the larvae but their efficacy was less than at 10% concentration. The observation showed promising results with these plant extracts against the feeding and management of these two insect pests of agricultural importance

Modulating Effect of the −158 Gγ (C→T) Xmn1 Polymorphism in Indian Sickle Cell Patients

Xmn1 polymorphism is a known factor, which increases fetal haemoglobin production. Among the inherited disorders of blood, thalassaemia and Sickle Cell Diseases contributes to a major bulk of genetic diseases in India. Our aim was to verify the role of the Xmn1 polymorphism as a modulating factor in sickle cell patients and frequency of the polymorphism in Indian sickle cell patients. 60 sickle homozygous and 75 sickle beta thalassemia patients were included and 5 ml blood sample was collected from them. Screening of sickle patients was done by HPLC. An automated cell analyzer SYSMEX (K-4500 Model) was used to analyze the Complete Blood Count of patients. Xmn1 polymorphism analysis was done by PCR-RFLP and one-way ANOVA test was applied to analysis of variance between groups. Among the sickle patients 27 were heterozygous (+/−) and 19 were homozygous (+/+) while 30 were heterozygous (+/−) and 24 were homozygous (+/+) in sickle β-thalassemia patients. Extremely significant differences (p-value <0.001) of hematological parameters seen among patients with Xmn1 carrier and without the Xmn1 carrier. In our cases the clinical symptoms were barely visible and higher HbF level with Xmn1 carriers were found. Presence of Xmn1 polymorphism in sickle cell patients with higher HbF were phenotypically distinguished in the sickle cell patients. We conclude that the phenotypes of Indian sickle cell patients were greatly influenced by Xmn1polymorphism

Obstetric hysterectomy, still a life saving tool in modern day obstetrics: a five year study

Background: Objective of current study was to study the indications and maternal outcome of emergency obstetric hysterectomy and its role in reduction of maternal morbidity and mortality in complicated obstetric cases.Methods: A prospective study of the cases of emergency obstetric hysterectomy performed over a period of five years from 2009 to 2013 was done.Results: During the study period, 105 emergency obstetric hysterectomies were performed giving an incidence of 0.54% .The incidence of hysterectomy following vaginal delivery was 0.54% and that of caesarean hysterectomy was 2.08%. It was most common in the age group 26-35 years (66.66%) and in women of parity 3-4 (71.42%).Rupture uterus was the most common indication accounting for 59.04% cases followed by Atonic PPH (18.09%). Febrile illness and wound infection were the two most common co-morbidities. Maternal mortality was 5.71%.Conclusions: Emergency obstetric hysterectomy is potentially a life saving procedure which every obstetrician must be familiar with in cases of catastrophic rupture uterus and intractable haemorrhage. With the help of prostaglandins, modern policies of active management of labor, timely performance of caesarean section, internal iliac artery ligation, compression sutures etc. obstetric hysterectomy should be made a more rare procedure

Synthetic investigations in epimerization reactions of β-lactams

A novel and facile synthesis of cis-3-phenylthio &amp; cis-3-chloro-β-lactams using epimerization reaction has been studied. The optimized reaction conditions for this conversion using very mild base have been studied. All the new synthesized compounds have been characterized. The reported work gives easy conversion of trans isomers to cis without forming any side product

Impact of different grades of anaemia severity during pregnancy on maternal and neonatal outcomes: a prospective study

Background: Anaemia in pregnancy is a universal health problem that may cause a number of obstetrical and neonatal complications. This prospective observational study aims to evaluate and compare maternal and neonatal outcomes in different grades of anaemia severity.Methods: A total of 400 pregnant women with anaemia in third trimester were classified into three groups according to haemoglobin (Hb) levels-group I with Hb:10-10.9 g/dl, group II with Hb:7-9.9g/dl and group III with Hb<7 g/dl. Maternal and neonatal outcomes of women with different severity of anaemia were analyzed and compared. Two groups means were compared by Student’s t-independent test and more than two groups means by one way analysis of variance test followed by post-hoc pairwise comparison using Bonferroni test.Results: The prevalence of anaemia in the study population was 35.2%. Mild, moderate and severe anaemia were found in 58% (n=232), 29.0% (n=116) and 13% (n=52) women respectively. A statistically significant difference in maternal outcomes such as Preterm labor (p=0.001), Prelabor premature rupture of membranes (p=0.044), Intrauterine growth restriction (p=0.002) and postpartum hemorrhage (p=0.001) was observed amongst the three groups. Cardiac failure occurred in 26.9% (n=14) and mortality in 13.4% (n=7) women with severe anaemia. Amongst the neonatal morbidities, the rate of low birth weight, preterm birth, respiratory distress syndrome, septicaemia, pneumonitis and jaundice revealed an increasing trend with rising severity of anaemia which was statistically significant.Conclusions: Targeted interventions addressing early detection and appropriate treatment in early pregnancy can prevent and avoid dismal maternal and neonatal consequences

To study second trimester placental location as a predictor of adverse pregnancy outcome

Background: Pregnancy and childbirth is universally celebrated as an event. It can also be one of experiences of misery and suffering when complications or adverse circumstances comprise the pregnancy, causing morbidity or even mortality. To study second trimester placental localization as a predictor of adverse pregnancy outcome.Methods: The study was conducted in Upper India Sugar Exchange Maternity Hospital, GSVM Medical College, Kanpur, India from January 2014 to July 2015 on 592 pregnant women between 18-24 week over a period of 16 months.Results: This study shows that lateral placental location was associated with increased incidence of preeclampsia, intrauterine growth restriction and posterior placental location associated with preterm labour and stillbirth.Conclusions: Placental localization by ultrasound in pregnant women during 18-24 week of gestation can be used as easy, non-invasive, cost-effective tool as a predictor of adverse pregnancy outcome

Antisense expression of a gene encoding a calcium-binding protein in transgenic tobacco leads to altered morphology and enhanced chlorophyll

Entamoeba histolytica contains a novel calcium-binding protein like calmodulin, which was discovered earlier, and we have reported the presence of its homologue(s) and a dependent protein kinase in plants. To understand the functions of these in plants, a cDNA encoding a calcium-binding protein isolated from Entamoeba histolytica (EhCaBP) was cloned into vector pBI121 in antisense orientation and transgenic tobacco plants were raised. These plants showed variation in several phenotypic characters, of which two distinct features, more greenness and leaf thickness, were inherited in subsequent generations. The increase in the level of total chlorophyll in different plants ranged from 60% to 70%. There was no major change in chloroplast structure and in the protein level of D1, D2, LHCP and RuBP carboxylase. These morphological changes were not seen in antisense calmodulin transgenic tobacco plants, nor was the calmodulin level altered in EhCaBP antisense plants

Sulfur starvation and restoration affect nitrate uptake and assimilation in rapeseed

We analyzed the effect of omission of sulfur (S) from the nutrient solution and then restoration of S-source on the uptake and assimilation of nitrate in rapeseed. Incubation in nutrient solution without S for 1-6 days led to decline in uptake of nitrate, activities, and expression levels of nitrate reductase (NR) and glutamine synthetase (GS). The nitrite reductase (NiR) and glutamate synthase (GOGAT) activities were not considerably affected. There was significant enhancement in nitrate content and decline in sulfate content. Evaluation of amino acid profile under S-starvation conditions showed two- to fourfold enhancement in the contents of arginine, asparagine and O-acetyl-l-serine (OAS), whereas the contents of cysteine and methionine were reduced heavily. When the S-starved plants were subjected to restoration of S for 1, 3, 5, and 7 days, activities and expression levels of NR and GS recovered within the fifth and seventh days of restoration, respectively. Exogenous supply of metabolites (arginine, asparagine, cysteine, glutamine, OAS, and methionine) also affected the uptake and assimilation of nitrate, with a maximum for OAS. These results corroborate the tight interconnection of S-nutrition with nitrate assimilation and that OAS plays a major role in this regulation. The study must be helpful in developing a nutrient-management technology for optimization of crop productivity