ENZYME PRODUCTION ABILITY BY BACILLUS SUBTILIS AND BACILLUS LICHENIFORMIS - A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Objective: B.subtilis and B.licheniformis have been reported as one of the potential protease producer. Hence, an attempt has been made to optimize and compare the enzyme production by entrapment and fermentor conditions. Methods: Growth profile of both the strains has been studied. Optimization of culture conditions with respect to pH, temperature, agitation, carbon, nitrogen sources and metals has also been analyzed. Immobilization studies have been conducted for the strains. Enzyme production ability in fermentor has been premeditated. Results: Growth profile for both the strains was found to be similar. Strains were optimized for maximal enzyme production. Fermentation has yielded higher production of enzyme (8080 U/ml) compared to immobilization (850 U/ml). Conclusion: B.subtilis was more stable in enzyme production with immobilization and fermentation when compared to B.licheniformis.Keywords: B.subtilis, B.licheniformis, Immobilization, Fermentatio

Application studies of the halotolerant protease from a newly isolated Virgibacillus dokdonensis VIT P14

Protease extracted from halotolerant bacterium - was tested for possible industrial applications. This enzyme was able to dissolve blood clot and coagulated egg within 30 min. The enzyme exhibited substantial keratinolytic activity. It was compatible with all the tested commercial detergents like Rin, Surfexcel, Henko, Tide, Ariel and Technobright and was found to be effective in the removal of blood strains from cotton fabric in the presence of these detergents. The enzyme was compatible with the organic solvents like xylene, toluene, hexane and ethanol and the maximum activity was observed in the presence of ethanol. The enzyme was tested for antimicrobial activity against gram positive and gram negative bacteria and it was found that it possesses good inhibition capability against Escherichia coli, Streptococcus eqiuns, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella enterica. The present report indicates that this halotolerant  protease has a wide range of properties and the conditions could be optimized to suit any particular industrial application

Short-course chemotherapy in neuro-tuberculosis - Brief review of clinical trials undertaken at the Tuberculosis Research Centre, Madras

Tuberculosis of the nervous system can present as tuberculous meningitis, tuberculoma of brain, Potts paraplegia, tuberculosis of spine and rarely as arachnoiditis and vasculitis. Tuberculosis is conventionally treated for 12 to 18 months to ensure adequate cure, stabilise quiescence and prevent relapses. With the introduction of rifampicin and pyrazinamide it became feasible to shorten the duration of chemotherapy to 6 to 9 months. Many controlled clinical trials conducted all over the world have confirmed the success of this approach in pulmonary tuberculosis by evolving 100% effective SCC regimens 1-5. In a few studies especially tuberculous lymphadenitis, tuberculous abdomen and pericarditis SCC has also been used and found to be as effective as conventional regimens6,7. However, only recently has SCC been tried for neurotuberculosis. This presentation briefly highlights some of the chemotherapy trials conducted at the Tuberculosis Research Centre in some areas of CNS tuberculosis8-10. What is SCC? SCC refers to chemotherapeutic regimens containing powerful bactericidal drugs like INH, Rifampicin and Pyrazinamide, by the use of which the duration of treatment of TB is reduced from the conventional 12 to 18 months to 6 to 9 months

Study on Efficacy of Expired and Active Forms of Various Antibiotics on Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Antibiotics are among the most frequently prescribed medications in modern medicines. The cell protection strategies in the organisms, development of resistance in previously susceptible microbes, the inevitable progression of microbes exposed to antibiotics to develop resistance, were the nesisities that ensures the need for continual cycles of discovery and development of new antibiotics. A large variety of antibiotics are available in the drug market today, several others being added regularly in combat with various pathogens that cause disease in humans as well as in animals. Our present study focused to investigate the change in efficacy of commonly used antibiotics such as amoxicillin, ampicillin, sparfloxacin, cefixime. We have collected antibiotics with before and after their expiry dates. A simple eukaryotic model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae is used to study the comparative understanding of this microbe with these different antibiotics. In our investigation we found that response of Sacchromyces cerevisiae towards different antibiotics varied in its intricacies. Fresh forms of antibiotics have significantly inhibiting the growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae as compared to expired forms. The observations revealed that expired forms of antibiotics loose their efficacy drastically

The use of swear words in twitter / Devi Rajeswari Sivaraj

The f-word is a popular swear word used on social media and it is used in different forms and functions. This study investigates the uses of the f-word on a social media platform, Twitter. This study was carried out to address the following questions: (1) What are the syntactic forms of the f-word found on Twitter? (2) What are the functions of the f-word on Twitter? (3) What are the differences and similarities of the findings of this study with McEnery and Xiao’s (2004) study of the f-word in the British National Corpus (BNC)? The data comprised a corpus of 12,000-word from Twitter. Holster’s (2005) classification was used in this study to examine the syntactic forms of the f-word. This study employed McEnery et al. (2000) and Ljung (2011) typologies to analyze the functions of the f-word. The findings showed that the f-word is highly used as a verb, and it is used mainly to curse on Twitter. The results obtained in this study show some similarities to McEnery and Xiao’s (2004 findings in the BNC

Critical Review on the Different Roles of Exosomes in TNBC and Exosomal-Mediated Delivery of microRNA/siRNA/lncRNA and Drug Targeting Signalling Pathways in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Triple-negative breast cancer is the most potent metastatic type of breast cancer that can spread to other body parts. Chemotherapy and surgical intervention are the sole treatments for TNBC, owing to the scarcity of therapeutic targets. Manipulation of the membranes as per the desired targets of exosomes has recently gained much attention as a drug delivery method. Despite their known roles in different diseases, very few studies have focused on signalling that triggers the metastasis of triple-negative breast cancer to other body parts by exosomes. This article highlights the significant roles of exosomes associated with TNBC, the involvement of exosomes in breast cancer diagnosis, progression, and the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer by the exosomes as a drug delivery system. This review paper also illustrates the role of exosomes in initiating EMT in breast cancer, including novel signalling

A Review on Green Synthesis, Biomedical Applications, and Toxicity Studies of ZnO NPs

The advance of reliable and eco-friendly strategies for the development of nanoparticles is a fundamental key to the discipline of nanotechnology. Nanoparticles have been continuously evaluated and have been used in many industrial applications for a decade. In particular, the role of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) has received a great interest because of various properties such as UV filter properties and photochemical, antifungal, high catalyst, and antimicrobial activities. Because of the high rate of poisonous chemicals and the extreme surroundings used within the chemical and physical methods, the green techniques have been adopted using plants, fungi, bacteria, and algae for the synthesis of nanoparticles. Therefore, this paper considers various green synthesis methods to provide the evidence of ZnO NP role to several applications, and in addition, biomedical applications and toxic effect were reviewed. Therefore, the paper used various secondary sources to collect the relevant review articles. From the findings, the green route of synthesis is rather safe and eco-friendly when compared to physical and chemical means of synthesis. On the other hand, its biomedical applications in this sector are increased day by day in various processes including bioimaging, drug delivery, biosensors, and gene delivery. With respect to its toxicity properties, ZnO NPs can act as smart weapons against multiple drug-resistant microorganisms and as a talented substitute for antibiotics

A Study On Vortex Knots

In this thesis an attempt is made to study vortex knots based on the work of Keener . It is seen that certain mistakes have been crept in to the details of this paper. We have chosen this study for an investigation as it is the first attempt to study vortex knots. Other works had given attention to this. In chapter 2 we have considered these corrections in detail. In chapter 3 we have tried a simple extension by introducing vorticity in the evolution of vortex knots. In chapter 4 we have introduced a stress tensor related to vorticity. Chapter 5 is the general conclusion.Knot theory is a branch of topology and has been developed as an independent branch of study. It has wide applications and vortex knot is one of them. As pointed out earlier, most of the studies in fluid dynamics exploits the analogy between vorticity and magnetic induction in the case of MHD. But vorticity is more general than magnetic induction and so it is essential to discuss the special properties of vortex knots, independent of MHD flows. This is what is being done in this thesis.Dept.of Mathematics, Cochin University of Science and Technolog

TAPPING THE POTENTIAL: AN ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF CONTRACT FARMING IN TAMIL NADU COTTON SEED SECTOR

<p><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p>In many developing nations, contract farming has become a popular agricultural production model, bridging the gap between farmers and agribusinesses while fostering economic growth and improving farmers' living standards. This study examines the economic effects of contract farming on farmer income, agricultural production, and general economic growth in Tamil Nadu cotton seed industry. In order to give a thorough evaluation of the consequences of the contract farming system on diverse stakeholders, the study combines quantitative and qualitative methodologies, including surveys, interviews, and secondary data analysis. The results show that contract farming has the potential to considerably contribute to the growth of the agricultural sector in Tamil Nadu, with implications for more general agricultural policy and practice.</p&gt

CHARACTERIZATION AND CATALYTIC PROPERTY OF XYLAN DEGRADING ENZYME FROM MICROBIAL SOURCE

Objective: To study the catalytic property and characterization of xylan degrading enzyme from microbial source. Xylan degrading enzyme xylanase are extracted, purified and characterized from Bacillus megaterium SV1. Methods: The enzyme was purified to homogeneity by ammonium sulphate precipitation, gel permeation and ion exchange chromatographic techniques.  Results: During the series of steps, 28.5 fold purification was obtained with 72.7Uper mg specific activity of xylanse and the corresponding molecular weight of the enzyme was identified as 24kDa. The optimum conditions for maximal enzyme activity were identified at pH8.0, temperature 40degreeC and with 5 of sodium chloride. It is observed that the reactants like calcium chloride, Dithiothreitol, beetamercaptoethanol wasfound to enhance the activity of enzyme and Mercuric chloride strongly inhibits the enzyme activity. Conclusion: Degradation of Brich wood Xylan was investigated to determine the kinetic parameters Km and Vmax values and was found to be 6.1mg per ml and 280micromol per minper mg respectively. It is also verified that the enzyme Xylanase extracted from Bacillus SV1 was identified as alkalophilic and halotolerant. Keywords: Purification, Characterization, xylanase, Bacillus megaterium SV1.Â