Antifouling activity of alkaline protease from halotolerant Bacillus sp. isolated from marine source

1274-1279In this study, an attempt has been made to explore the antifouling activity of the marine halotolerant bacterium, namely, Bacillus sp. About 10 different bacteria were isolated using the Zobell marine agar medium from the marine sediment samples that were collected from the Marina beach, Bay of Bengal, India. The growth pattern tests of the 10 bacteria were documented. Among the 10 different isolates, two exhibited the protease activity in skim milk agar. The antifouling activity was further tested against five different fouling bacteria. The antifouling activity of alkaline protease isolated from Bacillus sp. inferred that it exhibited pronounced inhibitory zones against fouling bacterial strains with least minimal inhibitory concentration range between 25 and 100 units/mg protein. Anticrustacean assay was performed using Artemia salina of alkaline protease, which showed good activity. The results suggest that Bacillus sp. produced an extracellular alkaline protease, which was responsible for the antifouling and algicidal activity of marine fouling organisms. This study tends to indicate that Bacillus sp. could be further explored for the development of new antifouling agents

Role of voglibose in prevention of type 2 diabetes in established case of impaired glucose tolerance: an observation study

Background: The increased prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus is a major concern for the health providers. We have done an observation study in the diagnosed IGT patient who received α-glucosidase inhibitor (voglibose), which could prevent the development of type 2 diabetes in high-risk individuals.Methods: This study was an observational study comprising of voglibose and placebo in individuals with impaired glucose tolerance.66 eligible patients were on the standard diet and taking regular exercise with impaired glucose tolerance were randomly assigned to oral voglibose 0.2 mg three times a day (n=66) or placebo (n=60) in this study. Treatment was continued until participants developed type 2 diabetes (primary endpoint) or normoglycaemia (secondary endpoint).In the final analysis, 66 registered individuals fulfilled the inclusion criteria: 36 were randomly assigned to receive voglibose and 30 placebos (two participants in the placebo group did not take their medication and were excluded). Results: The mean duration of treatment was 48.3 weeks (SD: 36.4), i.e., 45.4 weeks (34.7) for voglibose and 51.7 weeks (37.4) for placebo. Voglibose was better than placebo (p= 0.0024) in individuals treated for an average of 48.3 weeks (SD 36.4). Patients treated with voglibose had a lower risk of progression to type 2 diabetes than did those on placebo. More people in the voglibose group achieved normoglycaemia than did those in the placebo group.Conclusion: Voglibose, in addition to lifestyle modification, can reduce the development of type 2 diabetes in high risk individuals with impaired glucose tolerance.

Fungal endophyte misidentified as Neurospora crassa.

The endophytic fungus isolate, ZP5SE, recently described in Rehman et al. 2008 was misidentified identified as Neurospora crassa. The 28S ribosomal gene sequence of the isolate shows 100% sequence similarity with GenBank accession Neurospora crassa M38154

Impact of Lysinibacillus macroides, a potential plant growth promoting rhizobacteria on growth, yield and nutritional value of tomato Plant (Solanum lycopersicum L. f1 hybrid Sachriya)

Plant growth promoting bacteria enhance the growth in plants by solubilizing insoluble minerals, producing phytohormones and by secreting enzymes that resist pathogen attack. The present study was aimed at identifying the potential of Lysinibacillus macroides isolated from pea plant possessing rich microbial rhizobiome diversity in promoting the growth of tomato plant (Solanum lycopersicum L). Potential of L. macroides in the promotion of S. lycopersicum L. growth by increased shoot length, terminal leaf length and breadth was assessed. Anatomical sectioning of stem and root revealed no varied cellular pattern indicating that the supplemented bioculture is not toxic to S. lycopersicum. Plantlets treated with L. macroides along with organic compost showed an increased total phenol content (17.58±0.4 mg/g) compared to control samples (12.44±0.41 mg/g). Carbohydrate content was noticed to be around 1.3 folds higher in the L. macroides plus compost mixture supplemented slots compared to control sample. Significant increase in shoot length was evident in the L. macroides plus compost supplied slots (23.4±2.7 cm). Plant growth promoting properties might be due to the nitrogen fixing activity of the bacteria which enrich the soil composition along with the nutrients supplied by the organic compost. Rich microbial rhizobiome diversity in pea plant and the usage of L. macroides from a non-conventional source improves the diversity of the available PGPR for agricultural practices. Further research is needed to detect the mechanism of growth promotion and to explore the plant microbe interaction pathway

Characterization and identification of isolated bacteria from ice-ice disease infected seaweed Kappaphycus alvarezii

1286-1290Ice-ice disease occurs in cultivated algal seaweed Kappaphycus alvarezii due to pathogenic bacterial infections. This seaweed has rich source of carrageenan widely known as the kappa carrageenan. Generally, ice-ice disease leads to whitening of the branches initiated with colour changes of the thalli, which become transparent in the end. This study was aimed to isolate and identify the bacteria based on morphology and biochemical characterization on ice-ice diseased K. alvarezii from three different places, namely, Kottapatinam, Thondi and Rameswaram. The bacterium was isolated in Zobell Marine Agar (ZMA) and thiosulfate-citrate-bile saltsucrose (TCBS) agar. Morphological and biochemical characterizations revealed that the isolated bacteria causing ice-ice disease were closely related to the genera Bacillus in ZMA and Vibrio species in TCBS. Total viability count, physical and chemical properties of the bacteria by gram staining and morphological analysis were done for all species isolated from three places

Antibiotic trends in acute febrile illness

Background: Acute febrile illness has various etiologies. Different antimicrobials are used for different causes of fever to treat and there are interpersonal variations in prescription of antimicrobials. Therefore this study aims at to analyze the trends in the antimicrobial prescription in patients of acute febrile illness due to various etiologies in the medicine department of a tertiary care hospital.Methods: It is a record based observational study that was carried out at NKP salve institute of medical sciences and RC, Nagpur. 200 case record files of patients admitted with a diagnosis of acute febrile illness in the dept. of Medicine due to various etiologies were analyzed. Antibiotics prescribed for various causes of acute febrile illness like respiratory tract infections, urinary tract infection, gastrointestinal infection, malarial infections, septicemia, meningitis, pyrexia of unknown origin etc. were noted and data was analyzed for prescription pattern of antimicrobials.Results: Out of 200 patients of febrile illness the common clinical conditions for which antibiotics were prescribed were respiratory tract infections (upper respiratory tract infection 25.5% and lower respiratory tract infection 14%), acute gastroenteritis (20%), and urinary tract infection (13.5%) followed by, pyrexia of unknown origin (8.5%), viral fever (8%), malaria (7%), hepatitis A (1.5%), meningitis (1%) and rickettsial infection (1%). The commonly prescribed antibiotics were ceftriaxone in (19.37%) and cefixime (15.93%) followed by coamoxiclav (12.5%), azithromycin (11.87%), doxycycline (10.31%), ofloxacin and ornidazole (8.43%), levofloxacin (6.25%), ofloxacin (4.68%), ciprofloxacin (1.87%), artesunate (3.75%), artemether and lumefantrine (4.37%) and valacyclovir (0.625%).Conclusions: Our study concluded that most common disease for which antibiotics prescribed were respiratory tract infection and gasterointestinal infections. Most common antibiotic used were third generation cephalosporins especially ceftriaxone and cefixime

A Unified Approach towards Describing Rapidity and Transverse Momentum Distributions in Thermal Freeze-Out Model

We have attempted to describe the rapidity and transverse momentum spectra, simultaneously, of the hadrons produced in the Ultra-relativistic Nuclear Collisions. This we have tried to achieve in a single statistical thermal freeze-out model using single set of parameters. We assume the formation of a hadronic gas in thermo-chemical equilibrium at the freeze-out. The model incorporates a longitudinal as well as a transverse hydrodynamic flow. We have also found that the role of heavier hadronic resonance decay is important in explaining the particle spectra.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figure