Diversity and composition of riparian vegetation across forest and agroecosystem landscapes of river Cauvery, southern India

The study aims to examine tree species richness, and composition and diversity of riparian forests across forest and agro-ecosystem landscapes observed along the river Cauvery of southern India. Riparian forest was sampled in a belt transect of size 100 à 50 m, at each of the 80 sampling plots scattered over a 318 km length along the river Cauvery. Total of 177 tree species belonging to 52 families, representing 2930 individuals, were recorded. Differences occurred between the forest and agro ecosystem landscape in terms of species richness, family richness and number of individuals observed, with a decrease in agro-ecosystem compared to forest landscape. Species similarity was low between the forest and agro-ecosystem landscapes. The Shannon-Wiener diversity index was higher for forest landscape (5.6) with more evenness in distribution. In the forest landscape, high importance value indices (IVI) were obtained for Terminalia arjuna, Pongamia pinnata, Hopea parviflora. In the agro-ecosystem, species Pongamia pinnata, Ficus benghalensis, Salix tetraspermae exhibited high IVI. Expansion of agricultural activities and other biotic pressures might have led to the variation in species composition between the forest and agro-ecosystem. Also, it has led to the decline in ripicole and evergreen species such as Hydnocarpus pentandra, Elaeocarpus tuberculatus, Madhuca neriifolia, Palaquium ellipticum, Myristica dactyloides, etc., consequently affecting the associated biodiversity of the river in the agro-ecosystem. Country needs to enact a permanent policy to protect and conserve riparian buffers to avoid further degradation and loss of biodiversity in the unregulated areas along the river. © International Society for Tropical Ecology

Generation of High Voltage DC using Diodes & Capacitors in Ladder Network

The project is designed& constructed to develop a high voltage DC of around 2KV from a input AC supply source of 230V using the capacitors and diodes that are constructed in the form of ladder network based on voltage multiplier concept. Generally transformers are used for stepping up of voltage in which the output of the secondary of the step up transformer increases the voltage and decreases the current. The other method for stepping up the voltage without the use of transformers is by using voltage multiplier circuit which converts AC to DC. These Voltage multipliers are primarily used to develop high voltages where low current is required. The concept of developing high voltage DC from single Phase AC is described in this project which can be enhanced up to 10KV. For safety purpose this project is restricted with a multiplication factor of 8 so that the output would be within 2KV.This concept of generation of high voltage using multiplier circuit is used in Electronic appliances such as CRT?s, oscilloscopes and in industrial applications. The principle of voltage multiplier circuit is that the voltage keeps on doubling at each stage. Thus, the output of an 8 stage voltage multiplier circuit is 2KV DC which cannot be measured by using a standard multimeter. Hence a potential divider of 10:1 is used at the output such that 200V reading means 2KV

Determination of conditions for optimum labeling of DOTA-Y3-Octreotate with terbium-161 [abstract]

Abstract only availableDOTA-Y3-Octreotate (DOTA-TATE) and other somatostatin analogs can be labeled with radionuclides for cancer-fighting applications. Specifically, the radiolanthanides are of great interest to the radiopharmaceutical industry because of their similar chemistries and assortment of radioactive properties. Terbium-161 (161Tb) is considered ideal for both radiotherapy and imaging because of its half-life (6.91 days), beta (0.59 MeV) and gamma (46-48 and 74 keV) emissions. In addition, carrier-free 161Tb will have a high specific activity, meaning less drug mass is necessary to deliver the required dose to the neuroendocrine tumor. Radioactive terbium was obtained at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) via neutron capture on gadolinium-160 (160Gd) to form gadolinium-161 (161Gd), which beta decays to 161Tb. To obtain carrier-free 161Tb, 160Gd contaminant was isolated from 161Tb using ion-exchange liquid chromatography. Various parameters were tested to optimize conditions for labeling DOTA-TATE with 161Tb: pH, buffer concentration, sample volume, incubation time using a water bath, and amount of activity. 161Tb-DOTA-TATE solution was reacted in 0.4 M, pH 7 ammonium acetate (NH4OAc ) under 80˚C for 1 h. However, an experiment using lutetium-177 showed that only 5 minutes in the water bath was necessary for labeling. We determined the concentration of the NH4OAc buffer solution was insignificant as long as pH was maintained above 5. We observed a maximum labeling level of 65 μCi of 161Tb per microgram of DOTA-TATE. Future work will include a stability study of the labeled DOTA-TATE and modifications to the preparation of the terbium sample in order to achieve more activity per microgram of the chelate as required by animal studies

Influence of Terminalia arjuna on the riparian landscapes of the River Cauvery of South India

Mature and large isolated trees act as keystone structures in various ecosystems by supporting the populations of dependent organisms. Terminalia arjuna is one such species that is dominant in the riparian landscapes along the River Cauvery in Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary. We tested the hypothesis that T. arjuna influences plant community composition in riparian landscapes and supports a distinct local riparian community. We showed plant species richness, diversity, similarity in community composition, and soil quality varied between riparian landscapes under canopy of T. arjuna and areas devoid of T. arjuna. Higher species richness, diversity, dominance, and evenness were noted in areas under canopy of T. arjuna. The non-metric multi-dimensional scaling ordination space analysis identifies the native riparian species assemblages in areas under canopy of T. arjuna with improved soil nutrient conditions. Overall, the study concludes T. arjuna has potential positive effects on riparian landscapes by showing the remarkable differences in biological diversity and it can be considered as keystone species in riparian ecosystems of South India

Rapid titrimetric and spectrophotometric methods for salbutamol sulphate in pharmaceuticals using N-bromosuccinimide

One titrimetric and two spectrophotometric methods which are simple, sensitive and rapid are described for the assay of salbutamol sulphate (SBS) in bulk drug and in tablet dosage forms using N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) and two dyes, rhodamine-B and methylene blue, as reagents. In titrimetry, aqueous solution of salbutamol sulphate is treated with a measured excess of NBS in acetic acid medium and after the oxidation of SBS is complete, the unreacted oxidant is determined iodometrically. Spectrophotometric methods entail addition of a known excess of NBS in acid medium followed by the determination of residual oxidant by reacting with a fixed amount of either rhodamine B and measuring the absorbance at 555 nm (method A) or methylene blue and measuring the absorbance at 665 nm (method B). In all methods, the amount of NBS reacting corresponds to the amount of SBS content. Titrimetric method is applicable over 1.74 × 10-4 – 8.68 × 10-4 mol L-1 range and the reaction stoichiometry is found to be 1:6 (SBS:NBS). In spectrophotometric methods, the absorbance is found to increase linearly with the concentration of SBS, which is corroborated by the correlation of coefficients of 0.9993 and 0.9988 for method A and method B, respectively. The systems obey Beer’s law for 0.25-1.75 mg mL-1 (method A) and 0.5-5.0 mg mL-1 (method B). The calculated apparent molar absorptivity values were found to be 2.10 × 105 and 6.16 × 104 L mol-1 cm-1, for method A and method B, respectively. The limits of detection and quantification are also reported for both spectrophotometric methods. Intra-day and inter-day precision and accuracy for the developed methods were evaluated. The methods were successfully applied to the assay of SBS in tablet and capsule formulations and the results were statistically compared with those of a reference method. No interference was observed from common tablet adjuvants. The accuracy and reliability of the methods were further ascertained by recovery experiments via the standard-addition technique

Prescribing pattern of antipsychotic medications in patients with schizophrenia in a tertiary care hospital

Background: The objective of thisstudy was to study the prescribing pattern of antipsychotic medications in patients with schizophrenia in a tertiary care hospital.Methods: An observational study was conducted in psychiatry outpatient department (OPD) of Bapuji and Chigateri hospital attached to Jagadguru Jayadeva Murugarajendra medical college, Davangere. The data collected, had information about age, gender, education, occupation, marital status and drug prescription that included trade name, generic name, dosage and frequency of administration of 100 outpatients who attended the psychiatry OPD.Results: A total of 100 prescriptions were analyzed of which 6% was monotherapy, where Asenapine was the only drug used and rest 94% was combination therapy. About 94% of the combination therapy included the use of single antipsychotic with anticholinergic drug and multiple antipsychotics with anticholinergic drug. A combination of multiple antipsychotics with anticholinergic was most commonly used, that is trifluoperazine and chlorpromazine  (36%), followed by trifluoperazine and risperidone (13%), trifluoperazine and quetiapine (8%), risperidone and quetiapine (7%), trifluoperazine, chlorpromazine along with quetiapine (3%). Among single antipsychotic with anticholinergic, risperidone (20%) was most commonly used, followed by Trifluoperazine (7%). Use of the anticholinergic drug, Trihexyphenidyl accounts to 94% of the total prescriptions.Conclusions: Schizophrenia is mostly seen in males, middle age group and unemployed people. The present study showed that combination therapy is preferred for the treatment of Schizophrenia. Despite several side-effects, typical antipsychotics, especially trifluoperazine was the most commonly used drug, followed by chlorpromazine either alone or in combination. Among atypical antipsychotics, risperidone was commonly used followed by quetiapine and asenapine. Most of the patients received trihexyphenidyl, an anticholinergic drug along with antipsychotics to reduce extra pyramidal side-effects

Prescribing pattern of antidepressants in psychiatric unit of a tertiary care hospital

Background: The objective was to study the prescribing pattern of antidepressants in psychiatric unit of a tertiary care hospital.Methods: An observational study was carried out at psychiatry out-patient department (OPD). The data which were collected included information about age, gender, education, occupation, marital status and drug prescription included trade name, generic name, dosage, and frequency of 100 outpatients who attended the psychiatry OPD.Results: Among 100 patients with major depression 66% were females and 34% were males. Depression was more commonly seen between patients with age group 21-40 years. Depression was more common among housewives (44%) and next was students (18%). Percentage of depression was more in educated people with (72%) than in uneducated with (28%). Depression was more commonly seen in married people with (77%) than in unmarried people (23%). Most commonly prescribed antidepressant as monotherapy was fluoxetine and as combination therapy was fluoxetine and escitalopram.Conclusions: Depression is more commonly seen in married people predominantly in females and housewives. Fluoxetine is more commonly used followed by escitalopram. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are preferred over other antidepressant because of their relative lesser side effects