Development of unique buttermilk by incorporation of Moringa

The present investigation was aimed at formulating a fermented beverage with incorporation of Moringa Pod Powder (MPP) to develop therapeutic buttermilk. Dahi (prepared from standardized milk) mesophilic/ thermophilic dahi culture. Optimisation of the product formulation was done by using Response Surface Methodolo-gy (RSM) with central composite rotatable design (CCRD) with varying levels of MPP, total milk solids (TMS) in but-termilk and acidity of dahi. It was found that 5.60 % TMS, 0.90 % acidity of dahi and 1.92 % MPP gave the most acceptable product with a desirability of 0.917 which is very high. From amongst various stabilizers, it was found that a blend of 0.04 % pectin and 0.015 % carrageenan most suitable and addition of salt, sugar and spices blend @ 0.5 %, 4.0 %, 0.5% respectively were most acceptable. The proximate chemical composition of Moringa Pod Buttermilk (MPBM) was 11.77 % total solids, 1.51 % protein, 1.84 % fat and 0.89 % ash. One serving size (300 g) of MPBM could be an "excellent source of calcium" having 21 % Daily Value (DV). The product could be labelled as "a good source of Vitamin A, calcium and iron" providing 10, 18 and 11 % DV respectively. MPBM was found to have consid-erable amount of Potassium and Vitamin C and fiber (9.0, 9.0 and 6.5 % DV respectively). The shelf-life of the prod-uct was 20 days under refrigeration (7±2?C). The developed product is rich in fiber and iron, that is conventionally deficient in milk and hence makes the developed product complete food

Isolation and Characterization of Bacterial Endophytes from Lycopersicon esculentum Plant and their Plant Growth Promoting Characteristics

The study was designed to isolate and characterize bacterial endophytes from root and stem of Lycopersicon esculentum plant which was collected form different region of Gujarat. Total 18 isolates of endophytic bacteria were selected in which, all the endophytic bacteria produced one or the other different characteristics involved in plant growth promotion. They either produced phytohormones like indole acetic acid, siderophore, protease, pectinase, organic acid showed antifungal activity, chromium tolerance and solubilized phosphate. Four of the strains among the 18 showed maximum positive results of plant growth promoting regulators (PGPR) test and among them best probable isolate was selected and thus its 16SrDNA was amplified and sequenced. Only HR7 endophyte of tomato turned out to be Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It’s a gram negative coccobacili, sporeforming motile bacilli and show maximum PGPR activity. The results of our present studies indicated that above strains might be endophytic and therefore, were associated with the plant growth. Keywords: Lycopersicon esculentum; endophytic bacteria; PGPR; IAA; 16SrDNA DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/njb.v2i1.5679   Nepal Journal of Biotechnology Jan.2012, Vol.2(1): 37-5

Dexamethasone protected human glioblastoma U87MG cells from temozolomide induced apoptosis by maintaining Bax:Bcl-2 ratio and preventing proteolytic activities

BACKGROUND: Glioblastoma is the deadliest and most prevalent brain tumor. Dexamethasone (DXM) is a commonly used steroid for treating glioblastoma patients for alleviation of vasogenic edema and pain prior to treatment with chemotherapeutic drugs. Temozolomide (TMZ), an alkylating agent, has recently been introduced in clinical trials for treating glioblastoma. Here, we evaluated the modulatory effect of DXM on TMZ induced apoptosis in human glioblastoma U87MG cells. RESULTS: Freshly grown cells were treated with different doses of DXM or TMZ for 6 h followed by incubation in a drug-free medium for 48 h. Wright staining and ApopTag assay showed no apoptosis in cells treated with 40 μM DXM but considerable amounts of apoptosis in cells treated with 100 μM TMZ. Apoptosis in TMZ treated cells was associated with an increase in intracellular free [Ca(2+)], as determined by fura-2 assay. Western blot analyses showed alternations in the levels of Bax (pro-apoptotic) and Bcl-2 (anti-apoptotic) proteins resulting in increased Bax:Bcl-2 ratio in TMZ treated cells. Western blot analyses also detected overexpression of calpain and caspase-3, which cleaved 270 kD α-spectrin at specific sites for generation of 145 and 120 kD spectrin break down products (SBDPs), respectively. However, 1-h pretreatment of cells with 40 μM DXM dramatically decreased TMZ induced apoptosis, decreasing Bax:Bcl-2 ratio and SBDPs. CONCLUSION: Our results revealed an antagonistic effect of DXM on TMZ induced apoptosis in human glioblastoma U87MG cells, implying that treatment of glioblastoma patients with DXM prior to chemotherapy with TMZ might result in an undesirable clinical outcome

Response of Hirayama disease to surgical intervention: case report

Hirayama disease also known as monomelic amyotrophy, primarily involves distal upper limb extremities.It differs from the known types of motor neuron diseases because of its nonprogressive behavior and pathologic findings of focal ischemic changes in the anterior horn of the lower cervical cord. We present a young male with Hirayama disease who had a left upper extremity involvement which was progressive in nature. He didn’t respond with initial treatment of cervical collar. Consequently surgical intervention improves muscle weakness and decrease the neurological deficit. 

Stability Indicating LC-Method for Estimation of Paracetamol and Lornoxicam in Combined Dosage Form

A simple, specific and stability indicating reversed phase high performance liquid chromatographic method was developed for the simultaneous determination of paracetamol and lornoxicam in tablet dosage form. A Brownlee C-18, 5 μm column having 250×4.6 mm i.d. in isocratic mode, with mobile phase containing 0.05 M potassium dihydrogen phosphate:methanol (40:60, v/v) was used. The flow rate was 1.0 ml/min and effluents were monitored at 266 nm. The retention times of paracetamol and lornoxicam were 2.7 min and 5.1 min, respectively. The linearity for paracetamol and lornoxicam were in the range of 5–200 μg/ml and 0.08–20 μg/ml, respectively. Paracetamol and lornoxicam stock solutions were subjected to acid and alkali hydrolysis, chemical oxidation and dry heat degradation. The proposed method was validated and successfully applied to the estimation of paracetamol and lornoxicam in combined tablet dosage form

FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF ORODISPERSIBLE TABLETS OF PERINDOPRIL ERBUMINE USING NATURAL SUPERDISINTEGRANT

Oral disintegrating tablets are emerging trend in Novel drug delivery system & received increasing demand & popularity due to ease of administration & better patient compliance .In recent years superdisintegrant have been employed to develop  effectual mouth dissolving tablet & to overcome limitation of conventional tablets .In present study attempt was made to compare to disintegrating  efficiency of natural superdisintegrats .Main aim of using oscimum basilicum as natural superdisintegrant was to achieve quick onset of action ,increases water uptake with short wetting time & decreasing disintegration time  by cost effective direct compression method. 3 preliminary batches were prepared & these are evaluated for precompression parameter like angle of repose, carr`s index & post compression parameters like wetting time, water absorption ratio,in vitro disintegration. Hardness, friability of all formulations found within limit. Best formulation F2 batch had shown good hardness, friability, disintegration time, swelling time. Present study revealed that mucilage obtained from oscimum basilicum was effective for their disintegrating property

HIV-infected presumptive tuberculosis patients without tuberculosis: How many are eligible for antiretroviral therapy in Karnataka, India?

For certain subgroups within people living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) [active tuberculosis (TB), pregnant women, children <5years old, and serodiscordant couples], the World Health Organization recommends antiretroviral therapy (ART) irrespective of CD4 count. Another subgroup which has received increased attention is "HIV-infected presumptive TB patients without TB". In this study, we assess the proportion of HIV-infected presumptive TB patients eligible for ART in Karnataka State (population 60million), India. This was a cross-sectional analysis of data of HIV-infected presumptive TB patients diagnosed in May 2015 abstracted from national TB and HIV program records. Of 42,585 presumptive TB patients, 28,964 (68%) were tested for HIV and 2262 (8%) were HIV positive. Of the latter, 377 (17%) had active TB. Of 1885 "presumptive TB patients without active TB", 1100 (58%) were already receiving ART. Of the remaining 785 who were not receiving ART, 617 (79%) were assessed for ART eligibility and of those, 548 (89%) were eligible for ART. About 90% of "HIV-infected presumptive TB patients without TB" were eligible for ART. This evidence supports a public health approach of starting all "HIV-infected presumptive TB patients without TB" on ART irrespective of CD4 count in line with global thinking about 'test and treat'