Bioprospecting of antibacterial metabolites in seaweed associated bacterial flora along the southeast coast of India

Control of the unwanted microorganisms is essential in all aspects of life, and microbial diseases must be treated in humans, animals, and plants. Emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria and the need for novel, antimicrobial compounds led to the exploration of new habitats to screen the production of bioactive substances (Gram et al. 2010). Nature provides a treasure-trove of chemicals that can be used in chemical manufacturing processes, or developed into drugs for the treatment of human disease. New environmental niches provide a new source of microbes and potential for novel compound production (Sfanos et al. 2005). Advances in natural product chemistry are expected to rely ever more on interdisciplinary research, and this is particularly important for marine microbial products. The marine environment contains over 80% of world’s plant and animal species (Jha et al. 2004). Marine natural products from the microbes have lagged behind those from macroorganisms. Therefore, marine microorganisms deserve more and more organized attention by the natural products chemists (Pietra 1997). Marine microorganisms are valuable resources due to the production of a wide range of natural products with potential biotechnological and pharmaceutical application (Gram et al. 2010). Antibiotic production by marine bacteria has been documented for a long time. However, there is a paucity of information dealing with the isolation and purification of the active inhibitory substances (Barja et al. 1989)

Storyboard Physics

Storyboard Physics is a narrative approach to helping students understand core concepts within the physics curriculum. Each concept is introduced in a set of short episodes that is serialised on a module webpage. At the moment, the episodes are presented in the form of a traditional dramatic script, but we believe the ideal format would be as an interactive graphic novel. The fictional characters who tell our story have different backgrounds and different approaches to tackling problems. Students, as they read the storyline, may accordingly find they are in sympathy with one approach over another but, by following the dialogue, start to appreciate concepts holistically. Our characters discuss physics in a way that springs naturally out of their working lives; their personal relationships are however a crucial part of the format, further encouraging students to follow the narrative. Although the narrative is instructor-led, it is important to have student members of the writing team. We discuss our pilot study done as part of the HESTEM Conceptual Understanding in Physics project. This approach is easily generalised to other sciences.Peer reviewe

Prevalence, phenomenology and etiology of delirium in medically ill patients

Background: Delirium is one of the most common causes of referral of medically ill patients for psychiatric management and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence and etiology of delirium among medically ill patients and to describe its phenomenology.Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in the general medical ward of a tertiary care hospital. Four hundred patients were screened for delirium using the confusion assessment method. The delirium rating scale revised-98 was used to further characterize the severity and phenomenology of delirium. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, means and standard deviation were used. Chi square test was applied to compare categorical variables and Fisher’s exact test was used to test associations. Student t test was used to compare the means of independent groups.Results: The prevalence of delirium was 9.75%. Male gender (69.23%) and age above 60 years (66.67%) were significantly associated with delirium (p values of 0.04 and <0.001 respectively). Mixed delirium was the most common motor subtype (46.15%). The most common cause of delirium was metabolic encephalopathy (43.59%). There was significant association between hyperactive delirium and psychotic symptoms. Delirium went undiagnosed in 61.64% of the cases.Conclusions: Delirium is a common problem among medically ill patients and runs the risk of being undiagnosed. Clinicians should routinely screen patients at high risk for delirium to decrease the morbidity and mortality associated with this dreaded, yet potentially reversible entity.

Isolation and characterization of antagonistic Streptomyces spp. from marine sediments along the southwest coast of India

Antagonistic Streptomyces spp. were isolated from marine and mangrove sediment samples collected off Cochin, along the southwest coast of India. Sediment samples were pre-treated and following the soil dilution technique, samples were surface plated on starch casein agar and actinomycetes isolation agar. In the primary screening, 7.4% of presumptive actinomycetes (135 isolates) showed antibacterial activity against one or more bacterial fish pathogens and 3.7% of these cultures showed broad spectrum activity against the tested pathogens. Morphologically white powdery colonies with chalky white /grey appearance were selected as presumptive Streptomyces cultures. Isolates subjected to biochemical, physiological and 16S rDNA characters revealed the presence of three species of Streptomyces dominated by Streptomyces tanashiensis followed by S. viridobrunneus and S. bacillaris. Isolates characterized by 16S rDNA indicated the presence of 650 bp band in Streptomyces spp. Primary screening for activity against selected fish pathogens was done by a cross streak method using modified nutrient agar medium. Prominent isolates showing high zone of activity against the fish pathogens ranged 17-35 mm by the paper disc method. Enriched broth of selected isolates showing high antagonistic activity was screened for pharmacologically active agents revealed ethyl acetate fractions to be active against selected microbial pathogens

Prevalence of major depressive disorder among wives of men with alcohol use disorder-a cross-sectional study from a tertiary care hospital

Background: Alcohol Use Disorder is highly prevalent in India. Alcohol acts as a continuous stressor, with several stressfull consequences on the wife. Literature suggests an association between alcohol use in the husband and depression in the wife. Objectives: The primary objective was to assess the prevalence of Major Depressive Disorder(MDD) among wives of men with Alcohol Use Disorder attending the Psychiatry Department in a tertiary care centre. The secondary objective was to assess the association of various sociodemographic and clinical variables with depressive disorder in the wives. Methods: A cross-sectional study was done on wives of men diagnosed with Alcohol Use Disorder while attending the outpatient clinic or inpatient treatment at the Psychiatry Department. Consecutive sampling was done till the calculated sample size of 133 was reached. PHQ 9 was administered to the wives to assess Depressive Disorder with a cutoff score of 10. Statistical analysis was done using the Chi-square test. Odds Ratio and confidence intervals were calculated to determine the strength of associations. Results: Prevalence of Major Depressive Disorder in the study population was found to be 27.8%. A significant association was found between the severity of Alcohol Use Disorder and depression in wives (OR=4.01,95%CI=1.4411.22, p<0.01). Morning drinking among husbands was significantly associated with depression in wives(OR=4.32,95%CI=1.32-19.56, p=0.04). Conclusion: Prevalence of Major Depressive Disorder among wives of men with Alcohol Use Disorder was high. Depressive disorder in wives significantly correlated with the severity of Alcohol Use Disorder and the husbands' morning drinking. Hence wives of men with Alcohol Use Disorder should be routinely screened for depression, and necessary interventions should be given promptly

Indium tin oxide thin films prepared by ion beam assisted deposition technique at different ion beam currents

Indium tin oxide (ITO) films have been deposited onto glass substrates at room temperature by ion beam assisted deposition technique (IBAD) at different ion beam currents (80 mA – 120 mA). The effect of the ion beam current on films properties has been studied. The films prepared at low ion beam current (80 mA) show an almost amorphous structure. As the ion beam current is increased, films show a preferred orientation along the (222) direction. AFM measurements show that the surface RMS roughness of the film increases as the current goes up. The optical properties have been studied by measuring the transmittance. It has been found that the film prepared at 100 mA current has the highest transmittance. The optical constants of the films have been calculated by fitting the transmittance. The Hall measurements also showed that the film prepared at 100 mA current has one of the lower electrical resistivities. FTIR measurements show that the film prepared at 100 mA current has the highest infra-red reflectance. All the measurements show the 100 mA ion beam current can produce good quality ITO films.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - SFRH-BSAB-514

Naphthobipyrrole-Derived Sapphyrins: Rational Synthesis, Characterization, Nonlinear Optical Properties, and Excited-State Dynamics

Abstract: Two new free-base b-octa and hexaalkyl naphthobipyrrole-derived sapphyrins are reported along with various salts thereof. One of them has substituents at all of its b positions, whereas the pyrrole unit opposite to the bipyrrolic moiety is unsubstituted in the other. The effect of bipyrrole fusion on the structure of sapphyrins was explored. Interestingly, an unprecedented sandwiched supramolecular aquabridged free-base sapphyrin dimer was also characterized in the solid state. Further, the effect of anions on the thirdorder nonlinear optical properties of these sapphyrins were explored in the salt form, along with their detailed excitedstate dynamics by both degenerate and nondegenerate pump-probe studies