Therapeutic Properties of Trichopus zeylanicus Subsp. travancoricus, a Rare, Endangered Medicinal Plant in South India: A Review

Trichopus zeylanicus subsp. travancoricus, belonging to the family Trichopodaceae, is a small herbaceous plant exclusively present in Western Ghats of South India. The indigenous tribal community in Western Ghats traditionally use this plant for getting instant energy to combat fatigue. Recent pharmacological studies have revealed that besides its antifatigue property, this plant possess many medicinal properties such as anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-stress, immunomodulatory, antidiabetic, aphrodisiac, antihyperlipidemic, antitumor, antiulcer, antimicrobial and hepatoprotective activity. This article comprehensively review the results of pharmacological studies so far done in this plant and emphasizes perspectives that warrant future research to explore its full pharmacological potential

Replication Attack Mitigations for Static and Mobile WSN

Security is important for many sensor network applications. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are often deployed in hostile environments as static or mobile, where an adversary can physically capture some of the nodes. once a node is captured, adversary collects all the credentials like keys and identity etc. the attacker can re-program it and replicate the node in order to eavesdrop the transmitted messages or compromise the functionality of the network. Identity theft leads to two types attack: clone and sybil. In particularly a harmful attack against sensor networks where one or more node(s) illegitimately claims an identity as replicas is known as the node replication attack. The replication attack can be exceedingly injurious to many important functions of the sensor network such as routing, resource allocation, misbehavior detection, etc. This paper analyzes the threat posed by the replication attack and several novel techniques to detect and defend against the replication attack, and analyzes their effectiveness in both static and mobile WSN.Comment: 12 page

Hazardous oil spill in Mumbai Port and adjacent fishing areas

A catastrophic collision of two merchant ships occurred in Mumbai Port on 7th August 2010 which resulted in spilling of about 800 t bunker oil and tumbling of 293 cargo containers with hazardous chemicals in the sea

Artisanal longline fishing for high value fishes off Mumbai, Maharashtra

Sassoon Dock is one of oldest and a major landing center located in Mumbai from where several multiday and single day fishing vessels including trawlers, dolnetters, gillnetters and hook and line units operate. Marine fisheries of Maharashtra is mostly dominated by trawlers and dolnetters while line fishing is done by only a few fishers. The artisanal fishers in Juhu, Colaba and nearby areas of Mumbai are operating a few long line units in small wooden boats (6 - 7 m OAL) or fibre boats fitted with engines of 16 – 24 hp from Sassoon Dock landing centre

भारतातील आणि महाराष्ट्रातील पिंजऱ्यातील मत्स्यपैदास : सद्य आणि भविष्यातील प्रगतीच्या संधी

Sea farming is a popular area of aquaculture practice throughout the world. In Asian countries, it is rapidly growing to meet the increasing demand of high value marine fishes. Although India has a tradition of aquaculture, sea farming ventures on commercial scale were lacking. In this context, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute started open sea floating cage culture activities in 2006-07 with Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DAHD&F), Government of India assistance. Indigenous cage of 15 m diameter was fabricated following Norwegian open sea floating cage design and launched at Visakhapatnam. There was a technical setback with the design of cage, and consultation with Indian Institute of Technology, West Bengal helped to overcome technical issues with the cage structure. Open sea floating cage diameter was reduced to 6 m and 14 new open sea floating cages were launched at Sutrapada (Gujarat), Vasai (Maharashtra), Mangalore (Karnataka), Cochin (Kerala), Pulicat (Tamil Nadu), Nellore, Kakinada, Baruva (Andhra Pradesh) and Balasore (Odisha) in participation with National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB)

Biological aspects of spotted seerfish Scomberomorus guttatus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) (Scombridae) from north-eastern Arabian Sea

Spotted seerfish Scomberomorus guttatus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) is one of the highly priced table fishes in India, which contributed 4.7% of all India scombrid fishery with 17,684 t landed in 2014. Its fishery is dominant in the Arabian Sea and northern Arabian Sea contributed 62% to India’s spotted seerfish fishery. Biological information on S. guttatus is scarce and the same was studied during the period 2010-2014 from Maharashtra coast, north-eastern Arabian Sea. A total of 930 specimens (185-550 mm FL) collected from commercial landings were used for the study. Length-weight relation of pooled sexes was estimated as log (W) = -3.1988+2.66074 log (L) (r2 = 0.93). Fishery was dominated by males with the sex ratio of 0.76:1. Relative fecundity ranged from 105-343 eggs g-1 of bodyweight. The length at first maturity (Lm) was estimated to be 410 mm TL for females. Mature and gravid females were dominant in May and August-November. Dietary studies (% IRI) showed dominance of Acetes spp

Multiple evolutionary trajectories have led to the emergence of races in <em>Fusarium oxysporum</em> f. sp. <em>lycopersici</em>

Race 1 isolates of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (FOL) are characterized by the presence of AVR1 in their genomes. The product of this gene, Avr1, triggers resistance in tomato cultivars carrying resistance gene I. In FOL race 2 and race 3 isolates, AVR1 is absent, and hence they are virulent on tomato cultivars carrying I. In this study, we analyzed an approximately 100-kb genomic fragment containing the AVR1 locus of FOL race 1 isolate 004 (FOL004) and compared it to the sequenced genome of FOL race 2 isolate 4287 (FOL4287). A genomic fragment of 31 kb containing AVR1 was found to be missing in FOL4287. Further analysis suggests that race 2 evolved from race 1 by deletion of this 31-kb fragment due to a recombination event between two transposable elements bordering the fragment. A worldwide collection of 71 FOL isolates representing races 1, 2, and 3, all known vegetative compatibility groups (VCGs), and five continents was subjected to PCR analysis of the AVR1 locus, including the two bordering transposable elements. Based on phylogenetic analysis using the EF1-α gene, five evolutionary lineages for FOL that correlate well with VCGs were identified. More importantly, we show that FOL races evolved in a stepwise manner within each VCG by the loss of function of avirulence genes in a number of alternative ways. IMPORTANCE Plant-pathogenic microorganisms frequently mutate to overcome disease resistance genes that have been introduced in crops. For the fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici, the causal agent of Fusarium wilt in tomato, we have identified the nature of the mutations that have led to the overcoming of the I and I-2 resistance genes in all five known clonal lineages, which include a newly discovered lineage. Five different deletion events, at least several of which are caused by recombination between transposable elements, have led to loss of AVR1 and overcoming of I. Two new events affecting AVR2 that led to overcoming of I-2 have been identified. We propose a reconstruction of the evolution of races in FOL, in which the same mutations in AVR2 and AVR3 have occurred in different lineages and the FOL pathogenicity chromosome has been transferred to new lineages several times

Plastic menace faced by fishers of Satpati, Maharashtra

Small conical stationary bag nets (Bokshi) are operated by artisanal fishers mostly in creeks, with strong tidal currents in certain regions of Maharashtra. The net is set using wooden pole (Khunt) driven at creek bottom against the flood or ebb tide. At Satpati, Bokshi nets are operated in the near shore creek for about 16 days in a month at a rate of 2 hauls per day. Here, fishermen are concerned about the increasing quantity of plastic debris entering their nets during fishing operations adversely affecting their livelihood

3D-printing: An emerging and a revolutionary technology in pharmaceuticals

© 2018 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA. One of the novel and progressive technology employed in pharmaceutical manufacturing, design of medical device and tissue engineering is three-dimensional (3D) printing. 3D printing technologies provide great advantages in 3D scaffolds fabrication over traditional methods in the control of pore size, porosity, and interconnectivity. Various techniques of 3D-printing include powder bed fusion, fused deposition modeling, binder deposition, inkjet printing, photopolymerization and many others which are still evolving. 3D-printing technique been employed in developing immediate release products, various systems to deliver multiple release modalities etc. 3D printing has opened the door for new generation of customized drug delivery with built-in flexibility for safer and effective therapy. Our mini-review provides a quick snapshot on an overview of 3D printing, various techniques employed, applications and its advancements in pharmaceutical sciences