Occurrence of dusky sweeper Pempheris adusta Bleeker, 1877 in Ratnagiri waters, Maharashtra

Pempheris adusta Bleeker, 1877, commonly called ‘dusky sweeper’ (Fig. 1), generally live on coral reefs and form schools in large caves among rocks. On 19/08/2009, a good number of specimens of P. adusta were observed at Mirkarwada landing centre in Ratnagiri (Fig. 2). They had elliptical, compressed body with iridescent, coppery silver colouration, because of which they were spectacular in appearance

Length-weight relationships of ten tropical finfish species from north eastern Arabian Sea, India

The length weight relationships (LWRs) of ten tropical finfish species from north eastern Arabian Sea, India were studied. Specimens were caught using a wide range of fishing gear mainly trawl nets (20–25 mm), dol nets or bag nets (20–40 mm) and gill nets (80–270 mm) operated in Maharashtra maritime waters during 2012–2016. The specimens were measured for total length, and weight, then dissected and the sex confirmed. Previously unavailable in FishBase, the detailed LWR of Polydactylus mullani is reported for the first time. Maximum total lengths presented for six species in this study are new records. The existence of a differential growth between male and female was confirmed for five species, which was not known earlier. The LWR data will be useful for deriving future sustainable management and conservation strategies

Pathogenic and Molecular Characterization of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceri Causing Chickpea Wilt through ISSR Markers

In the present investigation the pathogenic and genetic variability was assayed, amongst the seven isolates of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceri (Foc) collected from different agro-climatic zones of Maharashtra State, India. The isolates of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp.ciceri were confirmed by SCAR marker which yielded 1.5 KD band. The pathogenicity of each isolate was confirmed using the wilt susceptible chickpea genotype JG-62. On the basis of pathogenic ability the isolates were grouped as highly pathogenic (FOC-2, FOC-5, FOC-6), strongly pathogenic (FOC-1,FOC-3) and moderately pathogenic (FOC-4,FOC-7). Eight Inter Simple Sequence Repeats primers (ISSRs) were used to determine the genetic variability in seven isolates Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceri. The seven primers produced 80 scorable bands. Off 80 bands, 73 bands were polymorphic and average level of polymorphism was 91.25 per cent. In UPGMA analysis, Foc-1 (Wardha) was found to have higher value of similarity coefficient (0.8375) whereas Foc-2 (Lonar) was found to have lower value of similarity coefficient (0.4625). The isolates of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp.ciceri were grouped into two major clusters. First group, cluster-A includes isolates belonging to Wardha, Washim and Lonar. Second group, cluster-B includes Nashik, Ahmednagar, Rahuri and Pune. It shows that Foc-1 (Wardha) have higher value of similarity coefficient with Foc-3 (Washim) whereas Foc-2 (Lonar) have lower value of similarity coefficient with Foc-5 (Ahmednagar).The similarity matrix indicated that seven isolates of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp.ciceri exhibited in between 46-84 per cent similarity coefficient

Albinism in Engraved catfish from Northeast Arabian Sea

In Maharashtra, catfishes form 2.3% of fishery landings and is dominated by ariid catfishes. The major species supporting the fishery include Osteogeneiosus militaris, Plicofolis tenuispinis, P. dussumieri, Nemapteryx caelata and Netuma thalassina. In October 2018, two albino specimens of the Engraved cattfish Nemapteryx caelata (measuring 37 and 40 cm in Total Length, TL) was collected from the landings of a commercial trawler operated off Mumbai at 50 m depths (Fig.1). Though an estimated 2.7 tonnes of catfishes were landed in the same week, additional albino specimens were not observed. Albinism or lack of pigmentation is caused by a disorder in an enzyme that controls melanin metabolism. Albinism in marine fishes has been sparsely reported and documented and reports from India indicate most of them are from the northern Arabian Sea. Both albino specimens of the Engraved catfish N.caelata mentioned in the current report are retained in the museum collections of ICARCMFRI at Mumbai

Feature Tracking and Expression Recognition of Face Using Dynamic Bayesian Network

Abstract- The human face plays a central role in social interaction, hence it is not surprising that facial information processing is an important and highly active subfield of cognitive science research. The face is a complex stimulus displaying information about identity, age, gender, as well as emotional and attention state. Here we consider the problem of extracting information about emotional state (facial expression) from single images. Due to the difficulty of obtaining controlled video sequences of standard facial expressions, many psychological and neurophysiologic studies of facial expression processing have used single image motivations. In proposed system, in contrast to the mainstream approaches, we are trying to build a probabilistic model based on the Dynamic Bayesian Network (DBN) to capture the facial interactions at different levels. Hence the proposed system deal with the identification of facial expression on the image captured through camera

Role of Drug Repurposing in Cancer Treatment and Liposomal Approach of Drug Targeting

Cancer is the leading cause of death, and incidences are increasing significantly and patients suffering from it desperately need a complete cure from it. The science of using an already-invented drug that has been approved by the FDA for a new application is known as “drug repurposing.” Currently, scientists are drawn to drug repositioning science in order to investigate existing drugs for newer therapeutic uses and cancer treatment. Because of their unique ability to target cancer cells, recently repurposed drugs and the liposomal approach are effective in the treatment of cancer. Liposomes are nanovesicles that are drastically flexible, rapidly penetrate deeper layers of cells, and enhance intracellular uptake. More importantly, liposomes are biocompatible, biodegradable; entrap both hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs. This chapter summarizes various approaches to drug repurposing, as well as drug repurposing methods, advantages and limitations of drug repurposing, and a liposomal approach to using repurposed drugs in cancer targeting. This chapter also summarizes liposomal structure, drug loading, and the mechanism of liposomes in targeted cancer treatment. The lipid-based liposomal approach is emerging as a powerful technique for improving drug solubility, bioavailability, reducing side effects, and improving the therapeutic efficacy of repurposed drugs for cancer treatment

Progressive hemorrhage and myotoxicity induced by echis carinatus venom in murine model: neutralization by inhibitor cocktail of n,n,n `,n `-tetrakis (2-pyridylmethyl) ethane-1,2-diamine and silymarin

Viperbite is often associated with severe local toxicity, including progressive hemorrhage and myotoxicity, persistent even after the administration of anti-snake venom (ASV). In the recent past, investigations have revealed the orchestrated actions of Zn2+ metalloproteases (Zn(2+)MPs), phospholipase A(2)s (PLA(2)s) and hyaluronidases (HYs) in the onset and progression of local toxicity from the bitten site. As a consequence, venom researchers and medical practitioners are in deliberate quest of potent molecules alongside ASV to tackle the brutal local manifestations induced by aforesaid venom toxins. Based on these facts, we have demonstrated the protective efficacy of inhibitor cocktail containing equal ratios of N,N,N', N'-tetrakis (2-pyridylmethyl) ethane-1,2-diamine (TPEN) and silymarin (SLN) against progressive local toxicity induced by Echis carinatus venom (ECV). In our previous study we have shown the inhibitory potentials of TPEN towards Zn(2+)MPs of ECV (IC50: 6.7 mu M). In this study we have evaluated in vitro inhibitory potentials of SLN towards PLA(2)s (IC50: 12.5 mu M) and HYs (IC50: 8 mu M) of ECV in addition to docking studies. Further, we have demonstrated the protection of ECV induced local toxicity with 10 mM inhibitor cocktail following 15, 30 min (for hemorrhage and myotoxicity); 60 min (for hemorrhage alone) of ECV injection in murine model. The histological examination of skin and thigh muscle sections taken out from the site of ECV injection substantiated the overall protection offered by inhibitor cocktail. In conclusion, the protective efficacy of inhibitor cocktail is of high interest and can be administered locally alongside ASV to treat severe local toxicity

Strategic Analysis of Land Use for Solar Energy Development in the State of New York

60 pagesThis study investigates the spatial characteristics of existing utility-scale solar energy (USSE) development in the New York State (NYS) and assesses the land-suitability for the future development of USSE needed to achieve the State’s renewable energy goals using GIS-MCDA techniques. Slope, proximity to electric substations, protected lands, and soil quality were used as criteria to develop land suitability scenarios. 40% of present USSE capacity has been developed on agricultural lands and 84% of identified land suitable for development (~140 GW potential) is agricultural. The USSE potential on non-agricultural land is 22.5 GW -- just sufficient to accommodate the development of 21.6 GW USSE, which is the estimated USSE capacity required for NYS’s 2030 goal. Thus, agricultural lands will continue to be the prime target for future USSE development. Exploring the state-specific synergies for solar-agriculture co-location, preventing the spatially-concentrated development of USSE, and incentivizing the use of unproductive agricultural lands will help mitigate negative impacts of USSE development on agricultural lands

Study of efficacy of spray dried lactobacillus reuteri for helicobacter pylori infection treatment

The present study was conducted to study the effectiveness of spray dried Lactobacillus reuteri in treatment of Helicobacter pylori infection at a tertiary healthcare institute. We evaluated the compliance and outcome of spray dried Lactobacillus reuteri in the treatment of patients with Helicobacter pylori. In our study, we included patients who were positive for Helicobacter pylori on Rapid Urease test. We assessed Rapid urease test findings on follow up visit among the study subjects and observed that 63.64% study subjects reported Helicobacter pylori negative after treatment with spray dried Lactobacillus reuteri. The study showed that majority of the study subjects were females (54.55%), whereas 45.45% subjects were males, M:F ratio in the current study was 1:1.2. and the mean age of the study subjects was 41.61 ± 10.84 years. 54.55% study subjects belonged to rural area, whereas 45.45% subjects belonged to urban area. Our study’s results are comparable and similar to the other studies which show that Lactobacillus reuteri (Probiotics) are useful in the Helicobacter pylori infection treatment