Check - list of estuarine and marine fishes of Parangipettai (Porto Novo) coastal waters.

A classified list of 410 species of fishes recorded from the coastal (neritic and estuarine) waters of Porto Novo is given. The marine fishes Dumber 215 while the estuarine ones are 125 in number. The list also includes 6 species reported for the first time from Indian waters

Association of PPARα Intron 7 Polymorphism with Coronary Artery Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study

The allelic variants of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARα) can influence the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) by virtue of its effect on lipid metabolism. However, the role of PPARα intronic polymorphism with CAD has received little attention. The association of allelic variants G/C at intron 7 of the PPAR-alpha gene with CAD was examined in a hospital-based Indian population. PPAR genotyping was performed in 110 male patients with CAD and 120 age and ethnically matched healthy males by PCR amplification of the gene followed by restriction digestion. Presence of C allele showed a positive association with CAD (OR = 2.9; 95% CI [1.65–4.145]; P = .009) and also with dyslipidaemia (OR = 2.95, 95% CI (1.5–4.39); P < .05). Impaired lipid metabolism in carriers of the PPARα Intron 7C allele is possibly responsible for the predilection to CAD

Paratuberculosis in different breeds of sheep: A retrospective study of cases

AbstractSpontaneous ovine paratuberculosis in an organized farm was diagnosed based on histopathological lesions, demonstration of acid-fast bacilli in different visceral organs, and detection of antibody levels against Mycobacterium paratuberculosis by agar gel immunodiffusion test (AGID). Out of 190 morbid specimens examined histopathologically, 77% of specimens had pathological lesions, which included predominant epithelioid cell formation, infiltration of lymphocytes, monocytes and macrophages. In acid-fast staining of tissue sections, 74% of intestinal specimens and 53% of mesenteric lymph nodes were positive for the presence of acid-fast bacilli. Hematologically, the animals were showing leucopenia, macrocytic and normochromic anemia. Out of 49 animals tested, 28.5% of animals were positive for antibodies against M. paratuberculosis. Local breeds, namely Nilagiri and Sandyno sheep, were found to be more susceptible than exotic breeds, namely Dorset. Females were more susceptible than males. Mortality was noticed in the age group of 4months to 10years

Prodrug design of NSAIDs: synthesis and pharmacological profiles of amide prodrugs of etodolac with amino acids

Novel amide prodrugs of etodolac with various amino acids were synthesized and the structures were confirmed by elemental and spectral analyses. In vitro hydrolytic studies in various simulated fluids confirmed the hydrolysis of prodrugs in colon. The prodrugs showed an improved anti-inflammatory activity of 74.4 %, 79.3 %, 73.4 % and 74.5 % when compared to 42.5 % of etodolac. Further the mean ulcer index of 10.1, 8.7, 6.8 and 7.3 were observed for the prodrugs while a score of 22.6 for etodolac. The histopathological studies showed less ulceration in the gastric region when treated with prodrugs, thereby proving the prodrugs to be better in action as compared to etodolac and are advantageous in having less gastrointestinal side effects.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Prodrug design of NSAIDs: synthesis and pharmacological profiles of amide prodrugs of etodolac with amino acids

Novel amide prodrugs of etodolac with various amino acids were synthesized and the structures were confirmed by elemental and spectral analyses. In vitro hydrolytic studies in various simulated fluids confirmed the hydrolysis of prodrugs in colon. The prodrugs showed an improved anti-inflammatory activity of 74.4 %, 79.3 %, 73.4 % and 74.5 % when compared to 42.5 % of etodolac. Further the mean ulcer index of 10.1, 8.7, 6.8 and 7.3 were observed for the prodrugs while a score of 22.6 for etodolac. The histopathological studies showed less ulceration in the gastric region when treated with prodrugs, thereby proving the prodrugs to be better in action as compared to etodolac and are advantageous in having less gastrointestinal side effects.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Development of Single Serum ELISA and Flow Through Assay for Infectious Bursal Disease of Poultry

The infectious bursal disease (IBD) is an age-limiting viral disease of chicken affecting both broiler and layer chicks between 3 – 6 weeks of age characterized by severe immunosuppression and high mortality. The maternally derived antibodies protect chicks till they develop age – resistance, hence breeder flocks immune status monitoring regularly helps in ensuring adequate levels of maternal antibodies transfer to hatchlings and fine tuning of vaccination schedule. The conventional virus neutralization test (VNT) though gold standard, is time consuming and cumbersome. Hence, alternate immunodiagnostic tests which are simple and relatively easy to perform viz., single serum dilution enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for antibody titre and flow through assay (FTA) for antigen detection were developed. A standard curve was constructed by using regression analysis which helped in derivation of an equation and that allowed to demonstrate correlation between observed titre and predicted titre. At a dilution of 1:2000 of serum there was a linear relationship between predicted titres at single serum dilution and observed titre. The FTA was able to detect 200 ng / µl concentrations of IBDV. The FTA can be performed as, on spot test for detection of IBDV in suspected cases

Plant Biomass Productivity Under Abiotic Stresses in SAT Agriculture

The semi-arid tropics (SAT) include parts of 48 countries in the developing world: in most of India, locations in south east Asia, a swathe across sub-Saharan Africa, much of southern and eastern Africa, and a few locations in Latin America (Fig 1). Semi-arid tropical regions are characterized by unpredictable weather, long dry seasons, inconsistent rainfall, and soils that are poor in nutrients. Sorghum, millet, cowpea, chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut are the vital crops that feed the poor people living in the SAT. Environmental stresses represent the most limiting factors for agricultural productivity. Apart from biotic stresses caused by plant pathogens, there are a number of abiotic stresses such as extremes temperatures, drought, salinity and radiation which all have detrimental effects on plant growth and yield, especially when several occur together (Mittler 2006)

Occurrence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in beached plastic pellets from Mumbai coast, India

PAHs are a class of ubiquitous pollutants which consist of two or more fused benzene rings in various arrangements. A number of PAH compounds are known carcinogens and bioaccumulate and biomagnify. These compounds originate naturally as well as anthropogenically through oil spills, incineration of waste and combustion of fossil fuels and wood. The environmental consequence of Plastic pellets is the sorption organic pollutants on their surface from the sea surface microlayer (SML) where the hydrophobic contaminants are known to be enriched. The plastic pellets were collected along the recent high tide line from four beaches of Mumbai coast bimonthly during May 2011 - March 2012. A total of 72 pools of plastic pellets were extracted, fractionated and analysed by Gas Chromatograph coupled to a mass spectrometer to evaluate the extent and sources of 16 PAHs. The mean ΣPAH concentration in pellets was 9202.30±114.89 ng g-1 with a wide range (35.4-46191.58 ng g-1). The concentration of fluorene was found to be the highest (1606.30±251.54 ng g-1) followed by anthracene, chrysene and phenanthrene. The ΣPAH concentration was significantly varied among months and there was no significant difference among sites at  p=0.05. The 2-3 aromatic ring compounds accounted for 60% of the total PAHs in pellets of Mumbai coast while 4 rings and 5-6 rings compounds accounted for 26 and 14%, respectively. The ratio of low and high molecular weight PAHs indicated that the contamination by petrogenic sources was predominant over the pyrogenic ones in plastic pellets suggesting oil pollution in coastal area of Mumbai.Keywords: plastic pellets, PAHs, Mumbai, source

Influence of sediment chemistry on mangrove-phosphobacterial relationship

The study reveals importance of sediment chemistry in mangrove-phosphobacterial relationship. The various physicochemical parameters of sediment, bacterial distribution, and acidic- alkaline phosphatase activity were studied in Avicennia marina mangrove sediments. The sampling sites were four mangrove forests along West India. Rhizospheric, pneumatophoric and bulk/non-rhizospheric sediment were collected. The rhizospheric sediment showed higher bacterial activity. The pH was observed low in the rhizospheric sediment and good abundance of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB). This was also supported by other physico-chemical parameters. Acid phosphatase activity was found to be higher in rhizospheric sediment indicating acid production at rhizosphere by microbial action and root exudation. It is the first study indicating that alkaline phosphatase activity was observed to be higher in pneumatophoric sediment. This coincides with higher number of phosphatase-producing bacteria (PPB) and high inorganic P in the pneumatophoric sediment, revealing that this region of A. marina harbours favourably more PPB with utilization of organic P by bacterial load and conversion to inorganic forms stressing that strong bonding exists between mangrove-sediment-phosphobacterial relationships