144 research outputs found
Hydrogenation of olefins by polymer-bound palladium(II) Schiff base catalyst
Chloromethylated poly(styrene-divinylbenzene) was modified into coordinating Schiff base bearing ligand which was subsequently complexed with palladium chloride and activated by using sodium borohydride. The polymer-supported palladium complex and activated catalyst were characterized by various techniques such as elemental analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic absorption spectroscopy, IR, far IR spectral studies, SEM and thermogravimetric analysis. Surface area measurements by BET method and swelling studies with different solvents for the catalyst were also carried out. Catalytic activity towards hydrogenation of 1-hexene, 1-heptene, 1-octene, cyclohexene, norbornadiene (nbd) and 1,5-cyclooctadiene (1,5-cod) was assessed. The influence of variation in temperature, pressure, concentration of the catalyst as well as the substrate and the nature of the solvent on the rate of the reaction was studied for a few olefins. Recycling ability of the catalyst was also evaluated. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Electric Field Analysis of Breast Tumor Cells
An attractive alternative treatment for malignant tumors that are refractive to conventional therapies, such as surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, is electrical-pulse-mediated drug delivery. Electric field distribution of tissue/tumor is important for effective treatment of tissues. This paper deals with the electric field distribution study of a tissue model using MAXWELL 3D Simulator. Our results indicate that tumor tissue had lower electric field strength compared to normal cells, which makes them susceptible to electrical-pulse-mediated drug delivery. This difference could be due to the altered properties of tumor cells compared to normal cells, and our results corroborate this
Polymer-supported palladium-imidazole complex catalyst for hydrogenation of substituted benzylideneanilines
The polymer-supported palladium-imidazole complex catalyst was synthesized and characterized by various techniques such as elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy and TG analysis. The physico-chemical properties such as bulk density, surface studies by BET method and swelling studies of catalyst in different solvents were investigated. XPS studies were carried out to identify the oxidation state of palladium in the catalyst. The morphology of the support and the catalyst was studied using scanning electron microscope. Using the synthesized catalyst, hydrogenation of benzylideneaniline and a few of its para substituted derivatives was carried out at ambient conditions. The influence of variation in temperature, concentration of the catalyst as well as the substrate on the rate of reaction was studied. The catalyst showed an excellent recycling efficiency over six cycles without leaching of metal from the polymer support. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Aldo-keto reductase-1 (AKR1) protect cellular enzymes from salt stress by detoxifying reactive cytotoxic compounds
Cytotoxic compounds like reactive carbonyl compounds such as methylglyoxal (MG), melandialdehyde (MDA), besides the ROS accumulate significantly at higher levels under salinity stress conditions and affect lipids and proteins that inhibit plant growth and productivity. The detoxification of these cytotoxic compounds by overexpression of NADPH-dependent Aldo-ketoreductase (AKR1) enzyme enhances the salinity stress tolerance in tobacco. The PsAKR1 overexpression plants showed higher survival and chlorophyll content and reduced MDA, H2O2, and MG levels under NaCl stress. The transgenic plants showed reduced levels of Na+ levels in both root and shoot due to reduced reactive carbonyl compounds (RCCs) and showed enhanced membrane stability resulted in higher root growth and biomass. The increased levels of antioxidant glutathione and enhanced activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and glutathione reductase (GR) suggest AKR1 could protect these enzymes from the RCC induced protein carbonylation by detoxification process. The transgenics also showed higher activity of delta 1-pyrroline-5- carboxylate synthase (P5CS) enzyme resulted in increasedproline levels to maintain osmotic homeostasis. The results demonstrates that the AKR1 protects proteins or enzymes that are involved in scavenging of cytotoxic compounds by detoxifying RCCs generated under salinity stress. © 2017 Elsevier Masson SA
Vizhinjam Marine Aquarium Haven for Marine Ornamentals
There has been a huge growth of
public aquaria since the opening of the first
public aquarium display in the Fish House
at the London Zoo in t 826, and particularly
in the past 20 years (Hall and Douglas
2003)
Unusual and heavy landings of rays and skates in Muttom fishing harbor in Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu
During June-July 2012, the traditional
fishermen of the Jeppiaar Fishing
Harbour, Muttom in Kanyakumari District
of Tamil Nadu got bumper catches of rays
and skates. The body weight of the rays
ranged from 0.9 to 1.5 Kg and those of
the skates ranged from 2.5 to 4.0 kg. On
an average, the estimated catch per day
was 6.0 tonnes
Mechanization of sweet sorghum production and processing
Sweet sorghum is a unique multipurpose crop and of late widely promoted
as biofuel crop. Its ability to produce grains for food/feed and stalks for fuel/
feed makes it one of the popular choices in the dryland regions. This crop is
now widely grown in many of the countries as a feasible biofuel crop under
different climatic conditions because of short its growing period and low
water requirement (Soltani and Almodares 1994) as compared to sugarcane.
When compared to other biofuel crops, sweet sorghum is best suited for
ethanol production because of its higher total reducing sugar content (Huligol
et al. 2004). Further, its suitability for mechanized crop production, seed
propagation and higher ethanol production capacity of sweet sorghum have
drawn the attention of researchers. The bagasse from sweet sorghum after
the extraction of juice has a higher biological value in terms of micronutrients
and minerals than the bagasse from sugarcane when used as animal feed
(Seetharama et al. 2002). It can also be processed as a feed for ruminant
animals. The crushed stalk contains similar levels of cellulose as sugarcane
bagasse, and therefore is a good prospect as raw material for pulp and
briquette making (for fuel purposes). Many attempts were made to use sweet
sorghum for ethanol production in a centralized model of crushing the stalk
for juice at the industry level. However, this model had some difficulties as the
raw material availability was restricted for small period in a year apart from the
problems of transportation of stalk from the farmer’s fields to distillers
High catechin concentrations detected in Withania somnifera (ashwagandha) by high performance liquid chromatography analysis
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Withania somnifera </it>is an important medicinal plant traditionally used in the treatment of many diseases. The present study was carried out to characterize the phenolic acids, flavonoids and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) scavenging activities in methanolic extracts of <it>W. somnifera </it>fruits, roots and leaves (WSFEt, WSREt and WSLEt).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>WSFEt, WSREt and WSLEt was prepared by using 80% aqueous methanol and total polyphenols, flavonoids as well as DPPH radical scavenging activities were determined by spectrophotometric methods and phenolic acid profiles were determined by HPLC methods.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>High concentrations of both phenolics and flavonoids were detected in all parts of the plant with the former ranging between 17.80 ± 5.80 and 32.58 ± 3.16 mg/g (dry weight) and the latter ranging between 15.49 ± 1.02 and 31.58 ± 5.07 mg/g. All of the three different plant parts showed strong DPPH radical scavenging activities (59.16 ± 1.20 to 91.84 ± 0.38%). Eight polyphenols (gallic, syringic, benzoic, p-coumaric and vanillic acids as well as catechin, kaempferol and naringenin) have been identified by HPLC in parts of the plant as well. Among all the polyphenols, catechin was detected in the highest concentration (13.01 ± 8.93 to 30.61 ± 11.41 mg/g).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results indicating that <it>W. somnifera </it>is a plant with strong therapeutic properties thus further supporting its traditional claims. All major parts of <it>W. somnifera </it>such as the roots, fruits and leaves provide potential benefits for human health because of its high content of polyphenols and antioxidant activities with the leaves containing the highest amounts of polyphenols specially catechin with strong antioxidant properties.</p
Breeding, early development and larval rearing of cloudy damsel, Dascyllus carneus Fischer, 1885
As the demand for marine ornamental fish is ever increasing, the industry largely relies on collections from
natural habitat due to insufficient breeding and seed production technologies. Fishes of the family
Pomacentridae are popular in marine aquaria throughout the world. Among these, damsel fishes of the genus
Dascyllus has high demand and are mostly collected from the wild. The present study forms the first-ever report
on successful breeding and larval development of Cloudy Damsel (Dascyllus carneus Fischer, 1885). Though there
are a few reports on breeding of other species of Dascyllus, there has been no report on the complete larval
development of any of the species in this genus. This forms the first description of early larval development of a
Dascyllus species. Using the copepod Parvocalanus crassirostris as first feed the larval rearing was done. Successful
breeding and larval development were achieved from the wild-caught broodstock of D. carneus at Vizhinjam
Research Centre of ICAR-CMFRI, India. Brood stock from the wild took 4 months to spawn, laid 6500–10,500
eggs per spawning and hatching rate ranged from 90.6 to 98.81%. Newly hatched larvae were the smallest
among all the reported larvae of pomacentrid fishes and measured 1.95 ± 0.14 mm in total length. Yolk reserve
was completely absorbed within 72 h of hatching. Preflexion stage is from 4 to 10 dph, flexion stage is from 11 to
12 dph and postflexion period is 13–15 dph. Larvae accepted only copepod naupliar stages as first feed and
calanoid copepod P. crassirostris alone was fed until 25 dph. Larvae settled from planktonic stage in 22–23 days
and all the larvae metamorphosed into juveniles by 50 dph. The egg development, larval development and larval
pigmentation up to 50 dph has been described. The feeding protocols and feed size preference in relation to their
age or mouth gape, the gut contents and mouth gape of the larvae caught from a feed trial with surplus copepods
of all stages were analysed at regular intervals. Larvae preferred larger stages of copepods in later stages of their
development. Finally larval feeding protocols were modified accordingly and better survival was observed. A
final feeding regime has been developed and a strategy for the consistent hatchery production of this species was
achieved. Different stages of copepod P. crassirostris were used till the settlement of planktonic stage of larvae
and Artemia nauplii were used from 25 dph. The larvae were completely weaned to artificial diet from 50 dph
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