Assessment of Tsunami Impact on fish eggs and larvae along Parangipettai coast (Southeast coast of India)

The tsunami on 26th December, 2004 caused extensive damage to coastal communities and affected many marine ecosystem in southern regions of India and Andaman and Nicobar islands affecting 2,260 km of coastline. The most affected regions were the state of Tamil nadu and the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago. The present research analysis the impact of tsunami on finfish eggs and larvae and its distribution patterns. It deals how the tsunami impinges directly on ichthyoplankton ecology. After the tsunami effect, the eggs and larvae samples were collected and compared with previous year data of the same month (January 2004 and January 2005). We selected five stations, 0.5 1,3,5 and 10 km distance from the shoreline. During the present study a total of 1067 eggs and 285 larvae belonging to 29 families and 57 species were sorted and identified. The pre and post tsunami collection shows the significant variation on eggs and larvae distribution. During pre tsunami and zooplankton biomass was highly correlated with ichtyoplankton density with all the five station significant at 1 % level (p-value <0.01) but there is no correlation observed in the post tsunami samples

Photocatalytic degradation of a widely used insecticide Thiamethoxam in aqueous suspension of TiO2: Adsorption, kinetics, product analysis and toxicity assessment

This paper deals with the study of photocatalyzed degradation of an insecticide, Thiamethoxam in aqueous suspension of TiO2. The adsorption of Thiamethoxam on TiO2 surface under dark conditions was also investigated in order to find out equilibrium adsorption constant The degradation kinetics was studied using spectrophotometric method under various conditions such as substrate concentration, type of catalyst, catalyst dosage, pH, and in the presence of electron acceptors such as hydrogen peroxide, potassium bromate, and ammonium persulphate under continuous purging of atmospheric oxygen, and the degradation rates were found to be strongly influenced by these parameters. The results manifested that the photocatalysis of Thiamethoxam follows pseudo-first-order kinetics. The toxicity assessments of the irradiated samples were carried out using human erythrocytes as a model system under in vitro conditions. GC MS study showed the formation of several intermediate products which were characterised based on their molecular mass and mass fragmentation pattern. A probable mechanism for the formation of various products formed during the photocatalytic process of Thiamethoxam was also proposed. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Phylogenetic analysis of Dichelobacter nodosus serogroup-specific fimA gene from ovine footrot in Andhra Pradesh

Aim: Identification of different serogroups of Dichelobacter nodosus prevailing in the region and to understand the degree of genetic heterogeneities among the different isolates of D. nodosus. Materials and Methods: A total of 150 exudate samples of footrot lesions with a lesion score of 2-4 were collected from naturally infected sheep. The samples were screened by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting D. nodosus specific 16srRNA. Of 150 samples screened, 70 samples were found to be positive. The positive samples were attempted for isolation of D. nodosus, out of which 16 isolates were recovered. All the isolates were subjected to serogrouping by multiplex PCR targeting fimA gene using A-I serogroup specific primers. Results: Of 16 isolates, 7 (43.75%) isolates were serogroup B, 4 (25.00%) isolates were serogroup A, 3 isolates (18.75%) were serogroup I and 2 (12.5%) isolates yielded both serogroup A and B. phylogenetic analysis was performed using neighbor-joining algorithm of the ClustelX2 software in order to study whether the serogroups isolated in the present investigation differed genetically from other published serogroups. The fimA gene sequence of present isolates of serogroups A, B, and I were segregated into three distinct groups with high bootstrap values. The serogroup B clustered with Australian isolate of serotype B1 suggesting high genetic similarity of the present isolate with serotype B1. Conclusions: The clinical samples were collected from suspected outbreaks of footrot and identified the prevalence of D. nodosus by PCR targeting 16srRNA gene. Identified serogroups A, B, and I from different districts of Andhra Pradesh. The phylogenetic analysis will help for the tentative identification of serotypes present in the serogroup and to understand the degree of genetic heterogeneities among the different isolates of D. nodosus

Synthesis and Antiviral Studies of Novel N-Sulphonamidomethyl piperazinyl Fluoroquinolones

A series of novel N-Sulphonamidomethyl piperzinyl fluoroquinolones were synthesized and screened antiviral activity. Eight compounds were synthesized through modifying the N4-hydrogen of piperazine in fluoroquinolones with formaldehyde and sulphanomides by Mannich reactions. The structures of the synthesized compounds were characterized by means of their IR and 1H-NMR spectral data. Synthesized compounds were screened for antiviral activity against influenza A (H1N1, H3N2, H5N1) and influenza B viruses in MDCK cell culture. The antiHIV activities of the new compounds were screened for antiviral activity against replication of HIV-1(IIIB) in MT-4 cells. Cytotoxicity of the synthesized compounds was also tested in mock-infected MDCK and MT-4 cells. Compound CF-SD and CF-SDM inhibits the influenza A (H1N1) and compound GF-SDM inhibit the replication of influenza A (H5N1) and B in MDCK cells. All compounds displayed cytostatic propertity in MT-4 cells. Among the compounds tested, GF-SDM (CC50=39.44 μM) most toxic compound in this series