Maritime trade and society of Tamil Muslims in the Indian Ocean world, c. 1780-1840

This dissertation examines the maritime trade and society of South Indian Tamil-speaking Muslim merchants in the Indian Ocean during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It examines how these merchants, in a period marked by transition to colonial rule in India under the English East India Company (EIC), not only continued to trade along India’s southern and eastern coasts but also expanded their sphere of operations to include the newly established EIC entrepôts of Penang (1786) and Singapore (1819). This project accounts for this historical development by emphasizing two interrelated processes: the adoption of a specific set of trading practices by Tamil Muslim merchants and the creation of new opportunities by the expansion of EIC rule in South and Southeast Asia. In the Indian Ocean littoral region, governed by competing sovereignties, these merchants adopted diverse subjecthoods that guaranteed protection of their ships on sea. The merchants actively participated in new opportunities to transport salt from South India to Bengal, managed pearl and chank (conch shell) fisheries along the coasts of South India and Sri Lanka, and transported Indian textiles to Southeast Asia. The merchants entered into partnerships with English merchants to raise capital for their trade voyages. In short, this study challenges the dominant narrative of decline of Indian maritime merchants by 1800 and offers instead, in a revisionist vein, an account of continuity of operation well into the early decades of the nineteenth century. In doing so, my dissertation accomplishes three objectives: expand our understanding of maritime aspects of India’s colonial economy, demonstrate a resurgence in the intra-Asian trade in the early nineteenth century, and explain the evolving relationship between merchants, the EIC state, and indigenous rulers.Histor

Functional and biological properties of the nuclear receptor coregulator PELP1/MNAR

Proline-, glutamic acid-, and leucine-rich protein (PELP)1, also known as modulator of nongenomic actions of the estrogen receptor (MNAR), is a novel nuclear receptor coregulator with a multitude of functions. PELP1/MNAR serves as a scaffolding protein that couples various signaling complexes with nuclear receptors and participates in genomic and nongenomic functions. Recent data suggest that PELP1/MNAR expression is deregulated in several cancers, including breast, endometrial, prostate, and ovarian cancer, and that PELP1/MNAR interacts with several oncogenes. In this review, we summarize the emerging biological properties and functions of PELP1/MNAR

Role of high resolution computed tomography in evaluation of diffuse lung diseases

Background: Diffuse lung diseases are those in which the disease process is widespread involving both the lungs but need not affect all lung regions uniformly. Plain chest radiograph though inexpensive, excellent modality of choice, the pattern of diffuse lung disease on radiography is often nonspecific. HRCT can detect normal and abnormal lung interstitium and morphological characteristics of both localized and diffuse lung diseases. The aims and objectives was to study the normal anatomy of the lung with respect to secondary pulmonary lobule; to evaluate the importance of high resolution computed tomography in the diagnosis of diffuse lung diseases; to detect diffuse lung diseases in patients who had normal or questionable radiographic abnormalities with symptoms or pulmonary function tests suggestive of diffuse lung disease; to determine the site of CT guided lung biopsy for  confirmation of diagnosis in suspicious diseases and to study the various patterns of diffuse lung diseases on HRCT.Methods: A total number of 50 patients with suspected or known interstitial lung disease were studied by high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) over a period of 24 months.Results: In the current study the most common cases are of tuberculosis. Next common condition observed was idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis,12 (24%) cases out of 50 cases and most of them were having changes of end stage lung disease and had short lived history during the course of this study, followed by bronchiectasis, pulmonary edema and emphysema.Conclusions: HRCT is 16% more sensitive in detection of diffuse lung disease abnormalities than chest radiograph in our study.

INFLUENCE OF MORINGA OLEIFERA (DRUM-STICK) FRUIT EXTRACT ON HAEMATOLOGICAL PROFILE FOLLOWING REPEATED EXPOSURE TO LOW LEVELS OF ARSENIC THROUGH FEED ON RATS

Effect of Moringa oleifera fruits hot methanolic extract (MFE), if any, in minimizing the adverse reactions of repeated exposure to arsenic trioxide (AT) in feed was investigated in Wistar rats with reference to haematological profile. Three groups of rats each containing 10 (5male+5female) were used. The group I served as negative control. Rats of group II were fed arsenic trioxide (AT) alone @ 100 ppm in feed while those of group III simultaneously received AT (@100 ppm) and MFE (50 mg/kg/day) for 28 days. Blood samples were collected from retroorbital plexus for estimation of hematological parameters (haemoglobin, PCV, TEC, MCH, MCHC, MCV) of different groups on 0 day, 15th day and 29th day respectively. Exposure to AT through feed in group II resulted in significant (P<0.05) decrease in haemoglobin, TEC and MCHC, accompanied by increased MCV, with no significant alteration of PCV or MCH of the rats. While rats of group III treated with AT (@100 ppm) and MFE (50 mg/kg/day) also resulted in same consequences as it was in group II but it was slightly less than that of group II suggesting of mild non significant protective effect

Complete genome sequence of sixteen plant growth promoting Streptomyces strains

The genome sequences of 16 Streptomyces strains, showing potential for plant growth-promotion (PGP) activities in rice, sorghum, chickpea and pigeonpea, isolated from herbal vermicompost, have been decoded. The genome assemblies of the 16 Streptomyces strains ranged from 6.8 Mb to 8.31 Mb, with a GC content of 72 to 73%. The extent of sequence similarity (in terms of shared ortholog) in 16 Streptomyces strains showed 70 to 85% common genes to the closest publicly available Streptomyces genomes. It was possible to identify ~1,850 molecular functions across these 16 strains, of which close to 50% were conserved across the genomes of Streptomyces strains, whereas, ~10% were strain specific and the rest were present in various combinations. Genome assemblies of the 16 Streptomyces strains have also provided genes involved in key pathways related to PGP and biocontrol traits such as siderophores, auxin, hydrocyanic acid, chitinase and cellulase. Further, the genome assemblies provided better understanding of genetic similarity among target strains and with the publically available Streptomyces strains

Regulation of rDNA Transcription by Proto-Oncogene PELP1

Proline-, glutamic acid-, and leucine-rich protein (PELP1) is a novel nuclear receptor coregulator with a multitude of functions. PELP1 serves as a scaffolding protein that couples various signaling complexes with nuclear receptors and participates as a transcriptional coregulator. Recent data suggest that PELP1 expression is deregulated in hormonal cancers, and that PELP1 functions as a proto-oncogene; however, the mechanism by which PELP1 promotes oncogenesis remains elusive.Using pharmacological inhibitors, confocal microscopy and biochemical assays, we demonstrated that PELP1 is localized in the nucleolus and that PELP1 is associated with the active ribosomal RNA transcription. Cell synchronization studies showed that PELP1 nucleolar localization varies and the greatest amount of nucleolar localization was observed during S and G2 phases. Using pharmacological compounds and CDK site mutants of PELP1, we found that CDK's activity plays an important role on PELP1 nucleolar localization. Depletion of PELP1 by siRNA decreased the expression of pre-rRNA. Reporter gene assays using ribosomal DNA (pHrD) luc-reporter revealed that PELP1WT but not PELP1MT enhanced the expression of reporter. Deletion of nucleolar domains abolished PELP1-mediated activation of the pHrD reporter. ChIP analysis revealed that PELP1 is recruited to the promoter regions of rDNA and is needed for optimal transcription of ribosomal RNA.Collectively, our results suggest that proto-oncogene PELP1 plays a vital role in rDNA transcription. PELP1 modulation of rRNA transcription, a key step in ribosomal biogenesis may have implications in PELP1-mediated oncogenic functions

Plant growth-promoting traits of Streptomyces with biocontrol potential isolated from herbal vermicompost

Three strains of Streptomyces (CAI-21, CAI-26 and MMA-32) were earlier reported by us as having potential for biocontrol of charcoal rot of sorghum, caused by Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi) Goid., and plant growth promotion (PGP) of the plant. In the present investigation, the three Streptomyces were characterised for their physiological traits (tolerance of salinity, temperature, pH and resistance to antibiotics) and further evaluated in the field for their PGP of rice, grown by a system of rice intensification methods. All three Streptomyces were able to grow in NaCl concentrations of up to 12% (except MMA-32), at pH values between 5 and 13 and temperatures between 20 and 40°C. They were highly resistant to ampicillin and trimethoprim (>800 ppm), sensitive to chloramphenicol, kanamycin and nalidixic acid (50–100 ppm) and highly sensitive to streptomycin and tetracycline (5–25 ppm). When evaluated for their PGP activity on seedlings of rice, % germination and shoot and root lengths were significantly enhanced over the control. In the field, the Streptomyces strains significantly enhanced the panicle length, filled grain numbers and weight, panicle weight, 1000 seed weight, tiller numbers, total dry matter, root length (39–65%), root volume (13–30%), root dry weight (16–24%), grain yield (9–11%) and stover yield (11–22%) over the control. In the rhizosphere soil (0–15 cm from root) at harvest, the population of actinomycetes was significantly enhanced as was microbial biomass carbon (27–83%) and nitrogen (24–43%), dehydrogenase activity (34–152%), available P (13–34%) and N (30–53%) and % organic carbon (26–28%). This study further confirms that the selected Streptomyces have PGP properties

ANTI-INFLAMMATORY ACTIVITY OF ALSTONIA SCHOLARIS IN ALBINO RATS

Evaluation of anti-inflammatory activities along with the phytochemical screening of hot methanolic extract of A. scholaris stem bark (ASE) in albino rats was undertaken. The preliminary phytochemical screening of the plant revealed the presence of tannins, alkaloids, saponins, phystosterols, phenolic compounds, glycoside and flavonoids. Oral LD50 of ASE by limit test was found to be above 2000 mg/kg. Two dose level of 200 (1/10 LD50) and 400 mg/kg (1/5 LD50) were selected for studying the anti -inflammatory activity of ASE using the carrageenan - induced acute paw oedema model in rats. The extract showed significant (p < 0.01) dose dependent reduction in rat paw oedema. The percentages of inhibition of oedema were 42.55 and 53.19 with 200 and 400 mg/kg, p.o. doses of ASE, respectively, as compared to control. The anti-inflammatory action of ASE can be attributed to its flavonoid contents, which are known to act through inhibition of prostaglandin biosynthesis