Reproductive biology of the blue spot mullet Valamugil seheli (Forskal) from Mangalore Region, southwest coast of India

The blue spot mullet Valamugil seheli spawns once a year between August and February with peak spawning during October - November. Males attain maturity at 250.5 mm and females at 256.5 mm total length. Males outnumbered females in the commercial catches, although the sex-ratio (M:F=1:0.90) in the population showed no significant deviation. The fecundity of this species varied from 108378 to 910350 eggs with an average of 327944. Linear relationships were found between fish length, gonad weight and fecundity; and between fish length, fish weight and ovary weight

Diel feeding patterns, rate of gastric evacuation and foods of Indian sandwhiting, Sillago sihama in Mulki estuary, west coast of India

Diel feeding chronology of sandwhiting, Sillago sihama was examined from stomach collections taken during the months of April, July and December'99 in Mulki estuary along Dakshina Kannada coast, India. Significant differences in mean stomach content weight were found between several consecutive 3 hour periods with peak fullness occurring in early morning and evening hours. The rate of gastric evacuation of natural food (crustacea, polychaetes and fish) was measured in the field was best described by an exponential model, with an estimated evacuation time of 8.0 h at a temperature of 28.5 ± 1.2°C. Stomach content analysis indicated that this species is a carnivore on a wide range of benthic, epibenthic and planktonic prey. The principal food items of S. sihama were crustaceans, polychaetes and fish. Fishes less than 100 mm TL preferred mainly crustaceans while larger ones depends on polychaetes, crustaceans and fish. The feeding activity of S. sihama was influenced by tidal cycle

calcifying odontogenic cyst- a three - dimensional radiological evaluation by cone beam computed tomography

Calcifying odontogenic cysts is an odontogenic cyst that gives rise to painless swelling which expand and occasionally perforate bone. Most of them are between 2 to 4 cm in diameter. Approximately 75% occur in anterior canine-incisor region. The highest incidence of occurence is between 10 and 29 years. Radiographically they appear as well-circumscribed, unilocular cyst-like areas with scattered radioacities which range from mere flecks to large masses. The related tooth usually gets displaced. Radiopaque flecks occur in radiographic features of some lesions which undergo osteolysis during their development. The radiopaque flecks occur as a result of dystrophic calcifications in long standing chronic mature lesions. The location of such radiopaque flecks whether pericoronal or periapical is also crucial in narrowing the diagnosis. Radiopaque flecks in pericoronal region occurs in calcifying epithelial odontogenic tumour, ameloblastic fibro-odontoma, whereas in calcifying odontogenic cyst , such radiopaque flecks appears small, discrete, pebble-like with a smooth outline in periapical region. Such pebbles of radiopaque specks were incidentally seen in cone beam computed tomography in a 20-year-old male evaluated radiographically in orthogonal planes in coronal, axial, sagittal slices and three-dimensional reconstructed view and treated by surgical enucleation was described here

POTENTIAL CYTOTOXIC DRUG EFFECTS OF SECONDARY METABOLITES DERIVED FROM SELECTED MEDICINAL PLANTS OF SAVANADURGA FOREST IN KARNATAKA

Objective: To evaluate the potential cytotoxic and antitumor activities of secondary metabolites of selected medicinal plants of Savanadurga forest, Karnataka. Methods: The soxhlet extracted crude methanolic leaf extracts of nineteen medicinal plants were assessed for their potential cytotoxic and antitumor activities by brine shrimp lethality assay and potato tumor inhibition assay at 100μg/ml respectively. Results: Kirganelia reticulata and Cissus quadrangularis showed highest cytotoxicity while Flacourtia indica failed to show any inhibitory activity in brine shrimp lethality assay. Kirganelia reticulata exhibited 100% antitumor activity while Albizzia amara failed to show any antitumor activity as tested by crown gall tumor inhibition assay. Conclusion: Both brine shrimp lethality assay and potato tumor inhibition assay indicated that Kirganelia reticulata seems to be the best anticancer plant

2,4-Dichloro-7,8-dimethyl­quinoline

There are two independent mol­ecules in the asymmetric unit of the title compound, C11H9Cl2N, both of which are essentially planar [maximum deviations of 0.072 (5) and 0.072 (7) Å]. In the crystal structure, weak π–π stacking inter­actions [centroid-centroid distances = 3.791 (3) Å and 3.855 (3) Å] link pairs of mol­ecules

3-Acetyl-6-chloro-1-ethyl-4-phenyl­quinolin-2(1H)-one

In the title compound, C19H16ClNO2, the dihedral angle between the plane of the phenyl substituent and 3-acetyl­quinoline unit is 75.44 (5)°. The crystal structure is stabilized by inter­molecular C—H⋯O hydrogen bond

Differential Expression of Vegfr-2 and Its Soluble Form in Preeclampsia

Several studies have suggested that the main features of preeclampsia (PE) are consequences of endothelial dysfunction related to excess circulating anti-angiogenic factors, most notably, soluble sVEGFR-1 (also known as sFlt-1) and soluble endoglin (sEng), as well as to decreased PlGF. Recently, soluble VEGF type 2 receptor (sVEGFR-2) has emerged as a crucial regulator of lymphangiogenesis. To date, however, there is a paucity of information on the changes of VEGFR-2 that occur during the clinical onset of PE. Therefore, the aim of our study was to characterize the plasma levels of VEGFR-2 in PE patients and to perform VEGFR-2 immunolocalization in placenta.By ELISA, we observed that the VEGFR-2 plasma levels were reduced during PE compared with normal gestational age matched pregnancies, whereas the VEGFR-1 and Eng plasma levels were increased. The dramatic drop in the VEGFR-1 levels shortly after delivery confirmed its placental origin. In contrast, the plasma levels of Eng and VEGFR-2 decreased only moderately during the early postpartum period. An RT-PCR analysis showed that the relative levels of VEGFR-1, sVEGFR-1 and Eng mRNA were increased in the placentas of women with severe PE. The relative levels of VEGFR-2 mRNA as well as expressing cells, were similar in both groups. We also made the novel finding that a recently described alternatively spliced VEGFR-2 mRNA variant was present at lower relative levels in the preeclamptic placentas.Our results indicate that the plasma levels of anti-angiogenic factors, particularly VEGFR-1 and VEGFR-2, behave in different ways after delivery. The rapid decrease in plasma VEGFR-1 levels appears to be a consequence of the delivery of the placenta. The persistent circulating levels of VEGFR-2 suggest a maternal endothelial origin of this peptide. The decreased VEGFR-2 plasma levels in preeclamptic women may serve as a marker of endothelial dysfunction

Effect of lateral substituent and chain length on mesomorphic properties of novel alkoxy benzyloxy benzoates of cyanophenyl rod-shaped compounds

Three novel homologous series of rod-shaped cyanophenyl alkoxy benzoate liquid crystalline compounds with lateral polar fluorine and chlorine substituent were prepared, and chemical structures of novel materials have been characterized by standard spectral technique and elemental analysis. The mesophase characterization was carried out using the combination of polarized optical microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. All the compounds exhibit wide thermal range of enantiotropic SmA phase

Zooplankton dynamics in the coastal waters of adubidri, Karnataka

134-141Water samples were collected from five locations selected along 5, 10 and 15 m depth contour, from February 2008 to January 2009 in the coastal waters of Padubidri near the proposed dupi Power Corporation Ltd, (UPCL). Total rainfall during the period of study was approximately 2600 mm, of that more than 82% occurred during the southwest monsoon season. Air temperature varied from 287°C to 32.6°C. Water temperature, pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen and B were in the ranges of 28°C-31.4°C; 7.8-8,4; 3 L28 ppt - 35A 1%o; 4,0 mg/1-6.5 mg/1; 0040 mg/1-4A8 mg/II respectively. 24 groups of zooplankton were recorded of which, copepods formed the dominant groups. The distribution of zooplankton showed higher abundance at 5 m depth, followed by 10 m and 15 m