Elemental Analysis and Biological Activities of Chrysophyllum roxburghii G. Don (Sapotaceae) Leaves

The present study was performed to estimate elementals and to determine bioactivities namely anticariogenic, antioxidant, pancreatic lipase inhibitory and cytotoxic activity of Chrysophyllum roxburghii leaves. Elemental analysis revealed that calcium and manganese were present in high concentration among principal and trace elements respectively. Preliminary phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of tannins, alkaloids and terpenoids in the extract. Total phenolic content was found to be 179.05mg Gallic acid equivalents/g of extract. The methanol extract caused a dose dependent inhibition of Streptomyces mutans isolates. All the isolates tested were found to be sensitive to extract. In DPPH assay, the extract exhibited marked dose dependent scavenging activity against DPPH free radical with an IC50 value of 3.54ìg/ml. In Ferric reducing assay, the absorbance of the reaction mixture was found to increase with the concentration of extract which is suggestive of reducing power. The activity of chicken pancreatic lipase was affected by the extract and the effect was concentration dependent. Higher inhibition of enzyme (>50%) was observed at extract concentration 50mg/ml. In cytotoxic study, the lethality was found to be directly proportional to extract concentration. Highest mortality (>80%) of shrimps was observed at extract concentration 1000µg/ml. LC50 of extract was 83.04µg/ml. The bioactivities of the extract could be attributed to the presence of secondary metabolites in the plant material. The plant material could be used as a source of important elements required for the body. In suitable form, the plant could be used in the prevention and treatment of dental caries, oxidative damage, obesity and cancer

Inheritance of andromonoecy in ridge gourd (Luffa acutangula Roxb.) L.

Not AvailableThe expression of sex form, flower and fruit morphology in F1 generation showed complete dominance of monoecious sex habits over andromonoecious sex, medium long to long fruit shape to oval fruit shape, and small blossom scar over large blossom scar (Figure 1 h). The segregating patterns of the two sex forms in F2 and BC1 generations are given in Table 2. The chi-square values suggested that the segregation for monoecy to andromonoecy was a good fit for 3 : 1 ratio (P = 0.90–0.95%) in F2 and for 1 : 1 ratio (P = 0.25–0.50%) in BC1. This suggested that andromonoecy is controlled by a single gene and is recessive to monoecy in ridge gourd.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableFifty one ridge gourd germplasm were evaluated for yield and qualitative traits during 2011-14. There were significant differences among the germplasm for all the 11 quantitative and nine out of 22 qualitative parameters studied. Regarding plant growth habit, 34 had long vines, 16 had medium long vines and only one germplasm, IC92618 had short vines. Fifteen germplasm lines recorded dark green fruit skin colour, 33 had green coloured fruits and only three germplasm had light green coloured fruits, hence this variability can be exploited for developing green and dark green coloured varieties which are very much preferred in different markets. With respect to fruit taste, 29 lines had normal fruit taste, 18 lines were sweet and four lines, viz., IC92625, IC92685, IIHR-17 and IIHR-51 had bitter fruits. Among the germplasm evaluated, IC20404 (5.2 and 41.3) showed earliness in terms of node number as well as days for appearance of first female flower followed by IC23259 (6.0 and 41.2). Arka Sumeet and Co-1 recorded highest fruit length and fruit weight which are the important yield contributing fruit parameters. IIHR-21 recorded the highest mean value for fruit yield per vine (2.8 kg) followed by IIHR-6 (2.6 kg). This variability present among the germplasm evaluated for yield and quality parameters can be effectively utilized for the improvement of ridge gourd, with IIHR-6 and IIHR-21, the most promising germplasm as common parents and ‘Arka Sumeet’ and ‘CO-1’ as partners to develop character specific hybrids with maximum yield potential.Not Availabl

Significance-Driven Logic Compression for Energy Efficient Multiplier Design

Approximate Arithmetic is a new design paradigm that is being used in many applications which are tolerant to imprecision and do not require accurate results. It can reduce circuit complexity, delay and energy consumption by relaxing accuracy requirements. The partial product bit matrix can be reduced based on their progressive bit significance using a Significance Driven Logic Compression(SDLC) approach. Further, the complexity of the approximate multiplier can be reduced by using Approximate adders in place of exact adders in the accumulation method. Removing some of the transistors from an accurate adder will result in an approximate adder. By using approximate adders which have less number of transistors, the power, propagation delay, and the switching capacitance can be reduced. In this paper, approximate multipliers are implemented using different approximate adders and they are compared with an exact multiplier in terms of power, delay and energy savings

Mineral Composition, Total Phenol Content and Antioxidant Activity of a Macrolichen Everniastrum cirrhatum (Fr.) Hale (Parmeliaceae)

In the present study, we investigated for the first time mineral composition, total phenol content and antioxidant activity of a foliose macrolichen Everniastrum cirrhatum (Fr.) Hale (Parmeliaceae) from Bhadra wildlife sanctuary, Karnataka, India. Mineral content of the lichen was estimated by Atomic absorption spectrophotometer after acid digestion. The secondary metabolites were detected by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and phytochemical assays. The lichen material was extracted with methanol in soxhlet apparatus. Total phenol content was estimated by folin ciocalteu method. Antioxidant activity was determined by DPPH, Ferric reducing and metal chelating assays. Among the principal elements, calcium was found in high concentration followed by magnesium, potassium and phosphorus. Among trace elements, iron was detected in high amount followed by zinc, manganese and copper. The DPPH radical scavenging activity was found to be dose dependent with an IC50 of 6.73 μg/mL. In ferric reducing assay, the absorbance increased with the concentration of extract suggesting reducing power. The extract exhibited good metal chelating activity with an IC50 value of 29.28 μg/mL. Total phenol content was 101.2 mg tannic acid equivalents per gram of extract. Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of alkaloids, saponins, tannins and terpenoids. TLC revealed atranorin, salazinic acid and protolichesterinic acid. The lichen can be consumed as a source of minerals required for the body as appreciable amount of minerals has been detected. The marked antioxidant activity may be attributed to the presence of phenol content in the extract. Further studies on isolation of metabolites and their bioactivities are under investigation

Detection of Oseltamivir Resistance during Treatment of 2009 H1N1 Influenza Virus Infection in Immunocompromised Patients: Utility of Cycle Threshold Values of Qualitative Real-Time Reverse Transcriptase PCR▿

Two immunocompromised patients with 2009 H1N1 influenza pneumonia had viral shedding for over 5 weeks despite therapy with oseltamivir. Declining or persistently low cycle threshold values noted on serial qualitative real-time reverse transcriptase PCR (rRT-PCR) of respiratory specimens implied increasing viral load and probable drug resistance. Oseltamivir resistance was later confirmed by pyrosequencing