Variable survival ability of rhizobacteria in cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.) rhizosphere

A study was undertaken to compare the survival efficacy of two native, previously characterized bacterial biovars viz. Bacillus subtilis BCU5 and Pseudomonas fluorescens PCU17 with Bacillus subtilis strain MTCC1789 and Pseudomonas fluorescens strain MTCC4828, procured from Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh,India in cumin rhizosphere and bulk soil. All the four bacterial types were made rifampicin resistant and the mutants were applied as inoculants at the dosage of 6 log, 7 log and 8 log colony forming units (cfu) g-1 dry soil weight in pots containing cumin seedlings. The cfu of rhizosphere and bulk soil of pots was observed per week for four weeks. The results show that the initial population decline is a common feature of bioinoculants. In rhizosphere and bulk soil, the native bacterial biovars survived better than their procured counterparts. The population of P. fluorescens strain MTCC4828r in rhizosphere soil declined faster and reached below detection limit whereas the P. fluorescens biovar PCUr rhizosphere final population dropped to 3.1 log, 2.9 log and 2.13 log cfu g-1 soil dry weight with 8 log, 7 log and 6 log cfu g-1 soil dry weight inoculum treatment, respectively. In contrast to P. fluorescens strain MTCC4828r, the population of B. subtilis strain MTCC1789r stabilized after some decline and was comparable with B. subtilis biovar BCU5 population. Study concludes that the inoculant population decline in soil was the result of lower microbial load carrying capacity of soil than the provided inoculum densities. Also, the native bacteria survived better than procured ones in rhizosphere soil

Comparative growth analysis of cumin plants (Cuminum cyminum L.) treated with glycerol and talc based phosphate solubilizing bacterial consortia

Cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.) is a versatile annual herb cultivated in the Middle East, India, China, and Tunisia. The seeds of this plant are primarily used in cooking as common food additives and traditional medicines to treat hypolipidemia, cancer and diabetes. However, cumin plants have poor germination and weak establishment rate, particularly under drought stress. The present study aimed to examine the growth promotion potential of cumin plants treated with talc and glycerol-based phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) consortia. Four efficient  PSB were isolated from the rhizosphere of Calotropis procera and Solanum lycopersicum and identified through 16S rRNA sequencing as Pseudomonas nitritireducens MF351819, Klebsiella pneumoniae MF351845, Erwinia sp. MF351846 and Pantoea dispersa MF351847. In a nursery experiment on cumin (Cuminum cyminum) plants, 15 treatments of single, dual, triple and quadruple combinations of four PSB isolates were formulated on glycerol and talcum powder-based bacteriological carriers. The 100-day pot experiment was initiated during the winter of 2016 (the last week of October) containing loamy sand soil of Sardarkrushinagar, Gujarat. The formulations were applied to pot soil containing seven-day-old cumin seedlings. With glycerol-based PSB inoculations, the P14 treatment containing a consortium of K. pneumoniae MF351845, Erwinia sp. MF351846, and P. dispersa MF351847 provided the highest per plant seed yield of 0.19 g. With talc-based PSB inoculations, the P11 treatment containing a consortium of K. pneumoniae MF351845, Erwinia sp. MF351846, and P. nitritireducens MF351919 produced the highest per-plant cumin seed yield of 0.42 g. Overall, talc-based PSB consortial treatments improved height, dry weight, 100 seed weight and yield of the cumin plant

Growth and ectomycorrhization of banj oak plants co-inoculated with Scleroderma bovista and mycorrhizosphere bacteria

Effect of composite treatment of ectomycorrhizal fungus (EMF), Scleroderma bovista, along with mycorrhizosphere bacterial inoculants was studied for nine months on Quercus leucotrichophora plants grown in nursery glasshouse. Seven treatments comprising of one uninoculated control; two bacterial controls, Bacillus subtilis MB14 and Pseudomonas fluorescens MB 9, respectively; EMF control, S. bovista; two combinations of two bacterial treatments with EMF and one triple treatment of two bacteria with EMF, were used in the study. The ninth month of sampling showed that triple treatment of two strains of bacteria with EMF maximally enhanced root length (38.86 cm), dry weight (6.746 g), short roots (351.6), lateral roots (24.8) and EMF colonization (34.8%) of banj oak plant, which was fairly higher than uninoculated and bacterial controls. Bacteria treated plants showed no plant growth enhancement, whereas EMF treatment fairly enhanced plant growth. The co-inoculation practice can help oak plant in achieving the mycorrhization rate even with lower EMF doses. These findings will be beneficial for achieving the effective banj oak replantation in the Himalayan region

An Empirical study on Emotional Maturity among Teacher trainees and its Importance.

Abstract Emotional maturity is a process which guides oneself to successfully balance ones entire emotional spectrum and thereby taking responsibility as to how one feels about oneself and see the world around. Hence, it is essential for teacher trainees to show emotional balance when they deal with the students around them. This paper tries to investigate emotional maturity among 4 year integrated teacher trainees and 2 year B.Ed teacher trainees based on their duration of course and gender. The data was collected using self-constructed emotional maturity scale and data was analysed using SPSS (Statistical package for Social Sciences) software. The paper discusses the results and states its importance for teacher trainees

Pattern of Substance Abuse, Sexual Behavior and its Determinants among Unmarried Youth in India

This paper describes patterns of substance abuse sexual behaviour and its determinants among unmarried youth in India and also evaluates how these patterns are associated with each others Data come from the Youth in India Situation and Needs Study a sub-nationally representative survey conducted during 2006 2008 Logistic regression analysis binary and multinomial showed relationships between predictor variables and alcohol consumption and alcohol and sexual risk indicators as well as two of the sexual health indicators associated with premarital sex Substance use was significantly high among the age group of 20-24 years Factors such as substance use by caste tribe any member in family paid work and lower educational status were significantly associated with substance use by study subjects The prevalence of substance use was high among male youths as compared to female youths Male youth recognized more Premarital sexual behavoiur than the female youth Premarital sex were significantly higher among youths who had some disposable income in hand i e those belonging the paid work or both paid and unpaid work Youth is most important period of human life as they are easily influenced by habits and behavoiurs of their parents siblings or peers and initiate substance use as well as premarital sex Therefore improvement of educational and employment status of youths strongly needed Youths and their parents urgently need health education regarding the consequences of substance use and unsafe pre marital se

Phosphate solubilizing activity of Pseudomonas fluorescens PSM1 isolated from wheat rhizosphere

A study was designed to screen and analyze the efficient phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSBs) from wheat rhizosphere. Five biovars of Pseudomonas fluorescens (PSM1, PSM2, PSM3, PSM4 and PSM5) were isolated from wheat rhizosphere and Bacillus megaterium MTCC 8755 procured from microbial type culture collection (MTCC) Chandigarh, India. The P. fluorescens biovar PSM1 was observed to be most efficient phosphate solubilizer. Inoculation of P. fluorescens PSM1 and B. megaterium MTCC 8755, alone and in combination, caused the highest phosphate solubilization at pH 5. At this pH, maximum phosphate solubilization was observed with B. megaterium MTCC 8755 inoculation (8.2 mg mL-1) on sixth day of incubation with P. fluorescens PSM1 (8 mg mL-1) on seventh day of incubation and with dual bacterial treatment (10.5 mg mL-1) on the fourth day of incubation. A correlation coefficient of linear regression equation of phosphate solubilization with pH indicated that pH value of the medium was directly correlated with tricalcium phosphate solubilization. The study will help in choosing soil pH specific PSB inoculant for optimizing plant growth

Association of psycho-wellness with various blood types in young medical students

Background: There are many stressors that affect student’s mental health. Many evidences indicate that individuals of different blood group have different response to same stressor, suggesting that the genetics of blood type also appear to alter susceptibility to develop neuropsychiatric disease. This study aimed to find out association of blood group with depression so early detection of depression and stress by blood types helps to reduce the overall burden of illness of young students thus improve their academic performance and social life.  Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 226 medical students. They are interrogated as per MMS scale to assess the psycho-wellbeing of students. ABO and Rh blood groups were determined by Anti sera A, Anti sera B and Anti sera D. Data were analysed with Primer version 6 and Chi-square.Results: In the present study it was observed that majority of students belong to blood group B (39.38%), followed by blood group 'O' (27.88%), 'A' (27.66%) and 'AB' (7.08%) respectively. Blood type A was more in red zone and more prone to PTSD (post traumatic syndrome disorders). Whereas blood type B was more prone to suicidal tendency. Proportion of psychomorbidity was found more in Rh+ than Rh (28.16% verse 15%). But these variations were statistically insignificant.  Conclusions: Blood type 'A' and 'Rh+' were more prone to psycho morbidity and ‘B’ for suicidal tendency, while 'O' had least suicidal tendency but this variation was not found significant. So it can be concluded that there is no association between blood type and psycho wellness of individual.

Lichen planus of uterine cervix - the first report of a novel site of occurrence: a case report

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Feasibility of implementing public-private mix approach for tuberculosis case management in Pokhara Metropolitan City of western Nepal: a qualitative study

BackgroundThe Public-Private Mix (PPM) approach is a strategic initiative that involves engaging all private and public health care providers in the fight against tuberculosis using international health care standards. For tuberculosis control in Nepal, the PPM approach could be a milestone. This study aimed to explore the barriers to a public-private mix approach in the management of tuberculosis cases in Nepal.MethodsWe conducted key informant interviews with 20 participants, 14 of whom were from private clinics, polyclinics, and hospitals where the PPM approach was used, two from government hospitals, and four from policymakers. All data were audio-recorded, transcribed, and translated into English. The transcripts of the interviews were manually organized, and themes were generated and categorized into 1. TB case detection, 2. patient-related barriers, and 3. health-system-related barriers.ResultsA total of 20 respondents participated in the study. Barriers to PPM were identified into following three themes: (1) Obstacles related to TB case detection, (2) Obstacles related to patients, and (3) Obstacles related to health-care system. PPM implementation was challenged by following sub-themes that included staff turnover, low private sector participation in workshops, a lack of trainings, poor recording and reporting, insufficient joint monitoring and supervision, poor financial benefit, lack of coordination and collaboration, and non-supportive TB-related policies and strategies.ConclusionGovernment stakeholders can significantly benefit by applying a proactive role working with the private in monitoring and supervision. The joint efforts with private sector can then enable all stakeholders to follow the government policy, practice and protocols in case finding, holding and other preventive approaches. Future research are essential in exploring how PPM could be optimized

Modulation of Different Proteins’ Conformational Dynamics in The Presence of ZnO Nanoparticles with Varying Surface Properties

In the recent years, with the advent of nanotechnology, nanoparticles have received immense attention in various fields including the medical and pharmaceutical industries. With increased applications, increases the risk of these nanoparticles’ exposure to the biological milieu. Hence it becomes imperative to understand the nanoparticle interaction at bio-interface especially with the protein molecules, as they are major soluble constituent of cytosol and tend to get adsorbed on nanoparticles as it enters the biological milieus. This interaction not only affects the nanoparticle properties but also induces changes in the protein conformation. Proteins are one of the most abundant and important biological molecules. A correctly folded conformation is required to execute its biological functions. However, due to various intrinsic (polypeptide sequence, mutation, presence of aggregation prone regions (APRs)) and extrinsic factors (environmental conditions) certain proteins have higher tendency to misfold into amorphous or fibrillar aggregates. This misfolding or aggregation of a protein leads to loss of its function; exert cellular toxicity and consequently onsets human disorders (e.g. Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and type II diabetes). Over the years, significant research interests have developed therapeutic application of nanoparticles in the protein aggregation and the diseases associated with amyloid. Due to their unique properties, nanoparticles (NPs) have shown significant effect on the protein conformation. However, the nanoparticle interaction with protein can act as a double edge sword depending on the strength of interactions, which in turn depend upon the physiochemical properties of both NPs and proteins interacting interfaces. The advantage of working with NP based therapeutics is the flexibility in controlling/modifying its physiochemical properties thus controlling the consequence of protein nanoparticle interactions. Hence in the thesis, we synthesized ZnONP to explore the effect of varying size, surface charge and hydrophobicity on the conformational dynamics of different proteins with varying aggregation prone region (APRs). In the beginning, we have reported the highly aggregation prone nature of recombinant hGPx7 and shown that the ZnONP does not show any significant effect on its aggregation propensity. With the help of computational tools, we also identified some exposed hydrophobic APRs in close proximity with its protein binding sites, indicating the role of protein-protein interaction in maintaining the compact stable state of hGPx7. The next part of the thesis gives an insight about the role of solvent polarity in disturbing protein stability and the chaperone like behaviour of ZnONP under SDS induced fibrillation of lysozyme at pH 9.0. The competitive binding between SDS and ZnONP on the exposed hydrophobic patch of lysozyme in pH 9.0 solution, was mediated mainly through electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions. The preferential binding of the lysozyme onto ZnONP inhibits the protein fibrillation by enhancing its secondary structure and activity. However, the same ZnONPs showed contrasting effects on insulin, a small globular protein vital for glucose regulation and its aggregation has been implicated in type II diabetes. However, surface functionalization of ZnONP with tryptophan and tyrosine, not only mitigates the fibrillation of insulin induced at bare ZnONP interfaces but also reduced the toxicity of oligomers formed in their presence. After exploring the effects of ZnONP on globular protein, our last choice as protein was an intrinsically disordered protein, α-synuclein. We investigated the effects of ZnONP and its varying size/surface curvature on the fibrillation propensity of α-synuclein. A concentration as well as size dependent inhibition in α-synuclein fibrillation was observed. ZnONP stabilizes the native structure of synuclein and inhibit the synuclein fibrillation by preferably binding to hydrophobic cluster of α-synuclein monomers resulting in formation of off pathway non-toxic aggregates with native random coil content. Hence, exploring the effect of ZnONP on different proteins will contribute towards a better understanding of the aggregation processes, and may open the way to designing nanoparticles that modulate protein aggregation and formation of toxic amyloid species