Chemistry and analytical techniques for ent-kaurene-glycosides of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni - A review

The Stevia genus encompasses about 200 herbs and shrubs species. Stevia rebaudiana, one of the members has gained commercial importance as a natural low calorie sweetener, due to the presence of high con-centration of stevioside and rebaudioside - A (25% to 45% of stevioside content) in the leaves. The major processes involved in the production and quantification of steviol glycosides are extraction, purification and estimation. Various extraction methods have been used for extraction of steviol glycosides in the world. The extraction methods of steviol glycosides mostly differed at the stage of clarification of extracts. The present study is an attempt to summarize the scattered literature and reports on a single podium. Moreover, it also depicts up to date literature regarding numerous extraction, purification and quantitative estimation methods for steviol glycoside

Trade, investment and economic growth in India and China

Using time series data from 1980 to 2014, this study examines the relationship between trade, investment and economic growth in India and China. The present study attempts to assess the contributions of not only foreign direct investment and exports as done by the previous studies but also incorporates domestic direct investment and imports. The study uses more comprehensive and recent autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bound testing approach to examine the existence of short-run and long-run relationships. The main advantage of this approach is that it can be used regardless of the stationarity properties of the variables in the sample. The study gives different results for both countries. In case of China, exports, FDI  and domestic investment have positive impact on economic growth whereas for India only the variable of domestic investment has been found to be significant. China is a world leader in merchandise exports and its services exports have complemented its goods exports. The main weakness of Indian economy is the poor performance of manufacturing sector as a result of which India’s merchandise exports are concentrated around a few categories. Though India is a leader in IT related services exports but these exports are unable to compensate for poor performance of merchandise exports

Dynamics of steviol glycosides (stevioside and rebaudioside-A) with growth and development of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni

In the present investigation, the dynamics of steviol glycosides (stevioside and rebaudioside-A) of Stevia rebaudiana with their growth stages were studied. The study aimed to examine the best stage of harvesting (month of the year) the crop with respect to maximum accumulation of stevioside and rebaudioside-A content in different plant parts (leaves, green stem and woody stem). The results showed that the maximum stevioside content in leaves (8.55%) was found in June month (vegetative stage). Rebaudioside-A content in leaves (7.00%) was at its peak in August (vegetative stage). Whereas, higher stevioside and rebaudioside-A content was found for green stem (0.93%) and woody stem (0.18%) during September month (flowering stage). Leaves showed maximum yields of stevioside (17.60g) and rebaudioside-A (13.75g) per plant in July month. The study indicated that it is economical to harvest the leaves of S. rebaudiana rather than harvesting whole aerial biomass in vegetative phase (July month)

Resting and feeding preferences of Anopheles stephensi in an urban setting, perennial for malaria

Background: The Indian city of Chennai is endemic for malaria and the known local malaria vector is Anopheles stephensi. Plasmodium vivax is the predominant malaria parasite species, though Plasmodium falciparum is present at low levels. The urban ecotype of malaria prevails in Chennai with perennial transmission despite vector surveillance by the Urban Malaria Scheme (UMS) of the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP). Understanding the feeding and resting preferences, together with the transmission potential of adult vectors in the area is essential in effective planning and execution of improved vector control measures. Methods: A yearlong survey was carried out in cattle sheds and human dwellings to check the resting, feeding preferences and transmission potential of An. stephensi. The gonotrophic status, age structure, resting and host seeking preferences were studied. The infection rate in An. stephensi and Anopheles subpictus were analysed by circumsporozoite ELISA (CS-ELISA). Results: Adult vectors were found more frequently and at higher densities in cattle sheds than human dwellings. The overall Human Blood Index (HBI) was 0.009 indicating the vectors to be strongly zoophilic. Among the vectors collected from human dwellings, 94.2% were from thatched structures and the remaining 5.8% from tiled and asbestos structures. 57.75% of the dissected vectors were nulliparous whereas, 35.83% were monoparous and the rest 6.42% biparous. Sporozoite positivity rate was 0.55% (4/720) and 1.92% (1/52) for An. stephensi collected from cattle sheds and human dwellings, respectively. One adult An. subpictus (1/155) was also found to be infected with P. falciparum. Conclusions: Control of the adult vector populations can be successful only by understanding the resting and feeding preferences. The present study indicates that adult vectors predominantly feed on cattle and cattle sheds are the preferred resting place, possibly due to easy availability of blood meal source and lack of any insecticide or repellent pressure. Hence targeting these resting sites with cost effective, socially acceptable intervention tools, together with effective larval source management to reduce vector breeding, could provide an improved integrated vector management strategy to help drive down malaria transmission and assist in India's plan to eliminate malaria by 2030

Export Performance and Economic Growth in East Asian Economies – Application of Cointegration and Vector Error Correction Model

East Asian Economies are considered to be most successful economies in the world. Following the footsteps of other East Asian economies such as Japan and South Korea, China also shifted towards export-led growth strategy in 80s. This study analyzes the effect of export performance on economic growth of three major East Asian economies i.e. Japan, South Korea, and China. This study has conducted the econometric analysis of macro data under multivariate framework for the period 1980-2012. In order to examine the causal relationship between exports and economic growth, the study has applied time series techniques such as Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and PhillipsPerron (PP) unit root tests to check stationarity of variables, Johansen cointegration test for long run relationship, vector error correction model (VECM) for short run dynamics and for estimating speed of adjustment towards long run equilibrium. The analysis also made use of techniques Impulse Response Function (IRF) and Variance Decomposition Analysis (VDA) to investigate the interrelationships within the system. The estimated results suggested that all variables were cointegrated for East Asian economies. The study concluded that export-led growth (ELG) was only long run phenomenon in China and South Korea. The results for Japan supported growth led exports (GLE) particularly for short run

Trade-Led Growth in India and China: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract The trade-led growth theory has received considerable attention over the decades with vast amount of literature devoted to analyse it empirically particularly in case of exportled growth hypothesis. India & China are two large Asian countries experiencing rapid growth during recent decades. For years, India's economic growth rate ranked second among the world's large economies, after China, which it has consistently trailed by at least one percentage point. The present study aims to examine the impact of exports and imports expansion on economic growth for India and China. As India & China are two fastest growing countries of Asia, so it is interesting to compare these economies. By selecting a relatively liberalized period from 1980 to 2012, the comparative study has used multivariate model based on Cobb-Douglas production function by incorporating variables like GDP per capita, exports, imports, gross capital formation and labour. Time series econometric techniques (Johansen Cointegration & Toda-Yamamoto (TY) approach) have been applied to test the hypothesis. The comparison of economic parameters between India and China reveals that early and more efficient reforms are the reason of better economic performance of China. The empirical findings for India suggest unidirectional causality running from GDP per capita to exports. However, no causation was found between imports and GDP per capita. For China, a strong evidence of bi-directional causality was found from GDP per capita to exports/ imports and vice versa. The study concludes that China performed better as compared to India. The difference in performance between India & China is not simply because of timings of changes in policies but the speed of reforms, implementation of policies and nature of political governance also mattered

Export Performance and Economic Growth in East Asian Economies – Application of Cointegration and Vector Error Correction Model

East Asian Economies are considered to be most successful economies in the world. Following the footsteps of other East Asian economies such as Japan and South Korea, China also shifted towards export-led growth strategy in 80s. This study analyzes the effect of export performance on economic growth of three major East Asian economies i.e. Japan, South Korea, and China. This study has conducted the econometric analysis of macro data under multivariate framework for the period 1980-2012. In order to examine the causal relationship between exports and economic growth, the study has applied time series techniques such as Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and PhillipsPerron (PP) unit root tests to check stationarity of variables, Johansen cointegration test for long run relationship, vector error correction model (VECM) for short run dynamics and for estimating speed of adjustment towards long run equilibrium. The analysis also made use of techniques Impulse Response Function (IRF) and Variance Decomposition Analysis (VDA) to investigate the interrelationships within the system. The estimated results suggested that all variables were cointegrated for East Asian economies. The study concluded that export-led growth (ELG) was only long run phenomenon in China and South Korea. The results for Japan supported growth led exports (GLE) particularly for short run

A comparison of postoperative analgesic efficacy of opioid-free anesthesia using intravenous paracetamol (15 mg/kg), lignocaine (2 mg/kg), and magnesium sulfate (20 mg/kg) versus standard opioid anesthesia using intravenous tramadol (2 mg/kg) for preemptive analgesia in abdominal surgeries under general anesthesia

INTRODUCTION: Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience and is considered the fifth vital sign. Opioid-free anesthesia (OFA) is a technique where no intraoperative systemic, neuraxial, or intracavitary opioids are administered during the anesthesia. The prescription misuse/overuse has generated an opioid crisis which has led to the need for OFA. In this study, we will investigate the 24-h postsurgical analgesia and analgesic consumption with the use of OFA versus opioid anesthesia (tramadol) in patients undergoing abdominal surgery under general anesthesia. METHODOLOGY: Sixty patients of the American Society of Anesthesiologists Grade I-II scheduled for various abdominal surgeries were randomly assigned into two groups, with 30 patients in each group. Group A (opioid-free group): received IV lignocaine (2 mg/kg), IV magnesium sulfate (20 mg/kg), and V paracetamol (15 mg/kg) in 100 ml NS. Group B (opioid group): received IV tramadol (2 mg/kg) in 100 ml NS. Hemodynamic parameters, postoperative analgesic consumption, duration of analgesia, and any adverse effects were recorded. RESULTS: A very significant difference was observed between the study groups for mean values of mean arterial pressure at the last stages of surgery, with hemodynamics more stable in the opioid-free group (P < 0.01). In terms of mean values of minimum alveolar concentration throughout the surgery, the opioid group showed more anesthetic-sparing effect (P < 0.05). In terms of postoperative pain scores between the groups, the opioid-free group experienced less pain (P < 0.01). There was no difference between the groups in postoperative analgesic consumption and duration of analgesia. More side effects were noted in the opioid group. CONCLUSION: This study concludes that avoiding opioid use by preemptive administration of intravenous paracetamol, lignocaine, and magnesium sulfate provides safe, effective, and satisfactory analgesia in patients undergoing various abdominal surgeries under general anesthesia

Deep sequencing revealed molecular signature of horizontal gene transfer of plant like transcripts in the mosquito Anopheles culicifacies: an evolutionary puzzle [version 1; referees: 2 approved]

In prokaryotes, horizontal gene transfer (HGT) has been regarded as an important evolutionary drive to acquire and retain beneficial genes for their survival in diverse ecologies. However, in eukaryotes, the functional role of HGTs remains questionable, although current genomic tools are providing increased evidence of acquisition of novel traits within non-mating metazoan species. Here, we provide another transcriptomic evidence for the acquisition of massive plant genes in the mosquito, Anopheles culicifacies. Our multiple experimental validations including genomic PCR, RT-PCR, real-time PCR, immuno-blotting and immuno-florescence microscopy, confirmed that plant like transcripts (PLTs) are of mosquito origin and may encode functional proteins. A comprehensive molecular analysis of the PLTs and ongoing metagenomic analysis of salivary microbiome provide initial clues that mosquitoes may have survival benefits through the acquisition of nuclear as well as chloroplast encoded plant genes. Our findings of PLTs further support the similar questionable observation of HGTs in other higher organisms, which is still a controversial and debatable issue in the community of evolutionists. We believe future understanding of the underlying mechanism of the feeding associated molecular responses may shed new insights in the functional role of PLTs in the mosquito