Occurrence of Parasitoid, Leiophron Sp. (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), on Adults of Helopeltis antonii Signoret in Cashew

Helopeltis antonii is a major pest of cashew, cocoa, neem, guava and pepper in the old world tropics. Survey for parasites identified a parasitoid, Leiophron sp. (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), on adults of H. antonii. The parasitism was low (1.3%), of which 59.4% was observed during the month of June. Size of the parasitoid larvae was 3.66 ± 0.11mm in length, and 1.31±0.03mm in breadth. Pre-pupation period was 1.75±0.22 days. Copulation was observed between parasitized H. antonii males and females indicating, that, mating was not affected by parasitism. Parasitoid activity showed significant positive correlation (r = 0.62; P = 0.05) with rainfall. Parasitism provided by this parasitoid certainly warrants further investigation on biological control of this economically important pest

Effect of mfd viscosity on the onset of ferromagnetic fluid layer heated from below and cooled from above with constant heat flux

The effect of magnetic field dependent (MFD) viscosity on the onset of convection in a ferromagnetic fluid layer heated from below and cooled from above in the presence of vertical magnetic field is investigated theoretically. The bounding surfaces are considered to be either rigid-ferromagnetic or stress free with constant heat flux conditions. The resulting eigenvalue problem is solved using the Galerkin technique and also by regular perturbation technique. It is found that increase in MFD viscosity and decrease in magnetic number is to delay the onset of ferroconvection, while the nonlinearity of fluid magnetization has no influence on the stability of the system

Down Regulation of Plasma and Tissue Biomarkers by Homocastasterone

Homocastasterone is a ketosteroid and a member of the brassinosteroid family of plant hormones. Earlier studies with 28-homobrasslinolide, an aldosteroid, had indicated that rat blood and tissue biochemical parameters studied were affected by this compound, resulting in altered homeostasis and cellular phosphorylation status, rendering this plant oxysterol inappropriate for high energy related work activities. The use of the ketosteroid in this study presents evidence for renormalization of elevated plasma lipid content in diabetic rat, antiglycemic potency, increase in liver glycogen and glucose level and diminished ALT and AST enzyme activities. A role for this ketosteroid in rat liver gluconeogenesis and in lipid homeostasis is suggested while the aldo and keto forms regulated glucose homeostasis in the rat. The observed differences in the effects of homobrasslinolide and homocastasterone as exogenous oxysterols on normal and diabetic rat plasma lipid level suggests the possibility of differential influence by endogenous aldo and keto oxycholesterol forms on glucose and lipid homeostasis in mammalian physiology

Management of cervical heterotopic pregnancy with inevitable miscarriage

The objective is to report a case of successful treatment of heterotopic cervical pregnancy resulting from IVF–ICSI conception. Case report from Amrita Institute of Medical sciences: a tertiary care referral hospital. A 47-year-old Primigravida, diagnosed with heterotopic cervical pregnancy at 6 weeks of gestation, presented with significant first trimester vaginal bleeding. Under IV sedation, Transvaginal ligation of descending cervical branches of the uterine arteries arrested the bleeding. The cervical pregnancy was successfully aborted with minimal bleeding and the intrauterine pregnancy was successfully maintained till 32 weeks, after which she required emergency preterm LSCS in view of Severe preeclampsia superimposed on chronic hypertension a non-reassuring non-stress test (NST). The intervention applied maybe used in treatment of heterotopic cervical pregnancy in a low resource setting to control the bleeding

Negative modulation of alkaline phosphatase and creatine kinase by homobrassinolide

Homobrassinolide is a plant hormone implicated in plant growth and development. Its effect on animal metabolism was less known to date. We have investigated its effect on the marker enzymes such as alkaline phosphatase and creatine kinase in selected rat tissues-brain, heart, liver, kidney, skeletal muscle and testis. Homobrassinolide was administered (66 and 330ng/ Kg body weight) intradermally in male albino wistar strain rats and changes in alkaline phosphatase and creatine kinase activities were measured. An overall reduction in both the enzyme activities occurred within 2hr of administration with few exceptions. The reaction rate constants for the enzyme activities were in the order 10-7 mM/min for alkaline phosphatase and 10-3 mM/min for creatine kinase. Time course studies indicated a decrease in enzyme activities as a function of time. Elevated hemoglobin content correlated with rise in erythrocyte number. Blood glucose level decreased by a percentage of 15.7 and 21.7 compared to control with the administration of 10μg and 50μg homobrassinolide respectively. Serum cholesterol content showed 15% decrease and 25% increase compared to control following 10μg and 50μg homobrassinolide administration. We conclude that homobrassinolide inhibited both the enzymes in the tissues and produced erythrocytosis, leukocytosis and hypoglycemia, while cellular phosphorylation status remained principally affected by this oxysterol in rat. Even though the physiological and pathological significance of these observations is not clear, it is suggested that 28-HB enriched diets may not be appropriate for higher energy related work activities.Keywords: Alkaline phosphatase; Creatine kinase; Homobrassinolide; Oxysterol; Phosphorylation; Rate constant

Negative modulation of alkaline phosphatase and creatine kinase by homobrassinolide

Homobrassinolide is a plant hormone implicated in plant growth and development. Its effect on animal metabolism was less known to date. We have investigated its effect on the marker enzymes such as alkaline phosphatase and creatine kinase in selected rat tissues-brain, heart, liver, kidney, skeletal muscle and testis. Homobrassinolide was administered (66 and 330ng/ Kg body weight) intradermally in male albino wistar strain rats and changes in alkaline phosphatase and creatine kinase activities were measured. An overall reduction in both the enzyme activities occurred within 2hr of administration with few exceptions. The reaction rate constants for the enzyme activities were in the order 10-7 mM/min for alkaline phosphatase and 10-3 mM/min for creatine kinase. Time course studies indicated a decrease in enzyme activities as a function of time. Elevated hemoglobin content correlated with rise in erythrocyte number. Blood glucose level decreased by a percentage of 15.7 and 21.7 compared to control with the administration of 10μg and 50μg homobrassinolide respectively. Serum cholesterol content showed 15% decrease and 25% increase compared to control following 10μg and 50μg homobrassinolide administration. We conclude that homobrassinolide inhibited both the enzymes in the tissues and produced erythrocytosis, leukocytosis and hypoglycemia, while cellular phosphorylation status remained principally affected by this oxysterol in rat. Even though the physiological and pathological significance of these observations is not clear, it is suggested that 28-HB enriched diets may not be appropriate for higher energy related work activities.Keywords: Alkaline phosphatase; Creatine kinase; Homobrassinolide; Oxysterol; Phosphorylation; Rate constant

Acute effect of gibberellic acid on serum enzymes and blood markers in male albino rats

This study was designed to evaluate the influence of a phytohormone, gibberellic acid (GA3) on marker enzymes and biomarkers of serum, and blood hemoglobin and its blood cells counts of rat. In order to evaluate the positive/negative effects, the rats were administered 75μg, 150μg and 300μg of GA3/kg body weight as a single dose. GA3 treatments produced differential effects on the different parameters at dose dependent manner after 4 hours.The down regulation in specific activities of ALT, ALP, GGT and amylase were noted against the control with significant up regulation of AST activity. GA3 also produced dose dependent effect on biomarkers. There is a substantial reduction in the quantity of glucose, urea, creatinine, calcium, phosphorus, sodium and potassium was recorded against the control. On the other hand, the insignificant increase in content of total protein, albumin and uric acid was observed at all dose of GA3 treatment against the control. GA3 increased the RBC, WBC and neutrophil by decreasing the lymphocyte total numbers. Platelets, monocytes and oesinophils count were not altered by any dose of GA3.In conclusion, GA3 produced dose dependent effect on different parameters of rat blood serum.Keywords: phytohormone; gibberellic acid; creatinine; neutrophi

Diversity of mantids in tea plantation

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Short term effect of 28-homobrassinolide on serum, liver and kidney marker enzymes and other biochemical parameters of male albino rats

Brassinosterols (BS) are ubiquitous pluripotent growth regulator present in plants. They exist in isoforms of epi and homobrassinolides (HB).  BS act as potent stimulators of root and shoot elongation, cell division, DNA and RNA polymerase activity, ethylene production and of stress tolerance to temperature, water scarcity and salinity in plants. It is also used to increase the yield of crop and to protect the plants against pesticides. Consumption of plant material as diet and used as growth regulator in animals, and application of BS in agriculture would increases its availability to the host tissues. In the present study, the effect of 28-HB, an isomer of brassinosterol on serum, liver and kidney marker enzymes, lipid peroxidation, tissue histology and the blood parameters of rat were investigated. The rats were given the compound by intradermal mode at the concentration of 75µg, 150µg and 300µg as single dose and the effects were observed after 4 hr to study the immediate response of the animal. The treatment of rats with 28-HB, caused different effects on the serum, liver and kidney parameters of this study. In conclusion, the present study showed that 28-HB affects the structure and function of rat tissues in a dose dependent manner.Keywords: Brassinosterols; homobrassinolides; 28-HB; lipid peroxidatio