IN VITRO ANTI-DIABETIC AND ANTI-OXIDANT ACTIVITIES OF ETHANOL EXTRACT OF TINOSPORA SINENSIS

Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the alpha (α)-amylase and alpha (α)-glucosidase inhibitory activities and in vitro antioxidant activities of the 80 % aqueous ethanol extracts of Tinosporasinensis Lour (Merr.).Methods: The 80% aq. ethanol extract of the plant was prepared. The plant extract was examined for its antioxidant activity by using free radical 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging method, ABTS radical scavenging ability, reducing power capacity, estimation of total phenolic content, flavonoid content and flavonol content. Different concentrations (2, 4, 8,10and 15 μg/ml) of the extract was subjected to α-amylase inhibitory and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities and IC50were calculated.Results: The study revealed that the different concentrations of the plant extract possessed a very good amount of total phenolics, flavonoid and flavonol and exhibited potent radical scavenging activity using DPPH and ABTS as a substrate. The ethanol extracts exhibited significant α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities with an IC50 value1.093µg and 1.04µg dry extract respectively and well compared with standard acarbose drug.Conclusion: Thus, it could be concluded that due to the presence of antioxidant components the plant extracts could be used for the treatment of hyperglycemia, diabetes and the related condition of oxidative stress. This knowledge will be useful in finding more potent components from the natural resources for the clinical development of antidiabetic therapeutics

Early changes in shoot transcriptome of rice in response to Rhodotorula mucilaginosa JGTA-S1

Yeasts of Rhodotorula genus have been reported to show endophytic colonization in different plants. Some of the Rhodotorula species are found to exhibit plant growth promoting activities and also have been reported to protect plants against invading pathogens. A yeast strain closely related to Rhodotorula mucilaginosa was isolated from the endosphere of Typha angustifolia collected from a Uranium mine. A microarray analysis was performed to investigate the early changes in rice shoot transcripts in response to this yeast (R. mucilaginosa JGTA-S1). Transcriptional changes were monitored in 6 h and 24 h treated rice plant shoots as compared to 0 h control. The microarray data has been submitted to the NCBI GEO repository under the accession number of GSE64321

Protein turnover in response to transient exposure to exogenous auxin is necessary for restoring auxin autotrophy in a stressed Arachis hypogea cell culture

An auxin autotrophic Arachis hypogea cell culture was sensitive to stress treatments leading to water loss whereas the growth of its auxin-supplemented counterpart was unaffected under similar conditions. Here we show that an hour of transient auxin treatment in the post stress period was sufficient for restoring the auxin autotrophic growth potential of the stress driven quiescent Arachis cells. Qualitative proteome analysis revealed protein turnover to have a role in mediating auxin-originated signals in these cells. In consonance, MG132 a cell permeable inhibitor of the ubiquitin mediated protein turnover completely inhibited the auxin dependent growth restoration of the stressed Arachis cells. Thus protein turnover is a necessary downstream event in exogenous auxin mediated stress tolerance in Arachis cells

Embedded PZT wafer sensors for structural health monitoring

Recent advances in structural integrity evaluation have led to the development of PZT wafer sensors (PWAS) which can be embedded or surface mounted for both acoustic emission (AE) and ultrasonic (UT) modes, which forms an integrated approach for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of aerospace structures. For the fabrication of PWAS wafers, soft PZT formulation (SP-5H Grade containing dopants like BA, SM, CA, ZN, Y and HF) were used. The piezoelectric charge constant (d33) was measured by a d33 meter. As a first step towards the final objective of developing Health monitoring methods with embedded PWAS, experiments were conducted on aluminum and composite plates of finite dimensions using PWAS sensors. The AE source was simulated by breaking 0.5mm pencil lead on the surface of a thin plate. Experiments were also conducted with surface mounted PZT films and conventional AE sensors in order to establish the sensitivity of PWAS. A comparison of results of theoretical and experimental work shows good agreement

Rhizospheric soil of Typha angustifolia L. from heavy metal contaminated and free sites: Comparative profiling reveals selective abundance of γ-proteobacteria and β-proteobacteria

733-740Typha angustifolia L. commonly called Lesser bulrush or Narrowleaf cattail, is one of the most predominant flora of the heavy metal enriched wetland of Jaduguda Uranium mine tailings, India. The luxurious growth of this plant is due to its ability to tolerate heavy metals, such as iron and manganese.This plant also grows abundantly in natural wetlands of Kolkata. Rhizospheric eubacterial community of Typha growing in Jaduguda and Kolkata were compared by cloning of 16SrDNA sequences followed by ARDRA (Amplified rDNA Restriction Analysis) and sequencing of unique clusters. Sequencing results were subjected to computational analysis. In the natural wetland of Kolkata, the predominant group of eubacteria was found to be β-proteobacteria, which isabsent in heavy metal enriched wetland of Jaduguda where γ-proteobacteria was found to be predominant. The data was statistically validated using a simple χ2 test which established the diversity of the populations in context to the bioavailability of heavy metals