Fish diversity of Haryana and its conservation status

The present study on fish biodiversity of Haryana state was carried out during 2011 to 2014. A total number of 59 fish species inhabits the freshwaters of this state. Maximum number of fish species belonged to the order Cypriniformes (35) followed by the order Siluriformes (12) and Perciformes (8). The orders Beloniformes,Clupeiformes, Osteoglossiformes and Synbranchiformes were represented by only one species each. Out of 59 fish species, 2 are endangered, 11 vulnerable, 28 have lower risk of threat, 8 exotic and 4 fish species have lower risk least concern. The conservation status of six fish species has not been evaluated so far, hence they cannot be included in any of the IUCN categories at this moment. Family Cyprinidae alone contributed 32 fish species followed by Bagridae family. Fish species Parapsilorhynchus discophorus was observed for the first time in Haryana waters. This species is the native of Kaveri river basin, the occurrence of this species in river Yamuna may be attributed to some religious activity of people. A decline in fish diversity has been recorded from 82 species in 2004 to 59 species in the present study in the year 2014. The main causes for decrease in fish biodiversity are habitat destruction and fragmentation, changing practices of land use, exotic species introduction, fishing, irrigation needs, pollution and global climate change impacts. It is essential to prevent further decline of fish resources by devising all possible measures of conservation and rehabilitation

A study of constitutive heterochromatin and NOR banding in three species of Indian major carps from the State of Haryana, India

Cytogenetic survey of fishes becomes increasingly important to establish chromosomal relation between the teleosts, to have a glimpse of the relation between chromosomal evolution and differentiation of vertebrate species. In the present study, Chromosome banding studies was done in three species of carps i.e. Catla catla (Hamilton, 1822), Labeo rohita (Hamilton, 1822) and Cirrhinus mrigala (Hamilton, 1822). Diploid chromosome number 50 was observed in all 3 species of carps. The chromosomes of C. catla, L. rohita and C. mrigala showed constitutive heterochromatin at telomeric and centromeric regions of chromosomes. The Ag-NOR (Argyrophilic-Nucleolus Organizer Region) bands were observed on homologous chromosome pair number 11 in C. catla, 15th chromosome pair in L. rohita. In C. mrigala, the Ag- NOR staining elucidated the presence of darkly stained NORs on the terminal region of the long arms of one of the chromosome. Another homologue of this chromosome pair could not be localized due to scattering of chromosomes. The results depict that variation in ecological conditions with time due to human activities can not only affect the chromosomal number but also chromosomal morphology. &nbsp

A study of constitutive heterochromatin and NOR banding in three species of Indian major carps from the State of Haryana, India

Cytogenetic survey of fishes becomes increasingly important to establish chromosomal relation between the teleosts, to have a glimpse of the relation between chromosomal evolution and differentiation of vertebrate species. In the present study, Chromosome banding studies was done in three species of carps i.e. Catla catla (Hamilton, 1822), Labeo rohita (Hamilton, 1822) and Cirrhinus mrigala (Hamilton, 1822). Diploid chromosome number 50 was observed in all 3 species of carps. The chromosomes of C. catla, L. rohita and C. mrigala showed constitutive heterochromatin at telomeric and centromeric regions of chromosomes. The Ag-NOR (Argyrophilic-Nucleolus Organizer Region) bands were observed on homologous chromosome pair number 11 in C. catla, 15th chromosome pair in L. rohita. In C. mrigala, the Ag- NOR staining elucidated the presence of darkly stained NORs on the terminal region of the long arms of one of the chromosome. Another homologue of this chromosome pair could not be localized due to scattering of chromosomes. The results depict that variation in ecological conditions with time due to human activities can not only affect the chromosomal number but also chromosomal morphology. &nbsp

Novel Approach using Robust Routing Protocol in Underwater Acoustic Wireless Sensor Network with Network Simulator 2: A Review

In recent year wireless sensor network has been an emerging technology and promising technology in unveiling the riddle of the marine life and other underwater applications. As it is a permutation of computation, sensing and communication. In the 70% of the earth a huge amount of unexploited resources lies covered by oceans. To coordinate interact and share information among themselves to carry out sensing and monitoring function underwater sensor network consists number of various sensors and autonomous underwater vehicles deployed underwater. The two most fundamental problems in underwater sensor network are sensing coverage and network connectivity. The coverage problem reflects how well a sensor network is tracked or monitored by sensors. An underwater wireless sensor networks is the emerging field that is having the challenges in each field such as the deployment of nodes, routing, floating movement of sensors etc. This paper is concerned about the underwater acoustic wireless sensor network of routing protocol applications and UW-ASNs deployments for monitoring and control of underwater domains

Studies on Bioethanol Production from Rice Straw by Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The present study aims to determine the bioethanol producing potential of locally isolated Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain using Rice straw as a substrate. Fifteen yeast strains were isolated from fruit sample (Apple, Papaya, Sugarcane, Grapes, Orange, Pineapple) and Kaladi samples collected from local markets of Jammu and Udhampur district respectively.  Potential yeast isolates were identified on the basis of morphological and microscopic characteristics which were similar to that of MTCC 170 culture procured from IMTECH-Chandigarh. Out of 15 isolates, 14 show a positive change in the color of screening medium indicating the production of ethanol. S-9 culture was further selected based on its highest bioethanol producing ability of 17.88 mg/mL at 24 h of fermentation on YEPD medium and hence chosen for the fermentation of rice straw hydrolysate. Rice straw was subjected to alkaline and acidic pretreatment which was followed by enzymatic hydrolysis. Ethanol Fermentation of the total Rice Straw Hydrolysate obtained after pretreatments using S-9 culture revealed maximum ethanol concentration of 12.26 mg/mL at 24h having fermentation efficiency of 69.5%, 50.7% of sugar conversion occur during the fermentation process and volumetric productivity of 0.1702 g/L/h. Ethanol content per gram of sugar utilized was estimated to be 0.168g/g. Further, S-9 culture show the maximum efficiency for bioethanol production on YEPD medium at temperature of 30ºC, pH of 5.6 and under static conditions

Spleen rates and infant parasite rates as surveillance tool for malaria control in remote hard to reach areas of central India

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Malaria due to both <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>and <it>Plasmodium vivax </it>is a major public health problem in India. The quantification of malaria transmission for the classification of malaria risk has long been a concern for epidemiologists. Results are presented from 30 cross-sectional surveys which measured spleen rates (SR) and infant parasite rates (IPR) in the forested districts of Madhya Pradesh during malaria outbreaks to assess whether both IPR and SR can still be used as indicators of malaria endemicity as spleen examination has lost much of its value as an epidemiological indicator in areas where anti-malarials drugs are widely used.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Rapid fever surveys were carried out from door to door and all suspected malaria cases in the entire population of a village were screened for malaria parasites on the basis of clinical symptoms such as fever, chill, rigor, headache and body ache etc. Children between 2 and 9 years were examined for enlarged spleen according to Hacketts method. Finger prick blood smears were collected from all children with enlarged spleen with or without fever after obtaining written informed consent following institutional ethical guidelines. Infants less than 1 year were also screened for malaria with or without fever.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Since malaria is local and focal, in some areas the outbreak waned quickly in few months and in some areas continued for 3 to 4 years. The analysis of trend revealed that when IPR decline over the years as a result of malaria intervention measures, SR also decline. In case splenomegaly continues without diminution in size, it is probably due to recrudescence or relapse, although it is not possible to separate malaria parasite species on the basis of SR.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Both the tools are of immense value in evaluating and assessing the malaria situation especially in remote areas where sophisticated molecular and serological techniques are difficult to establish. Therefore, in forested areas malaria surveillance system will require adoption of multiple approaches that have proven effective now or in the past.</p

Sensory and nutritional evaluation of unleavened flat bread prepared by multigrain flour mixture

The present study was undertaken to develop the value added food product using multigrain flour mixture and to assess its sensory and nutritional composition of unleavened flat bread (Chapatti). It was standardized as Control (T0). Along with control; three variations of Chapatti were prepared by replacing wheat flour with different ratio of multigrain flour mixture which referred as T1, T2, T3 and T4 respectively. They were tested for different attrib-utes (Taste and Flavour, Colour and Appearance, Body and Texture and Overall Acceptability). A food composition table given by Gopalan, et.al, 2007 was used to determine the nutritional composition of Chapatti. Appropriate statis-tical technique was opted for the analysis. The result revealed that the T1 (8.05±0.00) was found most acceptable with regards to its sensory attributes followed by T0 (7.70±0.42), T2 (7.55±0.08), T3 (7.22±0.98) and T4 (6.64±0.46) respectively. Energy (ranging from 388-436 Kcal), Protein (ranging from 22-28 g), fat (ranging from 13-21 g), cal-cium (ranging from145-192 mg), phosphorus (ranging from 466-501 mg), fiber (ranging from 3-4g) and iron (ranging from 6-7 mg) were increased in treatments as compared to control except carbohydrate. Thus, it can be concluded that value added product has good organoleptic and nutritional quality

Major depressive disorder: association with vitamin C levels and role of vitamin C supplementation in pharmacotherapy

Background: Oxidative stress has a well-documented role in pathophysiology of depression. Decrease in levels of vitamin C, an antioxidant, has also been reported in major depressive patients. This study was conducted to assess the association of vitamin C deficiency with major depressive disorder and any change in clinical response to antidepressant therapy with vitamin C co-administration vis-a-vis baseline vitamin C level status.Methods: This study was a prospective, interventional, parallel, randomized and open label study. Sixty patients diagnosed as a case of major depressive disorder in accordance to ICD-10 criteria were enrolled after taking a written informed consent. Two clinical scales namely Hamilton depression rating scale (HDRS) and clinical global impression- illness severity (CGI-S) scale were used for assessment and monitoring.Results: Vitamin C deficient subjects had relatively severe disease as assessed by HDRS and CGI-S scales. A highly significant (p0.05) reduction was seen in HDRS and CGI-I scores in vitamin C sufficient group while also showing a comparatively milder disease.Conclusions: Vitamin C deficiency was found to have a direct relation with severity of illness, as those patients who had insufficient and sufficient vitamin C levels at recruitment were found to exhibit milder symptoms compared to those who were vitamin C deficient. With treatment, greater improvement was observed in those patients who were deficient at the outset

To establish the reference range of glycated hemoglobin

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) has emerged as a major healthcare problem in India. There were an estimated 40 million persons with DM in India in 2007 and this number is predicted to rise to almost 70 million by 2025. It is estimated that every fifth person with diabetes will be an Indian. The objective of the present investigation was to establish the reference range for glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C) in healthy non-diabetic subjects in our hospital laboratory and compare it with the values reported by standard laboratories.Methods: The study was conducted in the Department of Biochemistry, MMIMSR, Mullana (Ambala, Haryana). Total number of subjects was 50 (25 males, 25 females), aged 30 to 70 years. 2 ml of blood was collected from antecubital vein under aseptic conditions from each subject and put in EDTA vials. Hemolysed blood was estimated by semiautoanalyzer for HbA1C.Results: In females, the levels were 6.50 ± 0.74 % while in males the levels were 6.27 ± 0.94 %. The overall range in females was 4.8 - 7.56 % while in males it was 4.2 to 7.56 %. The values were comparable (p>0.05) with those reported by standard laboratories, e.g. Dr. Lal PathLabs (<6%), Charak diagnostic (4.5-6.3%) and Mayo Clinic (6.5-7%). Conclusion: Our laboratory levels of HbA1C are comparable with the reference range of different laboratories and hence suitable to be used as cut-offs while interpreting the results of patients with DM.

Implications and Prevention of Noise Hazards on Board Ships

Seafarers are exposed to intense noise due to running of powerful gas turbines present in the engine room and in other compartments due to the operation of various sub systems that adversely affect their hearing acuity and proficiency. A large body of persons is employed in the Shipping industry and it is of paramount importance to preserve and promote health in the work place. Hence, this particular study was undertaken with a view to precisely quantify the noise levels associated with the operation of turbine engines and examine the impact of exposure on hearing sensitivity of the individuals. The preventive measures that can control the adverse effects like the use of ear defenders, and, supplementation of carbogen, a mixture of 5% CO2 and 95% O2 were examine