May 2012

In aquaculture, probiotics can be considered a valid alternative to the use of antibiotics and in particular, in fish larviculture, to prevent high mortality owing to microbes and to improve survival rate. Many researchers reported promising results using a single beneficial bacterial strain in the culture of many finfish species. Therefore, L. salivarius isolated from the gut of female Portunus pelagicus and its influence on larviculture was examined. Four trial experiments were triplicate and designed in three different administrations of probiotic 1.0×106 cfu mL−1 (T-1), 5.0×106 cfu mL−1 (T-2) and 1.0×107 cfu mL−1 (T-3) and one control without any probiotic, and were added to rearing water every day. Addition of the probiotic (to first day hatch larvae) significantly increased survival rate (p<0.05) for all treatments over controls. Probiotic concentration 5.0×106 cfu mL−1 (T-2) did produce highest survival rate of larvae. The microbial load particularly Vibrio sp. was dominant in the control tanks than in experimental tanks. The added probiotic affected pH in treated groups and the less nitrogen contents were observed in the experimental tanks mainly due to the effect of probiotic. The specific activities of protease and amylase enzymes were significantly higher (p<0.05) in all treated groups over the control and highest were determined in treated group T-2. The highest concentration of probiotic did not increase the survival and the activity of the digestive enzymes. The results of present study suggest that that treatment with probiotics, L. salivarius, at a certain concentration as water additives could be used to improve survival rate and water quality, thereby convalescing digestive enzymes activity of P. pelagicus.

The study area forms the part of the Southern Granulitic terrain of the peninsular India. It is represented by charnockites and gneisses. These terrain was found intersected by the younger mafic dykes commonly known as Black granites. The economic importance and its massive nature of the rock brought name and fame to the locality all over the world. Based on the nature of the trend these dyke bodies were characterized into three groups namely Group – I, Dykes having trends NW-SE, WNW-ESE and E-W. Group – II, Dykes having trends NNW-SSE, N-S and NNE-SSW. Group –III, Dykes having trends NE-SW. Based on mineralogical composition they can be classified into two types namely dolerite and gabbro. These bodies are medium to coarse grained in nature with fine grained border zone at the contact with the country rocks. These dyke bodies exhibits typical spheroidal weathering. The rocks are essentially composed of plagioclase, clinopyroxene and opaques. Olivine and micro perthite constitute the accessory mineral phases while minor biotite, amphibole and quartz rarely occur as secondary components. All the samples exhibit ophitic to sub ophitic intergrowth of plagioclase and pyroxene.

A 2-year experiment was conducted at wilt sick plot infested with Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceris at Adet research center in northwestern Ethiopia in order to assess efficacy of an integrated management strategy for Fusarium wilt of chickpea that combined the effect of varieties, sowing dates and seed bed preparation methods on fusaruim wilt on chickpea. Four varieties, i.e., JG-62 (susceptible check), Adet local (control), Marye and Shasho (both improved); three sowing dates at 15-day intervals, i.e., at Adet 12th Sept., (early), 27th Sept. (farmers') and 12th Oct. (late) and three seed bed preparation methods including flat bed, raised bed and ridge and furrow were used as treatments. Treatments were arranged in a factorial combination in a Randomized Complete Block Design in three replications. The number of seedlings emerged, dead plants due to wilt, soil temperature and soil moisture were recorded at 15-day intervals for each variety of chickpea. Data were analyzed using the SAS system for windows V8. Percent, Disease progress curve and AUDPC%/day was also computed. In the experiments the results indicated that the disease progress rate was significantly different among varieties and management practices and showed Shasho was the most resistant variety to wilt, followed by Marye. Among the sowing dates it was observed a reduction in the rate of epidemic development over time, a reduction of disease intensity, and the farmer sowing date exhibited relatively lower rate of mortality. AUDPC%/day value was higher on flat bed and ridge and furrow than on raised bed. Among the varieties lower AUDPC%/day value was recorded on Shasho followed by Marye in both seasons. The AUDPC%/day value was higher in early and late sowing dates than the farmers' sowing date. The results indicate the advantage of using cultural management as integrated as a sustainable and environmentally friendly option to control chickpea fusarium wilt disease and boost the production of chickpea. The importance of integrating existing cultural control practices, partially effective by themselves, with other control measures to achieve appropriate management of Fusarium wilt and increase of its productivity in chickpea in East African-type environments is demonstrated by the results of this study.

The aim of the study was to find out the factors that hinder the implementation of the student-centered methods in the teaching and learning of mathematics at secondary school level. The study was a descriptive survey, involving questionnaires and interviews with fifteen in service mathematics teachers. Descriptive data were mainly presented in form of tables, graphs and direct quotations from teacher. From the findings the constraints included examination assessment requirement, time factor, resources especially textbooks, language barrier, teachers’ subject matter content, and other minor ones such as the size of classes and the heavy planning involved. Teachers regarded the student-centered methods as useful and rewarding teaching and learning strategies. Teachers also showed that they are fully aware that their pupils get highly motivated by being involved in student-centered activities. It was therefore concluded that the implementation of student-centered methods in the teaching and learning of secondary school mathematics was far from being realized in the district under study.

The adsorption of Ni (II) ions from aqueous solution on smectite from Sabga (Sa0) has been investigated. The influences of the initial concentration, Co, temperature, T °C, and contact time, t, on the adsorption performances have been experimentally verified by a batch method. These results have showed that the amount of Ni (II) ions adsorbed increases with increased contact time, t, and that equilibrium adsorption is reached in 15 minutes. The experimental results obtained are described by Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Kaganer-Radushkevich (D-K-R) isotherm models. The Langmuir adsorption isotherm described the adsorption data very well at all studied temperatures. The maximum adsorption capacity; Qo, determined from the Langmuir adsorption isotherm studies was found to be 6.68 mg/g at 328 °K. Pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order, the mass transfer, Elovich and the intraparticular diffusion kinetic models were used to describe the kinetic data obtained. The experimental data fitted well to the pseudo-second order kinetic model, which indicates that chemical adsorption is the rate-limiting step. Thermodynamic parameters, such as ∆G°, ∆H°, and ∆S° were also calculated using adsorption equilibrium constant obtained from the Langmuir isotherm studies. These results suggest that the adsorption of nickel (II) ions on smectite is a spontaneous and endothermic process.

Breast cancer is a very heterogeneous disease that is characterized by a number of histopathological subtypes. The major histological types of breast cancer were estimated. The 180 samples were analysed. The majority of breast carcinomas fall into the category ductal carcinoma (39%) and Tubular Carcinoma (23%) followed, and by Infiltrating Lobular Carcinoma (9%), Medullary Carcinoma (8%), Inflammatory Carcinoma (8.5%) and Pagets (6%). The histopatholgical showed breast cancer are mostly ductal carcinoma and tubular carcinoma.

A joint design of sphere decoding and synchronization algorithms for multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems with progressive parallel inter-carrier interference canceller (PPIC) based on factor graph based soft self-iterative equalization in wireless multipath channels for high speed wireless transmission is proposed. This algorithm can suppress inter-antenna interferences and cancel inter-carrier interferences iteratively and progressively. With a proper designed message passing schedule and random interleaver, the short cycle problem is solved. The proposed PPIC is superior to PIC both in computational complexity and system architecture. It is very suitable for VLSI implementation and it is a potential candidate for data detection/decoding in future high data rate, and high mobility, We consider the performance analysis and design optimization of low density parity check (LDPC) coded multipleinput- multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems for high speed wireless transmission.

The present study reports the first time and novel synthetic methodology for halogenation & C-N bond formation reactions in the backbone of D-Glucose. The key steps include chlorination and amination of glucose. The synthesized products are designated as Glucose chloride & Synthesized Chitosan respectively. Synthesized Chitosan resembles with the unit structure of Chitosan i.e. Oligomeric Chitosan and it is water soluble. FTIR spectrum of D-Glucose the characteristic broad peak at 3350cm-1 for stretching of hydroxyl (–OH–) group has disappeared in halogenation reaction showing the substitution of chloride & having characteristic sharp peak at 3150cm-1 for stretching of Amine (–NH2–) group indicating replacement of chloride group with amine. The synthesis was completely characterized by FT-IR, C H N S analysis, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, DEPT 135 NMR, XRD and GC-MS.

The global financial crisis is an outcome of deep economic recession which generally refers to business cycle contraction and slowdown activity over a long period of time. It is a situation where macro indicator like gross domestic product, employment, capital utilization, household incomes and business profit fall and bankruptcies and unemployment rates are rise. Global Financial Crisis is among the greatest financial challenges to the world economy which is originated in United States of America. The global economic slowdown is unprecedented in scale and has severe implications on policy formulation among emerging market. Currently India has one of the largest Developing countries in the world. Strong economic growth in the last decade combined with a population of over a billion makes it one of the potentially largest markets in the future. This paper provides an overview of global financial crisis (GFC) and its impact on the Indian Economy.

HIV/AIDS, since from the time of its first detection, has a medical issue with both social and legal dimensions attached to it. Paper highlighted few dimensions such as compulsory treatment and testing; drug dependents; protection of confidentiality and privacy of clients; right to seek treatment; right against discrimination at the work place; right to marry and right against disclosure to the spouse/sexual partner. In view of the existing socio-demographic barriers to effective prevention of HIV, and medical limitations in curing HIV-AIDS cases, paper also advocates the need of an inclusive legislation framework that could integrate all issues concerning HIV and AIDS.

The present paper describes the morphology and morphometry of Haemonchus contortus (Rudolphi, 1803) Cobb, 1898, a roundworm parasitizing sheep and goat. External morphology of male and female worms alongwith measurements of important body parts is studied. Cervical papillae, longitudinal cuticular ridges, buccal lancet, spicules, bursal rays, gubernaculum, excretory pore, genital openings of male and female worms, anal aperture and size of various body organs was analysed for morphometric characteristics.

Kenya is a one of the major tea-producers of tea in the world .The tea is grown in the highland areas with adequate rainfall and low temperatures. The main tea-growing area is in the Kenyan Highlands, west and east of the Rift Valley, at altitudes between 1800M m. a. s. l. and 2400M m. a. s. l. Tea is a major foreign exchange earner, and the main source for 17 to 20 percent of Kenya's total export revenue. Pests are responsible for yield losses up to 30% in tea world wide. In Kenya pests especially mite pests cause appreciable losses especially during dry period. The most common pests include mite pests, weevils, aphids and mosquito bugs (Helopeltis sp.). A number of pesticides have been tested for their efficacy in controlling these pests. Any chemical used to control pests in tea should not contaminate the final product the made tea. Any residues in the product should comply with international standards on the Maximum residue Limits (MRLs). The current study was carried out in order to establish residue levels of Pyrethrins in fresh tea leaves, black tea and brewed tea after foliar application. The study monitored the decline of pesticide residues under normal harvest time intervals and also evaluated the effect of tea manufacturing process on the Pyrethrin residue levels in black tea. Tea samples were collected by picking two leaves and a bud at various pre-harvest intervals after application of the pesticide Pyagro 4%EC at maximum proposed application rates. Results show that the levels of the pesticide residues decreased with increase in the pre-harvest interval in days. The results reveal that residues found in samples collected on the first day after application contain the highest residue levels and those collected fourteen days after application contained the lowest residue levels. The processing and brewing of tea appear to lower the residues of Pyrethrins (Pyagro) significantly. The residue levels from the study are lower than the maximum residue levels (MRLs) allowed within the European Union. Therefore, if Pyagro 4% EC pesticide is used according to the established pattern for control of tea pests it will pose no risk to the consumers of tea.

In the present work, the hypolipidemic activity of the Apium graveolens and Cymbopogan flexuosus was evaluated. It showed significant decrease in the levels of serum Total cholesterol (TC), Triglycerides (TG), Low density lipoprotein (LDL), Very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) and significant increase in the level of High density lipoprotein (HDL) when administered orally for 28 days to streptozotocin induced hyperlipidemic rats at a dose of 200, 400, 600 mg/kg. As Apium graveolens and Cymbopogan flexuosus have hypolipidemic activity, these plants can be used as potential medicine for cardiovascular diseases.

Okra or bhindi [ Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench ] is an important Vegetable crop in the tropics and the subtropics. The Okra crop is very susceptible to white fly (Bemisia tabaci Genn.) transmitted yellow vein mosaic virus causing heavy losses by infecting at all the stages of plant growth. In India, occurrence of this disease was first reported by Kulkarni (1924) in Bombay province. It has been reported that when plants were infected within 20 days after germination, the losses can be up to 98 percent. Similarly, when plants were infected at 35 and 50 days after germination, the loss in yield was 83 and 49 percent respectively (Sastry and Singh, 1975). Infection of Y.V.M.V. under natural field conditions depends on the environmental parameters, crop characteristics and efficient vector population (Khan & Mukhopadhyay, 1986; Bhagabati and Goswami, 1992). Susceptibility of cultivars encourages its incidence in the field in presence of the active vectors. Considering it as one of the major constraints of Okra cultivation, it is essential to gather basic information to understand the nature of infection, source and gradual increase with the increase of plant age survival capacity of the virus and mode of spread among different varieties in a cropping season.

The river Damodar is subjected to a varying degree of pollution, caused by numerous outfalls of municipal and industrial effluents and by other activities. Clean water is essential to human survival as well as to the aquatic life. The study was conducted at twenty water quality monitoring stations in premonsoon, monsoon and postmonsoon seasons to assess the limnological characteristic of the river Damodar. Water pollution is one of the major problems in developing countries like India and the major river is subjected to various forms of pollution with regular decline in water quality. The life of aquatic organism depends directly on limnological characteristic of aquatic environment. The changes in limnological composition may leads to river water pollution. The seasonal data shows the range of a minimum concentration of most of the ionic particles in postmonsoon and a maximum concentration in premonsoon season, reflecting the concentrating effects. The major factors that decides the quality of the water in the study area is agricultural activities near the river downstream zone and also mining as well as industrial activities at the upstream zone of the river. The results of physicochemical parameters depict high mean values of alkalinity (304 mg/l), pH (8.3), sulphate (57.06 mg/l), phosphate (0.438 mg/l ), nitrate (2.69 mg/l). High values of alkalinity, hardness, COD and chlorides indicate the pollution of reverine ecosystem due to domestic waste, municipal sewage, industrial effluents, organic matter and agricultural runoff.

Cyanobacteria belonging to Nostocales family are a highly diverse group in relation to form, function, and habitat. Current cyanobacterial systematics relies on the observation of flexible morphological characters. Accurate and reliable delineation of Nostoc sp. has not been possible by traditional methods. Phylogenetic studies of Nostoc sp. based on morphological and physiological observations have demonstrated the conflicts in identification and genetic relationships among the Nostocacean strains. Therefore, supplementary genetic information should be incorporated to give a polyphasic classification system for the order Nostocales. In the view of above, the current investigation on the molecular and phylogenetic characterization of three species of the genus Nostoc based on cpcB-IGS-cpcA locus of the phycocyanin operon was carried out. The phylogenetic position of these species within order Nostocales had been determined. The results indicated that genus Nostoc is heterogeneous. Analysis of the IGS region between cpcB and cpcA showed that Nostoc and Anabaena are distinct genera, while the taxonomic status of the genera is still unclear. These data indicated that additional analyses and revision of the taxonomic position of Anabaena, Anabaenopsis and Nostoc species within Nostocales are required.

Physico-chemical properties and phytoplankton density was estimated in Tilyar Lake (28º 52’ 52.77” N and 76º 38’ 12.05” E.), Rohtak (Haryana) India. Different water quality parameters (pH, Temperature, DO, BOD, COD, Total Alkalinity, Total Hardness, Calcium Hardness, Magnesium Hardness, Acidity, CO2, TDS, TSS, Chloride, Total Kjeldal Nitrogen, Sulphate, phosphate, Net Primary Productivity and Phytoplankton Density) were estimated form January 2010 to December 2010 from three sampling stations sited in lake. The physico-chemical parameters have exhibited considerable variation during the study as pH (8.75-9.24), Temperature (13.50-32.67°C), DO (1.80-5.13), BOD (0.73-2.10), COD (18.47-62.67 mg/l), Total Alkalinity (85.33-106.67 mg/l), Total Hardness (84-104.67 mg/l), Calcium Harness (58.20-72.47 mg/l), Magnesium Hardness (5.69-8.94 mg/l), Acidity (1.80-6.67 mg/l), Free CO2 (0-3.93 mg/l), Chloride (10.37-20.87 mg/l), TDS (99.33-122.33 mg/l), TSS (28.67-60.67 mg/l), TKN (70.17-95 mg/l), Sulphate (0.95-1.55 mg/l), Phosphate (0.02-0.10 mg/l), Primary Productivity (2.13-3.70 mg/l) and Phytoplankton Density (36-68 mg/l). Due to low dissolved oxygen concentration and low primary productivity the ecological balance in the lake was observed very fragile. Statistically phytoplankton density was found significantly correlated with pH, magnesium hardness and total nitrogen (P= 0.05) and with total alkalinity, total hardness, calcium hardness, total dissolved solids and net primary productivity (P= 0.01).

A week study was conducted on the efficacy of brine pre-treatment on Clarias gariepinus smoked with Dialium guineensis using storage quality and nutrient assay as parameters. A total of 20 specimens of C. gariepinus with mean body weight of 475 + 25g were divided into two groups of ten; one group was immersed in 10% brine solution while the other group was unsalted. They were smoked with Dialium guineensis for 4 hours, withdrawn and kept at room temperature for one week. Proximate analyses of the two treatments revealed no significant difference (P > 0.05). There was an observed increase in values of all the nutrients in the salted smoked samples , similar trend was reported in organoleptic tests which also indicated that there were no significant differences (P > 0.05) among the sensory parameters such as texture, test, colour and flavor among the treatments.This experiment has shown that salt pre-treatment has little or no effect on nutrient assay but slightly improved the taste and flavor of the smoked products (P> 0.05).

Gomphrena celosioides is a plant used in traditional medicine for treating liver diseases. Tetrachloride Carbon (CCl4) was used to induce liver toxicity on rats. This hepatotoxicity caused a significant rise in liver enzymes, bilirubin and liver cell damage. The different treatments with aqueous extract of Gomphrena celosioides (EAG) at a dose of 500 mg / kg of body weight (BW) and silymarin (SIL) recognized for its hepatotoxic properties at a dose of 300 mg / kg BW decreased levels of these parameters and repaired liver damage. Preventive treatment of animals with EAG and SIL have decreased the rate of serum transaminases, alkaline phosphatase and bilirubin with a yield of 65.06% for EAG and 78.34% for SIL about alanine amino transferase (ALT). Curative treatment of animals with EAG and SIL have a yield of 56.35% to 70.45% against the EAG to SIL about the ALT. Hepatoprotective activity of EAG is more protective than curative and is comparable to SIL’s activity. Possible mechanisms for this activity may be due to the action of antioxidants in flavonoids, present in the EAG.

Food plays very indispensable role in the development of an organism as it provides energy to cart out daily activities. Ladybird beetles are commonly known as the Farmer’s Friends as they are known to feed on a wide variety of insect pests. According to their feeding habits they can be classified into different types viz., aphidophagous, feeding on aphids, coccidophagaous, feeding on coccids and phytophagous feeding on plants. Cheilomenes sexmaculata Fabricius and Coccinella septempunctata Linnaeus are the most popular aphidophagous ladybird beetles of the Indian region. Apart from feeding on aphids both of them are also known to feed upon psyllids, white flies, mealybugs, tingids, leaf and plant hoppers, mites and early instar lepidopteran larvae. Our study deals with the survival of C. sexmaculata and C. septempunctata on eight species of aphids as well as on honey and mealy bugs when provided as alternative foods under aphid scare conditions.

The outbreak of shigellosis, caused by a gram negative enteric pathogen-Shigella sonnei, has become a serious issue worldwide. IpgB1 is one of the major proteins involved in type III secretary pathway of the bacteria which mimics the role of Rho-G in membrane ruffling and the simulation of Rac-1. This condition leads to shigellosis and IpgB1 act as a key virulent factor. The infection usually treated by antibiotics; however, most of the strains acquired multiple drug resistance. Hence, there is a demand for alternative therapeutic agents. Computer aided screening is a modern approach to design next generation medicines. But the 3D structure of the protein is not available in native form which is essential for structure based drug designing. Hence, a 3D model of IpgB1 was generated by homology modeling. The model was refined and validated by various bioinformatics tools. The Ramachandran plot of the model accounts for 92.9% of the modeled residues are in allowed region. The model was used as a probable drug target and the inhibitory properties of selected ligands were studied by molecular docking. The binding efficiencies of known drugs were compared against selected herbal compounds. Herbal leads such as Andrographolide, Cryptolepine and Esculetin (docking binding energy -8.15 kcal/mol, -7.15kcal/mol and -6.79 kcal/mol respectively) were identified as the best inhibitors with minimum binding energies and good pharmacological properties than known chemotherapeutic agents. Present study finds significant application to design novel therapeutics against IpgB1mediated shigellosis

Roots of Chlorophytum borivilianum (safed musli) were regenerated by taking explants from isolated field grow mature plants. Two types explants stem disc and shoot base were used in the micropropagation. This was achieved by culturing on MS solid medium with and without harmones. Both leaf base and tuber explants gave very poor response. MS medium containing 3mg/l NAA gave more number of roots. The root proliferation was observed on full strength of MS medium after inoculation with the increasing concentration (1 to 3 mg/ml) for Indole acetic acid (IAA) at 1mg/l and Napthaline acetic acid (NAA) at 3mg/l. Micropropagation is to be the effective method compared with other methods of multiplication. This protocol can be used to generate cost-effective protocol for large scale in vitro cultivation of safed musli.