Candidal Prevalence in Diabetics and its Species Identification.

CONTEXT: Candida species is a part of the normal mouth flora. Diabetes mellitus is a predisposing factor for the onset of oral candidiasis. AIM: The objective of this study was to estimate salivary glucose in patient with diabetes and healthy individuals, to determine total candidal counts as well as different candidal species in the saliva of patients with diabetes and nondiabetics. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A sample size of 80 patients was taken. Out of 80 patients, 30 patients were uncontrolled diabetes patients (Group I), 30 patients were controlled diabetes patients (Group II), and 20 patients were healthy individuals (Group III). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: From all the salivary samples, salivary glucose estimation was done using the glucose oxidase-peroxidase method. Candidal colony-forming units (CFUs) were determined from all the salivary samples. CHROMagar Candida medium was used for the identification of various Candida species. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: One-way ANOVA was used to test for differences between the means of the three groups. Pearson's correlation coefficient test was used to evaluate the relationships between the variables. RESULTS: The mean salivary glucose levels were higher in Group I followed by Group II and Group III. The mean candidal CFU was significantly higher in Group I than in Group II and Group III. CONCLUSION: Candida glabrata was the predominant species found and more so in patients with diabetes and needs further study. Other common species isolated was C. albicans. Species identification can help in better treatment strategies and gain good control over the disease.

Diazotrophic specific cytochrome c oxidase required to overcome light stress in the cyanobacterium Nostoc muscorum.

Diazotrophic, filamentous and heterocystous cyanobacterium Nostoc muscorum perform photosynthesis in vegetative whereas nitrogen fixation occurs in heterocyst only. However, despite their metabolic plasticity, respiration takes place both in vegetative cells and heterocysts. The role of the respiratory electron transport system and terminal oxidases under light stress is not evident so far. As compared to the diazotrophically grown cultures, the non-diazotrophically grown cultures of the N. muscorum show a slight decrease in their growth, chlorophyll a contents and photosynthetic O2 evolution under light stress. Whereas respiratory O2 uptake under identical stress condition increases several fold. Likewise, nitrogen fixing enzyme i.e. nitrogenase over-expresses itself under light stress condition. The terminal enzyme of respiratory electron transport chain i.e. cytochrome c oxidase shows more activity under light stress, whilst light stress has no impact on Ca(++)-dependent ATPase activity. This leads to the conclusion that under light stress, cytochrome c oxidase plays a vital role in mitigating given light stress.

Carbon dioxide regulation of autotrophy and diazotrophy in the nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium Nostoc muscorum.

To understand how carbon and nitrogen metabolism are regulated in diazotrophically and non-diazotrophically grown cultures of the cyanobacterium Nostoc muscorum, we investigated the role of bicarbonate (HCO3⁻) in regulating diazotrophy and autotrophy. Results showed that HCO3⁻ concentration up to 12 mol m⁻³ enhanced growth, specific growth rate, photosynthetic pigments, photosynthetic O2 evolution and nitrogenase activity under diazotrophic growth conditions. The co-existence of different nitrogen sources in the growth medium further accelerate the examined parameters in the order of NO3⁻