Rhizobium mayense sp. Nov., an efficient plant growth-promoting nitrogen-fixing bacteria isolated from rhizosphere soil.

The nitrogen-fixing bacterium has great prospects in replacing synthetic fertilizers with biofertilizers for plant growth. It would be a useful tool in eradicating chemical fertilizers from use. Five nitrogen-fixing bacteria were isolated from the Tea and Groundnut rhizosphere soil out of which RSKVG 02 proved to be the best. The optimized condition of RSKVG 02 was found to be pH 7 at 30 °C utilizing 1% glucose and 0.05% ammonium sulfate as the sole carbon and nitrogen source. Plant growth-promoting traits such as IAA and ammonia were estimated to be 82.97 ± 0.01254a µg/ml and 80.49 ± 0.23699a mg/ml respectively. Additionally, their phosphate and potassium solubilization efficiency were evaluated to be 46.69 ± 0.00125 b mg/ml and 50.29 ± 0.000266 mg/ml. Morphological, and biochemical methods characterized the isolated bacterial culture, and molecularly identified by 16 S rRNA sequencing as Rhizobium mayense. The isolate was further tested for its effects on the growth of Finger millet (Eleusine coracana) and Green gram (Vigna radiata) under pot conditions. The pot study experiments indicated that the bacterial isolates used as bio inoculants increased the total plant growth compared to the control and their dry weight showed similar results. The chlorophyll content of Green gram and Finger millet was estimated to be 19.54 ± 0.2784a mg/L and 15.3 ± 0.0035 mg/L which suggested that Rhizobium sp. Possesses high nitrogenase activity. The enzyme activity proved to use this bacterium as a biofertilizer property to enhance soil fertility, efficient farming, and an alternative chemical fertilizer. Therefore, Rhizobium mayense can be potentially used as an efficient biofertilizer for crop production and increase yield and soil fertility.

Prevalence of differential microbiome in healthy, diseased and nipped colonies of corals, Porites lutea in the Gulf of Kachchh, north-west coast of India.

Coral reefs are constantly subjected to multiple stresses like diseases and fish predation, which can profoundly influence the coral microbiome. This study investigated the differences in bacterial community structure of healthy, white syndrome affected and blenny nipped coral colonies of Porites lutea, collected from the coral reefs of Gulf of Kachchh, north-west coast of India. Present study observed that the stressed coral colonies harbored more OTUs and contained higher diversity values compared to healthy corals colonies. Similarly, beta diversity analysis indicated the dissimilarities among the three coral samples analyzed. Though the taxonomy analysis indicated bacterial phyla like Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria among the entire coral samples studied, there was a variation in their relative abundances. Huge variations were observed in the relative dominance at the bacterial genera level. About 13phyla and 11 genera was identified in healthy coral. The PBN sample was found to contain Proteobacteria, Cyanobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, and Lentisphaerae as dominant phyla and Endozoicomonas, Dyella, Woeseia, and Winogradskyella as dominant genera. The PWS sample contained Proteobacteria, Lentisphaerae, Spirochaetes, and Tenericutes as dominant phyla and Endozoicomonas, Arcobacter, Sunxiuqinia, and Carboxylicivirgia as dominant genera. Among the healthy samples, sequences belonging to Uncultured Rhodospirillaceae were dominant, while Woeseia and sequences belonging to Uncultured Rhodovibrionaceae were dominant among the blenny nipped white syndrome infected corals. Although any previously established pathogen was not identified, present study revealed the presence of a potentially pathogenic bacterium, Arcobacter, among the diseased corals. It also demonstrated a dynamic microbiome among the Porites lutea colonies on subjecting to various stresses.

Identification of molecular markers to study the Garcinia spp. diversity.

The genus Garcinia shows a considerable variation in its morphological characters such as leaf, flower and fruit with taxonomic ambiguity. It is a potential under-exploited multipurpose crop that gained considerable attention for the presence of (-) hydroxycitric acid, an anti-obesity compound, in its fruit rind and leaves. Here, we evaluated the genetic relationship through molecular markers among the selected 9 species commonly available in the Western Ghats and the Northeastern Himalayan foot hills of India. The nucleotide sequence data obtained from two prominent monomorphic bands generated in ISSR profiling of the species was utilized for the study. The selected bands were found to be of ITS region (700 bp) and partial region of KNOX-1 gene (600 bp). The evolutionary cluster was formed using MEGA5 software. The study indicated 2 major clusters, influenced by floral morphology of the species and availability of (-) hydroxycitric acid in their fruit rinds. In the subclusters, one species from the Western Ghats were paired with another from Northeastern Himalayas with relatively similar morphological traits.

Isolation and characterization of genomic microsatellite markers for small cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton) for utility in genetic diversity analysis.

Microsatellite markers in small cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton) were developed using the selective hybridization enrichment method. A total of 140 microsatellite repeats were identified from 270 clones. Primers were designed for 58 microsatellites and 44 primer pairs amplified products of expected size in cardamom. These markers were used for studying the diversity of 20 important small cardamom genotypes, and six markers were found to be polymorphic. The number of alleles ranged from 2 to 7 with an average of 3.6 per locus. Polymorphic information content values ranged from 0.14 to 0.38 based on dominant scoring. The two markers ECM 47a and ECMG 28 generated specific banding patterns for the genotypes MCC7 (Pink tiller) and APG434 (MA18) respectively. Dendrogram illustrated the genetic similarity between different genotypes of Kerala and Karnataka regions. It differentiated the closely related genotypes and released varieties into separate groups. Principal coordinate analysis revealed PV1 and ICRI 1 as the most divergent genotypes. The study demonstrated that these markers are informative and can be further utilized for generating reliable molecular data for assisting the crop improvement of small cardamom. Cross generic transferability (71.4 %) of the developed primers proved that they are useful for phylogenetic studies in the family Zingiberaceae. This is the first report of de novo isolation, characterisation and utilization of microsatellite markers for the genetic diversity analysis of small cardamom.

Review on emerging applications of nanobiosensor in food safety.

Nanosensors have become an indispensable tool in the food sector due to their specificity and sensitivity. The biosensor consists of a transducer coupled with a biorecognition component to transform biological signal into digital signal. Nanobiosensors have been widely used for sensing toxic chemicals such as pesticide residues and pathogenic microbes owing to their accurate sensitivity in an affordable manner, which gives more hope to the food industry on their applications. It employs nanocarriers to bind to impurities and pollutants, as well as food-borne microorganisms and their resulting toxins, such as mycotoxins. This modern technology ensures food safety in food processing industries. Nowadays, nanoparticle-immobilized sensors act as spot indicators to improve smart food packing technology. Certain types of nanobiosensors are deployed to monitor food product manufacture till packaging and to check the freshness of the product till spoilage identification. They are mainly using enzyme catalysts, which are highly sensitive to extreme environmental conditions. As a result, there is a greater evaluation requirement in nanosensor technology to adopt any temperature, pH, or other difficult parameters. Its stability, while in contact with food substrates, is another criterion that needs to be regularized. Within this framework, this review delves into the latest developments in nanobiosensors and the obstacles encountered during their use across different food industries.

Perchlorate contamination of groundwater from fireworks manufacturing area in South India.

Perchlorate contamination was investigated in groundwater and surface water from Sivakasi and Madurai in the Tamil Nadu State of South India. Sensitive determination of perchlorate (LOQ = 0.005 µg/L) was achieved by large-volume (500 µL) injection ion chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. Concentrations of perchlorate were <0.005-7,690 µg/L in groundwater (n = 60), <0.005-30.2 µg/L in surface water (n = 11), and 0.063-0.393 µg/L in tap water (n = 3). Levels in groundwater were significantly higher in the fireworks factory area than in the other locations, indicating that the fireworks and safety match industries are principal sources of perchlorate pollution. This is the first study that reports the contamination status of perchlorate in this area and reveals firework manufacture to be the pollution source. Since perchlorate levels in 17 out of 57 groundwater samples from Sivakasi, and none from Madurai, exceeded the drinking water guideline level proposed by USEPA (15 µg/L), further investigation on human health is warranted.

Isolation of Enteromorpha species and analyzing its crude extract for the determination of in vitro antioxidant and antibacterial activities.

The extract of green algae (Enteromorpha species) was prepared by the cold extraction technique. The prepared algal extract exhibits a high antioxidant potential due to the presence of sulfated polysaccharides (SPs). The extract of Enteromorpha species was analyzed to identify the presence of significant biochemical composition. The extract of Enteromorpha species was evaluated to assess the DPPH-free radical scavenging activity, total antioxidant activity by phosphomolybdenum assay, in vitro anti-bacterial by agar diffusion method, and cell viability by MTT assay. It was found that the extract of Enteromorpha species contains the various chemical composition such as carbohydrates (0.13 g/ml), xylose (0.0819 g/ml), sulfate (0.0153 g/ml), and proteins (0.0363 g/ml). Phytochemicals such as flavonoids and phenolic compounds were found in the extract. The antioxidant potential of the crude extract was investigated by the total antioxidant assay (400 µl/ml) and DPPH-free radical scavenging assay (5 µl/ml). The prepared green algal extract produced the highest inhibitory zone up to 18 mm, 13 mm, and 18 mm at 200 µl/ml concentrations against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli, respectively. The above results revealed that the extract of Enteromorpha species exhibited strong antioxidant and anti-bacterial activities due to the presence of sulfated polysaccharides.

Efficient catalytic activity of novel fluorescent polyimide embedded Ag and V2O5 nanoparticles towards the removal of hazardous pollutants.

A novel fluorescent polyimide (PI) made up of perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDAH) and p-phenylenediamine (PPDA) was prepared with or without Ag and V2O5 nanoparticles at 160 °C for 5 h under N2 atmosphere with vigorous stirring. The influence of nanomaterials on the rate of polymerization (Rp) was determined. The synthesized PI and PI nanocomposites were characterized to analyse their chemical functionality (FT-IR), surface morphology (FE-SEM) and thermal properties (DSC and TGA). The catalytic reduction of Cr (VI), p-nitrophenol (NP) and rhodamine6G (R6G) dye was analysed using the prepared PI and PI nanocomposites as a catalyst. It was found that the Rp of PI nanocomposites was higher than pristine PI system. The PI/Ag nanocomposite system exhibited higher degradation temperature (Td) and apparent rate constant (kapp) values towards the reduction of R6G dye.

Design, 3D QSAR modeling and docking of TGF-ß type I inhibitors to target cancer.

Transforming growth factor-ß (TGF-ß) family members plays a vital role in regulating hormonal function, bone formation, tissue remodeling, and erythropoiesis, cell growth and apoptosis. TGF-ß super-family members mediate signal transduction via serine/threonine kinase receptors located on the cell membrane. Variation in expression of the TGF-ß type I and II receptors in the cancer cells compromise its tumor suppressor activities which direct to oncogenic functions. The present study was aimed to screen the potent TGF-ß type I inhibitors through atom based 3D-QSAR and pharmacophore modelling. For this purpose, we have chosen known TGF-ß type I inhibitors from the binding database. The PHASE module of Schrodinger identified the best Pharmacophore model which includes three hydrogen bond acceptors (A), one hydrophobic region (H), and one ring (R) as the structural features. The top pharmacophore model AAAHR.27 was chosen with the R2 value of 0.94 and validated externally using molecules of the test set. Moreover the AAAHR.27 model underwent virtual screening using the molecules from the NCI, ZINC and Maybridge database. The screened molecules were further filtered using molecular docking and ADME properties prediction. Additionally, the 7 lead molecules were compared with a newly identified compound "SB431542" (well known TGF-ß type I receptor inhibitor) and Galunisertib, a small molecule inhibitor of TGF-ß type I, under clinical development (phase II trials) using the docking score and other binding properties. Also a top scored screened molecule from our study has been compared and confirmed using molecular dynamic simulation studies. By this way, we have obtained 7 distinct drug-like TGF-ß type I inhibitors which can be beneficial in suppressing cancers reported with up-regulation of TGF-ß type I. This result highlights the guidelines for designing molecules with TGF-ß Type I inhibitory properties.

Comparison of speech production in upright and supine position.

Speech is usually produced in an upright sitting or standing posture. Measurements and judgments of speech may be made in conditions requiring a supine position, however. These conditions include MRI recordings, and oral procedures, such as, adjustments to dental appliances, medical and surgical procedures. It is of interest, therefore, to see whether gravity has strong or systematic effects on tongue behavior. In the present study, 13 subjects repeated several words, which contained extreme consonant and vowel tongue positions, during upright and supine condition. Ultrasound imaging provided midsagittal tongue contours, in each condition, for comparison. A neck brace was used to stabilize transducer placement and the palate was used as a physiological reference to register the data sets. Results showed a significant subject effect. In supine position the tongue was more posterior than upright for seven subjects, more anterior for two subjects and varied by phoneme for four subjects. However, there was no significant phoneme effect. The direction of change and the amount of change were not directly related. Most subjects had small upright-supine differences. The largest differences, less than 3 mm on average, were in the posterior tongue.

Isolation and characterization of microsatellite markers in Garcinia gummi-gutta by next-generation sequencing and cross-species amplification.

Garcinia gummi-gutta (L.) Roxb. (Clusiaceae) is an endemic, semidomesticated, fruit-yielding tree species distributed in the Western Ghats of India and Sri Lanka. Various bioactive phytochemicals, such as garcinol, benzophenones and xanthones are isolated from G. gummi-gutta and have shown antibacterial, antiviral and antioxidant activities. We sequenced the total genomic DNA using Illumina Hiseq 2000 platform and examined 241,141,804 bp high quality data, assembled into 773,889 contigs. In these contigs, 27,313 simple-sequence repeats (SSRs) were identified, among which mononucleotide repeats were predominant (44.98%) followed by dinucleotide and trinucleotide repeats. Primers were designed for 9964 microsatellites among which 32 randomly selected SSR primer pairs were standardized for amplification. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of genomic DNA in 30 G. gummi-gutta genotypes revealed polymorphic information content (PIC) across all 32 loci ranging from 0.867 to 0.951, with a mean value of 0.917. The observed and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.00 to 0.63 and 0.896 to 0.974, respectively. Alleles per locus ranged from 12 to 27. This is the first report on the development of genomic SSR markers in G. gummi-gutta using next-generation sequencing technology. The genomic SSR markers developed in this study will be useful in identification, mapping, diversity and breeding studies.

Assessment of in vitro cytotoxicity and in vivo antitumor activity of Sphaeranthus amaranthoides burm.f.

BACKGROUND: A number of plants have been used in Indian system of medicine such as ayurveda, unani and siddha, but most of these plants were not explored properly. Sphaeranthus amaranthoides (SA) Burm.f., is one such plant used as an energizer in siddha. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the anticancer effect of chloroform extract of the whole plant of SA Burm.f. against Ehrlich ascites carcinoma bearing Swiss albino mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The anticancer effect of chloroform extract was investigated in Swiss albino mice bearing Ehrlich ascites carcinoma at two different dose levels. Acute toxicity studies were also performed to determine the safety of the extract. Mice injected with Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells were treated with the extract of doses 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight and standard 5-fluorouracil 20 mg/kg body weight for 15 consecutive days. Animals were sacrificed on day 15 for determination of anticancer activity by evaluating tumor volume, nonviable and viable tumor cell count and hematological parameters. RESULTS: Mice treated with the extract showed a significant decrease in tumor volume and viable cell count and an increase in nonviable cell count and mean survival time. The hematological parameters were also found to be restored to a normal level. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that the chloroform extract was producing anticancer activity comparable with that of the standard 5-fluorouracil.

Reliable transmission of high-quality video over ATM networks.

The development of broadband networks has led to the possibility of a wide variety of new and improved service offerings. Packetized video is likely to be one of the most significant high-bandwidth users of such networks. The transmission of variable bit-rate (VBR) video offers the potential promise of constant video quality but is generally accompanied by packet loss which significantly diminishes this potential. We study a class of error recovery schemes employing forward error-control (FEC) coding to recover from such losses. In particular, we show that a hybrid error recovery strategy involving the use of active FEC in tandem with simple passive error concealment schemes offers very robust performance even under high packet losses. We discuss two different methods of applying FEC to alleviate the problem of packet loss. The conventional method of applying FEC generally allocates additional bandwidth for channel coding while maintaining a specified average video coding rate. Such an approach suffers performance degradations at high loads since the bandwidth expansion associated with the use of FEC creates additional congestion that negates the potential benefit in using FEC. In contrast, we study a more efficient FEC application technique in our hybrid approach, which allocates bandwidth for channel coding by throttling the source coder rate (i.e., performing higher compression) while maintaining a fixed overall transmission rate. More specifically, we consider the performance of the hybrid approach where the bandwidth to accommodate the FEC overhead is made available by throttling the source coder rate sufficiently so that the overall rate after application of FEC is identical to that of the original unprotected system. We obtain the operational rate-distortion characteristics of such a scheme employing selected FEC codes. In doing so, we demonstrate the robust performance achieved by appropriate use of FEC under moderate-to-high packet losses in comparison to the unprotected system.

Passive immunization of rams (Ovis aries) against GnRH: effects on antibody titer, serum concentrations of testosterone, and sexual behavior.

The effect of immunoneutralization of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) on serum concentrations of testosterone and sexual behavior was evaluated in sexually mature male sheep. In Experiment 1, GnRH1 rams (n=16) were passively immunized against GnRH (300 ml antiserum), control rams were either passively immunized against keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH, n=15) or surgically castrated (Wethers1, n=4). Sexual performance of the rams was assessed weekly for 3 weeks before and 6 weeks after immunization, using ovarihystertomized ewes actively immunized against GnRH. Experiment 2 evaluated the effects of repeated immunization. Rams were immunized with two aliquots (400 and 300 ml, respectively) of anti-GnRH sera (GnRH, n=5) or normal sheep serum (NSS, n=4), 2 weeks apart. Surgically castrated animals were used as a second control group (Wethers2). Administration of anti-GnRH sera, but neither anti-KLH nor NSS sera, resulted in marked reduction (P<0.05) in serum concentrations of testosterone. Sexual behavior was not consistently affected by administration of one aliquot of anti-GnRH sera, however repeated immunizations resulted in more persistent reduction in serum concentrations of testosterone and more consistent suppression of sexual behavior.

Isoproterenol infusion--an alternative to exercise testing.

Isoproterenol, as an exercise simulating agent, was evaluated in twenty subjects, ten normal volunteers and ten with Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). Both groups were evaluated using 0.5 ug increments of intravenous infusion of isoproterenol every 3 minutes with computerised ECG (Marquette Electronics--MAC PC) monitoring. The normal volunteers did not have significant ST segment depression even at heart rates of 130 BPM. The CAD groups showed diagnostic ischaemic ST segment depression at heart rates below 130 BPM. None of the subjects had any serious complications during or after the test. Isoproterenol infusion is a better alternative to exercise testing.

Operator limitations in farm tractor overturn recognition and response.

Accounting for nearly half of all work-related farm tractor injuries annually, tractor side and rear overturn continue to be an ongoing problem. The causes of both side and rear overturns may be grouped into design-related and human factors-related categories. This review addresses the latter, highlighting those information processing bottlenecks, some of which may be aided through training or stability indicator devices. It is argued that tractor instability must first be perceived before a corrective response may be taken. Evidence was drawn from orientation perception, tractor rollover response time, and driving studies to describe an overall model of the tractor operator attempting to stay within stable operating conditions. With this more precise model of the tractor operator, a foundation is provided for further research on the operator-tractor interface.

Usefulness of imprint and fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in diagnosis of lymphadenopathies and other tumours.

Fifty cases of enlarged lymph nodes and fifteen cases of other tumours were selected and fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and Imprint cytology was performed both as outpatient and pre-operative procedure. The aim of the study was to evaluate the accuracy of these methods of diagnosis. It was found that they are a rapid, easy and dependable method of diagnosis for all practising surgeons especially in semi-urban and small hospitals.