ABSTRACT
Aim: New species of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR), with varying growth promoting and biocontrol ability are often being discovered. They facilitate plant growth either directly by secreting nutrients and hormones or indirectly by providing defence mechanism to the plant. The present study was undertaken to isolate PGPR from the rhizosphere of Solanum lycopersicum and Arachis hypogaea, and test their growth promoting ability and antifungal activity against Fusarium oxysporum. Methodology: PGPRs were isolated from the rhizosphere of S. lycopersicum and A. hypogaea by serial dilution of the rhizospheric soil and identified by 16s rDNA sequencing. The isolates were analysed for antifungal activity against F. oxysporum, indole 3-acetic acid (IAA) production and phosphate solubilisation. For the growth promotion assay, aseptically grown Vigna radiata seedlings were dipped separately in isolated bacterial suspension of PGPR (109 CFU ml-1) and planted in autoclaved soil. Plants were irrigated with 50% Hoagland solution for every 48 hr and maintained at 25 ± 2 °C with 16/8 hr of light and dark photoperiod. Growth promotion was examined in terms of differences in shoot length, root length, fresh weight and dry weight after 12 days of treatment. Results: Six isolates were found to have antifungal activity towards plant pathogen, F. oxysporum. Five isolates showed similarity to Pseudomonas aeruginosa (B7-1, B11-5, B3-1, Rh-1, Rh-2) and one to Pseudomonas putida (B53). All six strains were able to produce IAA, where B53 and B13-1 showed the highest production compared to other strains. P. putida B53 demonstrated the highest plant growth promotion activity by significantly (p<0.05) increasing the growth of V. radiata plants as evidenced by increase in shoot length, root length, fresh and dry weight. Interpretation: The results obtained from the present study supports that PGPRs like Pseudomonas sp. could serve as potential eco-friendly bio-fertilizer and bio- fungicide
ABSTRACT
The purpose of the study was to report a case of ulcerative keratitis caused by an unusual algae Prototheca wickerhamii in a diabetic patient. This study design was a case report. A 46-year-old male, who was a known diabetic for 3 years, had an injury to the left cornea with the sparks of fire from wielding at work that developed into an ulcerative keratitis over a period of next 3 months as the patient was not on any medication. Corneal scraping culture report and Vitek 2 system investigation result confirmed it to be a P. wickerhamii infection. The patient was started on intensive topical 1% voriconazole and 5% natamycin for 1 month and with no improvement subsequently underwent penetrating keratoplasty. No recurrence of infection postoperatively was noted. This opportunistic algae rarely known to cause human eye infections is so far reported in either patients with severe systemic immunosuppression causing posterior segment eye involvement or as postcorneal surgery infections. We report an ulcerative keratitis by P. wickerhamii in a diabetic patient post corneal trauma with no prior ocular surgery.
ABSTRACT
Background: Gastric carcinomas have various pathological features. Based on patterns of growth and invasiveness, however, they fall into two types: diffuse type and intestinal type. These two types of carcinoma appear to be different in their histogenetic origins. Objectives: To analyse various types of gastric cancer reported in last five years. To compare the features of intestinal and diffuse type gastric carcinoma including gross appearance, staging, grading of tumor. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study of 324 gastric cancer which were surgically resected and received over 5 years. The tumors were divided into groups according to their gross and microscopic patterns. Gross appearance was classified based on Borrmann classification. Microscopic features evaluated include tumor cell type, extent of invasion, degree of maturation, formation of glandular structures, nodal metastasis. Results: Totally 320 cases of gastric cancer were received of which 218(68%) were male, 102(32%) were female. Gastric cancers are rare below the age of 30 years. Comparing the type of gastric cancer intestinal type were 269(84%), diffuse type were 24(7.5%) and other type of gastric cancer including GIST, lymphoma, mucinous adenocarcinoma were 27(8.5%). Younger patients have higher stage of lymph node metastasis in diffuse type, but not for the intestinal type. Conclusion: Gastric cancer more common in male (M:F= 2:1) and most frequently seen in 5th decade. Intestinal type constitutes the most common type of gastric tumor. Gross appearance of diffuse type was predominantly infiltrative (79%).
ABSTRACT
Absolute glomerular filtration rate (GFR), which can serve as a useful parameter of renal function, is not applied in clinical practice due to various technical constraints. We estimated GFR in 20 subjects (10 controls, 10 patients) by two different techniques simultaneously with a single intravenous injection of TC99m DTPA. The GFR results obtained by a conventional plasma clearance technique were compared with that of a simpler, scintigraphic technique which does not require any blood or urine sample, and these were found to correlate significantly (r = 0.75, p less than 0.001). The linear relationship between the fraction of the dose injected taken up by the kidneys during the parenchymal phase of the dynamic imaging study and the overall plasma clearance was also found to be significant (r = 0.932, p less than 0.001) our study shows that reliable estimation of absolute GFR is possible from the routine dynamic renal scinti-scanning procedure using the gamma camera - computer system, and hence might prove applicable in clinical practice.
Subject(s)
Adult , Female , Glomerular Filtration Rate , Humans , Male , Radioisotope Renography , Technetium Tc 99m Pentetate/diagnosisABSTRACT
Three hundred and fifty stool samples from patients with acute diarrhea and 30 samples from normal healthy controls were examined for the presence of various parasitic and bacterial enteropathogens by conventional techniques. Cryptosporidium oocysts were detected in 15 out of 350 (4.3%) fecal samples. In 10 cases (2.9%) it was identified as a sole pathogen while in 5 cases (1.4%) it was isolated in association with cysts of E. histolytica, Giardia lamblia and with Salmonella typhimurium. Ten out of fifteen cases were in the pediatric age group. None of the 30 control cases had Cryptosporidium oocysts in their stools.