In vitro testing of anthelmintic efficacy of Flemingia vestita (Fabaceae) on carbohydrate metabolism in Rallietina echinobothrida

The root tuber peel of Flemingia vestita has been in use in local traditional medicine against intestinal worm infections in Meghalaya (North-East India). In order to evaluate and authenticate the anthelminitc efficacy of the isoflavones of F. vestita, the root peel extract of this putative plant was tested against several helminth parasites, extensively on Rallietina echinobothrida, with respect to different parameters of these parasites. In this paper, we describe various methods to evaluate the anthelmintic efficacy of this medicinal plant with respect to carbohydrate metabolism in R. echinobothrida at paralytic time caused by the isoflavones of F. vestita. To meet the high energy demand by the parasite due to the anthelmintic stress, glucose breakdown follows the PEPCK-malate pathway in the parasite.

Genistein from Flemingia vestita (Fabaceae) enhances NO and its mediator (cGMP) production in a cestode parasite, Raillietina echinobothrida

Cyclic GMP (cGMP) is responsible for various cellular functions including signal pathways and it acts as a mediator for nitric oxide (NO). In order to evaluate the anthelmintic efficacy of the plant-derived isoflavones, the crude peel extract of Flemingia vestita and pure genistein were tested with respect to the activity of nitric oxide synthase (NOS), NO efflux and the cGMP concentration in Rallietina echinobothrida, the cestode parasite of domestic fowl. For comparison, the parasites were also treated with genistein (the major isoflavone present in the crude peel extract), sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a known NO donor, and praziquantel (PZQ), the reference drug. At the time of onset of paralysis in the parasite, the activity of NOS showed a significant increase (35-46%) and a 2-fold increase of NO efflux into the incubation medium in the treated worms in comparison to the respective controls. The cGMP concentration in the parasite tissue increased by 46-84% in the treated test worms in comparison to the controls. The results show that the isoflavones, genistein in particular, from the crude peel extract of F. vestita influence the cGMP concentration in the parasite tissue, which plays a major role in the downstream signal pathways.

Removal of iron from groundwater by ash: a systematic study of a traditional method

A traditional method for removal of iron from ground water by using ash has been systematically investigated. Ashes from five different sources, viz., banana rind, banana pseudostem, banana leaf, rice husk and bamboo has been studied. The principle applied is enhanced precipitation of iron at high pH caused by ash. The study included laboratory analysis of some relevant chemical parameters of the ashes and the efficiency of the ashes in removing iron from prefabricated water with respect to quantity of ash and corresponding increase in pH of water. The ash of banana pseudostem has been found to be most suitable for removal of iron. A low-cost and easily made iron removal system for household use has been designed and tested in the laboratory. The ash of banana pseudostem has been found to remove iron to below 0.3ppm without increasing the pH above the acceptable limit. The optimum values of the different parameters for removal of iron are 200-300mgl(-1) ash, 1.0lh(-1) flow rate and 1h of contact time with ash for groundwater having [Fe] of about 2.20ppm. The amount of ash can be increased for groundwater having higher [Fe] and can be decreased gradually during continuous use of the system. Acceptability of the method has been examined based on chemical analysis of the treated water. Increase in the essential minerals such as Ca, K has been observed in the water after treatment. The designed iron removing system is expected to be suitable for household use.

Field-induced phase transitions and reversible field-induced inversion of chirality in tilted smectic phases of bent-core mesogens

Three homologous achiral five-ring bent-core mesogens are presented where 4-chlororesorcinol is the central core and the aromatic rings are linked by ester groups. These compounds form smectic phases with a tilted arrangement of the molecules (tilt angle approximately 45 degrees). On cooling the isotropic liquid this phase adopts a fan-like texture which shows for two homologues at relatively high electric fields ( 25-35 V microm(-1)) an antiferroelectric electro-optical response based on the collective rotation of the molecules around their long axes. At lower temperature the application of a sufficiently high electric field leads to a continuous transition into a non-birefringent texture which exhibits randomly distributed domains of opposite handedness. These domains can be reversibly switched into a state of opposite chirality by reversal of the field polarity. This switching is bistable and shows a current response typical for a ferroelectric ground state. The possible mechanism of the field-induced phase transition, of the ferroelectric switching and of the field-induced inversion of the chirality is discussed on the base of XRD, 13C- and 1H-NMR investigations, dielectric and electro-optical measurements.

Beneficiation of iron ore slime using Aspergillus niger and Bacillus circulans

Studies were carried out on the removal of alumina from iron ore slime containing (%) Fe(2)O(3) 75.7, Al(2)O(3) 9.95, SiO(2) 6.1, Fe (total) 52.94 with the help of Bacillus circulans and Aspergillus niger. B. circulans and A. niger showed 39% and 38% alumina removal after six and 15 days of in situ leaching at 10% pulp density, respectively. Culture filtrate leaching with A. niger removed 20% alumina at 2% pulp density with 13 day old culture filtrate. B. circulans was more efficient than A. niger for selective removal of alumina. In case of A. niger in situ leaching rather than culture filtrate leaching was found to be more effective.

Haplotypes, mutations and male fertility: the story of the testis-specific ubiquitin protease USP26

Recently, mutations in the X-linked ubiquitin protease 26 (USP26) gene have been proposed to be associated with male infertility. In particular a 371insACA, 494T>C and 1423C>T haplotype, which results in a T123-124ins, L165S and H475Y amino acid change respectively, has been reported to be associated with Sertoli cell-only syndrome (SCOS) and an absence of sperm in the ejaculate. Here, we demonstrate that two of these changes actually correspond to the ancestral sequence of the gene and that the USP26 haplotype is present in significant frequencies in sub-Saharan African and South and East Asian populations, including in individuals with known fertility. This indicates that the allele is not associated with infertility. The pattern of frequency distribution of the derived haplotype (371delACA, 494T), which is present at high frequencies in most non-African populations could be interpreted as either a result of migration followed by simple genetic drift or alternatively as positive selection acting on the derived alleles. The latter hypothesis seems likely, because there is evidence of strong positive selection acting on the USP26 gene.

Arsenic burden of cooked rice: Traditional and modern methods

Arsenic contamination of rice by irrigation with contaminated groundwater and secondarily increased soil arsenic compounds the arsenic burden of populations dependent on subsistence rice-diets. The arsenic concentration of cooked rice is known to increase with the arsenic concentration of the cooking water but the effects of cooking methods have not been defined. We tested the three major rice cooking procedures followed globally. Using low-arsenic water (As < 3 microg/L), the traditional method of the Indian subcontinent (wash until clear; cook with rice: water::1:6; discard excess water) removed up to 57% of the arsenic from rice containing arsenic 203-540 microg/kg. Approximately half of the arsenic was lost in the wash water, half in the discard water. A simple inexpensive rice cooker based on this method has been designed and used for this purpose. Despite the use of low-arsenic water, the contemporary method of cooking unwashed rice at rice:water::1:1.5-2.0 until no discard water remains did not modify the arsenic content. Preliminary washing until clear did remove 28% of the rice arsenic. The results were not influenced by water source (tubewell, dug well, pond or rain); cooking vessel (aluminium, steel, glass or earthenware); or the absolute weight of rice or volume of water. The use of low-As water in the traditional preparation of arsenic contaminated rice can reduce the ingested burden of arsenic.

Structural MRI of carotid artery atherosclerotic lesion burden and characterization of hemispheric cerebral blood flow before and after carotid endarterectomy

Collateral circulation plays a major role in maintaining cerebral blood flow (CBF) in patients with internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis. CBF can remain normal despite severe ICA stenosis, making the benefit of carotid endarterectomy (CEA) or stenting difficult to assess. Before and after surgery, we assessed CBF supplied through the ipsilateral (stenotic) or contralateral ICA individually with a novel hemisphere-selective arterial spin-labeling (ASL) perfusion MR technique. We further explored the relationship between CBF and ICA obstruction ratio (OR) acquired with a multislice black-blood imaging sequence. For patients with unilateral ICA stenosis (n = 19), conventional bilateral labeling did not reveal interhemispheric differences. With unilateral labeling, CBF in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) territory on the surgical side from the ipsilateral supply (53.7 +/- 3.3 ml/100 g/min) was lower than CBF in the contralateral MCA territory from the contralateral supply (58.5 +/- 2.7 ml/100 g/min), although not statistically significant (p = 0.09). The ipsilateral MCA territory received significant (p = 0.02) contralateral supply (7.0 +/- 2.7 ml/100 g/min), while ipsilateral supply to the contralateral side was not reciprocated. After surgery (n = 11), ipsilateral supply to the MCA territory increased from 57.3 +/- 5.7 to 67.3 +/- 5.4 ml/100 g/min (p = 0.03), and contralateral supply to the ipsilateral MCA territory decreased. The best predictor of increased CBF on the side of surgery was normalized presurgical ipsilateral supply (r(2) = 0.62, p = 0.004). OR was less predictive of change, although the change in normalized contralateral supply was negatively correlated with OR(excess) (=OR(ipsilateral) - OR(contralateral)) (r(2) = 0.58, p = 0.006). The results demonstrate the effect of carotid artery stenosis on blood supply to the cerebral hemispheres, as well as the relative role of collateral pathways before surgery and redistribution of blood flow through these pathways after surgery. Unilateral ASL may better predict hemodynamic surgical outcome (measured by improved perfusion) than ICA OR.

Nosocomial bacteraemia in intensive care unit patients of a tertiary care centre

Critically ill patients of intensive care units (ICUs) are at particular risk for developing nosocomial bloodstream infections. It is important to know the pathogens causing nosocomial bacteraemia in the ICUs and their antimicrobial sensitivity to formulate appropriate treatment guidelines. We conducted a study from July to December, 2001 in the ICUs of a tertiary care centre in northern India. The records of all the patients who had one or more episodes of nosocomial bacteraemia during the study period were reviewed to identify the pathogens causing bacteraemia and their antimicrobial sensitivities. The source of bacteraemia was ascertained on the basis of a concomitant positive culture from another body site with the same bacteria having a similar antimicrobial sensitivity pattern. A total of 152 episodes of nosocomial bacteraemia occurred in 140 patients. Of these, 148 (97%) episodes were monomicrobial, with Pseudomonas aeruginosa (21%) being the commonest isolate. Overall, Gram negative bacteria accounted for the majority (71%) of isolates. A source of bacteraemia was identified in 49 (32%) episodes, with lower respiratory tract being the commonest (49%) source. A high rate of antimicrobial resistance was observed amongst the isolates, all enterococci having high level aminoglycoside resistance and 89 per cent Gram negative bacteria producing extended spectrum beta-lactamases. A high prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in isolates causing bacteraemia in these critical care wards warrants implementation of strict antibiotic prescribing policies and hospital infection control guidelines.

Important Ayurvĕda literatures from the manuscripts available from Orissa (Cikitsărnava)

In the treasure of Ayurvĕdic literature, many texts are missing or partially available. Only references or few verses from many such texts are mentioned in later texts. Unfortunately, a large number of Ayurvĕdic texts are unexplored till today are likely to exist in palm-leaf manuscripts, which are decaying or undergoing permanent annihilation. As such many unique and valuable information contained in these texts are being lost. Though several Institutions have taken up work on literary Research, only few texts have been published during past decades. The present paper highlights the salient features of the text 'Cikitsărnava' authored by Viśvanăth Sena of 16th century of Orissa. Though his text on Pathyăpathya has already been published, which has got a place in the pages of history of Ayurvĕda, a very little is known about this important text on therapeutics. Various aspects of this text and its author have been discussed to bring it in to the knowledge of fraternity of Ayurvedic physicians and Sanskrit scholars.

Snap-on-handles for a non-powered hacksaw: an ergonomics evaluation, redesign and testing

Based on the ergonomics evaluation of existing non-powered hacksaws with original/horizontal and conventional/market handles, ergonomically designed hacksaw handles are proposed. To accommodate the entire male and female populations, the hand dimensions are categorized into three groups: small, medium and large. The proposed handles give special emphasis to hand size, length, cross-section dimension and curvature. The three-sized handles for both the preferred (rear) and non-preferred (front) hands are interchangeable to suit the individual hand size. Thus, the concept of 'snap-on-handles' with a fixed hacksaw (blade) can be promoted. The ergonomically designed hacksaw handles were tested/compared with original/horizontal and conventional/market hacksaw handles, in terms of performance or productivity (depth of cut), muscular effort or strain (EMG) and subjective scores (acceptance/comfort). The experimental results conclusively proved that the ergonomically designed hacksaw handles were significantly better than the other handles in terms of the stated criteria. The performance or productivity improvements of the ergonomically designed handles were about 25 and 148%, when compared with the conventional/market and original/horizontal handles, respectively. Furthermore, when the ergonomically designed handle was not matched with the proper or appropriate hand size, there was a significant reduction in performance or productivity, increase in muscular effort and decrease in subjective scores of acceptance/comfort.

Cytokine expression pattern in the genital tract of Chlamydia trachomatis positive infertile women - implication for T-cell responses

Human genital infection caused by Chlamydia trachomatis is thought to be immunologically mediated, resulting in local recruitment of lymphocyte subsets and inducing the production of cytokines. Little information is available about the role of lymphocyte recruitment and the regulation of cytokine production in the genital tract of C. trachomatis positive infertile women. We have evaluated the recruitment of lymphocyte subsets in the genital tract and production of Th1/Th2 cytokines in cervical secretions and laparoscopic specimens from the fallopian tubes of C. trachomatis positive infertile women (n = 17) and compared them with controls, viz. C. trachomatis negative infertile women (n = 20) using ELISA and flow cytometry. None of these patients were found to be infected either with Candida sps., bacterial vaginosis, Trichomonas vaginalis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Mycoplasma hominis or Ureaplasma urealyticum in the cervix. Flow cytometric analysis of cervical secretions in Chlamydia positive women revealed recruitment of both CD4 and CD8 lymphocytes to the genital tract was up-regulated and a variation in the production rates of different cytokines in cervical secretions and fallopian tube was observed. We found that the immune responses in cervical secretions were of Th0 type, since all the analysed cytokines, viz. IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha, IL-10 and IL-12 were up-regulated. As, both CD4 and CD8 cells contribute to the production of IFN-gamma and IL-10, these results suggest that along with CD4 cells, CD8 lymphocytes also may be important for local regulation of Th1/Th2 responses in the genital tract during C. trachomatis infection.

Anthelmintic efficacy of Flemingia vestita (Fabaceae): alteration in the activities of some glycolytic enzymes in the cestode, Raillietina echinobothrida

The crude root-peel extract of Flemingia vestita, genistein and praziquantel were tested against some selected glycolytic enzymes--hexokinase (HK), phosphofructokinase (PFK), phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), pyruvate kinase (PK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), malate dehydrogenase (MDH) and malic enzyme (ME)--of the fowl tape worm, Raillietina echinobothrida. Following exposure to the various treatments, the activities of HK, PFK, PEPCK and LDH increased by 33-39%, 41-125%, 44-49% and 55-67%, respectively, and that of PK decreased by 14-26% in the parasite at the time of paralysis. The MDH and ME activities of the tissue homogenate were also found to be higher by 22-43% and 28-59%, respectively, in the treatments. However, whereas the activity of both cytosolic and mitochondrial MDH increased by 33-58% and 43-73%, respectively, the cytosolic ME activity showed an increase of 33-39%, and there was no significant enhancement in the mitochondrial ME activity. Histochemically, the enhancement in the activities of HK, LDH and MDH was clearly discernible. The enhanced glycolytic activity seems to be a function of anthelmintic stress caused by the phytochemicals.

Comparison of parasite lactate dehydrogenase based immunochromatographic antigen detection assay (optimal) with microscopy for detection of malaria parasites

This study was done to compare the ability of a newly developed rapid malaria test OPtiMAL, an immunochromatographic antigen detection assay for the diagnosis of malaria using parasite lactate dehydrogenase, against standard microscopy. Blood samples were obtained from 232 patients suspected of having malaria. A total of 122 samples (52.5%) were positive by blood films while 118 (50.8%) were positive by OPtiMAL test. The blood film indicated that 21.4% (26 of 122) of the patients were positive for P. falciparum and 78.6% (96 of 122) were infected with P. vivax. OPtiMAL test showed that 21.2% (25 of 118) were positive for P. falciparum and 78.8% (93 of 118) were infected with P. vivax. This assay had sensitivities of 88.4% and 96.8% compared to traditional blood films for detection of P. falciparum and P. vivax malaria respectively. Thus OPtiMAL test can be used with or without traditional blood film examination for detection of both P. vivax and P. falciparum malaria and can be effectively used for the rapid diagnosis of malaria.

In vitro cytoprotective activity of squalene on a bone marrow versus neuroblastoma model of cisplatin-induced toxicity. implications in cancer chemotherapy

The development of a non-toxic selective cytoprotective agent that preferentially protects normal tissues from chemotherapy toxicity, without protecting malignant tissues, is a major challenge in cancer chemotherapy research. The available cytoprotective agents are either toxic or lack selective cytoprotective activity. Here, we report the in vitro selective cytoprotective activity of squalene, an isoprenoid molecule with antioxidant properties. Normal human bone marrow (BM) derived colony-forming unit (CFU) growth was increased by squalene in a dose-dependent manner. Squalene (12.5-25 microM) treatment significantly protected the CFUs from cisplatin-induced toxicity; the protective effect was equivalent to reduced glutathione (GSH), a known cytoprotective agent. Squalene also increased the long-term survival of cisplatin-treated 4-week-old CFUs. Cisplatin-induced apoptosis of CFUs as measured by the TUNEL assay was reduced by squalene. To examine the squalene-induced protection of tumours, several neuroblastoma cell lines, including five MYCN-amplified cell lines, were grown in monolayers, as well as in anchorage-independent cultures, in the presence of squalene and cisplatin. Squalene did not protect the neuroblastoma (NBL) cell lines from cisplatin-induced toxicity. In addition, squalene did not protect the NBL cells from carboplatin, cyclophosphamide, etoposide and doxorubicin-induced toxicity. In conclusion, our results suggest that squalene has a selective in vitro cytoprotective effect on BM-derived haematopoietic stem cells that is equipotent to GSH.