Distribution and abundance of molluscan cryptofauna from Karaichalli Island (Gulf of Mannar), southeastern coast of India

Replicate samples of live coral, dead massive coral, dead branching coral, and live & dead coral were studied. The surface area, volume, percentage cover, biomass and percentage available living space were determined for molluscan cryptofauna in each habitat. The gastropods Pyrene versicolor, Drupa sp. and Cerithium sp. were common in branching corals. The bivalves Saccostrea cllecullata, Area sp., Isognomon sp., Pinctada sp. and Lithophaga sp. were common in dead parts of ramose corals. Mytilids were rare in living parts of ramose corals. Pyrene sp., Drupa sp., Cerithium sp. and Lambis sp. were found crawling on the surface of the massive corals

Gastropods and bivalves associated with reef building corals, Palk Bay, Southeastern India

Reef building corals of the families Pocilloporidae, Acroporidae, Poritidae, and Faviidae were collected at low tide. A total of 73 species of molluscs were associated with corals in Pall, Bay, viz., 46 species of gastropods belonging to 17 families, and 27 species of bivalves belonging to 13 families. Molluscs were rarely associated with young corals. The present study shows that the structure and size (weight) of corals influence the molluscan diversity. The number of molluscan individuals increased with increasing coral weight. With a single exception. no molluscs were associated with the massive coral Favia pallida. Very few boring bivalves were recorded from branching corals

Biochemical Composition in Edible Tissues of Epinephelus malabaricus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) from Nagapattinam Coast, Tamil Nadu, India

The present study was undertaken to analyze the biochemical composition in relation to season, sex, and size groups in edible tissues of E. malabaricus in Nagapattinam coast, Tamil Nadu, India. Seasonal variations in moisture content ranged between 72.35 and 79.13%, crude protein (68.22 and 73.25%), carbohydrate (2.12 and 5.23%), crude lipid (4.33 and 7.66%) and ash content (5.25 and 8.64%) in all the size groups of both sexes. Among the size groups in both sexes, maximum carbohydrate level was recorded during postmonsoon (50-60 cm: female-5.38%) and minimum during summer (30-40 cm: male-2.85%). Low protein content was noticed in larger size groups and high values in smaller size groups. Most of the size groups in females showed higher protein content than males during all the seasons. The crude protein contents in muscle tissues of the presently studied finfishes showed a relationship with spawning season. High protein levels were observed in muscle during post and pre spawning months and low values during spawning season. &nbsp

Effect of NaCl on in vitro plant regeneration from embryogenic callus cultures of 'cv IR 64' indica rice (Oryza sativa L.)

In vitro experiments were conducted to assess the effect of salt stress on callus induction, survival, fresh weight, regeneration, proline level and total protein content in salt sensitive indica rice cv. IR 64. For callus induction and regeneration, seeds and calli were subjected to 25, 50, 75 and 100 mM NaCl mediated salt stress which caused significant reduction in proliferation when compared to the control. Gradual reduction in regeneration was observed with increasing salt concentrations (25 to 100 mM). The relative regeneration was maximum at 50 mM. Similarly, a significant increase in proline content (6.5 fold in callus culture and 9.2 fold in the leaves) was observed at 50 mM NaCl after 30 days. However, the adverse effect of salt was more pronounced on total protein content, except at 50 mM. These results suggest that proline accumulation is an index of salinity tolerance and this important international variety can be genetically manipulated to develop salinity tolerant crop.Key words: Abiotic stress, callus proliferation, proline assay, salinity, total protein

A model compound for pyridinechalcone-based multistate systems. Ring opening-closure as the slowest kinetic step of the multistate

UID/QUI/50006/2019. PTDC/QEQ-QFI/1971/2014. PTDC/QUI-COL/32351/2017. PTDC/QUI-QFI/30951/2017. grant no. 219201.Anthocyanins and related flavylium derivatives exist in aqueous solution as a pH-dependent mole fraction distribution of species (a multistate system) with known biological activity. Introduction of nitrogen heterocycles in the flavylium core can lead to multistates with different constitution and increased activity. Compound 1, a diethylamino derivative of 4-pyridinechalcone, was synthesized and characterized by X-ray crystallography, showing a pH-dependent reaction network similar to anthocyanins and related compounds. The several species present at the equilibrium multistate were fully characterized by 1H NMR and 13C NMR. The thermodynamics and kinetics of the multistate were studied through pH jumps followed by 1H NMR and UV-vis absorption including stopped-flow for the faster kinetic steps. In the parent 4-pyridinechalcone compound, protonation of the pyridine nitrogen for pH 4 prevents formation of the flavylium cation. In compound 1, the first protonation takes place in the diethylamino substituent and in acidic medium, two new flavylium derivatives, a single (2 pH 4) and a double (pH 1) positively charged species, in equilibrium with protonated hemiketal, cis and trans chalcones, have been characterized. Differently from anthocyanins and related compounds, experimental evidence for an unexpected very slow (0.0003 s-1) ring opening-closure between the hemiketal and the cis-chalcone (tautomerization) was achieved.publishe

Students’ Approaches to Learning in Agricultural Higher Education

An Expost facto research design was adopted to understand the learning approaches of agricultural students (deep, strategic, and surface) and the data were collected randomly from 1514 students of Indian agricultural higher education institutions using the ‘Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST)’ instrument. The predominant learning approach adopted by the agricultural students was found to be ‘strategic’ (41.1%), followed by ‘deep’ (40.3 %) and ‘surface’ (15.5 %) approaches. No significant association (Chi-square statistic = 24.106, p=0.156) was found in the student learning approaches across the disciplines, while significant difference (t-statistic=2.248, p=0.028) was found between graduate and undergraduate students in case of ‘deep approach’. Gender had a significant association (Chi-square statistic =14.817, p<0.001) with the students’ learning approaches, especially in ‘strategic’ and ‘surface’ approaches. The paper calls for more systematic and effective teaching-learning and assessment strategies to enhance agricultural higher education quality

Comprehensive \u3ci\u3ein vitro\u3c/i\u3e and \u3ci\u3ein vivo\u3c/i\u3e evaluation of therapeutic potential of Bacopa-derived asiatic acid against a human oral pathogen \u3ci\u3eStreptococcus mutans\u3c/i\u3e

Dental caries is a common human oral disease worldwide, caused by an acid-producing bacteria Streptococcus mutans. The use of synthetic drugs and antibiotics to prevent dental caries has been increasing, but this can lead to severe side effects. To solve this issue, developing and developed countries have resorted to herbal medicines as an alternative to synthetic drugs for the treatment and prevention of dental caries. Therefore, there is an urgent need for plant-derived products to treat such diseases. Bacopa monnieri, a well-documented medicinal plant, contains 52 phytocompounds, including the pentacyclic triterpenoid metabolite known as asiatic acid (ASTA). Hence, this study aimed to demonstrate, for the first time, the antibacterial activity of phytocompound ASTA against S. mutans. The findings revealed that ASTA significantly inhibited the growth of S. mutans and the production of virulence factors such as acidurity, acidogenicity, and eDNA synthesis. Molecular docking analysis evaluated the potential activity of ASTA against S. mutans virulence genes, including VicR and GtfC. Furthermore, toxicity assessment of ASTA in human buccal epithelial cells was performed, and no morphological changes were observed. An in vivo analysis using Danio rerio (zebrafish) confirmed that the ASTA treatment significantly increased the survival rates of infected fish by hindering the intestinal colonization of S. mutans. Furthermore, the disease protection potential of ASTA against the pathognomonic symptom of S. mutans infection was proven by the histopathological examination of the gills, gut, and kidney. Overall, these findings suggest that ASTAmay be a promising therapeutic and alternative drug for the treatment and prevention of oral infection imposed by S. mutans

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background: The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017 comparative risk assessment (CRA) is a comprehensive approach to risk factor quantification that offers a useful tool for synthesising evidence on risks and risk outcome associations. With each annual GBD study, we update the GBD CRA to incorporate improved methods, new risks and risk outcome pairs, and new data on risk exposure levels and risk outcome associations. Methods: We used the CRA framework developed for previous iterations of GBD to estimate levels and trends in exposure, attributable deaths, and attributable disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), by age group, sex, year, and location for 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or groups of risks from 1990 to 2017. This study included 476 risk outcome pairs that met the GBD study criteria for convincing or probable evidence of causation. We extracted relative risk and exposure estimates from 46 749 randomised controlled trials, cohort studies, household surveys, census data, satellite data, and other sources. We used statistical models to pool data, adjust for bias, and incorporate covariates. Using the counterfactual scenario of theoretical minimum risk exposure level (TMREL), we estimated the portion of deaths and DALYs that could be attributed to a given risk. We explored the relationship between development and risk exposure by modelling the relationship between the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and risk-weighted exposure prevalence and estimated expected levels of exposure and risk-attributable burden by SDI. Finally, we explored temporal changes in risk-attributable DALYs by decomposing those changes into six main component drivers of change as follows: (1) population growth; (2) changes in population age structures; (3) changes in exposure to environmental and occupational risks; (4) changes in exposure to behavioural risks; (5) changes in exposure to metabolic risks; and (6) changes due to all other factors, approximated as the risk-deleted death and DALY rates, where the risk-deleted rate is the rate that would be observed had we reduced the exposure levels to the TMREL for all risk factors included in GBD 2017. Findings: In 2017,34.1 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 33.3-35.0) deaths and 121 billion (144-1.28) DALYs were attributable to GBD risk factors. Globally, 61.0% (59.6-62.4) of deaths and 48.3% (46.3-50.2) of DALYs were attributed to the GBD 2017 risk factors. When ranked by risk-attributable DALYs, high systolic blood pressure (SBP) was the leading risk factor, accounting for 10.4 million (9.39-11.5) deaths and 218 million (198-237) DALYs, followed by smoking (7.10 million [6.83-7.37] deaths and 182 million [173-193] DALYs), high fasting plasma glucose (6.53 million [5.23-8.23] deaths and 171 million [144-201] DALYs), high body-mass index (BMI; 4.72 million [2.99-6.70] deaths and 148 million [98.6-202] DALYs), and short gestation for birthweight (1.43 million [1.36-1.51] deaths and 139 million [131-147] DALYs). In total, risk-attributable DALYs declined by 4.9% (3.3-6.5) between 2007 and 2017. In the absence of demographic changes (ie, population growth and ageing), changes in risk exposure and risk-deleted DALYs would have led to a 23.5% decline in DALYs during that period. Conversely, in the absence of changes in risk exposure and risk-deleted DALYs, demographic changes would have led to an 18.6% increase in DALYs during that period. The ratios of observed risk exposure levels to exposure levels expected based on SDI (O/E ratios) increased globally for unsafe drinking water and household air pollution between 1990 and 2017. This result suggests that development is occurring more rapidly than are changes in the underlying risk structure in a population. Conversely, nearly universal declines in O/E ratios for smoking and alcohol use indicate that, for a given SDI, exposure to these risks is declining. In 2017, the leading Level 4 risk factor for age-standardised DALY rates was high SBP in four super-regions: central Europe, eastern Europe, and central Asia; north Africa and Middle East; south Asia; and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania. The leading risk factor in the high-income super-region was smoking, in Latin America and Caribbean was high BMI, and in sub-Saharan Africa was unsafe sex. O/E ratios for unsafe sex in sub-Saharan Africa were notably high, and those for alcohol use in north Africa and the Middle East were notably low. Interpretation: By quantifying levels and trends in exposures to risk factors and the resulting disease burden, this assessment offers insight into where past policy and programme efforts might have been successful and highlights current priorities for public health action. Decreases in behavioural, environmental, and occupational risks have largely offset the effects of population growth and ageing, in relation to trends in absolute burden. Conversely, the combination of increasing metabolic risks and population ageing will probably continue to drive the increasing trends in non-communicable diseases at the global level, which presents both a public health challenge and opportunity. We see considerable spatiotemporal heterogeneity in levels of risk exposure and risk-attributable burden. Although levels of development underlie some of this heterogeneity, O/E ratios show risks for which countries are overperforming or underperforming relative to their level of development. As such, these ratios provide a benchmarking tool to help to focus local decision making. Our findings reinforce the importance of both risk exposure monitoring and epidemiological research to assess causal connections between risks and health outcomes, and they highlight the usefulness of the GBD study in synthesising data to draw comprehensive and robust conclusions that help to inform good policy and strategic health planning