Hydrogenation of olefins by polymer-bound palladium(II) Schiff base catalyst

Chloromethylated poly(styrene-divinylbenzene) was modified into coordinating Schiff base bearing ligand which was subsequently complexed with palladium chloride and activated by using sodium borohydride. The polymer-supported palladium complex and activated catalyst were characterized by various techniques such as elemental analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic absorption spectroscopy, IR, far IR spectral studies, SEM and thermogravimetric analysis. Surface area measurements by BET method and swelling studies with different solvents for the catalyst were also carried out. Catalytic activity towards hydrogenation of 1-hexene, 1-heptene, 1-octene, cyclohexene, norbornadiene (nbd) and 1,5-cyclooctadiene (1,5-cod) was assessed. The influence of variation in temperature, pressure, concentration of the catalyst as well as the substrate and the nature of the solvent on the rate of the reaction was studied for a few olefins. Recycling ability of the catalyst was also evaluated. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Aldo-keto reductase-1 (AKR1) protect cellular enzymes from salt stress by detoxifying reactive cytotoxic compounds

Cytotoxic compounds like reactive carbonyl compounds such as methylglyoxal (MG), melandialdehyde (MDA), besides the ROS accumulate significantly at higher levels under salinity stress conditions and affect lipids and proteins that inhibit plant growth and productivity. The detoxification of these cytotoxic compounds by overexpression of NADPH-dependent Aldo-ketoreductase (AKR1) enzyme enhances the salinity stress tolerance in tobacco. The PsAKR1 overexpression plants showed higher survival and chlorophyll content and reduced MDA, H2O2, and MG levels under NaCl stress. The transgenic plants showed reduced levels of Na+ levels in both root and shoot due to reduced reactive carbonyl compounds (RCCs) and showed enhanced membrane stability resulted in higher root growth and biomass. The increased levels of antioxidant glutathione and enhanced activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and glutathione reductase (GR) suggest AKR1 could protect these enzymes from the RCC induced protein carbonylation by detoxification process. The transgenics also showed higher activity of delta 1-pyrroline-5- carboxylate synthase (P5CS) enzyme resulted in increasedproline levels to maintain osmotic homeostasis. The results demonstrates that the AKR1 protects proteins or enzymes that are involved in scavenging of cytotoxic compounds by detoxifying RCCs generated under salinity stress. © 2017 Elsevier Masson SA

Vizhinjam Marine Aquarium Haven for Marine Ornamentals

There has been a huge growth of public aquaria since the opening of the first public aquarium display in the Fish House at the London Zoo in t 826, and particularly in the past 20 years (Hall and Douglas 2003)

Electric Field Analysis of Breast Tumor Cells

An attractive alternative treatment for malignant tumors that are refractive to conventional therapies, such as surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, is electrical-pulse-mediated drug delivery. Electric field distribution of tissue/tumor is important for effective treatment of tissues. This paper deals with the electric field distribution study of a tissue model using MAXWELL 3D Simulator. Our results indicate that tumor tissue had lower electric field strength compared to normal cells, which makes them susceptible to electrical-pulse-mediated drug delivery. This difference could be due to the altered properties of tumor cells compared to normal cells, and our results corroborate this

Unusual and heavy landings of rays and skates in Muttom fishing harbor in Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu

During June-July 2012, the traditional fishermen of the Jeppiaar Fishing Harbour, Muttom in Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu got bumper catches of rays and skates. The body weight of the rays ranged from 0.9 to 1.5 Kg and those of the skates ranged from 2.5 to 4.0 kg. On an average, the estimated catch per day was 6.0 tonnes

Mechanization of sweet sorghum production and processing

Sweet sorghum is a unique multipurpose crop and of late widely promoted as biofuel crop. Its ability to produce grains for food/feed and stalks for fuel/ feed makes it one of the popular choices in the dryland regions. This crop is now widely grown in many of the countries as a feasible biofuel crop under different climatic conditions because of short its growing period and low water requirement (Soltani and Almodares 1994) as compared to sugarcane. When compared to other biofuel crops, sweet sorghum is best suited for ethanol production because of its higher total reducing sugar content (Huligol et al. 2004). Further, its suitability for mechanized crop production, seed propagation and higher ethanol production capacity of sweet sorghum have drawn the attention of researchers. The bagasse from sweet sorghum after the extraction of juice has a higher biological value in terms of micronutrients and minerals than the bagasse from sugarcane when used as animal feed (Seetharama et al. 2002). It can also be processed as a feed for ruminant animals. The crushed stalk contains similar levels of cellulose as sugarcane bagasse, and therefore is a good prospect as raw material for pulp and briquette making (for fuel purposes). Many attempts were made to use sweet sorghum for ethanol production in a centralized model of crushing the stalk for juice at the industry level. However, this model had some difficulties as the raw material availability was restricted for small period in a year apart from the problems of transportation of stalk from the farmer’s fields to distillers

High catechin concentrations detected in Withania somnifera (ashwagandha) by high performance liquid chromatography analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Withania somnifera </it>is an important medicinal plant traditionally used in the treatment of many diseases. The present study was carried out to characterize the phenolic acids, flavonoids and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) scavenging activities in methanolic extracts of <it>W. somnifera </it>fruits, roots and leaves (WSFEt, WSREt and WSLEt).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>WSFEt, WSREt and WSLEt was prepared by using 80% aqueous methanol and total polyphenols, flavonoids as well as DPPH radical scavenging activities were determined by spectrophotometric methods and phenolic acid profiles were determined by HPLC methods.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>High concentrations of both phenolics and flavonoids were detected in all parts of the plant with the former ranging between 17.80 ± 5.80 and 32.58 ± 3.16 mg/g (dry weight) and the latter ranging between 15.49 ± 1.02 and 31.58 ± 5.07 mg/g. All of the three different plant parts showed strong DPPH radical scavenging activities (59.16 ± 1.20 to 91.84 ± 0.38%). Eight polyphenols (gallic, syringic, benzoic, p-coumaric and vanillic acids as well as catechin, kaempferol and naringenin) have been identified by HPLC in parts of the plant as well. Among all the polyphenols, catechin was detected in the highest concentration (13.01 ± 8.93 to 30.61 ± 11.41 mg/g).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results indicating that <it>W. somnifera </it>is a plant with strong therapeutic properties thus further supporting its traditional claims. All major parts of <it>W. somnifera </it>such as the roots, fruits and leaves provide potential benefits for human health because of its high content of polyphenols and antioxidant activities with the leaves containing the highest amounts of polyphenols specially catechin with strong antioxidant properties.</p

Breeding, early development and larval rearing of cloudy damsel, Dascyllus carneus Fischer, 1885

As the demand for marine ornamental fish is ever increasing, the industry largely relies on collections from natural habitat due to insufficient breeding and seed production technologies. Fishes of the family Pomacentridae are popular in marine aquaria throughout the world. Among these, damsel fishes of the genus Dascyllus has high demand and are mostly collected from the wild. The present study forms the first-ever report on successful breeding and larval development of Cloudy Damsel (Dascyllus carneus Fischer, 1885). Though there are a few reports on breeding of other species of Dascyllus, there has been no report on the complete larval development of any of the species in this genus. This forms the first description of early larval development of a Dascyllus species. Using the copepod Parvocalanus crassirostris as first feed the larval rearing was done. Successful breeding and larval development were achieved from the wild-caught broodstock of D. carneus at Vizhinjam Research Centre of ICAR-CMFRI, India. Brood stock from the wild took 4 months to spawn, laid 6500–10,500 eggs per spawning and hatching rate ranged from 90.6 to 98.81%. Newly hatched larvae were the smallest among all the reported larvae of pomacentrid fishes and measured 1.95 ± 0.14 mm in total length. Yolk reserve was completely absorbed within 72 h of hatching. Preflexion stage is from 4 to 10 dph, flexion stage is from 11 to 12 dph and postflexion period is 13–15 dph. Larvae accepted only copepod naupliar stages as first feed and calanoid copepod P. crassirostris alone was fed until 25 dph. Larvae settled from planktonic stage in 22–23 days and all the larvae metamorphosed into juveniles by 50 dph. The egg development, larval development and larval pigmentation up to 50 dph has been described. The feeding protocols and feed size preference in relation to their age or mouth gape, the gut contents and mouth gape of the larvae caught from a feed trial with surplus copepods of all stages were analysed at regular intervals. Larvae preferred larger stages of copepods in later stages of their development. Finally larval feeding protocols were modified accordingly and better survival was observed. A final feeding regime has been developed and a strategy for the consistent hatchery production of this species was achieved. Different stages of copepod P. crassirostris were used till the settlement of planktonic stage of larvae and Artemia nauplii were used from 25 dph. The larvae were completely weaned to artificial diet from 50 dph

Molecular profiling of cervical cancer progression

Most cancer patients die of metastatic or recurrent disease, hence the importance to identify target genes upregulated in these lesions. Although a variety of gene signatures associated with metastasis or poor prognosis have been identified in various cancer types, it remains a critical problem to identify key genes as candidate therapeutic targets in metastatic or recurrent cancer. The aim of our study was to identify genes consistently upregulated in both lymph node micrometastases and recurrent tumours compared to matched primary tumours in human cervical cancer. Taqman Low-Density Arrays were used to analyse matched tumour samples, obtained after laser-capture microdissection of tumour cell islands for the expression of 96 genes known to be involved in tumour progression. Immunohistochemistry was performed for a panel of up- and downregulated genes. In lymph node micrometastases, most genes were downregulated or showed expressions equal to the levels found in primary tumours. In more than 50% of lymph node micrometastases studied, eight genes (AKT, BCL2, CSFR1, EGFR1, FGF1, MMP3, MMP9 and TGF-β) were upregulated at least two-fold. Some of these genes (AKT and MMP3) are key regulators of epithelial–mesenchymal transition in cancer. In recurrent tumours, almost all genes were upregulated when compared to the expression profiles of the matched primary tumours, possibly reflecting their aggressive biological behaviour. The two genes showing a consistent downregulated expression in almost all lymph node metastases and recurrent tumours were BAX and APC. As treatment strategies are very limited for metastatic and recurrent cervical cancer, the upregulated genes identified in this study are potential targets for new molecular treatment strategies in metastatic or recurrent cervical cancer