International Journal of Scientific Research in Biological Sciences
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The Effect of Weather Factors On the Population Dynamics of Reduviids (Insecta: Heteroptera: Reduviidae) From Semi-Arid Area of Sivakasi Taluk, Virudhunagar District, Tamil Nadu
Get PDFThe species of the reduviid bugs of family Reduviidae under Order Heteroptera (Insecta: Reduviidae) is not only one of the most abundant groups but also showing significant economics and high scientific value. Many reduviid species play an important role in the food chain of animals and plants, as well as the ecological balance. Population dynamics of reduviid bugs were studied during June 2018- March 2019 in semi-arid area in Sivakasi Taluk. The reduviids were randomly collected and identified some field records. A total of 11 species belonging to 5 subfamilies were identified in selected study area. During the study period maximum numbers of reduviid bugs were recorded during the November 2018 and minimum numbers of reduviid bugs were recorded during March 2019. Monthly variation in relative abundance of reduviid population also noted. Various diversity indices were recorded and correlation co-efficient studies were carried out between reduviid bug diversity and weather parameters.
 
Quality Attributes of Breakfast Sausage As Affected by Different Types of Animal Fats
Get PDFFat is one of the main components of meat sausages, along with muscle tissue and water, therefore, it has a substantial effect on emulsion stability in meat products. Sausage is a ready to eat meat product usually served as breakfast. It is traditionally produced from pork and lard, but there is insufficient knowledge on the yield and nutritive qualities of breakfast sausage prepared with other animal fats. Investigations were carried out in a completely randomized design to study the effect of different fats on various physical, chemical and sensory properties of breakfast sausage. Three treatments were evaluated to test the effect of different animal fats on sausage production: sausage produced with lard (LS), sausage produced with tallow (TS) and sausage produced with sheep fat (SFS). The results obtained showed the yield from the three fat types when used for production of breakfast sausage were 83.85%, 78.52%, and 76.45% for lard, tallow and sheepfat, respectively. The mean pH value of breakfast sausage were (P<0.05) 6.46, 6.25 and 6.51 for LS, TS and SFS, respectively. Water Holding Capacity of LS (84.78%) and TS (84.82%) were similar and significantly (P<0.05) higher than SFS (82.69%). Crude protein (31.77 %) and ashes (4.83%) of sausages with lard were higher (LS)while the SFS had (25.47%) and (3.39%) for crude protein and ashes, respectively. The panelists evaluated sensory acceptance with respect to flavour, colour, texture, juiciness, tenderness and overall acceptability. LS scored the highest means for colour (5.43), flavour (5.83), juiciness (5.63), tenderness (6.13) and overall acceptability (6.83). On the other hand, SFS scored the lowest means for flavour (4.47) and juiciness (4.83). The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of different types of animal fats on the physical, chemical composition and sensory evaluation of breakfast sausages.
 
A Cross-Sectional Assessment of Knowledge Attitude and Practice of Breast Self-Examination among Female Undergraduates Pharmacy Students in Two Nigeria Universities
Get PDFBreast Self Examination (BSE) is an uncomplicated/noninvasive and cost effective technique that enables women master their breast contour and makes it easy for early detection of any abnormality.The objective of this study was to compare the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Breast Self examination among female pharmacy students in two tertiary institutions in south eastern Nigeria.A cross sectional survey of pharmacy students of UNN and UNIZIK was conducted using an already validated questionnaire. SPSS version 16 was used for analysis of data. Descriptive (frequencies, percentages) and inferential (independent t-test, Chi-square and Mann Whitney tests) statistical analysis performed on the data. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered significant. About 451 and 163 students of UNN and UNIZIK responded to the questionnaire respectively, of which 61% and 58.9% had good knowledge, 52.8% and 51.5% had good attitude, 59.6% and 56.4% had good practice of Breast self examination respectively. The study revealed that students had good Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Breast self examination. UNN students had a better knowledge when compared to students from UNIZIK. The major source of Breast self examination information was from health care professionals.
 
Evaluation of medicinal plant extracts and biosynthesized nanoparticles for antibiofilm activity against Pseudomonas biofilm
Get PDFBacterial biofilms are surface attached community of bacteria embedded in a matrix of extracellular polymeric substances. When a cell switches to the biofilm mode ,they undergo a phenotypic shift in behavior to acquire properties which enable their survival under unfavorable conditions and become drug resistant. P. aeruginosa represents a commonly used biofilm model organism since it is involved in different types of biofilm-associated infections like chronic wounds, chronic otitis media, chronic prostatitis and chronic lung infections in cystic fibrosis (CF). A major threat by biofilms is that bacteria in them benefit from enhanced shield against host immune responses and are distressingly more forbearing to various antimicrobial treatments. Treatment of biofilm infections is currently a difficult and complicated challenge for microbiologists and clinicians. Present study evaluates antibiofilm activity of plant extracts and green synthesized nanoparticles as biofilm inhibitory or dispersal agents on Psuedomonas biofilms.Among the extracts investigated ,Ginger ,Amla had maximum antibiofilm activity.However when these two extracts when compared for virulence factor reduction ,only Ginger extract was identified to be effective.Phytochemical analysis revealed that Ginger has quinones,alkaloids & saponins which are proven to be antibacterial agent.Among three metal nanoparticles ZnO nanoparticles were exhibiting antibiofilm activity. Efficacy of ZnO np were further enhanced by fabricating with ginger extract which has good antibacterial and antibiofilm activity.Combinatorial approach of treating drug resistant bacterial biofilms with natural plant extract depicting antibacterial and antibiofilm activity with metal nanoparticles were proven to be more effective .This study gives scope for further research for enhancing the efficacy of metal nanoparticles as antimicrobial agents.
 
Can Immunotherapy be used to Treat Ischemic Stroke?
Get PDFThere are two kinds of stroke: ischemic stroke and haemorrhagic stroke. Ischemic stroke constitutes about 85% of all stroke cases. In the UK, stroke is the 4th leading cause of death. The available treatment for stroke is intravenous tissular plasminogen activator (ivtPA), but this is not a sufficient therapeutic approach. It needs to be administered 3 hours following stroke, in order to be effective. Moreover, recent findings have implicated tPA to interact with NMDA receptors resulting in noxious effects. As the population ages, more people are likely going to suffer from a stroke. Therefore, it is imperative to find novel therapies for its treatment. This study, through reviewing existing literature on stroke research, explores the possibility of treating ischemic stroke with immunotherapy. This study communicates that there are numerous immunotherapeutic targets in ischemic stroke. But, while animal studies have been very successful, most of this success has failed to translate into clinical success. Immunotherapy remains an exciting option to treat ischemic stroke, however, the best therapeutic approach still remains the administration of ivtPA.
 
Regression Analysis and Docking Study of Pyrimidine Based Compounds as anti-Tuberculosis Therapeutic Agents
Get PDFIn the drug-design process, structure activity relationship is an important tool for estimation of biological activity of the unknown compounds. In this process, the objective is development of a relationship between structural features of molecules and the property of interest i. e. biological activity. On the basis of this relationship, the biological activity can be predicted for new candidate structures. Initially, the forty two substituted pyrimidine molecules with known biological activities were considered as known set for regression analysis model building purpose. The properties module from Datawarrior used to calculate descriptors. Structure activity model indicates that these descriptors have significant relationships with observed bioactivity. We have observed a high relationship between experimental and predicted activity values, indicating the validation and the excellent quality of the derived model. In the present study, the new substituted pyrimidine molecules are designed, optimized and their descriptors were calculated using Datawarrior modules. Then by using the Regression analysis model, their biological activities are studied as well as inhibition studies for the 1QPQ by molecular docking method are also carried out. Thus on the basis of regression analysis study and docking study of substituted pyrimidine derivatives, we can conclude that these compounds on further studies may prove to be therapeutic agent against tuberculosis.
 
Influence of socio-economic and behavioral risk factors on malaria prevalence: A study from Adilabad District of Telangana State.
Get PDFThe major burden of vector-borne disease in India comes from malaria. The biggest burden of malaria in India is often observed in backward or poor and remote parts of the country which might be due to the limited access to medical treatment or lack of knowledge on mode of malaria transmission and its preventive measures. A better understanding of the socio-economic, behavioral risk factors and knowledge gaps related to malaria infection are essential when developing coherent and effective policies Socio economic information was collected from 4872 participants in three PHCs (Jainoor, Sirpur, Lingapur) irrespective of their age and gender. The occurrence of malaria was significantly higher in individuals those don’t have schooling/primary education compared to secondary/higher education level participants. Malaria infection was observed to be elevated in households with farmers head as compared to households with daily labour or employs. The present study demonstrates that those variables related to education and poor health infrastructure are the most important factors in reducing the risk of malaria infection.
 
Assessment of anti-snake venom effects of Acalypha fruticosa leaves against Indian Saw-scaled viper by using envenomed Wistar albino rats
Get PDFIndian saw-scaled viper are one of the highly venomous snake found in Indian subcontinent and its venom has a wide variety of toxic compounds and it can able to causing severe envenoming characterized by severe pharmacological effects. The traditional knowledge on the Acalypha fruticosa plant was clearly states that this plant was used against the venomous bites and stings. In best of our knowledge, there were no any scientific reports to justify the anti-snake venom potential of this plant. The main objective of the present research work was to evaluate the anti-snake venom activity of A. fruticosa against Indian saw-scaled viper venom using envenomed animal model. The effects of ethanolic leaves extract of A. fruticosa on hematological parameters of experimental rats, saw-scaled viper venom induced liver toxicity, renal toxicity and blood metabolites was analyzed in experimental rats. In the present study, the ethanolic leaves extract of A. fruticosa leaves was inhibited the venom induced changes in hematological parameters. The plant extract was effectively decreased the saw-scaled viper venom induced liver toxicity and renal toxicity in experimental rats. The observed results clearly states that the A. fruticosa leaves has potent snati-snake venom activity.
 
Potential Probiotic Analysis: Indigenous Lactic Acid Bacteria from Freshly Drawn Goat Milk
Get PDFThe raw goat milk is a good source of potential probiotic microorganisms. In developing countries, the goat milk was consumed widely because of its therapeutic and nutritional values. The potential probiotic bacteria has some properties such as, survival in the gastrointestinal conditions like low pH and bile tolerance, production of antimicrobial compounds and adhesion to intestinal mucosa. Thirty Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolated from goat milk in Tirupur and Erode region. Among 30 isolates, the nine isolates were selected for studying the characterization of potential probiotic of LAB. So the screening process were carried out like cell hydrophobicity, phenol resistance, antioxidant assay, cholesterol reducing activity, auto and co-aggregation, acid and bile tolerance. The results obtained showed that the isolates G13 has high spectrum of action. This isolate were undergo to detect the bacteriocin activity, column chromatography and SDS-PAGE. G13 isolates showed inhibitory activity in well-diffusion assay when tested against E.coli and S.aureus. So, those inhibitory substances are characterized as antimicrobial proteins called bacteriocins. Further identification of bacteriocin produced by G13 was confirmed by SDS-PAGE, where it shows the low molecular weight protein (17 kDa).
 
Avifaunal study of Majalgaon Reservoir and their tributaries, District Beed, Marathwada region of Maharashtra, India
Get PDFAn avifaunal survey was conducted at Majalgaon Reservoir for two years, starting from July 2016 to June 2018. The study reveals a rich avian diversity a total of 84 species of birds belonging to 15 orders and 30 families were identified. As the water of the wetland is clear, rich in dissolved oxygen and supports variety of aquatic weeds and fishes, it has been found to be suitable for birds and attracts many migratory birds like large egert, purple heron, white bellied heron, asian open bill stork, greater flamingo, white naked stork etc. Continuous monitoring on the avifaunal diversity was suggested to evaluate the ecological status of the habitats and birds. It can be considered as an efficient tool to the environmentalists, policy makers in order to conserve such species, because, the role of birds in an ecosystem cannot be ignored.