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Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate in-vitro efficacy of antibacterial, and antifungal activities of chloroform extract of leaf of Sida cordifolia L. against some human pathogenic bacterial and fungal strains. S. cordifolia (Malvaceae) is used as anti-rheumatic, analgesic, antipyretic, anti-asthmatic, nasal decongestant, antiviral, laxative, diuretic, aphrodisiac, hypoglycemic, hepatoprotective and in the treatment of Parkinson disease. Methodology: Chloroform extract of S.cordifolia was used for antimicrobial screening. Antibacterial activity was tested against pathogenic bacterial strains Eschericha coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Also antifungal activity was tested against one human pathogenic fungal strain i.e. Candida albicans. Antibacterial and antifungal activities of S. cordifolia extract was carried out by using disc diffusion method. Results: Chloroform extract of S. cordifolia showed the largest zone of inhibition (10mm) against S. aureus at 50µgm/mL and no zone of inhibition against E.coli at 50µgm/ml. Chloroform extract has shown more potent antibacterial activity against S.aureus. Chloroform extract was found to be more effective against human pathogenic fungus C. albicuns. The zone of inhibition of chloroform extract was 10mm.The phytochemical screening demonstrated the presence of different types of compounds like alkaloids, tannins and phenolic compounds which may contribute for the anti-microbial action of this plant. Conclusions: The results concludes that chloroform extract of S. cordifolia leaf possess antimicrobial activity.

We study the magnetic hyperthermia efficiency of magnetite ferrofluids based on bio-friendly oils extracted from Calophyllum inophyllum (punnaga), Brassica juncea (mustard), Ricinus communis (castor) and Madhuca longifolia (iluppai) seeds. Reported medicinal uses of these bio-friendly oils make them interesting candidates for hyperthermia from a perspective of topical skin applications. Magneto-caloric experiments are performed at a fixed frequency of 126 kHz and varying field amplitudes of 33.1–25.7 kA/m. Experimental findings show that field induced heating efficiency is the highest for the punnaga oil based ferrofluids (~170.0 ± 8.2 W/gFe) and the estimated intrinsic loss power of ~ 1.26 nHm2kg−1 is found to be comparable to several commercially available ferrofluids. The obtained results further indicate that field induced heating efficiency increased by ~ 11 times on ~ 88% reduction in medium viscosity, which is due to the reduction in Brownian relaxation time of the dispersed magnetite nanoparticles at lower medium viscosity. Dynamic hysteresis loop simulations are carried out to theoretically estimate the heating efficiencies and the experimental and theoretical data are found to exhibit similar trends. The obtained results are beneficial for optimal design of bio-friendly oil based ferrofluids for possible topical hyperthermia applications over skin surfaces.

Hydrodynamic modelling is a powerful tool to understand and analyse a river flow and its conditions. The identification of flood vulnerability areas of Pamba river helps to minimize the damages associated with the flood. A hydrodynamic river model was customised and calibrated for the river Pamba in Kerala using MIKE HYDRO River model. The model was calibrated using Manning’s roughness coefficient. In this study, we utilize the time series of daily discharge and water level of different gauging station of Centre Water Commission at Kallooppara, Malakkara, Thumpamon and water level data of Thottappalli spillway. The SRTM DEM was used to generate the flood model for the period June to August 2010. The model performance was assessed by comparing observed and stimulated water level at the upstream and downstream of the river. The correlation coefficient value obtained in the range of 0.53 to 0.94. The outcomes of the study can benefit future modelling effort through the provision of robust tool to predict water levels at various points of the river. This study can help the water resources policy makers for arriving at suitable mitigation measures.

Conserving energy at home is a personal choice, but when multiplied by the conserving efforts of tens of millions of homeowners, it can reduce our energy demands and increase our long-term quality of life. The Objective of the project is to drive awareness and conservation of the worlds natural re-sources through compelling analytics and targeted, actionable conservation recommendations. Synergy is the manifestation of our mission in the form of a web application that allows users to see, understand, and intelligently change their resource consumption habits. It comprises of a daily pricing model. A Watt based ranking system is used to rank the users based on their energy usage with similar users. An alert system is also implemented to alert the users when they exceed a particular threshold.

The peach-soy leather was prepared from different blends of peach pulp and soy-slurry. The peach pulp and soybean slurry were blended in the ratios of 100:0, 95:5, 90:10, 85:15, 80:20, 75:25 and 70:30. The prepared leather was stored for a period of four months to ascertain changes in physico-chemical and sensory characteristics. The analysis of leather revealed significant differences among different blends. Highest moisture content i.e. 21.99 percent was recorded in B1 (100:0:: P:S). The highest TSS and acidity of 12.05 degree Brix and 2.77 percent were recorded in B1 (100:0:: P:S), respectively, whereas the highest reducing sugar and total sugar contents of 30.16 and 60.41 percent were found in B1 (100:0:: P:S), respectively. The highest protein and fat contents were recorded in B7 (70:30:: P:S), whereas ascorbic acid content was the highest (23.54 mg 100g-1) in B7 (70:30:: P:S). Sensory evaluation of leather revealed that the highest score of 8.14 was recorded in B4 (85:15:: P:S) and lowest score of 5.63 was recorded in B7 (70:30::P:S). In general there was an increase in TSS, acidity and sugars and decrease in protein, fat and ascorbic acid contents and all sensory attributes during four months storage in different blends of leather. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/sja.v12i1.21114 SAARC J. Agri., 12(1): 73-88 (2014)

This study reports the efficacy of cobalt preconditioning in preventing hypobaric hypoxia induced vascular leakage (an indicator of cerebral edema) using male Sprague-Dawley rats as model system. Exposure of animals to hypobaric hypoxia led to a significant increase in vascular leakage, reactive oxygen species (ROS), nitric oxide (NO), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels. There was a marked increase in Nuclear Factor kappaB (NFkappaB) DNA binding activity and levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as Monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP-1), Interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), Interleukin-1 (IL-1), and Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and cell adhesion molecules such as Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 (VCAM-1), and P-selectin. Chemical preconditioning by cobalt for 7 days (12.5 mg Co/kg b.w., oral) significantly attenuated cerebral vascular leakage and the expression of inflammatory mediators induced by hypoxia. Administration of NFkappaB inhibitor, curcumin (50 mg/kg b.w.; i.p.) appreciably inhibited hypoxia induced vascular leakage indicating the involvement of NFkappaB in causing vascular leakage. Interestingly, cobalt when administered at 12.5 mg Co/kg b.w. (i.p.), 1 h before hypoxia could not prevent the vascular leakage indicating that cobalt per se did not have an effect on NFkappaB. The lower levels of NFkappaB observed in the brains of cobalt administered animals might be due to higher levels of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory proteins (hemeoxygenase-1 and metallothionein). To conclude cobalt preconditioning inhibited hypobaric hypoxia induced cerebral vascular leakage by lowering NFkappaB DNA binding activity and its regulated pro-inflammatory mediators. This is contemplated to be mediated by cobalt induced reduction in ROS/NO and increase in HO-1 and MT.

Hypoxia is known to induce oxidative stress in organisms leading to tissue injury. In the present study beta-carotene (BC) given at 10 mg/kg body weight (BW) in reducing the oxidative stress induced by hypoxia was evaluated on male albino rats. Hypoxia exposure caused an increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in plasma and tissues, a concurrent decrease in blood glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), plasma protein and plasma BC content. Hemoglobin concentration, Red blood corpuscles (RBC) and White blood corpuscles (WBC) count were also increased under hypoxia. BC supplementation reversed the trend, inducing a significant decrease (P

The effect of Kombucha tea (KT) on oxidative stress induced changes in rats subjected to chromate treatment are reported. KT feeding alone did not show any significant change in malondialdehyde (MDA) and reduced glutathione (GSH) levels, but did enhance humoral response and delayed type of hypersensitivity (DTH) response appreciably over control animals. Chromate treatment significantly enhanced plasma and tissue MDA levels, decreased DTH response considerably, enhanced glutathione peroxidase and catalase activities; however, no change in GSH, superoxide dismutase and antibody titres was noticed. KT feeding completely reversed the chromate-induced changes. These results show that Kombucha tea has potent anti-oxidant and immunopotentiating activities.

It is believed that it is 'normal' for the elderly per sons to become depressed and many cases aren't recognized and thus lead to untold misery for the sufferers and their families. We have found that majority of the clients under study were females belonging to low socio economic status, uneducated and unemployed. Majority of the clients had moderate depression (58%), And about 19% of them had severe depression. The problems related to subjective depressive feelings were investigated through a structured questionnaire surveyed among 100 elderly clients in Udhyava Village of Udupi district. We conclude that there is a significant relationship between family--friend relationships and depressive feelings of aged people.

To evaluate the effect of oral administration of Kombucha tea (K-tea) on lead induced oxidative stress.Sprague Dawley rats were administered 1 mL of 3.8% lead acetate solution daily alone or in combination with K-tea orally for 45 d, and the antioxidant status and lipid peroxidation were evaluated.Oral administration of lead acetate to rats enhanced lipid peroxidation and release of creatine phosphokinase and decreased levels of reduced glutathione (GSH) and antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, SOD and glutathione peroxidase, GPx). Lead treatment did not alter humoral immunity, but inhibited DTH response when compared to the control. Lead administration also increased DNA fragmentation in liver. Oral administration of Kombucha tea to rats exposed to lead decreased lipid peroxidation and DNA damage with a concomitant increase in the reduced glutathione level and GPx activity. Kombucha tea supplementation relieved the lead induced immunosuppression to appreciable levels.The results suggest that K-tea has potent antioxidant and immunomodulating properties.

At high altitudes, the reactive oxygen species are continuously generated as a consequence of low oxygen partial pressure (hypoxia), which causes tissue damage. The body's defence system to combat the oxidative stress (e.g., anti-oxidant enzymes, free radical scavengers such as vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, reduced glutathione and minerals such as selenium, etc.) may diminish. In the present study, the antioxidant effect of selenium (Se) in reducing the hypoxia-induced oxidative stress was evaluated by exposing male albino rats to hypoxic stress in a decompression chamber. Exposure to hypoxia resulted in an increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in plasma and tissues and a concurrent decrease in blood glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), plasma protein and plasma selenium content when compared with controls. Haemoglobin concentration (Hb%), red blood corpuscles (RBC) and white blood corpuscles (WBC) count were also increased in the hypoxia-exposed group. Selenium supplementation to animals reversed the trend. There was a significant decrease (P0.001) in MDA and subsequent increase in plasma and tissue GSH levels. Similarly the blood and tissue GPx and plasma protein also increased significantly in the Se supplemented animals compared with control animals. The Hb%, RBC and WBC counts showed no significant difference between Se-fed and control rats. These results suggest that selenium may help in reducing the lipid peroxidation during hypoxia.

The fruits extracts of Emblica officinalis (Amla) has been reported to have strong anti-oxidant properties. There is a paucity of studies on the immunomodulatory properties of fruit extracts of Amla in immuno-compromised states, with the emphasis on lymphocytes. Therefore, the aim of the study was to determine the anti-oxidant and immunomodulatory properties of Amla using chromium (VI) as an immunosuppressive agent. Chromium (Cr) treatment results in enhanced cytotoxicity, free radical production, lipid peroxidation and decreased glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity and diminished glutathione (GSH) levels. There was a significant inhibition of both lipopolysaccharide and concanavalin-A-stimulated lymphocyte proliferation. Chromium also inhibited Con A stimulated interleukin-2 and gamma-interferon production significantly. Further, there was enhanced apoptosis and DNA fragmentation in the presence of Cr. Amla significantly inhibited Cr-induced free radical production and restored the anti-oxidant status back to control level. Amla also inhibited apoptosis and DNA fragmentation induced by Cr. Interestingly, Amla relieved the immunosuppressive effects of Cr on lymphocyte proliferation and even restored the IL-2 and gamma-IFN production considerably.

The objective of the study was to evaluate toxicity, anti-stress activity and hepato-protective properties of Kombucha tea.Kombucha tea was fed orally for 15 days using three different doses i.e. normal dose, five and ten times the dose. Rats were then sacrificed and various biochemical, and histological parameters were estimated. Anti-stress activity was evaluated either by 1) by exposing animals to cold and hypoxia and estimating the levels of malondialdehyde and reduced glutathione in plasma/blood or 2) by subjecting the animals to restraint stress and recording faecal output. Hepato-toxicity was induced by challenging the animals to an acute dose of paracetamol (1 gm/kg) orally and determining the plasma levels of SGPT, SGOT and MDA.The effect of oral administration of different doses of K-tea to albino rats was examined and the results indicate that K-tea has no significant toxicity as revealed by various biochemical and histopathological parameters. K-tea has been found to prevent lipid peroxidation and fall in reduced glutathione level when rats were exposed to cold and hypoxia in simulated chamber. Further, K-tea has also been found to decrease the Wrap-restraint faecal pellet output in rats. K-tea has also been found to decrease paracetamol induced hepatotoxicity significantly.The study shows that K-tea has anti-stress and hepato-protective activities.