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Substituted pyrazolyl derivatives were synthesized through Suzuki cross coupling of aromatic boronic acid with heterocyclic halide using newly synthesized nano-Pd/chitosan catalyst by the water-mediated green synthesis methodology. The reactivity of the nano-Pd catalyst was highly enhanced by incorporating palladium nanoparticles with a biopolymer chitosan matrix. The synthesized nano-Pd/chitosan catalyst was studied thoroughly for its structure, morphology, and other fundamental aspects such as the size and shape by various techniques including XRD, FESEM, and EDAX analyses. The scope of the catalyst was disclosed by their great stability with remarkable reusability for Suzuki cross-coupling reaction with twelve different boronic acids under the green synthetic methodology.

BACKGROUND Transfusion of blood and blood products is an essential component of patient care in various health care settings. Blood is collected from non-remunerated donors. Many infections can spread through the transfusion of blood and blood components. Testing of donor blood for infectious agents prior to transfusion of blood products increases blood safety. Mandatory testing of five transfusion transmitted infections is done prior to transfusion following manufacturer’s instructions and quality specifications. Prevalence study will help the blood transfusion services to select and implement the strategies effectively for blood safety. METHODS This is a descriptive study based on retrospective collection of data from available records. Donor results were recorded and maintained to ensure the traceability of specific donor. The data was collected from the blood donor records and registers pertaining to the 10 year period from 2007 to 2016. Samples seroreactive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibodies, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, malaria and syphilis were recorded and analysed. RESULTS A total of 1,73,027 donors donated blood during the ten-year period. Of these 1, 65,824 were males and 7203 were females. Male to female ratio was 23:1. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) seroreactivity is the most common which came to about 419 in this 10-year period with a prevalence rate of 0.24 % or 24 reactive cases in every 10,000 donors. Prevalence rate of Hepatitis C and HIV infection was 0.09 % and 0.035 % respectively. Rapid plasma reagin (RPR) and malaria reactivity was 0.02 %. CONCLUSIONS As safe blood supply is an important strategy of blood transfusion services, newer diagnostic tools should be implemented nationwide to overcome the problems with the window period and to detect infections with variant strains. KEY WORDS Prevalence, Transfusion Transmitted Infections, HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C, Syphilis

Chemical acaricides are widely used for the effective control of ticks in India. The synthetic pyrethroids, are one of the most popular chemical acaricides with selective neurotoxic potential. Flumethrin is a type II synthetic pyrethroid used extensively in veterinary practice in India. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the cytotoxic effects of flumethrin on the engorged females of Rhipicephalus annulatus using entomological parameters, histology, electron microscopy and relative quantification of receptors of dopamine and GABA

Elevated intracellular calcium concentration and oxidative damage are two major factors contributing to the poor fertility of cryopreserved spermatozoa. Regucalcin (RGN), also known as Senescence marker protein-30 (SMP-30), is a calcium-binding protein with multiple roles that include calcium homeostasis, anti-oxidative, anti-apoptosis, and anti-proliferation. In Drosophila, RGN is reportedly a putative cold-tolerance gene and a cytoprotective role for RGN against intracellular calcium elevation and oxidative stress was reported in P19 cell lines. Given that RGN has anticapacitatory effect and abundant in the male reproductive tract, we hypothesized that it may play a cryoprotective role for spermatozoa. We investigated this by including RGN, at three different concentrations (20, 40, and 60 μg/ml), as a supplement for Tris-egg yolk-based semen extender. Post-thaw metrics of progressive motility, acrosome integrity, and zona pellucida binding of spermatozoa were evaluated for three ejaculates of three clinically normal, breeding Murrah buffaloes. A concentration of 40 μg/ml of recombinant RGN supplemented during sperm freezing resulted in significant increases in the post-thaw progressive motility of spermatozoa (50.6 ± 3.5% vs 40.6 ± 2.6%; p

In the present study, the cytotoxic effects of amitraz, an octopamine receptor agonist on the reproductive system of engorged adult females of Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus were assessed using histology, electron microscopy and octopamine beta (OCTβ) receptor transcriptional expression analysis. Adult immersion test (AIT) was performed by immersing the fully engorged female ticks for 2 min in different concentrations of amitraz (200, 250, 300, 350 ppm). Amitraz at the dose of 300 ppm, caused an adult tick mortality of 16.66 ± 6.80 per cent, inhibition of fecundity of 75.80 per cent and hatching of 50 per cent of ova laid by treated ticks. Histological changes in the ovaries of ticks collected after 24 h of treatment with amitraz (300 ppm), in comparison with controls (distilled water/methanol) were identified by microscopical examination of sections (4 μm) stained using haematoxylin and eosin. These changes included reduction in size and basophilia of stage I oocytes, presence of cytoplasmic vacuoles of various sizes around germinal vesicle of stage II oocytes, wavy basement membrane of stage III oocytes and reduction in size and number of mature stage IV and V oocytes. Electron microscopy was employed for understanding the structural changes in the ultrathin sections (60 nm) of ovaries. Ticks treated with amitraz showed major ultrastructural changes such as irregular nuclear membrane, crystolysis of mitochondria and detachment of external and internal layers of basal lamina of oocytes. The cDNA synthesized from the total RNA of whole ticks and ovaries of ticks treated with amitraz along with controls were used for relative quantification of Octopamine β receptor (OCTβ-R) expression based on the 2−ΔΔCT method by quantitative real time PCR (qRT PCR). Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) was used as endogenous control. Down regulation of expression of OCTβ-R mRNA in the ovaries of amitraz treated ticks was observed compared to controls. Thus, the inhibition of fecundity observed in the ticks treated with amitraz can be attributed to the major structural changes and decreased expression of OCT β receptor mRNA induced by it in the ovary.

The present study utilizes the ultrastructural analysis of the fully engorged female Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus ticks, as a tool to evaluate the cytotoxic potential of deltamethrin and amitraz on the germinative cells. The ultrastructural analysis of the ovary of the normal (untreated) R (B.) annulatus revealed, oocytes in different stages of development, attached to the ovary wall by pedicel cells. The attachment site of oocyte to the pedicel cell was characterized by indentations of the plasma membrane. The oocyte was bound by three cell membranes viz., plasma membrane, chorion and basal lamina. The stages of oocytes were differentiated ultrastructurally based on the features of their outer membrane and the number and size of lipid and yolk droplets. Detailed day wise analysis of ultrastructural changes in the ovary during the post-engorgement period revealed the occurrence of the degenerative changes from day five onwards. These appeared first in the oocytes followed by the germinal epithelium. The ovary of ticks treated with methanol (control), revealed similar topographies as that of a normal ovary except for the presence of very few oocytes with ring shaped nucleoli. Ultrastructurally, treatment with deltamethrin produced more prominent and extensive morphological alterations when compared to amitraz. In the case of ticks treated with amitraz, the oocytes of stage IV and V showed wavy and disrupted outer boundaries along with the loss of integrity of the yolk droplets. Uneven nuclear membranes of stage II oocytes and cristolysis of mitochondria of mature oocytes were the other changes noticed. Ticks treated with deltamethrin revealed prominent modifications such as, detachment of the basal lamina, wrinkled boundary, inconsistent nuclear membrane, ring shaped nucleoli and chromatin clumping in the case of the early stage oocytes (I and II), whereas swelling and cristolysis of mitochondria were seen in mature oocytes. The study further indicated that, in addition to the previous proven neurotoxic effects, these compounds act directly on the ovary of tick.