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The Soxhlet and maceration methods were used to determine the extract yield in the carotenoid pigment encapsulation for halal natural pigment production. This study aims to obtain halal natural pigment by determining the highest extract yield from the encapsulation of β-carotene in carrots. The carrot was extracted using Soxhlet and maceration method and then continued by oven drying. The n-hexane was selected because of its better volatility than ethanol and provided less solvent residue after extraction. UV-Vis spectroscopy and Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) were used to characterize the n-hexane yield extract. Encapsulation of the pigment was investigated by adding five grams of maltodextrin to extract n-hexane weights of 0.05, 0.50, 0.75, and 1.0 grams. The maceration method yielded a much higher yield than the Soxhlet extraction method, with 2.24% (w/w) and 0.88% (w/w), respectively. The n-hexane extract absorbed a maximum wavelength of 450 nm with a retention factor (Rf) of 0.62. These values are confirmed by comparing the band's Rf values and absorption spectra with the standard’s. Light absorption spectra at wavelengths 350-500 nm confirmed an intense color expression for encapsulation containing the highest pigment concentration.

An indirect-ELISA for the diagnosis of mixed gastrointestinal (GI) nematode infection comprising Oesophagostomum, Haemonchus and Trichuris species was standardized using crude somatic antigen of Oesophagostomum columbianum (CSAg-Oc) and sera of slaughtered goats with known parasitological status including Oesophagostomum, Haemonchus, and Trichuris (strong positive), Haemonchus and Trichuris (weak positive) and parasite free goats (negative). Two cut-off points, i.e. higher and lower cutoff were determined using the strong positive, weak positive and the negative control sera of goats. Thus the test sera having optical density (OD) values greater than the higher cut-off were considered positive for mixed infection with all the three nematode species, intermediate between the higher and the lower cut-off values were considered positive for mixed infection of Haemonchus and Trichuris, and less than the lower cut-off value were considered negative for any of these three nematode species. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the ELISA for diagnosis of mixed GI nematodoses were 81.25, 93.18% and 90.00%, respectively, while it was 92.86% sensitive, 75.00% specific and 91.67% accurate for the diagnosis of mixed infection with Haemonchus and Trichuris. The ELISA, so standardized, detected 27.78% sero-prevalence of Oesophagostomum plus Haemonchus and Trichuris infection and 38.89% percent of Haemonchus and Trichuris infection in the field goats. The standardized assay might be exploited as a diagnostic tool and also for sero-epidemiological study of two important GI nematodes of goats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toxoplasma gondii RH strain tachyzoites were inoculated in mice intraperitoneally (1.5x104) and serially propagated. Tachyzoites were cryopreserved using 10-20% glycerol and aliquoted in cryovials in liquid nitrogen. The viability of the preserved tachyzoites were further checked by passage in mice followed by PCR amplification of the highly repetitive sequence of T. gondii. The sequence analysis of the repeated sequence of T. gondii (GenBank Acc. No. KC607824) showed 99.2% homology with Strain SH and Strain PYS (GenBank Acc. no. DQ779192, DQ779189), 98.9% homology with Strain ZS1 (GenBank Acc. no. DQ779196), and 92.5% homology with Strain RH (GenBank Acc. no. DQ779191). The study showed that this repetitive microsatellite sequence could be a good target for detection of toxoplasmosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]