Search

BackgroundAquaculture systems that sporadically depend on antibiotics can contribute to the development of adverse effects on the fish, microbial flora and the environment. This study sought to investigate the impacts of extended oxytetracycline supplementation on the freshwater stinging catfish Heteropneustes fossilis through a multi-biomarker approach.MethodsA total of 300 H. fossilis (20 ± 0.5 g) were placed in fibreglass-reinforced plastic tanks. The experimental fish were administered oxytetracycline hydrochloride (OTC) at varying doses, viz., 80 mg/kg fish biomass/day (1x), 240 mg (3x), 400 mg (5x), and 800 mg (10x) for 30 consecutive days. The study also included a control group that did not receive OTC.ResultsOTC was effective against Aeromonas hydrophila, Pseudomonas putida, and Plesiomonas shigelloides, with minimum inhibitory concentrations ranging between 0.5 and 8.0 µg/mL. The OTC supplementation retarded the growth of fish. The respiratory burst activity, myeloperoxidase, and lysozyme increased significantly in the 1x group until day 20. This group showed an increase in serum albumin, whereas other OTC groups exhibited elevated levels of liver functional enzymes, including alanine transaminase, aspartate aminotransferase, and alkaline phosphatase. In addition, OTC groups exhibited increased levels of antioxidant enzymes. The magnitude of the increase was dose- and time-dependent. The liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) study signified a dose-dependent increase in OTC residues in the muscle. After a 10-day discontinuation of OTC, the tissue level retention of residues was minimal in the muscle, specifically in the 1x group compared to other groups. Significant histological alterations were noted in the liver tissues of the 5x and 10x groups, possibly due to oxidative stress and residue accretion.ConclusionThe therapeutic dose of 80 mg/kg biomass/day was safe and tolerated well by H. fossilis, and may be used for sustainable catfish farming practices.

Abstract We present the formal solution for a quantum mechanical particle responding to gravitational wave (GW) in the framework of modified theories of gravity (MTG) where, apart from the two standard tensorial modes of polarization of GW, we have considered an additional scalar mode. The presence of this longitudinal scalar mode makes it necessary to extend the usual two-dimensional description of matter-GW interaction to a three-dimensional one. Naturally this requires non-trivial changes in the quantum mechanical treatment which we elaborate in this paper.

During the rabi season of 2020, a trial was performed to estimate the efficacy of Cyantraniliprole 10.26 % OD at different doses (30, 60, 90, and 120 g a.i./ha respectively) together with Imidacloprid 17.8% SL (20 g a.i./ha) and Spinosad 45% SC (73 g a.i./ha) to evaluate their efficacy against the fruit borer and thrips infesting chilli (variety SHP-4884). The trial was performed in randomized block design containing three replications. The results showed that Cyantraniliprole 10.6% OD @ 120 g a.i./ha was the most efficient insecticide among the others and recorded the maximum reduction (84.13 % in larval population of fruit borer and 78.03 % in thrips population) in both the pest populations over the untreated check. However, Cyantraniliprole 10.6% OD @ 90 g a.i./ha was noted as the next best insecticide.

The decline of honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) populations is of great concern around the world. Among the several key drivers, dissemination of pests and pathogens is potential one. Chalkbrood is very common fungal disease of honey bee, caused due to Ascosphaera apis. In the present study, survey was conducted regarding the prevalence of diseases in A. mellifera beekeeping in Gangetic plains of West Bengal, India. Results confirmed the occurrence of chalkbrood disease in different apiaries, where dead and mummified bee larvae with cotton like chalky white or greyish-black covering were found as physical symptoms of the disease. From three surveyed apiaries, a total of 16 hives out of 113 hives were found to be infected with the diseases; and 46 frames out of 132 frames from the infected 16 hives were found to be affected by the pathogen. Microscopic examination reflected that nearly 87% of the samples collected from the infected frame were found to be positive for the spore of Ascosphaera. The fungus associated with the disease was isolated on Potato Dextrose Agar medium, pure cultured and its genomic DNA was isolated to perform PCR and based on 18s rDNA sequencing by using specific primer pair of ITS-1 and ITS-4, the fungus was identified as Ascosphaera apis. Keywords: 18s rDNA, Bees, Necrotrophs, Phylogeny

Water contamination is a pervasive global crisis, affecting over 2 billion people worldwide, with pharmaceutical contaminants emerging as a significant concern due to their persistence and mobility in aquatic ecosystems. This review explores the potential of activated hydrochars, sustainable materials produced through biomass pyrolysis, to revolutionize the removal of pharmaceutical contaminants from water sources. These materials possess high surface area, porous structure, and exceptional adsorption capabilities, making them a promising solution. The impact of pharmaceutical contaminants on aquatic ecosystems and human health is far-reaching, affecting biodiversity, water quality, and public health. To address this complex issue, a diverse range of techniques, including adsorption, biodegradation, and advanced oxidation processes, are employed in the pharmaceutical industry. Activated hydrochars offer substantial adsorption capacity, sustainable feedstock origins, and a minimal carbon footprint. This review highlights their potential in pharmaceutical contaminant removal and their broader applications in improving soil and air quality, resource recovery, and sustainable waste management. Interdisciplinary collaboration and the development of intelligent treatment systems are essential to fully unlock the potential of activated hydrochars. Regulatory support and policy frameworks will facilitate their responsible and widespread application, promising a cleaner and more sustainable future. This paper aims to inform scientists, environmental experts, policymakers, and industry stakeholders about the promising role of activated hydrochars in addressing pharmaceutical contaminant challenges.

Fucoidanases are hydrolytic enzymes that degrade fucoidan to a lower molecular weight while retaining the side substituent groups of the polymer. Fucoidanases are produced by marine organisms: bacteria, fungi, algae, molluscs, echinoderms. Fucoidanases are rare and little studied enzymes. There is currently no information on the structural organization of fucoidanases, the size of active centers, their secondary and tertiary structures. This review summarizes the data on fucoidanase sources and factors influencing fucoidanase activity. It was found that that such factors include medium pH, temperature, and the presence of metal ions. The principles of classification of fucoidanases were analyzed. Fucoidanase was found to have high biological activity. Fucoidanases are known to hydrolyze fucoidan to oligosaccharides that have anti-inflammatory, antiangiogenic, anticancer, antiviral, prebiotic, and anticoagulant properties. Thus, research into sources, isolation methods, the effect of fucoidanase on fucoidan, and its enzymatic activity is promising, and can be used to build the body’s resistance to adverse environmental factors (difficult working conditions, stress, and overwork), as well as restore and stimulate the immune response.

Spatial organization of chromatin plays a critical role in genome regulation. Previously, various types of affinity mediators and enzymes have been attributed to regulate spatial organization of chromatin from a thermodynamics perspective. However, at the mechanistic level, enzymes act in their unique ways and perturb the chromatin. Here, we construct a polymer physics model following the mechanistic scheme of Topoisomerase-II, an enzyme resolving topological constraints of chromatin, and investigate how it affects interphase chromatin organization. Our computer simulations demonstrate Topoisomerase-II’s ability to phase separate chromatin into eu- and heterochromatic regions with a characteristic wall-like organization of the euchromatic regions. We realized that the ability of the euchromatic regions to cross each other due to enzymatic activity of Topoisomerase-II induces this phase separation. This realization is based on the physical fact that partial absence of self-avoiding interaction can induce phase separation of a system into its self-avoiding and non-self-avoiding parts, which we reveal using a mean-field argument. Furthermore, motivated from recent experimental observations, we extend our model to a bidisperse setting and show that the characteristic features of the enzymatic activity-driven phase separation survive there. The existence of these robust characteristic features, even under the non-localized action of the enzyme, highlights the critical role of enzymatic activity in chromatin organization.

Summary: When digging in the ground during egg laying the female locust extends her abdomen to 2-3 times of its original length. How the abdominal nervous system accommodates such extreme elongation remains unknown. We characterized and quantified the system’s biomechanical response using controlled ex vivo elongation and force measurements. The microstructure of the nerves was studied using histology and high-resolution confocal microscopy. Although the nervous system of sexually mature females demonstrated fully reversible hyper-extensibility of up to 275%, the elongation observed in premature females and males was much more limited. The unique extension dynamics of the different groups were captured by their very different force-displacement curves. Confocal microscopy suggested that elongation is not owing to undulations of the nervous system structure. Thus, the exceptional resistance to deformation and rupture presents the female locust abdominal nervous system as a valuable model for understanding the functionality and pathology related to nerve extension and reversible elongation.

Abstract Objectives Aeromonads cause severe diseases in farmed aquatic organisms. Herein, we examined 28 isolates causing disease in farmed aquatic organisms from India (n = 24) and Taiwan (n = 4) to gain insight of their genotypic and phenotypic properties. Results API 20NE biochemical phenotyping showed ≥ 90% similarity classifying all isolates as Aeromonas hydrophila. 16S rRNA genotyping showed ≥ 98% homology among all isolates with A. sobria (NR119044.1ATCC), A. veronii (MK990549.1), A. caviae (NR029252.1) and A. hydrophila (MG984625.1ATCC) and other reference strains. In contrast, gyrB showed a higher intraspecies diversity (≥ 96%) than 16S rRNA delineating the 28 isolates into three groups. Group-I consisted of seven Indian isolates clustered with A. sobria (MK484163.1ATCC), group-II comprised of five Indian and two Taiwanese isolates clustered with A. veronii AF417626.1ATCC while group-III had 11 Indian and three Taiwanese isolates grouped with A. hydrophila (AY987520.1 and DQ519366.1) reference strains. None of our isolates clustered with A. caviae (AJ868400.1ATCC) reference strain. These findings suggest that A. sobria, A. veronii and A. hydrophila could be the etiological agents of diseases observed in farmed fish and soft-shelled turtles (Pelodiscus sinensis) examined in this study. Overall, our findings accentuate the importance of combining phenotyping with genotyping for correct taxonomic classification of Aeromonas spp. in Aquaculture.

Background: Although coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is predominantly a respiratory disease, cardiac involvement occurs commonly, especially in those with more severe illness. Echocardiography is the preferred imaging modality for diagnosing cardiac involvement in COVID-19. However, there are currently no data to describe echocardiographic abnormalities in Indian patients with COVID-19. Methodology: A cross-sectional observational analysis was performed among adult patients admitted to a tertiary care center between May 2020 and August 2020. Patients were included if they underwent transthoracic echocardiography during the hospitalization after a positive reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction diagnosis for COVID-19 pneumonia. Demographic and clinical data were obtained and analyzed along with echocardiographic data. Results: During the study period, consecutive 245 patients were evaluated with echocardiography, of whom 11 were excluded due to nondiagnostic images. The remaining 234 (mean age 57 ± 16 years, 71.7% of men) were included in this analysis. All patients were admitted to intensive care unit or high-dependency unit. Right ventricular (RV) dilatation and/or dysfunction (37%) was the most common finding, followed by left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic dysfunction (27.7% and 23.1%, respectively). Pericardial effusion was present in 12% of cases. A total of 49 (20.9%) patients had preexisting LV systolic dysfunction (LVSD). After excluding them, the LVSD and LV diastolic dysfunction were observed in 8.6% and 2.7% of patients, respectively. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that RV dilatation/dysfunction is the most common echocardiographic abnormality in hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19. Further, larger, multicentric studies with systematic data collection and comparison with non-COVID patients are needed to determine the true incidence of echocardiographic abnormalities in COVID-19.

Dextran, a renewable hydrophilic polysaccharide, is nontoxic, highly stable but intrinsically biodegradable. The α-1, 6 glycosidic bonds in dextran are attacked by dextranase (E.C. 3.2.1.11) which is an inducible enzyme. Dextranase finds many applications such as, in sugar industry, in the production of human plasma substitutes, and for the treatment and prevention of dental plaque. Currently, dextranases are obtained from terrestrial fungi which have longer duration for production but not very tolerant to environmental conditions and have safety concerns. Marine bacteria have been proposed as an alternative source of these enzymes and can provide prospects to overcome these issues. Indeed, marine bacterial dextranases are reportedly more effective and suitable for dental caries prevention and treatment. Here, we focused on properties of dextran, properties of dextran—hydrolyzing enzymes, particularly from marine sources and the biochemical features of these enzymes. Lastly the potential use of these marine bacterial dextranase to remove dental plaque has been discussed. The review covers dextranase-producing bacteria isolated from shrimp, fish, algae, sea slit, and sea water, as well as from macro- and micro fungi and other microorganisms. It is common knowledge that dextranase is used in the sugar industry; produced as a result of hydrolysis by dextranase and have prebiotic properties which influence the consistency and texture of food products. In medicine, dextranases are used to make blood substitutes. In addition, dextranase is used to produce low molecular weight dextran and cytotoxic dextran. Furthermore, dextranase is used to enhance antibiotic activity in endocarditis. It has been established that dextranase from marine bacteria is the most preferable for removing plaque, as it has a high enzymatic activity. This study lays the groundwork for the future design and development of different oral care products, based on enzymes derived from marine bacteria.

Lignocellulose, the main component of plant cell walls, comprises polyaromatic lignin and fermentable materials, cellulose and hemicellulose. It is a plentiful and renewable feedstock for chemicals and energy. It can serve as a raw material for the production of various value-added products, including cellulase and xylanase. Cellulase is essentially required in lignocellulose-based biorefineries and is applied in many commercial processes. Likewise, xylanases are industrially important enzymes applied in papermaking and in the manufacture of prebiotics and pharmaceuticals. Owing to the widespread application of these enzymes, many prokaryotes and eukaryotes have been exploited to produce cellulase and xylanases in good yields, yet yeasts have rarely been explored for their plant-cell-wall-degrading activities. This review is focused on summarizing reports about cellulolytic and xylanolytic yeasts, their properties, and their biotechnological applications.

Abstract In order to design a painless and mechanically durable micro syringe-needle system for biomedical applications, the study of insect stingers is of interest because of their elegant structures and functionalities. In the present work, the structure, mechanical properties and the mechanical behavior during insertion of wasp and honeybee stingers have been investigated. The non-invasive imaging tool, micro-computed tomography has been employed to reveal the 3D-structures of wasp and honeybee stingers. A quasi-static nanoindentation instrument was used to measure the nanomechanical properties. Both wasp and honeybee stingers have graded mechanical properties, decreasing along their longitudinal direction starting from the base. The computed tomography images and the measured material properties from nanoindentation were fed into a computational framework to determine the mechanical behavior of the stingers during penetration. The computation results predicted the penetration angle of +10° for the wasp stinger and −6° for the honeybee stinger, which mimics the practical insertion mechanism of both stingers. Based on this understanding, a wasp and honeybee stringer inspired micro syringe-needle design has also been proposed.

Abstract We introduce a lattice model for active nematic composed of self-propelled apolar particles, study its different ordering states in the density-temperature parameter space, and compare with the corresponding equilibrium model. The active particles interact with their neighbours within the framework of the Lebwohl-Lasher model, and move anisotropically along their orientation to an unoccupied nearest neighbour lattice site. An interplay of the activity, thermal fluctuations and density gives rise distinct states in the system. For a fixed temperature, the active nematic shows a disordered isotropic state, a locally ordered inhomogeneous mixed state, and bistability between the inhomogeneous mixed and a homogeneous globally ordered state in different density regime. In the low temperature regime, the isotropic to the inhomogeneous mixed state transition occurs with a jump in the order parameter at a density less than the corresponding equilibrium disorder-order transition density. Our analytical calculations justify the shift in the transition density and the jump in the order parameter. We construct the phase diagram of the active nematic in the density-temperature plane.

Background: Combinatory oral dosage treatment of atorvastatin (ATVS) and olmesartan (OLM) drugs to cardiovascular patients reflects unpredicted results instead of its individual therapy, which was accessed on quantification of endocrinal and biochemicals of plasma through liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry/mass spectrometer (LCMS/MS). Objective: Mission was to track the remarkable biochemical variation in the plasma after induction of the combined formulation, to evaluate the pharma-market rumor on its efficiency. Methods: To fulfil undergoing research objectives for digging-up of market insult, human patient volunteers were chosen according to the required criteria along with bioethical regulation. A sensitive, rapid and precise method was developed and validated to estimate aldosterone (ALD), angiotensin (ANG-II) and the Mevalonate (MVA) not Mevalonic acid through LCMS/MS over least samples of cardiovascular patients. Level of each endogenous biochemicals were determined in three stages - without drugs, with a single drug (OLM/ATVS) and with their combination that was then correlate with blood pressure of respective volunteers. Result and Discussion: Comparative and correlative studies panaroma among these analytes was detected. The selectivity, specificity, linearity, precision, accuracy, extraction recovery, limit of detection and limit of quantification, stability were the essential points of validation of the developed methodology. And the significance of each endogenous analyte data were based on P ≥ 0.001. Thus, low value of ALD and reciprocally higher in ANG-II on administered single drug than its combination and equal concentration of mevalonate in both stages, was discovered. Conclusion: This concludes that the cardiovascular dosage formulation entrenched in the market are not synergistic and effective compared with a single drug as antihypertensive drug.

In the present investigation, a simple and sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) method was developed for the quantification of aldosterone (ALD) a hormone responsible for blood pressure in human plasma. The developed method was validated and extended for application on human subjects to study drug interaction of atorvastatin (ATSV) and olmesartan (OLM) on levels of ALD. The ALD in plasma was extracted by liquid-liquid extraction with 5 mL dichloromethane/ethyl ether (60/40% v/v). The chromatographic separation of ALD was carried on Xterra, RP-Column C18 (150 mm× 4.6 mm × 3.5 μm) at 30°C followed by four-step gradient program composed of methanol and water. Step 1 started with 35% methanol for first 1 min and changed linearly to 90% in next 1.5 min in Step 2. Step 3 lasted for next 2 min with 90% methanol. The method finally concluded with Step 4 to achieve initial concentration of methanol that is, 35% thus contributing the total method run time of 17.5 min. The flow rate was 0.25 mL/min throughout the process. The developed method was validated for specificity, accuracy, precision, stability, linearity, sensitivity, and recovery. The method was linear and found to be acceptable over the range of 50-800 ng/mL. The method was successfully applied for the drug interaction study of ATSV + OLM in combination against OLM treatment on blood pressure by quantifying changes in levels of ALD in hypertensive patients. The study revealed levels of ALD were significantly higher in ATSV + OLM treatment condition when compared to OLM as single treated condition. This reflects the reason of low effectiveness of ATSV + OLM in combination instead of synergistic activity.

Objective : Extract of Fagonia arabica, (family Zygophyllaceae) has thrombolytic activity against the clotted blood in blood vessels and the extract of Heteropneustes fossilis shows the cardiotonic activity. Therefore, combinatory pharmacology shows the synergistic activity in tied mice for a long duration. Materials and Methods : The cardiotonic activity of Heteropneustes fossilis fish extract was examined on a frog intact heart and then pharmacologically performed on 20 mice without plant extract as well as with a combination of plant extract, which gave a remarkable synergistic activity in an in-vivo experiment on mice kept tied for the duration of 12, 18, and 24 hours and injected within one minute after untying. Result and Discusion : The plant extract was compared with streptokinase as well as a non-thrombolytic agent (control). A study showed a percentage of clot lysis, which was 65.5% for plant extract, but streptokinase had 71%. The study was done in 11 healthy volunteers representing a mean value and SD of 65% ± 2.01% and 71.67% ± 0.71% of the plant extract and streptokinase, respectively, in contrast to the non-thrombolytic (control), that is, 0.86% ± 0.08%. Conclusion : Injection of plant and fish extract acts both synergistically in the blood clotted mice and in mice suffering from myocardial or cerebral infarction and embolized mice.