Volume 2 | Issue 4 | October

 Abstract

The superparamagnetic Fe3O4 particles are successfully encapsulated inside polypyrrole (PPY) via emulsion polymerization using polyvinyl alcohol as a surfactant. The thus- obtained PPY-Fe3O4 nanoparticles have structural, electrical and good superparamagnetic properties. Conducting polymer (PPY) has been used for immobilization of enzymes, antibodies and nucleic acids. The resulting functionalized (Fe3O4-PPY) nanoparticles can also be utilized for cancer cell targeting. Finally the nanoparticles are characterized by SEM, TEM. Morphology studies reveal that the prepared (Fe3O4-PPY) nanoparticles in the size range of 100 nm.

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 Keywords

Fe3O4, surfactant,TEM, polypyrrole, nanoparticles

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Acanthephippium bicolor Lindley is an endangered terrestrial orchid found in Eastern and Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu. Three fungal isolates were recovered from the roots of A.bicolor plants and were identified as Rhizoctonia solani, Fusarium oxysporum, and Fusarium solani. Seeds were sown on oat meal agar with fungal isolates after 3 weeks of preculture R.solani rupture the seed testa immediately, while F.oxysporum and F.solani takes 4 weeks. Seed germination using symbiotic fungi initiated and sustained till the stage II of orchid seed germination except with F.solani. The germinated seeds are ten times larger than normal seeds and these fungi isolates unfailingly stimulate the germination of these seeds but further development ceased.

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terrestrial orchid, Acanthephippium bicolor, Rhizoctonia solani

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Bacillus anthracis, casamino acid, Sephadex G-50, PA based vaccine, live spore vaccine ELISA

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Biogas technology provides an alternate source of energy and it is considered as an appropriate technology that meets the basic need for fuel in many areas. Using local resources, viz. cattle waste and other organic wastes, energy is derived. Realization of this potential and the fact, biogas is produced from organic wastes by concerted action of various groups of anaerobic bacteria. An attempt has been made in this project to understand the microbial diversity in biogas digesters, their interactions, and factors affecting biogas production, alternate feedstock, and uses of spent slurry. The effect of feed stock on the biogas yield of cattle manure and food waste was evaluated in batch digesters under mesophilic conditions (35?C). Moreover, the study determined the biogas production potential of mixtures cattle manure and food waste or food waste alone. The results of this study indicate that the mixture of food waste and cattle manure is a highly desirable substrate for anaerobic digesters with regards to its high biodegradability and methane yield.

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anaerobic digester, biogas, food waste, manure

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Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the most important bacterial pathogens difficult to treat in clinical practice. Being a ubiquitous organism, the mode of acquisition and spread of this organism is always controversial. Various methods had been tried to find out molecular markers for tracing the spread of P. aeruginosa from environment to clinical settings. In an attempt to do so a total of 50 isolates collected from environmental sources such as water, soil, air, industrial effluents and clinical sources. The isolates were confirmed and analyzed for resistotyping as well as molecular typing. When resistotyping with clinically useful antibiotics were not promising, the molecular typing was promising to differentiate the isolates. Two different oligonucleotide RAPD primers (decamer) were used to amplify reproducible polymorphisms proved to be useful in the differentiation of strains isolated from various sources. Discriminatory power as Simpson's index was calculated and found that Pa-272 having 90.5 %. Moreover, Primer Pa-272 differentiated the isolates into ten types while Primer Pa-208 differentiated into seven types.

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Pseudomonas aeruginosa, RAPD, molecular typing, resistotyping

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Toluene is an aromatic hydrocarbon. It is used extensively in plastic and petrochemical industry. Toluene contamination is one of the serious ecotoxicological problems. It acts as a depressant for central nervous system and enhancing agent in skin carcinogenesis. The Environmental Protection Agency has recommended that, drinking water should not contain more than 2 mg toluene per liter (Agency for toxic substance and Disease Registry, 1993). Contamination of water by toluene is a serious concern in environment perspective for safe utilization in agriculture. Therefore bioremediation is the most preferred way for removing this chemical from contaminated areas. The present study was proved Pseudomonas sp has the capacity to degrade toluene in the industrial effluent. This study also emphasizes the transformation of TOL plasmid from Pseudomonas sp to an E.coli strain. The transformed E.coli strain showed a slightly higher degrading ability than Pseudomonas sp. Thus a genetically engineered novel E.coli was developed which can easily degrade toluene in the contaminated sites.

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bioremediation, toluene degradation, genetically modified E.coli

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In the current era of increasing resistance to existing antimicrobial agents, herbal drugs are being looked as very importance source for discovery of new agents for treating various ailments related to bacterial and other infections. Senna alexandrina Mill. is well known plants in Asian countries including India which posses wide range of pharmacological activities. These drugs have been used as a folk remedy in India in the form of decoctions and infusions to treat bacterial infections and also claimed to be an effective against variety of skin conditions like psoriasis, acne, wounds etc. The present investigation was carried to study the unexplored area of these drugs towards their phytochemical screening and antimicrobial activity. The Phytochemical analysis carried out to reveal the presence of alkaloids, carbohydrates, proteins, saponins, resins. Further, scope exists for research with formulation and development, pharmacokinetics, safety and efficacy in patients. The herbs of Senna alexandrina were subjected for successive extraction using different solvents and the extracts were subjected to antimicrobial evaluation against gram positive, gram negative bacterial and fungal organisms by cup plate technique. Among the various extracts, Methanol extract found to be more effective (24 mm) against all the bacteria and ethyl acetate extract (6 mm) found to be less effective against all the bacteria. The plant extract showed antibacterial activity but not showed antifungal activity against fungi. This kind of study could generate more such ideas for re-inventing and using herbs in combination to cure diseases.

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Senna alexandrina, antimicrobial activity, MIC, phytochemical screening, leaf extracts

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The increasing pollution of water bodies in India, is leading not only to severe scarcity of potable water, but also damaging the ecosystem and its sustainability. Conventional technologies including chemical precipitation, ultrafiltration, chemical oxidation and reduction, electrochemical treatment, reverse osmosis, coagulation-flocculation and ion exchange etc. have certain benefits and limitations; however, none has proved economically viable. Bioremediation is emerging as an effective innovative technology for treatment of a wide variety of pollutants and represents an invaluable tool box for wider applications in the realm of environmental protection. These approaches are applicable to contaminants in soil, groundwater, surface water, and sediments including air. In recent years, the development of molecular tools and advances in nanotechnology has opened up novel approaches to remediation. The inclusion of such technologies has made bioremediation an attractive alternative to conventional clean-up technologies due to relatively low capital costs and their inherently aesthetic nature.

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biofilms, bioremediation, metagenomics, nanoparticles, silica

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Hydrogen is a clean energy carrier which has a great potential to be an alternative fuel. Abundant biomass from various industries could be a source for bio-hydrogen production where combination of waste treatment and energy production would be an advantage. Nowadays, the large amounts of livestock manure, which come from cattle feedlots, poultry, and swine buildings, are causing a major environmental issue because it has become a primary source of odours, gases, dust, and groundwater contamination. It is well known that anaerobic digestion had successfully been used for the disposal of manures to produce methane in the last two decades. Recently, an alternative strategy has been developed to convert livestock manures (e.g. dairy manures) to bio-hydrogen as a high value added clean energy source instead of methane. The focus of this study was investigating the performance and optimal operating conditions of bio-hydrogen production from dairy manure feedstock by dairy manure compost and evaluating its feasibility for bio-hydrogen production. The results indicated that it was feasible to produce hydrogen from dairy manure by methanogenesis inhibited dark fermentation.

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bio-hydrogen, anaerobic, organic waste, contamination

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Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles has been accomplished for the first time by using the notorious invasive Ipomoea (Ipomoea carnea). Apart from the fact that the method does not involve any toxic reactants, nor produces any pollutant, it is the first attempt to gainfully utilize a highly eco-degrading invasive plant. Another novelty of the present work is that it utilizes all parts of the weed, at ambient temperatures and pressures, necessitating no fine controls. The nature of the end product was controlled by varying the proportions of metallic solution and the extract. Nanoparticles of controllable shapes and sizes were obtained and the formation was complete in 24 hrs with characteristic plasmon vibration peaks at 430?5 nm. The synthesis and characterization have been supported by UV-visible spectra, fourier transform infrared spectra, X-ray diffraction patterns, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy.

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 Keywords

silver nanoparticles, Ipomoea carnea, green synthesis Received: 19th September

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