Life Sciences

This study determined oil recovery potential of Hyptis suaveolens for its beneficial use. Pulverized leaves (500 g) of Hyptis suaveolens was hydro-distilled for 3 hours using Clevenger apparatus set up. The percentage yield of the oil was 0.29 % (v/w). The GC-FID analysis of the extractedoil revealed 36 chemical components (99.99 %) of which 72.54 % is mono-terpenoids, 21.96 % is sesquterpenoids and 5.49 % is non-terpenoid constituents.

The aim of this study is to determine the presence of pathogenic bacteria and fungi in the hospital environment. The samples for the study were obtained from the hospital wards and were taken from the indoor air during, before and after disinfection by means of settle plate method. Nutrient agar, Blood agar, Macconkey agar, and Sabouraud‘s dextrose agar were used for isolation of bacteria and fungi respectively. 35 bacterial species and 19 fungal species were cultured from the hospital wards.

An efficient protocol was described for rapid callus induction and regeneration from internodal explants of Vitex negundo (Verbenaceae) which is a woody, aromatic and medicinal plant. For callus induction and regeneration, Particular plant growth regulators were used, which are auxins such as 2,4-D and NAA in combination with cytokinin BAP. The explants were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS, 1962) medium augmented with different concentrations of auxins and cytokinins individually and in mixture of combinations for callus induction.

Batch absorption studies were carried out to evaluate the Pb2+ adsorption capacities of different fired clay soils with different particle size distributions. Adsorption efficiency was observed to increase with an increase in clay content. Adsorption efficiencies of the fired clay soils were also influenced by the firing temperature, the solutions acidity, initial Pb2+ concentrations, shaking time and adsorbent dose.

Anemia is a common health problem among women throughout the world. However, there has been minimal research on farm women’s concepts of anemia. The present study was thus undertaken with the objective to assess the agro-socio-economic factors related to haemoglobin content of farm women, of West Bengal, India. The study was confined to the women of age group of 19-60 years. A total of 211 women were selected randomly. Their haemoglobin (%) was measured by collecting blood samples.

Dyes are coloured substances which can adhere to the surface of material and are used to give colour to paper, food stuffs and various textiles such as cotton, wool, synthetic fibre, silk etc. Dyeing of textiles has been practiced for thousands of years. The present work focuses on dyeing of cotton and wool by dyes like malachite green and vasantha colour. Also the dyeing properties of cotton without using the mordant is also analysed.

The prevalence of post operative wound infections and its antimicrobial resistance pattern may vary from region to region and was included in this study. A battery of 108 post operative wound cases were included thereby various potential bacterial pathogens isolated from 94 patients and 134 isolates were possibly recovered. Among them Staphylococcus aureus (29.8%) predominated, followed by Escherchia coli (14.2%), Klebsiella pneumonia (11.9%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (3%), Proteus mirabilis (1.5%), Serratia marcescens (0.7%) and Candida albicans (0.7%).

Chandrakundam pond is one of the significant holistic faith ponds in Bhimavaram Town, Andhra Pradesh, India. In the present study aim is to assess the quality of Chandrakundam pond water for determining whether its suitability for drinking purposes otherwise sea water intrusion. For present study the Chandrakundam pond water samples were collected seasonally, pre-monsoon and monsoon during the year of 2013 from four different sampling stations.

Verticillium dahliae Kleb., the cause of Verticillium wilt is a major threat, which is known as “cancer” in cotton. However, currently available conventional fungicides are less effective due to its long persistency as mycelia and microsclerotia. The objective of the present study was to find out the optimum and most effective treatment for the suppression of this drastic disease. Ten modern fungicides alone and in combination with butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and sodium alginate (SA) were tested under laboratory conditions.

Mango Malformation Diseases (MMD) is one of the serious threats, causing tremendous economic losses every year to mango growers/contractors. In the current study, six fungi were isolated from primary and secondary tissues of malformed parts of the inflorescence. The fungi identified as Fusarium nivale, F. oxysporum, F. moniliforme, F. semitectum, Alternaria alternata and Aspergillus niger. F. nivale was isolated predominantly from the diseased samples collected from Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad, Tando Allah Yar and Sanghar districts. F.