ABSTRACT
The aim of the study was to determine the postharvest fruit quality of mango cv. Alphonso treated with the laboratory grade (LG) and commercial grade (CG) Calcium Carbide (CaC2) at the reported highest acceptable dose, and elemental composition analysis (EDX) results to support the statements for traceability of hazardous trace elements in CaC2, which can serve as a basis towards developing sensors for identifying CaC2 treated mangoes through detection of trace elements. Physical, physiological, biochemical and EDX of mango cv. Alphonso harvested from farmers’ field of Santur village in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu, India were used for the study. All studied physical characteristics except fruit firmness of CG CaC2 treated fruits did not correlate to desirable fruit characteristics like total soluble solids (TSS), pH, titrable acidity, total sugars and ascorbic acid. Besides, these parameters were only in control fruits, though a number of days taken to reach fruit consumption stage was relatively more compared to CaC2 treatment. In vitro, free radical scavenging potential of DPPH was comparatively higher in control fruits than CaC2 treated fruits of both grades. Lab grade (LG) CaC2 treated fruits were non-significant in modifying physical, physiological and biochemical properties of mango cv. Alphonso except for TSS. However, at the end of the experimental period, CG CaC2 treated fruits recorded higher TSS than LG CaC2 treated fruits. Energy Dispersive X-Ray (EDX) results confirmed traceability of health hazardous chemical substances of arsenic (As) and phosphorous (P) in both LG and CG CaC2 lumps. Calcium carbide when used as an artificial ripening agent was not in contact with the fruit surface, the presence of arsenic and phosphorus were not detected in the EDX spectrum, a novel finding of our study.
ABSTRACT
Background and Objectives: Leptospirosis is a potentially fatal bacterial disease that mimics many diseases; therefore, laboratory confi rmation is pivotal. Though microscopic agglutination test (MAT) is accepted as World Health Organisation (WHO) reference test, it has got many pitfalls such as being hazardous, tedious, cumbersome and expensive. Counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIE) is popularly used for diagnosing many infectious diseases but rarely for Leptospirosis. The aim of this study is to fi nd suitability of CIE for the routine laboratory diagnostic purposes. Materials and Methods: Repeat sampling (paired sera) was possible from 401 subjects of which 181 were in-patients of Salem Government General and Private Hospitals and the remaining 220 MAT negative healthy College students gave their consent for the study. All the 802 sera samples were collected from January 2009 to November 2012 and subjected to the present study. After carrying out MAT and CIE on the suspected and control samples, a comparative evaluation was conducted. McNemars test method was used to fi nd out the signifi cant difference between the two tests in the early diagnosis. Result: The sensitivity, specifi city, Positive Predictive value (PPV), Negative Predictive value (NPV) and Effi ciency test for CIE were 96.80%, 89.28%, 95.23%, 92.59% and 94.47%, respectively. The corresponding values for MAT were 95.90%, 89.83%, 95.08%, 91.37% and 93.92%, respectively. There was no signifi cant difference between MAT and CIE at 95% and 99% confi dence intervals according to McNemars test. P value in the early stage of illness was greater for CIE than MAT when Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was used as Gold Standard of diagnosis. Interpretation and conclusion: It was concluded that the CIE could be advantageous over MAT due to its safety, rapidity, simplicity, economic and easy for large number of samples. It can answer little earlier than MAT and found as reliable as that of MAT. Since both the tests had shown similar effi cacies in the later stage of the illness, the importance could be given to CIE due to early diagnosis.
ABSTRACT
Detached inflorescences of guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba), each bearing 4 uniformly-developing pods at 42 days post anthesis (DPA), were cultured for 6 days in complete liquid medium manipulated with a fixed concentration of mannose and varying concentration of myo-inositol. Such inflorescences, but with 2 pods, were also maintained in the solutions of (i) glucose(U-14C) containing myo-inositol or phytohormones, and (ii) mannose(U-14C) containing galactose for 36 hr. Effect of such exogenously supplied metabolic mediators on interconversion of free sugars in pod wall, endosperm and cotyledons and galactomannan accumulation in endosperm was studied. Myo-inositol decreased, over control, the relative proportion of invert sugars in pod wall, endosperm and cotyledons and at lower concentration (27.75 mM) it decreased the level of free sugars in pod wall and galactomannan in endosperm. In all pod tissues, 14C from both glucose and mannose got incorporated into myo-inositol as well as various sugars and maximum incorporation occurred in sucrose. High concentration of total free sugars and their 14C activity in pod wall indicated that this pod tissue was a potent accumulator of free sugars. With myoinositol, the relative proportion of 14C from glucose into raffinose sugars of pod wall and endosperm increased with a simultaneous decrease in this incorporation into galactomannan of the latter. Accompanying this, relative proportion of 14C into hexoses and myo-inositol decreased in pod tissues. Galactose increased 14C incorporation from mannose into total free sugars, sucrose and galactomannan with a concomitant decline in the labelling of hexoses. IAA and ABA enhanced 14C incorporation from glucose into total free sugars and this enhancement was much higher with IAA than ABA. The latter inhibited 14C incorporation into galactomannan. Based on these results, it was suggested that myo-inositol at lower concentration was inadequate to mediate the metabolism of sugars and, thereby, galactomannan synthesis. Galactose and mannose exhibited a mutual beneficial effect on their transportation to pods. Phytohormones stimulated the accumulation of sucrose in pod wall for its obligatory unloading into the seed.