Studies on effects of chronic exposure of endosulfan to Labeo rohita.

The major carp, Labeo rohita (Hamilton) upon chronic exposure to endosulfan showed hyperglycemia (60.11 to 117.71 mg 100 ml-1) and hypercholestemia (51.78 to 76.87 mg 100 ml-1) of blood when compared to the control. As a result of the insecticidal stress, the tissue metabolites and enzymes like AST and ALT revealed significant alterations. The hormones T3 (0.53 to 1.35 /ml l-1) and TSH (0.48 to 0.32 /ml l-1) were also affected by the endosulfan even in sub lethal concentration. Signficant histopathological alterations were observed in liver and gill of treated fishes. The reason for the significant alterations in tissue sugars, aminoacids, cholesterol, protein, enzymes and homones and the histopathological changes is discussed.

Antibacterial effects of goat and chicken heart tissues against human pathogenic bacteria.

The crude buffer (Tris Buffer Saline-I) extracts of muscles, liver, kidney and heart of goat and chicken (White leghorn) were screened against 16 clinical isolates. Among the five tissues, the heart tissue of each animal showed significant bactericidal activities on many isolates. The acid extracted crude proteins of both heart tissues also showed significant antibacterial activities against many bacterial isolates. The crude proteins of goat heart tissues displayed strong bactericidal activities against Salmonella paratyphi ‘A’ and Salmonella typhimurium (MIC: 16 g/ml) whereas the crude proteins of chicken heart tissues displayed strong bactericidal activities against Escherichia coli ATCC and Pseudomonas aeruginosa at 16 and 63 g/ml concentrations respectively. The peptides of low molecular weight (< 30 kDa) were also separated from the acid extracted crude proteins of goat and chicken heart tissues by SDS-PAGE after staining with silver nitrate solution.

Polymorphism in B-DNA: X-ray diffraction studies on Li-DNA fibres.

From X-ray diffraction studies it is generally believed that B-DNA has the structural parameters n = 10 and h = 3·4 Å. However, for the first time we report that polymorphism in the B-form can be observed in DNA fibres. This was achieved by the precise control of salt and humidity in fibres and by the application of the precession method of X-ray diffraction to DNA fibres. The significant result obtained is that n = 10 is not observed for crystalline fibre patterns. In fact, n = 10 and h = 3·4 Å are not found to occur simultaneously. Instead, a range of values, n = 9·6–10·0 and h = 3·35 Å–3·41 Å is observed.