Assessment Of Quality of Life Among PLHIV Attending the FIART Clinic of Bankura Sammilani Medical College, West Bengal

Introduction: People Living with HIV (PLHIV) are facing increasing challenges pertaining to the disease as life expectancy is gradually rising. This study was conducted to assess the quality of life (QOL) in vari-ous domains among PLHIV and to find out its’ associated factors. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted in Facility Integrated Antiretroviral Thera-py (FIART) clinic of Bankura Sammilani Medical College & Hospital (BSMCH) among 99 PLHIV from 01/07/2019 to 30/06/2020. Data were collected by interviewing PLHIV aged within 18-60 years using pre-designed, pre-tested, and semi-structured questionnaire incorporating WHO Quality of Life for HIV (WHOQOL-HIV) - BREF version to assess the QOL of the study subjects in various domains.Results: 44% participants rated their QOL as good, 79% satisfied with their health. Among all other do-mains, QOL score (median- 17.0, IQR- 4) was found highest in physical domain, while it was lowest (me-dian- 14.0, IQR- 2) in spiritual domain. Overall QOL was significantly higher in males, rural residents, joint family and higher socio-economic class. Multiple linear regression revealed statistically significant relation of overall QOL with residence, family type and socio-economic status. Conclusion: Psychological and spiritual well-being of PLHIVs is an area of concern and requires clinical attention.

Development of Protocol for Production of Primary Antibody against Ovalbumin Protein in Chicken for Detection of the Protein through Western Blotting

Ovalbumin, a major protein of egg white plays many roles including providing nutrition to the developing embryo, acting as coagulating agent, folliculogenesis and angiogenesis in chicken and other animals. This protein is expressed mainly in magnum and then deposited over the yolk of the oocyte/zygote. Hence, it is important in formation of egg and is an essential target to measure. We cloned chicken ovalbumin CDS in pAcGFP-C1 vector and has been initially expressed in chicken primary magnum cell culture. The ovalbumin protein tagged with 6x Histidine was purified from cell culture and used for production of primary antibody in rat. The ovalbumin protein along with freund’s adjuvant was injected to the rat, booster was given, and finally, hyper-immune sera was collected from rat. The antisera was purified for isolation of IgG. The IgG was used as primary antibody for Western blotting. Through Western blotting, ovalbumin protein isolated from chicken magnum was detected and the protocol was established to detect chicken ovalbumin protein.

Biodegradation of phenol by native microorganisms isolated from coke processing wastewater.

The present investigation was undertaken to assess the biodegradation of phenol by native bacteria strains isolated from coke oven processing wastewater. The strains were designated ESDSPB1, ESDSPB2 and ESDSPB3 and examined for colony morphology Gram stain characters and biochemical tests. Phenol degrading performance of all the strains was evaluated initially. One of the strains namely ESDSPB2 was found to be highly effective for the removal of phenol, which was used as sole carbon and energy source. From an initial concentration of 200 mg l-1 it degraded to 79.84 ± 1.23 mg l-1. In turn the effect of temperature (20 to 450C), pH (5 – 10) and glucose concentration (0, 0.25 and 0.5%) on the rate of phenol degradation by that particular strain was investigated. Observations revealed that the rate of phenol biodegradation was significantly affected by pH, temperature of incubation and glucose concentration. The optimal conditions for phenol removal were found to be pH of 7 (84.63% removal), temperature, 300C (76.69% removal) and 0.25% supplemented glucose level (97.88% removal). The main significance of the study is the utilization of native bacterial strains from the waste water itself having potential of bioremediation.

Isolation and characterization of high quality DNA from marine benthic macroalgae.

The isolation of high quality DNA is essential for many molecular biology applications including polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and endonuclease restriction digestion based techniques. An easy and inexpensive protocol has been developed for extracting genomic DNA from seven species of algae viz. Lola capillaries, Enteromorpha intestinalis, Ulva lactuca and Rhizoclonium sp belonging to Chlorophyceae, Catenella nipae, Polysiphonia mollis belonging to Rhodophyceae and Dictyota ceylanica belonging to Phaeophyceae group were collected from the coastal regions of Sunderban delta in West Bengal, India dominantly growing on mud flats, bark of different mangrove trees, pneumatophores, stilt roots, concrete surfaces, wooden and bamboo poles, sides of the boats and other water vehicles inundated during high tides. The DNA was found suitable for restriction endonuclease digestion and PCR amplification with randomely amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) primers. The A260/A280 ratio of 1.15 0.14 to 1.94 indicated little contamination from proteins and polysaccharides. The PCR amplification with RAPD primers showed its suitability in PCR based techniques and the restriction digestion with Eco RV confirmed its suitability for hybridization based techniques. The protocol is equally good for isolating DNA from both fresh as well as preserved materials.

Impact of Ni(II), Zn(II) and Cd(II) on biogassification of potato waste.

A study was conducted on anaerobic digestion of potato waste and cattle manure mixture, inoculated with 12% inoculum and diluted to 1:1 substrate water ratio at 37 +/- 1 degrees C. Initially pH of substrate was found to be 4.5 to 5.0. Lime and sodium bicarbonate solutions were employed to adjust the pH to 7.5. Biogas production continued up to 10 and 7 days, when lime and sodium bicarbonate solutions were used to adjust the pH, respectively. Biogassification potential was studied in response to different ratio of waste and cattle manure. Biogas production rate was higher when potato waste and cattle manure were used in 50:50 ratio. Effect of two different concentrations (2.5 and 5.0 ppm) of three heavy metals viz. (Ni (II), Zn (II) and Cd (II)) on anaerobic digestion of substrate (potato waste--cattle manure, 50:50) was studied. At 2.5 ppm, all the three heavy metals increased biogas production rate over the control value. The percentage increase in biogas production over the control was highest by Cd, followed by Ni and Zn. In all the treatments, methane content of biogas increased with increase in time after feeding. Various physico-chemical parameters viz. total solids, total volatile solids, total organic carbon and chemical oxygen demand considerably declined after 7 days of digestion and decline was greater in presence of heavy metals as compared to control. The physico-chemical parameters revealed maximum decrease in the presence of 2.5-ppm concentrations of heavy metals with the substrate. Among all the three heavy metals employed in the study, Cd++ at 2.5 ppm was found to produce maximum biogas production rate. The use of three heavy metals to enhance biogas production from potato and other horticultural waste is discussed.

Influence of industrial pollutants on thyroid function in Channa punctatus (Bloch).

A 30 day exposure of C. punctatus to sublethal levels of phenol, ammonia, mercuric chloride, cadmium chloride and a mixture of the four resulted in an overall activation of guaiacol peroxidase and depression of iodide peroxidase (IPOD) activity and blood T4 titre. Interestingly enough, in case of 15 day ammonia and 1 day mercury exposures, an increase of IPOD activity was accompanied by a decrease in T4 titre. In general, phenol, mercury, cadmium and the mixture of pollutants were found to inhibit LP activity by 56% to 85% while ammonia inhibited lysosomal protease (LP) activity by 70%. Alterations in acid phosphatase (AP) activity indicate changes in the lysosomal membrane characteristics caused by these toxicants. Considering the concomitant alterations in IPOD, T4, LP and AP it is surmised that thyroid function in C. punctatus is influenced by the pollutants by two pathways, one via IPOD pathway affecting T4 synthesis and the other via lysosomal pathway affecting T4 release.