Molasses growth medium for production of Rhizobium sp. based biofertilizer

Rhizobium forms symbiotic relationship with leguminous crops and is recommended for use in various legumes. Rhizobium sp. fix atmospheric nitrogen and make it available to legumes through formation of root nodules. Rhizobium biofertilizer production is carried out mostly by using semi-synthetic microbiological medium which forms major expense of this activity. Successful commercial production of biofertilizer can be enhanced by use of natural substrates, as molasses, cheese whey, corn steep liquor, for bacterial biomass production. The present work centers around the use of sugarcane molasses as a source of fermentable sugars. It was supplemented with various organic/inorganic nitrogen sources, chemical compounds to increase biomass yield and to increase the shelf life of the product thus prepared. Compliance to Fertilizer Control Order specifications was demonstrated in wet lab analysis.

A hospital-based study on knowledge, attitude and practice of pregnant women on gender preference, prenatal sex determination and female feticide.

India has witnessed a decline in sex ratio in the past few decades. A hospital-based cross-sectional study was carried out to find out the attitude toward gender preference and knowledge as well as practice toward prenatal sex determination and female feticide among pregnant women. A majority (66.0%) of the pregnant women did not show any gender preference, followed by male preference (22.2%) and female preference (11.8%). A high proportion, i.e. 84.7% and 89.7%, of the total subjects were aware that prenatal sex determination and female feticide is illegal, respectively.

Newborn with tail - a genetic throwback.

The birth of a child with a caudal appendage resembling a tail generates an unusual interest and anxiety. True human tail is a rare event; less than 40 cases have been reported in the literature so far. It is defined as a caudal, vestigial, midline protrusion of muscle and adipose tissue with skin covering. We are reporting a case of true tail in a baby, a rare event in human.

Use of polymerase chain reaction in analysing recombinant cDNA clones encoding storage proteins of chickpea Cicer arietinum L.

A simple and reliable method was undertaken for the use of polymerase chain reaction in analyzing cDNA clones. Amplification was done of the inserts from positive legumin clones isolated from a cDNA library constructed from developing chickpea cotyledons in the expression vector, gt11. Amplification was made simple by using oligonucleotide primers which allowed convenient sizing, subcloning and sequencing of inserts by di-deoxy chain termination method. This simple method may provide opportunity to isolate large number of agronomically important genes from gene libraries.

Lack of functional correlation between gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase and amino acid transport in the lactating mouse mammary gland.

Gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (EC 2.3.2.2) in lactating mouse mammary gland was inhibited by affinity labelling of the tissue with 6-diazo-5-oxo-L-norleucine. Amino acid (L-alanine, L-methionine) uptake by the affinity labelled mammary gland tissue and the control tissue was measured in vitro. Uptake of amino acids by the affinity-labelled tissue was comparable to that of control tissue. These findings suggest that gamma-glutamyl cycle is not involved in amino acid uptake by the mammary gland.

Correlation between antibodies to mannophosphoinositides & detection of antigen in circulating immune complexes in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.

Enzyme linked immunosorbent assays were used to detect the concentration of mannophosphoinositides in circulating immune complexes (CICs) and antibodies to these antigens in the sera of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. Serum samples from 235 tuberculosis patients at various levels of disease progression were analysed. Multiple regression analysis showed a direct correlation between antigen levels in CICs and serum antibodies to mannophosphoinositides.