Prenatal diagnosis of anencephaly and acrania in pregnant females – Report series of eight cases

Acrania and anencephaly are characterized by the partial or complete absence of skull and brain tissue. Due to this, the neural tissue is exposed and it leads to non-function of few parts of the hemispheres. A total of eight cases of acrania and anencephaly were included in the report. Five cases were acrania and three cases were anencephaly. Both cases were diagnosed between 15 and 24 weeks of gestation period. In the present report, all the pregnant women carry fetuses with neural tube defects. Out of five acrania cases, there is a partial or complete absence of cranium in all the cases, and in one case, there is a twin intrauterine gestational sac that was noted. However, out of twin sac, the first one is having a good heart rate (155 bpm) and the second fetus is having no cardiac activity, i.e., early fetal demise. On the other hand, out of three anencephaly cases, two anencephaly cases were diagnosed with partial absence of the fetal brain and the complete absence of the cranium, and in one case, there is a partial absence of cerebral parenchymal tissue above the orbit with the absence of cranial vault. By the use of ultrasonography, we can diagnose the anencephaly and acrania at a very early stage without any side effects. The cause of anencephaly and acrania is dependent on the number of factors one of which is a folic acid deficiency. Sentence is reviewed and corrected): It is always better to consume the folic acid supplements that are advised by the physician during the planning of pregnancy to avoid the congenital anomalies of the fetus like anencephaly and acrania. The ultimate focus of the study is to evaluate the morphology of the fetus in case of anencephaly and acrania which could lead to the early detection of abnormalities and also to create awareness among people to take folic acid supplements to eschew such abnormalities.

Optimization of media composition for D-amino acid oxidase production by Trigonopsis variabilis using biostatistical analysis.

D-amino acid oxidase (DAAO) is biotechnologically relevant enzyme that is used in various food and pharmaceutical industries. DAAO from the yeast Trigonopsis variabilis is an important agent for use in commercial applications because of its high activity with cephalosporin C and is reasonable resistant to the oxidants O2 and H2O2 byproducts of reaction. In this study, response surface methodology (RSM) in shake flask culture was used to enhance the production of DAAO from T. variabilis by optimization of fermentation media composition. The effects of six factors (DL-alanine, glucose, pH, ZnSO4, (NH4)2SO4 and temperature) were evaluated on DAAO production. Results of Placket-Burman design showed that DL-alanine, pH, glucose and ZnSO4 were significant factors for DAAO production (P<0.05). The optimum values of media components as predicted by the central composite design were inducer (DL-alanine) concentration 3 g/L, pH 7.7, glucose 17 g/L and ZnSO4 34 mg/L. At these optimum values of media composition, maximum production of DAAO was 153 U/g yeast dry weight. Two-fold increase in DAAO production was achieved after optimization of the physical parameters by RSM.

Antifeedant activity of plant extracts to an insect Helopeltis theivora.

The different solvent extracts (viz Petroleum ether, Ethyl acetate and Methanol) obtained from leaves and flowers of Heliotropium indicum and Spilanthes calva were screened for antifeedant activity against Helopeltis theivora. All the six different extracts showed antifeedant activity at four different concentrations. The methanolic extracts of leaves of Heliotropium indicum and Spilanthes calva exhibited significant activity at 4% concentration. The numbers of spots produced were only 18.67 and 22.67 respectively, which are significantly less than the number of spots produced in control (104.00 and 93.33 respectively). The treatment with methanolic extracts of flowers of both the plants significantly reduced the number of feeding spots to 22.33 and 23.67 respectively in comparison to the control values of 101.33. All the activities are dose dependent. The mean results with SEM (mean±SE) were statistically significant at 1% level (p<0.01) for three observations.

Lipolytic activity from Rhizopus arrhizus using solid state fermentation in biphasic system

The hydrolytic activity of extracellular lipases (Triacylglycerol hydrolase EC 3.1.1.3) from Rhizopus arrhizus; in a water-organic solvent biphasic system was investigated. The purpose of the work was to examine the conditions for best lipolysis reactions by microbial lipase in microaqueous biphasic system with special emphasis on the involvement of surfactants; metal ions and a chelating agent in the system for biocatalysis and enzyme stability. The lipases were produced from a Rhizopus arrhizus strain; using rice bran as solid substrate; by solid state fermentation. The activity of lipases was found to be optimum at 30 oC and pH 6.5. The effect of different solvents on hydrolytic activity was carried out and isooctane was selected as the solvent of choice. The hydrolytic power exhibited by lipases in a biphasic system was compared with that displayed in aqueous system (phosphate buffer pH 6.5). The effects of various metal ions and a chelating agent on hydrolytic activity in biphasic system were also studied. Among the metal ions tested; Ca2+ had an activating effect; Zn2+; Cu2+; Co2+ and the chelating agent (EDTA) had little inhibitory effect; and Fe3+ showed the highest inhibitory effect. The activating effect of Ca2+ on hydrolytic activity was highest at pH 6.5. Mg2+; Na+ and K+ had no significant effect on lipolysis. The Km value for the enzyme in the solvent isooctane (Km = 91.6 mg/ml) was less as compared to the Km value in the buffer (Km =110 mg/ml). Among the surfactants tested; non-ionic surfactants had the highest effect with Triton X-100

Overweight, hypertension and ECG changes in menopausal women in West Bengal.

The prevalence of overweight with related changes in ECG and blood pressure (BP) were studied in thirty menopausal women from different districts of West Bengal to assess the effects of menopause on weight, BP and on heart in them with review of the literature. Both hypertension and ischaemia were increased to 77% and 43% in the study group compared to control group values of 50% and 30% respectively. All the 3 persons in the control group showing ischaemic change were hypertensive while among 13 persons in the study group who showed ischaemia; 3 had normal BP and 10 were hypertensive. In the menopausal (study) group, 30% showed irregularities of heart rate compared to 10% women in the premenopausal (control) group. The dramatic effect of exercise in reducing the ECG changes seen in the control group were not seen in the study group.