The Microsporidian diseases are becoming major constraint for the production of silkworm and honeybees. The diseases are causing considerable yield loss to sericulture and apiculture industry. At present, no proper protozoan disease management strategies are available. Hence, there is a need for identification and screening of pathogen protein targeted drugs for the containment of diseases in rearing condition. In the present study, the different available drugs were screened against the active sites of aquaporins of Nosema bombycis and Nosema cerenae by using different in silico methods. Three dimensional structures of aquaporins of N. bombycis and N. cerenae were elucidated by using protein modelling tools. The active sites of the proteins were identified by using CASTp server. The docking between the drugs and active site of aquaporins was carried out by using Auto Dock Vina. The interaction between drugs and active site was visualized by using Chimera. Based on the results of the present study the existing antiprotozoan drugs viz., paramomycin sulfate, pentamidine, quinapyramine and proguanil can be used as potent drugs that can block the active sites of aquaporin proteins of both Nosema species.

HIV pandemic is spreading rapidly all over the world. India and china reported the maximum number of cases within Asia. Most common parasitic diseases causing diarrhoea in HIV infected patients are cryptosporidiosis, isosporiasis, cyclosporiasis and microsporidiosis etc. The prevalence of HIV infection differs from place to place and the pattern of parasitic infections also varies as well. This study is conducted to assess the pattern and prevalence of parasitic infections in HIV positive patients at a rural medical college of Maharashtra. The most common HIV infected age group was 21-30 years both in case of males as well as in females, followed by the age group of 31-40 years. Most common parasite isolated was Cryptosporidium parvum followed by Giardia lamblia. More than 1/3rd of the stool samples were positive for intestinal parasites. Most patients presented with complaints of diarrhoea. Diarrhoeal disease is very prevalent in HIV infected patients. Our study focuses on the aim to increase awareness about the high prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections in HIV infected patients. So routine stool examination is necessary to check for presence of intestinal parasites, that will help in implementing control measures and will reduce the morbidity and mortality in HIV infected patients.

Endophytic bacteria could boost coffee production in Cote d Ivoire. This study evaluated the endophytic potentialities of coffee to be integrated into ecological engineering. Endophytes of Robusta have been isolated. Fifteen endophytes including 10 roots and 5 leaves were isolated. Bacillus, Actinomycetes and Pseudomonas have been identified. Ten isolates were tolerant to NaCl up to 10% and 3 isolates to KCl for the same concentrations. Thirteen isolates tolerated potassium nitrate up to 8% while sodium nitrate inhibited even 1%. These bacteria were able to grow in a pH range (4 to 12). With the exception of ciprofloxacin, other antibiotics have been tolerated up to at least 75 μgmL-1. Good tolerance to heavy metals up to 50 μgmL-1 was noted for at least 70% of strains. This study confirms the coffee tree as a natural host of endophytic bacteria, which would be well controlled to help the sustainable production of Robusta.

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is one of the important fruit crops, nowadays is highly threatened by the wilt caused by Ceratocystis fimbriata. Eleven bioagents were evaluated in vitro against Ceratocystis fimbriata. Among the bio agents tested, Trichoderma harzianum, Trichoderma isolate 1 and Trichoderma isolate 5 recorded the maximum percent inhibition of mycelial growth (100%). It was found significantly superior to the rest of the bioagents tested. This was followed by Trichoderma isolate 4, Trichoderma virens, Trichoderma isolate 2 and Pseudomonas fluorescens. Whereas, the minimum parasitic activity was noticed in case of Pseudomonas putida (43.12%), Paecilomyces lilacinus (44.98%), Trichoderma isolate 3 (48.94%) and Bacillus subtilis (55.00%).

Rubella virus when contracted during pregnancy results in miscarriage, stillbirth or congenital rubella syndrome (CRS), characterized by deafness, heart disease and cataract. In the present study, blood samples were obtained from 200 antenatal women aged 19-35 years with Bad obstetric history. Sera was separated and tested using ELISA kits provided by Ratio Diagnostics, Frankfurt, Germany.32 and 92 samples were positive for Rubella IgM and IgG antibodies respectively. Only 8 cases were positive for both Rubella IgM and IgG. Rubella seropositivity was highest amongst women who had history of abortion (41.94%) followed by intrauterine death (22.58%). Maximum number of cases (58.06%) belonged to 25-30 years age group, 40.32%cases were in 19-24 years age group. Majority of cases (60.48%) belonged to rural areas. 45.16% seropositive women were housewives, 27.42% were farmers, 19.35% women were labourers. 37.09% cases had education till primary or middle school level and 34.67% cases were illiterate. Thus, we concluded that women of this geographical area may be contracting Rubella infection due to poor hygienic conditions, low level of education, staying indoors which implied poor living conditions.

The culture media Niger Seed Agar, Sabouraud Malt Yeast Extract Agar, Oat Agar, Rice Agar and Sabouraud were evaluated for the vegetative growth and sporulation of the entomopathogenic fungi Beauveria caledonica, Beauveria bassiana, Isaria javanica, Metarhizium anisopliae and the endophytic fungi Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Botryosphaeria dothidea and Nectria pseudotrichia, all with potential against pests and diseases. The Niger Seed Agar presented a significant difference regarding sporulation in relation to the other media and its production cost was lower comparing to SMAY. Therefore, the Niger Seed Agar medium was selected for optimization of temperature and photophase. In general, the factorial analysis showed that these factors influenced significantly the growth of endophytic fungi and the sporulation of entomopathogens. This is the first study to demonstrate the efficiency of the Niger Seed Agar for sporulation of filamentous fungi. It is an economically viable alternative for the development of processes aiming the commercial production of bioinsecticides and biofungicides.

Campylobacter is a leading foodborne zoonosis, and is frequently associated with the handling and consumption of poultry meat. Various studies have indicated that Campylobacter causes a substantial human disease burden in low to middle income countries. With the rapid growth of urban conglomerates, such as India’s commercial capital Mumbai, changes in diets, food production and retailing dynamics, it is likely that exposure to this pathogen will impact a significant role. It was thought worthwhile to conduct a preliminary study of the prevalence of Campylobacter species in retail poultry locales from Mumbai. In this study, 74% of the 120 retail poultry meat samples were found to be contaminated with Campylobacter which on speciation using multiplex PCR were differentiated to C. jejuni (57%) and C. coli (29.8%). The high incidence of Campylobacter in poultry meat in the city is indicative of its emergence as a potential risk to the consumers.

Introduction: Tuberculosis [TB] is a major public health concern worldwide over the last decades. About 80% of the global TB burden is in low income countries. Globally Multi drug resistant Tuberculosis caused an estimated 6 lack new TB cases and 2.40000 deaths in 2016.MDR TB accounts for 4.1% of all new TB and 19% of previously treated cases. Most of them occur in South America, Southern Africa, India, China and the former Soviet Union. Microbial diagnosis of TB consists of conventional and molecular methods but decontamination plays major role for perfect staining and cultures. Material and methods: 60 pulmonary samples were treated with benzalkonium chloride Tri-sodium phosphate and NALC-NaOH methods. All processed for ZN staining and LJ cultures were incubated at 37°C for 8 weeks. Results: Out of 60 respiratory clinical samples, 36 (60%) clinical samples were Z-N smear positive and 24(40%) were Z-N smear negative. Culture positivity was observed as 33 (55%) by NALC-NAOH method and 35 (58.3%) by Benzalkonium chloride method. Conclusion: Benalkonium chloride trisodium phosphate appears to be a reasonable incorporation in decontamination procedure and is fairly non-toxic to mycobacterium to improve growth in culture and a reasonably better mucolytic reagent.

Butea monosperma (Fabaceae) is popularly known as 'palas' or ‘Flame of forest’ is traditionally reported to possess aphrodisiac, antidiabetic, antidiarrhoeal, antiestrogenic, antifertility, antistress, chemo preventive, etc. The current work was envisaged on development of a suitable dosage form by incorporating methanolic extract B.monosperma for anti-cancer activity. In microscopic studies it had revealed the presence of abundant xylem fibres and xylem vessels. The methanolic extract of stem bark showed the presence of phytoconstituents like flavonoids, tannins and glycosides. The stem bark extracts was screened for the in vitro anti-cancer activity with different methods like anti mitotic activity, MTT assay and Trypan blue exclusion methods. The methanolic extract of stem bark showed moderate anti-cancer activity compared to standard drugs. Further the extract was formulated into a tablet and it was evaluated. The tablets passed all the evaluation parameters as per standard book of reference.