Nucleoside diphosphate kinase, NDK, plays a vital role in maintaining pools of nucleoside triphosphates and their respective deoxynucleoside triphosphates for the synthesis of RNA and DNA. Transcriptional regulation of ndk in mycoacteria remains unknown, although modulation of ndk expression under stress conditions involving DNA and, RNA synthesis arrest and cell division arrest had been studied in several bacterial systems. Therefore, in the present study, the start sites of transcription of ndk of Mycobacterium smegmatis (Msmndk) were identified and putative promoter regions were predicted. Using transcriptional fusions of the cloned putative promoter regions to mycobacterial codon-optimised reporter gene, gfpm 2+, promoter activity was examined under active phase of growth, nutrient starvation and other stress conditions involving DNA replication inhibition and cell division arrest. Msmndk was found to be expressed through two transcripts, T1 and T2, arising from P1 and P2 promoters, respectively. Both the promoters belonged to C group of mycobacterial promoters, which do not possess consensus to any known canonical sigma factor recognition sequences. The levels of T2, but not of T1, were found to be low under the different stress conditions studied. The data documents modulation of ndk transcripts in mycobacteria.

Introduction: Corneal diseases are a major cause of vision loss and blindness, and caused by bacteria, fungi and protozoa. However, within the topics, as many as two third of ulcer may be due to filamentous fungi and distribution may vary considerably between continents and countries and also within countries. It is essential to determine the local etiology within a given region when planning a corneal ulcer management strategy. Aim: To identify local etiology for corneal ulceration at a tertiary care hospital in western India during a period of Jan 2007 to Dec 2010. Methods: Patients clinically suspected of microbial keratitis were recruited in the study. Corneal ulceration was defined as a loss corneal epithelium with clinical evidence of infection with or without hypopyon. Microscopy and culture were performed by standard conventional method. Result: Of 271 patients investigated fungal etiology was established in 68 (25.9%) of which 48(70.58%) were males. Among the fungal isolates, filamentous fungi, ie 53(77.94%) were predominant. Among these 24(45.28 %) were Aspergillus flavus followed by A. fumigates 9 (16.98%) and Fusarium spp. 8(15.9%). Of the 15 isolates of yeasts, Non Candida albicans were identified in 9(60%) cases. Conclusion: Infection by filamentous fungi are frequent cause of corneal damage in tropical developing countries and are difficult to treat. Microscopy and culture is an essential tool in the diagnosis of such infections. Knowledge of the “local” etiology within a region is of value in the management of suppurative keratitis.

Water hyacinth [Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms] is a noxious aquatic weed. In India,it has infested more than 200,000 ha of water surface. During the course of present investigation it was proposed to make an extensive, planned and systematic survey of fungal pathogens that destroy the water hyacinth from the ponds of M.P. The study was undertaken to evaluate the compatibility of two or more fungi for integrated management of water hyacinth. Results clearly indicate that except Alternaria eichhorniae all the pathogens are compatible to each other. In vivo the lesion diameters were greater on water hyacinth leaves when combination of pathogens were used than individual pathogens. The Alternaria alternata, Curvularia lunata and Fusarium pallidoroseum combination resulted in maximum disease development followed by A. alternata with C. lunata, A. alternata with F. pallidoroseum and C. lunata with F. pallidoroseum. Thus, it can be concluded that better management of the weed can be achieved by using combination of pathogens.

Flucloxacillin sodium (FLU) is a semi-synthetic penicillin active against many gram-positive bacteria such as streptococci and penicilinase-producing staphylococci, including methicillin-susceptible S. aureus. This study describes the development and validation of a microbiological assay, applying the diffusion agar method for the determination of FLU, as well as the evaluation of the ability of the method in determining the stability of FLU in capsules against acidic and basic hydrolysis, photolytic and oxidative degradations, using S. aureus ATCC 25923 as micro-organism test and 3 x 3 parallel line assay design (three doses of the standard and three doses of the sample in each plate), with six plates for each assay, according to the Brazilian Pharmacopoeia. The validation method showed good results including linearity, precision, accuracy, robustness and selectivity. The assay is based on the inhibitory effect of FLU using Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923. The results of the assay were treated by analysis of variance (ANOVA) and were found to be linear (r = 0.9997) in the range from 1.5 to 6.0 μg/mL, precise (repeatability: R.S.D. = 1.63 and intermediate precision: R.S.D. = 1.64) and accurate (98.96%). FLU solution (from the capsules) exposed to direct UVC light (254 nm), alkaline and acid hydrolysis and hydrogen peroxide causing oxidation were used to evaluate the specificity of the bioassay. Comparison of bioassay and liquid chromatography by ANOVA showed no difference between methodologies. The results demonstrated the validity of the proposed bioassay, which is a simple and useful alternative methodology for FLU determination in routine quality control.