Studies on the effect of dry Sundakai (solanum torvum) powder supplementation on lipid profile,glycated proteins and amino acids in non-insulin dependent diabetic patients

The effect of dry Sundakai powder supplementation (7 g providing 1.23 g of crude fibre) on glycemic control, lipidemic control, total amino acids and uronic acid was studied on 30 non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus patients. All the patients were on hypoglycemic drugs. The above parameters were monitored at day 1, 15 and 30 days. After one month of fibre supplementation, no significant changes were observed with respect to glucose, lipid profile, glycated proteins, total amino acids and uronic acid levels in these subjects.     

Genotypic and phenotypic characterization of Edwardsiella isolates from different fish species and geographical areas in Asia: Implications for vaccine development

The genus Edwardsiella is one of the major causes of fish diseases globally. Herein, we examined 37 isolates from ten different fish species from India, South Korea and Taiwan to gain insight into their phenotypic and genotypic properties, of which 30 were characterized as E. tarda with phenotypic homology estimated at 85.71% based on API‐20E biochemical tests. Genotyping using 16S rRNA put all isolates together with E. anguillarum, E. hoshinae, E. tarda, E. piscicida and E. ictaluri reference strains in a monophyletic group. In contrast, the gyrB phylogenetic tree clearly separated E. ictaluri, E. tarda and E. hoshinae reference strains from our isolates and put our isolates into two groups with group I being homologous with the E. anguillarum reference strain while group II was homologous with the E. piscicida reference strain. Hence, our findings point to E. piscicida and E. anguillarum as species infecting different fish species in Asia. Homology of the ompW protein suggested that strains with broad protective coverage could be identified as vaccine candidates. This study underscores the importance of combining genotyping with phenotyping for valid species classification. In addition, it accentuates the importance of phylogenetic comparison of bacterial antigens for identification of potential vaccine candidates.     

Simultaneous presence of infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV) and Type A virus-related sequence in Penaeus monodon from India

Detection of infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV) in shrimp is complicated by the fact that certain virus-related sequences are integrated into the genome of Penaeus monodon in some parts of the world, which has been reported so far from Africa and Australia. In this study, we evaluated the highly specific and sensitive diagnostic primer sets for detection of infectious IHHNV and integrated virus-related sequence in 177 samples of P. monodon from India. A nested primer set, IHHNV648F/R and IHHNV309F/R was used to specifically detect infectious IHHNV and not the virus-related sequences. IHHNV was detected in 67.4% postlarvae (PL) and 34% adult samples using this primer set. The OIE recommended primers IHHNV392F/R and IHHNV389F/R gave positive reaction for 86.7% PL and 67% adult samples, while the primer pair 77012F and 77353R gave positive reaction with 46.7% PL and 20% adult samples. These primers were found to detect virus-related sequence integrated into the shrimp genome. The analysis of virus-related sequence by MG831F/R primers showed that 33.7% PL and 31.7% adult shrimp possessed Type A virus-related sequence. 22.8% PL and 10.5% adults had both IHHNV and Type A virus-related sequence. Cloning and sequencing 832 bp virus-related sequence from P. monodon from India revealed presence of five shrimp DNA markers between 439 and 825 bp. This study is the first conclusive report on the presence of Type A virus-related sequence in P. monodon from India.