Antioxidant and Antiglycative Potential of Ethyl Acetate Fraction of Psidium guajava Leaf Extract in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats

Hyperglycemia causes increased protein glycation and the formation of early glycation products and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) which are major factors responsible for the complications associated with diabetes. The aim of the present study was to investigate the antioxidant as well as antiglycative potential of ethyl acetate fraction of guava leaves. Oral administration of the extract at different doses showed a significant decrease in blood glucose level. It also showed an improved antioxidant potential as evidenced by decreased lipid peroxidation and a significant increase in the activity of various antioxidant enzymes such as catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase. Glycated hemoglobin as well as fructosamine which are indicators of glycation was also reduced significantly in treated groups when compared to diabetic control. In vitro studies also support the antioxidant as well as antiglycative potential of guava leaves.     

Assessment of transmission risk in WSSV-infected shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei upon cooking

White spot syndrome virus has been a threat to the global shrimp industry since it was discovered in Taiwan in 1992. Thus, shrimp-producing countries have launched regulations to prevent import of WSSV-infected commodity shrimp from endemic areas. Recently, cooked shrimp that is infected with WSSV tested positive by PCR. However, there is no study to determine the infectivity of WSSV in cooked shrimp that tested positive by PCR. In the present study, WSSV-infected shrimp were cooked at boiling temperature for different times including 0, 1, 3, 5, 10 and 30 min. Upon exposure to boiling temperature, WSSV-infected shrimp were fed to SPF shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei). The result showed experimentally challenged shrimp from 0-min treatment (positive control) indeed got infected with WSSV. However, experimentally challenged shrimp that were fed tissues boiled at 1, 3, 5, 10 and 30 min were not infected with WSSV. Mortality data showed that only the positive control (0-min) treatment displayed high mortality, whereas no mortality was observed in any other treatment category. These findings suggest that cooking shrimp at boiling temperature for at least 1 min might prevent any potential spread of WSSV from endemic countries to other geographical areas where WSSV has not yet been reported.     

The Paleozoic origin of enzymatic lignin decomposition reconstructed from 31 fungal genomes

Wood is a major pool of organic carbon that is highly resistant to decay, owing largely to the presence of lignin. The only organisms capable of substantial lignin decay are white rot fungi in the Agaricomycetes, which also contains non-lignin-degrading brown rot and ectomycorrhizal species. Comparative analyses of 31 fungal genomes (12 generated for this study) suggest that lignin-degrading peroxidases expanded in the lineage leading to the ancestor of the Agaricomycetes, which is reconstructed as a white rot species, and then contracted in parallel lineages leading to brown rot and mycorrhizal species. Molecular clock analyses suggest that the origin of lignin degradation might have coincided with the sharp decrease in the rate of organic carbon burial around the end of the Carboniferous period.     

Effect of feeding different levels of energy and protein on performance of Aseel breed of chicken during juvenile phase

A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of feeding different metabolizable energy (ME) and crude protein (CP) levels on performance of Aseel chicken during 0 to 8?weeks of age (Juvenile phase). At 1?day old, 432 chicks were randomly distributed into nine groups. Each group had 48 chicks distributed into eight replicates with six birds in each. Maize-soybean meal-based diets with three ME levels (2,400, 2,600 and 2,800?kcal/kg) and three CP levels (16%, 18% and 20%) were fed to birds in a 3?×?3 factorial design. Different ME levels had significant effect on body weight gain (BWG), feed intake and feed conversion ratio (FCR). Birds fed diet with 2,400?kcal/kg ME had significantly lower BWG (P?相似文献   

Effect of nutrient density on production performance, egg quality and humoral immune response of brown laying (Dahlem Red) hens in the tropics

A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of various concentrations of metabolizable energy (ME) with graded incremental levels of crude protein (CP) and essential amino acids (lysine and methionine) on production performance, egg quality and humoral immune response of Dahlem Red laying hens. Four experimental diets based on maize–soybean meal-deoiled rice bran were prepared. Diet 1 was fed as a control diet containing 2,600 kcal ME/kg, 15% CP, 0.75% Lys and 0.36% Met, and in the other three diets (D2, D3 and D4), concentrations of the above nutrients were increased by 2.5%, 5.0% and 7.5%, respectively. The levels of Ca (3.5%) and available P (0.32) were constant in all the diets. Each diet was offered ad libitum from 28 to 40 weeks of age to eight replicates containing six birds in each replicate. The egg production, egg weight and egg mass (in grams of egg per hen per day) were not affected by increasing the nutrient density up to 7.5% (2,795 kcal ME/kg diet) compared to the control group (2,600 ME/kg diet). However, feed consumption and feed efficiency (in grams of egg per gram of feed) were influenced by the variation in the nutrient density of diets. As the nutrient density increased by 5% (2,730 ME/kg diet), birds consumed significantly (P < 0.001) less feed. The birds in the 7.5% higher density group produced significantly (P < 0.05) higher egg mass per unit feed consumption compared to the control diet. Increasing nutrient density up to 7.5% had no effect on relative weight of albumen, yolk or shell. The Haugh unit, yolk colour and shell thickness were also not affected due to variation in the nutrient density. The humoral immune response measured at 34 and 40 weeks was progressively improved by increasing the nutrient density up to 5%. Increasing the nutrient density beyond 5% in the diet had no further influence on the humoral immune response. Based on the results of the present study, it can be concluded that Dahlem Red laying hens required 2,795 kcal/kg ME, 16% CP, 0.8% lysine and 0.4% methionine for eliciting optimum performance and immune response during 28 to 40 weeks of age.     

Hormone manipulation to overcome a major barrier in male catfish spawning: The role of oxytocin augmentation in inducing voluntary captive spawning

A major challenge in Clariid catfish seed production is our inability to induce voluntary captive spawning of the brooders. Since voluntary captive spawning had been previously elicited in a Clarias species by simulating natural breeding environment, we speculated that the major obstacle in voluntary spawning might be the absence of an inducing agent that triggers mating response in the brooders. To address the issue, oxytocin was injected to the brooders along with Ovatide (a commercial inducing agent comprising salmon gonadotropin‐releasing hormone analogue and domperidone). Administration of 40 mIU/kg body weight of oxytocin after 12 hr of Ovatide injection resulted in voluntary spawning of the fish (81.5%, i.e. 31 out of 38 trials), with more than 70% hatching rate in simple and low‐cost spawning facilities. Histology of male gonads indicated sustained gamete maturation and the gonads were observed to be visibly turgid in the fish that received both the hormones. In contrast, gamete maturation slackened after 10 hr in the control fish, injected with Ovatide only. Administration of oxytocin along with Ovatide was also observed to induce aggressive sexual behaviour among the males. Neither of the hormones, acting alone, could induce voluntary spawning in the fish or influence sexual behaviour. Our results clearly show that oxytocin plays a significant role in sustaining the male gamete maturation induced by Ovatide and trigger the behavioural mating response, leading to voluntary spawning in C. magur. The results hold potential to make a paradigm shift in the commercial catfish seed production technology.     

Biodiversity in the barnyard millet (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Echinochloa frumentacea</Emphasis> Link,Poaceae) germplasm in India

One hundred ninety four accessions of barnyard millet collected from different eco-geographical regions of India were evaluated for 14 quantitative traits during kharif 2003 and 2005. These accessions were grouped into 5 groups on the basis of place of collection. These groups differed significantly in their mean values for quantitative traits and magnitude of correlation among traits indicates origin based association. The group ‘C’ (source of origin is unknown) was found most diverse group (mean coefficient of variation 17.67%), while rest of the groups recorded mean coefficient of variation between 12 and 13%. Correlation studies indicate that flag leaf width, number of racemes along with internode length should be considered while performing selection in segregating generations. The plotting of first and second principal component axes scores suggests that presence of three distinct morphotypes in the present study. These morphotypes are quite similar to three botanical varieties viz., var. robusta, var. intermedia and var. stolonifera in their morphological traits, while botanical variety laxa (endemic to Sikkim area of India) was completely absent from the present study.     

Molecular and biological characterization of a naturally occurring recombinant subgroup B avian leukosis virus with a subgroup J-like long terminal repeat

Infection of broiler chickens with subgroup J avian leukosis virus (ALV) results in the induction of myeloid tumors. However, although egg-type chickens are susceptible to infection with ALV-J, the tumor incidence is very low, and on rare occasions the tumors observed are of the myeloid lineage. We recently described the isolation of an ALV (AF115-4) from commercial egg-type chickens suffering from myeloid leukosis. AF115-4 was initially identified as an ALV-J isolate based on PCR analysis of the long terminal repeat (LTR). However, further characterization of the viral envelope indicated that the virus is recombinant with subgroups B envelope and J LTR. Here we further characterize this recombinant virus at both the molecular and biological levels. We show that the AF115-4 isolate expresses a recombinant envelope glycoprotein encoded by a subgroup B gp85 region and a subgroup E gp37 region. The host range ofAF115-4 was analyzed using cells resistant to infection by subgroups A/B, J, or E; this shows that no ALV-J was present in the isolates obtained from the affected chickens. Additional antigenic characterization of AF115-4 using chicken sera specific for subgroups B or J indicated that no ALV-J was present in the samples examined. Inoculation of AF 115-4 into ALV-susceptible 1515 X 71 chickens resulted in the induction of lymphoid leukosis but not the expected myeloid leukosis affecting the commercial chickens. These results suggest that differences in the genetic makeup of the chickens from which AF115-4 was isolated and the line 1515 X 71 used in the present experiments may be responsible for the observed differences in pathogenicity. In addition, the results suggest that ALV-J continues to evolve by recombination, generating new viruses with different pathological properties.     

Potato peel extract-a natural antioxidant for retarding lipid peroxidation in radiation processed lamb meat

The effective utilization of potato peel, a waste generated in large quantities by the food industry, as an antioxidant was investigated. Potato peel extract (PPE) exhibited high phenolic content (70.82 mg of catechin equivalent/100 g), chlorogenic acid (27.56 mg/100 g of sample) being the major component. The yield of total phenolics and chlorogenic acid increased by 26 and 60%, respectively, when the extract was prepared from gamma irradiated (150 Gy) potatoes. PPE showed excellent antioxidant activity as determined by beta-carotene bleaching and radical scavenging activity of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). The suitability of PPE for controlling lipid oxidation of radiation processed lamb meat was also investigated. PPE (0.04%) when added to meat before radiation processing was found to retard lipid peroxidation of irradiated meat as measured by TBA number and carbonyl content. The antioxidant activity of PPE was found to be comparable to butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT).     

Effects of body weight and season on serum lipid concentrations in sloth bears (Melursus ursinus ursinus)

Serum lipid levels were measured in 66 healthy sloth bears (Melursus ursinus ursinus) living under semicaptive conditions with access to natural food resources in the Bannerghatta Biological Park (Karnataka, India), a portion of their native habitat range in the Indian peninsula. Total cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were analyzed. The effects of age, body weight, and season on these lipid parameters were statistically evaluated. There were no correlations between age and any of the serum lipid parameters analyzed. Positive correlations of body weight to both triglyceride and HDL cholesterol levels in these bears were identified. In addition, seasonal trends in physiological serum lipid values, potentially due to variations in the sloth bear diet, were identified. Serum triglyceride levels were higher during postmonsoon season and cholesterol levels were higher during winter compared to other seasons. Serum lipid values obtained from sloth bears in this study were also compared to previously published data on other members of the family Ursidae. This is the first report of serum lipid values as a reference for sloth bears. These values can be used as sensitive predictors of overall health and nutritional status to aid in the captive management and feeding of these bears.