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Twenty-four cases of sporadic olivo-ponto-cerebellar atrophy (OPCA) of adult onset were studied over a period of two years. Results suggest that this disorder has its usual onset in the 5th and 6th decade of life with a male: female ratio of 2:1. It manifests clinically with gait ataxia in all, dysarthria, other cerebellar signs and autonomic involvement in vast majority. There were features of basal ganglia involvement in some. No known identifiable environmental cause was found and genetically they are quite distinct from the known autosomal dominant spinocerebellar ataxias though sporadic occurrence in recessive inheritance or a de novo mutation could not be ruled out completely, but it is unlikely.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is a neuro-degenerative disorder of central nervous system caused by infectious proteins called ′prions′ and typically presents with progressive dementia and myoclonus. Here, we report a second ′ probable′ case from mid-Eastern region of India.

Major anthropogenic activities surround the Port Blair Bay, while Aerial Bay remains as a pristine environment. A field study was carried out during the south-west monsoon season (July - August, 2011) in the two bays to compare the physicochemical parameters and their effect on phytoplankton community structure. Among the physico-chemical parameters, water temperature (p < 0.01, n = 18), DO (p < 0.01, n = 18) and TP (p < 0.05, n = 18) showed significant variation between the Bays. Salinity and Redfield ratio (N:P) was lower in Aerial Bay as compared to Port Blair Bay; while the Si:N ratio was higher in the Aerial Bay. The average chlorophyll-a concentration as well as species richness was found to be higher in the Port Blair Bay as compared to the Aerial Bay. The highest phytoplankton density and centric diatom abundance were observed in Port Blair Bay. In Aerial Bay, the centric diatoms like Dactyliosolen fragilissimus (44.5 %) and Guinardia flaccida (7.1 %) dominated, while in the Port Blair Bay, the centric diatom Skeletonema costatum (25.0 %) and a pennate diatom Nitzschia closterium (24.3 %) dominated the phytoplankton. The phytoplankton community was influenced by the nutrients from the tidal mud flats and rain-fed rivulets in the Aerial Bay; while, in the Port Blair Bay, the phytoplankton abundance was influenced by nutrients from land runoff, inundated areas and anthropogenic sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Microbial metabolites are of great importance to the pharmaceutical industries. There is an urgent need of novel microbial metabolites in the present scenario to combat antimicrobial resistance. Selection and screening of potent microbial strains for production of antimicrobial metabolites as well as optimization of their culture conditions is of utmost importance in drug discovery. Therefore, the study was carried out to evaluate the effect of nutritional and cultural conditions on the production of bioactive metabolites by a rare tea garden actinobacterial strain Amycolatopsis sp. ST-28. Materials and methods: Submerged fermentation of the actinobacterial isolate was carried out on different culture media and different culture conditions such as carbon and nitrogen sources, inoculum volume, pH, fermentation period and agitation speed. The culture filtrate was assayed against Staphylococcus aureus. Agar well diffusion method was employed to determine the maximum diameter of zone of inhibition (mm). The dried mycelial weight (mg) in a fixed volume of culture media was used for the determination of the total biomass produced. Results: Maximum bioactive metabolite and biomass production was observed when submerged fermentation was carried out with mannose and peptone respectively as a sole carbon and nitrogen source. Maintaining other environmental parameters viz. inoculum 11% (v/v), pH of 6.5, temperature of 32°C and incubation period of 11 days at 150 rpm were found optimum for maximum antimicrobial activity. Conclusion: This study demonstrated optimized cultural conditions for improved production of antimicrobial compound by Amycolatopsis sp. ST-28. Contexte: Les métabolites microbiens revêtent une grande importance pour les industries pharmaceutiques. Il existe un besoin urgent de nouveaux métabolites microbiens dans le scénario actuel pour lutter contre la résistance aux antimicrobiens. La sélection et le criblage de souches microbiennes puissantes pour la production de métabolites antimicrobiens, ainsi que l'optimisation de leurs conditions de culture, revêtent une importance capitale pour la découverte de médicaments. Par conséquent, l'étude a été réalisée pour évaluer l'effet des conditions nutritionnelles et culturelles sur la production de métabolites bioactifs par une rare souche d'actinobactéries de jardin de thé, Amycolatopsis sp. ST-28. Matériels et méthodes: La fermentation immergée de l'isolat actinobactérien a été réalisée sur différents milieux de culture et différentes conditions de culture tels que les sources de carbone et d'azote, le volume d'inoculum, le pH, la période de fermentation et la vitesse d'agitation. Le filtrat de culture a été testé contre Staphylococcus aureus. La méthode de diffusion sur puits d'agar a été utilisée pour déterminer le diamètre maximum de la zone d'inhibition (mm). Le poids du mycélium séché (mg) dans un volume fixe de milieu de culture a été utilisé pour la détermination de la biomasse totale produite. Résultats: Une production maximale de métabolites bioactifs et de biomasse a été observée lors de la fermentation en immersion avec du mannose et de la peptone, respectivement, comme seule source de carbone et d'azote. Maintenir d'autres paramètres environnementaux à savoir. inoculum 11% (v / v), pH de 6,5, température de 32 ° C et période d'incubation de 11 jours à 150 tr / min ont été jugés optimaux pour une activité antimicrobienne maximale. Conclusion: Cette étude a démontré des conditions de culture optimisées pour une production améliorée de composé antimicrobien par Amycolatopsis sp. ST-28. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a research which evaluates the effect of microbial enriched vermicomposts on growth and yield of rice, microbial population and nutrient availability in soil. It informs that a significant increase were recorded in microbial population and nitrogen (N) content after incubation with inoculation of Azotobacter chroococcum and Azospirillum brasilense. It concludes that the weed Ipomoea camea can be easily converted into a nutrient source by vermicomposting.

The article discusses a study on the occurrence and distribution of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in the roots of C. sinensis O. Kuntze in an agroclimate zone. The study was conducted in the upper Brahmaputra Valley Zone, India dominated by commercial tea cultivation. The experimental findings include the occurrence of the genus Glomus in the soils of tea plantations in the upper Brahmaputra Valley, increased AMF population and the effect of oil exploration on soil microflora.

An experiment was conducted for 190 days from September 15, 2005 to March 25, 2006 in 12 outdoor concrete tanks of 24 m² (4.9 m x 4.9 m) size and 1.25 m in water depth, at the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science (IAAS), Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal to evaluate the growth performance and profitability of silver barb in mono and polyculture systems. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design (CRD) with four treatments having three replications each. There was one mono and three polyculture systems of silver barb with different fish species as treatments: (1) Silver barb at 1.5 fish/m² (control); (2) Silver barb at 1.5 fish/m² plus common carp at 0.2 fish/m²; (3) Silver barb at 1.5 fish/m² plus male Nile tilapia at 0.3 fish/m²; and (4) Silver barb at 1.5 fish/m² plus carps at 0.5 fish/m² (silver carp 40%, bighead carp 20%, and common carp 40%). Silver barb were fed with 23% CP feed @ 4% body weight daily. At harvest, the mean weight, daily weight gain, gross fish yield (GFY) and net fish yield (NFY) of silver barb in monoculture treatment were significantly greater than in polyculture with common carp (p < 0.05), whereas there were no differences with polyculture with Nile tilapia (p > 0.05). However, survival of silver barb was not significantly different among treatments (p > 0.05). The combined GFY in polyculture with Nile tilapia treatment was significantly greater than in polyculture with common carp and in polyculture with other carps (p < 0.05). The NFY was highest in polyculture with Nile tilapia (4.4 ton/ha/yr), intermediate in polyculture with other carps (3.5 ton/ha/yr) and lowest in polyculture with common carp (2.9 ton/ha/yr) and monoculture (2.5 ton/ha/yr). Water quality parameters were not much difference in different treatments; however, water temperature was a crucial as it was less than 20 °C for about 3 months (mid November to mid February). All the treatments produced positive net returns; however, the net returns were higher in polyculture with Nile tilapia than in other treatments. This study demonstrated that silver barb polyculture with male Nile tilapia is far better than other combinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]