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Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) is an opportunistic human pathogen responsible for diseases such as exacerbations of chronic bronchitis, community acquired pneumonia, otitis media and occasionally conjunctivitis. H. haemolyticus is closely related to NTHi and shares the same respiratory niche as a commensal, but is not an opportunistic respiratory pathogen. Both NTHi and H. haemolyticus can acquire resistance to ˜í‚â§-lactam antibiotics via mutations to the ftsI gene and associated amino acid substitutions in penicillin binding protein 3 (PBP3) and the prevalence of such resistant strains is increasing worldwide. The factors associated with pathogenicity of NTHi are complicated, but can include mucociliary interactions, attachment to respiratory mucosa, evasion of mucosal immunity, and invasion of respiratory epithelial cells. There is significant in vivo and in vitro evidence that NTHi can invade and persist within host epithelial cells leading to the hypothesis that this allows the organism to avoid the normal immune response and establish a persistent reservoir for infection. Despite increased understanding of some mechanisms involved with invasion, the relationship between intracellular NTHi and pathogenesis is still unclear and many studies have shown enormous strain-to-strain variation in the in vitro invasive ability of clinical isolates. One of the limitations in understanding the relationship between intracellular NTHi and pathogenesis is the lack of a standardised model for studying invasion, as a very large range of both respiratory and non-respiratory, and primary and immortal cell lines have been used, often without explanation or justification. It is unclear whether an isolate that shows in vitro invasion in one cell type will be similarly invasive in another cell type, and this makes comparisons between studies very difficult. The aims of this thesis were to investigate the effect of respiratory cell types and presence of altered PBP3 on invasion rate of NTHi and Haemophilus haemolyticus. To investigate our aims, we established a large collection of NTHi and H. haemolyticus isolates where the identity had been confirmed previously using a validated PCR algorithm as either NTHi (being positive for hpd#3 or fucK and negative for sodC) or H. haemolyticus (positive for sodC and negative for both hpd#3 and fucK. In this working collection, NTHi isolates were collected from four different sites and clinical conditions such as otitis media, conjunctivitis, lower respiratory tract infection and normal oropharyngeal flora, whereas H. haemolyticus isolates were recovered from the oropharynx of healthy individuals. These isolates were tested for invasion using the gentamicin survival assay with immortalised BEAS-2B (Sigma-Aldrich); isolated from normal human bronchial epithelium of non-cancerous individuals NHBE (Lonza); isolated from epithelial lining of airways above bifurcation of the lungs A549 (Public Health England); epithelial lung carcinoma cells derived from 58 year old Caucasian male and NCI-H292 (ATCC); muco-epidermoid pulmonary carcinoma cells derived from 32 year old female epithelia cell lines. Cell lines were grown and maintained in LHC8 (Gibco), BEGM (Lonza), DMEM growth medium (Sigma-Aldrich) supplemented with 2Mm Glutamine and 10% Foetal Bovine Serum (FBS), and RPMI 1640 medium (Sigma-Aldrich) supplemented with 10% FBS respectively at 370C in 5% CO\\(_2\\). Chapter 3 is a detailed study of the invasive ability of NTHi, possessing normal or PBP3, using four different and widely used respiratory cell types: BEAS-2B, NHBE, A549, and NCI-H292. The focus of this study was to evaluate if there is any difference in invasive ability of NTHi isolates individually, collectively and between isolates with normal and altered PBP3 across each cell type. The results showed that NTHi invasion of respiratory epithelial cells in vitro is both strain dependant and influenced significantly by the type of cell lines used and also confirmed the previous suggestions, provided by Okabe et al. (2010) and Atkins et al. (2014), that isolates with altered PBP3 possess more invasive ability compared to isolates with normal PBP3. Furthermore, the association between altered PBP3 and increased invasion was conserved across each cell line. H.haemolyticus is considered to be a non-pathogenic commensal of the respiratory tract butlittle information is available on its ability to invade epithelial cells in vitro. If in vitro invasion is an indicator of ability for in vivo invasion and is important in the pathogenesis of NTHi infection, then H. haemolyticus would be expected to be comparatively non-invasive. As a result, Chapter 4 examined the invasive ability of H. haemolyticus to the BEAS-2B cell line. The invasion rate of 20 H. haemolyticus isolates were tested with BEAS-2B cell line and then 5/20 isolates were selected to test their invasion rate with other respiratory cell types used previously in this study. The results confirmed that non-invasiveness of H. haemolyticus isolates is consistent with their inability to cause respiratory infections. In conclusion, this thesis has demonstrated the significant variability of invasion results across different epithelial cell lines, highlighting the importance of the choice of cell type in invasion assays as a confounding factor, as the ability of NTHi to invade respiratory epithelial cells in vitro is both strain dependant and influenced significantly by the respiratory cell types. Furthermore, we have shown that the association between altered PBP3 and increased invasion is conserved across all the respiratory epithelial cell types used in this study. Finally, this thesis also revealed the inability of H. haemolyticus isolates to invade respiratory epithelial cell types in vitro, and suggests that this is consistent with their inability to cause opportunistic respiratory tract infections.

A like others, livestock industries are badly affected during lockdown periods due to COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 disease outbreak was originated in Wuhan city of Hubei province of China during the month of December 2019. On the basis of whole virus genome sequence analysis and other phylogenetic characteristics, International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) group classified that COVID-19 is a caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS Cov2). Its genome sequence homology analysis also revealed that the nucleotides sequence of human corona virus (SARS Cov-2 virus) is 87.5% - 96.3% similar to corona viruses of bat’s origin. During lockdowns, it is relatively easy to close down the factories, IT parks, hotels, Shopping malls and multiplexes but it is not so easy with agriculture and animal husbandry; these sectors will continue to produce.

Genome-wide analysis of heat shock factor ( H s f ) g e n e s was ca r r ied out in p i g e on p e a ( Cajanus cajan ) in order to understand their structure and function. A tot a l of 23 Hsfs w e r e p re dict e d using FGENESH a nd l a b e led a s C c Hsf . Out of the 2 3 g e n e s, 14 unique sequences w e r e s e l ec t e d a nd c h a r a c t er i z e d for t h e ir p re sumed str u c tur e s s u c h a s p r ote i n doma in a nd mo t if o r g a ni z a t i on. The p h y l o g e n e t ic r e lationships a nd e x p re ss i on p r o f i l ing of C cHsf g e n e s under heat-stress w as studied. Phylogenetic analysis showed that CcH s f g e n e s w e r e di s t r i b ut e d i n to eight g r o u p s. I n th i s st u d y , c lasses A, B, and C were f u r ther subdivi d e d in t o subcl a sses such a s A1, A2, A 3, A4, A5, A6, A8, A 9, B1, B 2, B 3 , B 4 and C1. E x p r e ss i on p r o f ili n g of all 14 genes w a s ca r r i e d out by s e m i - q u a nt i ta t ive P CR, among which C c H sfA - 1d and C c HsfA - 2 w e r e observed to be highly upregulated duri n g heat-stress . R e l a t i ve qu a nt i f i ca t i on with qRT- P C R showed that C cHsfA - 1d i s up r e g ul a t e d 2 - 6 h r s af t e r heat-stress indicating its significant role as an early response factor. Our study provides a glimpse of the Hsf gene family in pigeonpea and this information can be utilized to gain more insight into the heat-response mechanism in pigeonpea. Abbreviations: AHA - Aromatic/ Hydrophobic /Acidic; Hsf - Heat Shock Factors; IRRK- Isoleucine, Arginine, Arginine, Lysine; NLS - Nuclear Localization Signal; NES - Nuclear Export Signal

Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate the disease Amavata with current understanding of International Classification of Diseases (ICD) 2010. Methods: For the present clinical study, a total of 100 patients were selected. Selection of the patients was done using subjective criteria (mentioned in Ayurvedic samhitas ) to diagnose Amavata. Moreover, these patients were classified into three stages according to duration (

Phenolics are considered as vital compounds in human health because of their major role in the defence from oxidative damage. Considering the significance of phenolic compounds, an investigation was undertaken to analyze combining ability for flavonoids, flavonols and total phenols in cabbage hybrids developed by crossing parents in different combinations. Variance among parents, crosses and parents vs. crosses were noted to be significant. The proportion of σ2gca/ σ2sca was less than unity and therefore highlighting the role of non-fixable type gene action for all compounds. The parents SEL-7, C-5 and DARL-852 were good general combiners for various traits. The crosses SEL-1 x C-3, SEL-7 x C-5, SEL-7 x C-7, C-3 x C-7, C-5 x C-1 and C-1 x D-851 exhibited significant specific combining ability (SCA) in desirable positive direction that can be exploited by breeding programme. The information could be used for developing heterotic cabbage hybrids for phenolic compounds with enhanced antioxidant activity

EMS Induced Mutants of Upland Rice Variety Nagina22: Generation and Characterization

Using the X-ray powder diffraction technique at various temperatures and applied magnetic fields, we have studied the magnetostructural properties of Ce(Fe(0.9)Si(0.05))(2). The X-ray diffraction data establish quantitative relationships between bulk magnetization and the evolution of structurally distinct phases with magnetic field and temperature, and confirm the distinct features of a first-order phase transition such as supercooling and superheating. metastability, and phase co-existence of different structural polymorphs We observe the lattice volume mismatch across the structural phase transition, which appears to be the cause for the step behavior of the magnetization isotherms at low temperatures. The present study shows that the lattice distortion has to be treated explicitly, like spin, along with the effects of lattice-spin coupling to account for the magnetization behavior of this system. This structure template can resolve the issue of kinetics in this material as observed in different time scale measurements and with different experimental protocols (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd .

We report a detailed magnetic, magnetocaloric, and magnetotransport study on R(2)Ni(2)Sn compounds with different rare earths. The magnetic state of these compounds is found to be complex because of the coexistence of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic components. These compounds show phenomena such as multiple magnetic transitions, nonsaturation of magnetization, and metamagnetic transitions. Analysis of the zero-field heat capacity data shows that the magnetic entropy is less than the theoretical value, indicating the presence of some moment on Ni. Schottky anomaly is present in the magnetic heat capacity data of Sm(2)Ni(2)Sn. The temperature variation of magnetocaloric effect reflects the magnetization behavior. Tb(2)Ni(2)Sn and to a less extent Gd(2)Ni(2)Sn show oscillatory magnetocaloric effect. The variation of magnetocaloric effect is correlated with the ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic phase coexistence. The electrical resistivity analysis has shown that the electron-magnon scattering is prominent at low temperature, while phonon scattering modified by the s-d interaction is crucial at high temperatures. The magnetoresistance is very large in Ce(2)Ni(2)Sn and shows a quadratic dependence on the field, implying the role of spin fluctuations in determining the transport behavior. Large magnetoresistance has been observed in other compounds as well.

This cross-sectional survey was conducted in 20 randomly selected streets in Moradbad city in North India to determine the association of magnesium and antioxidant vitamins with risk of ageing. There were 595 subjects (314 males, 281 females) between 50-84 years of age inclusive. The overall prevalence of hypo-magnesemia was 11.8 per cent (n = 60) with a prevalence of 13.2 per cent (n = 33) in males and 10.6 per cent (n = 27) in females. The prevalence of hypomagnesemia showed significant declining trend in the concentration of serum magnesium, vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene and a rising trend in lipid peroxides and diene conjugates with increase in age from 50-59 years to 70-84 years in both men and women. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that serum magnesium, vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene were significant risk factors of ageing in both men and women. The findings suggest that some urban populations of India can benefit by consuming higher dietary magnesium, potassium and antioxidant vitamins for prevention of ageing.

Magnetic, magnetocaloric, and magnetoresistance studies have been carried out on polycrystalline samples of Laves phase compounds Ho(Ni1-xFex)(2) [x=0, 0.05, and 0.1]. The magnetocaloric effect in HoNi2 is found to be maximum near the ordering temperature with values of 7 J mol(-1) K-1 and 10.1 K for the isothermal magnetic entropy change and the adiabatic temperature change, respectively, for a field of 50 kOe. With Fe substitution, the temperature variation of magnetocaloric effect shows an additional peak at low temperatures, which is much more pronounced than the peak at the ordering temperature. The origin of the low temperature peak is attributed to the field-induced metamagnetic transition. The magnetoresistance data also seem to support the occurrence of the metamagnetic transition.