November 2008
The role of micronutrients in child health: A review of the literature
The health and well being of children depend upon the interaction between their genetic potential and exogenous factors like adequacy of nutrition, safety of the environment, social interaction and stimulation. Micronutrients which are nutrients that are only needed by the body in minute amounts play leading roles in the production of enzymes, hormones and other substances and also help to regulate...
November 2008
Influences of extremely low frequency magnetic fields on mineral and trace elements content of rat teeth
Exposure to extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF) emanating from the generation, distribution, and utilization of electricity is widespread. The major debate in recent years has focused on the possibility that exposure to ELF-MF may result in adverse health consequences. The present study was carried out to investigate the effects of ELF-MF on the mineral content in rat teeth. 27 male...
November 2008
Pattern of multi-drug resistant Salmonella enterica serovar typhi isolates in Nigeria
Typhoid fever continues to remain a health problem as the causative organism,Salmonella enterica serovar typhi, has developed resistance to many antibiotics used. This study was undertaken to determine the current pattern of resistance to antimicrobial agents by S. enterica serovar typhi isolates from Akaraugo Hospital in Owerri, Imo state. Sensitivity to most common antimicrobial agents...
November 2008
Bacterial adherence: the role of serum and wound fluid
Bacteria are known to initiate wound infections and have been found associated with wound infections. The purpose of this study was to investigate the bacterial adherence potential (BAP) wounds. The bacteria used were Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus mirabilis, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus isolated from infected wounds and assayed for their adherence ability using wound...
November 2008
Application of an antibacterial dressing spray in the prevention of post-operative infection in oral cancer patients: A phase 1 clinical trial
This study investigates the effects on the prevention of oral infection after operation in oral region by using an antibacterial dressing spray (JUC spray). 60 patients diagnosed with grade 1 and 2 of oral squamous cell cancinoma, and the conservation surgery had applied to them under general anesthesia. Half of these patients were treated with JUC and the rest accepted traditional method. The...
November 2008
Antibacterial activity of indium curcumin and indium diacetylcurcumin
Studies on curcumin, the principal element of turmeric powder, have demonstrated several biological actions such as antibacterial activity. Evaluation of new analogs or new compounds of curcumin for their antibacterial effect is interesting for researchers. In this in vitro study, we attempted to test the antibacterial activity of indium curcumin (In(CUR)3), indium diacetylcurcumin (In(DAC)3), and...
November 2008
Genetic variation and population structure of willowy flounder Tanakius kitaharai collected from Aomori, Ibaraki and Niigata in Northern Japan
The first hypervariable region (HVR-1) of the mitochondrial DNA control region was utilized for determination of genetic variation and population structure in willowy flounder (Tanakius kitaharai) collected from Aomori, Ibaraki and Niigata. A total of 35 haplotypes were detected among 66 individuals with a total of 30 variable sites out of 387 bp sequenced. Average sequence differences between populations...
November 2008
Phylogenetic relationships of the lancelets of the genus Branchiostoma in China inferred from mitochondrial genome analysis
It is commonly accepted that the Branchiostoma lancelets in South and North China belong to Branchiostoma belcheri (Gray, 1847) and Branchiostoma belcheri tsingtauense (Tchang and Koo, 1934), respectively. Three partial mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) fragments of cytochrome oxidase c subunit I (COI), cytochrome b(Cytb), and 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) genes were...
November 2008
GST genotypes in head and neck cancer patients and its clinical implications
Polymorphisms of carcinogen-metabolizing enzymes, known to be involved in metabolism of carcinogens found in tobacco smoke, are relatively common in most populations. Cigarette and bidi smoking has been demonstrated to increase the risk of head and neck cancers in our study group. This study evaluated the risk of head and neck cancers (HNC) in relation to two deletion polymorphisms of the...
November 2008
Genetic structure of Japanese Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus niphonius) in the East China Sea and Yellow Sea inferred from AFLP data
The population genetic structure of Japanese Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus niphonius) in the East China Sea and Yellow Sea was analyzed using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP). A total of 247 putative loci were detected by four primer combinations among 83 individuals of Japanese Spanish mackerel collected from Ganyu, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Cheju Island and Nagasaki, 129 of which were...
November 2008
Response of high yielding rice varieties to NaCl salinity in greenhouse circumstances
Salinity is one the biggest constraint to obtain crop potential yield throughout paddy fields in some part of the coastal line of rice cultivated area in Iran. In order to find resistant varieties and study the reaction of some newly released high yielding varieties to different levels of salinity of irrigation water an experiment was conducted at the Rice Research Institute of Iran-Amol station in a...
November 2008
Methods to break seed dormancy of Astragalus cyclophyllon
The aim of this study was to enhance the germination rate of Astragalus cyclophyllon seeds which have a very low germination rate under normal conditions. The seeds were soaked for 72 h in 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 ppm gibberellic acid (GA3) solution, H2SO4 concentrations (50 and 98%) at two treatment times (5 and 10 min) and 60, 80 and 100ºC hot water at two treatment times (5 and 10...
November 2008
In vitro propagation of some promising genotypes of jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis)
Nodal segments (1.5 - 3.0 cm long) of six promising jojoba genotypes were culturedin vitro on solidified MS medium supplemented with BA in combination with different concentrations of NAA, IAA or IBA for shoot formation. The plant growth regulators combination of 5.55 µM BA + 7.1 µM IAA proved the best for shoot initiation and subsequent growth. Some explants of the jojoba...
November 2008
COD removal from industrial wastewater using activated carbon prepared from animal horns
The present study was undertaken to compare the adsorption efficiency of activated carbon prepared from animal horns (AHC), which is both a waste and a pollutant and a commercial activated carbon (CAC) with respect to uptake of the organic components responsible for the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of industrial wastewater. The adsorption process was examined in terms of its equilibria and its kinetics. The...
November 2008
Student teachers’ knowledge of and attitudes toward chemical hormone usage in biotechnology
Application of modern technologies may be problematic especially if they possesshealth risks to humans and/or when humans are not aware about these technologies. In this study we investigated non-major student teachers’ attitudes to and knowledge of the chemical hormone usage, a controversial topic in the field of modern biotechnology. Although students’ knowledge was considered to be limited...
November 2008
Pilot-scale recovery of low molecular weight organic acids from anaerobically treated palm oil mill effluent (POME) with energy integrated system
Low molecular weight organic acids such as acetic acid, propionic acid and butyric acids generated from partial anaerobic treatment of palm oil mill effluent (POME) were recovered using pilot scale filtration and evaporation system. Mechanical filter press (14 L) was used for removing solid fractions and fraction distillation unit (40 L) for evaporation and clarification of concentrated acid from POME....
November 2008
Removal of fast green dye (C.I. 42053) from an aqueous solution using Azadirachta indica leaf powder as a low-cost adsorbent
Azadirachta indica (neem) leaf powder was used as an adsorbent for the removal of textile dye from aqueous solution. The adsorption of dye on A. indica was found to be dependent on contact time, dye concentration and amount of adsorbent. Spectrophotometric technique was used for the measurement of concentration of dye before and after adsorption. The removal data were fitted on Langmuir and...
November 2008
Heavy metal accumulation in Melilotus officinalis under crown Olea europaea L forest irrigated with wastewater
This study was conducted to investigate heavy metal accumulation in Melilotus officinalis under crown Olea europaea L forest in Rey town (Tehran, Iran), irrigated with wastewater and well water. Zn, Pb, Cr and Ni were determined at two sites. Heavy metal total concentrations (mg kg-1) in clay soils of pH 7.95 - 7.93 from site irrigated with wastewater were 187.3 for Zn, 78.4 for Pb, 82.83...
November 2008
Biosynthesis of cellulolytic enzymes by Tricothecium roseum with citric acid mediated induction
Tricothecium roseum, an unexplored fungus for the production of cellulolytic enzymes, was used in this study for carboxymethylcellulase (CMcase) and b-glucosidase production. The culture filtrate of this organism exhibited highest total cellulolytic activity and extracellular protein content on 9th day during the course of its growth on potato dextrose yeast extract (PDYE) broth medium...
November 2008
The effect of using a fungicide along with bactericide in the main soaking float on microbial load
In the studies recently carried out on leather microbiology, a great deal of attention is paid to the fact that a considerable amount of fungi exist along with bacteria on the raw materials and in the pre-tanning processes and that they both have proteolytic and lypolytic activities. Because defects caused by fungi that mostly appear in tanning and post-tanning processes lead to drastic economical losses, it...
November 2008
Substrate inhibition kinetics of phenol degradation by binary mixed culture of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas fluorescence from steady state and wash- out data
Steady states of a continuous culture with an inhibitory substrate were used to estimate kinetic parameters under substrate limitation (chemo stat operation). Mixed cultures of an indigenous Pseudomonas fluorescence and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were grown in continuous culture on phenol as the sole source of carbon and energy at dilution rates of 0.01 – 0.20 h-1. Using different dilution rates...
November 2008
The bioactive and phytochemical properties of Garcinia kola (Heckel) seed extract on some pathogens
In vitro antimicrobial activities of crude extract of Garcinia kola was investigated against some bacterial isolates comprising of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative organisms. The methanolic crude extract exhibited significant inhibitory action against eleven out of fifteen bacterial isolates tested at a final concentration of 20 mg/ml. The zones of inhibition exhibited by the extract...
November 2008
Production, purification and characterization of celullase-free xylanase from Aspergillus terreus UL 4209
Aspergillus terreus, UL 4209 strain, isolated from the soil in South Africa was used to produce an extracellular cellulase-free xylanase in shake flask cultures containing oat spelt and/or birchwood xylans. Maximum xylanase activity (35 U/ml) was observed after 96 h at 35ºC and pH 6 in 1% oat spelt xylan. The xylanase was purified to homogeneity by gel filtration on Sephacryl S-200. This enzyme was found...
November 2008
Effect of aqueous extracts of Hibiscus sabdariffa and Zingiber Officinale on blood cholesterol and glucose levels of rats
The effect of aqueous extract of Hibiscus sabdariffa and Zingiber officinale on plasma cholesterol and glucose concentration in albino rats was determined. Thirty albino rats weighing between 225 – 270 g were divided into six groups of five rats each. Group 1 (control 1) rats were fed 100% growers mash whereas group 2 (control 2) rats and other groups were fed 99% growers mash and 1%...
November 2008
Evaluation of in vitro Vibrio static activity of Shewanella algae isolated from healthy Penaeus monodon
To conquer disease problem in shrimp industries, probiotic biocontrol is a well known remedy now. The antagonistic ability of separated isolates from different parts of juvenile Penaeus monodon were screened against shrimp Vibriopathogens; Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio alginolyticus. The most antagonistic effect was observed for an isolate that was primarily identified...
November 2008
Gill net selectivity and catch rates of pelagic fish in tropical coastal lagoonal ecosystem
The fish species and size selectivity of gillnets design with monofilament nylon polyethylene netting materials were investigated in Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria between September and December 2005. The gillnets floats and sinkers were improvised from rubber slippers and lead metallic objects which were attached at intervals of 1.35 to 2.0 m with hanging ratios of 45.2 and 51.7%. The number of miles per stapling...
November 2008
Studies on the chemical compositions and anti nutrients of some lesser known Nigeria fruits
Fruit samples of Cola millenii, Strychnos innocua, Bombax glabra, Artocarpus heterophyllus, Parkia biglobosa and Gardenia erubescens were collected from various locations in Oyo and Osun States of Nigeria. The chemical compositions of these fruits were analyzed with a view to evaluating their levels of nutrient and anti-nutrients. The nutrients compositions of the fruits showed that...
Advertisement
Advertisement
