Life Sciences

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is known to be associated with a reduced risk of developing a certain chronic diseases and cancers due to the presence of lycopene, a bioactive carotenoid. The objective of this study was to determine the antioxidant activity in tomato powder and TP extrudate (Tomato powder incorporated extrudate). The results of present study showed that flavonoid content in tomato powder incorporated extrudate of IC50 value in control extrudate (22.28±0.01) was more when compare to the TP extrudates (15.51±0.01).

The composition of minerals and vitamin A of Ziziphus mauritiana Lam. ; Detarium microcarpum (Guill. & Perr.); Balanites aegyptiaca (L.) Del.; Vitellaria paradoxa Gaertn. F.; Tamarindus indica L. ; Hyphaene thebaïca Mart. ; Borassus aethiopum Mart. ; Adansonia digitata L. ; Vitex donania Sweet. ; Parkia biglobosa (Jacq.) Benth. was studied and quantified in tree Departments of Chad. The minerals were determined by spectrometry and photometry and vitamin A was determined by HPLC.

The study investigated both institutional and technical factors that act as constraints to marketing of peaches in Lesotho. A semi-structured interview schedule was used as a data collection tool in this study and thirty respondents were selected using pilot survey. Both descriptive analysis and multinomial logistic regression model were used for data analysis. The results showed that expertise on grades and standards, storage facilities, value adding and contractual arrangements as major constraints towards peach marketing in Lesotho.

Field experiments were conducted during summer, 2014 and 2015 to study the response of irrigated maize (Zea mays L) to various weed management practices, laid out in randomized block design with three replications that comprises of eleven treatments.

In certain low hills of Western Ghats of Kerala, the tribal communities viz., Kattunaikans, Paniya and Uralis (Wayanad district), Malappandarum, Mala-aryan, Malavedan and Malakuruva (Pathanamthitta district) and Mala-aryans and Muthuvans (Idukki district) are the integral part of ecosystems. These tribal communities did cultivation of lemongrass and distilled oil. After the declaration of study sites as protective areas for biodiversity conservation, they are not permitted to continue the practice of lemongrass cultivation.

Inflammatory present study is aimed to derive natural products of plant origin with insecticidal properties to control insect vectors. The aqueous, ethanol and methanol leaf extracts of the traditional mosquito repellant species, Melia dubia were evaluated against the fourth instar larvae of two mosquito species viz., Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus. The percentage mortality of these two different mosquito species was tested after 24 hrs of exposure to different concentrations of the leaf extract.

Majority of microbial infections occurring in the human body are attributed to be biofilm-mediated. Biofilms formations in industrial settings are associated with many problems. Formation of biofilm is controlled by environmental factors. This study is carried out to determine the biofilm formation in Serratia marcescens under different environmental condition. Biofilm assay in nutrient medium by microtitre plate methods under different test conditions were performed.

Cyphostemma setosum is a traditional medicinal climber, distributed in Palani hills, the Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu, India. In this region, the puliah tribal community is using this species more commonly to control type II diabetics. As there is no work in this line, the present study was carried to investigate the in vitro antidiabetic activity of C. setosum in terms of the level of inhibition of α-amylase and α-glucosidase as influenced by methanolic extract of aerial parts of this species.

Buerger’s disease is a chronic disorder, also known as Thrombo- AngitisObliterance (TAO). It is a nonatherosclerotic, segmental inflammatory disease that most commonly affects the smalland medium-sized arteries and veins in the upper and lower extremities. It frequently occurs in cigarette smokers. Poor hygiene, genetic factors, autonomic over-activity are other factors for this disease. Buerger’s disease presents with rest pain, intermittent claudication, discoloration and gangrene formation.

Cotton fabric was finished with lab prepared silicone finish (F1). It was developed and applied on cotton fabric by pad-dry-cure method for enhancing water absorbency and antibacterial activity. Untreated (F0) and treated (F1) cotton fabric samples were tested for water absorbency using water drop put on the fabrics and recorded the absorption time, by standard test method AATCC Test Method 79-2007 and the antibacterial activity against staphylococcus aureus by AATCC test method 90-2011. Physical properties: stiffness, crease recovery angle and tensile strength were also evaluated.