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The human microbiota plays a crucial role in educating the immune system and influencing host health right since birth. Various maternal factors along with the vertical microbial transfer from the mother, as well as the horizontal environmental transmission and internal factors relating to the infant, play a crucial role in modulating the gut microbiota. The early life microflora is highly unstable and undergoes dynamic changes during the first few years, converging towards a more stabilized adult microbiota by co-evolving with the host by the age of 3–4 years. Microbiota studies have underlined the role of dysbiosis in developing several metabolic disorders like obesity, diabetes and immune-related disorders like asthma, to name a few. Thus, understanding early life microbial composition and various factors affecting the microbial community will provide a platform for developing strategies/techniques to maintain host health by restoring gut microbial flora. This review focuses on the factors that affect the microbial composition of the foetus in utero, during birth, infancy through childhood.

The human gut microbiome plays a crucial role in the compositional development of gut microbiota. Though well documented in western pediatrics population, little is known about how various host conditions affect populations in different geographic locations such as the Indian subcontinent. Given the impact of distinct environmental conditions, our study assess the gut bacterial diversity of a small cohort of Indian and Finnish children and investigated the influence of FUT2 secretor status and birth mode on the gut microbiome of these populations. Using multiple profiling techniques, we show that the gut bacterial community structure in 13–14-year-old Indian (n = 47) and Finnish (n = 52) children differs significantly. Specifically, Finnish children possessed higher Blautia and Bifidobacterium , while genera Prevotella and Megasphaera were predominant in Indian children. Our study also demonstrates a strong influence of FUT2 and birth mode variants on specific gut bacterial taxa, influence of which was noticed to differ between the two populations under study.

The present work is a report on phytosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) carried out using an aqueous extract of the tuber of Eulophia herbacea Lindl. (Orchidaceae) and evaluation of its antimicrobial and catalytic potential. The extract efficiently reduced aqueous silver ions and generated stable and bioactive nanoparticles. The maximum reduction of AgNO 3 was achieved when 1 mM AgNO 3 was incubated with 2% w/v extract for 5 h. The biosynthesized AgNPs exhibited surface plasma resonance at 447 nm. The zeta potential was − 15 mV. Scanning electron microscopy study showed that the average particle size of the AgNPs was 11.70 ± 2.43 nm and that they were non-agglomerated. An Energy Dispersive X-ray study provided support for the presence of elemental silver. X-ray diffraction studies confirmed that the AgNPs were crystalline and had a face-centered cubic geometry. The AgNPs showed excellent antibacterial and antifungal activity against common human pathogens. This activity was comparable with that of standard antibiotics. The catalytic potential of the AgNPs was studied through the reduction of methylene blue and congo red. The results showed that the AgNPs synthesized using the present method are biologically and catalytically active.

Bioconversion of three different agro-residues (groundnut shells, pigeon pea husk and wheat straw) was studied using endophytic fungi with a view to increasing the nutritive value and to evaluate its feasibility as poultry feed. An endophytic fungal isolate obtained from Celastrus paniculatus, effectively biotransformed selected agro-residues in solid state fermentation. After 21 days incubation, isolate CPL-1significantly altered the nutritional values of all tested agro-residues. Cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin content were significantly reduced ( P  < 0.05) whereas, total carbohydrates were significantly increased in the biotransformed waste as compared to untreated residues. Of the three agro-residues studied, the groundnut shells were found to have maximum carbohydrate content (13.92 ± 0.7 g/100 g) after the treatment. Similarly, the total crude protein and total nitrogen contents of the treated waste were also significantly improved ( P  < 0.05) as a function of treatment with the isolate CPL-1 with their highest contents (24.95 ± 1.4 and 15.53 ± 1.2 g/100 g, respectively) recorded in the treated groundnut shells. The isolate CPL-1 was identified as Colletotrichum spp. based on the morphology. The tannins and phytate contents were found to be significantly lower ( P  < 0.05) in the processed wastes. Application of treated agro-residues in poultry diets revealed that the biotransformed groundnut shells and pigeon pea waste can be added up to 20 and 10%, respectively to the commercial poultry diet used in the study without any adverse effects. The results showed that the treated residues of groundnut shells can be used as a partial substitute to the conventional poultry diets as they are rich in enzyme phytase and other nutrients and have good digestibility.

An in vitro organogenesis protocol for Carissa carandas L. was developed using an auxin transport inhibitor (quercetin) and silver nitrate (AgNO3), an inhibitor of ethylene action, in association with cytokinins in the culture medium. This protocol produced the maximum number of shoots from aseptic seedling-derived shoot apex explants of C. carandas. The highest rate of shoot multiplication was recorded on MS medium containing 2.0 mg L−1 6-benzylaminopurine; 0.5 mg L−1 kinetin, and 0.75 mg L−1 quercetin at after 4 wk of culture. Similar results were obtained when MS medium fortified with 2.0 mg L−1 BAP, 0.5 mg L−1 kinetin, and 1.5 mg L−1 AgNO3 was used. However, successful rooting was achieved on quarter strength MS medium with 0.5 mg L−1 indole-3-acetic acid. In this study, an inhibitor of auxin transport and ethylene action maximized shoot multiplication in medium fortified with cytokinins. The established rapid micropropagation method could be used to conserve elite genotypes of C. carandas.

Two novel Gram-stain negative facultative anaerobic, motile, rod-shaped bacterial strains IG-V01 T and IG-V01b were isolated from the gut of red flour beetles, Tribolium castaneum . The 16S rRNA gene sequences of strains IG-V01 T and IG-V01b were found to have their highest sequence similarity (96.5 % and 96.4 %) with Serratia nematodiphila DZ0503SBS1 T ( Enterobacteriaceae family) respectively. Strains IG-V01 T and IG-V01b share 100 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity and exhibit very similar phenotypic characteristics. In addition, they show 89.7 % genomic relatedness (DNA–DNA hybridisation). Major fatty acids were identified to be C 16:0 (38.3 %), C 17:0 cyclo (19.5–20 %) and C 14:0 (11.2–11.3 %). Cells contain phosphatidylethanolamine and diphosphatidylglycerol as predominant polar lipids. Genomic DNA G+C content (mol%) was determined to be 51.5–51.7. A polyphasic approach employing the study of morphological, physiological, chemotaxonomic, genomic and phylogenetic analysis revealed that the two newly isolated strains cannot be placed in any of the existing genera of the family Enterobacteriaceae . Therefore, it is proposed that strains IG-V01 T and IG-V01b belong to a novel genus within the family Enterobacteriaceae , and represent a new species Enterobacillus tribolii gen. nov., sp. nov., with the type strain =IG-V01 T = KCTC 42159 T = MCC 2532 T .

Twelve strains of asparaginase (L-asparagine amidohydrolase, E.C. 3.5.1.1) producing filamentous fungi were isolated from the bark and leaves of Aegle marmelos Linn. In the present study, a new method of isolation and selective screening of asparaginase producing endophytic fungi was developed. Asparaginases producing filamentous fungi were screened by a novel rapid dye based agar plug assay. Agar plug screen is a novel method for efficient screening of large number of fungal isolates. All endophytic fungi could grow on modified Czapek Dox agar medium with phenol red, a dye indicator that changes from yellow (acidic condition) to pink (alkaline condition). This method is not only rapid and cost effective but also less labor intensive and could be efficiently used for isolating high yielding strains.

The hypolipidemic activity of the 50% ethanol extract of bark of T. arjuna were evaluated in rats. The 50% v/v ethanol bark extract at the dose of 40mg/kg body weight, substantially reduced the plasma total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL cholesterol while HDL cholesterol increased in experimental group in comparison with hypercholesterolemic animal group. Atherogenic index and liver weight of treated animals also showed significant decrease. A significant increase in the activities of lipoprotein lipase and plasma LCAT enhanced hepatic bile acid synthesis and thereby increased degradation of cholesterol to neutral sterols. Furthermore, the activities of lipogenic enzymes like HMG-CoA reductase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and malate dehydrogenase were significantly reduced. The bark extract of Terminalia arjuna has excellent hypolipidemic activity. The effect of the extract seems to be mediated through increased hepatic clearance of cholesterol, down regulation of lipogenic enzymes and inhibition of HMG- CoA reductase.

Lasers are used to drill small holes of high aspect ratio in difficult-to-drill materials. In this investigation, thermal aspects of laser drilling and cutting process are modeled using the Jaeger's heat source method. The laser beam is considered as a circular moving plane disc heat source. The resulting equation is a general solution, in that it can be used for transient as well as quasi-steady state conditions. It can be used with different laser beam distributions, such as normal, bimodal, and uniform. Simpson 1/3rd numerical integration method is used to solve the heat source equation and programmed using Visual Basic.NET. Temperature rise at any time and at any location in the workpiece drilled or cut is determined using the laser beam parameters and the thermal properties of workmaterials, such as AISI-1036 steel, and CP-titanium. Fusion and evaporation temperatures of the workmaterials are used to calculate the amount of material removed by each laser pulse for a given laser beam parameters. The effect of latent heat of fusion and evaporation are considered. Effect of different laser beam parameters, such as energy density, beam radius, and pulse duration on the profile of laser drilled hole and cut materials are investigated. Mass and energy balance were done for the laser machining process. Using this method, the number of laser pulses required to drill a hole of required depth and diameter can be calculated. Heat affected zone (HAZ) calculations were also performed for different materials.

WCK 4086 is new antibacterial drug being developed to treat infections caused by Gram positive bacteria. This study describes development of mass spectrometry (MS) compatible reversed phase liquid chromatographic method for separation, identification and quantification of the related compounds in WCK 4086. Four process related compounds and seven degradation products (DPs) were separated and structurally identified with the use of liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Three process-related compounds were synthesized and characterized using MS and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry. Acid/base hydrolysis produced three DPs and oxidation produced four DPs. Method validation activity was performed to increase the acceptability of the developed method. The method was precise and accurate; accuracy exceeded 97.04% with a precision of less than 5.55%. The impurities could be detected as low as 0.05 µg mL−1. The methodology was used for the batch release and stability studies of the WCK 4086 used in the preclinical studies.