Scentipedia

INTRODUCTION

The genus Vibrio consists of Gram-negative straight or curved rods, motile by means of a single polar flagellum. Vibrios are capable of both respiratory and fermentative metabolism. O2 is a universal electron acceptor; they do not denitrify. Most species are oxidase-positive. In most ways vibrios are related to enteric bacteria, but they share some properties with pseudomonads a well. The Family Vibrionaceae is found in the “Facultatively Anaerobic Gram-negative Rods” in Bergey’s Manual (1986), on the level with the Family Enterobacteriaceae. In the revisionist taxonomy of 2001 (Bergey’s Manual), based on phylogenetic analysis, Vibrionaceae, Pseudomonadaceae and Enterobacteriaceae are all landed in the Gammaproteobacteria. Vibrios are distinguished from enterics by being oxidase-positive and motile by means of polar flagella. Vibrios are distinguished from pseudomonads by being fermentative as well as oxidative in their metabolism. Of the vibrios that are clinically significant to humans, Vibrio cholerae,the agent of cholera, is the most important.

Most vibrios have relatively simple growth factor requirements and will grow in synthetic media with glucose as a sole source of carbon and energy. However, since vibrios are typically marine organisms, most species require 2-3% NaCl or a sea water base for optimal growth. Vibrios vary in their nutritional versatility, but some species will grow on more than 150 different organic compounds as carbon and energy sources, occupying the same level of metabolic versatility as Pseudomonas. In liquid media vibrios are motile by polar flagella that are enclosed in a sheath continuous with the outer membrane of the cell wall. On solid media they may synthesize numerous lateral flagella which are not sheathed.

Vibrios are one of the most common organisms in surface waters of the world. They occur in both marine and freshwater habitats and in associations with aquatic animals. Some species are bioluminescent and live in mutualistic associations with fish and other marine life. Other species are pathogenic for fish, eels, and frogs, as well as other vertebrates and invertebrates. V. cholerae and V. parahaemolyticus are pathogens of humans. Both produce diarrhea, but in ways that are entirely different. V. parahaemolyticus is an invasive organism affecting primarily the colon; Cholerae is noninvasive, affecting the small intestine through secretion of an enterotoxin. Vibrio vulnificus is an emerging pathogen of humans. This organism causes wound infections, gastroenteritis, or a syndrome known as “primary septicemia.”

METHODOLOGY

EXPERIMENT: 1

Collection of Samples (Collins et al, 1973):

Marine Samples were collected in different locations of Rameshwaram marine region (Palk bay) at the depth of 1 – 2 m at various locations. Sewage and soil samples were collected in and around G.R.D. College campus.

EXPERIMENT:2

2.1. Bacterial Enumeration (Mary et al, 1985):

Number of culturable, aerobic, heterotrophic bacteria present in water and sediment samples was determined by plating on marine agar and nutrient agar. For marine isolates, the media were prepared by the 3.5% sodium chloride (NaCl). Then the plated were incubated at appropriate time and temperature.

EXPERIMENT: 3

3.1. Isolation of vibrio spp from water and sediment samples (Mary et al, 1985):

Different selective media were used for the isolation of vibrio sp from marine source. For marine isolates, the media were prepared by the 3.5% sodium chloride (NaCl). Media used for the isolation of vibrio sp are 1. Thiosulfate Citrate Bile Sucrose Agar (with 3.5% NaCl) 2. Marine agar medium;

EXPERIMENT: 4

4.1 Identification

Microscopy: Gram-staining characteristics and cell morphologies were determined by standard methods (Gerhardt et al., 1981). Motility was observed in wet mount using microscope.

Cultural characteristics : Colony morphology of various isolates of vibrio sp were observed on Nutrient agar, Thiosulfate Citrate Bile Sucrose Agar (TCBS), Blood agar, Mac conkey agar, Mannitol salt agar and results were tabulated.

Physiological characterization: Preliminary physiological characterization such as catalase test, starch hydrolysis test, indole test, MRVP test, citrate test, oxidase test, string test, carbohydrate fermentation test (sugars used-sucrose, lactose, glucose, maltose, Mannitol) , cholera red reaction were carried out and results were tabulated.

EXPERIMENT: 5

Anti microbial susceptibility test Kirby-Bauer method

Procedure:

1. Make a suspension at an appropriate turbidity of the bacterial culture to be tested.

2. Place a sterile cotton swab in the bacterial suspension and remove the excess fluid by pressing and rotating the cotton against the inside of the tube above the fluid level. The swab is streaked in at least three directions over the surface of the Mueller-Hinton agar and TCBS agars obtain uniform growth. A final sweep is made around the rim of the agar. Be sure to streak for confluency.

3. Allow the plates to dry for five minutes.

4. Using sterile forceps, place disks containing the following antibiotics on the plate: penicillin G, ampicillin, cephalothin, erythromycin, tetracycline, methicillin, streptomycin or other appropriate antibiotic disks.

5. Incubate the plates within 15 minutes after applying the disks. The plates should be incubated soon after placing the disks since the test is standardized under conditions where diffusion of the antibiotic and bacterial growth commence at approximately the same time.

6. Following overnight incubation, measure the diameter of the zone of growth inhibition around each disk to the nearest whole mm. Examine the plates carefully for well-developed colonies within the zone of inhibition.

7. Using a standard table of antibiotic susceptibilities, determine if the strain is resistant, intermediate, or susceptible to the antibiotics tested.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Totally 35 samples were collected in different locations of marine region, garden soil, sewage water and domestic water.Vibrio bacteria are gram-negative and largely halophilic. Vibrio is rod-shaped, and can be straight or curved. They are motile organisms, using a single polar flagellum to travel. Vibrios are one of the most common organisms in surface waters of the world. They occur in both marine and freshwater habitats and in associations with aquatic animals. Some species are bioluminescent and live in mutualistic associations with fish and other marine life. These samples were processed through the commonly used procedures such as selective media (listed below), Gram’s staining, wet mount observation for motility and bio chemical tests includes catalase test, starch hydrolysis test, indole test, MRVP test, citrate test, oxidase test, string test, carbohydrate fermentation test (sugars used-sucrose, lactose, glucose, maltose, Mannitol) , cholera red reaction were carried out and results were tabulated for identification of vibrio sp from the above samples, and that can be processed, the details of the description as shown

COLONY MORPHOLOGY OF vibrio sp.

MEDIA DETAILS

Nutrient agar Moist, translucent, regular, disc shaped, 1-2mm in size, bluish tinge can be seen in transmitted light as distinctive colour

Mac Conkey agar Colorless colonies after, prolonged incubation pink colour colonies were seen. (plate:2)

Blood agar Colonies were surrounded by a zone of hemolysis

Thiosulphate citrate bile salt agar Colonies are yellow in colour due to fermentation.

Mannitol salt agar No prominent growth was observed.

The colony morphology of vibrio strains was varying during the isolation in the selective media. The colonies were very clear, moist, disc shaped, yellow and pink colonies were observed from various sources. The mother culture was sub cultured in the same media for culture maintenance. All the isolated vibrio strains were numbered for the easy identification and convenience. Gram staining reaction was recorded from heat fixed smears of vibrio culture. Motility and cell shape were determined by direct observation of wet mounts of fresh broth culture using microscopy. The chacteristics of Vibrio on TCBS medium shows that most of isolates were motile and capable of producing yellow and green pigmentation. Thiosulphate-citrate-bile salts-sucrose (TCBS) agar (Difco) is a selective medium commonly used to isolate members of the genus Vibrio from estuarine environments. The high concentration of thiosulphate and citrate and the strong alkalinity of the medium largely inhibit the growth of Enterbacteriaceas. Oxbile and cholate suppress primary enterococci .Any coliform bacteria, which may grow, cannot metabolize sucrose. Only a few sucrose Protease strains can grow to from yellow, vibriod like colonies. The mixed indicator thymol blue, bromothymol blue changes its color to yellow, when acid is formed even in this strongly alkaline medium

Out of 35 different samples collected, only 17 samples were showing the presence of vibrio sp, most of the marine samples collected from various marine region shows positive results for vibrio sp, when compared to other samples such as sewage water and soil samples. And in case of domestic water sample (tap water and mineral water) shows absence of vibrio strain. Vibrios are inhabitants of aquatic environments. They occasionally infect humans, causing intestinal or extraintestinal diseases. The most prevalent diseases caused by vibrios are those that are well reported, including cholera and other forms of acute gastroenteritis. In addition, there may be many other vibrio-caused diseases that go unreported some of the virulence determinants of Vibrio spp. are well characterized.

ENUMERATION OF BACTERIAL POPULATION

The total bacterial population were observed and enumerated on the marine agar plates and nutrient agar plates. The vibrio colonies were isolated and enumerated in a TCBS medium. Both populations were counted and shown

Showing the total bacterial population and vibrio count.

S.NO LOCATION Total bacterial Population Vibrio Population

1 Marine region 108 × 105 65 × 102

2 Garden soil 142 × 106 21 × 102

3 Sewage water 161 × 106 42 × 102

4 Tap water TFTC 0

5 Mineral water TFTC 0

Physiological characteristics of vibrio sp

BIO CHEMICAL TEST NO OF

POSITIVES NO OF

NEGATIVES

OXIDASE TEST 16 1

NITRATE TEST 16 1

CATALASE TEST 8 9

INDOLE TEST 17 0

METHYL RED TEST 17 0

VOGES PROSKEUAR 5 12

STRING TEST 17 0

CHOLERA RED RXN 4 13

CITRATE TEST 7 10

STARCH HYDROLYSIS 0 17

HEAMOLYSIS 5 12

SUCROSE 15 2

MANNITOL, ACID 16 1

LACTOSE 0 17

GLUCOSE, ACID 17 0

GLUCOSE, GAS 1 16

MALTOSE 16 1

By observing the results of physiological tests, most of the tests were found to be positive for vibrio cholerae.The isolates which showed positive results for vibrio cholerae were mainly isolated from marine environment when compared to other samples such as sewage water and soil samples. Through this result we observed that Vibrios are inhabitants of aquatic environments. Marine animals can injure humans in several ways. Some animals cause injury by inducing infection. These infections result when oral bacteria are introduced in to the tissues of victims who are bitten. Bacteria present within the tissues of marine animals can cause infection when they are ingested. In addition, seawater itself contains bacteria, so that skin and soft tissue injuries exposed to seawater may become secondarily injected.

Kirby-Bauer Disk-Diffusion Method: Antibiotic Disk Susceptibilities

Most of the isolates from marine source were highly incidence of antibiotic resistance was evident against Amoxycillin, Ampicillin, Carbencillin and Cefuroxime followed by Rifampin and Streptomycin over soil and sewage samples. However, antibiotic resistance was lower against Chloramphenicol, Tetracycline, penicillin G, Nalidixicacid, Gentamycin Sulphafurazole, Trimethoprim, Neomycin and Amikacin. This may be due to the fact that terrestrial bacteria entering into seawater with antibiotic resistant plasmids may be responsible for the prevalence of the resistance in genes in the marine environment. However, there are few reports available on acquired antibiotic resistance against ampicillin (68%), cefuroxime (66.7%), amikacin (55%), kanamycin (58.8%) and trimethoprim (76.7%) in Sparus sarba in China. It can be presumed that anthropogenic factors (hospital effluents) might have influenced in acquiring resistance in Vibrio spp due to these antibiotics, as there are no reports available on the use of these drugs for aquaculture in India. However, the results of our present study serve as a baseline data for future research on the extent of antibiotic resistance, which may be revealed through isolation of plasmids, their transformation efficiency and conjugation experiments. Results of incidence of multiple antibiotic resistance in Vibrios may improve our knowledge on drug resistant strains and its effect on future therapy of shrimp as well as human diseases. Therefore, unscrupulous use of antibiotics against diseases should be avoided and restrictions for the use of antibiotics may be implemented by a nationwide antibiotic policy for India.

REFERENCES

1. Richard J., and Bennett N T.1993.Infections Caused by Halophilic

Marine Vibrio Bacteria. From the Department of Surgery, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida Vol. 217, No. 5, 525-531

2. Colwell, R. R., and W. M. Spira. 1992. The ecology of V. cholerae, p. 107–127.

In D. Barua and W. B. Greenough III (ed.), Cholera. Plenum Medical Book

Co., New York, N.Y.

3. West, P. A., and J. V. Lee. 1982. Ecology of Vibrio spp. including V. cholerae

in natural waters of Kent, England. J. Appl. Bacteriol. 52:435–448.

4. Xu, H. S., N. C. Roberts, F. L. Singleton, R. W. Attwell, D. J. Grimes, and

R. R. Colwell. 1982. Survival and viability of nonculturable Escherichia coli

and Vibrio cholerae in the estuarine and marine environment. Microb. Ecol.

8:313–323.

5. Baumann, P., and R. H. W. Schubert. 1984. Family II. Vibrionaceae, p.

516–550. In N. R. Krieg and J. G. Holt (ed.), Bergey’s manual of systematic

Bacteriology, vol. 1. Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, Md.

6. Farmer, J. J., III, F. W. Hickman-Brenner, and M. T. Kelly. 1985. Vibrio, p.

282–301. In E. H. Lennette, A. Balows, W. J. Hausler, and H. J. Shadomy

(ed.), Manual of clinical microbiology, 4th ed. American Society for Microbiology,

Washington, D.C.

7. Kay, B. A., C. A. Bopp, and J. G. Wells. 1994. Isolation and identification of

Vibrio cholerae O1 from fecal specimens, p. 3–20. In I. K. Wachsmuth, P. A.

Blake, and O. Olsvik (ed.), Vibrio cholerae and cholera: molecular to global

perspectives. ASM Press, Washington, D.C.

8. West, P. A., and R. R. Colwell. 1983. Identification and classification of

Vibrionaceae–-an overview, p. 285–341. In R. R. Colwell and M. B. Hatem

(ed.), Vibrios in the environment. John Wiley & Sons, New York, N.Y.

9. Chun, J., A. Huq, and R. R. Colwell. 1999. Analysis of 16S-23S rRNA

intergenic spacer regions of Vibrio cholerae and Vibrio mimicus. Appl. Environ.

Microbiol. 65:2202–2208

10. Nandi, B., R. K. Nandy, S. Mukhopadhyay, G. B. Nair, T. Shimada, and A. C.

Ghose. 2000. Rapid method for species-specific identification of Vibrio cholerae

using primers targeted to the gene of outer membrane protein W. J.

Clin. Microbiol. 38:4145–4151.

11.Gabriella caldini, Angela neri, Stefania cresti, Vieri boddi,

Gian maria rossolini, and Eudes lanciotti high prevalence of vibrio cholerae non-o1 carrying heat-stable enterotoxin-encoding genes among vibrio isolates from a temperate-climate river basin of central Italy. Applied and environmental microbiology July 1997, Vol. 63, No. 7 p. 2934–2939

12. Abbott, S.L., Cheung, W.W.K.W. and Janda, J.M. (1993) Evaluation of a new

selective agar, thiosulfate-chloride-iodide (TCI), for the growth of pathogenic

Vibrio species. Medical Microbiology Letters 2, 362–370.

13 .Morris, G.K. (1982) Media for Vibrio species. In Quality Assurance and Quality Control of Microbiological Culture Media ed. Corry, J.E.L. and Verlay, G.I.T. pp. 169–174. Germany: Darmstadt.

14. Oliver, J.D. (2003) Culture media for the isolation and enumeration of pathogenic

Vibrio species in foods and environmental samples. In Culture Media for Food

Microbiology, 2nd Edn eds Corry, J.E., Curtis, G.D.W. and Baird, R.M.

Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, in press.

15. Ferguson, G. E., C. W. Lingham, S. K. Love, and R. 0. Vernon. 1947. Springs of Florida, p. 196. Fla. Geol. Bull. no. 31. E. 0. Printing Co., DeLand, Fla.

16. Lee, J. S. 1973. What seafood processors should know about Vibrio parahemolyticus. J. Milk Food Technol. 36:405-408.

17.Gopal, S, SK Otta, I Karunasagar, M Nishibuchi, and I Karunasagar. “The occurrence of Vibrio species in tropical shrimp culture environments; implications for food safety.” International Journal of Food Microbiology. 2005 Jul 15;102(2):151-9.

18.Graf, J. “The Light-Organ Symbiosis of Vibrio fischeri and the Hawaiian Squid, Euprymna scolopes.” February 2005. Accessed 8 July 2005.

19.Ho, Hoi. “Vibrio infections.” eMedicine. 22 May 2005. Accessed 8 July 2005.

20.Oliver, JD. “Wound infections caused by Vibrio vulnificus and other marine bacteria.” Epidemiology and infection. 2005 Jun;133(3):383-91.

21.Sarkar, M, S Das, A Bandyopadhaya, K Ray, and K Chaudhuri. “Upregulation of human mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 in intestinal epithelial cells is modulated by Vibrio cholerae pathogenesis.” FEBS letters. 2005 Jun 20;579(16):3449-60.

22.Senoh, Mistutoshi, Shin-Ichi Miyoshi, Keinosuke Okamoto, Belen Fouz, Carmen Amaro, and Sumio Shinoda. “The Cytotoxin-Hemolysin Genes of Human and Eel Pathogenic Vibrio vulificus Strains: Comparison of Nucelotide Sequences and Application to the Genetic Grouping. Microbiology and immunology. 2005;49(6):513-9.

23.Gerhard,P.,R.G.E.Murray,R.N.Costilow,E.W.Nester,W.A.Wood,N.R.Krieg,andG.B.phillips.1981.Manual of method for generalbacteriology.American SOCIETY FOR microbiology, Washington, D.C.

24. Mary. L. G and rita r. colwell, Enumeration, isolation and characterization of N2 fixing bacteria from sea water. Department of microbiology, University of Maryland. Vol 50 no .2. 1985

Other References

1.Dennis Kunkel Microscopy, Inc.

2.Fix, Douglas F. “Vibrio.” Accessed 8 July 2005.

3.Todar, Kenneth. Todar’s Online Textbook of Bacteriology. 2005. Accessed 8 July 2005.

4.Vibrio fischeri Genome Project. 19 September 2002. Accessed 8 July 2005.

5.http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Vibrio

6.Center for Disease Control. 1973. Vibrio parahaemolyticus gastroenteritis. Morbid. Mortal. Weekly Rep. 22:231-232.

The latest string of facts to emerge regarding alcoholism is staggering. A National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism study of over 43,000 American adults found that more Americans develop alcoholism each year than any other mental disorder.

Over a one year period, nearly 2% became alcoholics in need of alcohol treatment and an additional 1% showed signs of regular binge drinking. The damage is believed to exceed over $180 million annually and contributes to nearly half of all car accidents, claiming 100,000 lives.

“Alcohol can change gene expression in the brain. This is believed to be responsible for many of the hallmarks of addiction, such as tolerance, physical dependence and cravings, as well as the consequences of chronic alcoholism, such as neurotoxicity (brain damage),” said Dr. R. Adron Harris, director of UT Austin’s Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research.

Just as a computer virus corrupts the system, alcohol consumption can also tinker with proteins and regions of the brain, leaving its mark. In his study, he found that 163/4,000 brain tissue genes (4%) were found to differ by 40% or more between alcoholics and non-alcoholics.

The genes most susceptible to change were the sensitive “white matter” called myelin. Myelin is the insulation between the brain’s information-carrying cells, which would explain why cognitive deficiency is one of the effects of alcohol.

One way researchers are looking into addiction treatment for alcoholism is by studying the way alcohol affects the inner-workings of the brain. For instance, researchers at the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in Bethesda, Maryland recently tested twelve volunteers and compared brain activity using magnetic resonance imaging.

The study found that alcohol use caused volunteers to be unable to identify images of people’s faces who exhibited fear. The amygdala, which registers emotional reactions in the brain, lit up when fearful faces were shown to the sober volunteers; but after modest alcohol consumption, the threat-detecting brain circuits were significantly dulled.

“At one end of the spectrum, less anxiety might enable us to approach a new person at a party,” explains Marina Wolf at the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. “But at the other end of the spectrum, we may fail to avoid an argument or a fight,” she said. She added that the study results make a compelling case against those individuals who feel that the tendency toward poor decision making after alcohol use “doesn’t apply” to them.

The scary thing about alcoholism is that one can actually die from alcohol related withdrawal symptoms, if not properly managed. Since heavy alcohol consumption reduces GABA neuroinhibitor production, there can be an uncontrolled firing of the synapses — resulting in hallucinations, shakes, convulsions, seizures and heart failure. This is certainly not the case for everyone who likes to pound a few drinks now and then, but for the daily, heavy binge drinker, a carefully monitored detoxification program is crucial.

New York Times reports that the tutoring program offered by law is going unused.

George Bush’s No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has tremendous supplemental educational services funding. Students, under NCLB, are eligible for free tutoring, and according to this article, roughly two million public school students were eligible for free tutoring in the school year that ended in 2004, yet only 226,000 — 12% — received help.

In the nation’s largest school district, New York City, fewer than half of the 215,000 eligible students sought the free tutoring, and in California in the last school year, 95,500 of 800,000 eligible students were tutored. In Maryland, just over a quarter of those who were eligible — 5,580 of 19,520 students — actually enrolled in the last school year. And in Louisiana, despite aggressive marketing by the state, only about 5,000 of 50,000 eligible students took part in the program last year.

Reasons cited include lack-of-awareness amongst parents, and complicated paperwork associated with the process.

Well, this is both a problem and an opportunity for private small businesses to step in, get NCLB certification, and begin offering their services to schools and parents in each community across America.

While online tutoring programs with off-shore tutors may be an excellent business opportunity as well, it requires motivated students to take advantage of such services.

For the segment that NCLB focuses on -children in Public Schools, especially under-performing schools – it requires “in-person” tutoring, and that cannot be off-shored. These kids are inherently weaker, less motivated, come from under-priveleged backgrounds – hence, community tutorial services could both add a lot of value to their needs, as well as build strong businesses within the framework of the NCLB system.

Several large companies have been built over the years, focusing on tutorial services franchises. Sylvan Learning Centers, Kumon, Huntington, etc. are all examples of learning center franchises that fall within the scope of NCLB. There are opportunities to simply buy a Franchise from one of these larger companies.

There is, also, the opportunity to create a specific and unique methodology, and build your own franchise.
There are opportunities, for example, to tailor programs for children from Hispanic households where often, language is a barrier. There are also opportunities to create programs for different styles of learning.

There are bodies of research available on learning styles and multiple intelligence, which tap into how different kids learn differently. Courses can be customized to suit various of these mechanisms. The most popular categorization of learning styles is called VARK (Visual, Aural, Read/Write, and Kinesthetic). Teaching of Math and Sciences in a personalized manner, following VARK guidelines could well be ways to get through to children who are otherwise failing.

Bottomline: The budget is there. It is upto the entrepreneurial energy and creativity expressed by people who are qualified to teach and tutor, to tap into this business opportunity.

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It seems that we’re all fighting the battle of the bulge. Especially as we get older, it seems to get harder to keep the pounds at bay. We often think of women as being the dieters, but in fact, men are just as subject to weight problems as women.

As you’re looking for ways to make weight loss easier, consider the research that has been performed on the health benefits of tea. Tea has long been used in Asian cultures to prevent illness and protect health, and it seems that science is proving what Asians have believed all along: tea is good for you.

Lifelong tea drinkers have lower incidences of heart disease, high cholesterol and some forms of cancer. They are also less likely to suffer from diabetes or be overweight. Tea protects your teeth and may even have potential to prevent diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

We are beginning to learn a lot about the benefits of tea, but clearly there is much more to learn, so that we can pinpoint exactly how we can best use tea to help with medical needs.

One of the most promising areas of tea research centers on tea as a weight loss aid. Much research has shown that tea seems to speed up the metabolism and promote fat oxidation. Other studies have shown that lifelong tea drinkers are less likely to be overweight, have a lower percentage of body fat and have a lower waist to hip ratio.

In addition, studies have shown that when tea was part of a sensible diet and exercise plan, subjects lose more weight than those subjects who used a diet and exercise plan without tea as a supplement.

One study that is particularly interesting was conducted by the Beltsville Human Nutrition Center in Maryland in conjunction with the University of Tokushima in Japan. In this study, twelve men between the ages of 25 and 60 were evaluated. All participants were in good health, and the study was conducted over a period of one month. The target participants were those who consumed the caffeine equivalent of 2-4 cups of coffee each day.

Prior to the beginning of the study, each participant was evaluated with regard to their calorie expenditure per day without caffeine or tea. During the study, each participant was placed into one of four study groups. One group received a supplement of water, one group received water with caffeine, one group received half strength oolong tea and one group received full strength oolong tea.

For three days, the participants were fed the exact same diet. The diet was low calorie and free of caffeine, other than the caffeine in the beverage supplements. The beverage supplements were given to the participants five times per day.

This study found that the participants who drank full strength oolong tea and caffeinated water burned more calories in a day than the subjects who drank water or half strength tea. Drinking caffeinated water increased energy expenditure by 3.4% over those participants who drank water alone.

Drinking full strength tea increased energy expenditure by 2.9% over drinking water alone. Drinking half strength tea did not significantly increase energy expenditure over drinking water alone.

So, why not just drink water with caffeine?

You might ask why we wouldn’t just drink water with caffeine to help increase our metabolic rate. Well, according to this study, you could do just that. However, when you consider the many other studies that have touted the many other benefits of tea consumption, it’s clear that getting your metabolic boost from tea is far healthier than adding caffeine to your water.

Tea is full of anti-oxidants, which is believed to be why it prevents illnesses and protects health. Anti-oxidants are powerful fighters of free radicals in the body. Free radicals are oxygen containing molecules that are created as a by-product of our digestion process.

These free radicals damage our cells and DNA if left unchecked. However, consuming anti-oxidants combats these free radicals before they can harm our bodies. Scientists have shown that consuming a diet high in anti-oxidants helps us to avoid serious illnesses and slows down the aging process.

In addition, there have been other studies that have suggested that tea promotes more weight loss through fat oxidation than other caffeinated beverages. It is believed that this too is the result of anti-oxidants. It appears that the combination of caffeine with the anti-oxidants in tea is a more powerful weight loss supplement than caffeine in other beverages.

Finally, research has shown that the caffeine in tea seems to be better tolerated than other forms of caffeine. Many people who are caffeine sensitive find that they can drink tea without the usual side effects of caffeine. The caffeine in tea often does not produce the irregular heart rate and nervous jitters that caffeine sensitive people experience from other caffeinated beverages.

So, adding tea to your diet plan may be a great way to speed up your weight loss. Tea is healthy, refreshing, inexpensive and readily available. So, why not add tea to your diet routine?

This is the third of a series of articles that document some of the names, places, catch words, and other items that are now lodged permanently in our vocabulary, History was made some 68 years ago. We dare not forget.

From July to February, the name of the game is football. It starts with the exhibition season and ends with the Super Bowl extravaganza. Out of World War II has come a term about which which we all know. It is called The Blitz.

The blitz is a team defensive move in which the defense sends more players than the offense can block. When the defense is running the blitz, it sends linebackers or even defensive safeties in order to try to tackle the quarterback or disrupt his pass drop. If it works, the quarterback is sacked behind the line of scrimmage for a huge loss. If the quarterback can “read” the defensive signals and pick up the blitz, it means a touchdown. The defensive team is risking its pass defense in order to get to the quarterback. One commentator picked up a verse from the Bible. You either live by the blitz or else die by the blitz.

By nature, blitzes are risky endeavors for the defense. Since the defense is taking away coverage defenders to rush the QB, there necessarily are holes in pass coverage. The defense does not and cannot cover all offensive players, but rather through the blitz, is proactively involved in rattling the QB, sacking the QB, disrupting QB timing, or forcing him to make an error such as an interception or fumble.

The blitz gets its name from the Blitzkrieg, a German strategy of the “Lightning War” during World War II. In World War One, most of the battles were fought in trenches. Both sides fortified their trenches heavily, and ended up taking heavy casualties while gaining little ground. Ironically after World War One, the British devised a new strategy. The strategy was first put forward by Colonel John Fuller, the chief of staff of the British Tank Corps. Fuller was disappointed with the way tanks were used during the First World War and afterwards produced Plan 1919. This included a call for long-range mass tank attacks with strong air, motorized infantry, and artillery support. These ideas were developed in more detail in his books, Reformation of War (1923) and Foundation of the Science of War (1926).

The British Army ignored Fuller’s ideas. However, leaders of the rebuilding German Army studied Fuller’s ideas in detail. They asked the government to commission the production of new tanks that would enable them to use Blitzkrieg tactics in any future conflicts The Germans called the Fuller plan Blitzkreig or Lightning War.

After Adolf Hitler obtained power in 1933, the German government was open about its tank production. In the spring of 1934 the German Army began developing the Panzer tank. Over the next few years the Panzer I, Panzer II, Panzer III and Panzer IV were produced.
During the invasion of Poland in September, 1939, it became clear that the outstanding performer was the Panzer IV as it had the perfect combination of speed, agility, firepower and reliability. Over the next few years it became the backbone of Blitzkrieg and over 9,000 of these tanks were produced.

The success of the Blitzkreig was overwhelming. The Germans finished off Poland in six weeks. It was now France’s turn. On May 10, the blitzkrieg rolled through the Ardennes. In three weeks, the British had to evacuate their entire army at Dunquerque. By mid-June, France had surrendered. The Germans held a victory parade through the Arc De Triumph, something that the French still remember to this day in 2007.

Sir Winston Churchill made a speech. “The Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain has begun.” The German aerial attacks over England would now be simply called, “The Blitz.” Beginning in August 1940, German bombers visited England every day. By September, the Blitz had failed. The Royal Air Force (RAF) proved it could win over the Luftwaffe.
The Blitz went into night attacks. From September until June 1941, the Luftwaffe visited London from sundown to sunup with incendiary bombs and high explosive weapons. By July 1941, the Blitz had ended. The Luftwaffe was needed to go fight the Soviets. It would now be up to the Soviets to stop the Blitzkreig. However, the Blitz did return to England when the momentum of World War II was on the side of the Allies. It came in the form of the buzz bomb.

In June 1944 the first flying bombs fell on London. They were usually called ‘buzz-bombs’ or ‘doodle-bugs’. At first only one or two fell, but soon it became obvious that a regular bombardment was under way.
The most noticeable aspect of the doodlebugs was their sound, which was quite unlike any ordinary plane. It had a strange tearing and rasping sound, more like a two-stroke motor-cycle.. South London was on their regular flight path, and many of them fell nearby, causing damage and loss of life.

The RAF brought the first jet fighters into operation to try to catch them as they were much faster than piston-engined fighters. They would fly alongside them and flip their wing to spill them harmlessly into the open fields below. Some of them failed to explode and one was put on display at a store in Canterbury.

There is no doubt that these things did a great deal of damage in London within the space of a few weeks. The allied armies were advancing on the launching sites in Northern France and Belgium, and there was concern that they would not get there in time to prevent more damage and loss of life.

Soon, however, the buzz bombs were replaced by the far more frightening V2 weapons. These were rockets proper, much larger and more destructive which gave no notice at all of their arrival. They continued to fall on London at intervals during the last winter of the war, 1944-45. The V-2 ballistic missile (known to its designers as the A4) was the world’s first operational liquid fuel rocket. It represented an enormous quantum leap in technology, financed by Nazi Germany in a huge development program that cost at least $ 2 billion in 1944 dollars. Despite the scale of this effort, the inaccurate missile did not change the course of the war and proved to be an enormous waste of resources.

After the war, personnel and technology from the V-2 program formed the starting point for post-war rocketry development in America, Russia, and France. The Allies seized tons of documents, hundreds of experts, and dozens of V-2 missiles. Emerging from World War II was Dr. Wernher Von Braun

Before the Allied capture of the V-2 rocket complex, Dr. von Braun engineered the surrender of 500 of his top rocket scientists, along with plans and test vehicles, to the Americans. For fifteen years after World War II, Dr. von Braun would work with the United States army in the development of ballistic missiles. As part of a military operation called Project Paperclip, he and his “rocket team” were scooped up from defeated Germany and sent to America where they were installed at Fort Bliss, Texas. There they worked on rockets for the United States army, launching them at White Sands Proving Ground, New Mexico. In 1950 von Braun’s team moved to the Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville, Alabama, where they built the Army’s Jupiter ballistic missile.

In 1960, his rocket development center transferred from the army to the newly established NASA and received a mandate to build the giant Saturn rockets. Accordingly, von Braun became director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and the chief architect of the Saturn V launch vehicle, the superbooster that would propel Americans to the Moon.

Dr. Von Braun also became one of the most prominent spokesmen of space exploration in the United States during the 1950s. In 1970, NASA leadership asked von Braun to move to Washington, DC, to head up the strategic planning effort for the agency. He left his home in Huntsville, Alabama, but after about two years he decided to retire from NASA and to go to work for Fairchild Industries of Germantown, Maryland. He died in Alexandria, Virginia, on 16 June 1977.

And so, the Blitz came peacefully to an end. It is probable that while living in the DC Metro Area, Dr. Von Braun could have watched the Dallas Cowboys run the blitz against the Washington Redskins. Quarterbacks such as Jurgensen, Bradshaw, Namath, Elway, and Manning will know the Blitz in the same way as we all do, every Sunday. Let it stay that way, forever more.

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American Podiatric Medical Association Founded in the year 1912,
the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA), today
represents approximately 15000 Doctors of Podiatric Medicines
(DPMs). The Association headquarters are situated in Bethesda,
Maryland. With a staff of approx 60 employees the association
assists the 53 societies scattered throughout the US, with the
goal of improving the foot and ankle health of every individual.
Their attempt is to achieve this goal by providing information
by the way of a toll free number, internet, and information
brochures.

Podiatrists attain a four year undergraduate degree before
attending an accredited, four year course at medical school.
These schools are: Barry University School of Medical Graduate
Medical Sciences, California School of Podiatric Medicine at
Samuel Merritt College, College of Podiatric Medicine and
Surgery- Des Moines University- Osteopathic Medical Center, Dr.
William M Scholl of College of Podiatric Medicine at the
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science, New York
College of Podiatric Medicine, Ohio College of Podiatric
Medicine, and Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine.

DPMs also have to complete a residence at hospital. APMA’s
Council on Podiatric Medical Education has been entrusted the
task accrediting Podiatric Medical Education by the US
department of Education. In order to obtain admission into any
of the seven accredited podiatric schools one must pass the
Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT). Residency programs as
well as podiatric medical boards are both looked after by the
Council.

The APMA’s educational Foundation also gives out scholarships to
prospective DPMs, each year and also helps to fund programs
aimed at raising awareness about foot and ankle health. The
scholarship funds contribute approx $1000 to about 134 students
each, annually. An overall figure of 142,000$ is also
contributed by the fund each year and is responsible for he
contribution of about 1 million $ to aid almost 1000 prospective
DPMs.

Third or Fourth year students from any of the seven accredited
colleges and chosen by the College Scholarship and Student Loan
Committee, based on various factors like classroom performance,
leadership qualities, podiatric community involvement and
financial need etc.

There are plenty of ailments that effect the feet but the most
common two are Athletes Foot and Bunions.

Athletes Foot is a skin disease that originates with the foot.
Fungus responsible for the disease thrives at warm, dark and
moist places and thus the feet offer the perfect home. Name
comes from the fact that many athletes suffered from this fungus
and also the fact that swimming pools and locker rooms are also
safe breeding ground for the fungi. Symptoms include itchy, dry
and irritated skin also sometimes accompanied by blisters,
scaling and inflammation. It may spread to other parts of the
body as well, like the underarms and the groin region. It can be
prevented by taking a proper care of the skin. Washing and
keeping the feet clean, using a feet powder. Fungicidal creams
are also effective in healing.

Another common foot ailment is the Bunion, an enlargement of the
metatarsophalangeal (MTO) join, located at the base of the big
toe. Symptoms include swelling, redness, corns, and irritation
also accompanied by abnormal forces placed on the tendons and
joints of the foot. It is treated mostly by padding the
inflammatory are and taping the foot in a proper position. Anti
inflammatory drugs, ultra sound treatment and cortisone
injections are also prescribed to ease the pain and swelling. In
severe cases a surgical [procedure called bunionectomy might be
performed by podiatrists

Introduction

Nitrogen fixation is the reduction of N2 (atmospheric nitrogen) to NH3 (ammonia). Free living prokaryotes with the ability to fix atmospheric dinitrogen (diazotrophs) are ubiquitous in soil. But our knowledge of their ecological importance and their diversity remains incomplete. In natural ecosystems, biological N2 fixation is most important source of N. The capacity for nitrogen fixation is widespread among bacteria and archaea. The estimated contribution of free-living N-fixing prokaryotes to the N input of soil ranges from 0-60 kg/ha /year (Burgmann et al., 2003). Dinitrogen (N2)-fixing microorganisms (diazotrophs) play important roles in ocean biogeochemistry and plankton productivity (Church et al., 2005).

Nitrogen fixation can be an important source of nitrogen for biological productivity in the marine environment. Biological nitrogen fixation is catalyzed by the enzyme nitrogenase, which is possessed by diverse microorganisms representing virtually all phylogenetic groups. Interest in nitrogen fixation in the sea has usually been focused on rates of nitrogen fixation, but information on the types of species present with the capability for nitrogen fixation can be important for predicting nitrogen fixation rates in situ (Zehr et al., 1998).

Nitrogenase catalyzes the reduction of nitrogen gas to ammonium in an ATP-and reductant dependent reaction. It is one of the best characterized metalloenzyme and is an excellent model for elucidating metalloprotein assembly. Nitrogenase is composed of two oxygen-labile metallo protein; dinitrogenase and dinitrogenase reductase. Dinitrogenase is a 240-KDa alpha2-beta2 tetramer of the nifD and nifK gene products. Dinitrogenase reductase is a 60-KDa alpha2 dimer of the nifH gene products that contains a single 4Fe-4S center coordinated between the two subunits (Rubio et al., 2005). Understanding how fixed N regulates nitrogenase availability is necessary for devising strategies to increase the amount of ammonium synthesized by nitrogen fixing bacteria with the potential to be used in agriculture (Kennedy et al., 2004).

Molecular tools for detection and characterization of the nitrogenase (Nif) genes and immunoassays for nitrogenase protein can provide new information on the factors regulating the distribution and activity of diverse nitrogen fixing organisms in the marine environment. Amplification and characterization of NifH sequences has made it possible to identify the type(s) of organism responsible for nitrogen fixation, such as in aggregates of the cyanobacterium and Trichodesmium. Differences in nitrogen fixation patterns have been linked to genetic differences between Trichodesmium strains. Further development of these approaches will provide new and powerful ways to link the genetic potential for nitrogen fixation to nitrogen fixation rates in the ocean (Zehr et al., 1998)

Nitrogenase gene (NifH) sequences amplified directly from oceanic waters showed that the open ocean contains more diverse diazotrophic microbial populations and more diverse habitats for nitrogen fixers than previously observed by classical microbiological techniques (Zehr et al., 1998). Understanding how fixed N regulates nitrogenase availability is necessary for devising strategies to increase the amount of ammonium synthesized by nitrogen fixing bacteria with the potential to be used in agriculture (Kennedy et al., 2004).

The commercial history of biofertilizer began with the launch of “Nitrogin” by Nobbe and Hiltner; a laboratory culture of rhizobia in 1895, followed by the discovery of Azotobacter and then the blue green algae and a host of other microorganisms. Azotobacter is used as a biofertilizer in the cultivation of most crops. Azotobacter is an obligate aerobic diazotrophic soil-dwelling organism with a wide variety of metabolic capabilities, which include the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen by converting it to ammonia. Azotobacter naturally, fixes atmospheric nitrogen in the rhizosphere. There are different strains of Azotobacter each has varied chemical, biological and other characters. However, some strains have higher nitrogen fixing ability than others (Burgmann et al., 2003). Besides, nitrogen fixation, Azotobacter also produces, Thiamin, Riboflavin, indol acetic acid and gibberellins. When Azotobacter is applied to seeds, seed germination is improved to a considerable extent, so also it controls plant diseases due to above substances produced by Azotobacter (Kader et al., 2002.)

This NifH gene has been largely studied by culture-independent approaches. These approaches provide a more complete picture of the diazotrophic community than culture-based approaches. Various techniques, such as PCR cloning, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), and fluorescently labeled terminal (FLT)-RFLP, have been used to analyze the composition of NifH gene pools in various environments. These studies found that the NifH gene is present in diverse environments: forest soil, the rhizosphere of native wetland species, such as Spartina, or of crop species, such as rice, aquatic or polar cyanobacteria, and the bacteria found in termite guts. All these studies described a large number of unknown sequences which correspond to diverse unidentified diazotrophs. Some NifH genes are characteristic of an ecological niche (Shaffer et al., 2000) evoked the possible relationship between the habitats of soil nitrogen-fixing bacteria and the structure of NifH gene pools (Poly et al., 2001).

Nitrogen fixation in A. vinelandii is complicated by the presence of three biochemically and genetically distant nitrogenase enzymes, each of which is synthesized under different conditions of metal supply. The regulation of conventional molybdenum nitrogenase, whose subunits are encoded by the Nif-HDK genes and which is similar to the enzyme purified from number of other nitrogen-fixing organisms. (Sabra et al., 2000). The Nif-HDK genes are located in a large cluster of nif genes, which includes, in order, NifHDKTYENXUSVWZMF (Bali et al., 1992). Molecular methods based on universal PCR detection of nifH marker genes have been successfully applied to describe diazotroph population in the environment (Burgmann et al., 2003).

Materials and Methods

Sample collection

Samples were collected in different locations of Rameshwaram marine region (Gulf of Mannar) at the depth of 1–5 m. The randomly collected samples in the sterile plastic bags (soil sample) and water sampling bottles (water sample) bottles were kept in an ice-cold box and transported safely to the lab for further analysis with in 12 hrs. The sample with media tubes were packed and transported safely to the laboratory.

Isolation of Azotobacter from water and sediment samples (Mary et al., 1985)

Different selective media were used for the isolation of Azotobacter sp from marine source as described previously. Azotobacter strains used for this study were maintained and cultured in Burk medium as previously described (Joerger et al., 1988). As the isolates are of marine origin, the media were prepared by the 3.5% sodium chloride (NaCl). Media used for the isolation of nitrogen fixing organism (Azotobacter) from marine sources were Jensen’s agar medium, Azotobacter agar medium, Burk’s Medium and marine agar medium.

Culture characteristics (Bagwell et al., 1988)

Gram-staining characteristics and cell morphologies were determined by standard methods(Gerhardt et al., 1981). Motility was observed in wet mount using phase contrast microscope. Preliminary physiological characterization such as catalase test, starch hydrolysis test were also carried out.

Extraction and purification of DNA (Kelly et al ., 1990)

Azotobacter genomic DNA was isolated as previously described (Robson et al., 1980). Linear DNA fragments were analyzed by electrophoresis in agarose gel in TEB buffer (Maniatis et al., 1982). The purity of the DNA was checked spectrophotometric method by using the formula OD at 260 nm/ OD at 280 nm (Wilfinger et al., 1997).

PCR amplification of the NifH gene fragment

Nitrogenase Fe protein genes (NifH) were amplified from Azotobacter sp derived genomic DNA, using the primer from OPERON diagnostic Ltd, USA. The samples were amplified by PCR in a mixture containing reaction buffer 5.0 µl, 10mM dNTP 1.0 µl, primer 1 (25 mer) 1.0 µl, primer 2 (24 mer) 1.0 µl, template DNA 1.0 µl, enzyme Taq polymerase 1.0 µl for 35 cycles ( 1 min at 94° C,1 min at 54° C and 1 min at 72° C) (Zehr et al., 1988).

Results and Discussion

Totally 100 samples were collected in marine region of both water and sediments in the intervals of approximately 20 days .Out of 70 marine water samples collected, all the 70 samples were showing the presence of Azotobacter, but only 23 marine sediments out of 30 were showing the presence of Azotobacter. These samples were processed through the commonly used procedures such as selective media. Gram’s staining, Phase contrast observation for motility, starch hydrolysis test and Catalase test for identification of free- living diazotrophic organism i.e Azotobacter from the above samples, and that can be processed, result shows that Azotobacter sp are motile, gram negative, catalase and starch hydrolysis positve.

The colony morphology of Azotobacter strains were varying during the isolation in the selective media. The colonies were very clear, large, mucoid, watery due drops like initially i.e. from the marine source. The mother culture was sub cultured in the same media; the colony morphology differs slightly i.e. small, and circular, convex in nature. All the isolated Azotobacter strains were numbered for the easy identification and convenience. From these isolates, well defined pure culture of Azotobacter strains (1, 16, 27, 82, 101, 103, 108, 115, 125, and 132) were selected for the nucleic acid analysis.

The reference (standard) cultures such as Azotobacter beijerinckii (123), A. chroococcum (446), and A. vinelandii (124) procured from MTCC, (Chandigarh, India) were also used along with marine isolates for the nucleic acid extraction and purification. The DNA of the selected strains was isolated and estimated OD at 260 nm, the value ranges from 0.141 to 0.177. The estimated value of the extracted DNA was ranging from 0.70 to 0.88.The purity of the DNA was analyzed by spectrophotometric method using OD at 260 and OD at 280 nm. The presence and purity of DNA was checked by OD at 260nm/ OD at 280 nm, the value ranges from 1.13 to 2.21. If the estimated value is 1.8 conforms the presence of pure DNA. If the estimated value is lesser /greater than 1.8 conforms the presence of DNA to protein / RNA contamination, according to respective values DNA was purified using the enzymes proteases and RNase. The purified form of the DNA was separated by the agarose gel electrophoresis for the comparison the banding pattern between the randomly selected marine samples and the standard strains. There is no substantial difference between the banding patterns of the chromosomal DNA on the gel as shown in the plates. This result confirms that molecular weight of chromosomal DNA in all strains is similar.

One µl of DNA was used as template in PCR. selected primers, primer1:5-GGAATTCCTGYGAYCCNAARGCCNA-3,

Primer2:5-CGGATCCGDNGCCATCATYTCNCC-3 procured from OPERON diagnostics LTD, USA, respectively was used to amplify a 324-bp region between sequence positions 336 and 660. All N2 fixers carry a NifH gene, which encodes the Fe protein of the nitrogenase (Poly et al., 2001). The results of the PCR products were compared on 2% agarose gel electrophoresis. Selective NifH primer from Anabaena sp strain PCC7120 was used for the amplification of the Azotobacter sp, the primers used in my study was exactly matching the Azotobacter genome. Free-living nitrogen-fixing prokaryotes (diazotrophs) are ubiquitous in soil and are phylogenetically and physiologically highly diverse. Molecular methods based on universal PCR detection of the NifH marker gene have been successfully applied to describe diazotroph populations in the environment. However, the use of highly degenerate primers and low-stringency amplification conditions render these methods prone to amplification bias, while less degenerate primer sets will not amplify all NifH genes (Bürgmann et al., 2003).

References

Bagwell, C.E., Piceno, Y.M., Lucas, A.M. and Lovell, C.R., 1988. Physiological diversity of the rhizosphere diazotroph assemblages of selected salt marsh grasses. Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 64(11): 4276-4282.

Bali, A., Gonzalo Blanco, Susan Hill, and Christina Kennedy 1992. Execretion of Ammonium by a NifL Mutant of Azotobacter vinelandii Fixing Nitrogen. Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 58(5 ): 1711-1718.

Bürgmann H, Franco Widmer, William Von Sigler, and Josef Zeyer. New Molecular Screening Tools for Analysis of Free-Living Diazotrophs in soil. Environmental Microbiology, Vol.70, No1 p.240 – 247.1999.

Bürgmann H, Manuel Pesaro, Franco Widmer and Josef Zeyer strategy for optimizing quality and quantity of DNA extracted from soil. Bacteriological Reviews, vol.36, No.2 p.295-341. 2003.

Church M J, Cindy M. Short, Bethany D. Jenkins, David M. Karl, and Jonathan P. Zehr, Temporal Patterns of Nitrogenase Gene (NifH) Expression in the Oligotrophic North Pacific Ocean’ Ocean Sciences Department, Environmental Microbiology, Vol 134, No.1 p.155-193, 1999.

Gerhard,P.,R.G.E.Murray,R.N.Costilow,E.W.Nester,W.A.Wood,N.R.Krieg,andG.B.phillips.1981.Manual of method for generalbacteriology.American SOCIETY FOR microbiology, Washington, D.C.

Joerger, R.D., Jacobson, M.R., Premakumar, R., Wolfinger, E.W. and Bishop, P.E., 1989. Nucleotide sequence and mutational analysis of the structural genes (anfHDGK) for the second alternative nitrogenase from Azotobacter vinelandii. J. Bacteriol., 171(2): 1075-1086.

Kader.M.A, Mian.M.H, Hoque.M.S. Effect or Azotobacter inoculant on the yield and nitrogen uptake by wheat. Department of soil science, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensigh, Bangladesh. Vol 2(4) p 251-261,2002.

Kelly, M.J.S., Poole, R.K., Yates, M.G. and Kennedy, C., 1990. Cloning and mutagenesis of genes encoding the cytochrome bd terminal oxidase complex in Azotobacter vinelandii: mutants deficient in the cytochrome d complex are unable to fix nitrogen in air. J. Bacteriol., 172(10): 6010-6019.

Kennedy.C, R.K.Poole, M.G.Yates, and M.J.S.Kelly. Cloning and Mutagenesis of Genes Encoding the Cytochrome bd Terminal Oxidase Complex in Azotobacter vinelandii: Mutants Deficient in the Cytochrome d Complex are unable To Fix Nitrogen in Air.Journal of Bacteriology, Vol.172,No.10 p.6010-6019 . 1990

Maniatis,T.,E.F.Fritsch,and J.Sambrook.1982. Molecular cloning: a laboratory manual. Cold spring Harbour Laboratory,Cold Spring Harbor,N.Y

Mary. L. G and rita r. colwell, Enumeration ,isolation and characterization of N2 fixing bacteria from sea water . Department of microbiology, University of Maryland. Vol 50 no .2. 1985

Poly .F, Lionel Ranjard, Sylvie Nazaret, François Gourbière, and Lucile Jocteur Monrozier.. Comparison of NifH Gene Pools in Soils and Soil Microenvironments with Contrasting Properties in Applied and Environmental Microbiology Vol. 67 p. 2255-2262. 2001

Robson,R.L.,J.A.Chesshyre,C.Wheller,R.Jones,P.R.Woodley, and J.R.Postgate. 1984.Genomic size and complexity in Azotobacter chroococcum.J.Gen Microbial.130:1603-1612.

Rubio .L M, singer.S.W, and Ludden P.W. Purification and Characterization of NafY from Azotobacter vinelandii. Department of plant and microbiology,college of natural resources, University of California, California. 2005

Sabra, W., Zeng, A.P., Lunsdorf, H. and Deckwer, W.D., 2000. Effect of oxygen on formation and structure of Azotobaceter vinelandii alginate and its role in protecting nitrogenase. Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 66(9): 4037-4044.

Shaffer, B. T., F. Widmer, L. A. Porteous, and R. J. Seidler. Temporal and spatial distribution of the NifH gene of N2-fixing bacteria in forests and clear-cut in western Oregon. Microb. Ecol. 39 P.12-21. 2000.

Wilfinger W.,Mackey K. and Chomczynski P.1997 Effect of Ph and ionic strength on the spectrophotometric assessment of nucleic acid purity. Bio Techniques,22,474-481.

Zehr .J. P ,Mark T. Mellon, and Sabino Zani. New Nitrogen-Fixing Microorganisms Detected in Oligotrophic Oceans by Amplification of Nitrogenase (NifH) Genes. 1998.

Zehr .J. P. Sarah Braun, Yibu Chen and Mark Mellon Nitrogen fixation in the marine environment: relating genetic potential to nitrogenase activity. Department of Biology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180-3590, USA . 1999.

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Finding ways to attract and retain new students is one of the core focuses of Enrollment Management divisions of colleges and universities, and Enrollment Management Consultants alike. Increasingly, college admissions officers are turning to technology in order to accomplish the task of attracting and retaining prospective students.

In the news, we’ve seen recent headlines that focus on Enrollment Management topics such as: the recent trend in State funding of higher education; the promotion of distance learning initiatives; performance based funding policies; and how colleges and universities seek to bolster socio-economic diversity among students, by promoting different admissions procedures.

We’ve also seen how the correct use of direct response marketing (a form of marketing that allows advertisers to quantify marketing ROI by soliciting a direct response from the consumer)—combined with sophisticated tracking technologies, and academic advising centers—provides more applications and enrollments. More colleges and Universities are turning to the internet, and other mediums that provide the opportunity for the increased efficiency of direct response marketing.

In an article entitled “Admissions deans grapple with the promises and pitfalls of electronic recruiting” Elizabeth Farrell discusses the new methods that universities are using to reach out to prospective students. A quote that appears in the article from the director of admissions of Colby, is a good summary:

“We’re really trying to keep up with what’s going on in the commercial world, because that’s what the kids are exposed to,” says Steve Thomas, director of admissions at Colby. “It’s what they’ve come to expect in dealing with us.”

As colleges and universities delve into advertising and marketing, they may not realize the enormous amount of time and money that can be saved by outsourcing Enrollment Marketing initiatives to Direct Response Marketing companies that are more equipped to reach target students, on a performance basis. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as marketing agencies have been utilizing the internet and other channels in order to initiate direct quantifiable contact with consumers for some time now.

Promoting Diversity

An interesting article appeared in the New York Times today that focuses on promoting ethnic diversity in student bodies through scholarships and admissions procedures. Michael F. Summers is runs a biochemistry laboratory at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The article highlights the steps that Summers has taken in order to increase the number of African Americans that have access to an educational structure that will provide them with the opportunity to pursue doctoral degrees.

Summers has taken steps like creating the Meyerhoff Scholarship program, a full scholarship that is awarded to African Americans. This program has provided the opportunity to enter a competitive scientific program to about 800 undergraduates.

In addition to highlighting the aggressive position that Summers has taken, the article also highlights many statistics that show just how few African Americans are awarded PH.D’s in science, math, and engineering: less than 3%. TO address this, Summers created the Meyerhoff Scholarship, a program that starts with an aggressive admission criteria:

We take minority students — those with very high SATs and high school grades — and we offer them full scholarships. We compete for them with the Ivy Leagues and we focus on retaining them as science majors. We provide the same kind of nurturance they might get at the traditionally black colleges, but we do some extra things, too. In the summer between high school and college , we have a “bridge program” showing the students what it will take to excel in science. We say, “we expect you to get A’s,” and we show them how to study so they’ll get them.”

By securing a scholarship program that funds high-achieving economically underprivileged African Americans, Summers has evened-out the diversity of his lab: 15 of 32 researchers are African American, a proportion that is unheard of in a biochemistry lab.

The different approaches that colleges and universities are taking to generating student enrollments is very interesting, and we will continue to monitor the new ways that academic institutions seek to increase diversity, and increase applications and enrollments.

Want to learn more about Enrollment Management? Click here to sign up for the Innovation Ads Enrollment Management Whitepaper.

Sources-

1 Farrell, Elizabeth “Admissions deans grapple with the promises and pitfalls of electronic recruiting” The Chronicle of Higher Education; March 16-2007

2 Dreifus, Claudia; “Goal No. 1: Good Science. Goal No.1 Diversity; The New York Times March 13, 2007

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The National Library of Medicine (NLM) helps you find answers to all your health care questions. The NLM’s medical library collection has more than 8 million books, photographs, microfilms, journals and other items. It’s a resource for health care, biomedicine, and the humanities, technology and science as it they relate to biomedicine. NLM offers a website call MedlinePlus that is one service of the NLM to direct you to the information to help answer health questions. This website also has extensive information about drugs, an illustrated medical encyclopedia, interactive patient tutorials, and latest health news. NLM is located on the campus of the national institutes of health in Bethesda in Maryland and it’s the largest medical library in the world. There are the rarest medical works and the oldest medical history collections inside this library. The library offers a reading room for convenience or items can be requested through the interlibrary loan system. The National Library of Medicine once published a monthly guide to the articles in five thousand journals. The guide called Index Medicus was begun in 1879. The final issue was published in December 2004. The information is now offered at its website call PubMed.

In February 2003, the NLM launched a virtual customer service representative named Cosmo. Cosmo is a navigation tool used to guide customers to information on the NLM web site. Users can get help finding information on consumer health, drug facts, medical databases, grant information and the online catalog access. The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) is run by NLM. The NCBI houses the biological databases accessible through the internet’s Entrez search engine.

The Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications (LHNCBC) along with NCBI carries out the research and development for NLM. They explore the use of computers, communications and audiovisual technologies to improve biomedical information. NLM is a valuable resource for the publics health information needs.

Another interesting institute in United States is the Institute of Medicine (IOM). It’s one of the United States national academies that chartered in 1970. It’s also a non profit making and non government organization. The objective of this institute is to give advice on medicine, biomedicine issues and health. The members of this IOM are selected based on their background like professional ability and achievements. IOM works in a several categories such as mental health, aging, women’s health, children’s health. It also includes other fields such as medicine, nutrition education and diseases. This institute mostly works on committee studies and reports of above categories.

Moreover, there is also some medicine college like Baylor College of Medicine that is one of the leading centers for biomedical research. This center is located in Houston Texas of United States with area 1,000 acre with 46 member institutions. There are 14 types of PhD programs offered such as neuroscience, molecular and biochemistry biology, immunology and cardiovascular sciences. It also includes graduate program of nurse anesthesia, residency training and physician assistant program. So it’s one of famous medicine library because there are lots of research and studies of medicines in there.

Here is some GOOD stuff about the GREAT stuff in Zrii, compiled by T. Emory, Ph.D., Nutrition:

Part I – PubMed’s Total Studies Documented On Zrii Nutrients:

- Amalaki Fruit ( Emblica Officinalis )………120 studies conducted

- Turmeric Root ( Curcuma longa )………….615 studies conducted

- Jujube Fruit ( Ziziphus jujuba Mill )……….12 studies conducted

- Tulsi Leaf ( Ocimum sanctum )…………….135 studies conducted

- Schizandra Fruit ( Schizandra chinensis)…..101 studies conducted

- Haritaki Fruit ( Terminalia chebula)………..76 studies conducted

- Ginger Root ( Zingiber officinale )…………463 studies conducted

TOTAL STUDIES…..: 1522 Scientific Studies Conducted as of Sept. 2007

Part II – Zrii’s Nutritional Profile and Antioxidant Studies

- Amalaki Fruit ( Emblica Officinalis )……….55 studies conducted

- Turmeric Root ( Curcuma longa )………….181 studies conducted

- Jujube Fruit ( Ziziphus jujuba Mill )……….1 studies conducted

- Tulsi Leaf ( Ocimum sanctum )…………….32 studies conducted

- Schizandra Fruit ( Schizandra chinensis)…..8 studies conducted

- Haritaki Fruit ( Terminalia chebula)……….19 studies conducted

- Ginger Root ( Zingiber officinale )………..58 studies conducted

TOTAL STUDIES…..: 354 Scientific Studies Conducted as of Sept. 2007

PubMed is a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine that includes over 17 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for biomedical articles back to the 1950s. PubMed includes links to full text articles and other related resources.

Fact Sheet

The National Library of Medicine

The National Library of Medicine (NLM), on the campus of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, is the world’s largest medical library. The Library collects materials in all areas of biomedicine and health care, as well as works on biomedical aspects of technology, the humanities, and the physical, life, and social sciences. The collections stand at more than 9 million items–books, journals, technical reports, manuscripts, microfilms, photographs and images. Housed within the Library is one of the world’s finest medical history collections of old and rare medical works. The Library’s collection may be consulted in the reading room or requested on interlibrary loan. NLM is a national resource for all U.S. health science libraries through a National Network of Libraries of Medicine®

Library is one of the world’s finest medical history collections of old and rare medical works. The Library’s collection may be consulted in the reading room or requested on interlibrary loan. NLM is a national resource for all U.S. health science libraries through a National Network of Libraries of Medicine®

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