The present study was conducted to determine the microbial profile in urine samples. Differential and selective chromogenic culture media were used for the rapid detection, identification and enumeration of urinary tract pathogens namely, E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Proteus mirabilis. Urine samples of normal healthy individuals as well as patients with Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) were screened on hicrome agar plates. The cultivable bacteria present in urine were isolated based on chromogenic detection. Antibiotic sensitivity assay, morphological characterization and biochemical tests, namely protease, oxidase, catalase, lipase, DNase and lecithinase assay were performed with the 15 isolates obtained from urine samples. The molecular analyses of the isolates were done through partial sequencing of the 16SrDNA gene; six of them were found to be novel and submitted in GenBank under the accession numbers EF644491-96. Phylogenetic tree of the isolates were constructed by neighbour joining method

Waste water fed fisheries are a common feature in different parts of the world. Yet not all work as efficiently as those operating at East Calcutta Wetland for more than 70 years now. The objective of this study is to unravel the reason for the markedly greater efficiency of the Bheris in fish production compared to other water bodies like rain water ponds or sewage fed fish ponds elsewhere. The study indicates that plankton growth could be an important factor responsible for greater fish production in the Bheris. The architecture of the Bheri itself acts as a facilitator in the process. It is proposed that planktons can act as biomarker for water quality assessment in fish production

SUMMARY Many human and mouse tumours do not express MHC class II antigens and have reduced levels of class I antigens. Because of the requirement for class I and/or class II antigen for antigen presentation to Th and Tc cells, these phenotypes may enable tumour cells to ‘escape’ the host's immune response. Experiments presented here are designed to assess the role of MHC class I and class II antigens in tumour immunity, and to overcome the MHC class I‐ or class II‐negative phenotype. When transfected with the syngeneic H‐2Db gene, the MHC antigen‐negative 402AX teratocarcinoma expresses high levels of H‐2Db antigen. 402AX/Db cells are rejected by MHC allogeneic and some WHC syngeneic 402AX‐susceptible mice, however the fully syngeneic strain of origin (129) remains tumour‐susceptible. Induction of MHC class I gene products on class I antigen‐negative embryonal carcinoma cells therefore increases tumour immunogenicity in some hosts, but not in the fully syngeneic mouse. In an attempt to enhance antigen presentation of tumour‐associated antigens to Th cells, MHC class I antigen‐positive SaI (KkDd) sarcoma cells were tranfected with syngeneic Aαk and Aβk genes to generate Iak‐expressing tumour cells. SaI/Ak cells are efficiently rejected by syngeneic A/J (KkDd) mice, while untransfected SaI cells are lethal. Induction of MHC class II antigen expression on the class I antigen‐positive SaI sarcoma therefore completely abrogates malignancy.

East Calcutta Wetland (ECW) is an example of wise use of cities solid and liquid waste through integrated resource recovery, mainly for pisciculture, vegetable as well as paddy cultivation and manure production. Amaranthus caudatus, Amaranthus blithum and Spinacia oleracea grown at ECW were analyzed for their accumulation of elements using Energy Dispersive X Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) and compared to those grown in south eastern parts of West Bengal (Midnapur). The objective was to analyze the health hazard, if any, underlying the use of wastewater and solid waste for cultivation of green leafy vegetables at ECW. The following results were obtained upon comparing the data collected from the two different sites: (a) higher accumulation in ECW grown plants of elements like Ca, Cu and Pb in Amaranthus caudatus; of Ca in Amaranthus blithum; of Cl and Cu in Spinacia oleracea, (b) for the same species grown in non-ECW site, higher concentration of elements like Mn and Fe in Amaranthus caudatus; of Cl, Mn and Br in Amaranthus blithum; of Ca, Mn, Fe and Br in Spinacia oleracea. The net consumption of the aforementioned elements per person per day was calculated and found to be much below the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) levels in all cases. Thus the vegetables grown out of integrated resource recovery mechanism at East Calcutta Wetland appear to be safe for human consumption. This further corroborated by the healthy appearance of these vegetables. This result has profound implications of far reaching significance for environmental management and health economics.

Persistence length and torsional rigidity for different B-DNA sequences have been calculated by analysing crystal structure database. The values of these parameters for mixed sequence DNA are in good agreement with those estimated by others. Persistence lengths for the homopolymeric sequences, namely poly(dA).poly(dT) and poly(dG).poly(dC), are significantly large compared to those of others as expected from the inability of these sequences to form nucleosome under normal conditions. The heteropolymeric sequences poly(dA-dC).poly(dG-dT) and poly(dG-dC).poly(dG-dC), on the other hand, have smaller persistence lengths. This implies larger flexibility of the d(AC).d(GT), d(CA).d(TG), d(GC).d(GC) and d(CG).d(CG) doublets, some of which constitute the genetic disease forming triplet repeats d(CTG).d(CAG) and d(CGG).d(CCG). Thus it is expected that these triplet repeat sequences are also flexible and wrap around the histone octamer efficiently. Persistence length calculations also indicate larger flexibility for these triplet repeat sequences. Furthermore, our computations reveal that the rigidity of a given DNA sequence is controlled by its ability to form cross-strand bifurcated hydrogen bonds between the successive base pairs. Molecular orbital calculations suggest that these hydrogen bonds are generally extended with bond lengths around 3A.