The retrospective data on childhood poisoning from eight regional hospitals in India has been reviewed. The demographic features and types of poisonings encountered have been compared. The analysis of the data indicated that pediatric poisonings constituted 0.23-3.3% of the total poisoning. The mortality ranged from 0.64-11.6% with highest being from Shimla. Accidental poisoning was common involving 50-90% of children below 5 years of age and males outnumbered the females. Suicidal poisoning was seen after 13 years of age and was due to drugs and household chemicals. One of the hospitals in Delhi recorded a very high incidence (66.6%) of drug poisoning in children. The drugs consumed belonged to phenothiazines, antiepileptics and antipyretics. Iron poisoning was seen in younger children. Kerosene was one of the causes of accidental poisoning at all hospitals except Shimla and rural Maharashtra were probably wood charcoal is widely used. Pesticide poisoning was more prevalent in Punjab and West Bengal whereas plant poisoning was very common in Shimla. Significant number of snake envenomation has been recorded from rural Maharashtra. Other less common accidental poisonings in children included alcohol, corrosives, heavy metals, rodenticides, detergents and disinfectants. Thus various regions in the country showed some variation in types and frequency of childhood poisoning which could be attributed to different geographical and socio-economic background.

Chitosan coated FeO NPs are effective antimicrobial agents and so may be developed as a microbial resistant coating for biomedical devices.

Alkalophilic Bacillus subtilis ASH produced high levels of xylanase using easily available inexpensive agricultural waste residues such as wheat bran, wheat straw, rice husk, sawdust, gram bran, groundnut and maize bran in solid-state fermentation (SSF). Among these, wheat bran was found to be best substrate. Xylanase production was highest after 72 h of incubation at 37°C and at a substrate to moisture ratio of 1:2 (w/v). The inoculum level of 15% resulted in maximum production of xylanase. The enzyme production was stimulated by the addition of nutrients such as yeast extract, peptone and beef extract. In contrast, addition of glucose and xylose repressed the production of xylanase. The extent of repression by glucose (10%, w/v) was 81% and it was concentration-dependent. Supplementation of the medium with 4% xylose caused 59% repression. Under optimized conditions, xylanase production in SSF (8,964 U of xylanase/g dry wheat bran) was about twofold greater than in submerged fermentation. Thus, B. subtilis produced a very high level of xylanase in SSF using inexpensive agro-residues, a level which is much higher than that reported by any other bacterial isolate.Furthermore, the enzyme was produced at room temperature and with tap water without the addition of any mineral salt in SSF, leading to a marked decrease in the cost of xylanase production, which enhances its industrial potential.

The present study describes the one-step purification and characterization of an extracellular cellulase-free xylanase from a newly isolated alkalophilic and moderately thermophilic strain of Bacillus subtilis ASH.Xylanase was purified to homogeneity by 10.5-fold with ~43% recovery using ion-exchange chromatography through CM-Sephadex C-50. The purified enzyme revealed a single band on SDS-PAGE gel with a molecular mass of 23 kDa. It showed an optimum pH at 7.0 and was stable over the pH range 6.0-9.0. The optimum temperature for enzyme activity was 55 °C. The purified xylanase did not lose any activity up to 45 ºC, however, it retained 80% and 51% of its activity after pre-incubation at 55 ºC and 60 ºC, respectively. The enzyme obeyed Michaelis-Menton kinetics towards birch wood xylan with apparent K m 3.33 mg/ml and V max 100 IU/ml. The enzyme was strongly inhibited by Hg 2+ and Cu 2+ while enhanced by Co 2+ and Mn 2+. The purified enzyme could be stored at 4 ºC for six weeks without any loss of catalytic activity. The faster and economical purification of the cellulase-free xylanase from B. subtilis ASH by onestep procedure together with its appreciable stability at high temperature and alkaline pH makes it potentially effective for industrial applications.

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