Archives-January 2012

Marine mycology is one of the major emerging areas or research in tropics. It is gaining importance not only due to taxonomic and ecological perspective, but also for unique metabolites biochemical and enzymes from the sea. Majority of the studies on marine fungi are confined to the temperate regions. Studies in tropics and subtropics gained importance only in last two decades. So in this present study addresses the marine fungi undertaken in tropical/subtropical habitats especially driftwoods in muthupet mangroves. Diversity of marine fungi colonizing the drift wood samples was assessed and the common and dominant driftwood inhabiting marine fungus were grown on seven different media. A total number of 23 species (11 genera) of fungi were recorded from the driftwood samples collected from five different stations of Muthupet mangrove (Chief corner, Koraiyar River, Saradi, Sethuguda, Xavier Munai). They were assignable to ascomycotina (3 species), basidiomycotina (1 species) and Deuteromycotina (19 species). The common and dominant marine fungus was showed fast growth in SWPDA.

This study investigated factors that contributed stress and the level of occupational stress among the technical teachers who are currently teaching in technical schools in Johore, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan. There were five teacher stress sources that included in this study: pupil misbehaviour, teacher workload, time and resources difficulties, interpersonal relationships, and recognition. A total of 92 teachers (N = 92) from nine technical schools in three states, which are Johore, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan were choosed randomly to represent the population by using the cluster over cluster method. The instrument for this study was adapted from the Teacher Stress Inventory constructed by Boyle, Borg, Falzon and Baglioni (1995) and had been modified by Mokhtar (1998) and Mazlan (2002). A pilot survey was done among 20 technical teachers in a technical school in Johore Bahru. The alpha croncbach for the instrument in this study was 0.982. The data were analyzed using both despcriptive (mean, frequency, and percentage) and inferency (Independent t-Test, Pearson Correlation, and One Way ANOVA) methods. Data analysis indicated that the overall stress level of respondent was moderate. Among the five stressors, pupil misbehaviour was the strongest determinant of teacher stress with a mean of 3.67. Other factors were teacher workload (mean = 3.00), time and resources difficulties (mean = 2.97), recognition (mean = 2.90), and interpersonal relationships (mean = 2.85) respectively. The workload and other factors had caused a moderate stress on the respondents. The results indicated that there was no significant difference of work stress among the respondent based on gender, marriage status, and highest academic qualification. Furthermore, the results were failed to indicate a significant correlation between teacher stress and demographic factors such as age, length of teaching experience, and the respondents’ monthly salary.

The biggest killer is not AIDS or cancer but psychological problems, and we see that very high level of stress found in bank employees. The banking sector is becoming increasingly competitive around the country and the level of product and service quality being offered to customer is almost same. Hence, the bank management adds more responsibilities on the shoulders of employees, resulting into a pressure on them, with increasing psychological problems i.e. stress, strain, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, etc. This situation, in which the employees have little or no sense of identification with their job, can cause an individual looking for another job or don’t perform efficiently their own. Therefore, it is very difficult for management that how to maintains bank employees’ ability to develop successful performance with their organization under present conditions. In this juncture, the present study is undertaken to address specific problems of private bank employees related to occupational stress. This throw light in to the pathogenesis of various problems related to occupational stress among bank employees. The study will be helpful to drawn up further policy on the related fields and act as a secondary data for further research.

This study was conducted to evaluate aqueous & ethanolic extracts of Ficus racemosa for wound healing properties in presence of dexamethasone depressed healing conditions. Reversal mechanism of dexamethasone depressed wound healing properties by Ficus racemosa was determined using the incision and excision wound model. Both the extract reverted the dexamethasone depressed healing effectively when compared with dexamethasone treated group. The results were comparatively significant (p ? 0.05).

Herbal preparation of Butea monosperma (Lam.) Taub. bark had been considered as effective, economical and safe ethnomedicine for various ailments in Indian traditional system of medicine. The present study was aimed to investigate scientifically the antidiabetic potential of B. monosperma bark. Both kinds diabetes; insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and non insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) were induced in the rats by treating with alloxan monohydrate (150 mg/kg b wt ;ip) and hydrocortisone (5mg/100g b wt; ip) respectively. Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) levels were measured at periodic intervals during the test period. The blood samples were collected with care sino-ocular puncture method and serum was isolated by centrifugation to analyze plasma glucose and serum lipid profile. The results of preliminary phytochemical analysis depicts that B monosperma bark has the presence of steroids and tannins and absence of terpenoids, glycosides, alkaloids and flavonoids. The moisture content and total ash values of bark was 3.0%and 9.7% respectively. The treatment with bark aqueous extract of B monosperma substantially declined the plasma glucose level in both IDDM and NIDDM animal subjects by 7.2% and 26.6% respectively. This treatment also appreciably (P= 0.05 and P=0.01) lowered the serum lipid profile. In conclusion, the aqueous extract of Butea monosperma reflected hypoglycemic and hypocholesterolemic potential through glucose and lipid profile lowering activity in experimental animals. It supported the folklore state of antidiabetic potential of the plant.

Today’s young generation are considered to be the centre and the basis for future generations because of several reasons. Jean McDougall and David Chantrey (2004) are of the opinion that this generation between the ages of 8 and 14 years are the controlling entities of the future. From business point of view this segment of market is considered to be the most profitable segment because they have ample of money to spend on. They are growing fast; know their own minds and growing with distinctive attitude. For these individuals older values no longer hold true and they are greatly influenced by urbanization, 24/7 and the new online media. Most of their decisions are not based on logic but are influenced by the social environment in which they exist. They are keener on clothes, image, tastes, sports, technology and electronic gadgets. Gifts, leisure goods and mobile phones are quite essential for keeping them connected with their friends. They have obsession towards advanced gadgets and they even can’t think of their life without cell-phones in their pockets, laptop bags on their shoulders and their day doesn’t start without chatting on ‘facebook’ or ‘orkut’. Although advance technologies are quite essential in this fast moving era but addiction to such gadgets can cause health hazards as well as social imbalances.

The molecular vibrations of P-fluorobenzoyl chloride (PFBC) were investigated in polycrystalline sample, at room temperature, by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and FT-Raman spectroscopies. In parallel, ab initio and various density functional (DFT) methods were used to determine the geometrical, energetic and vibrational characteristics of PFBC. On the basis of B3LYP/6-31G* and B3LYP/6-311+G** methods and basis set combinations, a normal mode analysis was performed to assign the various fundamental frequencies according to the total energy distribution (TED). Simulation of Infrared and Raman spectra, utilizing the results of these calculations led to excellent overall agreement with observed spectral patterns. The scaled quantum mechanical (SQM) approach applying selective scaling of the DFT force fields was shown to be superior to the scaling method in its ability to ensure correct band assignments and successful simulation of IR and Raman spectra including band polarizations and intensity patterns.

We are very happy to announce that from 23rd January 2012, Dr. Sukumar Senthilkumar has joined the team of Elixir Editorial Advisory Board. He will carry a special responsibility for dealing with manuscripts based on Mathematics and Computer Science. Dr. Sukumar Senthilkumar is currently working as Associate Professor at Department of Mathematics and Computer Science & Applications, Universiti Sains Malaysia, [An Apex University by Government of Malaysia] School of Mathematical Sciences, Pulau Pinang-11800, Penang, Malaysia. The appointment of Dr. Sukumar Senthilkumar as member Editorial Advisory Board strengthens the links and will make it easier for prospective authors to establish contact with the journal. Please send any expressions of interest to chiefeditor@elixirjournal.org. Sincerely Editor-in-Chief

We are very happy to announce that from 28th January 2012, Dr.Ahmet Ozan Gezerman has joined the team of Elixir Editorial Advisory Board. He will carry a special responsibility for dealing with manuscripts based on Chemical Engineering. Dr.Ahmet Ozan Gezerman is currently working as Shift Adviser at Toros Tarim Co., Icel. The appointment of Dr. Ahmet Ozan Gezerman as member Editorial Advisory Board strengthens the links and will make it easier for prospective authors to establish contact with the journal. Please send any expressions of interest to chiefeditor@elixirjournal.org. Sincerely Editor-in-Chief

We are very happy to announce that from 5th January 2012, Dr. Nisha Saxena has joined the team of Elixir Editorial Advisory Board. He will carry a special responsibility for dealing with manuscripts based on Chemistry. Dr.Nisha Saxena is currently working as Associate Professor at Department of Chemistry (ASH), Galgotias College of Engineering and Technology, Knowledge Park-II, Greater Noida-201306. The appointment of Dr. Nisha Saxena as member Editorial Advisory Board strengthens the links and will make it easier for prospective authors to establish contact with the journal. Please send any expressions of interest to chiefeditor@elixirjournal.org. Sincerely Editor-in-Chief