Banaras Hindu University

About: Banaras Hindu University is a education organization based out in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Catalysis. The organization has 11858 authors who have published 23917 publications receiving 464677 citations. The organization is also known as: Kashi Hindu Vishvavidyalay & Benares Hindu University.

Javanicin, an Antibacterial Naphthaquinone from an Endophytic Fungus of Neem, Chloridium sp.

Abstract: The endophytic fungus Chloridium sp. produces javanicin under liquid and solid media culture conditions. This highly functionalized naphthaquinone exhibits strong antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas spp., representing pathogens to both humans and plants. The compound was crystallized and the structure was elucidated by X-ray crystallography. The X-ray structure confirms the previously elucidated structure of the compound that was done under standard spectroscopic methods. The importance of javanicin in establishing symbiosis between Chloridium sp. and its host plant, Azadirachta indica, is briefly discussed.

Effects of UV irradiation on certain physiological and biochemical processes in cyanobacteria

Abstract: The effects of artificial UV (280–400 nm, 5 W m−2) radiation on heterocyst differentiation, nitrogenase activity, 14CO2 uptake and protein profile of whole cell and isolated heterocysts have been studied in four cyanobacterial strains isolated from Indian rice paddy fields. Exposure of cells to UV for 1 h significantly affected the differentiation of vegetative cells into heterocysts in four cyanobacterial strains studied (Anabaena sp., Nostoc sp., Nostoc carmium and Scytonema sp). Almost 50% fewer heterocysts were recorded in Anabaena sp. and Scytonema sp. and nearly 70% fewer in Nostoc sp. and Nostoc carmium after UV radiation in comparison with controls without UV. Nitrogenase activity in Anabaena sp. was completely inhibited within 45 min of UV exposure. 14CO2 uptake in Anabaena sp. was also severely affected by UV radiation. Sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS PAGE) analyses of the total protein profile of Anabaena sp. showed a linear decrease in the protein content with increasing UV exposure time. Almost complete elimination of most of the protein bands occurred after 120 min of UV exposure. The SDS PAGE protein profile of isolated heterocysts of Anabaena sp. showed three prominent polypeptides of 26, 54 and 55 kDa, with a decrease in the first two and complete elimination of the last one after 1 h of UV radiation.

The inverse Lindley distribution: a stress-strength reliability model with application to head and neck cancer data

Abstract: In this article, we proposed one parameter, inverse Lindley distribution, with its fundamental properties such as quantiles, mode, stochastic ordering, entropy, and stress–strength reliability. The proposed distribution has upside-down bathtub shape for its failure rate function. The estimation of stress–strength reliability has been approached by both classical and Bayesian methods. Under Bayesian set-up, both non-informative (Jeffrey) and informative (gamma) priors are considered under symmetric (squared error) and asymmetric (entropy) loss functions. The Lindley’s approximation method is used for Bayesian computation. The performances of the estimators have been compared in terms of their mean squared errors using simulated samples. Two real data-sets, representing the survival times of head and neck cancer patients, are considered for demonstrating the applicability of the proposed model.