Science Vision

157-163

Authors: A.K. Dash

The energy budget of the larvae of Antheraea mylitta Drury living in host plant Ziziphus jujuba Gaertn was prepared in winter. In the fifth instar the rate of food energy consumption, absorption, body growth, silk gland growth and respiration increased when compared to other instars. The amount of consumption, absorption, body tissue growth and silk gland growth during fifth instar was 81%, 82%, 82%, 97% respectively of the total amount used in the entire larval period. The fifth instar female larvae showed significantly higher overall efficiencies than male larvae. There was a gradual increase in amount of energy stored per mg dry body weight from first to fifth instar. The absorption and growth efficiency was lowest in second instar. Hence, it is the most vulnerable instar needing more care during rearing. Highest all-round efficiency was observed in fifth instar larva. Therefore, optimum care should be given to fifth instar larva during feeding and rearing in order to maximize silk productivity.

178-188

Authors: K. Syed Ibrahim, A. Laishram, E. Lalnunmawii, N. Senthil Kumar

Cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (CYPs) represent a large group and diverse family of enzymes involved in the myriad of biological processes in humans. In the present study, a total of 57 protein sequences of human CYPs retrieved from UniprotKB have been characterized for various physiochemical properties, homology search, motif and super family search and phylogenetic relationship. Physicochemical analysis showed that the isoelectric point values and GRAVY index ranged from 5.84 to 9.47 and 0.018 to -0.367, respectively. Many proteins (50 members, 87.8%) were in basic form, while few (7 members, 12.2%) were of acidic nature. Moreover, GRAVY index revealed that only CYP26C1 as hydrophobic while all others as hydrophilic. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that P450 proteins basically fall into two main clades and are divided into five subgroups. Motif analysis with MEME indicated presence, absence and even shuffling of motifs within clades. Clustering using the maximum likelihood analysis was also in accordance with P450s central roles in drug and xenobiotic metabolism as well as steroid hormone synthesis, fat-soluble vitamin metabolism, and the conversion of polyunsaturated fatty acids to biologically active molecules. Motif conservation within clusters showed the evolutionary pressure for maintenance of the structural and functional organization between different groups of protein. These results will help in the context of understanding the characteristics of the cytochrome P450 monooxygenase isoforms.

196-200

Authors: R. Zomuanpuii, C. L. Hmar, Vanramliana, N. Senthil kumar

Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a leading cause of viral encephalitis in Asia. Mizoram does not have record of JE till now, however, mortality due to ‘viral encephalitis’ among 7 to 20 aged groups during pre-monsoon and post- monsoon season has been recorded. Pathologic studies of fatal human encephalitis caused many common findings. The clinical syndrome may include many neurological effects and many other similarities in the clinical presentations. Such neurologic disease may manifest as subtle changes resulting in an initial misdiagnosis. Several serological methods have been developed for investigation and diagnosis of the disease. However, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) based methodologies have resulted in increased sensitivity for the detection of JEV viruses in clinical samples, and offers rapid and sensitive method.

206-211

Authors: Ch. Khawlhring, L. M. Singh

Green mature fruits of tomato were harvested in the morning and subjected to treatments on the same day by dipping in maleic hydrazide of different concentrations such as control (T0), 100 ppm (T1), 200 ppm (T2), 300 ppm (T3) and 400 ppm (T4) respectively. The fruits were stored in ambient condition for one month, and physical observations such as fruit weight, colour and fruit firmness were taken at 3-day interval, whereas chemical observations such as total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity, reducing sugar and non-reducing sugar contents were analysed at 5 days interval and lycopene contents estimated at the end of the experiment. Loss of fruit weight, colour change and reduced firmness was observed in all the fruits, but the fruits with 400ppm maleic hydrazide treatment showed best retention of colour as well as fruit firmness up to the end of the experiment.

96-105

Authors: Ksh. Mirabai Devi and S.K. Mehta

This study aimed to assess the effect of extracts of Lyngbya strain, MZUCC066, prepared in different solvents (methanol-100%, ethanol:water-3:7 and dichloromethane:isopropanol-1:1) against six microorganisms that comprise three chlorophycean algae (Chlorella vulgaris, Scenedesmus quadricauda and Selenastrum capricornatum), one cyanobacterian alga (Anabaena variabilis), and two bacterial strains (Bacillus subtilis, ATCC11774 and Bacillus pumilus, ATCC14884). Among the algal test organisms, the highest inhibition was found in S. quadricauda (70%) by dichloromethane:isopropanol extract of Lyngbya followed by A. variabilis (41%) by the same extract. When tested on bacterial test organisms, the highest inhibition zone diameter of 15.67 mm was found in B. subtilis by dichloromethane:isopropanol extract and followed by 14 mm in B. pumilus by the same extract at 100 µl concentration. Minimum inhibitory concentrations of each extract on all the organisms were varied. The present study suggests that Lyngbya has specific bioactivities against different groups of microorganisms.

115-123

Authors: F. Lalbiakmawia and V. Vanthangliana

Water is one of the most important natural resources highly crucial for our day-to-day life. The main sources of water are surface water and ground water. Erratic and irregular availability of surface water leads to exploration and utilization of ground water for irrigation, industrial and domestic purposes. Therefore, the quality of ground water is equally important as its quantity. The present study utilizes geographical information system (GIS) technique to map the spatial variability of ground water quality. Ground water samples were collected from 188 point sources randomly distributed in Aizawl district, Mizoram. The major water quality parameters namely pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids, total hardness, iron, chloride, nitrate and fluoride have been estimated for all the sampling locations. The spatial variation maps of these ground water quality parameters were generated and utilize as thematic layers. These thematic layers were given ranks based on their relative importance. Different classes within each thematic layer were assigned weightages in numerical rating from 1 to 3 as attribute values in GIS environment. Summation of these attributes values and the corresponding rank values of the thematic layers were utilize to generate the final ground water quality map. This final map shows the different classes of ground water quality within the district which can be utilize to provide a guideline for the suitability of ground water uses.

132-135

Authors: J. L. Pudaite

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of nitrogen and phosphorus on the growth and total chlorophyll content of a freshwater microalgae Scenedesmus sp. Growth behavior under modified Chu-10 medium without nitrogen source showed strong inhibition with growth rate reduced to 72.84% after 96 hour of treatment. There was about 10.24% inhibition of growth when the algae were cultured in a modified Chu-10 medium without phosphorus source. The photosynthetic pigment such as total chlorophyll content decreased at the same extent after 96 hour of culture in modified Chu-10 medium without the nitrogen source but not decreases in the medium without phosphorus source and the inhibition was highest in the medium without the nitrogen source.

145-151

Authors: D.V. Lalhlimpuia, R. Shukla, M. Singh and Lalramliana

The study, for the first time, reports the occurrence of the genus Neonoemacheilus from rivers of Mizoram, namely Langkaih and Tlawng rivers,. The study provides descriptions of N. assamensis giving additional characters other than outlined in the original description, such as, number of unbranched dorsal and anal fin rays; intestine arrangement and numbers of vertebrae.

47-53

Authors: Zothansiama and G. S. Solanki

The present study investigated how the maternal dominance status influences the mother-infant relationship and the interaction of females other than the mother with the group infants in captive stump-tailed macaques (Macaca arctoides). Nine infants were born into the group; observations were made on these infants during their first six months of life using all occurrences sampling. Eleven measures of mother-infant interaction were used for analyses: total time in contact, on nipple contact, off nipple contact, total time off contact, less than 3 feet away (touching distance), more than 3 feet away (beyond touching distance), total contact broken, leaves by mother, leaves by infant, approach by mother, approach by infant. Although the general course of development of the mother-infant relationship was similar in all mother-infant pairs, there were marked differences in regulation of mother-infant contact based on the maternal dominance status. Infants of more dominant females tend to be more secure and have greater freedom of movement within the group. High-ranking stump-tailed macaque mothers carried their offspring less than lower-ranking females. Infants born to dominant female were found to receive significantly more care contact than the infants of sub-ordinate female. The present study strongly indicated that maternal dominance status was a factor that shaped the nature of stump-tailed infants with group members.

59-67

Authors: Lalpawimawha, B. Lalruatfela, Saia Chenkuala, Zothansanga Ralte, Thomas Zomuana, S. T. Ruatfela and Willie Lalhruaitluanga

Cancer is a disease that affects the livelihood of humankind for ages. Dietary habit and lifestyle have been attributed to the development of many forms of cancer including gastric cancer. The state of Mizoram located in the northeastern India has been recorded to be a cancer prone area. Most Mizo people indulge in the use of smoke and smokeless tobacco and betel chewing. A study in this high cancer incidence zone is necessary to determine the actual cause of the disease. In this study, we evaluate the influence of tobacco use and betel consumption on gastric cancer. We conclude that individuals with a family history of cancer who consumed betel, smoke and smokeless tobacco have a higher risk of gastric cancer. We also found an association between increased risk of gastric cancer and consumption of betel or sahdah alone and betel with sahdah.

76-79

Authors: J.P. Singh

This paper is an analysis of the properties of the M−projective curvature tensor in Sasakian, Einstein Sasakian and η−Einstein Sasakian manifolds.

87-96

Authors: Lalawmawia Sailo and H. Lalthanzara

This paper deals with the bird community of Lengteng Wildlife Sanctuary in eastern Mizoram recorded during two years of survey. A total of 126 species of birds belonging to 35 families were recorded by line transect method. The family Timaliidae top the list with 19 species followed by Sylviidae with 10 species and Turdidae with 9 species. The findings include rare and vulnerable Blyth’s Tragopan, 4 near threatened species, viz. Mrs Hume’s pheasant, great hornbill, brown hornbill and the white-cheeked hill partridge. A rare green-tailed sunbird of the sub-species A. nipalensis victoriae is also recorded during the study. Based on our observation, out of 126 species recorded, 8 species are considered as rare and 22 species being considered occasional with 2 species as winter visitor. It was observed that bird community survey could serve as an important tool for assessing its role as ecological indicator of an area. The comparison of avian diversity of Phawngpui National Park, Murlen National Park and Dampa Tiger Reserve with our result and the habitat of rare birds in the study area are discussed.

2-7

Authors: R. Pathak

The long-wavelength-limit partial structure factors, Sxy(0), have been determined for liquid silver-indium (Ag-In) alloys using square well potential as perturbation over Percus-Yevick (PY) hard sphere reference system. Obtained Sxy(0) at various compositions of In have been employed to calculate isothermal compressibility and chemical ordering in the alloys. Further, homo-coordination and hetero-coordination in Ag-In alloys have been studied at microscopic level in terms of mutual and intrinsic diffusion coefficients

19-28

Authors: C. Lalrinchhana, G.S. Solanki

Knowledge on lizards, particularly the suborder Saurian, and their conservation aspects is very poor. An attempt was made to collect information on these small and lesser known animals so that an appropriate strategy can be formulated for their conservation. Inventorization study on Saurian fauna was conducted at Dampa Tiger Reserve, Mamit district, Mizoram, India, during the period of February 2011 to October 2014. 22 species of lizards were recorded and they can be classified into 5 families and 12 genera. Two species cannot be identified to the species level.

34-38

Authors: L. Chenkual

An abrupt rockslide on 11 May 2013 (Saturday 3:24 a.m. IST) forced a series of building collapse at Laipuitlang locality, Aizawl, Mizram, all the way down to Ramhlun Venglai locality covering an area of about 1025 sq m, which have been very high landslide prone regions of Aizawl. The tragedy caused 17 casualties, injuring 8 persons from the collapse of 15 houses. The colossal damage could have been due to a combination of the soft and high porous rock bedding, the steep slope, heavy rainfall, thunderstorm, anthropogenic destruction of the rock bed and overweight constructions. The study brings out some issues and concerned arising from the incident and management of the situation from the angle of disaster management.