Trammel net is one of the important fishing gears operated along Thoothukudi coast of Tamil Nadu. This paper documents the design and general features of Cuttle Fish Trammel Net (CFTN) being operated by the fishermen of Therespuram fishing village to capture Cuttle fishes and Squids. It was observed that both the inner and outer panels of CFTN were made of Nylon mono filament webbing. The mesh size of the inner panel ranged from 52 mm to 60 mm, whereas the mesh sizes of outer panels ranged from 265 to 290 mm. The number of meshes in the inner and outer panels of CFTN along length was 1,500 and 350 respectively whereas along the depth the number of meshes was 50 and 7-8 respectively. The hanging coefficient of inner and outer panel was estimated to be 0.4 and 0.7, respectively. A pair of polypropylene ropes (PP) with thickness of 3-5 and 3 mm were tied together and used as head rope and foot rope in CFTN. A total 6 to 10 units of trammel nets were found to be used per fishing trip. The trammel nets were set before sunrise and hauled after the soaking duration of 3 hrs. Indiscriminate fishing with respect to different sizes of both cuttle fishes and squids was the major problem encountered in this net due to its entangling nature. Among the various species captured by the trammel net finfishes are found to be the dominant species (70.9 Kg/soaking day) followed by cuttle fishes (8.1 Kg/soaking day). Crabs were the least dominant species with catch rate of 1.4 Kg/soaking day.

SARS CoV-2 is a global pandemic threatening mankind and is causing great economic losses. Remedies are sought by eminent scientists throughout the world from various sources of available medicine. The search for the efficient drug candidate to combat the dreaded pandemic is still on. Caesalpinia sappan Linn. is a common medicinal herb having various medicinal properties like cytotoxic, antitumorigenic, anticoagulant, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, immunostimulant, and hepatoprotective properties. In this study, a few promising phyto constituents of C. sappan were chosen and their effects against the important disease-causing protein receptors of SARS CoV-2 were studied in silico. Phytoconstituents of Caesalpinia sappan (Caesalpin J, Deoxysappanone B, Methylepisappanol, Methylsappanol, Quercetin) expressed superior or equivalent binding affinity against the three chosen receptors of SARS CoV-2 namely spike glycoprotein, main protease, and RNA dependent RNA polymerase. Hence, necessary in vivo studies may be undertaken to evaluate the antiviral properties of C. sappan against SARS CoV-2.

Atherosclerosis is one of the risk factors for coronary artery disease. The present study was conducted to find out the alleviative effect of ethanolic extract of Mirabilis jalapa L. against haemato-biochemical alterations of high-fat diet-induced atherosclerosis in Wistar rats. Fifty-four Wistar rats (male – 27 and female – 27) were randomly divided into six different groups: Group I (normal pellet feed), group II (high-fat diet), group III (root extract of Mirabilis jalapa L.), group IV (atorvastatin), group V (HFD + root extract of Mirabilis jalapa L.) and group VI (HFD + atorvastatin). The treatments were given from the 8thday to the 30th day in group V and group VI. Haematological parameters, hepatic enzymes, serum lipid profile and atherogenic indices were studied in HFD induced atherosclerosis. Ethanolic extract of M. jalapa L. (EEM) showed a highly significant reduction in lipid profile, atherogenic indices, hepatic enzymes (ALT and AST) compared with the HFD group. No significant differences were observed in the haematological values of all the groups. The results indicated that M. jalapa L. has a partial alleviative effect on HFD induced biochemical changes in the atherosclerotic rat.

Rapid, sensitive and accurate diagnosis of Leptospirosis in canines is very much helpful in areas of increased prevalence. This study aimed to visualise Recombinase Polymerase amplified DNA of pathogenic Leptospira for rapid diagnosis of Leptospirosis in canine. The Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RPA) assay for amplifying the lipL32 gene of pathogenic Leptospira was optimised. The visual detection of the amplified DNA by incorporating an optimised concentration of SYBR Green I dye in an indigenously built low-cost detection device was also optimised. Light green fluorescence was observed in the positive samples, while the negative samples appeared orange. The visual detection format of the RPA can be integrated as a point of a diagnostic test in any veterinary clinic or in remote areas where resource settings are limited.

Culicoides are the biting midges that are involved in the transmission of bluetongue, an economically important disease of small ruminants particularly sheep. The prevalence of Culicoides species in and around sheep farms of selected districts of Tamil Nadu was investigated by setting up UV- LED CDC traps. A total of 1787 specimens of Culicoides were collected, out of which Culicoides imicola was found to be in abundance. The other species included Culicoides oxystoma, Culicoides peregrinus, Culicoides brevitarsis and Culicoides fulvus. It was found that female midges outnumbered the male population in all the identified species. The overall percentage distribution of pigmented, non-pigmented, blood fed and gravid forms were observed to be 25.73%, 25.49%, 38.95% and 9.81% respectively. Morphological identification was complemented by molecular characterization using barcodes obtained by amplification of the mitochondrial eytochrome oxidase gene. The results of BLAST analysis revealed that all the other four species grouped with their respective species clusters except C. oxystoma which showed a higher degree of genetic divergence.

A Jersey crossbred cow was admitted with the history of dystocia. A large sized anasarcous fetus along with ascites and hydrocephalus was delivered after puncture and draining of Àuid using William's long obstetrical hook and traction.

Accurate detection of oestrus is a key factor for breeding and successful conception in buffaloes which is a major constraint in buffaloes. Protein concentrations of saliva and cervico vaginal fluid (CVF) were determined during various stages in normal cycling, silent oestrus and anoestrus buffaloes. Eighteen pluriparous buffaloes were selected and divided into Group I (regular oestrus; n=6), Group II (silent oestrus; n=6) and Group III (anoestrus n=6) buffaloes. Saliva was collected at proestrus, oestrus and diestrus stages of Group 1 and II animals and on a random day in Group III animals. CVF were collected only at oestrus stage of Group I and Group II buffaloes. Intense, intermediate and no oestrus signs were noticed in Group I, II and III buffaloes respectively. Non-significantly higher protein concentration was recorded in saliva and CVF during oestrus stage in Group I and II buffaloes.

Thirty healthy, parous, cyclic crossbred cows aged under 8 years were selected and randomly divided into two groups as group I (n=10) and group II (n=20). Group I served as control and group II cows were synchronized with CIDR + PGF2α protocol in the presence of matured CL. Breeding was carried during the observed estrus in group I and at 48 and 72 h after removal of CIDR in group II cows with good quality frozen thawed Jersey crossbred semen. The group II cows showed 100 per cent estrus induction with a mean time of onset of induced estrus of 46.20 ± 0.50 h in group II cows. The duration of estrus was 25.40 ± 0.45 and 26.30 ± 0.47h in group I and group II, respectively. The incidence of intense and intermediate estrus was significantly higher in group II when compared with group I cows. The length of estrus in non-conceived cows was 22. 13 ± 0.52 and 21. 37 ± 0.62 days in group I and II, respectively with a conception rate of 20 and 60 per cent in group I and II. It was concluded that application of CIDR and PGF2α with FTAI was effective in improving conception rate in cross bred cows.

The study was aimed at establishing the embryonic stem cells (ESC) like cell colonies from in-vitro produced buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) compact morula (CM). A total of 33 CM were subjected for zonalysis using pronase and embryonic cells were derived by three different methods viz., T 1: Intact CM; T 2: Disaggregation of CM by gentle pipetting and T3: Slicing of CM using Bard Parker blade. The efficiency of establishment of ESC-like cell colonies in the three groups were 66.7, 83.6 and 6.7 per cent respectively. There were no significant differences on the day of attachment and initiation of primary colony formation between T1 and T2 groups. However, the primary colonies established significantly earlier (Day 3.8) in T2 group than in T1 group (Day 4.8). In both the groups, the primary coloniesspread out vigorously exhibiting rapid proliferation rate. The ESC-like cell colonies of T1 and T2 groups survived upto four passages. Immunostaining of CM, primary and passaged ESC-like cell colonies revealed distribution of Oct-4 protein. The study demonstratedsuccessful establishment of ESC-like cell colonies from pipette dissociated blastomeres of in-vitro produced CM. 

The house fly sex pheromone (Z)-9-tricosene was impregnated into different pheromone dispensers (septa, plastic and polythene) and their efficacy in luring Muscadomestica towards red acrylic delta trap was studied. Out of the 514 house flies trapped, (Z)-9tricosene when impregnated in circular plastic green lure attracted the maximum number of flies (165), followed by polyvial (132), silicone septa (111) and rubber septa (79) whereas the least number of flies was attracted with rectangular plastic dispenser (27). Among the house flies trapped, 46.49 per cent (239) were males and 53.50 per cent (275) were females redominance of male flies was observed with circular plastic green lure, polyvial and silicone septa, whereas in rubber septa and rectangular plastic lure, more number of female house flies were trapped. Observations revealed that circular plastic green lure, polyvial and silicone septa can be used as an effective dispensers to impregnate (Z)-9-tricosene in order of preference to facilitate slow and sustained release of pheromone and thereby trapping the optimum number of house flies towards delta trap.