Life Sciences

Effectiveness of ground-level education awareness programs among the indigenous communities to conserve threatened medicinal plants of the Aravalli hills of Rajasthan, India

In the Aravali hills of Rajasthan (northwest India), assessment of threatened medicinal plants were carried. Attempts were also made to conserve these plants by running education awareness programs at the adjacent villages of Aravali hills located at Jaipur, Udaipur, Banswara, Pratapgarh, Dungarpur and Chittorgarh districts. The study clearly indicates that there is an urgent need to trigger community-based approaches to conserve the threatened plants.

Drought-induced changes in photosynthetic performance of Triticum aestivum L.

Drought stress has multiple effects on the plantdevelopment. Photosynthesis is one of the key metabolic processes which determine plant productivity. The objective of present study was to understand the effects of drought stress on wheat var. [HI-1531(Harshita)] through fast chlorophyll a fluorescence analysis (OJIP). Various phenomenological parameters suggest that mild drought stress have no significant effect on the primary photochemistry of photosystem II (PSII) in var. HI-1531. The light harvesting complexes was found stable even in severe drought stress.

EVALUATION OF THE ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF SOME PLANT EXTRACTS ON SALMONELLA SPECIES

Salmonella is a facultative intracellular pathogen which is responsible for causing diseases ranging from gastroenteritis to typhoid fever. Multi-drug drug resistant Salmonella spp. is of serious concern that has urged scientists to find alternative medicine. The present study was designed to evaluate the antibacterial activity of methanol extracts of Casuarina equisetifolia, Euphorbia hirta, Euphorbia tirucalli and Sphaeranthus indicus against identified Salmonella species (S. typhi, S. enteritidis and S.

Cloning the Metagenome to Access the Biodiversity of Unculturable Bacteria

Metagenomics constitutes the sequence based analysis of the collective microbial genomes (microbiome) in a particular environment. It provides culture independent access to the gene pool of whole microbial community. The variety of laboratory culturing methods when fail to culture the unculturable bacteria, tools of metagenomics are applied to reveal their existence in a given environment. Metagenomics tools deal mainly with the direct isolation of genetic material from a defined ecological habitat (soil or marine) and cloning of the complete genome of the entire microbial population.

Forward and Reverse Genetic Tools for Investigating Gene Function

Genetics and molecular genomic approaches have been changed our perception towards biological processes. Reverse genetics describes the “gene to phenotype”approach, with which functions of a gene of interest can be examined by disrupting the gene expression at physiological level. Forward genetics is a “phenotype to gene” approach with which genes involved in a biological pathway can be identified through the screening of populations that contain random modifications throughout the genome, altering the gene function.

SEROLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR TESTS FOR DIAGNOSIS OF TYPHOID - A REVIEW

Typhoid claims millions of lives worldwide each year and continues to be a serious health threat especially in developing countries like India. Till date, many tests have been developed for diagnosis of typhoid that are either based on detection of antibodies against SalmonellaTyphi antigens or detecting antigens that are specific to S.Typhi. However, all of them have limitations of sensitivity and specificity and none can be considered as ideal for diagnosis of typhoid.

COASTAL DYNAMICS AND SHORELINE MAPPING: MULTI SOURCES SPATIAL DATA ANALYSIS IN LE MORNE (MAURITIUS ISLAND)

The shoreline erosion is considered to be one of the major environmental problems in the south east and south west part of Mauritius coast. Shoreline mapping provides a means of monitoring shoreline-change, which is very essential for coastal planning and decision-making.

CLIMATE AND LAND USE/ LAND COVER CHANGE STUDIES IN SURANGI DADRA & NAGAR HAVELI (U.T)

The climate and Land Use/Land Cover maps have the capacity to illustrate the interaction between humans and the surroundings and are also available to see different conditions in the same or similar environments. Surangi village of Dadra & Nagar Haveli (UT) study is used to produce Land Use/Land Cover maps, which show environmental and geological characteristics. The major objective of this research was to produce and compares climate and Land Use/Land Cover specific maps for the land around 5 km radial distance.

TO STUDY THE MEDICINAL VALUE OF HERBS WHICH ARE NATURAL PROPAGATED DURING MONSOON SEASON ON WASTE LAND

Today Tradition systems of medicine which utilize mostly plant derived prescriptions, remain the source of primary health care for more than 3/4thof the third world population. It is estimated that a one third of all world pharmaceuticals are of plant origin. It is naturally felt that there is a need to make on humble attempt to acquire and familiarize every sector of human society which is available to us. This research paper is regarding beneficial role of plants “Cassia tora Linn.” and Achyranthes aspera Linn.

AEROBIC MICROBIAL DEGRADATION OF M-CRESOL

Wastewater or sewage sludge is a complex mixture of organic and inorganic compound. Cresol is one of the major constituents found in waste water. Cresol being toxic/ carcinogenic for aquatic and terrestrial animals including humans, removal of these compounds to sufficiently low levels in wastewater is of great importance. The major disadvantages with the available conventional treatments are cost involved in disposal of the final effluent, production of toxic intermediates, and incomplete mineralization of the compounds.