Does the Earth Belong to Us, or Do We Belong to the Earth? : A Note on Ecocriticism

Ecocriticism aims to bring a transformation of literary studies by linking literary criticism and theory with ecological issues on a wide scale giving a call to literature to connect to the issues of today’s environmental crisis, deforestation, and the depletion of natural resources because of man’s overriding greed for material possession and intense dislike for nature. In other words, ecocriticism is directly concerned with both nature and the environment

Epidemic of undernutrition during COVID-19 pandemic

Undernutrition continues to be a major public health challenge for ages. Under-five age children are still at risk of undernutrition even though there exist many policies and programs at various levels. The lower–middle-income countries (LMIC) struggle hard to combat the undernutrition epidemic. The unprecedented advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the existing undernutrition scenario. This article reviews the burden and impact of the COVID-19 on undernutrition among children. Necessary measures have to be taken to mitigate the crisis and thereby reduce the risks due to morbidity and mortality related to undernutrition. A manual search of relevant data has been taken from the website of the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, Ministry Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), government of India. (GOI). A search of relevant publications was done through electronic databases such as PUBMED

Strategies in Gene Therapy for Glioblastoma

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive form of brain cancer, with a dismal prognosis and extremely low percentage of survivors. Novel therapies are in dire need to improve the clinical management of these tumors and extend patient survival. Genetic therapies for GBM have been postulated and attempted for the past twenty years, with variable degrees of success in pre-clinical models and clinical trials. Here we review the most common approaches to treat GBM by gene therapy, including strategies to deliver tumor-suppressor genes, suicide genes, immunomodulatory cytokines to improve immune response, and conditionally-replicating oncolytic viruses. The review focuses on the strategies used for gene delivery, including the most common and widely used vehicles (i.e., replicating and non-replicating viruses) as well as novel therapeutic approaches such as stem cell-mediated therapy and nanotechnologies used for gene delivery. We present an overview of these strategies, their targets, different advantages, and challenges for success. Finally, we discuss the potential of gene therapy-based strategies to effectively attack such a complex genetic target as GBM, alone or in combination with conventional therapy

Cost effective nutrition sensitive innovations to address nutritional security

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Algal Nanoparticles and Their Antibacterial Activity: Current Research Status and Future Prospectives

Green nanotechnology is a promising technology that has a wide range of applications in pharmaceuticals today because they offer a higher surface-area-to-volume ratio. Algal-based nanoparticles (NPs) are the subject of intense research interest today for their potential to treat and prevent infections caused by infectious microorganisms that are antibiotic resistant. Algae contain a variety of therapeutically potential bioactive ingredients, including chlorophyll, phycobilin, phenolics, flavonoids, glucosides, tannins, and saponins. As a result, NPs made from algae could be used as therapeutic antimicrobials. Due to their higher surface-area-to-volume ratios compared to their macroscopic components, metallic nanoparticles are more reactive and have toxic effects on their therapy. For pharmaceutical and biomedical applications, green synthesis restricts the use of physical and chemical methods of metallic nanoparticle synthesis, and it can be carried out in an environmentally friendly and relatively low-cost manner. The majority of macroalgae and some microalgae have latent antimicrobial activity and are used in the synthesis of metallic nanoparticles. A potential application in the field of nanomedicine and the establishment of a potential pharmacophore against microorganisms may result from the synthesis of algal-based NPs. Only a few studies have been done on the potential antimicrobial, antifungal, and antibacterial activity of algae-based NPs. As a result, the study will concentrate on the environmentally friendly synthesis of various NPs and their therapeutic potential, with a focus on their antibacterial activity. Thus, the aim of this study is to review all the literature available on the synthesis and characterization of the algal nanoparticles and their potential application as an antibacterial agent

Impact assessment of an invasive macrophyte community on ecosystem properties: A Mass Balance Approach for Chilika lagoon, India

Not AvailablePhragmites karka (commonly known as Nala grass) is considered an invasive macrophyte, covering an area of 105.1 sq. km, hindering navigation and impacting the ecosystem functioning of Chilika Lagoon (1165 sq.km). The mass balanced models of three different scenarios of Chilika Lagoon were developed using Ecopath to assess the impact of the invasive macrophyte P. karka on the various ecological attributes of the ecosystem. The three different scenarios modelled were (1) a real-time scenario with 23 functional groups that includes P. karka as a group, (2) a virtual scenario with only 22 functional groups where the system is devoid of P. karka, and (3) a virtual scenario that has 22 groups but is devoid of the functional group seagrass and other macrophytes. The results of our study indicate that scenario-2, which is devoid of the macrophyte P. karka, was found to be a relatively mature and resilient ecosystem with the highest utilisation of primary production within the system. This scenario also possesses the highest overhead (67.47%) and Finn's cycling index (FCI) (4.226%) in comparison to the other two scenarios. The ecosystem indices showed a negative impact of P. karka on the trophic functioning of the Chilika Lagoon, which warrants an urgent need to remove the macrophyte to improve the resilience of the ecosystem

Expression patterns of heat shock protein genes in Rita rita from natural riverine habitat as biomarker response against environmental pollution

Not AvailableRiver pollution is one of the principal environmental concerns and biomonitoring tools can play an important role in pollution assessment in the riverine environment. Heat shock proteins (Hsps) have been found to be suitable tools for monitoring stress response. In the present study, expression analyses of hsp genes (hsp27, hsp47, hsp60, hsp70, hsc70, and hsp90) and selected hsp-regulatory genes (hsf1, hyou1, ask1, jnk) were carried out by RT-qPCR in catfish Rita rita collected from selected stretches of river Ganga to investigate changes in their expression patterns as biomarker response. Water quality characteristics were measured in terms of physico-chemical characteristics (DO, BOD, COD, pH, conductivity), element profile (arsenic, mercury, cadmium, lead, chromium, zinc, copper) and persistent organic pollutants (POPs; HCH, DDT, aldrin, endosulphan, heptachlor). Water quality index was calculated and sampling sites were categorized as good/medium/bad. Multivariate analysis was carried out taking the water quality parameters and the fold changes in hsp gene expression as variables, which showed that hsp47 and hsp70b correlated well with BOD, an indicator of organic pollution. To identify the organic pollutant(s) which could be influencing the expression of hsps, again multivariate analysis was employed taking concentration of POPs and fold changes of hsps, which showed up-regulation of hsp47 and hsp70b (HSP72i) correlated well with concentrations of aldrin and HCH. Synergistic effects of these POPs could be responsible for the up-regulation of said hsps, although individually present in low concentration; thus, indicating synergistic effect of the POPs on hsp47 and hsp70b up-regulation as biomarker response

Installation of biologically active pyrimidine moiety into pyridopyrimidine framework and evaluation of their antibacterial activities

120-126Pyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidines 3 have been synthesized starting from 5-benzylidene barbiturate and maloninitrile in presence of ammonium acetate. Installation of pharmacologically active pyrimidine moiety into pyridopyrimidine framework 3 has been accomplished by condensation of 3 with formic acid, acetic acid, urea, thiourea, formamide and hydrazine hydrate. The antibacterial activities of the synthesized compounds have been evaluated. Good to moderate activities of the tested compounds have been observed