Anticancer Evaluation of Adiantum venustum Don

Cancer is a malignant disease that is characterized by rapid and uncontrolled formation of abnormal cells which may mass together to form a growth or tumor, or proliferate throughout the body. Next to heart disease, cancer is a major killer of mankind. This study aims at a preliminary phytochemical screening and anticancer evaluation of Adiantum venustum Don against Ehrlich Ascites Carcinoma in animal model. The findings indicate that ethanolic extract of A. venustum Don possesses significant anticancer activity and also reduces elevated level of lipid peroxidation due to the presence of terpenoids and flavonoids. Thus, ethanolic extract of A. venustum Don could have vast therapeutic application against cancer

Trichosanthes dioica root extract induces tumor proliferation and attenuation of antioxidant system in albino mice bearing Ehrlich ascites carcinoma

Trichosanthes dioica Roxb. (Cucurbitaceae), called pointed gourd in English, is a dioecious climber grown widely in the Indian subcontinent. The present study assessed the influence of treatment of hydroalcoholic extract of Trichosanthes dioica root (TDA) on Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) in Swiss albino mice with effects on antioxidant systems. Twenty-four hours after intraperitoneal inoculation of tumor (EAC) cells in mice, TDA was administered at 25 and 50 mg/kg for 8 consecutive days. On the 9th day, half of the mice were sacrificed for estimation of tumor proliferation, hematological, and hepatic antioxidative parameters. The rest were kept for assessment of survival parameters. TDA exhibited dose dependent and significant increase in tumor weight, tumor volume, packed cell volume and viable cells and reduced non-viable cells and life span of EAC bearing animals. Hematological parameters were significantly worsened in TDA-treated mice. TDA treatment significantly aggravated the hepatic antioxidative parameters. The present study demonstrated that T. dioica root possessed tumor promoting activity in EAC bearing albino mice, plausibly mediated by attenuation of endogenous antioxidant systems

The sources, impact and management of car park runoff pollution: a review

Traffic emissions contribute significantly to the build-up of diffuse pollution loads on urban surfaces with their subsequent mobilisation and direct discharge posing problems for receiving water quality. This review focuses on the impact and mitigation of solids, metals, nutrients and organic pollutants in the runoff deriving from car parks. Variabilities in the discharged pollutant levels and in the potentials for pollutant mitigation complicate an impact assessment of car park runoff. The different available stormwater best management practices and proprietary devices are reported to be capable of reductions of between 20% and almost 100% for both suspended solids and a range of metals. This review contributes to prioritising the treatment options which can achieve the appropriate pollutant reductions whilst conforming to the site requirements of a typical car park. By applying different treatment scenarios to the runoff from a hypothetical car park, it is shown that optimal performance, in terms of ecological benefits for the receiving water, can be achieved using a treatment train incorporating permeable paving and bioretention systems. The review identifies existing research gaps and emphasises the pertinent management practices as well as design issues which are relevant to the mitigation of car park pollution

Privatizing community animal health worker based veterinary services delivery system in West Kordofan, Southern Sudan; The needed roles of community animal health assistant (CAHA) and Pastoral unions

Historically the Government of Sudan (GoS) has provided nationwide veterinary services free of charge. In 11993 however, the southern Sudan, where the west Kordofan is situated, was hit by deteriorating security situation, which compounded by budgetary constraint, poor infrastructure and recurrent drought rendered the state unable to provide even the basic veterinary services. For the livestock owners in the south, the near total collapse of the veterinary service delivery system was exacerbated by the adoption of policies aimed at liberalizing and privatizing the delivery of inputs and services in face of a non-performing economy and lack of disposal income. The transhuman pastoralism practice has kept to a very regular pattern between north and south. During the dry season (December to May) the herders move southwards while with the onset of the rainy season (June to November), which coincides with the influx of biting flies and diseases, they migrate northwards. This pattern of movement renders fixed point delivery of veterinary services currently being offered by the GoS and some private practitioners totally ineffective. In addition the migration pattern and the inaccessibility of the routes used during the migration makes it expensive and physically difficult to sustain a motorized delivery system. In response to the UNICEF/OLS, CARE, UNDIP-UNSO/ARS, SKADP and El Bir introduced the community based animal health worker (CAWH) programmes in 1992. Initially veterinary inputs and services were subsidized but emphasis is now shifting to full cost recovery. The services provided by the CAWHs were paid for from the money received through a cost recovery system. This arrangement, however involves both development agencies and the GoS and all thus not viewed as being sustainable in the long run the present study undertaken to review the current CAHW structure and provide a realistic plan that outlines the details necessary for providing a middle management level structure of animal health care providers to evaluate, monitor and support the CAHWs in the field. This paper describes the proposed services delivery and administrative structure envisaged as being the most cost effective, practical and sustainable for the area. The Kenya Veterinarian Vol. 27 2004: pp. 52-6

21st Century Planning Techniques for Creating Fire-Resilient Forests in the American West

Data-driven decision making is the key to providing effective and efficient wildfire protection and sustainable use of natural resources. Due to the complexity of natural systems, management decision(s) require clear justification based on substantial amounts of information that are both accurate and precise at various spatial scales. To build information and incorporate it into decision making, new analytical frameworks are required that incorporate innovative computational, spatial, statistical, and machine-learning concepts with field data and expert knowledge in a manner that is easily digestible by natural resource managers and practitioners. We prototyped such an approach using function modeling and batch processing to describe wildfire risk and the condition and costs associated with implementing multiple prescriptions for risk mitigation in the Blue Mountains of Oregon, USA. Three key aspects of our approach included: (1) spatially quantifying existing fuel conditions using field plots and Sentinel 2 remotely sensed imagery; (2) spatially defining the desired future conditions with regards to fuel objectives; and (3) developing a cost/revenue assessment (CRA). Each of these components resulted in spatially explicit surfaces describing fuels, treatments, wildfire risk, costs of implementation, projected revenues associated with the removal of tree volume and biomass, and associated estimates of model error. From those spatially explicit surfaces, practitioners gain unique insights into tradeoffs among various described prescriptions and can further weigh those tradeoffs against financial and logistical constraints. These types of datasets, procedures, and comparisons provide managers with the information needed to identify, optimize, and justify prescriptions across the landscape

The impact of storm water runoff on a small urban stream

Background, aim, and scope: In urban areas, storm water runoff often transports various pollutants, some of which settle and form sediments. In order to have the comprehensive view of the ecological state of storm water runoff recipients, both water and sediments of the stream must be assessed. In the Baltic Sea Area, the Water Framework Directive & HELCOM Recommendations aim to prevent or minimise pollution caused by harmful substances arising from storm water runoff, in order to promote the ecological restoration of the Baltic Sea—one of the most vulnerable seas. The aim of the study was to investigate the toxicity of bottom sediments of a small storm water runoff recipient focusing on the potential impact of successive discharges of urban storm water. Some storm water runoff quality parameters and the toxicity of bottom sediments of recipients was studied in this research. Materials and methods: During 9 years, at four discharge points, minimum four grab samples per year at each discharge point were taken for chemical characterisation. General parameters (pH, SS, BOD7, CODCr and TPH) in liquid phase samples were analysed according to standard methods. Annual limit values were taken from the Lithuanian EPA requirements for the management of storm water runoff with a focus on prevention and control of contamination. Eleven composite samples of stream bottom sediments, each consisting of ten sub-samples, were collected in 2006. Toxicity screening from sediments was performed using the plant Lepidium sativum according to modified I. Magone’s methodology (Magone I, Bioindication of phytotoxicity of transport emission. In: Kachalova O-L, Zinatne (eds) Bioindication of toxicity of transport emissions in the impact of highway emissions on natural environment. Riga, pp 108–116, 1989). The level of toxic impact of Lepidium sativum (compared to control) was assessed according to the modified method of Wang (Rev Environ Contam Toxicol 126:88–127, 1992). Results: The mean pH of urban storm water runoff does not vary much from neutral, but range values are quite different, from 4.0 up to 8.7. The highest concentration of SS reached 800 mg L−1, TPH—2.4 mg L−1, BOD7—300 mg O2 L−1 and CODCr—1,400 mg L−1. The SS was above the limit in 64% of total amount of grab samples, TPH—37%, BOD7—41% and CODCr—55%. The toxicity analysis of the bottom sediments showed varying toxicity of bottom sediments along the stream. From nine analysed samples of bottom sediments, 30% had weak toxicity, 30% medium and 30% strong toxicity on the test organism plant L. sativum. There was one single sample with no toxic effects, so that the results showed that urban storm water has an unacceptable environmental impact on recipients. It was also indicated that storm water runoff discharge alone is not the potential source of toxicity of bottom sediments. The litter demonstrated a weak toxicity of bottom sediments as well. Discussion: Most local authorities do not consider storm water runoff discharges to be a matter of great concern because they believe that surface runoff arising from rainfall is still relatively clean. The study showed that the current method of monitoring storm water runoff quality by chemical analyses is not the best tool for environmental impact assessment and must be combined with toxicity tests of bottom sediments of recipients. Recommendations and perspectives: To avoid the environmental impact of storm water runoff more attention should be paid to the development and implementation of storm water runoff pollution prevention measures. The study implies that future research concerning the relationships between storm water runoff deposit characteristics and biological activities must be developed to evaluate the contamination potential of stream sediment deposits for local aquatic ecosystems. Further studies should be developed to characterise the activities of the microbial community of storm water runoff sediments, and to monitor bioremediation in situ

Data from: Recreational harvest and incident-response management reduce human-carnivore conflicts in an anthropogenic landscape

Conserving viable large carnivore populations requires managing their interactions with humans in increasingly anthropogenic landscapes. Faced with declining budgets and escalating wildlife conflicts, agencies in North America continue to grapple with uncertainty surrounding the efficacy of socially divisive management actions such as harvest to reduce conflict. We used multistate capture–reencounter methods to estimate cause-specific mortality for a large sample (>3500) of American black bears Ursus americanus in north-western New Jersey, USA over a 33-year period. Specifically, we focused on factors that might influence the probability of bears being harvested, lethally managed, or dying from other causes. We further analysed temporal correlations between >26 000 human–black bear incidents reported between 2001 and 2013 and estimates of total mortality rates, and specifically, rates of harvest from newly implemented public hunts and lethal management. Adult females were twice as likely (0·163 ± 0·014) as adult males (0·087 ± 0·012) to be harvested during the study period. Cubs (0·444 ± 0·025) and yearlings (0·372 ± 0·022) had a higher probability of dying from other causes, primarily vehicle strikes, than adults (0·199 ± 0·008). Reports of nuisance behaviours in year t + 1 declined with increasing mortality resulting from harvest plus lethal management in year t (P = 0·028, R2 = 0·338). Adult bears previously designated as a nuisance and/or threat were more likely to be harvested (0·176 ± 0·025) than those never identified as a problem (0·109 ± 0·010). Across age classes, individuals assigned problem status, were significantly more likely to be lethally controlled. Synthesis and applications. Given continuing failures in conserving exploited carnivores, their recreational harvest and lethal management remain polarizing. Within this social-ecological system, the well-regulated harvest of carefully monitored black bear populations represents a pragmatic approach to achieve population objectives. Furthermore, the integration of harvest and incident-response management (both lethal and non-lethal practices) with educational programmes aimed at reducing anthropogenic attractants can result in subsequent reductions in problem behaviours reported