Understanding Leadership and its Various Dimensions: A Mini Review

An important function of directing, leadership plays an important function in influencing behaviour and guiding it into achievement of organizational goals. Leaders are born and leadership skills can be learnt. Leaders are a key human resource in any organisation. The article covers all necessary elements of leadership and its importance in every aspect of life

ANTIMUTAGENIC POTENTIAL OF POLLEN GRAINS OF SOME MEDICINAL PLANT SPECIES

Objective: The present study was planned to explore the antimutagenic response of ethanolic extracts of pollen grains of four plant species viz., Bauhinia variegata, Cassia biflora, Cassia glauca and Cassia siamea belonging to Fabaceae family.Methods: Ames assay was used to evaluate the antimuatagenic activity of the ethanolic extracts of pollen grains of four plant species. Both TA 98 and TA 100 strains of Salmonella typhimurium were used in presence and absence of S9 mix during the present study.Results: Among four species studied, pollen extracts of Bauhinia variegata and Cassia biflora had shown maximum percentage inhibition of revertant colonies during presence and absence of S9 mix, respectively.Conclusion: The present study reveals that pollen extract of four plant species viz., Bauhinia variegata, Cassia glauca, Cassia biflora and Cassia siamea exhibited antimutagenic potential against two direct acting mutagens viz., (4 nitro-o-phenylenediamine; NPD for TA 98 and sodium azide for TA 100) and one indirect acting mutagen (2 amino-flourine; 2AF) which indicates that pollen grains of these species can act as potential source of anticancer drugs.Keywords: Ames assay, Bauhinia variegata, Pharmaceutical, Cance

An improved method for RNA isolation and cDNA library construction from immature seeds of Jatropha curcas L

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>RNA quality and quantity is sometimes unsuitable for cDNA library construction, from plant seeds rich in oil, polysaccharides and other secondary metabolites. Seeds of jatropha (<it>Jatropha curcas </it>L.) are rich in fatty acids/lipids, storage proteins, polysaccharides, and a number of other secondary metabolites that could either bind and/or co-precipitate with RNA, making it unsuitable for downstream applications. Existing RNA isolation methods and commercial kits often fail to deliver high-quality total RNA from immature jatropha seeds for poly(A)⁺RNA purification and cDNA synthesis.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>A protocol has been developed for isolating good quality total RNA from immature jatropha seeds, whereby a combination of the CTAB based RNA extraction method and a silica column of a commercial plant RNA extraction kit is used. The extraction time was reduced from two days to about 3 hours and the RNA was suitable for poly(A)⁺RNA purification, cDNA synthesis, cDNA library construction, RT-PCR, and Northern hybridization. Based on sequence information from selected clones and amplified PCR product, the cDNA library seems to be a good source of full-length jatropha genes. The method was equally effective for isolating RNA from mustard and rice seeds.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This is a simple CTAB + silica column method to extract high quality RNA from oil rich immature jatropha seeds that is suitable for several downstream applications. This method takes less time for RNA extraction and is equally effective for other tissues where the quality and quantity of RNA is highly interfered by the presence of fatty acids, polysaccharides and polyphenols.</p

Heavy Metals and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Roadside Soil Samples: A Review

Diverse contaminants released into the environment through progress of urbanization and industrialization adversely affect human health. Among various sources of contaminants, especially, in big cities, automobiles play a significant role in aggravating the pollution. Various pollutants viz., heavy metals (Pb, Mn, Ni, Zn, As, Hg, Cd) and Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (Benzo-a-pyrene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo-b-anthracene, benzo-b-fluoranthene, acenaphthylene, fluorine, phenantherene, anthracene, chrysene, benzo-k-fluoranthene, benzo-e-pyrene, indenol-1,2,3-cd-pyrene, dibenzo-a,h-anthracene, benzo-ghi-perylene) are released by vehicles. Further, these pollutants are expected to cause severe mutagenic, genotoxic and carcinogenic effects. Considering this, many authors monitored the levels of pollution in roadside soil, water and plants. The present review focuses upon the analysis and effects of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from the roadside samples

Polyphenolic characterization of pollen grains of some medicinal plant species using Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography (UHPLC)

Polyphenols, the secondary metabolites distributed in different parts of a plant, have major role in protecting the plants from deleterious effects of ultraviolet radiations and various diseases caused by pathogens. Considering the fact that these metabolites possess tremendous medicinal properties, extensive research has been carried out during the past few decades to explore their potential health benefits. Further, polyphenols are documented to possess different activities such as antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antiulcer. The present study pertained to analyze different polyphenolic compounds in pollen grains of 9 medicinally important plant species viz., Bauhinia variegata, B.purpurea, Cassia biflora, C. fistula, C. glauca, C. saimea and Delonix regia belonging to Fabaceae family, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis belonging to Malvaceae family and Melia azadirach belonging toMeliaceaefamily using Ultra high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC). Various polyphenolic compounds likecaffeic acid, catechin, chlorogenic acid, coumaric acid, ellagic acid, epicatechin, gallic acid, kaempferol, quercetin, rutin, tert-butyl hydroquinone andumbelliferonewere found to be present in the pollen grains of these plant species. The order of plant species in terms of maximum number of polyphenolic compounds was observed as Cassia saimea (10) &gt; B. purpurea (9) = C. fistula (9) = Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (9) &gt; Delonix regia (8) &gt; B. variegata (6) &gt; C. glauca (4) = Melia Azadirach (4) &gt; C. biflora (3). The plants such as C. saimea, B. purpurea, C. fistula and H. rosa-sinensis with different polyphenolic compounds indicated their potential forthe treatment of ailments

Heavy Metals and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Roadside Soil Samples: A Review

Diverse contaminants released into the environment through progress of urbanization and industrialization adversely affect human health. Among various sources of contaminants, especially, in big cities, automobiles play a significant role in aggravating the pollution. Various pollutants viz., heavy metals (Pb, Mn, Ni, Zn, As, Hg, Cd) and Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (Benzo-a-pyrene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo-b-anthracene, benzo-b-fluoranthene, acenaphthylene, fluorine, phenantherene, anthracene, chrysene, benzo-k-fluoranthene, benzo-e-pyrene, indenol-1,2,3-cd-pyrene, dibenzo-a,h-anthracene, benzo-ghi-perylene) are released by vehicles. Further, these pollutants are expected to cause severe mutagenic, genotoxic and carcinogenic effects. Considering this, many authors monitored the levels of pollution in roadside soil, water and plants. The present review focuses upon the analysis and effects of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from the roadside samples

Heavy Metals and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Roadside Soil Samples: A Review

Diverse contaminants released into the environment through progress of urbanization and industrialization adversely affect human health. Among various sources of contaminants, especially, in big cities, automobiles play a significant role in aggravating the pollution. Various pollutants viz., heavy metals (Pb, Mn, Ni, Zn, As, Hg, Cd) and Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (Benzo-a-pyrene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo-b-anthracene, benzo-b-fluoranthene, acenaphthylene, fluorine, phenantherene, anthracene, chrysene, benzo-k-fluoranthene, benzo-e-pyrene, indenol-1,2,3-cd-pyrene, dibenzo-a,h-anthracene, benzo-ghi-perylene) are released by vehicles. Further, these pollutants are expected to cause severe mutagenic, genotoxic and carcinogenic effects. Considering this, many authors monitored the levels of pollution in roadside soil, water and plants. The present review focuses upon the analysis and effects of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from the roadside samples

Heavy Metals and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Roadside Soil Samples: A Review

Diverse contaminants released into the environment through progress of urbanization and industrialization adversely affect human health. Among various sources of contaminants, especially, in big cities, automobiles play a significant role in aggravating the pollution. Various pollutants viz., heavy metals (Pb, Mn, Ni, Zn, As, Hg, Cd) and Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (Benzo-a-pyrene, fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo-b-anthracene, benzo-b-fluoranthene, acenaphthylene, fluorine, phenantherene, anthracene, chrysene, benzo-k-fluoranthene, benzo-e-pyrene, indenol-1,2,3-cd-pyrene, dibenzo-a,h-anthracene, benzo-ghi-perylene) are released by vehicles. Further, these pollutants are expected to cause severe mutagenic, genotoxic and carcinogenic effects. Considering this, many authors monitored the levels of pollution in roadside soil, water and plants. The present review focuses upon the analysis and effects of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from the roadside samples

Genotoxicity and tumor inducing potential of roadside soil samples exposed to heavy traffic emissions at Amritsar (Punjab), India

Noxious gases released from vehicles adversely affect the microbial population of the roadside soil as well as exerts influence on plant growth and development. Considering the increasing vehicular pollution in Amritsar, a holy city of Punjab (India) and their serious consequences in terms of health problems, the present study was planned to estimate genotoxic and tumor inducing potentials of soil samples from Golden temple (GT) and Putlighar Chowk (PG) by employing Allium cepa root chromosomal aberration assay (AlRCAA) and Potato disc tumor assay (PDTA), respectively. The genotoxic potential in terms of percent aberrant cells in A. cepa was found to be 29.24 % (GT) and 29.24 % (PG) during in situ treatment and 39.00 % (GT) and 39.48 % (PG) during root dip treatment. The average number of tumors was found to be 14.4 in PG sample, followed by 13.0 in GT sample. Both samples have shown high content of lead viz., 39.81 (GT) and 56.48 (PG) during physicochemical analysis of the samples