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Not AvailableArunachal Pradesh, the largest mountainous state of India, is situated in the northeastern part of the Himalayan region and characterized by high annual rainfall, forest vegetation and diversity in soils. Information on the soils of the state is essential for scientific land use planning and sustainable production. A soil resource inventory and subsequent database creation for thematic mapping using a Geographical Information System (GIS) is presented in this paper. Physiographically, Arunachal Pradesh can be divided into four distinct zones: snow-capped mountains (5500 m amsl); lower Himalayan ranges (3500 m amsl); the sub-Himalayan Siwalik hills (700 m amsl); and the eastern Assam plains. Soils occurring in these physiographic zones are lnceptisols (37 percent), Entisols (35 per- cent), Ultisols (14 percent) and Alfisols (0.5 percent). The remaining soils can be classed as miscellaneous. Soil resource inventory studies show that the soils of the warm perhumid eastern Himalayan ecosystem, with a ‘thermic’ temperature regime, are lnceptisols and Entisols; and that they are highly acidic in nature. Soils of the warm perhumid Siwalik hill ecosystem, with a ‘hyperthermic’ temperature regime, are also Entisols and lnceptisols with a high to moderate acidic condition. The dominant soils of the northeastern Purvachal hill ecosystem, with ‘hyperthermic’ and ‘thermic’ temperature regimes, are Ultisols and Inceptisols. lnceptisols and Entisols are the dominant soils in the hot and humid plain ecosystem. Steeply sloping landform and high rainfall are mainly responsible for a high erosion hazard in the state. The soil erosion map indicates that very severe (20 percent of TGA) to severe (25 percent of TGA) soil erosion takes place in the warm per-humid zone, whereas, moderate erosion takes place in the Siwalik hills and hot, humid plain areas. This is evident from the soil depth class distribution of Arunachal Pradesh, which shows that shallow soils cover 20 percent of the TGA of the state. Most of the the state is covered by hills and agri- cultural practices are limited to valley regions, However, the soils of other physiographic zones (lower altitudinal, moderately hilly terrain) provide scope for plantations, such as orange, banana and tea plantations.Not Availabl

Validated RP-HPLC-UV method for the determination of betulin in Asteracantha longifolia (L.) Nees. extract

Asteracantha longifolia (L.) Nees. (Acanthaceae) is a well known medicinal plant of Indian traditional medicines. The aim of this work was to develop a validated reversed phase-high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method for the quantitative determination of betulin in A. longifolia extract. The analysis was performed by RP-HPLC on Luna C18 (2) 100 Å, 250 x 4.6 mm column under isocratic elution of acetonitrile and water (80:20, v/v) with a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min and the total run time was 20 min. The column temperature was adjusted at 25°C and the detection wavelength was set at 210 nm. The method was validated for suitability, specificity, accuracy, precision, limits of detection and quantification (LOD and LOQ), robustness and ruggedness. The betulin content in A. longifolia extract was found to be 15.96 ± 0.34% (w/w). The calibration curve was linear over a concentration range of 10-125 μg/ml (r2 = 0.997) and the recovery range was 98.29-99.59%. The LOD and LOQ were 1.11 and 7.35 μg/ml, respectively. The intra- and inter-day assay precisions were satisfactory and the relative standard deviations were found to be always less than 2%. The developed method was found to be simple, sensitive, accurate, robust and rugged for the quantification of betulin. This validated method can be useful for the routine quality control analysis of betulin content in A. longifolia extract and its formulations

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Not AvailableAn attempt has been made to study drainage morphometry and its influence on landform processes, soil physical and land erosion characteristics in Vena river basin of basaltic terrain (Deccan traps), Nagpur district, Maharashtra, Central India. High Spatial Resolution Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS)-ID Linear Image Self Scanning (LISS)-III sensor data of 7 March 2000 in conjunction with Survey Of India (SOI) topographical sheets (1:50,000 scale) were used for systematic analysis of various morphometric, lithological and landform characteristics of the river basin. Morphometric analysis was carried out at subbasin level using Spatial Analysis System (SPANS ver. 7.0) GIS system to analyze the influence of drainage morphometry on landforms, soil depth, drainage, available water holding capacity (AWC) and land erosion characteristics. Ten distinct landforms were identified in the basin based on visual interpretation of satellite sensor data. These are dissected ridges, isolated mounds, linear ridges, escarpments, plateau spurs, subdued plateau, rolling plains, foot slopes, narrow valleys and main valley floor. Very shallow soils exists on dissected ridges, isolated mounds, linear ridges, escarpments and plateau spurs covering the sub basins nos. 1, 5–7, 9, 15 and 16 and are associated with high drainage density (Dd), impermeable geology and high runoff conditions. High drainage density, high bifurcation ratio (Rb) and steep slopes are the main causative factors for the development of well drained soils. The AWC is low in the soils of higher elevations covering the sub basins 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 and 9 whereas, it is very high at lower elevation in the sub basins nos. 12, 13 and 19. Sub basins nos. 1, 2, 5, 15 and 16, associated with high drainage density, stream frequency (Fu) and texture ratio (T) showed very severe to severe erosion. The analysis reveals that the influence of drainage morphometry is very significant in understanding the landform processes, soil physical properties and erosional characteristics. The study demonstrates that remotely sensed data and GIS based approach is found to be more appropriate than the conventional methods in evaluation and analysis of drainage morphometry, landforms and land resources and to understand their inter-relationships for planning and management at river basin level.Not Availabl

Biophysical characterization of isolated Mel and PP oligomers.

<p><b>(A)</b> CD spectroscopy of isolated oligomers of Mel and PP in the presence of heparin. Both oligomers showed helical conformation in CD. <b>(B)</b> ThT fluorescence of the isolated Mel and PP oligomers showing moderate ThT binding. <b>(C)</b> CR binding of the isolated Mel and PP oligomers. <b>(D)</b> EM images showing large globular oligomeric morphology of the isolated Mel and PP oligomers formed in the presence of heparin. Scale bar is 500 nm.</p

Morphological characterization of Mel and PP oligomers.

<p>EM and AFM analysis were performed to visualize the morphology of two weeks incubated Mel and PP (in the presence of heparin). EM (left panel) and AFM (middle panel) images showing oligomer formation in the presence of heparin. The right panel shows 3D AFM height images of oligomer. Scale bars for EM images are 500 nm. Height scales for AFM images are also shown.</p

Oligomerization prediction of Mel and PP.

<p>The intrinsic oligomerization ability of Mel and PP peptide was calculated (at pH 5.5) using Zyggregator software. The positive values (in red) represent aggregation propensity of corresponding amino acid.</p

Hydrophobic surface exposure of oligomers.

<p>Hydrophobic surface exposure in terms of NR binding by Mel and PP samples, incubated for two weeks in presence and absence of heparin. The data suggesting increased hydrophobic surface exposure during heparin-induced peptide oligomerization.</p