New distributional records of Arthromeris elegans Ching in India and Bhutan and lectotypification of A. himalayensis (Hook.) Ching (Polypodiaceae)

Arthromeris elegans Ching (Polypodiaceae), a Sino-Himalayan species, is reported for the first time from India and Bhutan. A lectotype is designated for A. himalayensis

Improving accountability for equitable health and well-being in urban informal spaces: Moving from dominant to transformative approaches

This article critically reviews the literature on urban informality, inequity, health, well-being and accountability to identify key conceptual, methodological and empirical gaps in academic and policy discourses. We argue that critical attention to power dynamics is often a key missing element in these discourses and make the case for explicit attention to the operation of power throughout conceptualization, design and conduct of research in this space. We argue that: (a) urban informality reflects the exercise of power to confer and withhold advantage; (b) the dominant biomedical model of health poorly links embodied experiences and structural contexts; (c) existing models of accountability are inadequate in unequal, pluralistic governance and provision environments. We trace four conceptual and empirical directions for transformative approaches to power relations in urban health equity research

Cyclosorus obtusilobus J. Mazumdar 2013, comb. nov.

Cyclosorus obtusilobus (Sledge) J.Mazumdar comb. nov. Trigonospora obtusiloba Sledge (1981: 18). Thelypteris obtusiloba (Sledge) Fraser-Jenkins (1997: 282). Type:— SRI LANKA: Sinha Raja Forest near Hedigalla, Western Province, 5 January 1951, W. A. Sledge 814 (holotype BM, isotype US). Paratypes (digitalized specimens):— SRI LANKA: Adam’s peak, 14 December 1950, W. A. Sledge 609 (BM-01044534); near Stakgala, 27 Dec 1950, W. A. Sledge 754 (BM-01044529); Pahala Hewessa near Moragalla, 20 January 1951, W. A. Sledge 889 (BM-001044530); Kanneliya Forest Reserve near Udugama, 21 Jan 1951, W. A. Sledge 907 (BM-001044531); above Beverley estate near Deniyaya, 12 March 1954, W. A. Sledge 1287 (BM-001044533); Kottawa Forest Reserve Southern province, 1 April 1954, W. A. Sledge 1378 (BM-001044532).Published as part of Mazumdar, Jaideep, 2013, A new combination in Thelypteridaceae, pp. 64 in Phytotaxa 132 (1) on page 64, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.132.1.7, http://zenodo.org/record/508606

TYPIFICATION OF TECTARIA PARADOXA (POLYPODIACEAE SUB-FAM. TECTARIOIDEAE)

MAZUMDAR, J. 2017. Typification of Tectaria paradoxa (Polypodiaceae subfam. Tectarioideae). Reinwardtia 16(2): 93-95. — Aspidium paradoxum has not yet been lectotypified, because the original material is ambiguous. A specimen from the collections of A. Fée, the author of the species, was located in the herbarium of Montpellier (MPU), which is here designated as the lectotype for this species. It is now known as Tectaria paradoxa, a fern species widely distributed across tropical Asia

Mathematical framework for activity-based cancer biomarkers

Advances in nanomedicine are providing sophisticated functions to precisely control the behavior of nanoscale drugs and diagnostics. Strategies that coopt protease activity as molecular triggers are increasingly important in nanoparticle design, yet the pharmacokinetics of these systems are challenging to understand without a quantitative framework to reveal nonintuitive associations. We describe a multicompartment mathematical model to predict strategies for ultrasensitive detection of cancer using synthetic biomarkers, a class of activity-based probes that amplify cancer-derived signals into urine as a noninvasive diagnostic. Using a model formulation made of a PEG core conjugated with protease-cleavable peptides, we explore a vast design space and identify guidelines for increasing sensitivity that depend on critical parameters such as enzyme kinetics, dosage, and probe stability. According to this model, synthetic biomarkers that circulate in stealth but then activate at sites of disease have the theoretical capacity to discriminate tumors as small as 5 mm in diameter—a threshold sensitivity that is otherwise challenging for medical imaging and blood biomarkers to achieve. This model may be adapted to describe the behavior of additional activity-based approaches to allow cross-platform comparisons, and to predict allometric scaling across species.MIT Desphande Center for Technological InnovationNational Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research FellowshipBurroughs Wellcome Fund (Career Award at the Scientific Interface

Leaf micromorphological adaptations of resurrection ferns in Northern Pakistan

The resurrection plant species, termed desiccation-tolerant plants have evolved remarkable ability to withstand extreme dehydration and rapid rehydration of vegetative tissue without damage. Pteridophytes include almost 70 desiccation tolerant species, and there is limited information of vegetative desiccation tolerance in ferns. A field examination of the representatives of the ferns flora of the Northern Pakistan disclosed 5 ferns species belonging to 2 genera with foliage which can revive after dehydration. These species are Asplenium dalhousiae, Asplenium ceterach, Cheilanthes acrostica, Cheilanthes bicolor, and Cheilanthes nitidula. We undertook a comprehensive leaf micromorphological investigation in all the five resurrection fern species. The study were accomplished using light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The detailed investigation of adaxial and abaxial leaf surfaces revealed species specific variation in the size and number of epidermal cells, size of stomata, and stomatal pore, stomatal density, and stomatal index and other foliar micromorphological features. In all studied species, adaxial surface lack stomata, i.e., all species are hypostomatic, stomata is polocytic, and epidermal cells shape in all species on both surface is similar, and are irregular shaped. The quantified leaf micromorphological traits are discussed in order to detect their possible role in the desiccation tolerance of resurrection fern species