Forest Biodiversity and Deforestation in Bangladesh: The Latest Update

Located in the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot, Bangladesh is a tropical country in Southeast Asia and a transitional point for flora and fauna between the Indo-Himalayan and Indo-Chinese subregions. About 11% land area (1,429,000 hectares) of the country is covered with four major forest types: mixed-evergreen forests, deciduous forests, mangrove forests, and freshwater swamp forests. Though Bangladesh is a small and densely populated country, it is the home of 1952 species of invertebrates, 653 fish, 50 amphibians, 147 reptiles, 566 birds, and 127 mammalian species of which many of them are globally threatened. We have discussed the latest status of all the major vertebrate groups in this chapter. Thirty-one species of vertebrates have gone extinct from Bangladesh over the last century. Many of the species are facing continuous threat of extinction due to deforestation and degradation of habitat caused by various anthropogenic activities. In this chapter, we are going to discuss about the current management and conservation practices and issues related to the forests and wildlife of Bangladesh

The Antioxidative Fraction of White Mulberry Induces Apoptosis through Regulation of p53 and NFκB in EAC Cells.

In this study, the antioxidative fraction of white mulberry (Morus alba) was found to have an apotogenic effect on Ehrlich's ascites carcinoma cell-induced mice (EAC mice) that correlate with upregulated p53 and downregulated NFκB signaling. The antioxidant activities and polyphenolic contents of various mulberry fractions were evaluated by spectrophotometry and the ethyl acetate fraction (EAF) was selected for further analysis. Strikingly, the EAF caused 70.20% tumor growth inhibition with S-phase cell cycle arrest, normalized blood parameters including red/white blood cell counts and suppressed the tumor weight of EAC mice compared with untreated controls. Fluorescence microscopy analysis of EAF-treated EAC cells revealed DNA fragmentation, cell shrinkage, and plasma membrane blebbing. These characteristic morphological features of apoptosis influenced us to further investigate pro- and anti-apoptotic signals in EAF-treated EAC mice. Interestingly, apoptosis correlated with the upregulation of p53 and its target genes PARP-1 and Bax, and also with the down-regulation of NFκB and its target genes Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL. Our results suggest that the tumor- suppressive effect of the antioxidative fraction of white mulberry is likely due to apoptosis mediated by p53 and NFκB signaling

Cone-manifolds and hyperbolic surgeries

We first introduce hyperbolic, Euclidean, and spherical cone-manifolds of arbitrary dimension. After that, we carefully describe a deforming hyperbolic 4-polytope of finite volume. Finally, we glue copies of that polytope to get some interesting deformations of hyperbolic cone-manifolds of dimension four. In particular, we discover some four-dimensional instances of Thurston's hyperbolic Dehn surgery and degeneration. We also find the smallest known hyperbolic 4-manifold that is not commensurable with the integral lattice of O(4,1)

Therapeutic Potentials of <i>Syzygium fruticosum</i> Fruit (Seed) Reflected into an Array of Pharmacological Assays and Prospective Receptors-Mediated Pathways

Syzygium fruticosum (SF), a valuable Bangladeshi fruit, is considered an alternative therapeutic agent. Mainly, seeds are used as nutritional phytotherapy to ease physical and mental status by preventing chronic diseases. Here, we scrutinized the S. fruticosum seed’s fundamental importance in traditional medicine by following an integrated approach combining in vivo, in vitro, and in silico studies. The SF was fractionated with different solvents, and the ethyl acetate fraction of SF (EaF-SF) was further studied. Mice treated with EaF-SF (200 and 400 mg/kg) manifested anxiolysis evidenced by higher exploration in elevated plus maze and hole board tests. Similarly, a dose-dependent drop of immobility time in a forced swimming test ensured significant anti-depressant activity. Moreover, higher dose treatment exposed reduced exploratory behaviour resembling decreased movement and prolonged sleeping latency with a quick onset of sleep during the open field and thiopental-induced sleeping tests, respectively. In parallel, EaF-SF significantly (p p S. fruticosum seed is a prospective source of health-promoting effects that can be an excellent candidate for preventing degenerative diseases

Polyphenol content of CME, PEF, CHF, EAF and AQF.

<p>Polyphenol content of CME, PEF, CHF, EAF and AQF.</p

Differences in the hematological parameters of normal group (Group I: non tumor-bearing, which received vehicle only), untreated tumor-bearing control mice (Group II), and EAF-treated tumor-bearing mice (Group III) on day 12 after tumor inoculation.

<p>(A) White blood cell (WBC) count, (B) Red blood cell (RBC) count, (C) % of Hemoglobin (Hb). Significant differences of Group II and Group III was compared with Group I marked as asterisk and phi represents significant differences between Group III and Group II (*/^φ<i>p</i> < 0.05, **/ ^{φ φ}<i>p</i> < 0.01, and ***/ ^φφφ<i>p <</i> 0.001). Tumor weight differences (D) was measured and % of tumor weight was calculated compared to Group II, Group III, and Group IV (bleomycin-treated tumor-bearing mice) daily per mouse upto 20 days of treatment. Data are representative of three independent experiments (4 mice per group). Significant differences of Group III and Group IV was compared with Group II marked as asterisk (*<i>p <</i> 0.05, **<i>p <</i> 0.01, and ***<i>p</i> < 0.001).</p

Determination of morphological changes of tumor bearing EAC cells and percentage of apoptosis by fluorescence microscopy and flowcytometry, respectively.

<p>(3A) Tumor-bearing untreated control group (Group II) versus (3B) EAF treated, tumor-bearing group (Group III); arrows indicate apoptotic features, including condensed chromatin, apoptotic bodies, plasma membrane blebbing, and nuclear fragmentation. (3C) EAC cells were treated with EAF <i>in vitro</i> for different time intervals and percentage of apoptotic cells of total cells was analyzed by flow cytometry. Data are shown as means of 3 independent experiments (n = 3).</p

Analysis of mRNA of pro-and anti-apoptotic genes.

<p>Expression of (A, upper panel) NFκB, p53, and PARP-1 and (B, upper panel) Bcl-xL, Bcl-2, and Bax genes was analyzed by semi-quantitative RT-PCR in EAF-untreated EAC control mice (C) and EAF-treated EAC mice (T). The positions of the genes along with their length are indicated on the left in bp. The bottom panel shows the PCR products of GAPDH as a control. GAPDH transcript was used to normalize the expression levels. Relative expression of (A, lower panel) NFκB, p53, and PARP-1 and (B, lower panel) Bcl-xL, Bcl-2, and Bax genes was determined by a densitometric method. (C (i), upper and C (ii) lower panels) Fold changes of NFκB and p53 relative to untreated control (C) was determined by a densitometric method. Error bars indicate the S.D. from three different experiments. M represents 1 kb DNA ladder; C and T indicate control and EAF-treated mice, respectively. The asterisks indicate that EAF treated tumor bearing mice is significantly different (*<i>p <</i> 0.05, **<i>p <</i> 0.01, and ***<i>p</i> < 0.001) from untreated control group.</p