Relevance Of Ancient Indian Methods Of Environmental Protection In The Present Day Scenario

“The greatest shortcoming of human race is our inability to understand the exponential function” -Albert.A.Bartlett In a bid to achieve the twin goals of boosting economic growth and ending extreme poverty, nations have exploited the existing resources without understanding the true cost of its depletion. They are confronted with a resource scarcity crisis as they are unable to satisfy the unlimited wants of human beings with the limited resources. Resources have been used, abused and misused over and above their rate of replenishment. At this juncture, it becomes imperative for nations to understand the concept of “Sustainable Development”. Sustainable development refers to development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The questions for nations is not “whether” to embrace sustainable development but “how” to embrace it. The answer lies in an older school of thought. In ancient India, the inhabitants of the river Indus(Hindus)followed certain practices that were environment friendly with or without their knowledge. They embraced nature as an integral part of their life. Hindus have long had a palpable and organic connection with nature. In this paper, “Hinduism” is considered as “a way oflife”thatwaspracticedbyourforefathersand not merely as a religion. Ancient Indian texts like Vedas, Puranas and Upanishads clearly describe the eco-friendly attitude of Hindus. Plants and trees are valued so highly in Hindu sacred texts that their destruction is connected with doomsday scenario. For the same reason, almost every temple in South India dedicated to Lord Shiva or Vishnu, or to a manifestation of the goddess, has a “sthalavriksha”, a special tree regarded as sacred to that area. The sthalavriksha symbolizes all trees and reminds pilgrims that all trees are worthy of respect. Similarly, in older days, people revered rivers, mountains, forests and animals. For example, many villages had a sacred lake, and around it a grove of trees to catch rainfall and protect the banks from erosion. The lake and its grove would store rainfall to irrigate surrounding fields and also to provide drinking water to the local community. In recent times, the neglect of these simple techniques for gathering and protecting clean water has led to serious water shortage crisis. These are just few among many traditions followed by our forefathers. The objective of this paper is to study the traditional techniques of environmental protection that were followed in ancient India and to provide suggestions to government entities, NGO’s and International organizations for embracing those techniques for a sustainable future. It is high time to seek lessons from the spiritual heritage of our country as they offer auniquesetofmoralvaluesandcustomsthat serves as a guide in nurturing the relationship between man and nature, thereby, leading to a sustainable future

Role of Microbial Enzymes in the Bioremediation of Pollutants: A Review

A large number of enzymes from bacteria, fungi, and plants have been reported to be involved in the biodegradation of toxic organic pollutants. Bioremediation is a cost effective and nature friendly biotechnology that is powered by microbial enzymes. The research activity in this area would contribute towards developing advanced bioprocess technology to reduce the toxicity of the pollutants and also to obtain novel useful substances. The information on the mechanisms of bioremediation-related enzymes such as oxido-reductases and hydrolases have been extensively studied. This review attempts to provide descriptive information on the enzymes from various microorganisms involved in the biodegradation of wide range of pollutants, applications, and suggestions required to overcome the limitations of their efficient use

Ciprofloxacin induced fixed drug eruption

Fixed drug eruption (FDE) is a clinical entity occurring in the same site or sites each time the drug is administered. Acute lesions appear as sharply marginated erythematous plaques, which are usually found on lips, genitalia, abdomen, and legs. The eruptions usually occur within hours of administration of the offending agent and resolves spontaneously without scarring after few weeks of onset. Most common drugs causing FDE are sulfonamides, tetracyclines, salicylates, barbiturates, doxycycline, fluconazole, clarithromycin, etc. Ciprofloxacin, a widely used fluoroquinolone antimicrobial, induces cutaneous adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in about 1-2% of treated patients. Urticaria, angioedema, maculopapular exanthems, and photosensitivity are the most frequently documented cutaneous adverse reactions. In this case report, the patient soon after taking ciprofloxacin tablets, developed itching in the lips, palms and in scrotal region. On continuing the treatment, the next day he developed fluid filled lesions over palm, knuckle, and hyperpigmentation. He gives a history of severe itching and rashes in scrotal region. He gives a history of similar complaints in the previous month after taking ciprofloxacin medication. There was no history of intake of any other medication. On examination, bullous lesions and pustules in finger webs, hyperpigmentation on knuckles, and scrotal erosions were seen. In the present case report, the patient presented with FDE immediately after oral administration of ciprofloxacin and got completely cured after stopping the drug and taking adequate treatment. According to the Naranjo’s ADR probability scale (score=8), this ADR is categorized as a “probable” reaction to the drug

Incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus in HIV positive antenatal women on antiretroviral therapy.

This is a prospective analytical study to find the incidence of gestational diabetes in 100 HIV positive antenatal women on anti retroviral therapy and to find the association between the antiretroviral regimen used and the occurrence of Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). There is no significant increase in the overall incidence of GDM in HIV patients. Statistically, there is no significant association between the antiretroviral drugs used in my study and the GDM incidence (p>0.05).By logistic regression, my study has proven that a history of 1st degree relative with diabetes, previous IUD/still birth and weight gain in this pregnancy are significant variables contributing to GDM in the 11 patients in my study

Insights on critical energy efficiency approaches in internet-of-things application

Internet-of-things (IoT) is one of the proliferated technologies that result in a larger scale of connection among different computational devices. However, establishing such a connection requires a fault-tolerant routing scheme. The existing routing scheme results in communication but does not address various problems directly linked with energy consumption. Cross layer-based scheme and optimization schemes are frequently used scheme for improving the energy efficiency performance in IoT. Therefore, this paper investigates the approaches where cross-layer-based schemes are used to retain energy efficiencies among resource-constrained devices. The paper discusses the effectivity of the approaches used to optimize network performance in IoT applications. The study outcome of this paper showcase that there are various open-end issues, which is required to be addressed effectively in order to improve the performance of application associated with the IoT system