Phyto-physicochemical, acute and subacute toxicity studies of Garcinia lanceifolia Roxb.- A rare ethnomedicinal plant of Assam, India

Garcinia lanceifolia; a small, glabrous, evergreen tree found in Northeast India belonging to the Clusiaceae family; has long, acuminate, lanceolate and fleshy leaves; tetramerous and polygamous inflorescence with both male and hermaphrodite flowers. A recent study has claimed that the bark contains antinociceptive, antihyperglycemic, and membrane stabilising activities. However, no reports on the pharmacognostic details and toxicity of the bark are reported. The bark was collected, dried and subjected to conventional organoleptic, microscopic evaluation, physicochemical evaluation and TLC methods. The powdered crude drug was examined for its physicochemical, fluorescence and microscopic characteristics. The extracts obtained after hot Soxhlet extraction were screened for their phytochemical constituents and the TLC fingerprints were also established. The toxicological profile of the hydroalcoholic extracts of G. lanceifolia, through acute and subacute toxicity tests, were performed. Male and female rats (Wistar) received 5000 mg/kg of hydromethanolic extract of G. lanceifolia (HAEGL) for the acute toxicity test and 500, 1000, 1500 or 2500 mg/kg of HAEGL for subacute toxicity test. This is the first study for the bark of G. lanceifolia which will serve as a standard for quality control and assurance thereby promoting further insights and conclusive studies on this plant

Agricultural Intensification, Diversification and Migration as Livelihood Strategies Among Rural Scheduled Tribe Population of Palasbari Revenue Circle: A Case of India

The key objective of this study is to examine the livelihood practices and strategies adopted by the Scheduled Tribe (ST) population of the Palasbari Revenue circle, Assam, India. For empirical analysis, 132 households were surveyed from 6 areas dominated by the ST population, namely Kallapara N.C. (Satargaon), Jimirigaon, Rani Khamar, Chouthala, Jupangbari, and Kochpara, which aggregates to 553 sample populations. It was surveyed by stratified random sampling method from January to March 2020. The results show that livelihood diversification, agricultural intensification and temporal migration are three of the major strategies adopted by the population to meet their needs

Agricultural Intensification, Diversification and Migration as Livelihood Strategies Among Rural Scheduled Tribe Population of Palasbari Revenue Circle: A Case of India

The key objective of this study is to examine the livelihood practices and strategies adopted by the Scheduled Tribe (ST) population of the Palasbari Revenue circle, Assam, India. For empirical analysis, 132 households were surveyed from 6 areas dominated by the ST population, namely Kallapara N.C. (Satargaon), Jimirigaon, Rani Khamar, Chouthala, Jupangbari, and Kochpara, which aggregates to 553 sample populations. It was surveyed by stratified random sampling method from January to March 2020. The results show that livelihood diversification, agricultural intensification and temporal migration are three of the major strategies adopted by the population to meet their needs

Pharmacognostic and preliminary phytochemical evaluation of Cinnamomum bejolghota (Buch.-Ham.) Sweet bark

Pharmacognostic, physico-chemical and preliminary phytochemical studies of Cinnamomum bejolghota (Buch.-Ham.) Sweet (Family Lauraceae) bark was carried out. Physico-chemical parameters such as total, acid insoluble and water soluble ash value were determined. In microscopic studies, transverse and longitudinal section of bark and its powder characters were studied and characteristic features were established. Different extracts obtained by successive solvent extraction were tested separately for the presence of various phytoconstituents, viz. alkaloids, amino acids, carbohydrates, fats and fixed oils, flavonoids, glycosides, saponins, gums, lignins, proteins, steroids, triterpenoids, tannins and phenolic compounds. The present study of C. bejolghota bark will be useful in laying down standardization and pharmacopoeia parameters and information obtained can be used as markers in the identification

<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language: HI" lang="EN-GB">Pharmacognostic and preliminary phytochemical evaluation of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">C<span style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic">innamomum bejolghota </span></i>(Buch.-Ham.) Sweet bark</span>

59-64<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family: " times="" new="" roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";mso-bidi-font-family:="" mangal;mso-ansi-language:en-gb;mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:="" hi"="" lang="EN-GB">Pharmacognostic, physico-chemical and preliminary phytochemical studies of Cinnamomum bejolghota (Buch.-Ham.) Sweet (Family Lauraceae) bark was carried out. Physico-chemical parameters such as total, acid insoluble and water soluble ash value were determined. In microscopic studies, transverse and longitudinal section of bark and its powder characters were studied and characteristic features were established. Different extracts obtained by successive solvent extraction were tested separately for the presence of various phytoconstituents, viz. alkaloids, amino acids, carbohydrates, fats and fixed oils, flavonoids, glycosides, saponins, gums, lignins, proteins, steroids, triterpenoids, tannins and phenolic compounds. The present study of C. bejolghota bark will be useful in laying down standardization and pharmacopoeia parameters and information obtained can be used as markers in the identification.</span

Proposing novel ensemble approach of particle swarm optimized and machine learning algorithms for drought vulnerability mapping in Jharkhand, India

Drought, a natural and very complex climatic hazard, causes impacts on natural and socio-economic environments. This study aims to produce the drought vulnerability map (DVM) considering novel ensemble machine learning algorithms (MLAs) in Jharkhand, India. Forty, drought vulnerability determining factors under the categories of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity were used. Then, four machine learning and four novel ensemble approaches of particle swarm optimized (PSO) algorithms, named random forest (RF), PSO-RF, multi-layer perceptron (MLP), PSO-MLP, support vector regression (SVM), PSO-MLP, Bagging, and PSO-Bagging, were established for DVMs. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC), mean-absolute-error (MAE), root-mean-square-error (RMSE), precision, and K-index were utilized for judging the performance of novel ensemble MLAs. The obtained results show that the PSO-RF had the highest performance with an AUC of 0.874, followed by RF, PSO-MLP, PSO-Bagging, Bagging, MLP, PSO-SVM and SVM, respectively. Produced DVMs would be helpful for policy intervention to minimize drought vulnerability

Phyto-physicochemical, acute and subacute toxicity studies of <em>Garcinia lanceifolia</em> Roxb.- A rare ethnomedicinal plant of Assam, India

360-369Garcinia lanceifolia; a small, glabrous, evergreen tree found in Northeast India belonging to the Clusiaceae family; has long, acuminate, lanceolate and fleshy leaves; tetramerous and polygamous inflorescence with both male and hermaphrodite flowers. A recent study has claimed that the bark contains antinociceptive, antihyperglycemic, and membrane stabilising activities. However, no reports on the pharmacognostic details and toxicity of the bark are reported. The bark was collected, dried and subjected to conventional organoleptic, microscopic evaluation, physicochemical evaluation and TLC methods. The powdered crude drug was examined for its physicochemical, fluorescence and microscopic characteristics. The extracts obtained after hot Soxhlet extraction were screened for their phytochemical constituents and the TLC fingerprints were also established. The toxicological profile of the hydroalcoholic extracts of G.lanceifolia, through acute and subacute toxicity tests, were performed. Male and female rats (Wistar) received 5000 mg/kg of hydromethanolic extract of G.lanceifolia (HAEGL) for the acute toxicity test and 500, 1000, 1500 or 2500 mg/kg of HAEGL for subacute toxicity test. This is the first study for the bark of G. lanceifolia which will serve as a standard for quality control and assurance thereby promoting further insights and conclusive studies on this plant

Pharmacognostic and preliminary phytochemical studies on shoot of <i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">Calamus leptospadix </span></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">Griff.- An ethnomedicinal plant of Assam </span>

320-325Calamus leptospadix Griff. belonging to family Arecaceae, is an ethnomedicinal plant of Assam used by the folks of state for many medicinal properties like anthelmintic, hepatoprotective, and antidiabetic. Its vernacular names include Betgaj,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"> Lejaibet, Bet, Bethas, Rattan palm,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"> Cane, Tangtangma, Titipi,<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"> Jeyying and Ayyagoomi. Since there are no reports of systemic pharmacognostic and phytochemical studies on the shoot, the present work was planned to study the detailed macroscopical, microscopical, quantitative standards, physicochemical and chromatographic characteristics of the shoot. Preliminary phytochemical investigation indicated the presence of alkaloids, carbohydrates, glycosides, flavonoids, steroids, saponins, tannins and phenolic compounds. Fluorescent characteristics were analysed for the powdered crude drug and TLC profile was developed for petroleum ether, chloroform and methanolic extract of the shoot. Thus these conventional parameters would serve as a standard reference for identification, authentication and for distinguishing the plant from its adulterants. </span

Pharmacognostic and preliminary phytochemical studies on shoot of Calamus leptospadix Griff.- An ethnomedicinal plant of Assam

Calamus leptospadix Griff. belonging to family Arecaceae, is an ethnomedicinal plant of Assam used by the folks of state for many medicinal properties like anthelmintic, hepatoprotective, and antidiabetic. Its vernacular names include Betgaj, Lejaibet, Bet, Bethas, Rattan palm,Cane, Tangtangma, Titipi, Jeyying and Ayyagoomi. Since there are no reports of systemic pharmacognostic and phytochemical studies on the shoot, the present work was planned to study the detailed macroscopical, microscopical, quantitative standards, physicochemical and chromatographic characteristics of the shoot. Preliminary phytochemical investigation indicated the presence of alkaloids, carbohydrates, glycosides, flavonoids, steroids, saponins, tannins and phenolic compounds. Fluorescent characteristics were analysed for the powdered crude drug and TLC profile was developed for petroleum ether, chloroform and methanolic extract of the shoot. Thus these conventional parameters would serve as a standard reference for identification, authentication and for distinguishing the plant from its adulterants