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Non-healing ulcers are a serious health issue that affects people all over the world. They are expensive in terms of both human and material resources. Unavoidable and harmful to the lower limb, non-healing ulcers are a leading factor in non-traumatic lower limb amputations. Numerous studies have examined the potential effects of medicinal leech therapy (MLT), also known as hirudotherapy or Jalaukavcharan in Ayurveda on a variety of illnesses, including Skin disorders and inflammatory diseases, as well as various surgical ailments. Despite the lengthy history of complementary health practises, contemporary medicine has only recently focused on their potential mechanisms of action. Many bioactive compounds, including antistasin, eglins, guamerin, hirudin, saratin, and bdellins, as well as complement and carboxypeptidase inhibitors, are secreted by leeches. In addition to extracellular matrix degradative and antibacterial actions, they exhibit analgesic, anti-inflammatory, platelet inhibitory, anticoagulant, and thrombin regulating properties. However, with more research, the range of effects may broaden. The method has been shown to be affordable, efficient, simple to use, and effective. The aim of this study to evaluate the effectiveness of Jalaukavcharan to promote the healing processes in non-healing ulcer. The study was an observational single case design without control group; it was carried out in department of Shalya of Rajiv Gandhi Post Graduate Ayurvedic College, Paprola

Inorganic metal pollution is becoming more prevalent as industrialization progresses. Despite being an essential element, Zn (II) can be detrimental if consumed in excess. In this study, the possibility of using Lantana camara leaves to prepare a biosorbent that can eliminate Zn (II) ions from contaminated wastewater solutions was investigated. BET surface area, FTIR and SEM analysis were carried out to characterize the prepared Lantana camara leaves biosorbent (LCLB). It was reported that increasing biosorbent dosage and contact duration improves Zn (II) ion removal while it decreases with rising initial concentrations of Zn (II) ions and temperature. At pH 6, 5 g adsorbent dosage, and 45 minutes contact time, excellent removal capabilities (85.06%) were reported. The pseudo-second-order rate model fit the kinetics of Zn (II) adsorption well (R2 > 0.998), and the predicted adsorption capacity of the model agreed well with the experimental outcomes. The Langmuir isotherm (R2 > 0.996) was the best suited isotherm model for Zn (II) adsorption onto LCLB, implying monolayer adsorption. Thermodynamic experiments revealed that Zn (II) adsorption on the biosorbent's surface was spontaneous and exothermic. Desorption studies implied that the biosorbent can be recycled effectively up to two cycles. An investigation of the maximum adsorption capabilities of different untreated biomaterial-based residues found that LCLB is an effective, inexpensive, and environmentally acceptable biosorbent for use in the removal of contaminants from polluted aqueous media.

Suberin is a lipid-based biopolymer present in the plasma membrane in higher plants and acts as a hydrophobic barrier. It is present in roots, leaves, outer bark and periderm of the tuber plants. This polymer protects plants from environmental stress including drought, salinity, pathogen attack and water loss. The present review has explored the current aspects of suberin structure, its biosynthesis, depolymerization methods and Suberin-derived monomers application. Different chemicals, as well as biological processes, are present to recover these monomers and these suberin based monomers have shown several industrial applications. De-polymerisation of suberin is an essential step for extracting these valuable added macromolecules including di-hydroxy acids, monohydroxy fatty acids, phenolics and glycerol. The importance of suberin monomers in polymer, pharmaceutical and food industries is also highlighted. Hence, waste from agro-food industries rich in suberin components could be a promising source for these renewable chemicals extraction.

The increasing number of efluents discharged from the source of water (urban, industrial, agricultural etc.), is resulting in a higher concentration of heavy metals in the source. Heavy metals have a density of over 5g/cm3 to the metals. These are toxic, mutagenic, carcinogenic and resistant in watery and non-aquatic environments and impact water and non-water bodies seriously by substituting the basic metals of the same function. The extraction from the wastewater can be done in numerous techniques for example using an ion replacement, membrane filtration, osmosis, etc. This study discusses the adverse effects of heavy metals on the human body, the benefits of biosorption over traditional approaches for removal of heavy metals, the different biosorbents used to extract heavy metals and concerning issues regarding its commercial use, offering a wider viewpoint for the diversity of biosorbents and utilization of biosorption technique. It is evident from the profound literature survey that pH, biosorbent particle size, contact time, initial metal ion concentration, presence of chelating ligands etc. are some factors that affect the rate and extent of biosorption.

This study points out the method regarding the removal of Pb (II) ions from water by treatment with Lantana camara leaves' biosorbent (LCLB). The sorption process was investigated by varying different parameters pH, contact time, adsorbent dose, initial metal ion concentration, and temperature. For a 5.00 g sorbent dose and a 45 min of the contact period, a Pb (II) ion solution with an initial metal ion concentration of 10 mg/L resulted in 90.7% maximum elimination at an optimum pH 6 and temperature 298 ± 1.5 K with LCLB. The adsorption process was spontaneous and exothermic. The maximum monolayer adsorption was 3.5 mg/g for Pb (II) sorption using LCLB. Adsorption of Pb (II) ions using LCLB (R

Black pepper (Piper nigrum L.; 2n= 52; Piperaceae), the king of spices, is a perennial, trailing woody flowering vine and has global importance with widespread dietary, medicinal, and preservative uses. It is an economically-important germplasm cultivated for its fruit and the major cash crop in >30 tropical countries. Crop production is mainly affected by drought stress. The present study deals with the candidate gene identification from drought-affected black pepper leaf transcriptome generated by Illumina Hiseq2000. It also aims to mine putative molecular markers (namely SSRs, SNPs and InDels) and generate primers for them. The identification of transcription factors and pathways involved in drought tolerance is also reported here. De novo transcriptome assembly was performed with trinity assembler. In total, 4914 differential expressed genes, 2110 transcriptional factors, 786 domains and 1137 families, 20124 putative SSR markers and 259236 variants were identified. At2g30105 (unidentified gene containing leucine-rich repeats and ubiquitin-like domain), serine threonine protein kinase, Mitogen-activated protein kinase, NBS-LRR, Myeloblastosis related proteins, Basic helix-loop-helix are all found upregulated and are reported to be associated with plant tolerance against drought condition. All these information are catalogued in the Black Pepper Drought Transcriptome Database (BPDRTDb), freely accessible for academic use at http://webtom.cabgrid.res.in/bpdrtdb/. This database is a good foundation for the genetic improvement of pepper plants, breeding programmes and mapping population of this crop. Putative markers can also be a reliable genomic resource to develop drought-tolerant variety for better black pepper productivity. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Black pepper (Piper nigrum), the “King of Spices,” is an economically important spice in India and is known for its medicinal and cultural values. SSRs, the tandem repeats of small DNA sequences, are often polymorphic in nature with diverse applications. For population structure, QTL/gene discovery, MAS, and diversity analysis, it is imperative to have their location specificity. The existing PinigSSRdb catalogs ~70K putative SSR markers but these are anonymous (unknown chromosomal location), based on 916 scaffolds rather than 26 chromosomes. Under this study, we generated ddRAD sequence data of 29 black pepper genotypes from all over India, being low-cost and most efficient technique for the identification of polymorphic markers. The major limitation of ddRAD with compromised/non-uniform coverage has been successfully overcome by taking advantage of chromosome-wise data availability. The latest black pepper genome assembly was used to extract genome-wide SSRs. A total of 276,230 genomic SSRs were mined distributed over 26 chromosomes, with relative density of 362.88 SSRs/Mb and average distance of 2.76 Kb between two SSRs. This assembly was also used to find the polymorphic SSRs in the generated GBS data of 29 black pepper genotypes utilizing rapid and cost-effective method giving 3,176 polymorphic SSRs, out of which 2015 were found to be hypervariable. The developed web-genomic resource, BlackP2MSATdb (http://webtom.cabgrid.res.in/blackp2msatdb/), is the largest and first reported web resource for genomic and polymorphic SSRs of black pepper, which is useful to develop varietal signature, coreset, physical map, QTL/gene identification, and MAS in endeavor of black pepper production.

Background: Drug use studies are beneficial in clinical practice for rational prescribing of drugs and helpful for minimizing the medication errors. Objectives: The present study investigates the prescribing pattern of various antidepressants among private practitioners of Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Materials and Methods: A retrospective observational study was carried out in a private psychiatric unit at Dehradun. A total of 196 prescriptions were analyzed using World Health Organization drug use indicators and National Essential Medicine List (NEML) 2013. Results: Among 196 prescriptions, 54.08% were for females and 45.92% were for males. Depression was more commonly seen in patients in aged 31–50 years. Depression was more common among housewives (28.06%) and in married (52.04%) people. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) (39.17%) were the most commonly prescribed class of antidepressants followed by serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (33.33%). Fluoxetine and escitalopram were the most commonly prescribed SSRIs. Alprazolam (59.33%) was most commonly prescribed benzodiazepine class followed by lorazepam (16.0%) for comorbid anxiety symptoms. Among patients, 18.48% antipsychotics were prescribed to patients; olanzapine and risperidone (atypical antipsychotics) were the most commonly prescribed. Trihexyphenidyl was the most common anticholinergic prescribed. The average number of drugs per prescription in our study was 3.03 with 55.39% drugs prescribed from the NEML 2013. Conclusion: Fluoxetine and escitalopram were the most commonly used SSRIs. SSRIs are preferred over other antidepressants because of their relative lesser side effects. Polypharmacy was observed with benzodiazepines as frequent coprescription.

Background: Prescription auditing studies are a part of drug use studies and are beneficial in clinical practice for rational prescribing of drugs and helpful for minimizing the medication errors. These are an important tool to promote rational prescribing. Aims and Objectives: To study the drug-prescribing pattern in patients with dry eye syndrome. Materials and Methods: A drug use study was conducted in dry eye patients by the Department of Pharmacology, Shri Guru Ram Rai Institute of Medical and Health Sciences, Dehradun, for 1 year. A total of 393 prescriptions were evaluated for prescribing pattern by using WHO drug use indicators. Results: Of the 393 prescriptions analyzed, it was found that 852 drugs were prescribed: 484 (56.81%) were artificial tears, 160 (18.78%) non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), 152 (17.84%) steroids, and 56 (6.57%) belonged to “others” category. Carboxymethyl cellulose, hydoxypropyl cellulose, and polyethylene glycol were the most common artificial tears prescribed. Prescribed NSAIDs included ketorolac, bromofenac, and diclofenac whereas fluromethalone, loteprednol, and difluprednate were the most commonly prescribed steroids for the treatment of dry eye. It was found that 0.7% fixed-dose combinations (FDCs) were prescribed; 2.24 drugs were prescribed per prescription; and 56.10% drugs were prescribed from National Essential Medicine List. Conclusion: Artificial tears were the most commonly prescribed drugs for dry eye. A therapeutic audit to provide regular feedback to researchers and prescribers may encourage rational prescribing in dry eye disease.