Environmental and human facets of the waterweed proliferation in a Vast Tropical Ramsar Wetland-Vembanad Lake System.

The Vembanad Lake and its associated low-lying areas and network of canals (hereafter VBL) form the major part of India's second-largest Ramsar wetland (1512 km) located in Kerala State along India's southwest coast. The extensive VBL has a large fishery, inland waterways, and popular tourist attractions that support the livelihoods of thousands of people. Over the last several decades, the proliferation of water weeds in the VBL has alarmingly increased, causing many adverse ecological and socioeconomic effects.

Winter phytoplankton size classes in the Northeastern Arabian Sea based on in-situ and remote sensing methods.

Phytoplankton size classes (PSCs) are important in marine ecosystems because they organise the food chain and trophic pathways, which determine the overall biological environment. Based on three FORV Sagar Sampada cruises, the current study provides changes in PSCs in the Northeastern Arabian Sea (NEAS; north of 18 N) during different phases of the Northeast Monsoon [NEM (November-February)]. During all three phases of NEM such as early (November), peak (December), and late (February), in-situ chlorophyll-a fractionation data revealed that nanoplankton (2-20 μm) predominated, followed by microplankton (>20 μm) and picoplankton (0.

Synergistic effect of Betulinic acid, Apigenin and Skimmianine (BASk) in high cholesterol diet rabbit: Involvement of CD36-TLR2 signaling pathway.

Background: Progression of chronic inflammatory disease, atherosclerosis is a multifactorial process. Cluster of differentiation 36 (CD36) mediated downstream activation of Toll like receptor 2 (TLR2) and NLRP3 (Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor family pyrin domain-containing 3) inflammasome signaling pathway actively participates during chronic inflammation. Nowadays, synergistic combinations of bioactive compounds attained priority in the field of drug discovery and development as therapeutic agents.

Dietary amaranths modulate the immune response via balancing Th1/Th2 and Th17/Treg response in collagen-induced arthritis.

Imbalance between Th1/Th2 and Th17/Treg is crucial in RA progression. Various dietary factors can modulate the disease severity by restoring the balance in differentiation of CD4+ T cell subsets. Dietary amaranths hold an important part of diet as vegetables, where commonly consumed species includes Amaranthus cruentus (Ac), Amaranthus viridis (Av), and Amaranthus hybridus (Ah).

Scientific validation of anti-arthritic effect of Kashayams - A polyherbal formulation in collagen induced arthritic rats.

Background: Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR-4) mediates activation of nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) resulting in induction of proinflammatory genes such as that encoding tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) which played a significant role in cartilage destruction of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Low risk and better efficacy made herbal drugs more reliable than nonsteroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) in RA treatment. Gugguluthiktam Kashayam (GuK), Punarnavadi Kashayam (PuK) and Balaguluchiadi Kashayam (BgK) are ayurvedic polyherbal formulations prescribed in classical ayurvedic texts Sahasrayogam and Ashtangahridayam as medicines for the treatment of RA.