Wonder or evil?: Multifaceted health hazards and health benefits of and its phytochemicals.

, widely known as 'Marijuana' poses a dilemma for being a blend of both good and bad medicinal effects. The historical use of for both medicinal and recreational purposes suggests it to be a friendly plant. However, whether the misuse of and the cannabinoids derived from it can hamper normal body physiology is a focus of ongoing research.

Avoidance behavior of Eisenia fetida and Metaphire posthuma towards two different pesticides, acephate and atrazine.

The avoidance behavior is regarded as the method that provides first hand information about the behavior of an organism in the presence of contaminants in the soil. Very little data is found in literature regarding the effect of pesticides on tropical earthworms. Two pesticides, acephate and atrazine which are widely used in Indian tropical area were investigated for their avoidance behavior on standard species, E.

Herbicide Glyphosate: Toxicity and Microbial Degradation.

Glyphosate is a non-specific organophosphate pesticide, which finds widespread application in shielding crops against the weeds. Its high solubility in hydrophilic solvents, especially water and high mobility allows the rapid leaching of the glyphosate into the soil leading to contamination of groundwater and accumulation into the plant tissues, therefore intricating the elimination of the herbicides. Despite the widespread application, only a few percentages of the total applied glyphosate serve the actual purpose, dispensing the rest in the environment, thus resulting in reduced crop yields, low quality agricultural products, deteriorating soil fertility, contributing to water pollution, and consequently threatening human and animal life.

Physiological responses, tolerance, and remediation strategies in plants exposed to metalloids.

Metalloids are a subset of particular concern to risk assessors and toxicologists because of their well-documented potential hazards to plant system. Most of the metalloids are major environmental contaminants which affect crop productivity when present in high concentrations in soil. Metalloids are coupled with carrier proteins of the plasma membrane and translocated to various organs causing changes in key metabolic processes, damages cell biomolecules, and finally inhibit its growth.

Current advancement and future prospect of biosorbents for bioremediation.

The increasing use of heavy metals, synthetic dyes and pesticides is a major environmental concern. Wastewaters containing heavy metals and dyes, extensively released from small and large scale industries enter excessively into food chains resulting in mutagenesis, carcinogenicity and serious health impairments in living systems. The arrays of technologies are implemented to date to remediate both inorganic and organic contaminants from wastewaters.

Revealing on hydrogen sulfide and nitric oxide signals co-ordination for plant growth under stress conditions.

In the recent times, plants are facing certain types of environmental stresses, which give rise to formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as hydroxyl radicals, hydrogen peroxides, superoxide anions and so on. These are required by the plants at low concentrations for signal transduction and at high concentrations, they repress plant root growth. Apart from the ROS activities, hydrogen sulfide (H S) and nitric oxide (NO) have major contributions in regulating growth and developmental processes in plants, as they also play key roles as signaling molecules and act as chief plant immune defense mechanisms against various biotic as well as abiotic stresses.

Efficient biodegradation of acephate by PS-5 in the presence and absence of heavy metal ions [Cu(II) and Fe(III)], and humic acid.

The present study was intended to investigate the biodegradation of acephate in aqueous media in the presence and in the absence of metal ions [Fe(III) and Cu(II)], and humic acid (HA). Biodegradations were performed using PS-5 (PS-5) isolated from the heavy metal polluted site. Biodegradations were monitored by UV-Visible, FTIR, and electron spray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) analyses.

Earthworms, pesticides and sustainable agriculture: a review.

The aim of this review is to generate awareness and understand the importance of earthworms in sustainable agriculture and effect of pesticides on their action. The natural resources are finite and highly prone to degradation by the misuse of land and mismanagement of soil. The world is in utter need of a healthy ecosystem that provides with fertile soil, clean water, food and other natural resources.

Toll-like receptor-associated keratitis and strategies for its management.

Keratitis is an inflammatory condition, characterized by involvement of corneal tissues. Most recurrent challenge of keratitis is infection. Bacteria, virus, fungus and parasitic organism have potential to cause infection.