The aim of the present study was to find methods for enhancing rates of hydrocarbon biodegradation in gasoline contaminated soil by ex situ bioremediation. Red soil (RS) was treated with gasoline-spilled soil (GS) from a gasoline station and different combinations of amendments were prepared using (i) mixed bacterial consortium (MC), (ii) poultry litter (PL), (iii) coir pith (CP) and (iv) rhamn...

Methanolic and aqueous extract of Pomegranate rind, seed and pith was evaluated for its antimicrobial activity against selected oral microorganisms like Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermis, Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas aeuriginosa and Candida albicans. The oral pathogens were cultured in Mueller-hinton media and then paper disks containing the extracts at concentration of 4μg/m...

In this article, the authors introduce concept mapping as a useful participatory research method for public health researchers interested in generating hypotheses and developing theory. The authors first provide an overview of concept mapping, which combines qualitative approaches with quantitative analytical tools to produce visual displays of the relationship between ideas. Then, they present...

Sugarcane bagasse was torrefied to improve its quality in terms of properties prior to gasification. Torrefaction was undertaken at 300 °C in an inert atmosphere of N₂ at 10 °C·min-1 heating rate. A residence time of 5 min allowed for rapid reaction of the material during torrefaction. Torrefied and untorrefied bagasse were characterized to compare their suitability as feedstocks for gasificati...

Precipitation of calcium in plants is common. There are abundant studies on the uptake and content of magnesium, strontium and barium, which have similar chemical properties to calcium, in comparison with those of calcium in plants, but studies on co-precipitation of these elements with calcium in plants are rare. In this study, we compared morphologies, distributional patterns, and elemental c...

Mountain gorillas, the largest extant primates, subsist almost entirely on plant matter. Moreover, their diet includes a substantial amount of structural material, such as bark and stems, which other primates tend to avoid. Accordingly, the robust masticatory apparatus of gorillas may be adaptive to this presumably tough diet; however, quantitative information on this subject is lacking. In thi...

BACKGROUND Blepharis sindica - T. Anders of family Acanthaceae is an important medicinal plant which is mainly used as an invigorating tonic, given to cattle to increase milk production and its roots are used for urinary discharge and dysmenorrhea. It is commonly known as "Bhaṅgārī". It is extensively used traditionally as Vājīkāraka and Vṛṣya (Aphrodisiac) by vaidyas of Rajasthan and Gujarat. ...

This study was aimed to develop of complete microscopy and macroscopy of Tridex procumbens in which the leaves, petioles, roots and stems were studied. Tridex procumbens Linn. Fam. Asteraceae commonly known as ‘Coat Buttons’ is an important plant used against various activities in indigenous system of medicine such as hepatoprotective, antihepatotoxic, antipyretics, anti-diabetic, blood coagula...

Occurrence of mold was visually monitored for 26days on samples of major anatomical components of corn stover maintained at several storage temperatures (T) and water activities (a(w)). Glass desiccators with saturated salt solutions placed in temperature controlled chambers provided simulated storage conditions with temperatures ranging from 10 degrees C to 40 degrees C and water activities ra...

To generate a forage crop with increased biomass density that retains forage quality, we have genetically transformed lines of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) expressing antisense constructs targeting two different lignin pathway biosynthetic genes with a construct for down-regulation of a WRKY family transcription factor that acts as a repressor of secondary cell wall formation in pith tissues. P...