Nature watch

The Sunderbans is the largest mangrove vegetation in the world. Changes in the environment, particularly driven by climate change, forewarn us of the dwindling diversity of exclusive mangrove plants and the charismatic animal species–especially the tiger. The Sunderbans, with its fast-changing geomorphic and hydrological character, is creeping towards its doomsday.     

Mycorrhiza

The symbiotic association between plant and fungi (mycorrhizal association) is an amazing phenomenon observed in nature. The mycorrhizal association is one of nature’s boons for sustainable agriculture. In today’s changing environment, indiscriminate use of pesticides and chemicals pose a great threat to the existence of mycorrhizal species. There is a need to spread awareness in order to save mycorrhizal fungi from extinction.     

Reference Interval Determination of Total Plasma Homocysteine in an Indian Population

Hyperhomocysteinemia has been shown to be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease as well as retinal vascular occlusion. Because of the epidemiological, dietary, genetic and environmental diversity among the different countries, each country should establish the reference interval of homocysteine of their own population for recommending appropriate medical decision limits. Hence a total of 1,288 apparently healthy subjects including 636 male and 652 female were enrolled in the present study to determine the reference intervals of homocysteine in an Indian population. Results of the study were presented as mean, standard deviation, median and 2.5th and 97.5th percentile with the 0.90 confidence interval of each percentile values of homocysteine along with decade-wise changes.