Selenium - An environmentally friendly micronutrient in agroecosystem in the modern era: An overview of 50-year findings.

Agricultural productivity is constantly being forced to maintain yield stability to feed the enormously growing world population. However, shrinking arable and nutrient-deprived soil and abiotic and biotic stressor (s) in different magnitudes put additional challenges to achieving global food security. Though well-defined, the concept of macro, micronutrients, and beneficial elements is from a plant nutritional perspective. Among various micronutrients, selenium (Se) is essential in small amounts for the life cycle of organisms, including crops. Selenium has the potential to improve soil health, leading to the improvement of productivity and crop quality. However, Se possesses an immense encouraging phenomenon when supplied within the threshold limit, also having wide variations. The supplementation of Se has exhibited promising outcomes in lessening biotic and abiotic stress in various crops. Besides, bulk form, nano-Se, and biogenic-Se also revealed some merits and limitations. Literature suggests that the possibilities of biogenic-Se in stress alleviation and fortifying foods are encouraging. In this article, apart from adopting a combination of a conventional extensive review of the literature and bibliometric analysis, the authors have assessed the journey of Se in the "soil to spoon" perspective in a diverse agroecosystem to highlight the research gap area. There is no doubt that the time has come to seriously consider the tag of beneficial elements associated with Se, especially in the drastic global climate change era.

Prophylactic and therapeutic role of catechin-loaded poly(D,L-lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanocapsules in gastric ulcer by in vitro and in vivo approach.

Background: Gastric ulcer develops from imbalance of gastro-aggressive and protective factors. As existing drugs have adverse effects, use of natural products is in continuous expansion. In this study, we prepared nanoformulation with catechin and polylactide-co-glycolide to provide a sustained, controlled and targeted delivery. Materials & methods: Detailed characterization and toxicity study of nanoparticles were done on cells and Wistar rats. The comparative actions of free compound and nanocapsule were investigated in vitro and in vivo during treatment of gastric injury. Results: Nanocatechin improved bioavailability, reduced gastric damage at a significantly lower dose (2.5 mg/kg) by safeguarding from reactive oxygen species, restored mitochondrial integrity and downregulated MMP-9 and other inflammatory mediators. Conclusion: Nanocatechin is a better alternative for preventing and healing gastric ulcers.

Gastric ulcer, a chronic disease, has a widespread effect on the global populace. Side effects become an issue with available drugs, so natural products are getting acceptance. A promising nanodrug has been designed with catechin, the primary component of green tea, to offer enhanced potency at a lower dose. Toxicity and efficacy studies on laboratory rats have shown its suitability for biological use. In our experimental model of gastric ulcer in rats, nanocatechin was given as drug. It showed improved absorption and relatively fast healing without any adverse impacts. Molecular-level research demonstrated its role in restoring mitochondrial integrity. Thus, it may be an alternative choice for treating stomach ulcers in the clinical setting.

Faunipollenites Bharadwaj 1962 and Protohaploxypinus Samoilovich 1953 emend. Morbey 1975: morphologic comparison of oxidized and non- oxidized specimens from India and Brazil, and its taxonomic importance.

Faunipollenites Bharadwaj is considered a junior synonym of Protohaploxypinus Samoilovich emend. Morbey. However, Indian workers claim it is a valid genus due to a poorly defined corpus and absence of folds in distal attachment. In India, a standard method is applied including the oxidization with HNO3 more than 48 hours (+10' of KOH). We analyze the effects of that treatment on the morphology of pollen grains of both genera in samples from the Permian of India and Brazil. The same samples are also processed with HCl, HF, two hours of HNO3 and 2' of KOH and slides are mounted after each step. Our analysis reveals that distinct or indistinct central body and presence/absence of folds in distal attachment do not change in contrast to the indistinct central body and mostly absence of folds from samples that underwent a longer period of oxidization (24-48 hours and KOH 10'). The synonymization of Faunipollenites to Protohaploxypinus is confirmed. Species of Faunipollenites are reassigned to the revised species of Protohaploxypinus. The usage of the latter genus and its species in Permian biostratigraphic studies of India will improve Gondwanan correlations and paleobiogeographic reconstructions in future studies.

Creatine supplementation with methylglyoxal: a potent therapy for cancer in experimental models.

The anti-cancer effect of methylglyoxal (MG) is now well established in the literature. The main aim of this study was to investigate the effect of creatine as a supplement in combination with MG both in vitro and in vivo. In case of the in vitro studies, two different cell lines, namely MCF-7 (human breast cancer cell line) and C2C12 (mouse myoblast cell line) were chosen. MG in combination with creatine showed enhanced apoptosis as well as higher cytotoxicity in the breast cancer MCF-7 cell line, compared to MG alone. Pre-treatment of well-differentiated C2C12 myotubes with cancerogenic 3-methylcholanthrene (3MC) induced a dedifferentiation of these myotubes towards cancerous cells (that mimic the effect of 3MC observed in solid fibro-sarcoma animal models) and subsequent exposure of these induced cancer cells with MG proved to be cytotoxic. Thus, creatine plus ascorbic acid enhanced the anti-cancer effects of MG. In contrast, when normal C2C12 muscle cells or myotubes (mouse normal myoblast cell line) were treated with MG or MG plus creatine and ascorbic acid, no detrimental effects were seen. This indicated that cytotoxic effects of MG are specifically limited towards cancer cells and are further enhanced when MG is used in combination with creatine and ascorbic acid. For the in vivo studies, tumors were induced by injecting Sarcoma-180 cells (2 × 10(6) cells/mouse) in the left hind leg. After 7 days of tumor inoculation, treatments were started with MG (20 mg/kg body wt/day, via the intravenous route), with or without creatine (150 mg/kg body wt/day, fed orally) and ascorbic acid (50 mg/kg body wt/day, fed orally) and continued for 10 consecutive days. Significant regression of tumor size was observed when Sarcoma-180 tumor-bearing mice were treated with MG and even more so with the aforesaid combination. The creatine-supplemented group demonstrated better overall survival in comparison with tumor-bearing mice without creatine. In conclusion, it may be stated that the anti-cancer effect of MG is enhanced by concomitant creatine supplementation, both in chemically transformed (by 3MC) muscle cells in vitro as well as in sarcoma animal model in vivo. These data strongly suggest that creatine supplementation may gain importance as a safe and effective supplement in therapeutic intervention with the anti-cancer agent MG.