Background Forest fire incidences in the Himalayan region of Uttarakhand, India are very common in summers. Pine and oak are the principal and dominant species of Himalayan subtropical forest and Himalayan temperate forest, respectively. Forest vegetation influences the physicochemical and biological properties of soil and forest fire in pine and oak forests may have a different effect on the physicochemical and biological properties of soil. Therefore, the present study was carried out to assess the impact of forest fire on soil microbial properties, enzymatic activity, and their relationship with soil physicochemical properties in the advent of forest fire in the pine and oak forests of the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand Himalaya, India. Results The soil microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen, soil basal respiration, and acid phosphatase activity decreased, whereas dehydrogenase activity increased at burnt sites of both forest types. The overall change in soil microbial biomass carbon was 63 and 40% at the burnt oak forest and burnt pine forest, respectively. Dehydrogenase activity and acid phosphatase activity showed a strong positive correlation with soil organic matter (r = 0.8) and microbial indices, respectively. The ratio of soil microbial biomass carbon/nitrogen was reduced at burnt sites of both forest types. Factor analysis results showed that fire had a significant impact on soil characteristics. The soil basal respiration was linked with macro- and micronutrients at burnt sites, whereas at control sites, it was linked with physicochemical properties of soil along with nutrients. Conclusion Forest fire had a significant impact on soil properties of both forest types. The impact of forest fire on soil microbial biomass carbon was stronger in the oak forest than in the pine forest. Forest type influenced soil enzymatic activity at burnt sites. The bacterial community was dominated over fungi in burnt sites of both forests. Soil microbial indices can be used as a selective measure to assess the impact of fire. Furthermore, forest type plays an important role in regulating the impact of forest fire on soil properties.
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a global driver of disability, and we currently lack effective therapies to promote neural repair and recovery. TBI is characterized by an initial insult, followed by a secondary injury cascade, including inflammation, excitotoxicity, and glial cellular response. This cascade incorporates molecular mechanisms that represent potential targets of therapeutic intervention. In this study, we investigate the response to focal impact injury to the optic tectum of Xenopus laevis tadpoles. This injury disrupts the blood-brain barrier, causing edema, and produces deficits in visually-driven behaviors which are resolved within one week. Within 3 h, injured brains show a dramatic transcriptional activation of inflammatory cytokines, upregulation of genes associated with inflammation, and recruitment of microglia to the injury site and surrounding tissue. Shortly afterward, astrocytes undergo morphological alterations and accumulate near the injury site, and these changes persist for at least 48 h following injury. Genes associated with astrocyte reactivity and neuroprotective functions also show elevated levels of expression following injury. Since our results demonstrate that the response to focal impact injury in Xenopus resembles the cellular alterations observed in rodents and other mammalian models, the Xenopus tadpole offers a new, scalable vertebrate model for TBI.
Abstract:-The Boko Haram (BH) emerged in Nigeria in 2002 with the aim of total implementation of the Sharia law in Nigeria, yet there are other reasons such as socio-economic factors in the north-east where the group has been more prevalent. The domestic-based insurgent group became more sophisticated after its establishment of links with some international terrorist organizations (ITOs) such as Al-Qaeda, AQIM and AlShabaab. The group made its attacks to threaten the national security of Nigeria in the destruction of lives, properties and displacement of people and genders such as women and children. These displaced people have no option than to live in camps with serious need of social amenities such as health care. These camps are mostly provided, supervised and catered for by state governments and joint efforts of local international donors. This paper seeks to argue that the activities of Boko Haram led to destruction of properties, killing of people and also made most of them to become internally displaced without some essential needs in their camps, particularly health care for the women. To attain these objectives of this paper, a qualitative research method was adopted through which data were collected through documentary analysis. This study discovered thatwhile the government and some non-governmental institutions claimed to have provided some health care services for the gender victims in the camps, some of the victims debunked the claim. The paper therefore recommended that government and other non-governmental organizations should come to aid of the victims particularly the gender with health care services and other necessary needs for those internally displaced persons as a result of the effects of the activities of BH insurgent group.
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