Aims:The main aims of the study were to evaluate the phytochemical constituents and to study the antioxidant, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic activities of extracts from stem wood of Pterocarpus marsupium.Materials and Methods:Ethanol, acetone and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) (1:1) extracts of stem wood of P. marsupium were subjected to phytochemical screening and analysis of biological activities from August 2015 to January 2016. The antioxidant assay was carried out using 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl scavenging method, antimicrobial activity testing by cup diffusion method, antidiabetic test evaluation by oral glucose tolerance test in mice, anti-inflammatory effect was evaluated by hind paw edema method in mice and analgesic test evaluation by a chemical writhing method in mice.Results:The results of the study revealed that P. marsupium is a source of various phytoconstituents such as alkaloids, glycosides, saponins, tannins, proteins, carbohydrates, cardiac glycosides, flavonoids, and terpenoids. Both the acetone and IPA extract as well as the ethanol extract of stem wood of P. marsupium exhibited a dose-dependent antioxidant activity. Acetone and IPA extract showed antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria, while the ethanolic extract was found to possess antidiabetic activity. The antidiabetic activity of the extract was found to be time and dose-dependent. Similarly, the acetone and IPA extract was found to have anti-inflammatory activity, which was also time and dose-dependent. Furthermore, the ethanolic extract showed analgesic activity, which was dose-dependent. The ethanolic extract was found to be nontoxic.Conclusions:Thus, this study laid sufficient background for the further research on extracts from stem wood of P. marsupium for identification, subsequent purification and isolation of compounds having antibacterial, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic activities.

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These notes are based on the experiences of taking an anthropological approach to help the management of business organizations in northern Italy. Anthropology is actor (human)-centred and context (socio-ecological complex)-focused. Its approach to improving business performance tends to raise the actors' awareness of their own contexts, not only at the micro-level (organization, stakeholders, market segment) but also at the macro-level (community, place-system). An anthropologist's help in management is basically about raising business actors' awareness and sustaining their efforts in adding value to their organizational assets and resources, as well as in improving the quality of their operational context. The anthropological difference rests with a holistic perspective and a long-range view to enhance the value of products/services of the workplace and human resources, of the business process, and of the entire context where the business is going on (place-system, community). Theoretical Premise: Anthropology in the World of Business Anthropology is actor (human)-centred and context (socio-ecological complex)-focused. Its approach to any human and societal phenomenon, including those pertaining to the business world, is to conduct in-depth contextual analysis of the reality to learn from the past (hindsight) and to logically exercise foresight. It is far more comprehensive (holistic) as compared to the approach of conventional economics, business studies or management discipline. The anthropological difference rests with a holistic perspective and a long-range view in contrast to the compartmentalized (specialized) vision and short-term orientation of conventional economics, business or management studies. In the past three/four decades, a few anthropologists have taken initiatives to help business and management studies. According to some of the well-known exponents of Business Anthropology in the USA, a wide variety of contemporary business problems can be tackled with the help of anthropological tools (Baba, 1986; Jordan, 1994 & 2012). Anthropology was not applied seriously in the business world until the 1980s. Except for a few sporadic cases of individual application (workplace ethnography) in some business organizations, no systematic anthropological inquiry into business realities was previously conducted. In the early 1980s, in the USA, "organization" became a subject of great interest to anthropologists; "culture" to the experts of business and administrative studies; and "organizational culture" to the both (Marrewijk, 2010). From the 1990s up to today, Anthropology has been making great strides in studying the cultural aspects of the business world and in formulating answers to a number of management challenges in the USA and elsewhere.