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Honey is a natural substance produced by honeybees from the nectar or secretion of flowering plants. Along with the botanical and geographical origin, several environmental factors also play a major role in determining the characteristics of honey. The aim of this study is to determine and compare the elemental concentration of various macro and trace elements in apiary and wild honeys collected from different parts of Indian Sundarbans. The elemental analysis was performed in inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy preceded by microwave digestion method. The concentrations of 19 elements (Ag,

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Reduction in air pollution level was prime observation during COVID‐19 lockdown globally. Here, the study was conducted to assess the impact of lockdown on the elemental profile of PM 10 in ambient aerosol to quantify the elemental variation. To quantify the variation, phase‐wise sampling of air pollutants was carried out using the gravimetric method for PM 10 , while NO 2 and SO 2 were estimated through the chemiluminescence and fluorescent spectrometric method respectively. The elemental constituents of PM 10 were carried out using an Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer and their source apportionment was carried out using the Positive Matrix Factorization model. The results showed that PM 10 , NO 2 and SO 2 reduced by 86.97%, 83.38%, and 88.60% respectively during the lockdown sampling phase. The highest mean elemental concentration reduction was found in Mn (97.47%) during the lockdown. The inter‐correlation among the pollutants exhibited a significant association indicating that they originate from the same source. The metals like Mn and Cu were found at a higher concentration during the lockdown phase corresponding to vehicular emissions. The comparative analysis of the elemental profile of PM 10 concluded that the lockdown effectuated in reduction of the majority of elements present in an aerosol enveloping metropolitan like Kolkata.

Background: Mangroves are globally known for their ecological importance and are found to be extensively used in traditional medicine. Avicennia marina, commonly known as grey mangroves exhibit strong antimicrobial properties and are also considered being a promising drug candidate in neutralizing pathogens. Objective: In our present study, the leaf extract from Avicennia marina was isolated using organic solvents of ascensive polarity to evaluate binding and abrasive properties in Escherichia coli K12 DNA. Methods: Samples of the pulverized leaves were used for sequential extraction using ethyl acetate, chloroform and acetone. The minimum inhibitory concentration of isolates from ethyl acetate, chloroform and acetone were quantified to be 0.125gL-1, 0.0625gL-1 and 0.125gL-1, respectively. These values were further utilized to calculate the binding constant between Escherichia coli DNA and isolates. In addition, mutagenicity of the isolates was assessed using Ames test in which the Escherichia coli K12 (strain AB1157) bacteria was cultured in minimal glucose media supplemented with isolates for assessing their DNA modifying ability. Further, DNA abrasion potential was assessed for all the isolates using Comet assay. Results: Results of Ames test showed that the isolates have DNA modifying ability, whereas the Comet assay demonstrated that isolates do not exhibit DNA degrading potential. Conclusion: In conclusion, the mechanism by which the isolates degrade the bacterial cell must be contrary to its DNA degrading potential. Experiments paved the way for further quantification and examination using bioinformatics tools to find the best drug candidate and to run clinical trials