Browsing by Author "Saroj Kanta Barik"

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Engineered an ultrasmall curcumin oral nanoformulation restores intestinal integrity and gut microbiota dysbiosis
(Elsevier B.V., 2025) Vivek Sharma; Prateeksha Prateeksha; Balwant Singh Paliya; Sateesh Chandra Gupta; Sarvendra Singh; Anand Anunay; Sushil Agrahari; Shailendra P. Singh; Chandana Venketswara Rao; Saroj Kanta Barik; Brahma Nand Singh
Antibiotic therapy for bacterial infections often disrupts gut microbiota (GM) and intestinal integrity, inducing chronic inflammation and inflammatory bowel diseases. An effective therapeutic intervention is urgently needed to alleviate the aforementioned adverse effects of antibiotics. Curcumin (CUR) reveals great potential to restore intestinal integrity and GM dysbiosis due to its strong antiinflammatory and prebiotic effects. However, the weak solubility and stability of CUR result in limited bioavailability and a short half-life, which restricts its clinical uses. An ultra-small CUR oral nanoformulation was created using a carboxylated galactomannan (cGM), facilitated by hydrogen bonding between the phenolic hydroxyl groups of CUR and the carboxyl groups present on cGM. The developed nanoformulation increased CUR stability both in vitro and in vivo, extended its retention period in the gastrointestinal tract, and enhanced its permeability across the mucus layer and intestinal epithelium to improve oral bioavailability of CUR. The nanoformulation attained notable therapeutic efficacy in restoring intestinal epithelial barrier dysfunction and GM dysbiosis, as validated in an antibiotic-induced in vivo model. This research highlights the benefits of cGM in creating a very stable and ultrasmall nanoformulation for CUR, offering a promising oral nanoplatform for the delivery of CUR. © 2025
Satellite based fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation is congruent with plant diversity in india
(MDPI AG, 2021) Swapna Mahanand; Mukunda Dev Behera; Partha Sarathi Roy; Priyankar Kumar; Saroj Kanta Barik; Prashant Kumar Srivastava
A dynamic habitat index (DHI) based on satellite derived biophysical proxy (fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation, FAPAR) was used to evaluate the vegetation greenness pattern across deserts to alpine ecosystems in India that account to different biodiversity. The cumulative (DHI-cum), minimum (DHI-min), and seasonal (DHI-sea) DHI were generated using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-based FAPAR. The higher DHI-cum and DHI-min represented the biodiversity hotspots of India, whereas the DHI-sea was higher in the semi-arid, the Gangetic plain, and the Deccan peninsula. The arid and the trans-Himalaya are dominated with grassland or barren land exhibit very high DHI-sea. The inter-year correlation demonstrated an increase in vegetation greenness in the semi-arid region, and continuous reduction in greenness in the Northeastern region. The DHI components validated using field-measured plant richness data from four biogeographic regions (semi-arid, eastern Ghats, the Western Ghats, and Northeast) demonstrated good congruence. DHI-cum that represents the annual greenness strongly correlated with the plant richness (R2 = 0.90, p-value < 0.001), thereby emerging as a suitable indicator for assessing plant richness in large-scale biogeographic studies. Overall, the FAPAR-based DHI components across Indian biogeographic regions provided understanding of natural variability of the greenness pattern and its congruence with plant diversity. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Shifting cultivation induced burn area dynamics using ensemble approach in Northeast India
(Elsevier B.V., 2022) Pulakesh Das; Mukunda Dev Behera; Saroj Kanta Barik; Sujoy Mudi; Buddolla Jagadish; Swarup Sarkar; Santa Ram Joshi; Dibyendu Adhikari; Soumit Kumar Behera; Kiranmay Sarma; Prashant Kumar Srivastava; Puneet Singh Chauhan
Identifying shifting cultivation areas and assessing their spatio-temporal dynamics are essential in framing climate-adaptive policies for efficient forest management and agriculture practices for the benefit of people. The current study attempts to develop an alternative approach to classify the shifting cultivation areas using an ensemble technique, integrating multiple spectral indices in three states of northeast India (NEI), such as Assam, Manipur, and Meghalaya. The adopted approach integrates green cover and leaf water content changes during shifting cultivation land preparation in Landsat imagery. The deforested burned area patches were identified based on threshold values using Landsat data-derived indices on vegetation, burned area and leaf water, and digital elevation model (DEM). The ensemble approach provided shifting cultivation maps with good overall accuracy (> 83%). The maximum shifting cultivation area was observed in Assam (126.87 km2), followed by Meghalaya (51.53 km2) and Manipur (46.04 km2) in 2016. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and NDVI difference performed better than other vegetation indices. The ensemble approach can be applied in other regions with minor modifications in threshold values, thus having the potential for accounting to shifting cultivation dynamics on an operational basis. Future research may include blending local traditional knowledge and modern scientific solutions for improved forest and land resources planning for the benefit of inhabitants and the mountain environment under the climate change scenarios. © 2021
Unravelling the emerging threats of microplastics to agroecosystems
(Springer Science and Business Media B.V., 2022) Shweta Yadav; Ekta Gupta; Anju Patel; Suchi Srivastava; Virendra Kumar Mishra; Poonam C. Singh; Pankaj Kumar Srivastava; Saroj Kanta Barik
In the past few decades, pollution from microplastics has emerged as an important issue on a global scale. These plastic particles are mainly the result of anthropogenic activities. Urban sprawl, industrialization, indiscriminate use and poor waste management of plastic products are the main factors responsible for the accumulation of microplastics in different ecosystems of the environment. The presence of microplastics in the soil matrix is considered an emerging threat to agroecosystems. Since most of the studies on microplastics have been done in the aquatic environment. The understanding of the ecotoxicological effects of these contaminants in terrestrial ecosystems is still limited, especially in agroecosystems. The negative effects of microplastics on the physical, chemical and biological properties of soil are now revealing. But the effects of microplastics on plant growth and yield are largely unexplored. Microplastic contamination in the soil can alter the functioning of plants by affecting the microbial community of the rhizosphere and disturbing the homeostasis of the agroecosystem. Furthermore, it may transfer into the plant system through nutrient and water absorption channels and affect plant physiology. The pervasive nature of microplastics in the soil is considered a barrier to sustainable agriculture and ecosystem functioning. The present review gives an overview of the sources, dissipation and effects of microplastics with reference to the soil–plant system, highlights the research gaps, and deciphers the possible future threats to agroecosystems. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.