Plastination Technique and Its Impact on Medical Education

Introduction:Plastination has been one of the most effective preservative methods for organic tissue during the last four decades. In this technique, water and lipid content present within biological tissue samples are substituted by polymers (silicone, epoxy, pol yester), resulting in dry, durable, and odourless specimens. Plastinated specimens are now used as teaching tools and various medical disciplines, such as anatomy, pathology, radiology, surgery, and so on across the world. Since its development by Gunther von Hagens in 1977, plastination is getting increasing acceptance by the day and proving itself to be an excellent resource material for both teaching and learning. This review highlights the origin, procedure, types, significance, and drawbacks of plastination along with its ethical aspects.

Growth, yield and metal residues in Solanum melongena grown in fly ash amended soils.

Fly ash from Chandrapura Thermal Power Station, Bokaro, Jharkhand (India) was used for amending soil at levels 0, 60, 120, 180 and 240 tons ha-1 in which, brinjal (Solanum melongena) was grown and elemental residues of amended soil and plant parts were enumerated. Fly ash amendments caused significant improvement in soil quality, water holding capacity (52.64-65.76), pH (6.45-7.05), composition of photosynthetic pigment (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll and carotenoid) and few growth parameters (fresh weight, root length, shoot length) of brinjal with the increase in fly ash amendments. Fruit (edible part) of plants grown in fly ash amended soils had metal residues (mg kg-1) like Cr (0.80-1.16), Co (0.34-1.46), Ni (0.85-1.00), Zn (24.41-32.33), Cu (10.61-15.49), and Mo (0.49-1.46) within the permissible limits. Results indicate that soil amended with fly ash at 180 tons ha -1, not only improved the physical properties of the soil but also contributed to the better growth and yield of brinjal.

Fresh water blue green algae from three agro-climatic zones of Uttar Pradesh, India: distribution pattern with seasonal variation.

The paper deals with 45 species of 21 genera of fresh water blue green algae (BGA) from three different agro-climatic zones of Uttar Pradesh. Samples were collected from different habitats varying in physico-chemical properties. Out of 45 species, 13 species belonged to order Chroococcales, 31 to order Nostocales, while only 1 species belonged to order Stigonimatales i.e. Fischerella mucicola. The physico-chemical parameters like pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, nitrate, nitrite and rainfall play an important role in the periodicity of BGA. A positive correlation was found between dissolved oxygen (DO) of different ponds and species diversity, except in the case of western region of Uttar Pradesh (Farukhabad and Mahoba districts) where a positive correlation was found in electrical conductivity and total dissolved solids.

Performance of seed germination and growth of Vicia faba L. in fly ash amended soil.

The performance of Vicia faba L. in soil amended by different concentrations of fly ash has been studied. The parameters considered are seed germination, growth behaviour and nodulation frequency of the plant. Results revealed that while fly-ash amendment to the soil improved the growth performance at initial stages with application of lower concentrations, it was inhibitory at higher exposure concentrations. Although there was no difference in survival rates, but the seedling growth was reduced in comparison to control plants. Fly ash delayed the nodulation as lesser number of nodules was recorded at higher amendments. Results suggested feasibility of growing V. faba in fly ash contaminated area.