ABSTRACT
In order to trace and monitor the atmospheric heavy metal pollution in Xichang City, an investigation activity was carried out with a sort of moss (Taxiphyllum taxirameum) (packed in moss bags) as a biological indicator for monitoring heavy metal pollution. The investigation was conducted from the period from April 2019 to April 2020, during which two grave emergency events occurred during spring monitoring period from January 15 to April 15, 2020, i.e., COVID-19 and "3.30"severe forest fire in Xichang, which inevitably affected the atmospheric quality. Based on the concentration analysis of 12 kinds of heavy metal, including Al, Cr, Fe, Cu, Ni, Pb, Mn, Hg, Zn, V, As and Ba contained in the moss and the local meteorological data, comparing those informative data before and after the time when the emergency events toke place, the paper made an analysis on the impacts of two enormous emergency events on the air pollution of heavy metal in Xichang. The results showed that total amount of enrichment of above-mentioned 12 heavy metals in spring (January 15 to April 15, 2020) is (12.85 +or- 1.57) mg/g, which was significantly higher than in the other three seasons (p < 0.01), but no significant discrepancies about the total enrichment amount in the other three seasons (p > 0.05). Primarily because of COVID-19 pandemic, the level of motor vehicles emissions cut down, and the decrease of the tourism in the related areas perhaps causing the decline of pollution of Pb. In addition, the decrease of unbalanced emission of pollutants led to a noted increase of atmospheric oxidation in urban area, thus boosting the formation of secondary particulate matter, and the particulate matter from surrounding industrial sources was transported into the urban area;as a result, remarkable increases of Hg concentration of moss within the moss bags were detected downwind the industrial area located in the urban fringe. Consequently, the investigation showed that the moss-bag method is an effective biological tool for monitoring air heavy metal pollution, which could reflect the impacts of major pollution events on air quality.
ABSTRACT
The SARS-COV-2 pandemic is causing mayhem on people all over the world. Although, immunization is progressing quickly, its effectiveness against new variants is unknown. The virus has proven to be exceedingly resistant to treatments, and no drugs have been demonstrated to be totally effective against SARS-COV-2 antiviral. However, a few vaccines have been produced, but best option for now is to adopt preventive steps for now and future as well. In general, the use of herbs is emerging as the best ploy among all preventive measures to enhance the immunity as they have great antiviral potential and antioxidant properties. Bryophytes especially (liverworts) are well known to contain a variety of potentially beneficial compounds such as terpenoids, quinones, phenylpropanoids, flavonoids, etc. In recent past, different liverwort extracts and isolated chemicals have demonstrated antibacterial, antiviral, and cytotoxic effects;highlighting the potential of liverworts as herbal treatments and chemical manufacture for application in a variety of goods. However, due to their small size, difficulties in collection, and identification, the bulk of liverworts remain unknown, particularly in India. In this light, an attempt has been made to screen a commonly growing liverwort, Plagiochasma rupestre (J.R. Forst. and G. Forst.) Steph. has been evaluated for its phytochemical profile and bioactivity.