Contribution of non-timber forest products to the livelihoods of the forest-dependent communities around the Khadimnagar National Park in northeastern Bangladesh

Non-timber forest products(NTFPs)play a significant role in the improvement of the forest-dependent people’s livelihoodsaround the world,strengthening protection for the sustainable use of forests.The purpose of this research was to evaluate the influence of occupational category-wise(fuelwood collectors,farmers,small-scale businessmen,day labourers,and tea estate labourers)dependencyon NTFPsand the role of NTFPs on household income around the Khadimnagar National Park(KNP)in northeastern Bangladesh.In 2014,178purposively selected respondents from four villages(out of 22 villagesaround the KNP)were interviewed face-to-face using a semi-structured questionnaire.The study observed that these forest-dependent communities utilized resources of the KNP mainly for domestic energy supply,household income,and house construction.Results showed that income from NTFPs made a significant contribution to family income.Income data analysis indicated that small-scale businessmen earned relatively more income from NTFPs,followed by tea estate labourersand day labourers.The study revealed significant negative relationships of the distance of households from the forest with the amount of NTFPs collected(P<0.01)and monthly income from NTFPs(P<0.01).Positive significant relationships were found between the amount of NTFPs collected and the time spent in NTFP collection(P<0.001),as well as betweenmonthly income from NTFPs and family size(P<0.001).The fuelwood collectors and farmers collected significantly greater amounts of NTFPs per trip(P<0.001)than other occupational categories.The households that were moderately to highly dependent on NTFPs collected significantly higher amounts of NTFPs pertrip(P<0.01)than the households that were moderately dependent and less dependent on NTFPs.Community dependence on KNP’sresources,community’sappreciation of the KNP’s ecosystem services for villagers’livelihoods,and community’s high levels of concern for forest conservation provided a foundation for the sustainable management of the KNP.The study findings will be useful for designing an effective forest management plan and policy for NTFP management and forest conservation with the active involvement of the forest-dependent people in northeastern Bangladesh.

Reversal of multidrug resistance and antitumor promoting activity of 3-oxo-6β-hydroxy-β-amyrin isolated from Pistacia integerrima

The bioactive triterpenoid 3-oxo-6-β-hydroxy-β-amyrin(1)has been isolated from multiple plant sources.In this study,chloroform fraction of Pistacia integerrima extract was processed for the isolation of the compound.The compound identity was confirmed by advanced spectroscopy technique.X-ray crystallography was applied for molecular structure confirmation.In addition,compound 1 was screen for its activity on reversal of MDR(multidrug resistance)mediated by P-gp(P-glycoprotein).This was accomplished by using rhodamine123 exclusion on multidrug-resistant human ABCB1 gene transfected mouse T-lymphoma cell line.Outcomes revealed that MDR reversing effect was comparable to verapamil as positive control in vitro.Treatment of TPA-induced tumor promotion with 3-oxo-6β-hydroxy-β-amyrin led to reduction in the applied anti-tumor promotion experiment.The chemo-preventive effect of 3-oxo-6β-hydroxy-β-amyrin was comparable to curcumin as positive control based on the reduction of immediate early tumor antigen expression.Molecular docking by applying Autodock Vina 1 and i-GEMDOCK v 2.1 tools indicated that compound 1 gives good docking results,as determined by their fitness score and specificity.Moreover,results showed that compound 1 isolated from Pistacia integerrima precisely attached to a region where co-crystallized ligand for receptor previously existed.Our findings may explain the use of Pistacia integerrima plant extracts as an anticancer agent in folk medicine.