Phytoconstituents of Lantana camara L.: Rekindling Hope in the Cancer Treatment

Background: Lantana camara L. belongs to the family Verbenaceae. It originated in Tropical America in Southern Georgia and to the North of Texas and was introduced in Calcutta, India in the year 1809 as an ornamental hedge. The plant L. Camara is also distributed in Southeast Asia, China, Australia, Brazil, West Indies, Kenya, Mexico, East Africa, Tanzania. Many of its phytoconstituents possess medicinal properties which are used traditionally to treat fever, uterine hemorrhage, and excess menstrual discharge, chronic ulcers, rheumatism, gonorrhea, toothache, gastrointestinal pain, etc, and has been used in Brazil for curing malaria, mange, headaches, colds, and fevers. Objectives: The review elaborates traditional practices, phytochemistry of Lantana camara L. along with the role of Lantana camara in various types of cancers. Method: The data on L. camara was collected through different online databases like Web of Science, PubMed, Science Direct, Springer, and Google Scholar. Results: Major phytoconstituents isolated from the plant shows anticancer activity specially lantadene A-D, icterogenin, oleanolic acid, lantacamaric acid A, B, oleanonic acid, etc. In vitro and in vivo studies demonstrate its potential for various cancers. Certain extracts, isolated compounds, and their semi-synthetic derivatives have depicted a significant cytotoxic and anti-proliferative effect. Conclusion: Clinical studies are not yet established, therefore, making it crucial to direct future researches in that area.

Geology, Petrology and Amazing Geoforms of the Late Cenozoic Volcanic Province Erusheti Plateau (Lesser Caucasus) Georgia

These Erusheti Plateau is an integral part of the volcanic highland of Southern Georgia. It is located northern part of the Lesser Caucasus in the convergence zone of the Afro-Arabian and Eurasian lithosphere tectonic plates. The territory is almost totally covered with strong volcanic and volcano-sedimentary formations of Goderdzi suite with different lithologies and facies. The suite is formed in the Late Miocene - Early Pliocene Age, about from 11.8±4 to 13.6±3.1 Ma. Erusheti Plateau overall, are not characterized by many centers of eruption; Here we discuss eruption histories of the large polygenic volcanic massive Dokhuz-Puar and a monogenic volcano Datvistskaro are clearly seen among the volcanogenic structures of Erusheti Plateau. The eruption products of Dokhkuz-Puar volcano are dacitic-containing tuff-breccias and lava flows. The activity of Datvistskaro volcano was expressed only by the eruption of pyroclastic deposits containing andesite basalts. The main constituent minerals are: plagi­oclase and hornblende mega-crystals in dacites; augite-olivine and base plagioclase – in andesite basalts. With their geochemical properties, all the rocks of the rocks of a calc-alkali series. Dacites and andesite-basalts do not feed from a common magmatic source and consequently, are not the product of differentiation of the same magma. The work is the first to describe the natural amazing natural geoforms developed in pyroclastolites of Datvistskaro volcano: gigantic stone columns, mushroom-shaped stone caps and stone lances.Should be noted that no detailed mine­ralogical-petrological study of the rocks common in the study area has done to date. The main purpose of the given work is filling this gap.

Armenia

A study of medieval Armenian painting, church architecture, bas-relief sculpture, and other media demonstrates close attention to, and reception of, the art and culture of the Byzantine Empire. Historic Armenia (including the present-day Armenian Republic and territories in eastern Anatolia, southern Georgia, northwest Iran, and Azerbaijan) and the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia (1199–1375, southwestern Anatolia) had close relations with neighboring powers throughout the medieval era, and scholars, most prominently Sirarpie Der Nersessian, have long studied the presence of Byzantine ideas in Armenian art and architecture. The early medieval period, the “Age of the Kingdoms” (ninth to eleventh centuries), and twelfth- to fourteenth-century Cilicia demonstrate strong evidence for contact and familiarity with Byzantine culture. An examination of select cases demonstrates the diverse and dynamic nature of such appropriations, reflecting the complex and changing nature of political, social, religious, and cultural relations between empire and locality.

The University of West Florida Campus Ecosystem Study: Age-Diameter and Growth Relationships of Longleaf Pine Using Hurricane-Induced Windthrows

The campus of the University of West Florida was constructed among second-growth longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) stands that survived extensive logging in the Florida Panhandle. Previous studies on longleaf pine on the main UWF campus have estimated that 65% of these pines are 75 to 125 years old, with estimates based on a model from old-growth longleaf in southern Georgia. To obtain more accurate age data, one can use an increment corer to collect samples from live trees on site; more accurately, disks can be collected from recently fallen trees. On 16 September 2020, Hurricane Sally impacted UWF as a Category 2 storm, with winds reaching 125 kph. Our study took advantage of longleaf pines blowdowns by Sally to obtain cross-sections for age determinations. Two on-campus natural areas were chosen for sampling: the Edward Ball Nature Trail and the Baars-Firestone Wildlife Sanctuary. For each sampled section, diameter at breast height (DBH) and number of annual rings were recorded. Based on a total of 50 sampled trees, linear regression revealed a highly significant (P<0.00001; r2 =0.84) relationship between DBH and age. Applying this to DBH measures of 2,165 stems on the main campus indicates that the oldest longleaf pines are ~130 years old (mean age = 63.9±0.4 yr), consistent with cessation of historically wide-spread harvesting in the region. Mean age for the Trails site (55.7±1.6 yr) was significantly lower than that of the Sanctuary (66.7±2.0 yr), suggesting that they represented sites of contrasting land-use history. Direction of stem windthrows did not vary between natural areas and was consistent with characteristics of the eyewall of Hurricane Sally with strongest wind gusts moving from a southeast to northwest direction.

Arthur Zuttner's Novel “Adjarians” and the Chorokhi Navigation Area

Chorokhi is the main river of historical southern Georgia. Interesting background knowledge about sailing on Chorokhi was preserved by the press and the records of travelers of the last quarter of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, as well as by the collective memory of the population living by the edge of the river. Interestingly, the Chorokhi navigation area has almost never been reflected in fiction. Therefore, the work “Adjarians” by Arthur Zuttner is undoubtedly of great importance.Arthur Zuttner, an Austrian writer, lived in Georgia with his wife Bertha from 1876-1885. “Adjarians” was published in Germany in 1888, and the Georgian translation by Rusudan Ghvinepadze was published in 2007.“Adjarians” reflects the reality of southern Georgia before the Russo-Ottoman war of 1877-78. The action takes place mainly in the Chorokhi basin. The author describes the Chorokhi boat and sailing in only a few episodes, though, quite extensively. The work deals with the navigation images described by Zuttner in the novel, especially how the Chorokhi navigation area is reflected in the work and what is the relationship between the relevant episodes of the novel and the objective reality. It is obvious that the writer has deep insight into the life of the Chorokhi sailors and the local specifics of the river sailing. Obviously, Suttner's text is an artistic interpretation of reality, but it must also be noted that the navigational narrative in Suttner’s novel, with a few exceptions, accurately depicts a number of 19th century details of the Chorokhi navigation artery. Consequently, the images depicted in the novel are undoubtedly interesting for the literature lovers and the readers of fiction interested in the history or details of life.

Barrier islands of the central Georgia coast: Formation, function, and future

ABSTRACT Georgia’s coastline is composed of a series of short, wide, mixed-energy (tide-dominated) barrier islands, each backed by extensive marsh, topped with mobile dunes, and flanked by deep inlets. Many of the islands, particularly those along the southern Georgia coast, consist of Pleistocene cores surrounded by mobile deposits that attached during the Holocene sea-level transgression. Positioned within the head of the funnel-shaped South Atlantic Bight, tidal ranges here commonly reach ~2–3 m. As a result, inlets are numerous and the back-barrier environment hosts nearly 400,000 acres of salt marsh. Today, many of the barriers are transgressive, and hard structures such as revetments and groins are becoming increasingly more common to stabilize shorelines along the four developed islands. This field guide presents evidence of island formation, modern ecologic function, and likely future changes for three island groups: (1) Blackbeard, Cabretta, and Sapelo Islands; (2) Sea Island and St. Simons Island; and (3) Jekyll Island. The field trip provides evidence of the Pleistocene-age island cores, the natural southward migration of the mobile Holocene-age sandy shorelines, and the impacts of storm erosion and hard structures built to combat that erosion. This field guide serves as the static, print companion to an online virtual field trip (https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/0aa3fd921cc4458da0a19a928e5fa87c).

Survey of potential root pathogens in softwood cuttings collected from Georgia blueberry nurseries

Survey sampling of 18 blueberry nurseries propagating softwood cuttings was conducted in 2007 and 2008 to determine which soilborne plant pathogens were most prevalent in commercial blueberry propagation systems in southern Georgia. Samples were collected four times: June (early), September (mid), and October (late) in the 2007 growing season, with additional sampling of overwintered cuttings in April 2008. This survey revealed that Calonectria ilicicola (Cylindrocladium parasiticum), causing Cylindrocladium root rot, is a primary pathogen of blueberry cuttings in southern Georgia. The organism was isolated consistently during all four survey dates with a cutting-level incidence of 3.6, 10.2, 36.4, and 14.3% in the first through fourth samplings, respectively. Rhizoctonia spp. were recovered less frequently and were only present during the first (10.9% cutting-level incidence), third (4.6%), and fourth survey dates (3.6%), while the Oomycetes Pythium and Phytophthora were detected only on the second survey date. Fusarium spp. were isolated commonly (29.1% incidence in the first, 12.2% in the second, 18.2% in the third, and 7.1% in the fourth sampling), but pathogenicity remains uncertain. Across all survey dates, Calonectria, Rhizoctonia, Oomycetes, and Fusarium were recovered at least once from 41.2, 17.6, 0.1, and 82.4% of nurseries surveyed, respectively. When nursery-level pathogen presence-absence data collected from this survey was analyzed in relation to a survey of production practices used by these same propagators, the practice of reusing growth media was found significantly associated with Calonectria presence.

Determining future aflatoxin contamination risk scenarios for corn in Southern Georgia, USA using spatio-temporal modelling and future climate simulations

Aflatoxins (AFs) are produced by fungi in crops and can cause liver cancer. Permitted levels are legislated and batches of grain are rejected based on average concentrations. Corn grown in Southern Georgia (GA), USA, which experiences drought during the mid-silk growth period in June, is particularly susceptible to infection by Aspergillus section Flavi species which produce AFs. Previous studies showed strong association between AFs and June weather. Risk factors were developed: June maximum temperatures > 33 °C and June rainfall < 50 mm, the 30-year normals for the region. Future climate data were estimated for each year (2000–2100) and county in southern GA using the RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 emissions scenarios. The number of counties with June maximum temperatures > 33 °C and rainfall < 50 mm increased and then plateaued for both emissions scenarios. The percentage of years thresholds were exceeded was greater for RCP 8.5 than RCP 4.5. The spatial distribution of high-risk counties changed over time. Results suggest corn growth distribution should be changed or adaptation strategies employed like planting resistant varieties, irrigating and planting earlier. There were significantly more counties exceeding thresholds in 2010–2040 compared to 2000–2030 suggesting that adaptation strategies should be employed as soon as possible.

The Influence of the Environment and Vegetable Cropping Systems on Plant-Parasitic Nematode Communities in Southern Georgia, USA

Plant-parasitic nematodes (PPN) limit yields in vegetable production in the United States. During the spring and fall cropping seasons of 2018, 436 fields in bare ground and plastic bed cropping systems were randomly sampled from 29 counties in Southern Georgia. The incidence (%), mean and maximum relative abundance (nematodes per 100 cm3 of soil ) of the 10 different PPN genera detected in 32 vegetable crops in bare ground and plastic bed cropping systems include Meloidogyne spp. (67.3, 292, 14144), Nanidorus spp. (49.4, 6, 136), Mesocriconema spp. (39.6, 17, 340), Helicotylenchus spp. (31.6, 20, 1152), Pratylenchus spp. (20.1, 2, 398), Rotylenchulus spp. (5.9, 1, 116), Hoplolaimus spp. (12.6, 1, 78), Heterodera spp. (2.3, <1, 60), Tylenchorhynchus spp. (0.9, <1, 12) and Xiphinema spp. (0.2, <1, 2). A Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling analysis (NMS or NMDS) indicated that most environmental and geological factors (i.e. longitude, precipitation, soil moisture, sand + silt content, and soil electrical conductivity) had no apparent relationship with nematode counts, except for latitude, soil pH and temperature. Multi-rank Permutation Procedure (MRPP) followed by Indicator Species Analysis (ISA) and non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis Analysis of Variance (KW ANOVA) indicated that Meloidogyne spp. was the predominant PPN associated with plastic beds in the South region sampled. The South region consisted mainly of commercial fields that rotated multiple vegetable crops through the same plastic beds. All other PPNs were associated with bare ground beds in the North region that are commonly rotated with row crops. This study validates that Meloidogyne spp. is the most important PPN in vegetable fields of Southern Georgia and suggests that cropping systems have a greater effect on PPN population dynamics than the environment.