April 25, 2020 | Adamas University

A bit of Economics in Everyday Life

Many years back when I was in my school final years and deciding which discipline to pursue for higher education, my choice was clear. I wanted to take Economics and so I did. I was introduced to Economics in the ninth grade and gradually I fell in love with the subject and as we all know especially in these tough times, falling in love is a good thing!

But things may not necessarily be so linear for many. Students are advised to take up Economics for their graduate courses because it has great career prospects. And that is true indeed. An Economics graduate or a masters with good scores can build a wonderful career in the corporate sector with data analysis skills. A large part of Economics is about how money circulates in the economy and being trained accordingly maybe you will eventually find yourself to be the CEO of bank XYZ or a renowned investment banker frequently appearing on national television or perhaps even chairing the position of chief economist in RBI! It is a wonderful dream and we faculties will always be there to help you walk on that path that leads to that dream. The path will not be easy but with a little bit of perseverance you can and will land on the pedestal.

These skills will eventually help you land in a good research institute or bag yourself a social sector job where you learn to work with people in the field, implement your discipline trainings directly at the grassroot. Finally, you can always teach like I do. It is a daunting and a lovely task, something I enjoy every minute.

However, despite all these beautiful lucrative prospects many students find the discipline tough to cope with. It is a common concern. I see fresher students feeling flustered with apparently complicated words like “bargaining”, “strength in scarcity”, “opportunity cost” and so on. The feeling is very natural and there is nothing to be ashamed about it. My purpose of writing this post is to let you to know that Economics is not quite the teeth wrecking devilishly complicated stream that many misunderstand. Economics is all about understanding the rationality behind decisions that we take. Economics is there in our everyday life, in almost every choice we make, every decision we take. Today when we are all feeling a little blue in the tough pandemic, in this post I am going to try to bring a bit of humour by throwing a little light on some concepts that are extremely frequently talked about even by our parents sometimes (who might not be economists!) and to do that there can be no better platform than our very own Bollywood.

When you step in for graduation in Economics the list of words you will encounter most commonly are:

Choice
Opportunity Cost
Bargaining

These words will be the foundation stones of your entire course and even in future when you are some successful hotshot remembering us who mentored you, yelled at you and were mostly immensely proud of you. The first thing in Econ 101 is that we will teach you that we have scarce resources and that human wants are unlimited. We are obviously quite aware of that. We need a smartphone then want an iphone then ipad, branded Puma shoes, and it keeps growing. But most of us do not have the means to buy everything. Try asking for all of this from your mom or dad. It is too scary for me to even imagine! So, the problem is choice. How to choose from our unlimited list of wants. This is the basic question of economics: Choice in scarcity. So, if you have about 1000 rupees for spending the evening treating your friends you can either spend it on a movie or you can order pizza but perhaps doing both is expensive. So, you choose and in doing that you take a small mental note of what we have next, the opportunity cost. It is the next best alternative that you give up when you choose something. In this case you might have to sacrifice the happiness from the cheesy delightful pizza if you decide to go for the movie. Choice and opportunity cost are present everywhere in our lives, whenever we take any decision, whether it is about switching jobs or choosing between mangoes and watermelon in summer which is personally a very tough choice!

In the movie Udaan (2010) Rohan is an aspiring writer while his father pushes him to be an engineer. Probably a common problem in Indian households! Rohan’s problem is to choose between engineering and writing. Being an engineer means Rohan is giving up his passion and being a writer means he is giving up a quick road to an established career. Nevertheless, we are all happy at the end when Rohan manages to reach Bombay to become a writer!

Any decision involves bargaining. When I was in school my bargain with my mother in agreeing to finish the chapati and cabbage was to let me watch the cartoon Duck Tales. A nineties kid would not miss it for anything! As we grow up our bargaining spheres evolves too. We might bargain with our employers for salary that we take or with our domestic help for the salary that we pay. Bargaining strength lies in scarcity but remember we can bargain with few people in power, despite being less powerful if we have the collective strength. Nothing but Lagaan (2001) can be a better example of bargaining. Set in the British ruled India (Thank God that is over!) our favourite Bhuvan accepts Captain Russell’s cricket match challenge. It all started with a draught that severely affected the village and the villagers had requested for waiving off the annual tax or lagaan. The bargain came down to this. If the villagers lost the match, they pay “teen guna lagaan!”(Oh Man!) whereas if the British lost they waive off lagaan for three years. If the villagers had greater bargaining power probably the bargain would lead to a better deal. Like not having to pay the tax at all. Villagers being much less powerful could not possibly strike that deal but ultimately, we had all cheered our hearts out when they won the match and Bingo! no more “Tum humko teen guna lagaan dega”! It was the collective strength of the people that made them win through a tough situation even with much lesser bargaining power.

So, you see, there are wonderful ways to help you understand Economics. Our lives are dynamic enough to offer us examples, analogies and anecdotes that we can relate to the discipline. There are ample real-life examples that you can immediately relate to and all this will help you to sail through. You will no longer have to struggle to love your subject. Instead you will automatically learn to love it. We are there to help you with that so do not feel blue and share the blog if you like it!

PROTECTION OF TRADITIONAL INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE & INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

For Centuries, cultures throughout the world have used indigenous technologies to navigate life’s complexities. From navigator-priests in Micronesia to mystics in India, vast sums of knowledge are available if we but recognize it. -Elizabeth Kapu’uwailani Lindsey

With the onset of globalization, traditional and indigenous knowledge has emerged as an important issue. India is a country rich with customary practices and indigenous and traditional knowledge of plant variety and their medicinal use, handicrafts, recipe, folklore, dance forms and agree products.

However, it is unfortunate that the indigenous and traditional knowledge in India do not find enough intellectual property rights protection. Though the Geographical Indications of goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 has come into effect from 2003, it has not proved itself sufficiently effective in protecting traditional and indigenous knowledge. Many plants or plant variety with unique properties are yet to find a place on the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) or on the Geographical Indications Registry (GIR). There is a close relationship between Geographical Indications, Traditional/Indigenous Knowledge and intellectual Property in the form of Trade Mark and Patent. The TRIPS agreement too has provision regarding registration of Geographical Indications as Trade Mark. Yet an effective mechanism for protecting Traditional/Indigenous Knowledge is lacking. If Intellectual Property coverage is effectively extended to Traditional/Indigenous Knowledge belonging to a community or individual in the community, then the proceeds from the use, sale or assignment of such property can be used to upgrade the economic status of the community. An effective mechanism for profit sharing needs to be worked out. Such an arrangement will also operate as an incentive to the community and may be used for the purpose of research and development of the knowledge.

Traditional/Indigenous knowledge provides a rich and fertile ground for research and development. Hence, has to be protected as an important intangible property. It has the potential of being transformed into wealth by providing leads and cues for development of useful practices and processes that may benefit mankind. The valuable knowledge can save time money and investment in the R &D departments. Existing intellectual property system is based on individual private property rights and as such prima-facie traditional/indigenous knowledge is incompatible with the intellectual property rights regime because traditional / indigenous knowledge emphasizes collective creation and ownership.

Only protection of traditional knowledge system will provide an effective benefit sharing mechanism, which is enshrined in the new IPR legislations. It is not fare that indigenous and traditional knowledge be appropriated without sharing of benefit with the owners of the knowledge. Appropriations without protections will violate indigenous cultural precepts by encouraging the commoditization of such knowledge. It will also increase false claims of IPR. Traditional knowledge base of plant based medicines will help accelerate drug development in India provided such knowledge is given the intellectual property rights protection.

There is a need to do many things for the protection of Indigenous/Traditional Knowledge. This particular subject matter (Indigenous/Traditional Knowledge [IK&TK]) has now geared the attention of the policy framers and academia with the onset of globalization. Bio-piracy, patenting of substances which were either the result of IK/TK or specific to a geographical location have been mistreated thus far. It is submitted these IK&TK specific to individual tribe or community made the world grow aware of the wealth of knowledge possessed by them. Intellectual property appears to be the only mechanism to protect them. Law relating to intellectual property defend intellectual labor to serve the interest of the nation. It is the key to development but protecting IK&TK and making them sustainable is also another method of development.

Artificial intelligence in Biotechnology: will this combination create more new jobs for the next decade?

The scenario of biotechnology is changing very rapidly. Similarly, information technology is also growing at an equal pace. The combination of biology along with information technology has created a new branch of biology which is called bioinformatics. Along with bioinformatics, the experiment biologists are generating huge amounts of data in the development of biotechnology. In this current research growth era, medical science is also not lagging. The medical professionals, along with the molecular biologists, are also contributing to the data science. Therefore, there is an urgent need to store and analyze the big data generated by scientists and medical professionals.

Biotechnology and data science

Presently, in the field of biotechnology, large amounts of data are generated and stored. A famous journal from the Oxford Academic entitled “Nucleic Acids Research” indicates that more than 2000 operating databases are present in the existing condition. Among them, 215 databases contain information about protein sequence and database. 175 databases reveal the relationship between human genes and diseases. Near about, 160 databases discuss nucleotide sequences (DNA). Approximately, 170 databases highlight the metabolic and signaling pathways. About 100 gene expressions discuss the topic regarding the RNA sequences. Near about 60 databases discuss gene expression and microarray. Approximately, 30 databases contain information about proteomics.

The scientists from the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Europe analyzed the data deposited every year. Most interestingly, they found that the data is roughly doubling every year. The significant growth in biotechnological data is a big challenge for organizations to store and analyzed. Furthermore, electronic health records and medical data are also important to store and analyzed, generating a growing demand for data analysts in the hospitals.

Big data storage – processer and server up-gradation

The only way to solve the huge amount of data storage problem is to upgrade the server. EBI expands the hardware and data storage. But, what will happen for the micro-processors? It also needs up-gradation for a faster computation process. However, researches are trying to understand how big data can be stored in very tiny space and quick data processing capacity can be extended. Google has started research in this direction. For this purpose, a new center has been opened at Purdue University, USA, and another at the University of Virginia, USA.

Big data integration and different software and protocols

Several databases offer machine‐readable interfaces, entitled as web services. They can permit the users to request automated data generation and the researcher can generate automated data through the data integration process. Several Web services utilized a range of protocols such as AJAX-Asynchronous JavaScript and XML; and SOAP –Simple Object Access Protocol.

Analysis of big data and amalgamation of big data with other fields

Manual data analysis is now an old fashioned way. Therefore, scientists are trying to statistically analyze a huge set of data through artificial intelligence (AI). It has been proven that AI is a much faster way for data analysis and calculation. A recent editorial from Nature journal suggested that particle physics needs to combine along with the field of genomics, neuroscience, and drug discovery to understand more about the molecular interaction and it will be much faster if we use AI.

AI employs several computation algorithms for more speedy calculations. For example, AI can use machine learning algorithms to analyze gene expression values. For high dimensional image analysis, AI uses deep learning methods. Bioprocesses and mathematical modeling can be optimized through the use of AI. Using big data analysis, a hospital scan monitors the patient progress and analyzes the response of their treatment plans, advocating the advantages of AI.

Drug discovery is another field where we can carry out databases scanning for the generation of a possible new drug candidate with the help of AI. The database scanning will be much faster if we use AI technology. Similarly, machine learning technology along with the AI can be used for Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS). There are plenty of examples where scientists are trying to utilize AI in the biotechnology field.

“Trained” manpower is needed

AI has already started to create a demand for more jobs. It has been analyzed that by 2022, approximately 60 million jobs will be created in the field of AI. The chunk portion of the job will be from the medical sciences and life sciences, thus creating more jobs in the field of biotechnology. Therefore, there is an urgent need to train the manpower more and more in this direction. It is the time when students should learn both AI and biotechnology so that we can fulfill the upcoming demand of the trained manpower.

In conclusion, we can say that big data analysis and AI will be the future of biotechnology research. Bioinformaticians need to know about big data analysis and AI. Therefore, it is the perfect time for biotechnologists that they should collaborate with computer scientists to explores big data using AI.

Does weather have any effect on the new Corona Virus

The world is facing a new mountainous challenge. Also known as the Covid-19 cutting across nations, no matter if they are the most advance or they are a global superpower. Every country is on its knees because of this virus. Though it has been already six months since the virus has shown its ugly face to the humankind, we still know very little about this devil. We are still struggling to just fight the contagion rather than know it better and build our defences. Everyone still has a lot of questions about it which are far from being answered.

One of those questions the entire world is asking is, why is the effect of the virus not so severe in the SAARC Nations even though they do not really have the best public health care facilities in the globe. In fact the rate of fatality is around 3% to 3.5% compared to the upward of 5 to 6% in Europe and the US. Also the number of infections as compared to the population density is also very low. A number of factors are being attributed for this. Apart from taking early preventive actions, strict isolation, and other governmental measures, theories are also being discussed about advanced immunity of the population in these parts of the world due to the existing living conditions and age of the population (which is primarily younger compared to the rest of the world). Another dimension which is also widely being discussed, is the fact that not only the SAARC nations but also the countries/areas which are in between the tropics are showing a lower infection rate. This brings us to an assumption that either geography or weather has some role to play in containing the virus.

Though there are no definite conclusions yet, let us try and analyse this assumption. This virus belongs to a family called the Coronavirus and sub family of SARS CoV Virus family. SARS stands for Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus. Typically the optimum environmental condition associated with this virus family is between 16 Degree to 28 Degree Centigrade. But a sharp decrease in temperature was related to the increase in SARS infection cases. This also has a relation to the human immunity system. Human immunity tends to decrease with the decrease in temperature. Common cold and flu virus are also related to this virus family and we normally see an increasing trend during monsoon and winter days. This shows that there is a possibility that the virus thrives in humid and cold conditions. Now if we come to the present-day scenario, we find that CoVid-19 also has an alarming rate of increase in conditions where the temperatures are cold to moderately cold with some humidity or moisture in the air. Most of the virus from this virus family are also similar in the way they propagate, and all are extremely contagious.

Lately, we have also discovered some more interesting facts about this virus family, especially CoVid-19 or SARS CoV2. This virus is also being called the “Enveloped Virus”. The reason for this name is due to the discovery of an oily coat around the virus known as the lipid bi-layer. This layer is studded with proteins that stick out like spikes of a crown. Thus, the name “CORONA” or like a crown, which comes from the Latin word CORONA meaning crown. So, what is this oily coat and how does this relates to the seasonal behaviour.

Research shows that this oily coat makes this virus more susceptible to heat than those viruses which do not have this coat. This oily coat in colder condition become harder like rubber & that makes it impenetrable, protecting the virus. On the other hand, higher temperatures have a reverse effect on this virus by thinning and destroying this layer. So, most of the enveloped virus show a strong seasonality effect due to this.

As more and more researchers are working day and night to understand this new virus, I just hope that we are able to win over this virus soon. Its is often said that there is always a counterforce force available in nature for any negative force. Probably the same is for this virus as well. May be its just the abundant sunlight which we have or some medicine from the plants. We humans have always survived these sorts of calamities with our determination and hope. I am sure we shall get over this as well, may be with some morning “sunshine on my shoulders”.

Tips for Job Seekers during the economic slowdown resulting from coronavirus pandemic

While the Covid-19 pandemic is the most discussed topic in every corner of the globe, the next challenge is its massive impact on economy slow down and disruption in business and as a result the overall hiring sentiment in the country is likely to witness an adverse impact with 60-65 per cent interviews getting delayed across industry, especially in the services, retail, manufacturing, infrastructure sector.

On the other hand organizations would be much careful on cost control on human resource and the expectation would be mostly 3 fold higher on multitasking and highly skilful human resource and for obvious reason the other challenge would be competition. Therefore finding a new job in the economic slowdown time will be a massive challenge and hence should have very careful focus on readiness and proactive battle plan.

Create your mind and make a closer look on short term :

This is the time it’s very important to find out strength on your skill and map industries and job accordingly. This may help you get an opportunity but it may not be the perfect job. Consider it as a short term move, so that mind would be ready and relaxed to accept.

Time to work on 3 skill:

Utilize this time to work on and improve following 3 skill set which are going to be decisive in future job search.

Sociability skill:
Focus on effective communication, team work, ego & expectation management, presentation skill etc.
Analytic Skill:
It’s not only data analysis and data representation, but also situation analysis. You learn this skill by following several case studies from several organization available in internet.
Functional Skill:
Should have very honest and careful focus on functional skill and its strong foundation.

3. Digital Networking:
Look for joining professional group like linkedIn or facebook etc. Join in the conversation, post and comment, chat and make yourself visible. Get ready to ace a virtual informational interview or networking chat by practicing with a friend

4. Stay Connected:
The situation may be that in the recent time you had a promising interaction with a hiring manager, but due to this situational reason the same is taking time to matured, so it’s recommend to stay connected with hiring manager through different means. For instance, connect with the hiring manager on LinkedIn and, if they post a status, comment on it. But be very careful that the comment should be honest and that illustrates you read it and have valuable insight to contribute. Pretend you’re giving them a preview of what you’d add to the team if you worked there.

5. Boost skill:

Nothing better than this time to work on and boost your skill and improve qualification. There are plenty of free online programs like MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course), Microsoft Training, EdX Classes (featuring free courses from MIT and Harvard) , CoursEra , NASSCOM FutureSkill etc. This kind of program would add lot of value and make your resume stand out.

Learn to face interview digitally:

At this moment there is no proven treatment and vaccine of COVID-19, hence organizations would prefer to go for digital interview process until it’s extremely essential to have F2F discussion. Therefore first few rounds of interaction on digital platform would decide a lot and this required lot of practice to comfortable with. Like its required to know technology know how of the platforms like zoom , gotomeetings, skype, whatsapp video call etc and on the other side important to know the etiquette , representation , Q & A etc.

The best way to learn this is start such sessions with friends or known peoples of the same pitch whom you know. The other way is to go for online classes for re-skilling and up-skilling yourself.

Mental & Physical Fitness:

This is last but not the least that ensure honest effort to make yourself mentally and physically fit, happy. I strongly recommend to make a practice of doing min. 30 min. physical exercise (free hand) and min 30 min Yoga that would boost your physical and mental fitness, improve concentration, make you stress free.

During an economic slowdown due to pandemic, it’s important to focus on what you can control—improving your skills and reaching out to your network. You should be realistic while optimistic by doing homework now so that when situation improve then you can actually open the door and see the light of brighter future ahead.

Reading A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh: An antidote to Depression

Have you ever been to Hundred Acre Wood or Neverland? I am sure these places were your favourite haunts at some point of time in your life. We all have abandoned our secret lairs and grown up. If all of a sudden, life comes to a standstill? When the entire world is succumbing under the threat of losing a battle, when every moment we are struggling for our existence against an unknown virus, when it is becoming extremely challenging to retain our mental strength, it is undeniable that we need to reopen that magic box where we have so far locked our childhood.

Literature, especially children’s literature, has a therapeutic effect on our mind. If the heavy burden of prolonged lockdown is trying to knock you down, take a sneak peek to the magical world of Pooh bear who stays in Hundred Acre wood with his wonderful companions like Piglet, Tigger, Owl, Eeyore. Together they constitute a topsy-turvy world, something that stays beyond our much-calculated life. Pooh is a bear with little intelligence, yet he is compassionate. There is an episode where Eeyore is sad. He thinks no one cares for him. No one even remembers his birthday. Hearing this, Pooh plans a surprise birthday party for his/her (there has been a much controversy regarding Pooh’s gender, Well Pooh is Pooh!) friend. There is a deliberate attempt on the part of the writer to show that Pooh’s community is a well- knitted one where they always cherish their unity. The way Pooh and Piglet together overcome their fear of a Heffalump (an imaginary creature that only appears in Pooh’s dream) is hilarious yet worthy to remember. Pooh’s world may not be guided by reason and logic, yet it treasures some kind of sensitivity.

The books concerning life and adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh are remarkable creation by the English author A.A. Milne and the illustrator E. H. Shepard. Quite interestingly, both of them served in World Wars. Milne created this magical world of Pooh Bear for his son Christopher Robin who incidentally happens to be the chief character in Pooh narratives. Robin’s original stuffed toys were the inspiration behind Milne’s creation of Pooh and other characters. Apart from being a father’s gift to his only child, Pooh signifies something more. The four books of Pooh appear between 1924-1928, the interim period between two great Wars. The collaboration of Milne and Shepard, who had witnessed the devastating impact of war, results in a deliberate portrayal of an alternative world where everything, that appears as a threat in our real life including battle with an unforeseen enemy (Like Heffalump) is reduced to mere caricature. This alternative world lacks any structured linguistic pattern. None of the characters can spell “Happy Birthday” properly. On Eeyore’s birthday gift, Owl, after repeated attempts, manages to write “Hipy Papy Btuthdth”. This temporary rejection of reality by Milne and Shepard probably acted as an antidote to their fits of depression. Who knows?

Learning and teaching children’s literature is really challenging where each text demands constant engagement with its context. For example if I were to teach Winnie-the-Pooh, I would like to consider several crucial factors:

Written in early twenties, what did the Author and the Illustrator want to imply while jointly working on characters like Pooh, Piglet or Tigger?
Why, in most cases, the child becomes a participant observer in the world of fantasy? We can take the case of Christopher Robin, Wendy in Peter Pan, and Alice in Alice in Wonderland?
A work of children’s literature is often deceptive. Under the veneer of magic and fantasy, the author always cloaks his critique/satire of his contemporary time.
There lies another pertinent question. Digital era has obviously structured a child’s perception differently. Victorian or early twentieth century construction of the child used to differ completely from now. Still, why and how these texts have retained their popularity? It is true that Pooh continues to exist in animations, film adaptations, as high priced loveable stuffed toys and more handy key rings. But, the more important reason behind Pooh’s sustenance is the Christopher Robin in each one of us. In our tough times, we really need a Pooh Bear’s shoulder to lean on.

Natural antioxidants can protect against COVID-19 induced alveolar damage

Student Contributors: Arpan Bhattacharyya, Archita Sarkar.

Introduction

Following an outbreak of pneumonia without a clear cause in the city of Wuhan in China, a novel strain of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) was detected in December 2019.

Coronaviruses were identified in the mid-1960s and are known to infect humans and a variety of mammals. Since 2002, two coronaviruses infecting animals have evolved and caused outbreaks in humans: SARS-CoV (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) identified in south China in 2003, and MERS-CoV (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012. The novel coronavirus has been identified as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the disease associated with it is called or coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19), a type of respiratory illness. The World Health Organisation declared it a pandemic in March 2020 due to its effect worldwide.

SARS-CoV-2 is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus. A spillover event is likely to have initially introduced the virus into humans causing an outbreak through human to human transmission due to its highly contagious nature. The virus is primarily spread between people through close contact and via respiratory droplets produced from coughs or sneezes. It enters the human cells by binding to the receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2).

Symptoms of COVID-19

The symptoms of the disease can range from mild to severe. Also, people may be infected with the virus for 1 to 14 days before developing symptoms. Rarely the disease can be serious and fatal. Some of the common symptoms are as follows.

Fever
Tiredness
Dry cough
Shortness of breath
Loss of smell (also in some asymptomatic carriers of SARS-CoV-2)
Severe pneumonia (in severe cases)

Mechanism of action of SARS-CoV-2

It has established that SARS-CoV-2 induces inflammation of the alveolar tissues in the lungs. This is confirmed by western blot which showed the presence of cytokines IL-1β, IL-6 from the cytosolic fraction. The inflammation of the lung tissues induces an immune response which leads to the accumulation of macrophages at the site of inflammation. This leads to activate of NADPH oxidase, (a macrophage membrane-bound enzyme)which in presence of oxygen catalyzes the conversion of NADPH to NADP⁺ and production of unstable superoxide anion radical (O₂^–) which finally converted to more powerful oxidant, hydrogen peroxide by the catalytic action of cytosolic and mitochondrial superoxide dismutase (Cu-Zn-SOD and Mn-SOD respectively). Accumulation of excess hydrogen peroxide resulted in the formation of highly stable hydroxyl radicals (^.OH) by an iron/copper (Fe²⁺/Cu⁺) driven Fenton reaction and superoxide anion mediated Haber-Weiss reaction. This hydroxyl radical causes lipid peroxidation, DNA damage and protein carbonylation (modify the pyrrolidone ring of the proline residue of alveolar fibrous proteins). All these eventually lead to deactivation of both type-I(involved in gaseous exchange during breathing) and type-II (responsible for the biosynthesis of lung surfactant for the maintenance of the capacitance of lung) pneumocytes of the alveoli. This causes the hypoxia-induced respiratory disorder, loss of the capacitance of lung, drowsiness and ultimately death.

To combat this situation, reduced glutathione (GSH) to oxidized glutathione (GSSG). So there is a chance of accumulation of free hydroxyl radical, due to the deficit of reduced glutathione, which occurs due to the loss of the counterbalance of glutathione peroxidase(GPX) and glutathione reductase(GR) activities.

A possible protective measure

To protect ourselves intake lots of antioxidants is a smart option in this condition. Some easily available medicinal plants such as tulsi, arjun, methi, vasaka and many more are good sources of antioxidants. These antioxidants present in aqueous extracts of different plant parts serve as potential scavengers of reactive oxygen species, which help to protect the alveoli from COVID-19 induced damage.

Table 1:Medicinal Plants along with their antioxidant ingredients and their protective mechanism:

Aqueous extract from plant sources	Antioxidant/Anti-inflammatory compound(s) present	Mechanism
Bark of Arjuna (Terminalia arjuna)	Polyphenol, Flavonoid, Saponin, Proanthocyanidines, reduced glutathione.	Reduction of myeloperoxidase (MPO), inhibition of tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), scavenging of superoxide and hydroxyl radicals which led to a reduction of lesions and tissue.
Tulsi Leaf (Ocimum tenuiflorum)	· Enzymatic antioxidants: catalase, superoxide dismutase · Non-enzymatic antioxidant: Polyphenol, Flavonoid, Saponin, Proanthocyanidines, reduced glutathione. ascorbic acid.	Reduction of oxidative damage by scavenging of free radicals like superoxide, hydroxyl radicals, and hydrogen peroxide and also reduction in lipid peroxidation.
Curry leaf (Murayya koeniggi)	· Enzymatic antioxidants: catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase glutathione reductase · Non-enzymatic antioxidant: Polyphenol, Flavonoid, Saponin, Proanthocyanidines.	Inhibition of metalloproteinase activity and scavenging of free radicals like superoxide, hydroxyl radicals, and hydrogen peroxide.
Seed extract of Black pepper (Piper nigrum)	Piperine	Reduction of oxidative damage like DNA damage, lipid peroxidation by scavenging of free radicals like superoxide, increasing the activities of mitochondrial Kreb’s cycle and electron transport system(ETS) associated enzymes
Green Tea leaf extract (Camellia sinensis)	Silymarin, Isosilybinin, Epicathechin
Fenugreek (Methi) seeds (Trigonellafoenum-graecum)	Trigonelline, 4-hydroxyisoleucine.
Insulin Plant (CostusIgneus)	Polyphenols, Flavonoids, Steroids, Terpenoids, Saponins, Anthocyanins, Tannins	Scavenges superoxide anion and hydroxyl radical
Vasaka (Adhatoda vasica)	Polyphenols, Flavonoids, Alkaloids, Terpenoids, Saponins	Scavenges superoxide anion and hydroxyl radical
Kalabansa (Justicia gendarussa)	Polyphenols, Ascorbic acid, Carotenoids, Chlorophyll.	Scavenges superoxide anion and hydroxyl radical
Neem (Azadirachta indica)	· Enzymatic antioxidants: catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase glutathione reductase Non-enzymatic antioxidant: Polyphenol, Flavonoid, Alkaloids.	Reduction of oxidative damage by scavenging of free radicals like superoxide, hydroxyl radicals and reduction of apoptosis.

So, from the detailing of the antioxidant profile from the above table, it may be concluded that a habit of intake at least one of these extracts helps to strengthen the existing physiological protective barrier. This may protect our system from fatal consequences during the SARS-CoV-2 infection. As, we are incapable to resist the invading of SARS-CoV-2 within our body, but still we can protect ourselves from these unwanted circumstances by taking at least those plant extract in our daily routine as the preventive measure. We have to remember —-“Prevention is better than cure”.