This volume makes available for the first time in English the work of a significant Indian nationalist author, Pandey Bechan Sharma, better known in India as “Ugra,” meaning “extreme.” His book Chocolate, a 1927 collection of eight stories, was the first work of Hindi fiction to focus on male same-sex relations, and its publication sparked India’s first public debates about homosexuality. Many prominent figures, including Gandhi, weighed in on the debates, which lasted into the 19...

Environmental Damage to DNA and the Protective Effects of Phytochemicals provides information on the toxicity of natural as well as synthetic chemicals in the living systems. These can lead to DNA damage and the emergence of serious consequences or manifestations causing varied health hazards. In addition, the ten chapters of the book reflect on the possible applications of plants or plant extracts to impart protection for living cells from the xenobiotics-mediated DNA damage.The b...

Plants have always occupied a prominent position in the life of every living being. Plants are the primary source of food, shelter and medicines. The global inclination toward herbal medicine has advanced the expansion of plant-based pharmaceutical industries to a vast extent. The production of traditional medicine at global market has been estimated to touch US $5 trillion by 2050. Some of the useful plant-based drugs include vinblastine, vincristine, taxol, podophyllotoxin, camptothecin,...