Ecopharmacognosy and the globalization of traditional medicines

Planta Medica ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 80 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
GA Cordell
Romanticism ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-166
Author(s):  
Nikki Hessell

John Keats's medical studies at Guy's Hospital coincided with a boom in interest in both the traditional medicines of the sub-continent and the experiences of British doctors and patients in India. Despite extensive scholarship on the impact of Keats's medical knowledge on his poetry, little consideration has been given to Keats's exposure to Indian medicine. The poetry that followed his time at Guy's contains numerous references to the contemporary state of knowledge about India and its medical practices, both past and present. This essay focuses on Isabella and considers the major sources of information about Indian medicine in the Regency. It proposes that some of Keats's medical imagery might be read as a specific response to the debates about medicine in the sub-continent.


Author(s):  
R Possa ◽  
P Khotso

The indigenous knowledge of the Basotho makes it simple for this speech community to name their traditional medicinal plants in such a way that they are meaningful; this could also be viewed as an empowerment technique, especially in the economic sphere. Their medicinal plants names seem to be idiomatic and to express certain philosophies of the Basotho society. Creativity is observable in this kind of naming, and many names allude to the kind of remedy that is associated with the medicinal plant. It is therefore the interest of this paper to consider the names of medical plants among the Basotho whose names allude to the remedy they provide. The names of Sesotho medicinal plants and the reasoning of the Basotho in general behind the name and the use of each medicinal plant will be discussed in this article. This paper will further preserve and promote the use of Basotho traditional medicines for the future generation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 1116-1121
Author(s):  
Pooja P. Thakre ◽  
Vinod Ade ◽  
Shweta Parwe

Coronavirus disease (CoViD-19) is an infection of the respiratory system caused due to various viruses affects the respiratory pathway, and it can spread from one person to another by coughing, sneezing or physical contact. Commonly include cough, cold, fever are the symptoms. Viral diseases increase worldwide concern, including emerging and chronic viruses. The invention of new anti-viral drugs from plants has implicit in the past. The Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) caused due to severe acute respiratory syndrome, which is a transmittable and pathogenic viral infection. Several traditional medicines of plant origin having antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties some have been studied for their anti-viral properties and immune-modulating effects. Herbal drugs are now in massive requirement in the developing countries for primary health care not because of their economical but also for better civilising adequacy, improved compatibility with the human body and significantly fewer side effects. This review gives an overview of some critical traditionally used medicinal herbs with anti-viral properties—the literature regarding the drugs of this group, collected from Ayurveda classics. Research articles are collected from published material and discussed per therapeutic actions. Most of the Herbs are with Katu Rasa (pungent) and Ushna Virya (hot potency). They are indicated in diseases, viz. Kasa (cough), Shwas (asthma), Krumi (worm/ infection). Krumihara property drugs which are correlated with anti-viral action helps to prevent against Novel coronavirus infection.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 26-31
Author(s):  
Naelaz Zukhruf Wakhidatul Kiromah ◽  
Tri Cahyani Widiastuti

Indonesia has 20,000 types of plants where 300 species have been used as traditional medicines. The use of traditional medicine as an alternative treatment in Indonesia that has been used by both rural and urban communities. The use of traditional medicine is considered safer than modern medicine. The purpose of this study was to identify the level of use of traditional medicine and public awareness in the use of traditional medicine in work area of  Health Center Gombong 1 which consists of 5 villages. This research is a non-experimental and descriptive research that uses a questionnaire. Respondents who participated in this study were 140 people. The characteristics of respondents who participated in this study were the majority of men (50,71%), last educated of elementary school (41,43%), as housewives (27,86%). The majority of people in work area of Health Center Gombong choose treatment with modern medicine (64,29%). In addition there are 35,71% using traditional medicine and the majority use rhizome species (46%) for the treatment of minor ailments. In this study also showed that the majority of people do not know the safety of traditional medicines (50%) due to lack of information so that information is needed on the benefits and safety and the use of good and appropriate traditional medicines.


HortScience ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 492f-493
Author(s):  
Roberto F. Vieira ◽  
James E. Simon ◽  
Peter Goldsbrough ◽  
Antonio Figueira

Essential oils extracted from basil (Ocimum spp.) by steam distillation are used to flavor foods, oral products, in fragrances, and in traditional medicines. The genus Ocimum contains around 30 species native to the tropics and subtropics, with some species naturalized and/or cultivated in temperate areas. Interand intraspecific hybridization have created significant confusion in the botanical systematics of this genus. Taxonomy of basil (O. basilicum) is also complicated by the existence of numerous varieties, cultivars, and chemotypes within the species that do not differ significantly in morphology. In this study we are using RAPD markers and volatile oil composition to characterize the genetic diversity among the most economically important Ocimum species. We hypothesize that the genetic similarity revealed by molecular markers will more accurately reflect the morphological and chemical differences in Ocimum than essential oil composition per se. Preliminary research using five Ocimum species, four undetermined species, and eight varieties of O. basilicum (a total of 19 accessions) generated 107 polymorphic fragments amplified with 19 primers. RAPDs are able to discriminate between Ocimum species, but show a high degree of similarity between O. basilicum varieties. The genetic distance between nine species and among 55 accessions within the species O. americanum, O. basilicum, O. campechianum, O. × citriodorum, O. gratissimum, O. kilimandscharium, O. minimum, O. selloi, and O. tenuiflorum will be analyzed by matrix of similarity and compared to the volatile oil profile. This research will for the first time apply molecular markers to characterize the genetic diversity of Ocimum associate with volatile oil constituent.


Author(s):  
Adithya J ◽  
Bhagyalakshmi Nair ◽  
Aishwarya S ◽  
Lekshmi R. Nath

: SARS-CoV 2 is a novel virus strain of Coronavirus, reported in China in late December 2019. Its highly contagious nature in humans has prompted WHO to designate the ongoing pandemic as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. At this moment, there is no specific treatment and the therapeutic strategies to deal with the infection are only supportive, and prevention aimed at reducing community transmission. A permanent solution for the pandemic, which has brought the world economy to the edge of collapse, is the need of the hour. This situation has brought intense research in traditional systems of medicine. Indian Traditional System, Ayurveda has a clear concept of the cause and treatment of pandemics. Through this review, information on the potential antiviral traditional medicines along with their immunomodulatory pathways is discussed. We have covered the seven most important Indian traditional plants with antiviral properties :Withaniasomnifera (L.) Dunal(family: Solanaceae),Tinosporacordifolia(Thunb.)Miers (family:Menispermaceae),Phyllanthusemblica L.(family:Euphorbiaceae),Asparagus racemosus L.(family:Liliaceae), Glycyrrhizaglabra L.(family:Fabaceae), Ocimum sanctum L.(family:Lamiaceae) and Azadirachta indica A.Juss(family:Meliaceae)in this review. An attempt is also made to bring into limelight the importance of dietary polyphenol, Quercetin which is a potential drug candidate in the making against the SARS-CoV2 virus.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 784-794 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harish C. Upadhyay

The plants have formed the basis of folklore remedy since the beginning of human civilization. The cumulative human endeavor and experience over a period of thousands of years developed into well to organize traditional medicine systems viz. Ayurvedic, Unani, Chinese amongst others. Across the world, traditional medicine is either the mainstay of health care or serves as a complement to modern drugs. In view of worldwide use of traditional medicines, World Health Organization launched ‘WHO-Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014-2023’ for the development of strong policies regarding knowledge-base, safety, quality-control and effectiveness of traditional/alternative therapeutics for national health systems. Besides their use in traditional medicine, plants have always been a good source of modern drug/pharmacologically active molecules. More than half of the modern pharmaceuticals are either plant isolates or their derivatives. The plant-based drugs are not only effective, but have better compatibility with human biological systems because of more biologically relevant chemistry, hence lesser side effects. Some of the species of genus Ammannia (Lythraceae) have been reported for their magical medicinal values. Many herbal formulations containing Ammannia spp. have been patented for treatment of serious diseases/disorders like cancer, spinal disease, human female infertility, chronic tonsillitis, pelvic inflammatory disease, treatment of bladder stones, urinary tract infections, dermatitis etc. The uses of Ammannia spp. in traditional medicine have been further verified by the biological activities of their extracts as well as isolation of bioactive phytomolecules. The current review provides details about Ammannia spp.; its use in folklore remedy, herbal formulations, biological activities of extracts, isolation of bioactive phytomolecules and SAR study of semi-synthetic derivatives to analyze the possibility of new drug molecules of plant origin.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 241-254
Author(s):  
Yaqiong Zhang ◽  
Zhiping Jia ◽  
Yunyang Liu ◽  
Xinwen Zhou ◽  
Yi Kong

Background: Deinagkistrodon acutus (D. acutus) and Bungarus multicinctus (B. multicinctus) as traditional medicines have been used for hundreds of years in China. The venoms of these two species have strong toxicity on the victims. Objective: The objective of this study is to reveal the profile of venom proteins and peptides of D. acutus and B. multicinctus. Method: Ultrafiltration, SDS-PAGE coupled with in-gel tryptic digestion and Liquid Chromatography- Electrospray Ionization-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) were used to characterize proteins and peptides of venoms of D. acutus and B. multicinctus. Results: In the D. acutus venom, 67 proteins (16 protein families) were identified, and snake venom metalloproteinases (SVMPs, 38.0%) and snake venom C-type lectins (snaclecs, 36.7%) were dominated proteins. In the B. multicinctus venom, 47 proteins (15 protein families) were identified, and three-finger toxins (3FTxs, 36.3%) and Kunitz-type Serine Protease Inhibitors (KSPIs, 32.8%) were major components. In addition, both venoms contained small amounts of other proteins, such as Snake Venom Serine Proteinases (SVSPs), Phospholipases A2 (PLA2s), Cysteine-Rich Secreted Proteins (CRISPs), 5'nucleotidases (5'NUCs), Phospholipases B (PLBs), Phosphodiesterases (PDEs), Phospholipase A2 Inhibitors (PLIs), Dipeptidyl Peptidases IV (DPP IVs), L-amino Acid Oxidases (LAAOs) and Angiotensin-Converting Enzymes (ACEs). Each venom also had its unique proteins, Nerve Growth Factors (NGFs) and Hyaluronidases (HYs) in D. acutus, and Cobra Venom Factors (CVFs) in B. multicinctus. In the peptidomics, 1543 and 250 peptides were identified in the venoms of D. acutus and B. multicinctus, respectively. Some peptides showed high similarity with neuropeptides, ACE inhibitory peptides, Bradykinin- Potentiating Peptides (BPPs), LAAOs and movement related peptides. Conclusion: Characterization of venom proteins and peptides of D. acutus and B. multicinctus will be helpful for the treatment of envenomation and drug discovery.


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