Notes on the chemical composition of zirconolite with thorutite inclusions from Walaweduwa, Sri Lanka

1997 ◽  
Vol 61 (408) ◽  
pp. 721-725 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. M. de Hoog ◽  
M. J. van Bergen
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. L. A. Gunawardana ◽  
W. J. A. B. N. Jayasuriya

Background. The plant kingdom is rich with a numerous number of plants with various medical properties which can be used to treat various medical issues. Sri Lanka is a country full of biodiversity which is gifted with many plant resources. It has a rich history of traditional medicine systems consisting of Ayurveda, Unani, and Deshiya Chikitsa, where these plant resources are used as remedies for the diseases. In the traditional medicine system, various plant parts such as leaves, roots, fruits, flowers, and bark are used to treat disease conditions. Although less attention is paid to the medicinal importance of the flowers, some of them have been used to treat many diseases from the ancient time. Some properties of the flowers may differ from the properties of the other plant parts. For example, Sesbania grandiflora (Katuru murunga) flowers have shown anticancer properties against various cell models whereas some flowers have shown antispermatogenic properties. Flowers of Woodfordia floribunda (Militta) are added as fermenting agents in the preparation of Arishtas in Ayurveda. Also the most popular Clove oil is obtained from the flower buds of Syzygium aromaticum (Karabu-neti) which is used to treat toothaches since it has antibiotic and antiseptic properties. This article gives an overview of herbal flowers used in the traditional medicine system of Sri Lanka and their pharmacological importance. Method. A comprehensive literature survey was done on the medicinally important flowers in Sri Lanka. Data was collected from Libraries of Ayurveda in Sri Lanka and from scientific databases. Results. According to the survey many flowers are used as astringent, cardiac tonic, and febrifuge. Also some flowers are used to treat dysentery, diarrhoea, and indigestion. Some flowers are useful in the treatment of bleeding piles while some are useful in the treatment of asthma and bronchitis. Conclusion. It was revealed that there are many flowers with valuable therapeutic effects. Traditional medicine systems prevailing in Sri Lanka have made use of these flowers with therapeutic effects to cure so many diseases. The review of medicinally important herbal flowers provides knowledge and pharmacological leads which will help for the wellbeing of the human beings. Although there are phytochemical studies done to identify the chemical compounds on some flowers, chemical composition of many flowers remains unrevealed. So further studies need to be done to identify the chemical composition of these flowers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 1586
Author(s):  
Kindi Farabi ◽  
Unang Supratman

Munronia is a genus in the Meliaceae family, which consists of over 17 species that are distributed in the subtropical and tropical area of Asia, including southern China, Vietnam, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines. It is known that these plants contain valuable bioactive compounds. Since the first isolation of new stigmastane steroid was reported in 2003, researchers have been able to study the chemical composition of these plants, especially the largest secondary metabolite obtained, limonoid. About 97 compounds were isolated successfully and characterized. The reported compounds showed various biological activities, such as antifeedant, antimicrobial, antiangiogenic, cytotoxic against several cancer cell lines, inducing apoptosis, and anti-tobacco mosaic virus activities. Therefore, the results suggest that the use of this plant as a source of bioactive compounds is promising for the medicinal chemistry field.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liza K. McDonough ◽  
Karina T. Meredith ◽  
Chandima Nikagolla ◽  
Ryan J. Middleton ◽  
Jian K. Tan ◽  
...  

Abstract Chronic kidney disease (CKD) of unknown etiology (CKDu) mostly affects agricultural communities in Central America, South Asia, Africa, but likely also in North America and Australia. One such area with increased CKDu prevalence is the Medawachchiya District Secretariat Division of the Anuradhapura District in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka. Recent research has focused on the presence of various microbial pathogens in drinking water as potential causal or contributing factors to CKDu, yet no study to date has performed a more comprehensive microbial and water chemistry assessment of household wells used for domestic water supply in areas of high CKDu prevalence. In this study, we describe the chemical composition and total microbial content in 30 domestic household wells in the Medawachchiya District Secretariat Division. While the chemical composition in the tested wells mostly lies within standard drinking water limits, except for high levels of fluoride (F), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), chloride (Cl) and calcium (Ca) in some samples, we find a frequent presence of cyanotoxin-producing Microcystis, confirming earlier studies in Sri Lanka. Since the total microbial content of drinking water also directly influences the composition of the human gut microbiome, it can be considered an important determinant of health. Several bacterial phyla were previously reported in the gut microbiome of patients with CKD. Using these bacteria phyla to define operational taxonomic units, we found that these bacteria also occur in the microbiome of the sampled well water. Based on available environmental data, our study demonstrates associations between the abundances of these bacteria with geographical distribution, well water temperature and likely fertilizer use in the local surface water catchment area of the individual household wells. Our results reinforce the recommendation that household wells with stagnant or infrequently used water should be purged prior to use for drinking water, bathing and irrigation. The latter is suggested because of the reported potential accumulation of bacterial toxins by agricultural crops. The observation that bacteria previously found in chronic kidney disease patients are also present in household wells requires a more detailed systematic study of both the human gut and drinking water microbiomes in CKDu patients, in relation to disease prevalence and progression.


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