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Folk medicinal plants in forest fringe villages of tribal’s hill districts of Nagaland, India
Get PDFIn forest fringe villages, folk medicines play a pivotal role in human health care management. The aim of present study was to document the plants employed in the folk medicines by ethnic groups inhabiting forest fringe villages of Nagaland. Field survey was conducted for over two years in 32 forest fringe villages of Nagaland. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and quantitatively analyzed by statistical tools i.e., Use-value, Relative frequency of citation and Informant consensus factor to identify promising plants for future studies. This research documented 96 medicinal plants employed in the treatment of 59 ailments of human being. The quantitative analysis of the data indicates that some species have relatively high “use value (UV)” and “relative frequency of citation (Rfc)”, these are: Azadirachta indica A. Juss., Phyllanthus emblica L. with 0.67 as UV and 3.6 as Rfc. Maximum consensus among informants was observed for the treatment of tooth and gum ailment and under this category Solanum aculeatissimum Moench was frequently cited by informants. Those plants which receive high relative frequency of citation values may serve as potential source for pharmacological studies, especially Azadirachta indica A. Juss. (used as insect repellent), Phyllanthus emblica L. (used in abdominal pain and indigestion), Alstonia scholaris (L.) R.Br. (in flatulence), Aloe vera Mill. (in constipation), Canna indica L. (in genital infection), Gmelina arborea Roxb. ex Sm. (prevent miscarriage), Parkia timoriana (DC.) Merr. (in bleeding piles), Carica papaya (DC.) Merr. (cure ringworm), Solanum aculeatissimum Moench (in foot and toe infection), Thalictrum foliolosum DC. (for vomiting and indigestion), Mentha spicata L. (in stomach ache), Elettaria cardamomum (L.) Maton (incough and cold), Zingiber officinale Roscoe (in cough and cold) and Persicaria hydropiper (L.) Delarbre (in skin infection).
A comparative parallel design clinical study of Qurse Asabi in cases of post herpetic neuralgia
Get PDFIn the case of established post herpetic neuralgia (PHN), the medication is simple analgesics, opioid derivatives (Tramadol), antidepressant (Amitriptyline), anticonvulsant (Carbamazepine), GABA agonist (Gabapentin & Pregabaline), etc., but the benefit of treatment does not outweigh its cost and hazards. Therefore, there is always an area of thrust that arises to find out a cost-effective and hazardless medication before expert of Physical medicine, Regimenist, Dermatologist, and general Physicians. As far as Unani Pharmacopeia is concerned there are several single and compound drugs indicated in ailment like wajaula’asab (neuralgia) but their efficacy in terms of documentation and validation is not established yet. A very important formulation prepared from Dawakhana Tibbiya College, Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh is usually indicated for neuralgic pain in routine practice. As far as PHN is concerned there is no medication indicated in classical literature. Therefore, this study was designed to find out the therapeutic efficacy of Qurse Asabi in comparison to most commonly prescribed allopathic medicines i.e., Neurokind-G containing Methyl Cobalamin 1500 mcg and Gabapentin 100 mg as a controlled drug while the Qurse Asabi is given as a test drug. The methodology was followed as per the Good Clinical Practice (GCP) guideline. Results were much interesting and encouraging which was also found statistically significant (t=10, p<0.0001).
Blending of edible oils with Pomegranate seed oil- An approach to improve the quality by incorporating ω-5 fatty acid
Get PDFPomegranate seed oil (PSO) contains punicic acid (PA) also known as ω-5 fatty acid. PSO mainly contains polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA>88%) which exhibit benefits in wide range of diseases. Therefore, blends of PSO with other vegetable oils viz., palm oil (PO), mustard oil (MO), and sunflower oil (SFO) were prepared in the ratio of 10:90 and 20:80. The prepared blends showed rationale increase of PUFA (11.96, 8.52 and 10.37), total tocopherols (740-885; 638-793; 501-679 mg/kg) in PO, MO and SFO, respectively. The blends also showed improved levels of radical scavenging activity (RSA). The storage studies of blends have showed slight decrease in PUFA, total tocopherols and RSA of the samples stored at 27°C and 37°C. The oxidative stability of PSO and other vegetable oils (PO, MO and SFO) upon storage (60 days) showed increase in the peroxide value in the order of PSO>SFO>MO>PO. Addition of PSO to other vegetable oils in the ratio of 10 and 20% showed decrease in the peroxide content and upon storage, slight increase was observed in the values. Thus, blending of PSO with other vegetable oils provides PUFA, oxidative stability and natural antioxidants to the blends with a greater radical scavenging activity.
Documentation of Indigenous Traditional Knowledge (ITKs) system prevalent among poultry farmers of Palakkad district, Kerala
Get PDFA number of communities, most of which have distinctive long-established knowledge and know-how base, populate Kerala state. Indigenous technological knowledge can be encouraged through a scientific approach as one of the means of sustainable agricultural practices, which will be environment-friendly. ITK that are in practice all over rural India is little acknowledged and there is a threat of loss of this knowledge. Hence some of the local knowledge and technologies were studied and the importance of the same has been evaluated. The study was carried out within the scaffold of poultry farming and allied activities. A broad range of varied sectors including poultry housing, feeding and disease management were taken into account for the purpose of the study. It is observed from the study that farmers adopt traditional knowledge in every aspects of poultry farming including housing, brooding, feeding management, hatching process, seasonal management, poultry health management etc. The documented ITKs showed the richness of the time-tested traditional knowledge applied to animal husbandry in the region specified under the study.
AYUSH-64 as an adjunct to standard care in asymptomatic, mild, and moderate COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Get PDFThe study was planned to systematically review the available evidence from randomized controlled trials on the efficacy and safety of AYUSH-64 in managing COVID-19. Electronic databases such as PubMed, Ayush Research Portal, DHARA, Cochrane CENTRAL, etc. were searched from December 2019 to October 2021, and updated in February 2022. The risk of bias was assessed through the RoB2 tool. Meta-analysis was done with the Review Manager 5.4 tool. The quality of cumulative evidence was evaluated through the GRADE approach. This study includes five RCTs with 420 participants. The risk of bias was assessed as low for most of the studies. The results demonstrated that AYUSH-64 administration as an adjunct to standard care was significantly better compared to standard care alone for asymptomatic, mild, and moderate COVID-19 in terms of clinical recovery (OR= 2.35; 95% CI= 1.33 to 4.16; p=0.003), and mean time to clinical recovery (SMD= -0.67; 95% CI= -1.16 to -0.18; p=0.007). There was no statistically significant difference between groups in SARS-CoV-2 clearance assessed by RT-PCR assay (OR= 1.21; 95% CI= 0.51 to 2.88; p=0.66). The overall incidence of adverse events showed no significant difference between groups (p=0.65). The quality of evidence was assessed as moderate for clinical recovery and low for SARS-CoV-2 clearance. Meta-analysis of five RCTs demonstrated that AYUSH-64 as an adjunct to standard care hastens clinical recovery and is safe in asymptomatic, mild, and moderate COVID-19. However, more robust RCTs would be required to generalize the results of this systematic review
Study on folk remedies using medicinal plants by Karbi tribe of West Karbi Anglong District, Assam, India
Get PDFThe present study was conducted to document the indigenous knowledge on folk medicines of the Karbi tribe in three remote villages of West Karbi Anglong district, Assam. A total of 80 ethnomedicinal plants recorded were used in treatment of 31 different ailments. Data were collected through restructured questionnaire and quantitative analysis was done. Herbaceous plants occupied the maximum numbers and leaves were the most used plant part among the other parts. The Fic value ranged from 0.74-1, and the used value (UV) ranged from 0.02-1.2; Azadirachta indica was found to be have the highest UV. The study has revealed the pattern of people-plant interactions in the region and the importance of plant medicines playing a vital role in the health care practices and survival of the forest dwellers. There is utmost need of documenting the ethnomedicinal practices of Karbi tribe as they are passing those knowledge generations after generations only by means of practical utilizations without proper pharmacopoeia.
Performance Evaluation of GPU-Based WRF Model in Simulating a Unique Tropical Cyclone of Arabian Sea: A Case Study of VSCS Vayu
Get PDFTropical cyclone (TC) Vayu developed from a low-pressure system on 9 June 2019 near the West coast of India. Itunderwent rapid intensification (RI) to a very severe cyclonic storm (VSCS) before weakening into a deep depression on 17June 2019 with a unique track. The present study aims to evaluate the performance of the GPU-WRF model in simulatingthe unique tropical cyclone Vayu when initialized with different meteorological boundary conditions and the effect of inputof time-varying SST data, the track, and the cyclone's intensity. The study also aims to investigate the cyclone's synopticparameters during its development and intensification. Four simulations are conducted with GFS and NCEP-FNL data withand without SST input. The four-dimensional data assimilation analysis technique, the fdda analysis nudging scheme, wasused on the GFS data with SST input, which showed a significant improvement in track and intensity. The system skirtingthe Gujrat coastline on 13 June is skillfully captured. Given the appreciable improvement of track and intensity with GFSdata using nudging, further investigation of the cyclone's synoptic parameters is done on the same. Overall, comparing thesimulated dynamics with the ERA-5 dataset indicated that the model simulated a stronger TC. WRF can skillfully simulate awell-delineated eye wall at the matured stage (wind speed >40 m/s). An anomalously high mid-tropospheric relativehumidity (RH) (~90%) is indicated at the developing stage, indicating the onset of RI, during which the system showed RH~100% at the mid-troposphere. On 14 June, when the system reached VSCS, the simulated storm's low-level relativevorticity was ~359.93 × 10 –5 s-1, whereas ERA-5's was ~175.39 × 10 –5 s-1 only. The simulated storm cyclone energy(9.35×104 knts2) was lower than the observed (11.54 ×104 knts2). The significance of the results obtained from the study isthat the model can skillfully simulate the track and intensity of an Arabian Sea TC and capture TC Vayu's cyclogenesis. Thestudy also provides insight into the cyclone's synoptic parameters, such as mid-tropospheric relative humidity, low-levelrelative vorticity, and cyclone energy, during its development and intensification. The study's findings can be useful inimproving the accuracy of tropical cyclone forecasting and enhancing our understanding of the physical processes involvedin their formation and intensification for the Arabian Sea region
Noise Analysis of Grover's Quantum Search Algorithm
Get PDFFor searching an item in unstructured databases, Grover's quantum search algorithm offers quadratic speedup overclassical search algorithms. This paper reports 2 to 5 quantum-bit (Qubit) implementations of Grover's search algorithmusing the phase-flip method for oracle function realization without any extra ancilla qubit. A comprehensive estimation andanalysis of the theoretical and physical accuracies of the algorithm have been presented. The impact of increasing qubits onaccuracy has been computed and analyzed. The metrics delineated for comparison are the number of qubits and gates, depthof the circuit, execution time, and theoretical/physical accuracy. The results revealed a greater disparity between theoreticaland physical accuracy using a higher number of qubits perceived to be caused by noisy qubits utilized in computations. Thenovelty of the work is the investigation of variations caused by the noise in the accuracy and execution time of Grover'ssearch algorithm. The results indicate that because of noise, the accuracy of 2- and 3- qubit implementations declined by14.49% and 33.86%, whereas the execution time increased by 50% and 80%; respectively
Mentha piperita extract as a natural product for the corrosion inhibition of low carbon steel in a polluted NaCl environment: Chemical, electrochemical and biological studies
Get PDFThe impact of aqueous Mentha piperita extract (MPE) as a corrosion inhibitor for low carbon steel (LCS) in NaCl/Na2S solution has been investigated using chemical and electrochemical techniques to evaluate the protection performance of MPE. ―As the concentration of the extract increased, the protection efficiency (PE) increased, reaching 91.2% at 300 ppm, whereas the increase in temperature favoured to slow decrease‖.The extract has been physically adsorbed on the metal surface according to the Temkin isotherm. Polarization data reveal that this extract acts as a mixed inhibitor. The mechanism of corrosion protection of MPE has been discussed from electrochemical techniques. MPE has been adsorbed on LCS obeying Temkin isotherm. Surface morphology techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy have been used to demonstrate the creation of a protective coating on the LCS in the presence of MPE. The extract inhibits the bacterial activity of Escherichia coli