1,720,989 research outputs found
Medicinal plant in phytotherapy [Piante Medicinali in fitoterapia]
No full textPlant kingdom has a wider biochemical diversity than animals and at least the four fifth of secondary metabolites come from vegetable world. This is probably due to the link between soil and plants, therefore these have to develop numerous adaptation mechanisms. To date, about 40% of modern monomolecular drugs derives directly or indirectly from plants. The phytotherapy today constitutes the most popular medical practice of complementary medicine, and in many countries its increase is continuous. Some vegetable preparations are marked as pharmaceutical regulation. However in the most cases, in absence of clinical tests, the empiric experience matured in along period can be considered acceptable testimony of their efficacy. The vegetable products, that are used to cure smaller indications, are based on the Directive 2004/24/EC of March 2004
A comprehensive systematic pharmacological review on Harpagophytum procumbens DC (Devil's claw)
No full textPopularly known as Devil's claw, Harpagophytum procumbens DC. is native to the Kalahari savannas of Southern Africa and Namibia. It has been widely used to treat rheumatism. Its secondary tuberous roots contain iridoid glycosides as the active principles. This species seems to stimulate migration of interleukins and leukocytes to painful and inflamed joint areas. The drug is indicated for osteoarthritis, degenerative diseases of the joints and arthritic processes
Towards an observer-oriented theory of shape comparison
Full text linkIn this position paper we suggest a possible metric approach to shape comparison that is based on a mathematical formalization of the concept of observer, seen as a collection of suitable operators acting on a metric space of functions. These functions represent the set of data that are accessible to the observer, while the operators describe the way the observer elaborates the data and enclose the invariance that he/she associates with them. We expose this model and illustrate some theoretical reasons that justify its possible use for shape comparison
Quality control of aromatic drugs reported in European Pharmacopoeia 3rd edition
No full textThe apparent current explosion of interest and commercial activity in the area of herbal products should be followed by accurate quality control. In this work, the authors carried out the specific quality assays of all the aromatic drugs reported in European Pharmacopoeia. For each drug, several samples of different brands were bought in pharmacies, herbalist's shops, or supermarkets. The worst results were obtained in the assay for the essential oil content and this is very negative as the medicinal activities of these drugs are ascribed to their essential oil content. The samples of different brands yielded very different results from a qualitative point of view. In most cases, the analyzed samples were very far from the acceptable qualitative standards that they definitely lacked any health benefits. (C) 2001 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS
The Dirichlet problem for singular elliptic equations with general nonlinearities
No full textIn this paper, under very general assumptions, we prove existence and regularity of distributional solutions to homogeneous Dirichlet problems of the form {-Δ1u=h(u)finΩ,u≥0inΩ,u=0on∂Ω.Here Δ 1 is the 1-Laplace operator, Ω is a bounded open subset of RN with Lipschitz boundary, h(s) is a continuous function which may become singular at s= 0 +, and f is a nonnegative datum in LN,∞(Ω) with suitable small norm. Uniqueness of solutions is also shown provided h is decreasing and f> 0. As a preparatory tool for our method a general theory for the same problem involving the p-Laplacian (with p> 1) as principal part is also established. The main assumptions are further discussed in order to show their optimality
Elliptic problems involving the 1-Laplacian and a singular lower order term
No full textThis paper is concerned with the Dirichlet problem for an equation involving the --Laplacian operator and having a singular term of the type . Here is nonnegative, a.e., the solution satisfies those features that might be expected as well as a uniqueness result. We also give explicit 1--dimensional examples that show that, in general, uniqueness does not hold. We remark that the Anzellotti theory of --divergence--measure vector fields must be extended to deal with this equation
Antiradical activity and in vitro inhibition of Helicobacter pylori by Italian red wines
No full textThe relevance of H. pylori to the pathogenesis of gastritis and gastroduodenal ulcers has been proposed for about the past 25
years; the presence of this bacterium is now established as the main risk factor in the development of stomach carcinomas and
lymphomas. Antibiotic treatment does not always inhibit or kill H. pylori because of the potential side effects of antibiotic
resistance. Previous research has indicated that red wines have therapeutic benefits against this bacterium. The purpose of our
study was to determine the potential of Italian red wines to inhibit H. pylori in a laboratory medium and to compare their
antimicrobial activity with that of red grape juice and with isolated procyanidins. The antiradical capacity of Italian red wines
was also determined. In conclusion, a novel approach is offered coupling antioxidant benefits of red wines with synergistic
effectiveness
Optimization of extraction of drugs containing polyphenols using an innovative technique
Full text linkThe role of polyphenols in human health nowadays is well established and these natural products, found in many plant species, are the active ingredients of drugs, food supplements and cosmetics. Extraction procedure is pivotal to obtain high quality herbal products but paradoxically this factor is often underrated and obsolete techniques are used. In this work we compared the classic and most used method of maceration and an innovative and standardized technique of extraction, Estrattore Naviglio((R)), processing ten common medicinal plants containing polyphenols and for each analysing specific biological markers such as flavonoids, anthocyanosides and caffeic derivatives in addition to total polyphenols content. Estrattore Naviglio((R)) guaranteed a significant improvement of the chemical quality of extracts combining effectiveness with rapidity and reproducibility. In this work we further investigated the optimization of drug extractions by replicating operations varying parameters setting on Estrattore Naviglio((R)) instrument
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