Following publication of the original article [1] author Hatem Shabana wrote to say that one of her affiliations was missing. The affiliation is as follows: Departmento de Biología Vegetal, Universidad de Málaga, P. O. Box 59, 29080 Málaga, Spain.

Nonphotosynthetic cells of higher plants depend on the supply of a carbon substrate, usually sucrose, for cellular metabolism. Typically this sucrose is synthesized in leaves from the products of photosynthesis. Because of the lack of light below ground, roots do not generally photosynthesize (we note the exception of certain mangrove species and members of the Orchidaceae), although many roots...

We present the case of a young woman who presented to us with multiple episodes of vomiting, followed by hematemesis and abdominal pain after consuming bottle gourd juice. The patient was resuscitated and stabilized with fluids, proton pump inhibitors and antiemetics and discharged in stable condition. As a member of the Cucurbitaceae family, bottle gourd contains toxic tetracyclic triterpenoid...

Bryonia epigaea (cucurbitaceae) has been evaluated on various inflammatory models in rats in our laboratory. Ana anti-inflammatory drug(s) irrespective of its potency may not be devoid of undesirable effects on biochemical and hematological parameters. Alcoholic extract of Bryonia epigaaea (BE-Extract) at the dose of 50 mg/kg body weight, was administered to rats. Hepatotxic and nephrotoxic eff...