The freshwater snakehead Channa asiatica is an obligatory air-breather that resides in slow-flowing streams and in crevices near riverbanks in Southern China. In its natural habitat, it may encounter bouts of aerial exposure during the dry seasons. In the laboratory, the ammonia excretion rate of C. asiatica exposed to terrestrial conditions in a 12 h:12 h dark:light regime was one quarter that...

The present study was aimed to evaluate physicochemical standardization and preliminary phytochemical investigation of the leaf of Grewia tiliaefolia Vahl belonging to the family tiliaceae. The standardization parameters included determination of foreign matter, loss on drying, ash values, extractive values, fluorescence analysis, preliminary phytochemical screening was performed according to s...

The role of Centella asiatica L. leaf extract was studied on the transgenic Drosophila model flies expressing normal human alpha synuclein (h-αS) in the neurons. The leaf extract was prepared in acetone and was subjected to GC-MS analysis. C. asiatica extract at final concentration of 0.25, 0.50, and 1.0 μL/mL was mixed with the diet and the flies were allowed feeding on it for 24 days. The eff...

Centella asiatica L. has been used as a medicinal herb for thousands of years in India, China, Sri lanka, Nepal and Madagascar. Centella asiatica is one of the chief herbs for treating skin problems, to heal wounds, for revitalizing the nerves and brain cells, hence primarily known as a "Brain food" in India. In India, it is described under the name of Mandukaparni and used in Ayurveda medicine...

BACKGROUND Nocardia infection of the central nervous system leading to brain abscess is a rare condition but has a high mortality rate. Among the species of Nocardia, only three cases of brain abscess due to Nocardia asiatica infection have been reported. CASE DESCRIPTION A 65-year-old man with a history of autoimmune hemolytic anemia treated with prednisolone presented to our hospital becaus...

PREMISE OF THE STUDY Microsatellite markers for Centella asiatica, an important medicinal herb, were developed and characterized to promote genetic and molecular studies. METHODS AND RESULTS A GA/GT-enriched genomic library was constructed from an accession from Madagascar. Roughly 75% of the 768 clones of the enriched library contained microsatellites. Eighty sequences containing microsatell...

Hyperlipidemia and many other metabolic diseases are related to oxidative stress. Centella asiatica is a traditional Chinese medicine whose antioxidant effect in vitro has been reported. We are interested in whether it possesses this effect in vivo and hence modulates lipid metabolism. Therefore, experiments were carried out on mice and golden hamsters regarding its antioxidant and hypolipidemi...

BACKGROUND Although herbs are often perceived as "natural" and therefore safe, many different side effects have been reported. Additionally, there is limited scientific evidence to establish the safety and efficacy of most herbal products. The aim of this study was to evaluate the biochemical and haematological effects of Toddaliaasiatica (L) Lam. (Rutaceae) (T. asiatica (L.) in albino Wistar r...

BACKGROUND Toddalia asiatica root bark as an effective hemostatic natural medicine or Chinese materia medica was applied in China for long history, its complex drug action mechanisms and unclear substance basis have been constraining the development of this drug. RESULTS An intelligentized strategy by LC-ESI Q-TOF MSE was presented in this study for rapid identification of hemostatic chemical...

An overview of the epidemiological, biological, and clinical studies of Taenia and taeniasis in Taiwan for the past century is presented. The phenomenal observations that led to the discovery of Taenia asiatica as a new species, which differ from Taenia solium and Taenia saginata, are described. Parasitological surveys of the aborigines in Taiwan revealed a high prevalence of taeniasis, which m...