The issue of whether and how ethnomedical practitioners can be incorporated into existing biomedical systems in developing countries continues to be debated. Although a number of reasons have been advanced as to the barriers to incorporation, none of these take into account the views of nurses on incorporating ethnomedical practitioners into the biomedical system. Data from Botswana, where the ...

Objective: The present in vitro studies aimed to investigate the pancreatic and extrapancreatic effects of crude aqueous extracts (AE) of Achillea santolina L, Eryngium creticum Lam, and Pistacia atlantica Desf utilized in Jordan diabetes ethnomedicine. Methods: Bioassays of β-cell proliferation and insulin secretion as well as glucose diffusion as possible modes of action were recruited. Resul...

Last summer we officially launched the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, published by BioMedCentral, with the aim of establishing a serious, peer-reviewed, open-access online journal that focuses on the multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary fields of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine, drawing on approaches and methods from both the social and biological sciences. The...

With at least 60% of the Millettia species (Fabaceae) being in medicinal use, we found it relevant to assess the potential antiprotozoal and antifungal activities of Millettia richardiana. Water and methanol crude extracts of the stem barks from M. richardiana and the six fractions resulting from the fractionation of the methanol extract were tested. The dichloromethane extracted fraction showe...

The common wild fig, Ficus thonningii, is extensively used in African ethnomedicine for treating a number of disease conditions which include diarrhoea, urinary tract infections, diabetes mellitus, gonorrhoea, respiratory infections, and mental illnesses. This review aims to present a logical analysis of the nutritional, phytochemical and pharmacological properties of F. thonningii in relation ...

OBJECTIVE Alchornea floribunda leaves are widely used in ethnomedicine for the management of immuno-inflammatory disorders. We investigated the in vivo and in vitro antioxidant activity of the leaf extract, fractions and isolated compounds of A. floribunda. MATERIALS AND METHODS The ethyl acetate fraction of the methanol leaf extract was subjected to several chromatographic separations to iso...

During the recent years, ethomedicine has attracted a great deal of attention among the investigators throughout the world. Although ethnomedicine seeks, in the first place, to compensate for a biological need through providing cures for disorders, it, however, is of a cultural nature, too, in that it investigates people's behaviors and reactions toward health and the issues related to it. Cons...

BACKGROUND Until recently, little attention has been paid to local innovation capacity as well as management practices and institutions developed by communities and other local actors based on their traditional knowledge. This paper doesn't focus on the results of scientific research into innovation systems, but rather on how local communities, in a network of supportive partnerships, draw know...

Aesculus indica, commonly known as Indian horse chestnut, is an indigenous tree of the family Sapindaceae, distributed in Nepal, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. As ethnomedicine, its seeds are used to cure jaundice, chest diseases, stomach joint pain, roots for leucorrhea, bark fever anaemia. The phytochemicals class phenolic, triterpenoid, glycoside, saponin, fatty acid have been identified ...

Recently, considerable attention has been focused on dietary and medicinal phytochemicals that inhibit, reverse or retard diseases caused by oxidative and inflammatory processes. Vernonia amygdalina is a perennial herb belonging to the Asteraceae family. Extracts of the plant have been used in various folk medicines as remedies against helminthic, protozoal and bacterial infections with scienti...