The objective of this study was to characterize anaerobic batch digestion of cattail weeds botanical fractions singly and in combination using American cockroach gut microorganisms as an inoculum. The effects of increasing concentration of cattail weeds expressed as percentage of total solids (TS) from 5, 15, to 30 and 60% on methane yield was investigated at ambient temperature of 29±1°C. The ...

Detection of drug-drug interactions is essential during the early stages of drug discovery and development, and the understanding of drug-botanical interactions is important for the safe use of botanical dietary supplements. Among the different forms of drug interactions that are known, inhibition of cytochrome P450 (P450) enzymes is the most common cause of drug-drug or drug-botanical interact...

Bupleurum & Peony Formula (Jia Wei Xiao Yao San) is a herbal formula which possesses a clinical history for the treatment of menopausal syndrome and menstrual irregularity. The present investigation reports the ability to monitor the formula's phytoestrogen content that will allow for the implementation of a standardization protocol that is based on a quantifiable biological response. Utilizing...

BACKGROUND Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is characterized by the structural miniaturization of androgen-sensitive hair follicles in susceptible individuals and is anatomically defined within a given pattern of the scalp. Biochemically, one contributing factor of this disorder is the conversion of testosterone (T) to dihydrotestosterone (DHT) via the enzyme 5-alpha reductase (5AR). This metabolism...

Photochemoprevention has become an important armamentarium in the fight against ultraviolet radiation induced damage to the skin. UV irradiation to skin results in erythema, edema, sunburn cells, hyperplasia, immunosuppression, photoaging and photocarcinogenesis. Various synthetic agents have been used as photoprotectives but they have limited use because of their potential toxicity in humans a...

PURPOSE Botanical preparations are widely used by patients with prostate cancer. Scutellaria baicalensis, a botanical with a long history of medicinal use in China, was a constituent of the herbal mixture PC-SPES, a product that inhibited prostate cancer growth in both laboratory and clinical studies. Due to the difficulties encountered when evaluating the efficacy of complex natural products, ...

To explore the biosystematics of the Calligonum mongolicum complex (Polygonaceae), the flowering phenological period, breeding and pollination characters and seed set of the complex (Calligonum Mongolicum Turze, Calligonum chinense A. Los., Calligonum gobicum A. Los., Calligonum pumilum A. Los. and Calligonum zaidamense A. Los.) were documented in the Turpan Eremophyte Botanical Garden, China. ...

Herbal medicines in treatment of cancer as complementary and alternative therapy are accepted increasingly with growing scientific evidences of biomedical research and clinical trials. Anticancer drugs discovered from herbal medicines have a long history and some of them have been used in clinical setting as the conventional anticancer drugs. Actually, herbal medicines are a source for anticanc...

Drugs used to treat anxiety have many negative side effects including addiction, depression, suicide, seizures, sexual dysfunction, headaches and more. Anxiolytic medications do not restore normal levels of neurotransmitters but instead manipulate the brain chemistry. For example, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) prevent the reuptake of serotonin from the synapse allowing seroton...