Concentration of engineered nickel oxide nanoparticle (NiO-NP) in nature is on the rise, owing to large scale industrial uses, which have accreted the scope of its exposure to plants, the primary producers of the ecosystem. Though an essential micronutrient for the animal system, supported by numerous studies confirming its toxicity at higher dosages, nickel oxide is graded as a human carcinoge...

There is ample evidence that the use of safety behaviour can interfere with the progress of therapy, particularly if exposure is involved. As a result, it is widely asserted that safety behaviour is anti-therapeutic. However, an unqualified rejection of safety behaviour should be reconsidered because we now have theoretical justification, experimental evidence and clinical observations showing ...

Since the development of monoclonal antibodies twenty-five years ago, researchers and biotech companies have been looking to develop therapeutic uses for them. Michael Gross looks at some of the latest efforts.

BACKGROUND: Interest in the potential benefits of allium vegetables, in particular, onion (Allium cepa) and garlic (Allium sativum), has its origin in antiquity, but the details of these benefits are still open to discussion. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the role of allium vegetables in the etiology of various neoplasms. Previous data are scanty and are based mainly on Chinese studies. DESIGN: Us...

Leaf extracts of Cymbopogon citratus (lemon grass) and bulb extracts of Allium sativum (garlic) extracted with various solvents (ethanol, ethyl acetate and aqueous for Cymbopogon citratus, and ethyl acetate chloroform and aqueous for Allium sativum) were evaluated for antidermatophytic activity against Microsporum spp. isolated from different water samples. Out of a total of 60 water samples an...

Allium sativum has been reported to have a lot of therapeutic potentials such as antihypertensive, antimicrobial and hypocholesterolemic. This study has investigated its effect on anti-tubercular drugs hepatotoxicity. Wistar albino rats were pretreated and co-administered orally with aqueous solution of Allium sativum. Eighteen rats were divided into six groups of three rats each. Group 1 were ...

The genus Allium is a rich source of steroidal saponins, and its medicinal properties have been attributed to these bioactive compounds. The saponin compounds with diverse structures play a pivotal role in Allium's defense mechanism. Despite numerous studies on the occurrence and chemical structure of steroidal saponins, their biosynthetic pathway in Allium species is poorly understood. The mon...

The internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) of nuclear ribosomal DNA was sequenced from 195 representative species of Allium, two species of Nothoscordum, and one species each of lpheion, Dichelostemma, and Tulbaghia. Within the Allium species the lengths of the ITS regions were in a range from 612 to 661 base pairs and pairwise genetic distances reached up to 46%. The ITS data supported the i...

Plant diseases are a threat for global food safety. Allium obliquum, Allium fistulosum, Allium ursinum, Aloe vera, Berberis vulgaris and Chelidonium majus plant extracts were obtained by the repercolation method and the antifungal activity was determined by the agar-dilution assay against Apergillus niger, Botrytis cinerea, Botrytis paeoniae, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. gladioli, Fusarium oxyspor...

Eight commonly used spices Syzygium aromaticum, Cinnamonum zeylanicum, Zingiber officinale, Murraya koenigii, Piper nigrum, Trachyspermum ammi, Allium sativum and Allium cepa were tested for in vitro antifungal activity on Aspergillus niger, a causative agent of different destructive disease. Out of eight plant materials used, five showed significant antifungal activity against the test pathoge...