BACKGROUND Dioscorea is an important plant genus in terms of food supply and pharmaceutical applications. However, its classification and identification are controversial. DNA barcoding is a recent aid to taxonomic identification and uses a short standardized DNA region to discriminate plant species. In this study, the applicability of three candidate DNA barcodes (rbcL, matK, and psbA-trnH) to...

Dioscorea tuber phytoextracts can confer immunomodulatory activities ex vivo and improve regeneration of bone marrow cells in vivo. In present study, we evaluated specific Dioscorea phytoextracts for use ex vivo as a bone-marrow-derived dendritic cell- (DC-) based vaccine adjuvant for cancer immunotherapy. Fractionated Dioscorea extracts (DsII) were assayed for their effect on maturation and fu...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and the safety of Sanyak pharmacopuncture therapy for the treatment of peripheral facial paralysis patients. METHODS This study was a retrospective investigation of a total of 70 patients who were inpatients of the Oriental Hospital of Daejeon University between January 1, 2011, and May 31, 2012, and who were diagnosed as having per...

The compressional characteristics and tableting properties of starches from four yam species namely Dioscorea dumetorum Pax (Bitter); Dioscorea oppositifolia L (Chinese); Dioscorea alata L.DIAL2 (Water) and Dioscorea rotundata Poir (White) were investigated in comparison with corn starch. The physicochemical properties of the starches were evaluated using established methods while the compressi...

The study examined Yam Tuber Species (YTS), Tuber Steeping Duration (TSD) and Flour Particle Size (FPS) as factors of flour. Data were collected using white yam, water yam and yellow yam steeped in water (30 ± 2 °C, pH 6.78) and withdrawn, and the flour classified, and analyzed for each parameter. Results obtained showed that all the test parameters, Water Retention Capacity (WRC), Swelling Ind...

The effect of microwave and blanch pretreatments on the drying kinetics and quality of white yam (Dioscorea rotundata) was investigated. Yam cubes destined for hot air drying at temperatures 70-90°C were predried in a domestic microwave or blanched in hot water for 1-5 min. Microwave pretreatment time had a positive significant effect on drying rate but both pretreatments had a negative influen...

the species of dioscorea (yam) are regarded as a staple food crop for millions of people in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. it is regarded as an important food crop next to cereals and grains due to high yield storage of carbohydrates. economically, only few species are recognized for cultivation from agricultural point of view, in spite of its large species diversity. the sp...

Aqueous, methanolic and ethyl acetate extracts of 14 plants used in traditional Zulu medicine for treatment of ailments of an infectious nature were screened for antibacterial activity. Most of the activity detected was against gram-positive bacteria. Tuber bark extracts of Dioscorea sylvatica had activity against gram-negative Escherichia coli and extracts of Dioscorea dregeana, Cheilanthes vi...

Proc. Intl. Soc. Mag. Reson. Med. 22 (2014) 0482. Fig.1 The 1 H-MRS voxel included right and left posterior middle frontal gyrus. Introduction: Vascular Cognitive Impairment No Dementia (VCIND) is introduced to identify the earliest stage of cognitive decline associated with vascular disease, which does not meet dementia criteria but with an increased risk of death and institutionalization. Ear...

A number of wild crops remain unexplored in this world and among them some have excellent medicinal and nutritional properties. India is a harbor of biodiversity in general and phytodiversity in particular. The plant diversity is distributed from the Western Ghats to Eastern Ghats, along with the North-Eastern region and from the Greater Himalayas to the plain of Ganga. Among these distributed ...