BACKGROUND Viola canescens Wall. ex. Roxb. exhibits analgesic, antimalarial and antispasmodic activities. It is used folklorically for the treatment of liver diseases, hypertension, malaria and cancer. The current study investigates phytochemical constituents, antioxidant and hepatoprotective activity of solvent extracts of whole plant of Viola canescens. METHODS Phytochemicals, acute toxicit...

Two species of Atriplex were grown under low temperature (8 C day/6 C night) and high temperature (28 C day/20 C night) regimes. The photosynthetic capacity of these plants was studied as a function of temperature in a leaf gas exchange cuvette. Both species showed substantial photosynthetic capacity between 4 and 10 C and this was not enhanced by growth at low temperatures but rather, was some...

There is a surplus of Atriplex nummularia Lindl. grazing that can be used as animal feed. This material was harvested to assess the effects on intake, growth, and carcass characteristics of kids. Atriplex replaced alfalfa hay (Medicago sativa L.) in a proportion of 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% for 60 creole kids weighing 13 kg and was assigned to the diets in a completely randomized design. The p...

Systematic contributions to Heteroderidae include description of Cactodera eremica n. sp., an emended diagnosis of Sarisodera Wouts and Sher, 1971, and proposal of a new genus and new combination, Afenestrata africana (synonym Sarisodera africana Luc et al., 1973). Cactodera eremica, from the roots of shadscale in Utah, most closely resembles Cactodera thornei (Golden and Raski, 1977) but diffe...

At least two lineages of Mesozoic birds are known to have possessed a distinct feather morphotype for which there is no neornithine (modern) equivalent. The early stepwise evolution of apparently modern feathers occurred within Maniraptora, basal to the avian transition, with asymmetrical pennaceous feathers suited for flight present in the most basal recognized avian, Archaeopteryx lithographi...

Effects of temperature, adult feeding, and host instar on life table parameters of Venturia canescens Gravenhorst (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) parasitizing larvae of Ephestia kuehniella Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) were studied in the laboratory. Experimental adults lived under various regimes of temperature (15, 20, 25, and 30 degrees C), food supply (with or without access to honey), and h...

1 Despite much debate about their importance, only a few ®eld studies have evaluated the intensity of competition and herbivory. 2 Artemisia maritima, Atriplex portulacoides and Plantago maritima, three plant species which are common in European temperate salt marshes, were transplanted into di€erent successional stages (15, 30 and 45 years old) of a temperate salt marsh. Biomass of each transp...

Oxidative stress is induced by a wide range of environmental factors including heavy metals stress. Therefore, antioxidant resistance mechanisms may provide a strategy to enhance metal tolerance, and processes underlying antioxidant responses to metal stress must be clearly understood. In the present study, the effects of heavy metals generating antioxidative defense systems (i.e. superoxide di...