British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Jatropha is a nonedible oil seed plant belonging to Euphorbiaceae family. Global awareness of sustainable and alternative energy resources has propelled research on Jatropha oil as a feedstock for biodiesel production. During the past two decades, several cultivation projects were undertaken to produce Jatropha oil. In future, the increased cultivation of toxic Jatropha plants and utilization of its agro-industrial by-products may raise the frequency of contact with humans, animals, and other organisms. An attempt was thus made to present known information on toxicity of Jatropha plants. The toxicity of Jatropha plant extracts from fruit, seed, oil, roots, latex, bark, and leaf to a number of species, from microorganisms to higher animals, is well established. Broadly, these extracts posse...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

For ages, herbs have been used as medicine and food. Nowadays, the interest in phytotherapeutics is increasing as well as the consumer attention. Some biochemical compounds synthesized by plants as alkaloids, phenolics, flavonoids, essential oils, tannins and vitamins, influence the composition of these plant pharmacologicals, which may produce various reactions in the human body. The microbial contamination in these raw plant materials is common, and the radiation processing is one appropriate technique for the reduction of microorganism. In herbs used as food products, the changes in total #beta#-carotene and flavonoids upon the radiation treatment were tested. The powdered and dehydrated herbs were irradiated with "6"0Co gamma rays applying doses of 0, 10, 20 and 30 kGy. The botanical species investigated were rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis Linne), watercress (Nasturtium officinale R. Br), artichoke (Cynara scolymus Linne) and sweet basil ...

Science.gov (United States)

Biofuels may contribute to both rural economic development and climate change mitigation and adaptation. The Gota Verde Project in Yoro, Honduras, attempts to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of small-scale biofuel production for local use by implementing a distinctive approach to feedstock production that encourages small farm sizes, mixed cropping of biofuel feedstock from Jatropha and food crops, particularly corn and beans, grown side by side on the same farmland and the total involvement of small rural farmers. But is the project sustainable? Using EC-Assess, the Earth Charter ethics-based assessment tool, to assess the sustainability of this project, the author found that in some assessment categories the actions surpassed the intended objectives, showing that the project was achieving certain Earth Charter goals without specifically stating its intention to address them. (Contains 3 images, 3 figures and 2 notes.)

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Callus cultures of Calophyllum inophyllum were established using seed, nodal/ internodal and leaf explants on WPM basal medium supplemented with indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), a-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA), picloram (4-amino-3,5,6-trichloropicolinic acid), and 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) in different combinations and concentrations with the view to study the influence of hormones on callus induction and the pattern of expression of dipyranocoumarins including anti-HIV, non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors inophyllum B and P in callus cultures. 96.01% seed explants, 87.50% nodal/internodal explants and 86.66% leaf explants were converted into calluses when inoculated on WPM supplemented with IBA 4.0mgl-1 along with BAP 1.0mgl-1, IBA 4.0mgl-1, and picloram 6.0mgl-1 along with BAP 2....

Science.gov (United States)

Sida cordifolia is a plant belonging to the Malvaceae family used in many ayurvedic preparations. This study aimed at assessing the effects of ethanolic extract of Sida cordifolia root on quinolinic acid (QUIN) induced neurotoxicity and to compare its effect with the standard drug deprenyl in rat brain. Rats were divided into six groups: (1) control group (2) QUIN (55 microg/100 g bwt/day) (3) 50% ethanolic plant extract treated group (50 mg/100 g bwt/day) (4) Deprenyl (100 microg/100 g bwt/day) (5) QUIN (55 microg/100 g bwt/day) + 50% ethanolic plant extract treated group (50 mg/100 g bwt/day) (6) QUIN (55 microg/100 g bwt/day) + Deprenyl (100 microg/100 g bwt/day). At the end of the experimental period a status of lipid peroxidation products, protein peroxidation product, activities of the scavenging enzymes and the activities of the inflammatory markers were analyzed. Results revealed that the lipid peroxidation products decreased and the activities of the scavenging enzymes ...