The African continent is naturally endowed with various plant species with nutritional and medicinal benefits. About 80% of the people in developing countries rely on folk medicines to treat different diseases because of indigenous knowledge, availability, and cost-effectiveness. Extensive research studies have been conducted on the medicinal uses of African plants, however, the therapeutic potentials of some of these plants has remained unexploited. Over the years, several studies have revealed that some of these African floras are promising candidates for the development of novel drugs. Despite the plethora of studies on medicinal plant research in Africa, there is still little scientific data supporting the folkloric claims of these plants. Besides, safety in the use of folk medicines has been a major public health concern over the year. Therefore, it has become mandatory that relevant authority should take measures in safeguarding the populace on the use of herbal mixtures. Thus, the present review extracted relevant information from different scientific databases and highlighted some problems associated with folk medicines, adverse effects on reproductive systems, issue about safety due to the toxicity of some plants and their toxicity effects with potential therapeutic benefits are discussed.

Makaleyi görüntüle

Negative air ions (NAIs) have been discovered for more than 100 years and are widely used for air cleaning. Here, we have carried out a comprehensive reviewing on the effects of NAIs on humans/animals, and microorganisms, and plant development. The presence of NAIs is credited for increasing psychological health, productivity, and overall well-being but without consistent or reliable evidence in therapeutic effects and with controversy in anti-microorganisms. Reports also showed that NAIs could help people in relieving symptoms of allergies to dust, mold spores, and other allergens. Particulate matter (PM) is a major air pollutant that affects human health. Experimental data showed that NAIs could be used to high-efficiently remove PM. Finally, we have reviewed the plant-based NAI release system under the pulsed electric field (PEF) stimulation. This is a new NAI generation system which releases a huge amount of NAIs under the PEF treatment. The system may be used to freshen indoor air and reduce PM concentration in addition to enriching oxygen content and indoor decoration at home, school, hospital, airport, and other indoor areas.

Makaleyi görüntüle

Background and aims Silicon (Si) in plants provides structural support and improves tolerance to diseases, drought and metal toxicity. Shoot Si concentrations are generally considered to be greater in monocotyledonous than in non-monocot plant species. The phylogenetic variation in the shoot Si concentration of plants reported in the primary literature has been quantified. Methods Studies were identified which reported Si concentrations in leaf or non-woody shoot tissues from at least two plant species growing in the same environment. Each study contained at least one species in common with another study. Key results Meta-analysis of the data revealed that, in general, ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms accumulated less Si in their shoots than non-vascular plant species and horsetails. Within angiosperms and ferns, differences in shoot Si concentration between species grouped by their higher-level phylogenetic position were identified. Within the angiosperms, species from the commelinoid monocot orders Poales and Arecales accumulated substantially more Si in their shoots than species from other monocot clades. Conclusions A high shoot Si concentration is not a general feature of monocot species. Information on the phylogenetic variation in shoot Si concentration may provide useful palaeoecological and archaeological information, and inform studies of the biogeochemical cycling of Si and those of the molecular genetics of Si uptake and transport in plants.

Makaleyi görüntüle

Background and aims Genome size (DNA C-value) data are key biodiversity characters of fundamental significance used in a wide variety of biological fields. Since 1976, Bennett and colleagues have made scattered published and unpublished genome size data more widely accessible by assembling them into user-friendly compilations. Initially these were published as hard copy lists, but since 1997 they have also been made available electronically (see the Plant DNA C-values database http://www.kew.org/cval/homepage.html). Nevertheless, at the Second Plant Genome Size Meeting in 2003, Bennett noted that as many as 1000 DNA C-value estimates were still unpublished and hence unavailable. Scientists were strongly encouraged to communicate such unpublished data. The present work combines the databasing experience of the Kew-based authors with the unpublished C-values produced by Zonneveld to make a large body of valuable genome size data available to the scientific community. Methods C-values for angiosperm species, selected primarily for their horticultural interest, were estimated by flow cytometry using the fluorochrome propidium iodide. The data were compiled into a table whose form is similar to previously published lists of DNA amounts by Bennett and colleagues. Key results and conclusions The present work contains C-values for 411 taxa including first values for 308 species not listed previously by Bennett and colleagues. Based on a recent estimate of the global published output of angiosperm DNA C-value data (i.e. 200 first C-value estimates per annum) the present work equals 1.5 years of average global published output; and constitutes over 12 % of the latest 5-year global target set by the Second Plant Genome Size Workshop (see http://www.kew.org/cval/workshopreport.html). Hopefully, the present example will encourage others to unveil further valuable data which otherwise may lie forever unpublished and unavailable for comparative analyses.

Makaleyi görüntüle