NOPR Collection:

Growing visibility and impact of Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge

2018-07-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Growing visibility and impact of Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge Authors: Pathak, Manohar; Bharati, Kumar Avinash Abstract: Traditional knowledge refers to the local or indigenous knowledge which has been accumulated practiced and orally transmitting from generations to generations thus indicates cultural or ethnic identity of a particular community or geographic region. Traditional knowledge has great role in drug discovery, rural engineering, and various bioperspective research. Therefore, research in this field is vital for scientific community, conservation of the knowledge and protection from unethical patents. The Indian Journal of traditional knowledge is covering the important findings from all over the world in the area of folklore medicine. The study of impact and global visibility of the Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge will indicate the status of folk knowledge covered, trend of research, and set goals to cover the area/tribes for undocumented literature of folk medicine. This paper analyses the research papers published in Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge (IJTK) during 2007-2017 on various scientometric parameters viz. year wise publication, geographical distribution, year wise citation pattern of article published, occurrence of keywords, inflow of papers, journal’s rank in the various category, number of tribes covered in IJTK, prolific institutions, Journals citing IJTK, impact factor trend over the years, etc. It has been observed that 16 papers have received 20 or more citation and there are 9 citing journals having more than 10 impact factor, including two journals of Nature publishing group, i.e., Nature biotechnology (41.66) and Nature climate change (19.3). The journal covered 206 tribes of the world and 27 Indian states. The current impact factor is 1.27 and indexed in all the reputed databases of the world and WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization). Page(s): 407-413

Review of Gabonese traditional plants that have reported anti-HIV activity

2018-07-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Review of Gabonese traditional plants that have reported anti-HIV activity Authors: Mounanga, Boukandou MM; Traore, AN; Venter, Van de M; Potgieter, N Abstract: The use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) reduced considerably deaths related to Human Immunodeficency Virus (HIV). However HAART is responsible for the high rate of side effects affecting the health of people living with HIV. Thus, people in developing countries revert to using plants as alternative and complementary medicine. Moreover, many studies have undertaken worldwide, aim at demonstrating the anti-HIV activity of medicinal plants both in vitro and in vivo. In Gabon, the prevalence of HIV infection rate is at 4.1 % and despite the encouraging results of HAART, the Gabonese population drifts towards traditional healers who pride themselves having found a remedy for Aquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) using medicinal plant mixtures. The terms “Plants with anti-HIV activity”, “Gabonese plants” and “Anti-HIV activity”, “Medicinal plants” and “AIDS” were searched on several online databases such as PubMed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar. The plants found from this search were then matched with ethnobotanical survey data and database on Gabonese plants (published and unpublished). Studies with plants not found in the Gabonese flora were excluded. The search has resulted in the inclusion of 67 plant species present in Gabon and with proven anti-HIV activity in vitro. These plants are widely used to treat several ailments including infectious diseases, epilepsy, cancer, inflammation, hypertension and diabetes. Several methods have been used to demonstrate the anti-HIV activity of those plants including reverse transcriptase, MTT, integrase and protease assays.
This review presents a non-exhaustive summary of Gabonese plants with proven anti-HIV activities. This might be a plausible explanation for the local population’s interest in medicinal plants for the treatment of AIDS related infections. Page(s): 414-424

The efficacy of Aromatherapy in prevention of herpes simplex virus infections

2018-07-01T00:00:00Z

Title: The efficacy of Aromatherapy in prevention of herpes simplex virus infections Authors: Walaszek, Robert; Marszałek, Anna; Kasperczyk, Tadeusz; Walaszek, Katarzyna; Burdacki, Marcin Abstract: The results of the research conducted in the recent years demonstrate that essential oils obtained from some plants show strong virucidal activity against many pathogenic microorganisms and thus they may play a supportive role in the prevention of infections caused by the herpes simplex virus (HSV). Among others, these viruses may infect the central nervous system – most commonly via the airborne route or through a direct contact with the affected skin (HSV-1) or as a result of virus transmission via the genitals, the genitourinary tract, anus and the skin of the inferior parts of the body (HSV-2). The purpose of our work was to present aromatherapy as a safe method supporting the medical prevention of infections caused by the herpes simplex viruses. This work has been written based on a narrative review of the world scientific literature. Page(s): 425-429

Effects of different doses of Prunus laurocerasus L. leaf extract on oxidative stress, hyperglycaemia and hyperlipidaemia induced by type I diabetes

2018-07-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Effects of different doses of Prunus laurocerasus L. leaf extract on oxidative stress, hyperglycaemia and hyperlipidaemia induced by type I diabetes Authors: USLU, Hamit; USLU, Gözde ATİLA; ÖZEN, Hasan; KARAMAN, Musa Abstract: The fruits and leaves of the Prunus laurocerasus (PL) plant are used in traditional medicine for many purposes because of their anti-diabetic properties. This study aimed to determine the anti-hyperglycaemic, anti-hyperlipidaemic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects of PL leaf extract on experimental type I diabetes. Different doses PL extracts were administered orally for 25 days to rats. Biochemical and immune histochemical analyses were performed at the end of the study. Antioxidant test results showed that the PL had a very high antioxidant capacity. The study also revealed that different doses of PL increased SOD (p < 0.001) and GSH (p < 0.05 in PL500 group) levels but decreased TBARS (p < 0.001) levels in the kidney tissue. Significant increases were noted in the SOD levels of liver tissue (p < 0.01). In addition, HDL cholesterol levels (p < 0.05) significantly increased while LDL (p < 0.05, p < 0.05, p < 0.001, respectively) and TG levels (p < 0.05 in PL1000 and PL1500 groups) decreased when the PL groups were compared with the DC group. Eventually, the anti-hyperglycaemic effects of PL were not determined. However, PL was found to be highly effective in reducing oxidative stress and hyperlipidaemia. Based on the current study, PL leaf extract may be useful in preventing hyperglycaemia, hyperlipidaemia and oxidative stress, which are chronic complications of diabetes. Page(s): 430-436