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Artemisia Vulgaris (artemisia + vulgari)
Selected AbstractsIsofusidienols: Novel Chromone-3-oxepines Produced by the Endophytic Fungus Chalara sp.EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY, Issue 4 2008Sandra Lösgen Abstract Four novel metabolites, named isofusidienol A, B, C, and D (1,4), were produced by cultures of Chalara sp. (strain 6661), an endophytic fungus isolated from Artemisia vulgaris. The unprecedented chromone-3-oxepine structure of the compounds was established by detailed spectroscopic analysis and in the case of isofusidienol A (1) verified by an X-ray analysis. Additionally, two xanthones, known 5 and its 8-chloro derivative 6, were isolated. Presumably, 5 is the biosynthetic precursor of the isofusidienols. The isofusidienols exhibit antifungal activity against Candida albicans and antibacterial activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Inhibition of Bacillus subtilis could be achieved with less than 0.625 ,g of 1 on 6-mm filter disks in plate diffusion assays. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2008) [source] Hemeroby, urbanity and ruderality: bioindicators of disturbance and human impactJOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY, Issue 5 2002M. O. Hill Summary 1Species vary according to whether they benefit from or are harmed by disturbance and intensive human activity. This variation can be quantified by indices of disturbance and unnaturalness. 2An urban flora was characterized by comparing quadrat data from cities with several large data sets from the countryside. Existing scales of species response to disturbance and unnaturalness, ruderality (a plant's ability to survive in disturbed conditions) and hemeroby (a measure of human impact) were contrasted with derived scales based on the number of associated annuals and aliens and with ,urbanity', defined as the proportion of urban land in the vicinity of each quadrat. 3Species presence data were available from 26 710 quadrats distributed through Great Britain, with urban sites only in central England. Satellite imagery was used to measure the proportion of urban land cover in the vicinity of each quadrat; 2595 quadrats were located in 1-km squares having at least 40% cover of urban land. 4The 20 species having highest urbanity were all alien to Britain, comprising 12 neophytes and eight archaeophytes. 5Of the 20 most frequent species in quadrats situated in 1-km squares with at least 40% urban land cover, 18 were natives. The two exceptions were Artemisia vulgaris , an archaeophyte, and Senecio squalidus , a neophyte. 6Both ruderal and hemerobic species, as usually defined, include many non-urban arable species. The hemeroby scale of Kowarik (1990 ), designed for Berlin, does not work well in Britain. 7The proportion of associated annuals (annuality) and the proportion of associated neophytes (alien richness or xenicity) can be developed into good indices. The annuality scale is very well defined because annuals tend to occur with other annuals. Plants with high annuality are mostly arable weeds. 8Urban specialists in central England are, with a few exceptions, character-species of the phytosociological classes Artemisietea , Galio-Urticetea and Stellarietea . Most of them have numerous non-urban associates and they do not form a very well defined group. They have intermediate levels of annuality combined with relatively high levels of xenicity. 9While it is possible to develop indices of hemeroby, urbanity and ruderality, these concepts are relatively complicated. Annuality and xenicity are simpler measures that can complement Ellenberg values, but definitive values for Great Britain would require additional data from southern England. [source] Hepatoprotective activity of aqueous,methanol extract of Artemisia vulgarisPHYTOTHERAPY RESEARCH, Issue 2 2005Anwarul Hassan Gilani Abstract The effect of a crude extract of the aerial parts of Artemisia vulgaris (Av.Cr) was investigated against D -galactosamine (D -GalN) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced hepatitis in mice. Co-administration of D -GalN (700 mg[sol ]kg) and LPS (1 µg[sol ]kg) significantly (p < 0.05) raised the plasma levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in mice in the toxin group compared with the values in the control group. Pre-treatment of mice with different doses of Av.Cr (150,600 mg[sol ]kg) significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the toxin-induced rise in plasma ALT and AST. The hepatoprotective effect was further verified by histopathology of the liver, which showed improved architecture, absence of parenchyma congestion, decreased cellular swelling and apoptotic cells, compared with the findings in the toxin group of animals. These findings scientifically validated the traditional use of Artemisia vulgaris for various liver disorders. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Plant extract contact toxicities to various developmental stages of Colorado potato beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)ANNALS OF APPLIED BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2006A. Gökçe Abstract The contact toxicities of methanol extracts from the nine plant species Hedera helix, Artemisia vulgaris, Xanthium strumarium, Humulus lupulus, Sambucus nigra, Chenopodium album, Salvia officinalis, Lolium temulentum and Verbascum songaricum were tested on the developmental stages of Colorado potato beetle (CPB) (Leptinotarsa decemlineata). About 2 mL of plant extract, 40% (w/w), was applied to the first instar to fourth instar larvae and adult beetles using a Potter spray tower. Most of the tested plant extracts caused relatively low mortality in all the beetle instars. Among the plant extracts, H. lupulus extract was the most toxic to all stages of the insect, except for the adult beetles. Larval mortality ranged from 40% in the fourth instars to 84% in the third instars. In a second series of experiments, dose,response bioassays using H. lupulus extract produced lethal concentration 50 (LC50) values ranging from 10%, 12%, 17% to 46% (w/w) active ingredient (plant material) for instars 1,4, respectively. This increasing mortality trend, however, did not extend to the adult stage where even the maximum dose of 40% plant material did not provide sufficient mortality to allow estimation of a LC50. These results demonstrated that the extract from H. lupulus has potential as an active ingredient in biological pesticides developed to manage larval instars of the CPB. The potential uses of this plant extract may be in conventional and organic pest management or as part of a mixture of plant extracts or conventional insecticides. Before extracts can be considered as biological control agents, their impact on natural enemies should be assessed. [source] Contrary food requirements of the larvae of two Curtonotus (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Amara) speciesANNALS OF APPLIED BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2005P. Saska Abstract The larvae of carabids that are granivorous as adults can be granivorous, omnivorous or carnivorous. The differences in larval food preferences of Amara aulica and Amara convexiuscula, two closely related species of the subgenus Curtonotus, were studied. Survival and duration of development of non-diapausing first and second instar larvae were compared. The third instar larvae were not studied because they go into diapause prior to pupation. The larvae were fed diets consisting of insect larvae (Tenebrio molitor), seeds of Artemisia vulgaris, Tripleurospermum inodorum, Urtica dioica or Cirsium arvense and a mixed diet consisting of insect larvae and seed. Larvae of A. aulica required seeds for successful development, whereas those of A. convexiuscula developed on both an insect diet and seeds of Artemisia. The difference in larval food requirements facilitates the coexistence of these closely related species, which frequently share the same habitat. [source] A randomised controlled trial of moxibustion for breech presentationBJOG : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS & GYNAECOLOGY, Issue 6 2005Francesco Cardini Objectives To evaluate the efficacy of moxibustion for the correction of fetal breech presentation in a non-Chinese population. Design Single-blind randomised controlled trial (RCT). Setting Six obstetric departments in Italy. Sample Healthy non-Chinese nulliparous pregnant women at 32,33 weeks + 3 days of gestational age with the fetus in breech presentation. Methods Random assignment to treatment or observation. Treatment consisted of moxibustion (stimulation with heat from a stick of Artemisia vulgaris) at the BL 67 acupuncture point (Zhiyin) for one or two weeks. Two weeks after recruitment, each participant was subjected to an ultrasonic examination of the fetal presentation. Main outcome measure Number of participants with cephalic presentation in the 35th week. Results The study was interrupted when 123 participants had been recruited (46% of the planned sample). Intermediate data monitoring revealed a high number of treatment interruptions. At this point no difference was found in cephalic presentation in the 35th week (treatment group: 22/65, 34%; control group: 21/58, 36%; RR 0.95; 99% CI 0.59,1.5). Conclusions The results underline the methodological problems evaluating of a traditional treatment transferred from a different cultural context. They do not support either the effectiveness or the ineffectiveness of moxibustion in correcting fetal breech presentation. [source] | |||||||||||||