Month: April 2009

Categories
Herbs & Plants

Feather Bells

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BOTANICAL NAME: :Stenanthium gramineum
FAMILY: Liliaceae/Melanthiaceae
GENUS:Stenanthium
KINGDOM:Plantae
ORDER:Liliales
COMMON NAME : Feather bells,Featherfleece and grass-leaved lily.
SYNONYMS: Stenanthium robustum S. Wats. (= var. robustum (S. Wats.) Fern.

HABITAT: Moist rocky woods, rich wooded slopes; most frequent on acid soils. Mostly found in north America

DESCRIPTION:  Feather Bells is  a Perennial  plantt and the  height is 3 to 5 feet .Flower is small white to green on branched cluster up to 2 feet long. Each flower has three pointed petals and three sepals (longer than their width); flowers on lateral branches are mostly staminate   Stems arising from bulbous base are leafy below, reduced upwards to panicle, 0.25-1.9 m; flowers and fruits June-Sept.

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Flowering Season: Summer into fall
Foliage: Long, narrow grasslike leaves are folded lengthwise; most numerous near the base
Site: Moist meadows, bogs, deciduous forests

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SIMILAR SPECIES: This genus, with only one species in Ohio, is very distinctive with its long grass-like leaves, panicled inflorescence and many smallish white flowers. Two types of flowers are present. Flowers of panicle branches are staminate, whereas flowers of the terminal unbranched axis are perfect.

Resources:
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/wildflowers/stenanthium_gramineum.html
http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/dnap/Abstracts/s/stengram/tabid/1619/Default.aspx

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News on Health & Science

Turmeric Can Sooth Bowel

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Do you have bowel problem? Try out turmeric, for a new study says that the spice relieves symptoms in many cases.

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An international team has carried out the study and found that curcumin, the major yellow constituent of turmeric, helps in reducing inflammation in many people suffering from bowel disease, the ‘British Journal of Nutrition‘ reported.

“Crohn’s disease, a form of inflammatory bowel, can be aggravated or relieved by the sufferer‘s diet. Only by linking particular components to effects on the specific genotype can we get true understanding of the disease and how to treat it.

“This finding means that some people with Crohn’s disease may benefit from eating turmeric, but this is entirely dependent on their genetic makeup. Others may not get any benefit, or may even have a severe reaction,” lead researcher Christine Butts of Plant & Food Research said. And, according to the researchers, the discovery may assist in the development of diet-based treatments for people suffering from the equivalent genetic form of the disease.

“We are one step closer to understanding this disease and how to best control it with diet,” Butts said.

Added co-researcher Kieran Elborough: “In diseases with complex genetics, such as Crohn’s disease, understanding which genetic variants are affected by which food compounds is important in knowing what to avoid in the diet.

“Using this knowledge, we can develop dietary supplements with added benefits which can help bowel disease sufferers based on their personal genotype.”

Sources: The Times Of India

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Breastfeeding Cuts Mums’ Heart Attack, Stroke risk

It is known that breastfeeding is important for babies’ health. But now, a new study has shown that nursing is equally vital for  mothers’ health.

University of Pittsburgh researchers said that the longer women breastfed, the lower their risk of heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular disease.

“Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women, so it’s vitally important for us to know what we can do to protect ourselves. We have known for years that breastfeeding is important for babies’ health; we now know that it is important for mothers’ health as well,” said Eleanor Bimla Schwarz, M.D., M.S., assistant professor of medicine, epidemiology, and obstetrics, gynaecology and reproductive sciences at the University of Pittsburgh.

According to the study, postmenopausal women who breastfed for at least one month had lower rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, all known to cause heart disease.

Women who had breastfed their babies for more than a year were 10 percent less likely to have had a heart attack, stroke, or developed heart disease than women who had never breastfed.

Dr Schwarz and colleagues found that the benefits from breastfeeding were long-term and an average of 35 years had passed since women enrolled in the study had last breastfed an infant.

“The longer a mother nurses her baby, the better for both of them. Our study provides another good reason for workplace policies to encourage women to breastfeed their infants,” Schwarz said.

The findings are based on 139,681 postmenopausal women enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative study of chronic disease, initiated in 1994.

The study is published in the May issue of Obstetrics & Gynaecology.

Sources:The Times Of India

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News on Health & Science

Fructose Worse Than Glucose for Human Health

While too much sugar is bad for health, scientists have found that over-consumption fructose is more dangerous than that of glucose.

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YOU MAY CLICK TO SEE:->Fructose: Sweet, But Dangerous

Peter Havel and colleagues, at the University of California at Davis, Davis, conducted the 10-week study.

It was found that human consumption of fructose-sweetened but not glucose-sweetened beverages could adversely affect both sensitivity to the hormone insulin and how the body handles fats, creating medical conditions that increase susceptibility to heart attack and stroke.

In the study, overweight and obese individuals consumed glucose or fructose-sweetened beverages that provided 25% their energy requirements for 10 weeks.

During this period, individuals in both groups put on about the same amount of weight, but only those consuming fructose-sweetened beverages exhibited an increase in intra-abdominal fat.

In addition, only these individuals became less sensitive to the hormone insulin (which controls glucose levels in the blood) and showed signs of dyslipidemia (increased levels of fat-soluble molecules known as lipids in the blood).

The researcher said that although these are signs of the metabolic syndrome, which increases an individual’s risk of heart attack, the long-term affects of fructose over-consumption on susceptibility to heart attack remain unknown.

Sources: The Times Of India

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Environmental Pollution

Reduce Your Trash & Save The Earth

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Are you worried that you’re hurting the environment by producing too much trash? Here are some methods you could use to cut it down:–

1. No soda in cans
2. No water in plastic bottles
3. No coffee in disposable cups
4. No throwaway plastic razors and blade cartridges
5. Using non-disposable feminine-hygiene products that aren’t bad for women and are good for the planet
6. No Indian food in throwaway takeout tubs
7. No Italian food in plastic throwaway tubs
8. No Chinese food in plastic throwaway tubs
9. Taking your own reusable containers to takeout joints
10. Buying milk in returnable, reusable glass bottles
11. Shopping for honey and pickled veggies and other goods in jars only from merchants who will take back the jars and reuse them
12. Returning egg and berry cartons to the vendors at the farmers’ market for reuse
13. Using neither paper nor plastic bags and bringing your own reusable bags when grocery shopping
14. Canceling our magazine and newspaper subscriptions and reading online
15. Putting an end to the junk mail tree killing
16. Carrying a reusable cup and water bottle
17. Carrying reusable cloths for everything from blowing your nose to drying your hands
18. Politely asking restaurant servers to take away paper and plastic napkins, placemats, straws, cups and single-serving containers
19. Pretending McDonalds and Burger King and all their paper and plastic wrappers just don’t exist
20. Buying no candy bars, gum, lollypops or ice cream that is individually packaged
21. Making your own household cleaners to avoid all the throwaway plastic bottles
22. Using baking soda from a recyclable container to brush your teeth
23. Using baking soda for a deodorant to avoid the plastic containers that deodorant typically comes in
24. Using baking soda for shampoo to avoid plastic shampoo bottles
25. Keeping a worm bin to compost food scraps into nourishment that can be returned to the earth instead of toxins that seep from the landfills
26. Switching to cloth diapers
27. Not buying anything disposable
28. Not buying anything in packaging
29. Shopping for food only from the bulk bins and from the local farmer’s market where food is unpackaged and fresh
30. Forgetting about prepackaged, processed food of any description
31. Giving your second-hand clothes away to charities
32. Offering products you no longer need on Freecycle instead of throwing them away
33. Using old clothes for rags around the apartment instead of paper towels

Sources:  No Impact Man July 18, 2007

Related Links:

Get Rid of Your Trash and Save the Earth

Bag Wars — Paper vs Plastic: The Real Truth

Our Oceans are Turning Into Plastic

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