Categories
Herbs & Plants

Curry Leaves

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Botanical Name : Murraya koenigii
Family: Rutaceae
Genus: Murraya
Species: M. koenigii
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Sapindales
Syninyms: Bergera koenigii, Chalcas koenigii

Common Names: Curry Tree or Curry-leaf Tree,The Curry Tree  (Tamil: karivepallai, Malayalam: kariveppila, Kannada: karibevina soppu, Konkani:  karibeva paallo, Telugu: karivepaku , kadipatta, Bengali:  Kari Gaas)  It produces the leaves known as Curry leaves or Sweet Neem leaves. Karivepillai in Tamil means black neem as the appearance of the leaves look similar to the neem leaves.

The small and narrow leaves somewhat resemble the leaves of the Neem tree; therefore they are also referred to as Kadhi Patta (Hindi), Mithho Limdo (Gujarati) Kadhielimba (Marathi), (Patta meaning leaf and Kadhi being a popular dish that consists of a thin soup or stew made from yogurt, among dishes this leaf is used to spice) Karivepaku in Telugu (aaku means leaf), Karuveppilai (translated to Black Neem leaf) in Tamil and Malayalam, Karu/Kari meaning black, ilai meaning leaves and veppilai meaning Neem leaf. In the Kannada language it is known as Kari Bevu. Other names include Karivepaku Karuveppilai, noroxingha (Assamese), Bhursunga Patra (Oriya), and Karapincha (Sinhalese).

Habitat: .The curry tree is native to India; today, it is found wild or become wild again, almost everywhere in the Indian subcontinent excluding the higher levels of the Himalayas. In the East, its range extends into Burma.

The name curry plant is often used for Helichrysum italicum (Asteraceae), a relative of immortelle; several subspecies grow in the European Mediterranean countries. The essential oil shows considerable infraspecific variation; its main components are monoterpene hydrocarbons (pinene, camphene, myrcene, limonene) and monoterpene-derived alcohols (linalool, terpinene-4-ol, nerol, geraniol, also their acetates); further important aroma components are nonterpenoid acyclic β-ketones, which give rise to a somewhat disagreeable flavour (e.g., 2,5,7-trimethyldec-2-en-6,8-dione, 2,5,7,9-tetramethyldec-2-en-6,8-dione, 2,5,7,9-tetramethylhendec-2-en-6,8-dione, 3,5-dimethyloctan-4,6-dione, 2,4-dimethylheptan-3,5-dione).

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Plant family:  Rutaceae (citrus family).

Description:
It is a small tree, growing 4-6 m tall, with a trunk up to 40 cm diameter. The leaves are pinnate, with 11-21 leaflets, each leaflet 2-4 cm long and 1-2 cm broad. They are highly aromatic. The flowers are small white, and fragrant. The small black, shiny berries are edible, but their seeds are poisonous.

The species name commemorates the botanist Johann König.

 click &b see the pictures.>…..   tree……….flowers.……...berries……..

Propagation:
Seeds must be planted fresh; dried or shriveled fruits are not viable. Plant either the whole fruit (or remove the pulp) in potting mix and keep moist but not wet.
Sensory quality:
Fresh and pleasant, remotely reminiscent of tangerines.

Main constituents:
Fresh leaves are rich in an essential oil, but the exact amount depends besides freshness and genetic strain also on the extraction technique. Typical figures run from 0.5 to 2.7%.

The following aroma components have been identified in curry leaves of Sri Lanka (in parentheses, the content in mg/kg fresh leaves): β-caryophyllene (2.6 ppm), β-gurjunene (1.9), β-elemene (0.6), β-phellandrene (0.5), β-thujene (0.4), α-selinene (0.3), β-bisabolene (0.3), furthermore limonene, β-trans-ocimene and β-cadinene (0.2 ppm). (Phytochemistry, 21, 1653, 1982)

Newer work has shown a large variability of the composition of the essential oil of curry leaves. In North Indian plants, monoterpenes prevail (β-phellandrene, α-pinene, β-pinene), whereas South Indian samples yielded sesquiterpenes: β-caryophyllene, aromadendrene, α-selinene. (Flavour and Fragrance Journal, 17, 144, 2002)

Uses:
Its leaves are highly aromatic and are used as an herb. Their form is small and narrow and somewhat resemble the leaves of the Neem tree; therefore they are also referred to as Kari Bevu, translated to Black Neem, in the Kannada language and Karivepaku in Telugu again translating to the same meaning. In Tamil and Malayalam it is known as Karuveppilai, ilai meaning leaves. Other names include Kari Patta (Hindi), Kadi Patta (Marathi), Limda(Gujarati) and Karapincha (Sinhalese).

They are commonly used as seasoning in Indian and Sri Lankan cooking, much like bay leaves and especially in curries with fish or coconut milk. In their fresh form, they have a short shelf life and may be stored in a freezer for up to a week; they are also available dried, although the aroma is clearly much inferior.

Curry leaves are extensively used in Southern India and Sri Lanka (and are absolutely necessary for the authentic flavour), but are also of some importance in Northern India. Together with South Indian immigrants, curry leaves reached Malaysia, South Africa and Réunion island. Outside the Indian sphere of influence, they are rarely found.

In Burma, however, a completely different definition of “curry” is in use: Burmese “curries” owe their flavour to a fried paste of ground onions and other spices (see onion for details). Lastly, in Indonesia, any spicy food may be termed a curry (kari in Indonesian). Sometimes, one even hears about Ethiopian (see long pepper) or Caribbean “curries”, whatever this may mean (except, perhaps, the least common denominator of all those: Spiciness).

Medicinal Uses:-

Said to be tonic and stomachic.  In India, the young leaves are taken for dysentery and diarrhea.   The leaves and the stem are used as a tonic, stimulant and carminative.   An infusion of the toasted leaves is anti-emetic.  A paste of the bark and roots is applied to bruises and poisonous bites.  The seeds are used to make a medicinal oil called ‘zimbolee oil.’  Fresh juice of the leaves mixed with lemon juice and sugar is prescribed for digestive disorders, and eating 10 curry leaves every morning for 3 months is thought to cure hereditary diabetes.  A few drops of the juice are believed to keep eyes bright.  A liberal intake of curry leaves impedes premature greying of the hair.  The leaves, boiled in coconut oil, are massaged into the scalp to promote hair growth and retain color.  The leaves may also be used as a poultice to help heal burns and wounds.  Juice from the berries may be mixed with lime juice and applied to soothe insect bites and stings.

Curry leaves possess the qualities of herbal tonic.They strengthen the functions of stomach. and promots its action.They are also used as a mild laxative.The leaves may be taken mixed with other mild testing herbs. The juice extracted from 15 grams of leaves may be taken with buttermilk.

Digestive Disorders:
Fresh juice of curry leaves and sugar,is an effective medicine for morning sickness,vomiting and nausea due to indigestion and excessive use of fats.One or two teaspoon of juice leaves mixed with teaspoon of lime juice may be taken in these conditions.The curry leaves ground to a fine paste and mixed with buttermilk can be taken in an empty stomach with beneficial results in case of stomach upsets.

Tender curry leaves are used in diarrhoea,dysentry and piles.They should be taken mixed with honey.The bark of the tree is also useful in bilious vomiting.A teaspoon of powder or decoction of the dry bark should be given with cold water in this condition.

Diabetes: Eating 10 fresh fully grown curry leaves every morning for three months is said to prevent diabetes due to heredity factors. It can cure diabetes due to obesity as the leaves have weight reducing properities.

Kidney Disorders:The root of the curry plant also has medicinal properities.The juice of the root can be taken to relieve pain associated with kindeys.

Premature Greying of Hair: Liberal intake of curry leaves is considered beneficial in preventing premature greying of hairs.These leaves have the properity of naurishing the hair roots.New hair roots that grow are healther with normal pigments.The leaves can be used in the form of CUTNEY or the juice may be squeezed and taken in buttermilk or lassi.

Burns and Bruises:
Curry leaves can be effectively used to treat burns,bruises and skin eruptions.They should be applied as a poultice over the affected areas.

Eye Disorders:
Fresh juice of curry leaves suffused in the eyes makes them look bright.It also prevents the early development of cataract.

Insect Bites: Fruits of tree,which are berries,are edible,They are green when raw but purple when ripe.Juice of these barries, mixed with equal proportion of lime juice is an effective fluid for external application in insect stings and bites of poisonous creatures.

Hair Tonic: When leaves are boiled with coconut oil till they are reduced to blackened residue, the oil forms an excellent hair tonic to stimulate hair growth and in retaining the natural pigmentation.

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Disclaimer:The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Help taken from:h,ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curry_leaves http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Murr_koe.html and Herbs That Heal

http://www.herbnet.com/Herb%20Uses_C.htm

Categories
News on Health & Science

Facial Expression

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Is your smile fake or genuine? Elena Conis unravels the myriad goings-on that bring about that enchanting facial expression .

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Mona Lisa’s smile is mysterious, the Cheshire Cat’s is devious, the Joker’s is mischievous and Buddha’s beatific.
Humans probably have been smiling for as long as they have been around. But despite the long history of smiles, scientists still haven’t figured out exactly how or why the brain tells the lips to curve, the nose to wrinkle, the eyes to twinkle and the cheeks to lift.

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Babies generally start smiling at about six to eight weeks. Throughout childhood, boys smile just about as much as girls. That changes soon after puberty. Grown women smile more than men, and they also smile wider. Smiling, studies suggest, makes people appear more attractive, kinder and, by some accounts,easier to remember.

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Smiles carry myriad meanings: joy, amusement, politeness, mockery, disdain, lechery and deceit, to name a few. But no matter the emotion, all smiles call on many muscles and nerves, starting with one called cranial nerve seven.

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Cranial nerve seven leaves the brain and heads for the face, and at the point where the jawbone meets the skull, it branches off. Some of its tributaries travel to the muscles of the forehead, some to the eyes, some to the nose and others to the cheeks, lips and chin. When cranial seven sends its message to the face, the face will smile.

All smiles share something else in common: an emotional foundation. But there’s subtlety here. Depending on what the emotion is, the brain sends different instructions to the face — such was the conclusion of a young, 19th century French doctor named Guillaume Duchenne.

In the 1840s, Duchenne went from hospital to hospital in Paris carrying a box-like contraption of his own making. Using the coil and electrodes in the box, he applied volts of electricity to the faces of his patients. As their faces contorted, he took notes, ultimately creating a map of the face muscles and nerves.

In the process, Duchenne noticed that the range of human facial expressions includes two kinds of smiles: one that stops at the lips, and one that extends across the face, to the eyes. A smile engaging the eyes, he concluded, was a genuine smile, one that is technically called a  Duchenne smile.

A century after Duchenne, scientists studying facial expressions began applying electrical currents directly to the brain. They found that stimulating certain areas could induce a smile, and that stronger stimulation could make a person laugh.

But not all scientists got the same results. In one experiment, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, were examining the brain of a 16-year-old to find where her chronic seizures were originating. When they electrically stimulated an area on the left side of the girl’s brain, she grinned. When they increased the current, her smile turned to genuine laughter.

In another case, this one in Switzerland, researchers were looking for the source of seizures in a 21-year-old man. Stimulating an area on the right side of his brain caused him to smile, and increasing the current made him laugh. Unlike the 16-year-old girl, he insisted that he felt no joy.

The precise brain regions involved in smiling are still debated, but evidence from patients with brain damage has made one thing clear: The areas involved in instigating a polite, or voluntary, smile (the kind exchanged with a bank teller, for example) are not the same ones involved in genuine smiling (such as the kind that emerges on seeing a loved one or hearing a funny joke).

Some stroke victims, for example, can’t force a smile on demand, but will grin easily when truly happy  is  an indication that the stroke destroyed part of the brain controlling voluntary smiles. But sometimes the converse occurs: A stroke destroys the brain region controlling involuntary movement. In this case, the victim is no longer able to smile or laugh out of joy but can still force the corners of his mouth up into a polite smile.

Researchers are now tapping into another of the smile’s mysteries: They have evidence that a smile that’s a prelude to laughter may actually help the body heal. Preliminary studies suggest that genuine laughter can jolt the immune system into gear.

Source:The Telegraph (Kolkata,India)

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WHY CORNER

Why do shoes have heels?

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KnowHow team explains: Shoes are made for walking, jogging, hiking, even dancing. But in the centuries since our ancestors first wrapped their feet in woven grasses and animal skins to protect them from rough surfaces, function has clashed with fashion in the design of our footwear. The crocodile-hide loafers and cowboy boots that cross paths with dress oxfords on today’s city streets are often chosen for what they say about their wearer rather than for comfort

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Human feet probably evolved to help us walk comfortably across natural terrain in the African savannahs, where the modern humans originated millions of years ago. The surface of such natural grasslands and forest floors used to be inherently padded, and therefore each step taken by our ancestors did not jolt his or her body.

But our social evolution did not keep pace with the biological evolution. The surfaces our ancestors walked on became increasingly harder, ranging from stone to marble stripped of all natural padding. But the body didn’t have time to adapt with the change.

Which is why the heels and balls of human feet take a lot of abuse when we walk; they absorb a great deal of weight over a small surface area that comes in contact with the feet. So to protect the area that strikes the ground with most force we began wearing padded footwear. The wide, blocky heels on shoes, especially those that are made of soft materials such as rubber, help to cushion the feet.

Because they are higher than the rest of the sole, they also shift the weight of the body slightly off the heel and forward onto the rest of the foot, so the heels don’t have to take so much of the load. High-heeled shoes, however, shift the centre of gravity so far forward that much of the weight is borne by the balls of the feet.

Source:The Telegraph (Kolkata,India)

 

Categories
News on Health & Science

Now a vaccine to control blood pressure

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LONDON: British scientists have developed a vaccine which they claim will help people suffering from hypertension to control their blood pressure.

The vaccine developed by Cheshire-based drug firm Protherics has been successfully tested and is expected in the markets within five years.

The vaccine uses a protein found in limpets, a sea creature, to attack a hormone called angiotensin produced by the liver. Angiotensin raises blood pressure by narrowing arteries. The vaccine, however, turns the body’s immune system against the hormone.

It would need a course of just three jabs, with a booster every six months.

A booster shot every six months, or even once a year, would keep blood pressure low, the researchers said.

People who have tried it have suffered a few side effects, although one in ten did complain of a brief flu-like illness.

Protherics is planning trials of an improved version of the vaccine, which is ten times more effective at stimulating the immune system than its original formula, the Daily Mail reported.

“Improving compliance in this way could save thousands from life-threatening complications such as heart attack or stroke,” said Andrew Heath, an official of Protherics.

High blood pressure which affects a third of all adults doubles the risk of dying from heart disease or stroke and is blamed for 60,000 deaths a year in Britain. It is currently treated with pills with side effects and some patients simply stop taking them.

The Swiss firm Cytos Biotechnology is also developing a similar vaccine that uses an empty virus shell to spur the immune system into action.

Source:The Times Of India

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Categories
Yoga

Shavasana(Total Body Rest)

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Posture : Motionless & fixed but relaxed posture like dead body.
Pre position : Supine Position.
Use Generally practiced to get rid of fatigue, strain, exertion etc.

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How to do the Asana(Exercise):
1. Spread both the legs and keep them at a distance of 1 or 1.5 feet apart. Keep the heels facing inside and allow the toes to fall outside and relax them.
2. Take both the hands little away, say 3 to 4 inches, from the body and relax them. Keep the palms facing the roof and the fingers half – closed.
3. Turn the neck to any side and relax it. Further, relax the muscles of the face. Keep the eyes closed with ease and without pressure. Continue extremely slow breathing.

Position : The very aim of this asana is to relax each and every muscle in the body. In order to reach or attain this aim it becomes necessary to take the position in which one finds all the organs of the body in a comfortable and soothing state. Breathing must be slowed down.
Releasing : First one should prepare one’s mind for releasing the Asana. Then all the organs should be brought to their normal tone, and then after preparing first the mind, then the body and then the asana be released as under:-

1. Open the eyes and straighten the neck.
2. Get the hands beside and near to the body.
3. Bring both the legs together and take the Supine Position.

Duration: Since this asana is meant for rest, its duration is not fixed. The only principle to remember is to do this asana when the body is tired and release when the desired rest is achieved.
Benefits: Body movements are minimized, blood circulation is also minimized, heart rate drops, respiration drops, mind becomes calm and relaxed. This helps improve the functioning of brain, it can cure heart related ailments, it also brings down Blood Pressure.
Do’s & Don’ts Do’s
– Keep 1 to 1.5 feet distance between the feet.
– Hands 5 to 8 inches away from the body.
– Neck turned to any suitable direction or straight but relaxed.
– Keep your eyes closed.
– Try relaxing all the parts of the body.

Don’ts
– Do not wear tight clothes.
– Do not sleep in the asana.

Reference Book:- Yoga Sopan

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