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Herbs & Plants

Zanthoxylum rhetsa

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Botanical name : Zanthoxylum rhetsa (Roxb) DC.
Family: Rutaceae
Subfamily: Toddalioideae
Genus: Zanthoxylum
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Sapindales.

Scientific names :
Zanthoxylum rhetsa (Roxb.) DC.
Zanthoxylum oxyphyllum F.-Vill.
Zanthoxylum limonella Alston Kayatena (Tag.)
Fagara budrunga Roxb. Kaytana (Tag.)
Fagara rhetsa Roxb. Kayutana (Tag.)
Fagara piperita Blanco

Common names: Kasabang (Ilk.), Kasalang (Sbl.),Kayatena (Tag.),Indian Ivy Rue; Cape Yellowwood

Sanskrit  synonymes:
Lakhuvalkala, Bidalaghni, Asvaghra
Plant name in different languages :
English  : Indian prickly ash-tree
Hindi  : Badrang
Malayalam : Mullilam, Mulliyllam, Karimurikku, Kattumurikku

Habitat :Altitudinal range from sea level to 200 m. Grows in monsoon forest and drier, more seasonal rain forest. Also occurs in Asia and Malesia.
Throughout Western Ghats, growing wild in semi deciduous forests.

Description:
A moderate sized armed tree grows up to 35 meters in height. Leaves compound, imparipinnate and crowded at the end of branches. Leaflets ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, glabrous and scenty. Flowers yellowish green, small, in terminal panicles. Fruits small globose, fragrant berries contain single seed.

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Stem
Corky bumps or squat, conical prickles usually present on the trunk. Dead bark layered, mustard yellow when cut. Blaze finely layered, darkens markedly on exposure.

Leaves
Leaflet blades about 4-9 x 2-3.5 cm, leaflet stalks about 2-3 mm long. Lateral leaflets unequal-sided, particularly towards the base. Oil dots sparsely scattered in the leaflet but always present at the base of each indentation on the margin of the leaflet blade. Midrib depressed on the upper surface. Lateral veins forming definite loops inside the blade margin. Leaf scars on the twigs show three definite bundles of vascular strands.

Flowers

Inflorescence about 8-14 cm long, shorter than the leaves. Sepals about 0.5-1 mm long. Petals 1-2 mm long. Staminal filaments about 2.5-3 mm long, inserted outside the disk, anthers about 1.5 mm long. Disk irregularly lobed, about 0.5 mm high. Ovary about 1 mm long, style eccentric.

Fruit
Fruits globose, about 6-7 mm diam., surface marked by numerous oil glands. Seeds +/- globular, about 6 mm diam.

Seedlings
Cotyledons orbicular to oblong, rather thick, about 5-6 x 5 mm, margins crenate or appearing crenate because of the marginal oil dots. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf compound, with about nine leaflets. Leaflet blades with about 3-6 teeth on each side. Each tooth with a large oil dot at the base of the sinus. Compound leaf rhachis grooved on the upper surface and armed with curved red spines about 1.5 mm long.

Constituents:-
*Fruit with peel yields volatile oil, 5.8 % with 90% terpenene (sabinene).
*Seeds contain 29.7 % volatile oil.

Properities:
*Fruit is considered stimulant, astringent, aromatic, digestive.
*Bark considered aromatic and aphrodisiac.

Medicinal Uses:-
Useful part : Bark, Leaves, Seeds.
Ayurvedic properities:
Rasa    : Tikta, Kashaya
Guna   : Lakhu, Rooksha
Virya   : Ushna

Plant pacifies vitiated vata, kapha, asthma, bronchitis, cardiac ailments, stomatitis, pyorrhea, hemorrhoids, diarrhea, arthritis, boils, ulcers, poison, and traumatic eye injury.

Folkloric:
*Bark, pounded and mixed with oil, used externally as remedy for stomach pains.
*Decoction of bark taken internally for chest pains.
*Bark chewed and applied to snake bites.
*Fruit used for urinary complaints and dyspepsia caused by atrabilis (the melancholic “humor”). Also used in some forms of diarrhea.
*Bark is considered a bitter aromatic and aphrodisiac.
*Fruit, mixed with honey, taken for rheumatism.
*In Goa, root bark used as purgative for kidneys.
*Essential oil used for cholera.
*In India, traditionally used in diabetes and inflammation; as antispasmodic, diuretic and anti-inflammatory. Paste prepared by rubbing the hard spines on rock and water is applied to breasts to relieve pain and increase lactation in nursing mothers.

Studies
• Antiparasitism: Study investigated the efficacy of Z. rhetsa leaf extract against experimental Hymenolepsis diminuta infections in albino rats. The efficacy of the extract was moderate against immature and adult stages of parasite. Results suggest the leaves of ZR possess significant anticestodal property and supports its use in folk medicine.
• Bark Constituents: Study of bark spines yielded dodecanoic acid, 9,12,octadecanoic acid, oleic acid, octadecanoic acid, 2-hydoxyl-1,3-propanediyl ester, and 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid, diisooctylester – phytochemicals that showed various properties: antioxidant, antimicrobial, larvicidal, anti-inflammatory and anti-arthritic.

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.

Resources:
http://keys.trin.org.au:8080/key-server/data/0e0f0504-0103-430d-8004-060d07080d04/media/Html/taxon/Zanthoxylum_rhetsa.htm
http://www.stuartxchange.com/Kayetana.html
http://ayurvedicmedicinalplants.com/plants/1192.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanthoxylum

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Categories
News on Health & Science

Website on Pancreatic Cancer

It’s one of the most fatal cancers, yet little is known about it. What’s worse, more and more people are being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in recent years. The numbers may be small — 1-2 new cases per 100,000 people every year — but it’s enough to send alarm bells ringing. As it’s also a silent killer, few are aware of it till it’s late.

……………………………...CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES

However, the recent launch of a website on the disease could address this problem. Medical experts say there’s a definite rise in numbers, but unlike the west, there are no surveys to cite exact figures.

“If we look at individual hospitals, then there is an increase in the number of patients. In the last 15-20 years, these have grown five to 10-fold in my hospital itself,” says Dr Sudeep Gupta, assistant professor and oncologist, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai. National Cancer Registries are the other source of information. There are various reasons for the rise in pancreatic cancer cases. Some feel lifestyle changes and diet have resulted in an increase in all types of diseases. In that respect, pancreatic cancer is no exception. Others feel that more cases are coming to light as more people are reporting the disease.

Pancreatic cancer is a silent killer seldom detected in the first stage. The pancreas lies behind the lower part of the stomach. The symptoms — stomach pain, loss of appetite, jaundice — may not even manifest themselves till the disease has advanced. But once it happens, it’s almost fatal. In the US, pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Unlike certain cancers such as lung or breast, researchers have still not been able to pinpoint the exact reason for pancreatic cancer. “We can only guess that diet, smoking, alcohol consumption and obesity could be the reasons behind the disease,” says Dr Shyam Aggarwal, senior consultant, oncology, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi.

Surgery is usually the best treatment. “But in most cases, it’s ruled out as the disease is already in an advanced stage,” says Dr Malay Nandy, senior consultant, oncology medical, Fortis Healthcare, Delhi. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are the other options. However, 80% cases are likely to relapse post surgery and after that, survival is a matter of six months only. Experts say only 10% survive after five years of treatment.

The surgery is complicated and involves the Whipple’s procedure, wherein the pancreas are removed. Unfortunately, India has very few oncologists with the expertise to perform this complicated surgery. As so little is known about this disease, the recent launch of a website, www.pancreaticcancerindia.com , touted as the first comprehensive one in Asia on pancreatic and peri ampullary cancers, is welcome. The interactive website will give patients access to the latest research on the disease and to specialists who will answer queries. “It will help patients get information from the best in the field. What makes it more relevant is that it will be totally in an Indian context,” informs Aggarwal.

Sources: The Times Of India

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Categories
Positive thinking

Gifts From The Universe

Accepting Your Family
Families can contain a fascinating grouping of personalities. Despite the potential for so many to have similar traits, there are many different ways to express them. As people marry into families and have children, even more personalities enter the picture. There may be some people that we would not choose to be related to, but that’s what friends are for.

If we trust in a universe that has a higher purpose for everything, then we must believe that family members are in our lives for a good reason. These reasons may be easy to see and appreciate with some, but others may offer us a challenge. With those, we can look for something we can learn or perhaps teach. In the modern world where everyone seeks to be individuals, many move far away from their families in an attempt to escape them. But when we’ve successfully built a world around us that requires no one’s help, our families are the people who are still attached to us. We can still choose whether or not to honor the family ties, and how to treat each other, but the fact remains that we are energetically tied to our families.

Our families help us see where we have come from so that we may more clearly decide where we’d like to go. If we can learn to accept our families for who they are, then we go out into the world armed with the ability to deal with anyone. Some families are better than others at preparing us for the world. What we learn from our families, even if they are simply blank spots on our family trees, becomes the basis of our identities as individuals. Rather than denying our connections, we can choose to accept their presence in our lives. Acceptance does not mean we have to like them; we simply acknowledge that we are connected to them and honor that connection for like it or not, there is a reason. When we can embrace all that they bring into our experience, we may be grateful for all we have learned from them and have to learn, while we experience everything that comes with family fully and completely.
Source:Daily Om

Categories
News on Health & Science

New treatment for cancer

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TomoTherapy, a new way to treat cancer, has given a ray of hope to patients, reports Vishnupriya Sengupta.

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A cancer patient undergoes TomoTherapy at a hospital.
Imagine a cancer patient walking into a hospital on a Monday afternoon, undergoing a 30-minute operation, walking out on Friday with minimum side effects and rejoining office the following Monday. This isn’t quite a dream. It is actually possible, courtesy TomoTherapy, and not very far from home   at Gleneagles Hospital in Singapore.

Imagine a terminally ill cancer patient who doesn’t lose the ability to walk even though the cancer may have spread to the bone, specifically the hip joint of the pelvis. Far from spending the remainder of his life in bed or being bound to a wheel chair, he gets a chance to walk again, without feeling an iota of pain. It’s possible at the National University Hospital in Singapore.

Imagine a young woman in her 30s who goes in for a routine check-up for cervical cancer. But instead of undergoing colposcopy, where her cervix is examined with a special binocular microscope, she is subjected to a visual inspection called MediScan which involves a computerised digital data and image archival system, more effective in tracking changes in cervical lesions. This is a technique used at the KK Women’s and Children Hospital in Singapore.

Singapore, touted as a medical tourism hub, is now fast emerging as a one-stop specialist centre. It houses a large pool of oncologists who use state-of-the-art equipment and targeted therapies which maximise outcomes and minimise undesirable side effects. This has resulted in a rapid influx of patients from Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and the Middle East. In the next five years, the number is set to reach one million.

Some cancers are curable not just in India but also in state-of-the-art hospitals elsewhere. But TomoTherapy, the new revolutionary way to treat the illness, has given a new ray of hope to all cancer patients because it is the most advanced form of image-guided intensity modulated radiation therapy with several advantages.

A year ago, on March 1, 2006, Mount Elizabeth Oncology Centre became the first centre in South East Asia to offer Tomotherapy and treat its first patient with this state-of-the-art machine. While the machine costs well over US $6 million, the good news is that the cost of the treatment in Singapore is less than half the cost of treatment in the US, as it varies between Singapore $20,000 and $ 4,000.

“Tomotherapy combines precise 3-D imaging from computerised tomography (CT scanning) with highly targeted precise radiation beams, says Dr Khoo Kei Siong, deputy medical director, Parkway Cancer Centre, Gleneagles Hospital. With this machine, radiation oncologists can check the location of the patient’s tumour before each treatment. They can then deliver painless and precise radiation therapy based on a carefully customised plan.

Elaborating on the advantages, Dr Khoo Kei Siong says, “As compared to traditional radiation therapy that can only accommodate a few angles, many different angles of entry for radiation beams can be obtained by the use of this machine. More importantly, there is accurate control of radiation delivery to precise areas and at the precise intensity, which minimises side effects because of targeted radiation and precise image guided positioning. Also, there is a lower radiation exposure to the healthy tissues surrounding the tumour.”

Until recently, cancer could only be diagnosed with the help of CT scans and MRIs. But Singapore, in particular the Parkway Group Healthcare, has acquired a super efficient imaging device that helps in the early detection of cancer. The device shows the chemical functioning of organs and tissues and allows a detailed measurement of distinct areas of the human brain while the patient is comfortable, conscious and alert. This imaging technique called Positron Emission Tomography (PET) diagnoses cancers otherwise difficult or impossible to detect.

At times, even when cancer is detected, the patient may be reluctant to undergo surgery. Chang Kat Tat, 59, is a case in point. He has cancer in the rectum and prostate and it has spread throughout the bones in his body. When he was offered surgery for his rectal cancer, he refused. But when he was offered surgery to help him walk again, he agreed.

Assistant Professor Suresh Nathan, an orthopaedic oncologist at the National University Hospital, applied the Harrington Procedure, a palliative surgery — which involves reconstructing the hip and then carrying out a hip replacement, which relieves all pain from standing or walking — on him. Dr Nathan learnt the procedure — which takes three to four hours to complete and costs around Singapore $ 20,000 — at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Ever since his return from the US in 2005, he has performed such operations on both adults and children.

Today Chang does not know how long he will live but he is mobile enough to continue his work as a spectacle lens fitter and ride his bike. Says Dr Nathan, “The initial outlay for something like this may be expensive but the alternative is being bed-bound, inviting the cancer to run amok, developing bed sores and dying from the associated blood infection. Also, you save on home and hospice care.”

Singapore has also made significant strides in the early detection of cervical cancer, the second most common cancer worldwide. While there is already a vaccine available which is effective in providing protection against the human papilloma virus which causes cervical cancer, the KKH Hospital in Singapore has also acquired a digital colposcopy network that helps in the diagnoses of cervical pre-cancer.

“While colposcopy is an important step in screening for cervical cancer, it’s effectiveness depends largely on the expertise of the doctor performing the procedure,” says Dr Quek Swee Chong, consultant, Gynaecologic Oncology Unit, KK Women’s and Children Hospital, Singapore. “But now with the help of this new networked system called MediScan, doctors can instantly retrieve digital images captured at various stages and track changes in cervical lesions more closely and accurately,” explains Dr Chong, who was part of the developmental team.

As to stem cell research — one area in which India is also doing its bit for advancement with LifeCell, the Chennai-based stem cell banking and research centre, setting up India’s first stem cell transplant centre in the country last year — Singapore is by no means lagging behind.

Take the case of Oh Tze Sun. When he was nine months old, he was diagnosed with Beta Thalassaemia Major. He had to bear the torment of daily injections and blood transfusion every three weeks. But six years later, Dr Patrick Tan, medical director, Haematology and Stem Cell Transplant Centre at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Singapore, performed a landmark transplant on him with cord blood from an unrelated donor. With the success of the transplant, Tze Sun was given a clean chit. He no longer needs blood transfusion or injections and can finally lead a normal life.

With such major advancements in the field of oncology, cancer patients can now look forward to starting life afresh.

Source:The Telegraph (Kolkata,India)

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