The endophytic fungus Penicillium restrictum was isolated from the stems of a milk thistle (Silybum marianum) plant. In culture, the fungus produced distinct red guttates, which have been virtually uninvestigated, particularly from the standpoint of chemistry. Hence, this study examined the chemical mycology of P. restrictum and, in doing so, uncovered a series of both known and new polyhydroxy...

Musk thistle is an invasive weed that is widely distributed throughout much of North America, including grasslands in temperate climates of the midwest USA. A series of laboratory and greenhouse experiments were conducted to determine the effect of various environmental factors on germination of musk thistle seeds. In temperature-fluctuation experiments, seed germination was greater than 65% in...

Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) is a popular herbal product used for hepatoprotection and chemoprevention. Two commercially available formulations are the crude extract, silymarin, and the semipurified product, silibinin. Silymarin consists of at least seven flavonolignans, of which the most prevalent are the diastereoisomers silybin A and silybin B; silibinin consists only of silybin A and sil...

BACKGROUND Extracts of milk thistle (MT), Silybum marianum, have been used as medical remedies since the time of ancient Greece. Methotrexate is a potentially hepatotxic drug. OBJECTIVES To clarify the hepatoprotective effects of MT on methotrexate. MATERIALS AND METHODS From January 2010 to April 2010, 30 male rats were recruited into three 10-rat subgroups in Tabriz University of Medical ...

Green synthesis of nanoparticles, as fundamental building blocks of nanotechnology, has recently attracted considerable attention. Silver nanoparticles have unique physiochemical, biological and environmental properties which make them useful in a wide range of applications. In the present paper we report our research results on biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles from silver precursor usin...

Poor production of breast milk is the most frequent cause of breast lactation failure. Often, physician prescribe medications or other substances to solve this problem. The use of galactogogues should be limited to those situations in which reduced milk production from treatable causes has been excluded. One of the most frequent indication for the use of galactogogues is the diminution of milk ...

The outbreak of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) had a striking impact on the worldwide healthcare system within very short period. availability large number clinical data SARS-CoV-2, conventional precautionary majors, and treatment strategies with existing therapeutic antiviral drug molecules also fails to control progression disease transmission among population. Hence, we implemented phar...

Based on prior field observations, we hypothesized that individual and interacting effects of plant size, density, insect herbivory, and especially fungal disease, influenced seedling and juvenile plant growth in native Platte thistle populations (Cirsium canescens Nutt.). We worked at Arapaho Prairie in the Nebraska Sandhills (May August 2007), monitoring plant growth, insect damage, and funga...

Studies of biogeographic variation in species abundances are fundamental to understanding and predicting the impacts of invasive exotic species. We quantified the abundance of the introduced and now invasive biocontrol weevil, Rhinocyllus conicus, on a newly adopted native host plant, Cirsium canescens (Platte thistle), across the plant's distributional range. We used regression and structural ...