BACKGROUND Many indigenous plants of Mascarene Islands have been used in folkloric medicine to manage diabetes but few species have received scientific attention. Selected traditional medicinal plants (Antidesma madagascariense Lam. -Euphorbiaceae (AM), Erythroxylum macrocarpum O.E.Schulz -Erythroxylaceae (EM), Pittosporum senacia Putterl -Pittosporaceae (PS), Faujasiopsis flexuosa Lam. C.Jeffr...

A simple two-step procedure is now available for directly measuring triglycerides in whole serum and in lipoprotein fractions. I tested the performance of the assay, using pooled serum stored frozen, freshly prepared lipoprotein fractions, and pure glyceride standards. A parabolic concentration-response curve ensured linearity well beyond total glycerol concentrations of 10 mmol/L, but gave ris...

Surface Tension. To properly direct the Cassie-Wenzel transition using variations in the surface tension of the aqueous solution (sol ) in contact with the SH film, we first established the behavior of sol  at various mass fractions of ethanol (Figure S1). The surface tension of the liquid was as high as 71.3 mN/m for pure water (water ) and as low as 21.7 mN/m for pure ethanol (EtOH ), and...

Scrophularia nodosa (figwort), an indigenous medicinal plant grows in moist and cultivated waste ground. It contains saponins, cardioactive glycosides, flavonoids, resin, sugar and organic acids. It is traditionally used for anti-inflammatory purpose and in skin disorders. It has diuretic and cardiac stimulant properties. The present studies were carried out on crude extract of Scrophularia nod...

Cell envelope fractions from Salmonella can utilize exogenous lipid-linked intermediates for the synthesis of polymeric O-antigen. We describe a method for preparing aqueous suspensions of lipid intermediates and show that freezing and thawing of cell envelope-lipid intermediate mixtures is required for efficient synthesis. The lipid intermediates move freely in the hydrophobic environment of t...

A simple, single-column, high-throughput fractionation procedure based on size-exclusion chromatography of aqueous sodium dodecyl sulfate suspensions of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) is presented. This procedure is found to yield monochiral or near monochiral SWCNT fractions of semiconducting SWCNTs. Unsorted and resulting monochiral suspensions are characterized using optical absorpt...

Syzygium jambos (L.) Alstone belonging to the Myrtaceae family have been investigated for evaluation of their biological activities namely antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. The n-hexane, carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, aqueous soluble fractions of methanolic extract as well as crude methanolic extract of stem barks of Syzygium jambos were evaluated for their free radical scavenging acti...

We had recently reported antibacterial activity in the crude extract of the stem bark of Afzelia africana (Akinpelu et al., 2008). In this study, we assessed the biocidal and cell membrane disruption potentials of fractions obtained from the crude extract of the plant. The aqueous (AQ) and butanol (BL) fractions exhibited appreciable antibacterial activities against the test bacteria. The minim...

Tamgermanitin, a unique N-trans-Isoferuloyltyramine, together with the hitherto unknown polyphenolics, 2,4-di-O-galloyl-(α/β)-glucopyranose and kaempferide 3,7-disulphate have been isolated from the leaf aqueous ethanol extract of the false tamarisk, Myricaria germanica DESV. In addition, 18 known phenolics were also separated and characterized. All structures were elucidated on the basis of de...

Agelanthus dodoneifolius DC Danser (Loranthaceae) is used for the treatment of various diseases including asthma. The aqueous and hydroalcoholic extracts have been reported to have anti-inflammatory, spasmolytic and bronchorelaxant activities. The present study investigates the effects of the aqueous decoction and the diethyl ether, ethyl acetate and butanolic fractions of Agelanthus dodoneifol...