Ernest Sosa has recently articulated an insightful response to skepticism and, in particular, to the dream argument. The response relies on two independent moves. First, Sosa offers the imagination model of dreaming according to which no assertions are ever made in dreams and no beliefs are involved there. As a result, it is possible to distinguish dreaming from being awake, and the dream argum...

Prolonged dormancy is a life-history stage in which mature plants fail to resprout for one or more growing seasons and instead remain alive belowground. Prolonged dormancy is relatively common, but the proximate causes and consequences of this intriguing strategy have remained elusive. In this study we tested whether stored resources are associated with remaining belowground, and investigated t...

Astragalus polysaccharides (APS), one of main bioactive components in Astragalus membranaceus Bunge, has been reported to possess anti-inflammatory activities, but the molecular mechanisms behind this activity are largely unknown. This study aimed to investigate expression of inflammatory cytokines and the MAPK/NF-κB pathway in human THP-1 macrophages induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The re...

In this research the metaphase chromosome number and karyotype of Astragalus stenosemioides species growing naturally in Turkey are studied. The study revealed that A. is 2n = 16. basic determined as x 8. formula 8m. total length somatic chromosomes ranges between 1.96 - 3.38 μm. haploid 21.36 addition, asymmetry was evaluated by different methods; Stebbins classification, TF%, AsK%, Syi Rec, A...

The present review article aimed to a focused summary of the main immunomodulatory properties some most frequently used herbaceous plants either in traditional medicine or as food supplements: andrographis (Andrographis paniculata), astragalus (Astragalus propinquus/membranaceus), black cumin (Nigella sativa), cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum), purple coneflowe...

The geographic distribution of Astragalus (Fabaceae) in Iran was analyzed using a database of 7606 georeferencedobservations. Astragalus occurs in all provinces of Iran, but 88% ofthe observations are in five provinces including Tehran, West-Azerbaijan, Esfahan, Kordestan, and Khorasan-e Razavi.Most species are rare and narrowly endemic: Thelargest distance between two observations of the same ...