The anklebone (astragalus) of dinosaurs presents a characteristic upward projection, the 'ascending process' (ASC). The ASC is present in modern birds, but develops a separate ossification centre, and projects from the calcaneum in most species. These differences have been argued to make it non-comparable to dinosaurs. We studied ASC development in six different orders of birds using traditiona...

Protein fractions from three selenium-tolerant and three selenium-sensitive Astragalus species, grown in the presence of [(75)Se]selenate, were analyzed for their selenium content. Though tolerant species are known to accumulate considerably more selenium than do sensitive plants, protein fractions from the three selenium accumulators were found to contain significantly less selenium (0.46 to 0...

s excluded as irrelevant (n = 1320) Full text paper obtained for further review (n = 164) 99 studies further excluded: • • • • • • • No astragalus involved in TCM treatment (n = 54) Not all subjects received astragalus-based TCM (n = 8) No platinum included in the chemotherapy or chemotherapy combined with radiotherapy (n = 10) No usable endpoints were included (n = 16) Not a controlled trial (...

The bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), a single-stranded RNA virus, can cause fatal diarrhea syndrome, respiratory problems, and reproductive disorders in herds. Over the past few years, it has become clear that the BVDV infection rates are increasing and it is likely that an effective vaccine for BVDV will be needed. In this study, transgenic Astragalus was used as an alternative productive p...

Renal fibrosis is a common consequence of chronic kidney diseases (CKD). Standard therapy to prevent progression of CKD in western medicine includes dietary protein restriction, blood pressure control, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition and angiotensin receptor blockade. However, little is known about the renoprotective effects of Chinese herbal medicine. Cumulative evidence suggests that...

Animals employ an array of signals (i.e. visual, acoustic, olfactory) for communication. Natural selection favours signals, receptors, and signalling behaviour that optimise the received signal relative to background noise. When the signal is used for more than one function, antagonisms amongst the different signalling functions may constrain the optimisation of the signal for any one function....