OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of and characteristics associated with Sri Lankan adolescents' chewing of areca. BASIC RESEARCH DESIGN Cross-sectional descriptive study based on a self-administered questionnaire. PARTICIPANTS 633, 15-year-olds in the Bandarawela education zone of Sri Lanka. RESULTS Nearly 7% of the sample were current chewers of arecanut and 1% of commercially avail...

The current study was aimed at investigating the effect of Areca catechu nut dichloromethane fraction (7 mg/kg) on monoamines (serotonin and dopamine) modulation (5-hydroxytryptophan-induced tremors and phenylethylamine-induced stereotypes) and its interaction with tyramine (cheese effect). The dichloromethane fraction caused pronounced increase in 5-HTP-induced tremors (50%) with negligible PE...

Introduction Leaf of areca tree (Areca catechu L.) is a hard material (good tensile strength), slow in biodegradation and has low calorific value. About 1000 million leaf sheaths (2,33,000 tonnes) are available annually in India alone. Areca leaf sheath (cellulose, 43%) by digestion using sulphite process at 162°C for 3.5 h gives a pulp (yield, 36-40%), which in admixture with other pulp can be...

2002 Winstock A. Areca nut-abuse liability, dependence and public health. Addict Biol 2002; 7:133± 8. Williams S, Malik A, Chowdhury S, Chauhan S. Socio-cultural aspects of areca nut use. Addict Biol 2002;7:147± 54. Warnakulasuriya S. Areca nut use following migration and its consequences. Addict Biol 2002;7:127± 32. Trivedy CR, Craig G, Warnakulasuriya S. The oral health consequences of chewin...

Arecanut seed has been used for medicinal properties more than 2000 years in South Asian countries. In fact, various pharmacological activities have been found in the arecanut seed extract or its constituents. Prevention of oxidative stress induced diseases is an urgent problem in all over the world. Traditional use of the plant for medicinal properties is to be documented for their possible us...

Germplasm conservation in the form of seed is convenient and most cost-effective ex situ conservation method for plant species producing orthodox seeds. Several species of plantation crops and spices produce non-orthodox seeds, which exhibit intermediate or recalcitrant seed storage behaviour. Storage of these species requires the use of in vitro conservation techniques for shortto medium-term ...