BACKGROUND AND AIMS Invasion by alien plants may be partially related to disturbance-related increases in nutrient availability and decreases of competition with native species, and to superior competitive ability of the invader. Oxalis pes-caprae is an invasive winter geophyte in the Mediterranean Islands that reproduces vegetatively via bulbs. An investigation was made into the relative respo...

Plants are rich source of antibacterial agents, which could be exploited in human disease management. Aqueous extracts of leaves of 46 plants selected based on an ethnobotanical survey from Mysore region Karnataka (India) were subjected to in vitro antibacterial activity assay against 14 important human pathogenic bacteria employing cup diffusion method. Antibacterial activity of the twelve pla...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To assess the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of escalating single doses of wood creosote, an herbal antidiarrheal and antispasmodic agent. DESIGN Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. SETTING Clinical research center. SUBJECTS Forty (32 men, 8 women) healthy volunteers aged 19-42 years. INTERVENTION By random assignment, 22 men and 8 women receiv...

This is the first investigation of the diversity and distribution of 16S rRNA and phenol monooxygenase (PHE) genes in endophytic and rhizosphere bacteria of plants at sites contaminated with different levels of PAHs. Ten PAHs at concentrations from 34.22 to 55.29 and 45.79 to 97.81 mg·kg(-1) were measured in rhizosphere soils of Alopecurus aequalis Sobol and Oxalis corniculata L., respectively....