The aim of this study was to find out the nutritional value of some selected plants of family Zygophyllaceae and Euphorbiaceae which are traditionally used in different parts of Pakistan. The five plants Fagonia cretica L., Peganum harmala L., Tribulus terrestris L., Chrozophora tinctoria (L.) Raf. and Ricinus communis L., were collected from Peshawar and Attock Hills during winter, 2009. In th...

A diagnosis and description of the new genus Burmahabitans is given, three species Apameini, Photedes macroductus sp. n., Sesamia waziristana n. Burmahabitan schinsilvicola are presented illustrated with 10 colour images genitalia figures.

Plants used in traditional medicine are potential sources of new biologically active compounds many of them with antibacterial and antifungal activity. Plants can serve as a source of model compounds for synthetic or semi synthetic structure modification (Balandrin et al., 1993). Potential natural and synthetic substances with biocidal activity are considered candidates for developing new drugs...

Phylogenetic relationships within Fagonia were inferred from analyses of plastid trnL intron and nuclear ribosomal ITS DNA sequences. Sampling of the genus was nearly complete, including 32 of 34 species. Phylogenetic analysis was carried out using parsimony, and Bayesian model averaging. The latter method allows model-based inference while accounting for model-selection uncertainty, and is her...

Two arsenic-accumulating Pteris ferns (Pteris cretica mayii and Pteris multifida), along with a non-accumulating control fern (Nephrolepis exaltata) were grown in greenhouse conditions in clean sand spiked with 0, 20, 50, 100 and 200 ppm sodium arsenate. Spectral data were collected for each of five replicates prior to harvest at 4-week intervals. Fern samples were analyzed for total metals con...

Juvenile hormone esterase (JHE) is a carboxylesterase that has attracted great interest because of its critical role in regulating larval to adult transition in insects and other arthropods. Previously, we characterized an ecdysteroid sensitive and juvenile hormone non-susceptible juvenile hormone esterase related gene (SnJHER) in the corn stalk borer, Sesamia nonagrioides. SnJHER was rhythmica...

BACKGROUND Plants have proved to be an important source of anti-cancer drugs. Here we have investigated the cytotoxic action of an aqueous extract of Fagonia cretica, used widely as a herbal tea-based treatment for breast cancer. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Using flow cytometric analysis of cells labeled with cyclin A, annexin V and propidium iodide, we describe a time and dose-dependent a...