Malaria is one of the worst sicknesses to affect humankind. For centuries there was no specific treatment, and it was not until the seventeenth century that Spanish colonisers brought back from Peru tree bark from which quinine was later extracted. In the twentieth century, synthetic alternatives to quinine were developed. Of these, chloroquine was the most successful, but by the 1970s widespre...

Heavy metals polluting the natural environment are absorbed by plants. The use of herbs as components of cosmetics may pose a health risk for humans. The aim of the study was to determine the concentrations of Pb, Cd and Hg in selected species of herbs (horsetail Equisetum arvense, nettle Urtica dioica, St. John's wort Hypericum perforatum, wormwood Artemisia absinthium, yarrow Achillea millefo...

Hydrosol beverages in Persian nutrition culture and ethnomedicine are the side products of essential oil industry that are used as delicious drinks or safe remedies. To investigate indications and chemical composition of hydrosol beverages for hyperlipidemia and cardiovascular conditions, Fars province was selected as the field of study. Ethnomedical data were gathered by questionnaires. The co...

BACKGROUND Artemisinin is a compound isolated from the wormwood Artemisia annua L. It reacts with iron and forms cytotoxic free radicals. It is selectively more toxic to cancer than normal cells because cancer cells contain significantly more intracellular free iron. Previously, we found that covalently tagging artemisinin to transferrin enhanced the selectivity and toxicity of artemisinin towa...

Page Introduction 1 Methods of extraction 2 Extraction by expression 2 Extraction by solution 2 Extraction with cold solid fats _-_ 3 Extraction with hot liquid fats --3 Extraction with volatile solvents 4 Extraction by steam distillation 6 Design and construction of volatile-oil stills 6 Operation of volatile-oil stills__ 12 Commercial production of volatile oils in the United States^ 15 Oils ...

Derivatives of artemisinin, a compound extracted from the wormwood Artemisia annua L, have potent anticancer properties. The anticancer mechanisms of artemisinin derivatives have not been fully-elucidated. We hypothesize that the cytotoxicity of these compounds is due to the free radicals formed by interaction of their endoperoxide moiety with intracellular iron in cancer cells. The effects of ...