Seeds of the plant species Strychnos potatorum and Moringa oleifera contain natural polyelectrolytes which can be used as coagulants to clarify turbid waters. In laboratory tests, direct filtration of a turbid surface water (turbidity 15-25 NTU, heterotrophic bacteria 280-500 cfu ml(-1), and fecal coliforms 280-500 MPN 100 ml(-1)), with seeds of S. potatorum or M. oleifera as coagulant, produce...

“Quina” (Strychnos pseudoquina A. St. Hil) is a medicinal plant species from the Brazilian Cerrado. As its seeds show dormancy, they were subjected to the treatments precooling at 5oC during 7 days, pre-heating at 40oC during 7 days, pre-soaking in sulfuric acid PA during 5 and 15 min, pre-soaking in boiling water during 5 and 15 min, pre-soaking in 100 and 200 ppm gibberellic acid during 48 h,...

A reinvestigation of Strychnos icaja roots has resulted in the isolation of two tertiary quasi-symmetric bisindole alkaloids named strychnogucines A (1) and B (2). Their structures were identified by means of spectroscopic data interpretation. Compound 2 was highly active in vitro and compound 1 moderately active against four strains of Plasmodium falciparum. Strychnogucine B (2) was more activ...

Thousands of plant species rely on ants to disperse their seeds, including many South American epiphytes and vines, which, apart from minimizing competition among seedlings, may also reduce competition among different plant species (Handel & Beattie, 1990). The lianas of the Genus Strychnos (Loganiaceae) are recognized as having fruits with highly poisonous seeds containing strychnine in the in...

BACKGROUND This paper reports a study undertaken in three remote communities (Mahaboboka, Amboronabo, Mikoboka), located in Sakaraha, Southwestern Madagascar. Not only villages are far away from sanitary infrastructures and doctors but drugs and consulting fees are unaffordable to villagers. They rely essentially on natural resources for health care as for most of rural areas in Madagascar. Thi...

Around 20,000 snakebites are reported annually in Brazil and 90% of them are inflicted by species of the genus Bothrops. Intravenous administration of antibothropic antivenom neutralizes the systemic actions, but it is of little effect on the reversal of local symptoms and often induces adverse reactions, a context that drives the search for complementary treatments for snakebite accidents. Veg...

his excellent Life of Harvey in the revised bibliography, particularly as it illuminates the notes of provenance. Both Severino and Peiresc, who appear in the Appendix, seem to have owned and annotated copies of De motu cordis. Keynes's Life updates and sometimes contradicts previous statements in the bibliography, so that rewriting the bibliographical prefaces (a task shared by both editors, i...

his excellent Life of Harvey in the revised bibliography, particularly as it illuminates the notes of provenance. Both Severino and Peiresc, who appear in the Appendix, seem to have owned and annotated copies of De motu cordis. Keynes's Life updates and sometimes contradicts previous statements in the bibliography, so that rewriting the bibliographical prefaces (a task shared by both editors, i...

In considération of thé many biological properties of alkaloids, and particularly of quinine (which remains an important antimalarial drug), it was not surprising that a séries of indolomonoterpenic alkaloids, mainly isolated from Strychnos usambarensis Gilg and from Strychnos icaja Baill., thé latter used in traditional medicine from Central Africa to treat chronic malaria, présent antiplasmod...