The present communication attempts to evaluate the physicochemical and preliminary phytochemical studies on the fruit of Emblica officinalis Gaertn, Euphorbiaceae family. Amla is one of the most celebrated herbs in the Indian traditional medicine system, Ayurveda. Amla traditional uses include as a laxative, eye wash, appetite stimulant, restorative tonic, and to treat anorexia, indigestion, di...

Rao and Thakur have shown that the antioxidants melatonin and alma (Emblica officinales, Indian gooseberry) are effective, both individually and in combination, against fluoride-induced genotoxicity in human peripheral blood lymphocyte cells, which was first described in humans in 1994. Some animal and human work also suggests that fluoride (F) can impair the defensive response to genotoxicity ...

We examined two Ayurvedic Rasayana formulations, claimed to facilitate ‘healthy ageing’, for their role in neuroprotection in fly models of polyQ (127Q and Huntington’s) and Alzheimer’s disorders. Our earlier findings showed that dietary supplement of Amalaki Rasayana, a preparation derived from Indian gooseberry fruits, and Rasa-Sindoor, an organo-metallic Bhasma prepared from mercury and sulp...

Recent genomic sequencing of 10 additional Drosophila genomes provides a rich resource for comparative genomics analyses aimed at understanding the similarities and differences between species and between Drosophila and mammals. Using a phylogenetic approach, we identified 64 genomic elements that have been highly conserved over most of the Drosophila tree, but that have experienced a recent bu...

Raspberry ringspot virus (RpRSV), which has not occurred in Japan, infects many plants such as raspberry, gooseberry, cherry, grapevine, and strawberry. Biological assay, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) have been introduced for the detection of RpRSV in postentry quarantine in Japan. We studied reverse transcription loop-me...