Little boxes of herbs

Pickle, tea and a spice

The many faces of Himalayan herb bhangjeera Traditional medicine practitioners of eastern Asia know about this spice. People of Garhwal in Uttarakhand have many uses for the leaves and seeds of this plant grown in the upper reaches of Himalaya. But gourmets are yet to discover it. The aroma of bhangjeera chutney and bhangjeera tea fills the air as one travels through the hilly terrain of Uttarakhand's Garhwal region, especially in winter. Its popularity is evident at local dhabas and classy eateries alike.

Weeds of fortune

Talk about weeds changing labour market

Indian camphorweed can cure amoebiasis

indian camphorweed, that grows in lowlands and swamps, may hold the key to a cure for amoebiasis, a disease caused by the parasite Entamoeba histolytica that mostly hits the poor. A team of researchers from Jadavpur University and Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, both in Kolkata, have isolated a compound from the root of this plant that stops the growth of the parasite.

Bytes

Fertile herbs A cocktail of herbal drugs can cure male infertility caused by diabetes, claims a research team from West Bengal. The team from Vidyasagar University has found that the cocktail produced from banana root, tamarind, jamun seeds and ivy gourd leaves not only decreased levels of blood glucose but also restored normal activity and health of sperms in diabetic rats. Diabetes robs the viability and motility of sperm and lowers testosterone levels. The cocktail restored the normal levels of testosterone among rats.

Herbs to heal malaria

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, may have hit upon a way to make malaria treatment easily accessible. They have found that a combination of curcumin from turmeric (a common spice in India) and artemisinin from Artemisia annua (a Chinese herb) is highly effective against drug-resistant malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum.

Malaria in a ferment

help is at hand to meet the demand for artemisinin, the only medicine for drug-resistant malaria. Researchers at the University of California in Berkeley, usa, have introduced genes from the Chinese herb Artemisia annua (sweet wormwood) into yeast so that it produces high amounts of artemisinic acid -- from which artemisinin can be made.

Cannabis prescription

compounds derived from cannabis can destroy cancer cells, according to researchers at Barts and the London Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry in the uk.

Stinking tree treats cancer

a tree found in India is the world's richest source of camptothecin (cpt), a drug used to treat cancers of the ovaries and the colon. In an effort to ensure sustainable availability of cpt, researchers from Bangalore have carried out a survey of Nothapodytes nimmoniana trees in the Western Ghats.

In short

NHPC EERS: An Assam-based NGO, River Basin's Friends, has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC). The petition claims that while implementing the Subansiri Lower Hydroelectric Project in Arunachal Pradesh, NHPC violated an earlier order. It also claimed NHPC was dumping debris in the Subansiri river and carrying on blasting operations for road construction. It was also transporting illegally cut timber on speedboats and occupied 113 hectares of forestland without the approval of the central government.