1.
Taxonomy (biology)
–
Taxonomy is the science of defining groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics and giving names to those groups. The exact definition of taxonomy varies from source to source, but the core of the remains, the conception, naming. There is some disagreement as to whether biological nomenclature is considered a part of taxonomy, the broadest meaning of taxonomy is used here. The word taxonomy was introduced in 1813 by Candolle, in his Théorie élémentaire de la botanique, the term alpha taxonomy is primarily used today to refer to the discipline of finding, describing, and naming taxa, particularly species. In earlier literature, the term had a different meaning, referring to morphological taxonomy, ideals can, it may be said, never be completely realized. They have, however, a value of acting as permanent stimulants. Some of us please ourselves by thinking we are now groping in a beta taxonomy, turrill thus explicitly excludes from alpha taxonomy various areas of study that he includes within taxonomy as a whole, such as ecology, physiology, genetics, and cytology. He further excludes phylogenetic reconstruction from alpha taxonomy, thus, Ernst Mayr in 1968 defined beta taxonomy as the classification of ranks higher than species. This activity is what the term denotes, it is also referred to as beta taxonomy. How species should be defined in a group of organisms gives rise to practical and theoretical problems that are referred to as the species problem. The scientific work of deciding how to define species has been called microtaxonomy, by extension, macrotaxonomy is the study of groups at higher taxonomic ranks, from subgenus and above only, than species. While some descriptions of taxonomic history attempt to date taxonomy to ancient civilizations, earlier works were primarily descriptive, and focused on plants that were useful in agriculture or medicine. There are a number of stages in scientific thinking. Early taxonomy was based on criteria, the so-called artificial systems. Later came systems based on a complete consideration of the characteristics of taxa, referred to as natural systems, such as those of de Jussieu, de Candolle and Bentham. The publication of Charles Darwins Origin of Species led to new ways of thinking about classification based on evolutionary relationships and this was the concept of phyletic systems, from 1883 onwards. This approach was typified by those of Eichler and Engler, the advent of molecular genetics and statistical methodology allowed the creation of the modern era of phylogenetic systems based on cladistics, rather than morphology alone. Taxonomy has been called the worlds oldest profession, and naming and classifying our surroundings has likely been taking place as long as mankind has been able to communicate
2.
Plant
–
Plants are mainly multicellular, predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. The term is generally limited to the green plants, which form an unranked clade Viridiplantae. This includes the plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, ferns, clubmosses, hornworts, liverworts, mosses and the green algae. Green plants have cell walls containing cellulose and obtain most of their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis by primary chloroplasts and their chloroplasts contain chlorophylls a and b, which gives them their green color. Some plants are parasitic and have lost the ability to produce amounts of chlorophyll or to photosynthesize. Plants are characterized by sexual reproduction and alternation of generations, although reproduction is also common. There are about 300–315 thousand species of plants, of which the great majority, green plants provide most of the worlds molecular oxygen and are the basis of most of Earths ecologies, especially on land. Plants that produce grains, fruits and vegetables form humankinds basic foodstuffs, Plants play many roles in culture. They are used as ornaments and, until recently and in variety, they have served as the source of most medicines. The scientific study of plants is known as botany, a branch of biology, Plants are one of the two groups into which all living things were traditionally divided, the other is animals. The division goes back at least as far as Aristotle, who distinguished between plants, which generally do not move, and animals, which often are mobile to catch their food. Much later, when Linnaeus created the basis of the system of scientific classification. Since then, it has become clear that the plant kingdom as originally defined included several unrelated groups, however, these organisms are still often considered plants, particularly in popular contexts. When the name Plantae or plant is applied to a group of organisms or taxon. The evolutionary history of plants is not yet settled. Those which have been called plants are in bold, the way in which the groups of green algae are combined and named varies considerably between authors. Algae comprise several different groups of organisms which produce energy through photosynthesis, most conspicuous among the algae are the seaweeds, multicellular algae that may roughly resemble land plants, but are classified among the brown, red and green algae. Each of these groups also includes various microscopic and single-celled organisms
3.
Flowering plant
–
The flowering plants, also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants, with 416 families, approx. 13,164 known genera and a total of c.295,383 known species, etymologically, angiosperm means a plant that produces seeds within an enclosure, in other words, a fruiting plant. The term angiosperm comes from the Greek composite word meaning enclosed seeds, the ancestors of flowering plants diverged from gymnosperms in the Triassic Period, during the range 245 to 202 million years ago, and the first flowering plants are known from 160 mya. They diversified extensively during the Lower Cretaceous, became widespread by 120 mya, angiosperms differ from other seed plants in several ways, described in the table. These distinguishing characteristics taken together have made the angiosperms the most diverse and numerous land plants, the amount and complexity of tissue-formation in flowering plants exceeds that of gymnosperms. The vascular bundles of the stem are arranged such that the xylem and phloem form concentric rings, in the dicotyledons, the bundles in the very young stem are arranged in an open ring, separating a central pith from an outer cortex. In each bundle, separating the xylem and phloem, is a layer of meristem or active formative tissue known as cambium, the soft phloem becomes crushed, but the hard wood persists and forms the bulk of the stem and branches of the woody perennial. Among the monocotyledons, the bundles are more numerous in the stem and are scattered through the ground tissue. They contain no cambium and once formed the stem increases in diameter only in exceptional cases, the characteristic feature of angiosperms is the flower. Flowers show remarkable variation in form and elaboration, and provide the most trustworthy external characteristics for establishing relationships among angiosperm species, the function of the flower is to ensure fertilization of the ovule and development of fruit containing seeds. The floral apparatus may arise terminally on a shoot or from the axil of a leaf, occasionally, as in violets, a flower arises singly in the axil of an ordinary foliage-leaf. There are two kinds of cells produced by flowers. Microspores, which divide to become pollen grains, are the male cells and are borne in the stamens. The female cells called megaspores, which divide to become the egg cell, are contained in the ovule. The flower may consist only of parts, as in willow. Usually, other structures are present and serve to protect the sporophylls, the individual members of these surrounding structures are known as sepals and petals. The outer series is usually green and leaf-like, and functions to protect the rest of the flower, the inner series is, in general, white or brightly colored, and is more delicate in structure. It functions to attract insect or bird pollinators, attraction is effected by color, scent, and nectar, which may be secreted in some part of the flower
4.
Solanaceae
–
The Solanaceae, or nightshades, are an economically important family of flowering plants. Many members of the family contain potent alkaloids, and some are highly toxic, the family belongs to the order Solanales, in the asterid group and class Magnoliopsida. The Solanaceae consists of about 98 genera and some 2,700 species, with a diversity of habitats. The name Solanaceae derives from the genus Solanum, the nightshade plant, the etymology of the Latin word is unclear. The name may come from a resemblance of certain solanaceous flowers to the sun. At least one species of Solanum is known as the sunberry, the family has a worldwide distribution, being present on all continents except Antarctica. The greatest diversity in species is found in South America and Central America, in 2017, scientists reported on their discovery and analysis of a fossil tomatillo found in the Patagonian region of Argentina, dated to 52 million years B. P. The finding has pushed back the earliest appearance of the Solanaceae plant family, as tomatillos likely developed later than other nightshades, this may mean that the Solanaceae may have first developed during the Mesozoic Era. The Solanaceae include a number of collected or cultivated species. The most economically important genus of the family is Solanum, which contains the potato, the tomato, another important genus, Capsicum, produces both chili peppers and bell peppers. The genus Physalis produces the so-called groundcherries, as well as the tomatillo, the Cape gooseberry, the genus Lycium contains the boxthorns and the wolfberry Lycium barbarum. Nicotiana contains, among other species, tobacco, certain species are widely known for their medicinal uses, their psychotropic effects, or for being poisonous. Most of the important genera are contained in the subfamily Solanoideae, with the exceptions of tobacco. Many of the Solanaceae, such as tobacco and petunia, are used as model organisms in the investigation of biological questions at the cellular, molecular. The name Solanaceae comes to scientific vocabulary from New Latin, from Solanum, the type genus, + -aceae. The genus name comes from the Classical Latin word solanum, referring to nightshades, probably from sol, sun, + -anum, Plants in the Solanaceae can take the form of herbs, shrubs, trees, vines and lianas, and sometimes epiphytes. They can be annuals, biennials, or perennials, upright or decumbent and they do not have laticifers, nor latex, nor coloured saps. They can have a basal or terminal group of leaves or neither of these types, the leaves are generally alternate or alternate to opposed
5.
Datura
–
Datura is a genus of nine species of poisonous vespertine flowering plants belonging to the family Solanaceae. They are commonly known as daturas, but also known as devils trumpets and they are also sometimes called moonflowers, jimsonweed, devils weed, hells bells, thorn-apple, and many more. Its precise and natural distribution is uncertain, owing to its cultivation and naturalization throughout the temperate. All species of Datura are poisonous, especially their seeds and flowers, some South American plants formerly thought of as Datura are now treated as belonging to the distinct genus Brugmansia. Other related taxa include Hyosyamus niger, Atropa belladonna, Mandragora officinarum, the name Datura is taken from Hindi धतूरा dhatūra thorn-apple, ultimately from Sanskrit धत्तूर dhattūra white thorn-apple. In the Ayurvedic text Sushruta different species of Datura are also referred to as kanaka, record of this name in English dates back to 1662. Nathaniel Hawthorne refers to one type in The Scarlet Letter as apple-Peru, in Mexico, its common name is toloache. Datura species are herbaceous, leafy annuals and short-lived perennials which can reach up to 2 m in height, the leaves are alternate, 10–20 cm long and 5–18 cm broad, with a lobed or toothed margin. The flowers are erect or spreading, trumpet-shaped, 5–20 cm long and 4–12 cm broad at the mouth, colors vary from white to yellow, pink, and pale purple. The fruit is a spiny capsule 4–10 cm long and 2–6 cm broad, the seeds disperse freely over pastures, fields and even wasteland locations. Datura belongs to the classic witches weeds, along with deadly nightshade, henbane, most parts of the plants are toxic, and datura has a long history of use for causing delirious states and death. It was well known as an ingredient of potions and witches brews. In India it has referred to as Poisonous and as an aphrodisiac. In little measures it was used in Ayurveda as a medicine from the ancient times and it is used in rituals and prayers to Shiva. It is also used in Ganesh Chaturthi, the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including Hypercompe indecisa, eat some Datura species. It is difficult to classify Datura as to its species, later, these new species are found to be simply varieties that have evolved due to conditions at a specific location. They usually disappear in a few years, contributing to the confusion is the fact that various species, such as D. wrightii and D. inoxia, are very similar in appearance, and the variation within a species can be extreme. For example, Datura species can change size of plant, leaf, today, experts classify only nine species of Datura, D. ceratocaula Jacq. – torna loco D. discolor Bernh
6.
Carl Linnaeus
–
Carl Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as Carl von Linné, was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who formalised the modern system of naming organisms called binomial nomenclature. He is known by the father of modern taxonomy. Many of his writings were in Latin, and his name is rendered in Latin as Carolus Linnæus, Linnaeus was born in the countryside of Småland, in southern Sweden. He received most of his education at Uppsala University. He lived abroad between 1735 and 1738, where he studied and also published a first edition of his Systema Naturae in the Netherlands and he then returned to Sweden, where he became professor of medicine and botany at Uppsala. In the 1740s, he was sent on journeys through Sweden to find and classify plants. In the 1750s and 1760s, he continued to collect and classify animals, plants, and minerals, at the time of his death, he was one of the most acclaimed scientists in Europe. The philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau sent him the message, Tell him I know no man on earth. The German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote, With the exception of Shakespeare and Spinoza, Swedish author August Strindberg wrote, Linnaeus was in reality a poet who happened to become a naturalist. Among other compliments, Linnaeus has been called Princeps botanicorum, The Pliny of the North and he is also considered as one of the founders of modern ecology. In botany, the abbreviation used to indicate Linnaeus as the authority for species names is L. In older publications, sometimes the abbreviation Linn. is found, Linnæus was born in the village of Råshult in Småland, Sweden, on 23 May 1707. He was the first child of Nicolaus Ingemarsson and Christina Brodersonia and his siblings were Anna Maria Linnæa, Sofia Juliana Linnæa, Samuel Linnæus, and Emerentia Linnæa. One of a line of peasants and priests, Nils was an amateur botanist, a Lutheran minister. Christina was the daughter of the rector of Stenbrohult, Samuel Brodersonius, a year after Linnæus birth, his grandfather Samuel Brodersonius died, and his father Nils became the rector of Stenbrohult. The family moved into the rectory from the curates house, even in his early years, Linnæus seemed to have a liking for plants, flowers in particular. Whenever he was upset, he was given a flower, which calmed him. Nils spent much time in his garden and often showed flowers to Linnaeus, soon Linnæus was given his own patch of earth where he could grow plants
7.
Chinese herbology
–
Chinese herbology is the theory of traditional Chinese herbal therapy, which accounts for the majority of treatments in traditional Chinese medicine. The term herbology is misleading in the sense that, while plant elements are by far the most commonly used substances, animal, human, in the Neijing they are referred to as 毒藥 which means toxin, poison, or medicine. Unschuld points out that this is similar etymology to the Greek pharmakon, thus, the term medicinal is usually preferred as a translation for 药. Research into the effectiveness of traditional Chinese herbal therapy is of poor quality, there are concerns over a number of potentially toxic Chinese herbs. Chinese herbs have been used for centuries, among the earliest literature are lists of prescriptions for specific ailments, exemplified by the manuscript Recipes for 52 Ailments, found in the Mawangdui which were sealed in 168 BC. The first traditionally recognized herbalist is Shénnóng, a mythical god-like figure and he allegedly tasted hundreds of herbs and imparted his knowledge of medicinal and poisonous plants to farmers. His Shénnóng Běn Cǎo Jīng is considered as the oldest book on Chinese herbal medicine and they have almost no unfavorable side-effects. A category comprising tonics and boosters, whose consumption must not be prolonged, a category of substances which must usually be taken in small doses, and for the treatment of specific diseases only. The original text of Shennongs Materia Medica has been lost, however, the true date of origin is believed to fall into the late Western Han dynasty. The Treatise on Cold Damage Disorders and Miscellaneous Illnesses was collated by Zhang Zhongjing, also sometime at the end of the Han dynasty, focusing on drug prescriptions, it was the first medical work to combine Yinyang and the Five Phases with drug therapy. This formulary was also the earliest Chinese medical text to group symptoms into clinically useful patterns that could serve as targets for therapy, succeeding generations augmented these works, as in the Yaoxing Lun, a 7th-century Tang Dynasty Chinese treatise on herbal medicine. There was a shift in emphasis in treatment over several centuries, a section of the Neijing Suwen including Chapter 74 was added by Wang Bing in his 765 edition. In which it says, 主病之謂君，佐君之謂臣，應臣之謂使，非上下三品之謂也。 Ruler of disease it called Sovereign, aid to Sovereign it called Minister, comply with Minister it called Envoy, the last part is interpreted as stating that these three rulers are not the three classes of Shénnóng mentioned previously. This chapter in particular outlines a more forceful approach, later on Zhang Zihe is credited with founding the Attacking School which criticized the overus of tonics. Arguably the most important of these works is the Compendium of Materia Medica compiled during the Ming dynasty by Li Shizhen. The use of Chinese herbs was popular during the age in western Asian. They were traded through the Silk Road from the East to the West, cinnamon, ginger, rhubarb, nutmeg and cubeb are mentioned as Chinese herbs by medieval Islamic medical scholars Such as Rhazes, Haly Abbas and Avicenna. There were also similarities between the clinical uses of these herbs in Chinese and Islamic medicine
8.
Traditional Chinese medicine
–
It is primarily used as a complementary alternative medicine approach. TCM is widely used in China and is becoming prevalent in Europe. One of the tenets of TCM holds that the bodys vital energy circulates through channels, called meridians. Concepts of the body and of disease used in TCM reflect its ancient origins and its emphasis on dynamic processes over material structure, scientific investigation has not found histological or physiological evidence for traditional Chinese concepts such as qi, meridians, and acupuncture points. The TCM theory and practice are not based upon scientific knowledge, the effectiveness of Chinese herbal medicine remains poorly researched and documented. There are concerns over a number of toxic plants, animal parts. There are also concerns over illegal trade and transport of endangered species including rhinoceroses and tigers, a review of cost-effectiveness research for TCM found that studies had low levels of evidence, but so far have not shown benefit outcomes. Pharmaceutical research has explored the potential for creating new drugs from traditional remedies, proponents propose that research has so far missed key features of the art of TCM, such as unknown interactions between various ingredients and complex interactive biological systems. The doctrines of Chinese medicine are rooted in such as the Yellow Emperors Inner Canon and the Treatise on Cold Damage, as well as in cosmological notions such as yin-yang. Starting in the 1950s, these precepts were standardized in the Peoples Republic of China, including attempts to integrate them with modern notions of anatomy, in the 1950s, the Chinese government promoted a systematized form of TCM. TCMs view of the body places little emphasis on anatomical structures, while health is perceived as the harmonious interaction of these entities and the outside world, disease is interpreted as a disharmony in interaction. Traces of therapeutic activities in China date from the Shang dynasty, which Shang elites usually attributed to curses sent by their ancestors. There is no evidence that the Shang nobility used herbal remedies, according to a 2006 overview, the Documentation of Chinese materia medica dates back to around 1,100 BC when only dozens of drugs were first described. By the end of the 16th century, the number of drugs documented had reached close to 1,900, and by the end of the last century, published records of CMM had reached 12,800 drugs. Stone and bone found in ancient tombs led Joseph Needham to speculate that acupuncture might have been carried out in the Shang dynasty. The earliest evidence for acupuncture in this sense dates to the second or first century BC, the Yellow Emperors Inner Canon, the oldest received work of Chinese medical theory, was compiled around the first century BC on the basis of shorter texts from different medical lineages. It was also one of the first books in which the doctrines of Yinyang. The Treatise on Cold Damage Disorders and Miscellaneous Illnesses was collated by Zhang Zhongjing sometime between 196 and 220 CE, at the end of the Han dynasty
9.
Ayurveda
–
Ayurveda, or Ayurveda medicine, is a system of medicine with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. Globalized and modernized practices derived from Ayurveda traditions are a type of complementary or alternative medicine, in the Western world, Ayurveda therapies and practices have been integrated in general wellness applications and as well in some cases in medical use. The main classical Ayurveda texts begin with accounts of the transmission of knowledge from the Gods to sages. In Sushruta Samhita, Sushruta wrote that Dhanvantari, Hindu god of Ayurveda, incarnated himself as a king of Varanasi and taught medicine to a group of physicians, Ayurveda therapies have varied and evolved over more than two millennia. Therapies are typically based on complex compounds, minerals and metal substances. Ancient Ayurveda texts also taught surgical techniques, including rhinoplasty, kidney stone extractions, sutures, other researchers consider it a protoscience, or trans-science system instead. Close to 21% of Ayurveda U. S. and Indian-manufactured patent medicines sold through the Internet were found to contain levels of heavy metals, specifically lead, mercury. The public health implications of such metallic contaminants in India are unknown, some scholars assert that Ayurveda originated in prehistoric times, and that some of the concepts of Ayurveda have existed from the time of the Indus Valley Civilization or even earlier. Humoral balance is emphasized, and suppressing natural urges is considered unhealthy, Ayurveda names three elemental substances, the doshas, and states that a balance of the doshas results in health, while imbalance results in disease. Ayurveda has eight components, which are derived from classical Sanskrit literature. Ayurveda practitioners had developed various medicinal preparations and surgical procedures by the medieval period, the earliest classical Sanskrit works on Ayurveda describe medical science as being divided into eight components. This characterization of the art, the medicine that has eight components, is first found in the Sanskrit epic the Mahābhārata. The central theoretical ideas of Ayurveda developed in the mid-first millennium BCE, balance is emphasized, and suppressing natural urges is considered unhealthy and claimed to lead to illness. For example, to suppress sneezing is said to give rise to shoulder pain. However, people are also cautioned to stay within the limits of reasonable balance, for example, emphasis is placed on moderation of food intake, sleep, and sexual intercourse. Ayurveda names seven basic tissues, which are plasma, blood, muscles, fat, bone, marrow, like the medicine of classical antiquity, Ayurveda has historically divided bodily substances into five classical elements eliminates toxic elements from the body. Panchakarma includes Vamana, Virechana, Basti, Nasya and Raktamokshana and it is preceded by Poorvakarma as a preparatory step, and is followed by Paschatkarma and Peyadikarma. Based on the World Health Assembly resolution on traditional medicine, the WHO has established a traditional medicine strategy, the first previous global strategy was published in 2002 and dealt especially with herbal medicines
10.
History of general anesthesia
–
The Renaissance saw significant advances in anatomy and surgical technique. However, despite all this progress, surgery remained a treatment of last resort, largely because of the associated pain, many patients with surgical disorders chose certain death rather than undergo surgery. Two major advances occurred in the late 19th century, which allowed the transition to modern surgery. An appreciation of the theory of disease led rapidly to the development. Antisepsis, which gave way to asepsis, reduced the overall morbidity and mortality of surgery to a far more acceptable rate than in previous eras. Concurrent with these developments were the significant advances in pharmacology and physiology which led to the development of general anesthesia, in the 20th century, the safety and efficacy of general anesthesia was improved by the routine use of tracheal intubation and other advanced airway management techniques. Significant advances in monitoring and new agents with improved pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic characteristics also contributed to this trend. Standardized training programs for anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists emerged during this period, the word anesthesia, coined by Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1846 from the Greek ἀν-, an-, without, and αἴσθησις, aisthēsis, sensation), refers to the inhibition of sensation. The first attempts at general anesthesia were probably herbal remedies administered in prehistory, alcohol is the oldest known sedative, it was used in ancient Mesopotamia thousands of years ago. The Sumerians are said to have cultivated and harvested the opium poppy in lower Mesopotamia as early as 3400 BCE, the most ancient testimony concerning the opium poppy found to date was inscribed in cuneiform script on a small white clay tablet at the end of the third millennium BCE. This tablet was discovered in 1954 during excavations at Nippur, and is kept at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Deciphered by Samuel Noah Kramer and Martin Leve, it is considered to be the most ancient pharmacopoeia in existence. Some Sumerian tablets of this era have an ideogram inscribed upon them, hul gil, the term gil is still used for opium in certain parts of the world. The Sumerian goddess Nidaba is often depicted with poppies growing out of her shoulders, about 2225 BCE, the Sumerian territory became a part of the Babylonian empire. British archaeologist and cuneiformist Reginald Campbell Thompson writes that opium was known to the Assyrians in the 7th century BCE, the term Arat Pa Pa occurs in the Assyrian Herbal, a collection of inscribed Assyrian tablets dated to c.650 BCE. According to Thompson, this term is the Assyrian name for the juice of the poppy, the ancient Egyptians had some surgical instruments, as well as crude analgesics and sedatives, including possibly an extract prepared from the mandrake fruit. The use of similar to opium in surgery is recorded in the Ebers Papyrus. However, it is questionable whether opium itself was known in ancient Egypt, the Greek gods Hypnos, Nyx, and Thanatos were often depicted holding poppies
11.
Aconitum
–
These herbaceous perennial plants are chiefly native to the mountainous parts of the Northern Hemisphere, growing in the moisture-retentive but well-draining soils of mountain meadows. Most species are poisonous and must be dealt with carefully. The dark green leaves of Aconitum species lack stipules and they are palmate or deeply palmately lobed with five to seven segments. Each segment again is trilobed with coarse sharp teeth, the leaves have a spiral arrangement. The lower leaves have long petioles, the tall, erect stem is crowned by racemes of large blue, purple, white, yellow, or pink zygomorphic flowers with numerous stamens. They are distinguishable by having one of the five sepals, called the galea, in the form of a cylindrical helmet. Two to 10 petals are present, the two upper petals are large and are placed under the hood of the calyx and are supported on long stalks. They have a spur at their apex, containing the nectar. The other petals are small and scale-like or nonforming, the three to five carpels are partially fused at the base. The fruit is an aggregate of follicles, a follicle being a dry, Aconitum species have been recorded as food plant of the caterpillars of several moths. The yellow tiger moth Arctia flavia, and the purple-shaded gem Euchalcia variabilis are at home on A. vulparia, the purple-lined sallow Pyrrhia exprimens, and Blepharita amica were found eating from A. septentrionale. The dot moth Melanchra persicariae occurs both on A. septentrionale and A. intermedium, the golden plusia Polychrysia moneta is hosted by A. vulparia, A. napellus, A. septentrionale, and A. intermedium. Other moths associated with Aconitum species include the wormwood pug Eupithecia absinthiata, satyr pug E. satyrata, Aterpia charpentierana and it is also the primary food source for the Old World bumblebee Bombus consobrinus. The roots of A. ferox supply the Nepalese poison called bikh, bish and it contains large quantities of the alkaloid pseudaconitine, which is a deadly poison. A. palmatum yields another of the bikh poisons, the root of A. luridum, of the Himalaya, is said to be as poisonous as that of A. ferox or A. napellus. Several species of Aconitum have been used as arrow poisons, the Minaro in Ladakh use A. napellus on their arrows to hunt ibex, while the Ainu in Japan used a species of Aconitum to hunt bear. The Chinese also used Aconitum poisons both for hunting and for warfare, Aconitum poisons were used by the Aleuts of Alaskas Aleutian Islands for hunting whales. Usually, one man in an armed with a poison-tipped lance would hunt the whale, paralyzing it with the poison
12.
Medical cannabis
–
Medical cannabis, or medical marijuana is cannabis and cannabinoids that are prescribed by doctors for their patients. The use of cannabis as a medicine has not been rigorously tested due to production restrictions, there is a limited amount of evidence that suggests cannabis can reduce nausea and vomiting during chemotherapy, improve appetite in people with HIV/AIDS, and reduce chronic pain and muscle spasms. Short-term use increases the risk of minor and major adverse effects. Common side effects include dizziness, feeling tired, vomiting, long-term effects of cannabis are not clear. Concerns include memory and cognition problems, risk of addiction, schizophrenia in people. The Cannabis plant has a history of use dating back thousands of years across many cultures. The American Academy of Pediatrics states that while cannabinoids may have potential as therapy for a number of medical conditions and they, along with the American Medical Association and the Minnesota Medical Association, call for moving cannabis out of DEA Schedule I to facilitate this research. Synthetic cannabinoids are available as prescription drugs in some countries, examples include, dronabinol, australia is currently in the process of passing a law which would allow the use of marijuana for medical and scientific purposes. Many different cannabis strains are called medical cannabis. Since many varieties of the plant and plant derivatives all share the same name. A Cannabis plant includes more than 400 different chemicals, of which about 70 are cannabinoids, in comparison, typical government-approved medications contain only 1 or 2 chemicals. The number of chemicals in cannabis is one reason why treatment with cannabis is difficult to classify. A2014 review stated that the variations in ratio of CBD-to-THC in botanical and pharmaceutical preparations determines the therapeutic vs psychoactive effects of cannabis products, Medical cannabis has several potential beneficial effects. Evidence is moderate that it helps in chronic pain and muscle spasms, low quality evidence suggests its use for reducing nausea during chemotherapy, improving appetite in HIV/AIDS, improving sleep, and improving tics in Tourette syndrome. When usual treatments are ineffective, cannabinoids have also recommended for anorexia, arthritis, migraine. The FDA finds that cannabis does not meet the criteria for accepted medical use due to lack of evidence regarding safety and it is recommended that cannabis use be stopped in pregnancy. Medical cannabis is somewhat effective in chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and may be an option in those who do not improve following preferential treatment. Long-term cannabis use may cause nausea and vomiting, a known as cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome
Media related to Datura metel at Wikimedia Commons
