A combination Siddha drug reduces anemia among adolescent girls in Virudhunagar District of Tamil Nadu, India

The prevalence of anemia in India is worrisome; the Government has aimed to reduce the prevalence of anemia among women at adolescent and child bearing age. A public health initiative was undertaken to mainstream the use of Siddha drugs to combat anemia among the adolescent girls of Virudhunagar district, Tamil Nadu, India. With the assistance from the Siddha physicians in Primary Health Centers and Government hospitals, adolescent girls with anemia were identified. Interested anemic subjects were put on ABMN drug regimen (Aṉṉapēti centūram, Bāvaṉa kaṭukkāy, Mātuḷai maṇappāku and Nellikkāy lēkiyam) for 45 days. The clinical and biochemical features were studied before and after ABMN treatment. Through this program, 14,179 adolescent girls were screened for anemia and 3,783 subjects were found anemic; out of them 2,300 (86.85%) subjects completed the 45 days program. Marked reduction of various clinical features of anemia were found with ABMN treatment. ABMN treatment improved the hemoglobin content by 24.30 (N = 155), 15.96 (N = 1440) and 4.29% (P = 0.0005; N = 705) in severe, moderate and mild anemic subjects, respectively. Long term, multicentric investigations are needed to conclude the efficacy and safety of ABMN for treating iron deficiency anemia

Tailoring the shell structures in core-shell metal nanostructures for improved catalytic reduction of nitroaromatics

Core-shell metal nanostructures have garnered significant attention from researchers worldwide in recent years due to their size- and shape-dependent properties, which arise from the synergistic effects between the core and shell. These properties are particularly valuable for applications in catalysis. This review focuses on recent advancements in the synthesis of various metal shell layers on cores of different sizes and shapes for the catalytic reduction of nitroaromatics. Initially, recent contributions to the synthesis of diverse bimetallic nanostructures, including hollow, crown-jewel, alloy, and core-shell architectures are summarized. Subsequently, the influence of tailoring metal shells, including monolayer, bilayer, and alloy layer metal shells on core metals, on the catalytic activity of nitroaromatics is discussed. This review highlights significant progress in the design and synthesis of various nanostructures and compositions through precise control of nucleation and growth processes using specific synthetic methods. Moreover, the discussion focused on how the catalytic reduction of nitroaromatics is influenced by the synergistic effect when different layers of metal shells are applied to the core. Furthermore, the advantages and limitations associated with the synthesis of core-shell nanostructures are highlighted in each section. Finally, perspectives on future research directions for core-shell metal nanostructures are provided

Highly sensitive enzyme-free amperometric sensing of hydrogen peroxide in real samples based on Co₃O₄ nanocolumn structures

Highly sensitive enzyme-free amperometric sensing of hydrogen peroxide in real samples is demonstrated using Co3O4 nanocolumn structures.</p

<span style="font-size:15.0pt;font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language: EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA" lang="EN-US">Anticaries potential of ethnomedicinal plants used by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Malayali</i> tribals from Kolli Hills, India</span>

109-115Malayali tribals of Kolli hills, Tamil Nadu, India use many plants for oral healthcare. The present study documents the dental caries preventing medicinal plants used by them and attempts to validate their claim. An ethnomedicinal survey comprising field visits, collection of information using specific questionnaire was done to collect the medicinal plants used by them. The plants cited by the informants were collected and successively extracted with hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol and evaluated for their antimicrobial efficacy against four cariogenic clinical isolates. The MIC, anti-biofilm efficacy and GC-MS phytoconstituent identification were also done. This study identified 15 species that were commonly used by the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Malayali tribals to maintain oral health and hygiene. Among the tested extracts, the methanol extract of Tephrosia purpurea (L.) Pers. Fabaceae showed highest inhibitory activity against the cariogenic isolates. At 1 mg/ml concentration, it inhibited the biofilm formation by 92.0%, 77.6%, 74.1% and 94.9% against L. casei, S. mutans, S. aureus and K. pneumoniae, respectively. The active methanol extract’s GC-MS analysis resulted in the identification of eleven major compounds.<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> The rich traditional knowledge of tribal people has immense potential for caries and other oral health management along with pharmacological lead compound studies. </span

Quantification of ethnodietetic knowledge among noninstitutionally trained Siddha practitioners of Virudhunagar District, Tamil Nadu, India

Background: It is well known that diet plays a vital role in the pathogenesis, prevention, and management of diseases. In indigenous medical systems of India, diet is an integral component of treatment, and such knowledge is poorly documented. This study quantified the consensus about the dietary recommendations prescribed by the noninstitutionally trained Siddha practitioners of Virudhunagar District of Tamil Nadu, India. Methods: After obtaining prior informed consent, 87 noninstitutionally trained Siddha practitioners were interviewed using the free-list method. The data were segregated into different groups and the consensus was analyzed using informant consensus factor (Fic). Results: In the case of recommended diets, blood ailments, fever, hemorrhoids, male infertility, kapha, and dermatological ailments had high Fic values. In this group, 500 use-reports were recorded for the treatment of 27 illness categories. The fruits of Vitis vinifera (blood ailments), Panicum sumatrense (fever), and Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (hemorrhoids) were the highly recommended foods. In the case of restricted diets, dermatological ailments, jaundice, gastrointestinal, vadha, and blood ailments had high Fic values and 26 illness categories were reported with 368 citations. In this category, Solanum melongena (dermatological ailments), Tamarindus indica (jaundice and anemia), and Gallus gallus domesticus (gastrointestinal ailments) were the important restricted foods. Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that a major portion of local knowledge, other than that of local uses of medicinal species, is still undocumented and underutilized. If the recommendations of dietary changes take the claims from local knowledge beyond scientific evidence, the rate of adherence may increase, since these recommendations have a traditional-brand identity. This study also warrants the need of scientific analyses in some cases