Muhammad Adnan

Ethnomedicine use in the war affected region of northwest Pakistan.

BackgroundNorth-West of Pakistan is bestowed with medicinal plant resources due to diverse geographical and habitat conditions. The traditional use of plants for curing various diseases forms an important part of the region’s cultural heritage. The study was carried out to document medicinal plants used in Frontier Region (FR) Bannu, an area affected by the “War on Terror”.MethodsFieldwork was carried out in four different seasons (spring, autumn, summer and winter) from March 2012 to February 2013. Data on medicinal plants was collected using structured and semi-structured questionnaires from 250 respondents. The voucher specimens were collected, processed and identified following standard methods.ResultsOf the 107 species of ethnomedicinal plants reported, fifty percent species are herbaceous. The majority of the reported species were wild (55%) but a substantial proportion are cultivated (29%). For most of the plant species (34%), leaves are the most commonly used part in the preparation of ethnomedicines. The most common use of species is for carminative purposes (14 species), with the next most common use being for blood purification (11 species). The main methods used in the preparation of ethnomedicinal recipes involves grinding and boiling, and nearly all the remedies are taken orally along with ingredients such as water, milk or honey for ease of ingestion. Traditional healers prepare plant remedies using one or more plants. There was a significant correlation (r2 = 0.95) between the age of local people and the number of plants known to them, which indicates that in the coming 20 years, an approximate decrease of 75% in the indigenous knowledge may be expected.ConclusionTraditional medicines are important to the livelihoods of rural communities in the region affected by the Global war on Terrorism. The medicinal recipes are indigenous; however, there is a threat to their future use on account of rapid modernization and terrorist activities. Documentation of medicinal plants and recipes may help in the conservation of the regional indigenous medicinal knowledge for future generations and to provide a baseline for further studies.

A systematic review on ethnomedicines of anti-cancer plants.

Cancer is a serious health problem and the second leading cause of death around the globe. Present review is an attempt to provide utmost information based on ethno‐pharmacological and toxicological aspects of anti‐cancer plants of the world. A total of 276 articles published in English journals and containing maximum ethnomedicinal information were reviewed using several data sources such as; Google scholar, Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed and floras of different countries. A total of 199 anti‐cancer plants were recorded in present review and results indicated that traditional medicines are mostly being use in developing countries for cancer treatment. Traditionally and scientifically skin and breast cancer types gained more focus. Seventy plants were reportedly analyzed for in‐vitro activities while 32 plants were having in‐vivo reports. Twenty nine pure compounds (mostly phenolic) were reportedly isolated from anti‐cancer plants and tested against different cancer cell lines. Inspite having better efficiency of ethnomedicines as compared to synthetic drugs, several plants have also shown toxic effects on living system. Therefore, we invite researchers attention to carry out detailed ethno‐pharmacological and toxicological studies on un‐explored anti‐cancer plants in order to provide reliable knowledge to the patients and develop novel anti‐cancer drugs. Copyright

Endophytic bacteria (Sphingomonas sp. LK11) and gibberellin can improve Solanum lycopersicum growth and oxidative stress under salinity

This study aims to understand the effects of salinity on the growth and oxidative stress enzymes of endophytic bacteria (Sphingomonas sp. LK11) and tomato plants. In response to salinity and gibberellic acid (GA4), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase, and reduced glutathione were significantly regulated in LK11 as compared to peroxidase (POD) and polyphenol oxidase (PPO). Salinity stress to tomato plants caused significant cessation in growth and biomass, which was accompanied by threefold increase in lipid peroxidation and decrease in glutathione, CAT, POD, and PPO activities. In contrast, sole and combined treatment of LK11 and GA4 rescued plant growth and biomass production whilst exhibited lower lipid peroxidation and higher glutathione content under salinity stress. The activities of CAT, POD, and PPO were either lower or nonsignificant as compared to control. In conclusion, inoculation of bacterial endophytes offers a relative stress counteracting potentials as evidenced by the known plant growth regulators.

Endophytes Aspergillus caespitosus LK12 and Phoma sp. LK13 of Moringa peregrina produce gibberellins and improve rice plant growth

Two new strains of endophytic fungi were isolated from the bark of Moringa peregrina and identified as Aspergillus caespitosus LK12 and Phoma sp. LK13. These endophytes were identified through amplifying polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing the 18S internal transcribed spacer of DNA extracted from both endophytes. Pure cultures of endophytic fungi were subjected to extract and isolate gibberellins (GAs). Deuterated standards of [17,17-2H2]-GA1, [17,17-2H2]-GA3, [17, 17-2H2]-GA4 and [17, 17-2H2]-GA7 were used to quantify the endophytic fungal GAs. The analysis revealed that both the endophytes are producing bioactive GAs in various quantities (ng mL−1). A. caespitosus LK12 was producing GA1 (54.51 ± 1.23), GA4 (26.5 ± 0.65), and GA7 (2.87 ± 1.23) while Phoma sp. LK13 was secreting GA1 (4.8 ± 0.12), GA3 (8.65 ± 0.21), GA4 (23.7 ± 0.98), and GA7 (22.7 ± 0.73). The culture filtrate (CF) of A. caespitosus and Phoma sp. significantly increased the shoot length of GAs-deficient mutant waito-c and normal Dongjin-beyo rice seedlings as compared to control. Application of such growth-promoting and GAs-producing endophytes can ameliorate poorly growing crop plants.

Fungal endophyte Penicillium janthinellum LK5 improves growth of ABA-deficient tomato under salinity

An endophytic fungus was isolated from the roots of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum Mill) and identified as Penicillium janthinellum LK5. The culture filtrate (CF) of P. janthinellum significantly increased the shoot length of gibberellins (GAs) deficient mutant waito-c and normal Dongjin-beyo rice seedlings as compared to control. The CF of P. janthinellum contained GAs (GA3, GA4, GA7 and GA12). To assess endophyte-growth promoting and stress-tolerance potential, the CF along with the propagules of endophyte was applied to tomato-host and abscisic acid (ABA)-deficient mutant Sitiens plants under sodium chloride (NaCl) induced salinity stress. Sitiens plants had retarded growth under normal and salinity stress however its growth was much improved during P. janthinellum-association. The endophyte inoculation reduced the membrane injury by decreasing lipid peroxidation as compared to non-inoculated control under salinity. Endophyte-associated Sitiens plants have significantly higher catalase, peroxidase and glutathione activities as compared to control. Endophyte-infected host and Sitiens plants had low level of sodium ion toxicity and high calcium contents in its root as compared to control. P. janthinellum LK5 helped the Sitiens plants to synthesis significantly higher ABA and reduced the level of jasmonic acid to modulate stress responses. The results suggest that endophytes-association can resist salinity stress by producing gibberellins and activating defensive mechanisms of host and Sitiens plants to achieve improved growth.

A review on ethnobotany, phytochemistry and pharmacology of plant genus Caralluma R. Br.

Caralluma is a xerophytic genus used as traditional medicine for the treatment of diabetes, inflammation, leprosy, obesity and rheumatism. Objectives of this review are to establish a relationship between traditional uses and scientific studies by critically evaluating the available fragmented literature on ethnobotany, pharmacology, phytochemistry and toxicology of genus Caralluma.

Ethnomedicinal and phytochemical review of Pakistani medicinal plants used as antibacterial agents against Escherichia coli

Medicinal plants have always been part of human culture and have the potential to cure different diseases caused by microorganisms. In Pakistan, biologists are mainly focusing on plants’ antimicrobial activities against Escherichia coli due to its increasing resistance to antibiotics. In total, extracts from 34 ethnomedicinally valuable Pakistani plants were reported for in-vitro anti-E. coli activities. Mostly methanolic extracts of medicinal plants were used in different studies, which have shown comparatively higher inhibitory activities against E. coli than n-hexane and aqueous extracts. It has been found that increasing concentration (mg/ml) of methanolic extract can significantly increase (p < 0.01) anti-E. coli activities. Not all medicinal plants are extracted in solvents others than above, which should also be tested against E. coli. Moreover, medicinal plant species must be fully explored phytochemically, which may lead to the development of new drugs.

Traditional uses of medicinal plants reported by the indigenous communities and local herbal practitioners of Bajaur Agency, Federally Administrated Tribal Areas, Pakistan

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE In the study area, knowledge related to the traditional uses of medicinal plants is totally in the custody of elder community members and local herbalists. The younger generation is unaware of the traditional knowledge, however with only few exceptions. Therefore, this study was planned with objective to document the medicinal importance of plants, conserve this precious indigenous knowledge, and share it among other communities through published literature. MATERIALS AND METHODS Data was collected through semi-structured interviews from the community members and local herbalists. The reported plants were collected post interviews and later on pressed on herbarium vouchers for reference. Afterwards, the data was analyzed through Use value (UV) and Relative Frequency of Citation (RFC). RESULTS In total, 79 medicinal plant species were used for the treatment of different ailments in the study region. Out of the total plant species, 28 species were not reported from any other mountainous communities across the country. In this study, the ethno-medicinal value of Opuntia littoralis (Engelm.) Cockerell and Viola indica W.Becker was reported for the first time, which have moderate confidential level in terms of their medicinal uses in the study area. Important medicinal plants of the region with high UV are Berberis lycium Royle (0.94), V. indica (0.90), Isodon rugosus (Wall. ex Benth.) Codd (0.88), Foeniculum vulgare Mill. (0.87), Peganum harmala L (0.86), Solanum virginianum L. (0.85), and Cassia fistula L. (0.79). Medicinal plants with higher RFC values are Calotropis procera (Aiton) Dryand. (0.86), Cannabis sativa L. (0.82), Mentha piperita L. (0.82), Mentha longifolia (L.) Huds. (0.76), Allium sativum L. (0.73), Coriandrum sativum L. (0.73), and F. vulgare (0.72). CONCLUSIONS Traditional knowledge on folk medicines is directly linked to the local culture, faith and perception. This knowledge is gaining high threat of extinction because of its limitation to a small portion of the society in the region. Therefore, future studies are recommended in similar regions for the documentation of this precious knowledge. Moreover, our study has also identified some important and newly reported medicinal plants from the ethno-medicinal perspective, which needs to be studied pharmacologically and toxicologically.

Coupled ion acoustic and drift waves in magnetized superthermal electron-positron-ion plasmas

Linear and nonlinear coupled drift-ion acoustic waves are investigated in a nonuniform magnetoplasma having kappa distributed electrons and positrons. In the linear regime, the role of kappa distribution and positron content on the dispersion relation has been highlighted; it is found that strong superthermality (low value of κ) and addition of positrons lowers the phase velocity via decreasing the fundamental scalelengths of the plasmas. In the nonlinear regime, first, coherent nonlinear structure in the form of dipoles and monopoles are obtained and the boundary conditions (boundedness) in the context of superthermality and positron concentrations are discussed. Second, in case of scalar nonlinearity, a Korteweg–de Vries-type equation is obtained, which admit solitary wave solution. It is found that both compressive and rarefactive solitons are formed in the present model. The present work may be useful to understand the low frequency electrostatic modes in inhomogeneous electron positron ion plasmas, which exist in astrophysical plasma situations such as those found in the pulsar magnetosphere.

Characteristic study of head-on collision of dust-ion acoustic solitons of opposite polarity with kappa distributed electrons

The head on collision between two dust ion acoustic (DIA) solitary waves, propagating in opposite directions, is studied in an unmagnetized plasma constituting adiabatic ions, static dust charged (positively/negatively) grains, and non-inertial kappa distributed electrons. In the linear limit, the dispersion relation of the dust ion acoustic (DIA) solitary wave is obtained using the Fourier analysis. For studying characteristic head-on collision of DIA solitons, the extended Poincare-Lighthill-Kuo method is employed to obtain Korteweg–de Vries (KdV) equations with quadratic nonlinearities and investigated the phase shifts in their trajectories after the interaction. It is revealed that only compressive solitary waves can exist for the positive dust charged concentrations while for negative dust charge concentrations both the compressive and rarefactive solitons can propagate in such dusty plasma. It is found that for specific sets of plasma parameters, the coefficient of nonlinearity disappears in the KdV...