Plants boost healing power of anti-fungals
Tuesday October 09, 2012 06:36:31 AM,
IANS
|
|
|
Washington: Certain
plant compounds could help prescription drugs fight severe fungal
infections in a more effective way, thanks to unexpected findings.
Bruce C. Campbell, formerly of Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
under the US Department of Agriculture, and molecular biologist
colleague Jong H. Kim, and others found that pairing antifungal
medicines with compounds such as thymol, derived from herb thyme,
can boost the healing effects of some of these drugs.
Campbell and Kim's work, with species of Aspergillus mould, for
example, has attracted the attention of medical and public health
researchers.
Found worldwide in air and soil, Aspergillus can infect corn,
cotton, pistachios, almonds and other crops, and can produce
aflatoxin, a natural carcinogen, the journal Agricultural Research
reported.
Aflatoxin-contaminated crops must be identified and removed from
the processing stream, at times resulting in large economic
losses, according to an ARS statement.
Since 2004, Campbell, Kim and colleagues have carefully built a
portfolio of potent, plant-based compounds that kill a target
Aspergillus species, A. flavus, or thwart its ability to produce
aflatoxin.
Using plant-based compounds to treat fungal infections is not a
new idea, nor is that of pairing the compounds with antifungal
medicines.
But the research team has explored some apparently unique pairs,
and have provided some of the newest, most detailed information
about the mechanisms likely responsible for the impact of powerful
combinations of drugs and natural plant compounds.
|
Home |
Top of the Page
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
I |
|
|
More Headlines |
Karnataka stops Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, farmers jubilant |
World's 'oldest person' dies at 132 |
Varsity students prefer lectures to computers, says study |
Austrian prepares for 37-km jump to Earth
Tuesday |
Bring government hospitals under standard treatment plan: Experts |
Petrol price cut by 0.56 paise |
'Yes minister, we need more toilets' |
Support to UPA: Mayawati keeps Congress, SP guessing on rally eve |
Two scientists share 2012 Nobel Prize in Medicine |
Won't meddle in Sri Lanka military training: Apex court |
|
Top Stories |
Support to UPA: Mayawati keeps Congress, SP guessing on rally eve
Bahujan Samaj
Party (BSP) president Mayawati is keeping both the Congress and
the Samajwadi Party (SP) guessing whether she will, at the BSP
rally here Tuesday, withdraw
»
UPA numbers game in Lok Sabha, minus Mamata
Trinamool pullout increases Congress dependence on SP, BSP
|
|
Most Read |
Chidambaram signals more reforms
A resolute Finance Minister P. Chidambaram Monday made it clear
that the government, despite domestic political opposition, would
usher in more economic and financial reforms to rev up growth and
investment. "Without »
|
'Yes minister, we need more toilets'
There is a
shortage of toilets, especially clean ones, in most parts of the
country, say people who cannot understand the brouhaha over a
minister's remark that toilets are more important than temples in
the country. "A toilet, and a clean one at that, is terribly
important, especially when you are on the move and need to go
»
|
|
News Pick |
Chavez re-elected Venezuelan president
With 90 percent of the votes counted, Chavez, who will serve a
third six-year term starting from January 2013, defeated
opposition challenger Henrique »
|
Supreme Court seeks details of clinical trials
in country
The Supreme
Court Monday asked the central government to provide details of
clinical trials being conducted throughout the country, their side
effects and deaths, if any.
The apex court bench of Justice R.M. Lodha and Justice Anil R.
Dave, while asking the central government »
|
Bring government hospitals under standard treatment plan: Experts
Health experts and industry Monday welcomed the government's move
to put a check on unnecessary medical tests done by hospitals and
demanded that government hospitals
»
|
Maharashtra tribals demand ban on alcohol
Tribal women from Maharashtra's Chandrapur have sent 80,000
postcards to Chief Miniter Prithviraj Chavan asking to make the
district liquor-free, a social activist said Sunday.
"This is a last-ditch effort by the tribal women
»
|
|
Picture of the Day |
 |
Rahul Gandhi
with business leaders at the University of Kashmir. Rahul
visited Kashmir University on October 05, 2012. His
interaction with the Kashmir University generated a ray of
hope among the youth. |
|
|
|
|