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Picralima Nitida
''Picralima'' is a plant genus in the family Apocynaceae, first described as a genus in 1896. It contains only one known species, ''Picralima nitida'', native to tropical Africa (Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Gabon, Cameroon, Cabinda, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Zaire, Uganda). ''Picralima nitida'', the akuamma, is a tree. The dried seeds from this plant are used in traditional medicine throughout West Africa, particularly in Ghana as well as in the Ivory Coast and Nigeria. The seeds are crushed or powdered and taken orally, and are mainly used for the treatment of malaria, and diarrhoea, and as a painkiller. The plant produces the alkaloids pericine and akuammine, among others. An enterprising Ghanaian hospital started manufacturing and selling standardized 250 mg capsules of the powdered ''P. nitida'' seed, which then became a widely used palliative. This then led researchers to try to discover the active component of the seeds. ''Picralima nitida ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Baptiste Louis Pierre
Jean Baptiste Louis Pierre (23 October 1833 – 30 October 1905), also known as J. B. Louis Pierre, was a French botanist known for his Asian studies. Early life Pierre was born in Saint-André, Réunion, and studied in Paris before working in the botanical gardens of Calcutta, India. Career In 1864 he founded the Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens, which he directed until 1877, after which he returned to Paris where he lived at 63 rue Monge, close to the Paris Herbarium. In 1883 he moved to Charenton, then to Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, then (circa 1893) to Saint-Mandé, and finally to 18 rue Cuvier in Paris, where he lived until his death. Pierre made many scientific explorations in tropical Asia. His publications include the ''Flore forestière de la Cochinchine'' (1880-1907), an article "Sur les plantes à caoutchouc de l'Indochine" (''Revue des cultures coloniales'', 1903) and the section on Sapotaceae in the ''Notes botaniques'' (1890-1891). Several genera have been ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. Symptoms usually begin ten to fifteen days after being bitten by an infected mosquito. If not properly treated, people may have recurrences of the disease months later. In those who have recently survived an infection, reinfection usually causes milder symptoms. This partial resistance disappears over months to years if the person has no continuing exposure to malaria. Malaria is caused by single-celled microorganisms of the ''Plasmodium'' group. It is spread exclusively through bites of infected ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. The mosquito bite introduces the parasites from the mosquito's saliva into a person's blood. The parasites travel to the liver where they mature and reproduce. Five species of ''Plasmodium'' can infect and be spread by h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flora Of Africa
Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. Etymology The word "flora" comes from the Latin name of Flora, the goddess of plants, flowers, and fertility in Roman mythology. The technical term "flora" is then derived from a metonymy of this goddess at the end of the sixteenth century. It was first used in poetry to denote the natural vegetation of an area, but soon also assumed the meaning of a work cataloguing such vegetation. Moreover, "Flora" was used to refer to the flowers of an artificial garden in the seventeenth century. The distinction between vegetation (the general appearance of a community) and flora (the taxonomic composition of a community) was first made by Jules Thurmann (1849). Prior to this, the two terms were used indiscriminately.Thurmann, J. (1849). ''Essai de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hunteria Simii
''Hunteria'' is a genus of plants in the family Apocynaceae first described as a genus in 1824. It is native to Africa and to South and Southeast Asia. ;Species # '' Hunteria ballayi'' Hua - Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Gabon # '' Hunteria camerunensis'' K.Schum. ex Hallier f. - Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Gabon # '' Hunteria congolana'' Pichon - Republic of Congo, Zaïre, Kenya # '' Hunteria densiflora'' Pichon - Zaïre # '' Hunteria ghanensis'' J.B.Hall & Leeuwenb. - Ivory Coast, Ghana # ''Hunteria hexaloba'' (Pichon) Omino - Gabon # '' Hunteria macrosiphon'' Omino - Republic of Congo, Gabon # '' Hunteria myriantha'' Omino - Zaïre # ''Hunteria oxyantha'' Omino - Republic of Congo, Zaïre, Gabon # '' Hunteria simii'' (Stapf) H.Huber - Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone # ''Hunteria umbellata'' (K.Schum) Hallier f. - W + C Africa from Senegal to Zaïre # ''Hunteria zeylanica ''Hunteria zeylanica'' grows as either an evergreen shr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hunteria Umbellata
''Hunteria umbellata'' grows as either a shrub or small tree up to tall, with a trunk diameter of up to . Its flowers feature a white, creamy or pale yellow corolla. The fruit is yellow and smooth. Its habitat is forests from sea level to altitude. Its numerous local medicinal uses include for fever, leprosy sores, stomach and liver problems and as an anthelmintic, especially against internal worms. ''Hunteria umbellata'' has been used as arrow poison. The plant's hard wood is used in carving and to make small tools. The species is native to an area of tropical Africa from Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ) ... in the west to Angola in the south. References umbellata Plants used in traditional African medicine Flora of Angola Flora of West Trop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Analgesia
Pain management is an aspect of medicine and health care involving relief of pain (pain relief, analgesia, pain control) in various dimensions, from acute and simple to chronic and challenging. Most physicians and other health professionals provide some pain control in the normal course of their practice, and for the more complex instances of pain, they also call on additional help from a specific medical specialty devoted to pain, which is called pain medicine. Pain management often uses a multidisciplinary approach for easing the suffering and improving the quality of life of anyone experiencing pain, whether acute pain or chronic pain. Relief of pain in general (analgesia) is often an acute affair, whereas managing chronic pain requires additional dimensions. The typical pain management team includes medical practitioners, pharmacists, clinical psychologists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, recreational therapists, physician assistants, nurses, and dentist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antiinflammatory
Anti-inflammatory is the property of a substance or treatment that reduces inflammation or swelling. Anti-inflammatory drugs, also called anti-inflammatories, make up about half of analgesics. These drugs remedy pain by reducing inflammation as opposed to opioids, which affect the central nervous system to block pain signaling to the brain. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) alleviate pain by counteracting the cyclooxygenase (COX) enzyme. On its own, COX enzyme synthesizes prostaglandins, creating inflammation. In whole, the NSAIDs prevent the prostaglandins from ever being synthesized, reducing or eliminating the inflammation and resulting pain. Some common examples of NSAIDs are aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen. The newer specific COX-inhibitors are not classified together with the traditional NSAIDs, even though they presumably share the same mode of action. On the other hand, there are analgesics that are commonly associat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antipyretic
An antipyretic (, from ''anti-'' 'against' and ' 'feverish') is a substance that reduces fever. Antipyretics cause the hypothalamus to override a prostaglandin-induced increase in temperature. The body then works to lower the temperature, which results in a reduction in fever. Most antipyretic medications have other purposes. The most common antipyretics in the US are usually ibuprofen and aspirin, which are nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) used primarily as anti-inflammatories and analgesics (pain relievers), but which also have antipyretic properties; and paracetamol (acetaminophen), an analgesic without anti-inflammatory properties. There is some debate over the appropriate use of such medications, since fever is part of the body's immune response to infection. A study published by the Royal Society claims that fever suppression causes at least 1% more influenza deaths in the United States, or 700 extra deaths per year. Non-pharmacological treatment Bathing or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Akuammine
Akuammine (vincamajoridine) is an indole alkaloid. It is the most abundant alkaloid found in the seeds from the tree ''Picralima nitida'', commonly known as akuamma, comprising 0.56% of the dried powder. It has also been isolated from ''Vinca major''. Akuammine is structurally related to yohimbine, mitragynine and more distantly Voacangine, all of which are alkaloid plant products with pharmacological properties. Pharmacology Akuammine has antimalarial activity, and may be the primary constituent of ''P. nitida'' seeds responsible for this activity. Akuammine is an opioid antagonist with low affinity, selective for the mu-opioid receptor, when tested ''in vitro ''In vitro'' (meaning in glass, or ''in the glass'') studies are performed with microorganisms, cells, or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called "test-tube experiments", these studies in biology an ...''. References {{Opioidergics Tryptamine alkaloids Alkaloids ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pericine
Pericine is one of a number of indole alkaloids found in the tree ''Picralima nitida'', commonly known as akuamma. As with some other alkaloids from this plant such as akuammine, pericine has been shown to bind to mu opioid receptors ''in vitro'', and has an IC50 of 0.6 μmol, within the range of a weak analgesic. It may also have convulsant effects. Pericine has been prepared in the laboratory by total synthesis. See also * Vobasine * Isovoacristine Isovoacristine is a anticholinergic and antihistaminic alkaloid. See also *Benztropine * Benzydamine *Chlorpheniramine Chlorphenamine (CP, CPM), also known as chlorpheniramine, is an antihistamine used to treat the symptoms of allergic c ... References Opioids Indole alkaloids Alkaloids found in Apocynaceae Bridged heterocyclic compounds Mu-opioid receptor agonists Azocines {{alkaloid-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
