Acorus calamus

Acorus calamus  (Sweet  flag)

“Pediatric medicine” –  a  brain  tonic

Botanical name : Acorus calamus 

Family : Araceae

Vernacular names:

Sanskrit: Haimavathi, Vacha 

Hindi:  Bajai, Gora-bach, Vasa

Tamil: Vasambu

Malayalam: Vayambu           

Marathi: Vekhand

         Telugu: Vadaja 

         Kananda: Baje

         

Medicinal  uses :

• The decoction prepared from vasambu and liquorice (athimathuram) is given for pediatric ailments like cough, fever pain in the abdomen etc.

• The rhizome is burnt and the ashes are mixed with coconut oil and applied over the lower abdomen for flatulance.
• Traditionally the new born child is given vasambu and the main intention to give this medicine is proper brain devolopment, speech ability, better visual power, increased seminal power, brings beauty and neutralises any toxicities in our body.
• The powder of this rhizome if consumed daily in the dose of 100 to 700 mg is very beneficial for strengthening the nervous system. It should be noted that a dose above 1 gram may lead to vomitting.
• The powder of vasambu is mixed with honey and given internally for fitz. During this treatment if only milk is given internally then the results will be more effective.
• To prevent epilepsy in children this rhizome is prepared as an amulet and tied in the body of the child preferably waist.

Acorus calamus is also found to possess  anti-oxidant, diuretic, anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory activities

Extract of Acorus calamus rhizomes  exhibited significant anti-inflammatory effect in experimental animals like acute and chronic models which was observed to be well comparable with that of the reference drugs like hydrocortisone, phenylbutazone etc.

August month

Mother‘s  Milk

Breast milk supports the foundation of infant growth and development in the first few months of life.

And it sets better foundation for the health in later stage too.

The breast milk can never ‘emptied’, since milk production is a continuous biological process

The initial milk produced is referred to as colotrum, which is high in the immunoglobulin (IgA),

• IgA coats the gastrointestinal tract and protects the newborn until its own immune system is functioning properly

• It creates mild laxative effect, expelling meconium and helping to prevent the build up of bilurubin

      (a contributory factor in jaundice)

Nutritions in mother milk

1.Mother milk is rich in vitamins, minerals and other nutrients as well as trace elements.

2.Mother milk is alive, it contains digestive enzymes and live immune cells.

Health Benefits

1. Lowered risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
2. Increased intelligence 
3. Decreased incidence of ear infections and dental problems
4. Lowered risk of diabetes, childhood leukemia and asthma
5. Decreased risk of psychological disorders

Cow’s milk does not contain sufffcient vitamin E, Iron and essential fatty acids, which can cause anemic

Cow’s milk contains excessive protein, sodium and potassium, which may put a strain on infant’s immature  kidneys

Infants experiences difficulty in digesting cow’s milk

Easy way to improve health

Ayurveda  states that even the correct drug may not produce lasting effect, unless the life style and diet are attended to. Most degenerative diseases like arthritis results from persistent stress.

Knowledge of good dietary practices was deeply embedded in India’s traditional culture

Evidence

A typical method of cooking rice, appears to be very effective in helping musculoskeletal conditions. The method removes extra starch and generally improves nutritional value, and make beneficial conditions for several degenerative disease conditions.

Cooking  methodolgy

Cook rice with enough excess of water and drain off any excess water remaining which most soluble carbohydrate are removed  so sugar loading is decreased

Making use of drain water

1. Drain  water can be offered to animals and plants which provides nutrient effect
2. It can be mixed with buttermilk and pinch of fenugreek seed and ferment overnight
3. The strain of yeast grows on fenugreek seed will give additional effect

Therapeutic  value

• Reduction in the kappa content decreases tendencies of constipation
• Added microbial content from the yeast and lactobacillus considerably increase nutritional value

Associated benefits

Decrease in sugar loading ….

Reduces

• Obesity
• Insulin resistance
• Metabolic syndrome
• Type 2 diabetes

Improves

Colon health

Exploring the important clinical therapy components from AYURVEDA and  Dietary recipes for better treatment is of crucial …

…as they  give  WEALTH to the HEALTH  in a very easy way

April month post: Terahertz technology

Terahertz  technology

Many common materials and living tissues are semitransparent and have “ terahertz fingerprints”, permitting them to be imaged, identified and analysed

Advantages

  Due to non-ionizing properties terahertz radiations are safe for screening application

Terahertz pulsed imaging (TPI)

  A non-destructive analysis helps generating and detecting ultra short pulses of terahertz and being utilized for variety of applications

TPI  in  proteomics and drug discovery

  Pulsed terahertz imaging helps in determining protein 3D structure , folding and characterization

TPI  in  tablet coat analysis

  Terahertz pulses incident on a tablet surface penetrate through different coating layers.  At each interface terahertz pulse is reflected to detector.  The amplitude of reflected terahertz radiation is recorded as function of time.

TPI  in  molecular structure determination

  The sensitivity and specificity of terahertz spectroscopy to both inter and intra molecular  vibrations in different chemical species enables investigation of  crystalline state of drugs (eg: polymorphism). Differentiates hydrate forms of lactose,  most common excipient.

TPI  in  cosmetology

  The cosmetic appearance of skin influenced by the water content. its related permeability and elasticity of the striatum corneum, Moisturizers increases water content to enhance its appearance, so quantitative characterization of hydration level of striatum corneum is of crucial importance in cosmetic industry and it can be analyzed with the help of TPI.

TPI  in  oncology

  TPI  has potential to improve conventional biopsy and associated surgery by more precisely identifying areas to be excised there by reducing number of procedures and facilitating earlier and more accurate diagnosis

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Edible vaccines

Selected genes are introduced in to the plants and the transgenic plants are induced to manufacture the encoded protein. Edible vaccines for the measles, cholera, hepatitis B and many more are in the progress of development.

Advantages

•Administration

•Heat stable, eliminates need for refrigeration

•Storage near the site of use

•Delivery of multiple antigens

•Systemic and mucosal immunity

•Free from pathogens and toxins

Preparation

Foreign DNA  can be introduced into plant genome either by bombarding embryonic suspension using gene gun  or  through  Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Each antigen expressed is tested by Western blot assay.

Mechanism of action

The antigens in the transgenic plants are delivered through bio-encapsulation. The antigens are released in the intestines and taken up by M cells that overlie payer’s patches and gut associated lymphoid tissue (GALT). Which upon reaching  macrophages, generates serum Ig G, IgE, IgA responses which would neutralize the attack of real  infectious agents.