BackgroundBy revealing historical and present plant use, ethnobotany contributes to drug discovery and socioeconomic development. Nepal is a natural storehouse of medicinal plants. Although several ethnobotanical studies were conducted in the country, many areas remain unexplored. Furthermore, few studies have compared indigenous plant use with reported phytochemical and pharmacological properties.MethodsEthnopharmacological data was collected in the Rasuwa district of Central Nepal by conducting interviews and focus group discussions with local people. The informant consensus factor (FIC) was calculated in order to estimate use variability of medicinal plants. Bio-efficacy was assessed by comparing indigenous plant use with phytochemical and pharmacological properties determined from a review of the available literature. Criteria were used to identify high priority medicinal plant species.ResultsA total of 60 medicinal formulations from 56 plant species were documented. Medicinal plants were used to treat various diseases and disorders, with the highest number of species being used for gastro-intestinal problems, followed by fever and headache. Herbs were the primary source of medicinal plants (57% of the species), followed by trees (23%). The average FIC value for all ailment categories was 0.82, indicating a high level of informant agreement compared to similar studies conducted elsewhere. High FIC values were obtained for ophthalmological problems, tooth ache, kidney problems, and menstrual disorders, indicating that the species traditionally used to treat these ailments are worth searching for bioactive compounds: Astilbe rivularis, Berberis asiatica, Hippophae salicifolia, Juniperus recurva, and Swertia multicaulis. A 90% correspondence was found between local plant use and reported plant chemical composition and pharmacological properties for the 30 species for which information was available. Sixteen medicinal plants were ranked as priority species, 13 of which having also been prioritized in a country-wide governmental classification.ConclusionsThe Tamang people possess rich ethnopharmacological knowledge. This study allowed to identify many high value and high priority medicinal plant species, indicating high potential for economic development through sustainable collection and trade.

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The pot experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of different concentrations of arsenic, chromium and zinc contaminated soils, amended with biosludge and biofertilizer on the growth of Jatropha curcas which is a biodiesel crop. The results further showed that biosludge alone and in combination with biofertilizer significantly improved the survival rates and enhanced the growth of the plant. With the amendments, the plant was able to grow and survive upto 500, 250 and 4,000 mg kg(-1) of As, Cr and Zn contaminated soils, respectively. The results also showed that zinc enhanced the growth of J. curcas more as compared to other metals contaminated soils. The heavy metal accumulation in plant increased with increasing concentrations of heavy metals in soil, where as a significant reduction in the metal uptake in plant was observed, when amended with biosludge and biofertilizer and biosludge alone. It seems that the organic matter present in the biosludge acted as metal chelator thereby reducing the toxicity of metals to the plant. Findings suggest that plantation of J. curcas may be promoted in metal contaminated soils, degraded soils or wasteland suitably after amending with organic waste.

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Epilepsy, a neurological disease characterized by recurrent seizures, is highly heterogeneous in nature. Based on the prevalence, epilepsy is classified into two types: common and rare epilepsies. Common epilepsies affecting nearly 95% people with epilepsy, comprise generalized epilepsy which encompass idiopathic generalized epilepsy like childhood absence epilepsy, juvenile myoclonic epilepsy, juvenile absence epilepsy and epilepsy with generalized tonic-clonic seizure on awakening and focal epilepsy like temporal lobe epilepsy and cryptogenic focal epilepsy. In 70% of the epilepsy cases, genetic factors are responsible either as single genetic variant in rare epilepsies or multiple genetic variants acting along with different environmental factors as in common epilepsies. Genetic testing and precision treatment have been developed for a few rare epilepsies and is lacking for common epilepsies due to their complex nature of inheritance. Precision medicine for common epilepsies require a panoramic approach that incorporates polygenic background and other non-genetic factors like microbiome, diet, age at disease onset, optimal time for treatment and other lifestyle factors which influence seizure threshold. This review aims to comprehensively present a state-of-art review of all the genes and their genetic variants that are associated with all common epilepsy subtypes. It also encompasses the basis of these genes in the epileptogenesis. Here, we discussed the current status of the common epilepsy genetics and address the clinical application so far on evidence-based markers in prognosis, diagnosis, and treatment management. In addition, we assessed the diagnostic predictability of a few genetic markers used for disease risk prediction in individuals. A combination of deeper endo-phenotyping including pharmaco-response data, electro-clinical imaging, and other clinical measurements along with genetics may be used to diagnose common epilepsies and this marks a step ahead in precision medicine in common epilepsies management.

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) and maize (Zea mays L.) were chosen as C₃and C₄ crop plants and assessed for the impact of enhanced CO₂ (700 ppm) and its interaction with drought stress in open top chambers (OTCs). The ameliorative effect of higher CO₂ concentration (eCO₂) under drought stress was quantified. It is interesting to note that the C₃ crop responded significantly and positively with eCO₂ under both well-watered and drought stress treatments for root: shoot ratio while C₄ crop showed a better response only with the drought stress environment. Root volume showed a positive significant response with CO₂ concentration enhanced over ambient level and the increment in root volume was 146% and 340% in sunflower and maize crops, respectively. The leaf water potential, stomatal conductance and transpiration showed a decreasing trend in both the crops with drought stress and eCO2 showed an ameliorative effect leading to higher P_n rates in sunflower crop under drought stress treatment. The findings reveal that improvement of root traits is worth attempting for the future crop behavioral responses under eCO₂ and drought stress environments. The study confirmed the beneficial effect of eCO₂ in maize and sunflower by ameliorating the adverse affects of drought stress.

The response of blackgram (Vigna mungo L. Hepper) to two levels of elevated carbon dioxide (550 and 700 ppm) in terms of growth and yield was investigated and compared with ambient CO 2 level (365 ppm) using open-top chambers. The growth parameters viz., length and weight of root and shoot, root:shoot ratio, leaf area and weight significantly increased at 700 ppm CO 2 when compared with 550 ppm. The percentage increase in total biomass at 700 and 550 ppm CO 2 was 65.4% and 39%, respectively compared to the ambient (chamber) control. The increase in total seed yield at 700 ppm (129%) was due to an increase in number of pods per plant and 100 seed weight, whereas at 550 ppm (88.7%) it was due to an increased number of pods/plant and seeds/pod. The results indicate variable responsive effects at different levels of CO 2 emphasizing the pertinence of research on elevated CO 2 in various agroecological inhabitations all over the world. The indication of higher responses for root and leaf at initial growth stages at the higher elevated level of CO 2 (700 ppm), which leads to better root establishment, achieving early photosynthetic efficiency and also better biomass production, and its improved partitioning can be reckoned as a positive aspect of increasing concentrations of CO 2 in atmosphere. The harvest index increased significantly to 35.7 and 38.4% at 550 and 700 ppm, respectively; it is a very important phenomenon in pulses for breaking the yield barrier.

Growth and yield responses of castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) to two elevated CO 2 levels (550 and 700 ppm) were evaluated up to the maturity of first order spikes in open top chambers (OTCs). The growth characteristics -root and shoot lengths, root volume, root:shoot ratios, leaf area, dry weights of different plant parts, leaf area duration and crop growth rate increased with 550 and 700 ppm of CO 2 levels compared with ambient control. The spike length, pod and seed yield of first order spikes increased under enhanced CO 2 levels over ambient control. Elevated CO 2 levels significantly increased the total biomass and yield of castor bean, however enhanced CO 2 levels per se did not changed the content and quality of the castor oil. A positive response of castor bean to increased CO 2 concentrations is a good indication for its future existence in potentially changed climatic conditions.