Exploring biodiversity and ethnobotanical significance of Solanum species in Uzbekistan: unveiling the cultural wealth and ethnopharmacological uses

Despite its millennial existence and empirical documentation, the ethnological knowledge of herbs is a more recent phenomenon. The knowledge of their historical uses as food, medicine, source of income and small-scale businesses, and the sociological impacts are threatened due to the slow ethnobotanical research drive. Species of the genus Solanum have long been extensively used in folk medicine to treat various illnesses of humans since the dawn of civilization. All data were systematically obtained from papers, monographs, and books written in Uzbek, Russian, and English through various scientific online databases, including Google, Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, Semantic Scholar, Science Direct, and Web of Science using specific keywords focused on eight Solanum species. Eight native and non-native Solanum species as S. dulcamara L., S. lycopersicum L., S. melongena L., S. nigrum L., S. rostratum Dunal., S. sisymbriifolium Lam., S. tuberosum L., and S. villosum Mill. have been recorded in Uzbekistan of Central Asia. In this article we presented recently obtained data on the diversity, morphological characteristics, global distribution, habitat, population status, phenology, reproduction, pharmacology and phytochemistry of these Solanum species in Uzbekistan. Furthermore, relying on a combination of literature reviews and analyses from various scientific papers, we focus on food consumption coupled with global ethnobotanical and ethnopharmacological uses in human diseases of the Solanum species growing in Uzbekistan. Since the dawn of civilization, these eight cultivated and non-cultivated species of Solanum have provided sustainable resources of medicinal plants in Uzbekistan to prevent and treat various human diseases. Based on the collected data, it was shown that Solanum species have not been studied ethnobotanically and ethnomedicinally in Uzbekistan and it is necessary to conduct phytochemical and biotechnological research on them in the future. Traditional uses and scientific evaluation of Solanum indicate that S. nigrum, S. sisymbriifolium and S. tuberosum are one of the most widely used species in some parts of the world. Although considerable progress has been made to comprehend the chemical and biological properties of S. nigrum and S. tuberosum species, more research on the pharmacology and toxicology of these species is needed to ensure the safety, efficacy, and quality of their biologically active extracts and isolated bioactive compounds. Additionally, conducting additional research on the structure-activity relationship of certain isolated phytochemicals has the potential to enhance their biological efficacy and advance the scientific utilization of traditional applications of Solanum taxa

Improving Shoot Growth and Multiplication of Native Plants in Tissue Culture

Propagation techniques have been developed for successful production of native plants with commercial value as plant materials for managed landscapes. Shoots of serviceberry, Amelanchier alnifolia Nutt., propagated in tissue culture often fail to form roots readily. In vitro cultured shoots from a selected dwarf plant were examined for their ability to form roots when the basal salt concentration was adjusted or different plant growth regulators were used in the MS medium. The best rooting was achieved with 10 ?M IBA or 10 ?M NAA, and the percentage of shoots forming roots was 33% for IBA-treated and 67% for NAA-treated shoots. The percentage of rooting increased to 87% on MS medium supplemented with 0.5 ?M IBA with 1.6 mg l-1 thiamine and 150 mg l-1 FeEDDHA. Optimizing shoot multiplication media by adding mesos compounds (CaCl2, KH2PO4 and MgSO4) to improve serviceberry shoot quality before root formation helped to increase rooting percentage to 100%. Adjusting mineral concentrations in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium by adding mesos components in different concentrations increased shoot growth including overall quality, leaf color, shoot multiplication, shoot dry weight and shoot height. The best treatments were 0.132, 0.054, and 0.204 g l-1 or 0.398, 0.054, and 0.102 g l-1 for CaCl2, KH2PO4 and MgSO4, respectively, added to MS medium. These treatments increased the number of shoots per explant by 67% and 43%, shoot height by 91% and 112%, and shoot dry weight by 44% and 77%, respectively, compared to the control shoots. Improving shoot quality for serviceberry helped to increase the rooting percentage, and the shoots established in ex vitro conditions. Epilobium canum garrettii or firechalice was established in tissue culture on Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 4.4 ?M benzyladenine (BA) in Stage I. During Stage ??, different cytokinins, such as BA, kinetin (kin), 6-(?,?-dimethlyallylamino)purine (2iP), thidiazuron (TDZ) and meta-topolin (mT), at concentrations of 1.1, 2.2, 4.4 or 8.8 ?M were evaluated for axillary shoot proliferation efficacy. The highest number of shoots were formed (11.1 or 15) by using the highest concentration (8.8 ?M) of BA or meta-topolin, respectively. In Stage III, firechalice rooted easily without auxin added to the medium, yet 0 to 9 ?M IBA can be used during Stage III. Overall, 82.5% of the rooted shoots survived in Stage IV when 0 to 9 ?M IBA was used in Stage III. The micropropagation protocol developed for firechalice allows large numbers of plantlets to be produced from one stock plant in relatively a short period of time. Plant improvement and micropropagation through tissue culture have an impact on the landscape plant market since a large number of these plants can be produced quickly for release to the public. Now many plants can be produced and used in the nursery and landscape trade.Thesis (Ph.D., Plant, Soil and Entomological Sciences) -- University of Idaho, 201

Genesis and Mechanism of Some Cancer Types and an Overview on the Role of Diet and Nutrition in Cancer Prevention

Cancer is a major disease with a high mortality rate worldwide. In many countries, cancer is considered to be the second most common cause of death after cardiovascular disease. The clinical management of cancer continues to be a challenge as conventional treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy, have limitations due to their toxicity profiles. Unhealthy lifestyle and poor dietary habits are the key risk factors for cancer; having a healthy diet and lifestyle may minimize the risk. Epidemiological studies have shown that a high fruit and vegetable intake in our regular diet can effectively reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancers due to the high contents of antioxidants and phytochemicals. In vitro and in vivo studies have shown that phytochemicals exert significant anticancer effects due to their free radical scavenging capacity potential. There has been extensive research on the protective effects of phytochemicals in different types of cancers. This review attempts to give an overview of the etiology of different types of cancers and assesses the role of phytonutrients in the prevention of cancers, which makes the present review distinct from the others available

Epidemiology of Viral Infectious Diseases Reported in Saudi Arabia

Abstract Introduction Efficient epidemiological monitoring of virus diseases is crucial in evaluating general public health, the prevalence of specific diseases, the pattern of spread, and implementing preventative and control strategies into action. Methods This study analyzed data obtained from the Field Epidemiology Program (FETP) which is part of the Ministry of Health (MOH) in Saudi Arabia, which contained reported cases of infectious diseases over four years, from January 2018 to December 2021, to investigate and highlight the significant trend and incidence rate for each viral infectious disease. Results Of the reported viral infectious diseases, hepatitis B and C, dengue fever (DF), influenza, chickenpox, and measles were the highest reported viral cases over four years. For the aforementioned diseases, males were often more susceptible to viral infections than females. Except for DF, this viral infection was more common in Saudi citizens. Viral illnesses like hand, foot, and mouth disease were less prevalent, while neurological viral disorders such as acute flaccid paralysis were rarely detected. There was an overall reduction in viral cases recorded during 2020–2021, which may be attributed to the implementation of preventive measures during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19) pandemic or an underreporting of cases during the lockdown of that time. Conclusion The prevalence of these common viral infections in the Saudi population suggests that understanding the mechanisms influencing changes in these viruses, methods of transmission, and the burden of these diseases is a priority for health policy. This understanding is necessary to develop effective intervention and preventive strategies

Coronal Heating as Determined by the Solar Flare Frequency Distribution Obtained by Aggregating Case Studies

Flare frequency distributions represent a key approach to addressing one of the largest problems in solar and stellar physics: determining the mechanism that counter-intuitively heats coronae to temperatures that are orders of magnitude hotter than the corresponding photospheres. It is widely accepted that the magnetic field is responsible for the heating, but there are two competing mechanisms that could explain it: nanoflares or Alfv\'en waves. To date, neither can be directly observed. Nanoflares are, by definition, extremely small, but their aggregate energy release could represent a substantial heating mechanism, presuming they are sufficiently abundant. One way to test this presumption is via the flare frequency distribution, which describes how often flares of various energies occur. If the slope of the power law fitting the flare frequency distribution is above a critical threshold, $\alpha=2$ as established in prior literature, then there should be a sufficient abundance of nanoflares to explain coronal heating. We performed $>$600 case studies of solar flares, made possible by an unprecedented number of data analysts via three semesters of an undergraduate physics laboratory course. This allowed us to include two crucial, but nontrivial, analysis methods: pre-flare baseline subtraction and computation of the flare energy, which requires determining flare start and stop times. We aggregated the results of these analyses into a statistical study to determine that $\alpha = 1.63 \pm 0.03$. This is below the critical threshold, suggesting that Alfv\'en waves are an important driver of coronal heating.Comment: 1,002 authors, 14 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, published by The Astrophysical Journal on 2023-05-09, volume 948, page 7