A review on diversity, conservation and nutrition of wild edible fruits

The United Nations adopted the Millennium Declaration of September 2009 to improve the global living conditions through reducing poverty and hunger. However, considerable numbers of people are still living in utter penury and are deprived of a dignified living. In such tough circumstances nature’s free gift in the form of wild edible foods are benefiting the vulnerable and dependent communities. Wild edible plants (WEPs) are the species those are neither cultivated nor domesticated however are available in their wild natural habitat and used as sources of these plants have played a significant role in the development and civilization of human history throughout the ages and globe. These wild edible plants have played a significant role in supplying food and nutritional requirements of poor communities in many rural parts of the world. These wild edibles can be popularized only when they are comparedfor their nutritional and health benefits with major or widely used cultivated plants. The social, cultural, religious, and belief system of the rural communities are incomplete without these wild edible plants. Domestication of these wild edible plants can increase their use and their conservation as well. The present review paper has described the wild edible plants in context of their diversity, traditional knowledge, conservation practices and nutritional composition from the available secondary literature. Authors feel there is still scope to incorporate more contextual variables for explaining more variations embedded with local people’s perception on values and usage of these wild edible fruits

Retrospective study of etiology of non variceal acute gastrointestinal bleeding in Eastern Himalayan region of india in Sikkim

Upper gastrointestinal bleeding is one of the most commonly encountered emergencies in day-to-day practice. In the present retrospective study, the various causes of acute nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding (NVUGIB), its management modalities, and the final outcome of patients were studied. Methods: A retrospective study of etiology of upper gastrointestinal (UGI) bleeding for a period of 13 months, January 2015 to February 2016 in Department of Gastroenterology, Central Referral Hospital, Gangtok, was conducted. There were a total of 127 upper gastrointestinal bleeding patients, out of which 70 patients were excluded due to endoscopically proven variceal bleeding. Of the 57 patients, the various causes were determined by investigations and were treated accordingly. Conclusion: Hematemesis was the most common presentation and duodenal ulcers the most common etiology among the acute nonvariceal upper gastrointestinal bleed. The cause of bleeding was not identified in one patient. Majority (34 patients, 59.64%) of the patients was treated conservatively, some needed endoscopic interventions (23 patients, 40.35%) and there was no any mortality