Maná sobre el océano: los viajes del árbol del pan / Manna over the ocean: the breadfruit's voyages

Ending the nineteenth century the King of England sent Captain Bligh with orders to take from Tahiti to Jamaica plants of the breadfruit tree, searching for a chip and nutritive food for his slaves in the New World. The first voyage failed because the famous Bounty's mutiny; in the second, with the Providence and the Assistance, Bligh did successfully his task and today the tree growths well all around the Caribbean Sea, being not only a popular food, but also, in hands of a good chef, a gourmet's dish.

Comparison of Purgative Manna Drop and Phototherapy with Phototherapy Treatment of Neonatal Jaundice: A Randomized Double-Blind Clinical Trial

OBJECTIVES: Herbal remedies such as purgative manna are used to treat neonatal jaundice. In this study Bilineaster drop (purgative manna) and phototherapy, and phototherapy treatment alone were compared by assessing phototherapy duration and number of days in hospital. METHODS: There were 150 consecutive term neonates with jaundice, weighting from 2,500 g to 4,000 g enrolled in this randomized double blind clinical trial. The neonates were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. The control patients received only phototherapy and the intervention group underwent phototherapy treatment and purgative manna drop (5 drops per kg of body weight, 3 times a day). Direct and total measurements of bilirubin concentration in the serum were measured and the reduction in concentration of bilirubin was calculated. RESULTS: There were 28% of patients whose hospital duration following phototherapy was 2 days, for Bilineaster and phototherapy treatment this was 49.3% of patients. At 48 hours and 72 hours the reduction in the concentration of total bilirubin in the serum was statistically significantly different across groups (p 0.05). The reduction in direct bilirubin concentration in the serum was significantly different between groups at 72 hours and 96 hours (p > 0.001). CONCLUSION: Purgative manna and phototherapy, can statistically significantly reduce total bilirubin concentration at 48 hours and 72 hours compared with phototherapy alone, and reduce the length of hospital stay for jaundiced neonates at 2 days compared with phototherapy treatment.

Experimental Study on Baiji Manna Polysaccharide’s Anti-gastric Ulcer Anti-inflammation and Abirritation / 浙江中医药大学学报

[Objective] To observe the Baiji Manna Polysaccharide’ s anti-gastric ulcer,anti-inflammation and abirritation.[Method]Separate Baiji Manna Polysaccharide from Baiji;take xylene to induce mice auricle swelling method and capillary permeability for anti-inflammation test;take mice acetate twisting method and hot board method for abirritation study;take cool water stimulant and pylori ligation for gastric ulcer test.[Result]Baiji Manna Polysaccharide has marked resistance to mice auricle swelling;definite resistance to mice capillary permeability;can markedly inhibit mice pain caused by hot board and acetate,reduce pain reaction and twisting times induced by hot board.Rats pylori ligation test shows that Baiji Manna Polysaccharide(3mg/one) can effectively reduce ulcer index(P