Chemical screening of chirata (swertia chirayita karst collections from himachal predesh for bitter content variability.

The investigations were carried out on collations of the herb made from natural habitats with altitudes ranging from 1500 m to 2700m. the material was subjected to chemical screening which revealed a great deal of variation ranging from 0.75 percent to 1.14 per cent wit respect to bitter content which is a pharmaceutically important component of this plant. Besides this observations were also recorded on the effect of root length and root thickness on the yield of bitter principles, observations recorded on soil parameters did not reveal any significant effect on the bitter content production except soil pH.

Kaleidoscoping public understanding of science on hygiene, health and plague: a survey in the aftermath of a plague epidemic in India.

In September 1994 a plague epidemic hit a number of cities in India. Though the spread of the disease was controlled within a short period of about one month, its influences on various channels of information, on the functioning of government departments (especially health and sanitation), on the scientific community and on people's scientific information level were remarkable. This paper analyzes the responses of 1127 individuals interviewed in December 1994. The data indicates high levels of informedness about health, hygiene and plague, with little reference to extra-scientific explanations of the causes of the epidemic. Respondents expressed a high degree of confidence in the modern system of medicine. From this analysis we also infer that the public could not be described as 'superstitious', 'unscientific' or 'unhygienic': only when denied access to information and civic amenities did they show extra-scientific thinking or 'unhygienic' behaviour.

Swertia spp: a source of bitter compounes for medicinal use.

Swertia is an important genus used in Indian medicine. A comprehensive review on this genus is presented in this article.

Diabetic status in leprosy.

The diabetic status of the local Jhansi patients (120 cases) was established before and after antileprosy treatment. Control studies were performed in normal healthy subjects (50 persons) without family history of diabetes mellitus. Random normals showed an incidence of diabetes only 2%, while leprosy patients (94 males and 26 females) had incidence of diabetic status of 14.2%. The highest incidence (19.3%) of diabetes was in lepromatous leprosy and lowest incidence (6.4%) in tuberculoid leprosy patients. Repeated studies in leprosy after treatment showed not only clinical improvement for leprosy but also disappearance of the chemical and latent diabetes mellitus and lowering of blood sugar levels in manifest diabetes mellitus. Incidentally it was noted that 'diabetic status' was worse among males (82.3%) and with advancing age. Association and improvement of diabetic status with specific treatment would tentatively suggest that Mycobacterium leprae lesions are not confined to skin alone but somehow also related to carbohydrate metabolism. A careful management of the chemical and latent diabetes may help in clinical management of leprosy too.