Exploring the Phytochemicals and Anti-Cancer Potential of the Members of Fabaceae Family: A Comprehensive Review.

Cancer is the second-ranked disease and a cause of death for millions of people around the world despite many kinds of available treatments. Phytochemicals are considered a vital source of cancer-inhibiting drugs and utilize specific mechanisms including carcinogen inactivation, the induction of cell cycle arrest, anti-oxidant stress, apoptosis, and regulation of the immune system. Family Fabaceae is the second most diverse family in the plant kingdom, and species of the family are widely distributed across the world. The species of the Fabaceae family are rich in phytochemicals (flavonoids, lectins, saponins, alkaloids, carotenoids, and phenolic acids), which exhibit a variety of health benefits, especially anti-cancer properties; therefore, exploration of the phytochemicals present in various members of this family is crucial. These phytochemicals of the Fabaceae family have not been explored in a better way yet; therefore, this review is an effort to summarize all the possible information related to the phytochemical status of the Fabaceae family and their anti-cancer properties. Moreover, various research gaps have been identified with directions for future research.

Quantitative Ethnobotanical Analysis of Medicinal Plants of High-Temperature Areas of Southern Punjab, Pakistan.

Lack of proper infrastructure and the poor economic conditions of rural communities make them dependent on herbal medicines. Thus, there is a need to obtain and conserve the historic and traditional knowledge about the medicinal importance of different plants found in different areas of the world. In this regard, a field study was conducted to document the medicinal importance of local plants commonly used by the inhabitants of very old historic villages in Southern Punjab, Pakistan. In total, 58 plant species were explored, which belonged to 28 taxonomic families, as informed by 200 experienced respondents in the study area. The vernacular name, voucher number, plant parts used, and medicinal values were also documented for each species. Among the documented species, Poaceae remained the most predominant family, followed by Solanaceae and Asteraceae. The local communities were dependent on medicinal plants for daily curing of several ailments, including asthma, common cold, sore throat, fever, cardiovascular diseases, and digestive disorders. Among the reported species, leaves and the whole plant remained the most commonly utilized plant parts, while extracts (38.8%) and pastes (23.9%) were the most popular modes of utilization. Based on the ICF value, the highest value was accounted for wound healing (0.87), followed by skincare, nails, hair, and teeth disorders (0.85). The highest RFC value was represented by Acacia nilotica and Triticum aestivum (0.95 each), followed by Azadirachta indica (0.91). The highest UV was represented by Conyza canadensis and Cuscuta reflexa (0.58 each), followed by Xanthium strumarium (0.37). As far as FL was concerned, the highest value was recorded in the case of Azadirachta indica (93.4%) for blood purification and Acacia nilotica (91.1%) for sexual disorders. In conclusion, the local inhabitants primarily focus on medicinal plants for the treatment of different diseases in the very old historic villages of Southern Punjab, Pakistan. Moreover, there were various plants in the study area that have great ethnobotanical potential to treat various diseases, as revealed through different indices.

Effects of logging and recovery process on avian richness and diversity in hill dipterocarp tropical rainforest-Malaysia.

The effects of logging and recovery process on avian richness and diversity was compared in recently logged and thirty year post-harvested hill dipterocarp tropical rainforest, using mist-netting method. Atotal of 803 bird individuals representing 86 bird species and 29 families (i.e., 37.90% from recently logged forest and 62.10% from thirty year post-harvested forest) were captured from October 2010 to September, 2012. Twenty one bird species were commonly captured from both types of forests, 37 bird species were caught only in thirty year post-harvested forest and 28 bird species were caught only from recently logged forest. Arachnothera longirostra--Little Spiderhunter, Malacopteron magnum--Rufous-crowned Babbler, Alophoixus phaeocephalus -Yellow-bellied Bulbul and Meiglyptes tukki--Buff-necked Woodpecker were the most abundant four bird species in the thirty year post-harvested forest. On the contrary, seven bird species, i.e., Trichastoma rostratum - White-chested Babbler, Lacedo pulchella - Banded Kingfisher, Picus miniaceus--Banded Woodpecker, Enicurus ruficapillus - Chestnut-naped Forktail, Anthreptes simplex--Plain Sunbird, Muscicapella hodgsoni--Pygmy Blue Flycatcher and Otus rufescens--Reddish Scope Owl were considered as the rarest (i.e., each represented only 0.12%). Likewise, A. longirostra, Pycnonotus eythropthalmos - Spectacled Bulbul, P. simplex--Cream-vented Bulbul and Merops viridis--Blue-throated Bee-eater were the most dominant and Copsychus malabaricus--White-rumped Shama Eurylaimus javanicus--Banded Broadbill /xos malaccensis - Streaked Bulbul and Harpactes diardii--Diard's Trogon (each 0.12%) were the rarest bird species in recently logged forest. CAP analysis indicated that avian species in thirty year post-harvested forest were more diverse and evenly distributed than recently logged forest. However, recently logged forest was rich in bird species than thirty year post- harvested forest. The results revealed that logging and retrieval process affect bird species richness and diversity. However, bird species may respond differently from habitat to habitat, i.e., forest logging causes disturbance of some avian species while recovery process may replace the loss of vegetation and harbour a wide array of avian species richness and diversity.

Bird species composition and feeding guilds based on point count and mist netting methods at the paya indah wetland reserve, peninsular malaysia.

A comparison study was conducted to determine the bird species composition, relative abundance, species diversity and feeding guilds based on point count (PC) and mist netting (MN) at the Paya Indah Wetland Reserve (PIWR), Peninsular Malaysia. A total of 13872 bird observations belonging to 100 species and 38 families were recorded using the PC method over 15 consecutive months, and a total of 1478 bird individuals belonging to 65 species and 33 families were captured using the MN method over 1260 netting hours. The results showed that Treron vernans (1723 observations; 12.42%) was the most abundant bird species using the PC method, whereas Pycnonotus goiavier (378 individuals; 25.64%) was the most abundant bird species using the MN method. The Ardeidae (9 species; 23.68%) was the most dominant family using the PC method, but the Rallidae (6 species; 18.18%) was the most dominant family using the MN method. The PC method produced higher species diversity (Shannon's N1 = 31.22) and richness (Margalef's R1 = 10.42) than MN, whereas the MN method produced higher species evenness (McIntosh's E = 0.86) than the PC method. Frugivore/insectivore comprised of bulbuls, orioles, pigeons and starlings was the most dominant feeding guild in both methods (PC = 27.81% and MN = 32.88%). In contrast, carnivore was the rarest feeding guild in both methods (i.e. PC = 0.17% and MN = 0.20%). These findings indicate that the PC method is more efficient and produces better results than the MN method.