Changing Circumstances and Diets
Christopher Cumo in Ancestral Diets and Nutrition, 2020
British anthropologist Mary Douglas Leakey (1913–1996) complicated matters in 1959, discovering at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania the first specimen of what is now classified Paranthropus boisei, a contemporary of Australopithecus and early Homo.31 She found the remains among eggshells and bones of several animals, including mice (Mus species), rats (Cricetomys species), frogs (species in the order Anura), tortoises (species in the family Testudinidae), snakes (species in the suborder Serpentes), lizards (species in the order Squamata), birds (species in the class Aves), antelopes (species in the family Bovidae), and boars (Sus scrofa).32P. boisei’s large teeth capable of crushing nuts, seeds, and other hard materials led to the nickname “Nutcracker Man.”33Paranthropus’ dietary breadth, although the range is debated, focused attention on omnivory and eclecticism rather than carnivory.34
Fruits, Vegetables and Tubers
Bill Pritchard, Rodomiro Ortiz, Meera Shekar in Routledge Handbook of Food and Nutrition Security, 2016
The leafy vegetables belonging to the Asteraceae are led by the lettuces (Lactuca sativa, L.sativa var longifolia, and L. sativa var crispa), chicory or endive (Cichorium endiva), and radicchio and some other varieties of C. intybus. FAOSTAT reports lettuce and chicory production in 101 countries and total production at 25 MMT. Some other less important leafy vegetables within the Asteraceae are: edible burdock (Arctium lappa); cardoon (Cynara cardunculus); and dandelion (Taraxicum officinale). Furthermore, this large family of higher plants also includes such crops as: the garland chrysanthemum (Glebionis coronaria); and the tuber-forming Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus). Globe artichoke (Cynara scolymus) with its edible flower parts is produced to the extent of 1.6 MMT with Egypt and Italy being prominent producers.
AIDS, Cancer, and Other Specialized Health Areas
David J. Owen in The Herbal Internet Companion, 2001
It is estimated that approximately 8 to 10 percent of cancer patients seek some type of alternative treatment.3 Two of the best-known, and controversial ones, are the Hoxsey and Essiac herbal treatments for cancer. Essiac is named after a Canadian nurse, Rene M. Caisse (“Essiac” is Caisse spelled backwards!), and is probably the most popular of all alternative treatments for cancer. It is essentially an herbal tea, reputedly based on an American Indian formula. It originally contained four herbs: burdock root (Arctium lappa), sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosella), slippery elm bark (Ulmus fulva), and turkey rhubarb (Rheum palmatum) or Indian rhubarb (Rheum officinale). The Hoxsey treatment is named after Harry Hoxsey (1901–1974), a self-taught healer who claimed to have cured many cancer patients using an herbal remedy handed down by his great-grandfather. Up until the 1950s, Hoxsey clinics could be found in several U.S. states, but the only surviving one is now in Tijuana, Mexico. (For details of the controversies surrounding these two cancer treatments, see the report Unconventional Cancer Treatments discussed later in this chapter.)
Salamanders and caecilians, neglected from the chemical point of view
Published in Toxin Reviews, 2022
Isadora Alves de Vasconcelos, Jéssica Oliveira de Souza, Jessica Schneider de Castro, Carlos José Correia de Santana, Ana Carolina Martins Magalhães, Mariana de Souza Castro, Osmindo Rodrigues Pires Júnior
The Amphibia class has three living orders: Anura, Caudata, and Gymnophiona. Anura (frogs and toads) has worldwide distribution occurring in all continents except Antarctica, with more than 8000 species distributed and 56 families (Frost 2021). Frogs and toads live in aquatic and terrestrial habitats from lowlands to mountaintops but excluded from estuarine and marine habitats. More than a half of all described species live in the tropics, especially in New Word. Anatomically, frogs and toads have tailless bodies, flat heads, big mouths; and long, muscular hindlimbs associated with jumping (Duellman et al.1994).
Peptidomic analysis in the discovery of therapeutically valuable peptides in amphibian skin secretions
Published in Expert Review of Proteomics, 2019
J. Michael Conlon, Milena Mechkarska, Jérôme Leprince
At the time of writing, the order Anura (frogs and toads) contains 7144 well-characterized species [23] so that the total number of peptides with biological activity present in their skin secretions is enormous. Clearly, methods are needed for the rapid and relatively inexpensive screening of secretions in order to identify components with potential therapeutic relevance. Peptidomic analysis involving fractionation by reversed-phase HPLC (RP-HPLC) followed by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry has proved to be effective in this regard.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Arctium Lappa
- Artichoke
- Carrot
- Contact Dermatitis
- Xanthium
- Phylogenetic Tree
- Rhubarb
- Sorrel
- Lactone
- Sugar