COMMON IVY (Hedera helix LINN.)

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Common Ivy is dried leaves and flowering tops of the Hedera helix linn. (Araliaceae), official in 10th edition of French Pharmacopoeia.

  

  It is a very common plant growing at altitude upto 1,200 m in woods, hedges and cool rocky areas. It is a shade and half-shade loving plant that climb trees and walls. It has creeping and climbing stem, which emit roots and grow hooks. The cauline leaves are divided into 3-5 triangular lobes (8-10×10-12cm). The flowers are gathered in terminal umbels and fruits are fruits are globulous blackish berries with circular features near the top.

COMMON IVY

Chemical Constitutents :

The leaves contains sterols, a small quantity of stem distillable products (germacrene, β element), caffeic esters of quinic acids, flavonoids (rutin), polyyalkynes and saponins (the three chief saponins are hedera saponin, B and C and saponin K-10).

Cosmetic Uses :

The leaf extract (30% ethanol) has antifungal and antibacterial properties. Ivy based preparations are mostly used in cosmetic products, cream lotions, shampoos and anticellulite preparations.

CHAMOMILE (Matricaria recutita)

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Chamomile is the dried flower heads of :

German : Matricaria recutita Linn. (Syn. Matricaricaria chamomilla Linn. Chamomilla recutita (Linn.) Rauschert) (Compositae / Asteraceae).

Roman : Chamaemelum nobile (Linn.) All. (Syn. Anthemis nobilis Linn.) (Composiate).

      The herb is native to Europe, Northern and Western Asia but now cultivated extensively in Hungery, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Argentina.

     Roman herb is a strongly fragrant, hairy, half spreading and muchbranched perennial herb with flower heads about 2.5 cm. diameter, up to about 0.3 m high, native to Southern and Western Europe, cultivated in England, Belgium and United States.

    Blue essential oil is obtained from expanded flowerheads by steam distillation.

Chemical constituents :

The volatile oil of the chamomile contains sesquiterpene lactones, flavonoids including apigenin, rutin, luteolin and quercimeritrin (quercetin-7-D-glucosides) and coumarins.

Chamomile

Health Food :

German chamomile and to a lesser extent Roman chamomile crude flowers or extracts are one of the most widely used herbal tea ingredients, singly or in combination with other ingredients. Used internally for gastrointestinal spasms and inflammatory disease of the GI tract, externally for skin disease.

      Tinctures and extracts are used as mild sleep aids, antispasmodics and digestive aids and antioxidant food supplements.

DIABETIC NEUROPATHIES

Diabetic neuropathies are neuropathic disorders that are associated with diabetes mellitus. These conditions are thought to result from diabetic micro vascular injury involving small blood vessels that supply nerves in addition to macrovascular  conditions that can culminate in diabetic neuropathy.

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Signs and symptoms :

Diabetic neuropathy affects all peripheral nerves including pain fibers, motor neurons and the autonomic nervous system. It therefore can affect  all organs and systems may include Numbness, Erectile dysfunction, Urinary incontinence, vision changes, Difficulty swallowing, Speech impairment etc.

Also See about Jaundice

Causes of diabetic neuropathies :

•  Metabolic factors, such as high blood glucose, long duration of diabetes, abnormal blood fat levels, and possibly low levels, of insulin.
• Neurovascular factors, leading to damage to the blood vessels that carry oxygen and nutrients to nerves .
• Autoimmune factors that cause inflammation in nerves.
• Mechanical injury to nerves, such as carpal tunnel syndrome.
• Inherited traits that increase susceptibility to nerves disease.
• Types of diabetic neuropathy :
• Peripheral neuropathy, the most common type of diabetic neuropathy, causes pain or loss of feeling in the toes, feet, legs hands, and arms.
• Autonomic neuropathy causes changes in digestion, bowel and bladder function, sexual response, and perspiration. It can also affect the nerves that serve the heart and control blood pressure, as well as nerves in the lungs and eyes
• Proximal neuropathy causes pain in the things, hips, or buttocks and leads to weakness in the legs.
• Focal neuropathy results in the sudden weakness of one nerve or a group of nerves, causing muscle weakness or pain. Any nerves in the body can be affected.

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