A comparison of the anti-Staphylococcus aureus activity of extracts from commonly used medicinal plants.

Background: Resurgences of Staphylococcus aureus infection continue globally, with antibiotic resistance increasing dramatically, making these infections more difficult to treat. S. aureus epidemics impose public health threats, and economic burdens on health care costs worldwide, presenting challenges modern medicine struggles to control.

In vitro characterization of a nineteenth-century therapy for smallpox.

In the nineteenth century, smallpox ravaged through the United States and Canada. At this time, a botanical preparation, derived from the carnivorous plant Sarracenia purpurea, was proclaimed as being a successful therapy for smallpox infections. The work described characterizes the antipoxvirus activity associated with this botanical extract against vaccinia virus, monkeypox virus and variola virus, the causative agent of smallpox.

Regulation of inflammatory gene expression in PBMCs by immunostimulatory botanicals.

Many hundreds of botanicals are used in complementary and alternative medicine for therapeutic use as antimicrobials and immune stimulators. While there exists many centuries of anecdotal evidence and few clinical studies on the activity and efficacy of these botanicals, limited scientific evidence exists on the ability of these botanicals to modulate the immune and inflammatory responses. Using botanogenomics (or herbogenomics), this study provides novel insight into inflammatory genes which are induced in peripheral blood mononuclear cells following treatment with immunomodulatory botanical extracts.

Detection of stratospheric ozone intrusions by windprofiler radars.

Stratospheric ozone attenuates harmful ultraviolet radiation and protects the Earth's biosphere. Ozone is also of fundamental importance for the chemistry of the lowermost part of the atmosphere, the troposphere. At ground level, ozone is an important by-product of anthropogenic pollution, damaging forests and crops, and negatively affecting human health.

Retrievals for the atmospheric chemistry experiment Fourier-transform spectrometer.

SCISAT-1, also known as the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment, is a satellite mission for remote sensing of the Earth's atmosphere, launched on 12 August 2003. The primary instrument on the satellite is a 0.02 cm(-1) resolution Fourier-transform spectrometer operating in the mid-IR (750-4400 cm(-1)).