Antibacterial activity of medicinal plants from The Physicians of Myddvai, a 14th century Welsh medical manuscript.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Antimicrobial drug resistance is a growing threat to global public health. Historical records and herbal texts relating to traditional Celtic medicine indicate an extensive pharmacopeia of plants for treating infections likely caused by microbes. However, a major barrier for successful integration of these remedies into mainstream practice is the current lack of accurate interpretation and scientific validation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We investigated the flora of the Isle of Arran, Scotland, via in situ targeted screening of 83 out of 138 plants identified in Meddygion Myddvai (a 14th century Welsh manuscript) to treat conditions related to microbial infections, and an additional 18 plants from modern ethnobotanical knowledge on the island (Scottish School of Herbal Medicine). In a follow-up proof-of-concept study, bioassay-guided fractionation was performed to identify bioactive constituents from two high scoring hits that inhibited Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive) and Escherichia coli (Gram-negative) bacterial growth. RESULTS: 67 historical plants (80.7%) and 14 modern plants (77.8%) were found to have detectable levels of antimicrobial activity when tested using Mobile Discovery kits, with human saliva as a source of bacteria for screening. Sabinene, a natural bicyclic monoterpene from juniper "berries" (Juniperus communis L.) and alliin, a natural sulfoxide from garlic cloves (Allium sativum L.), were isolated and confirmed as primary antibacterial leads. CONCLUSION: Using historical medical sources such as those associated with traditional Celtic medicine to guide rigorous, evidence-based scientific investigation, provides additional leads for new and alternative bioactive molecules for combating bacterial diseases.

Historic perspective: prebiotics, probiotics, and other alternatives to antibiotics.

Applications of antimicrobials in food production and human health have found favor throughout human history. Antibiotic applications in agricultural and human medical arenas have resulted in tremendous increases in food animal production and historically unprecedented gains in human health protection. Successes attributed to widespread antibiotic use have been accompanied by the inadvertent emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. A major problem associated with this emerging resistance is the crossover use of some antibiotics in agricultural settings as well as in the prevention and treatment of human disease. This outcome led to calls to restrict the use of human health-related antibiotics in food animal production. Calls for restricted antibiotic use have heightened existing searches for alternatives to antibiotics that give similar or enhanced production qualities as highly reliable as the antibiotics currently provided to food animals. Agricultural and scientific advances, mainly within the last 100 yr, have given us insights into sources, structures, and actions of materials that have found widespread application in our modern world. The purpose of this presentation is to provide a historic perspective on the search for what are generally known as antibiotics and alternative antimicrobials, probiotics, prebiotics, bacteriophages, bacteriocins, and phytotherapeutics.

Kraepelin's 'lost biological psychiatry'? Autointoxication, organotherapy and surgery for dementia praecox.

Kraepelin believed that a chronic metabolic autointoxication, perhaps arising from the sex glands, eventually caused chemical damage to the brain and led to the symptoms of dementia praecox. The evolution of Kraepelin's autointoxication theory of dementia praecox is traced through the 5th to 8th (1895 to 1913) editions of his textbook, Psychiatrie. The historical context of autointoxication theory in medicine is explored in depth to enable the understanding of Kraepelin's aetiological assumption and his application of a rational treatment based on it--organotherapy. A brief account of the North American reception of Kraepelin's concept of dementia praecox, its autotoxic basis, and the preferred American style of rational treatment--surgery--concludes the discussion.

Occipital lesions: a possible cost of cradleboards.

This examination of a Mimbres-Mogollon pueblo skeletal sample reveals a surprising percentage of individuals with occipital lesions. Each lesion is located in the approximate center of the squama immediately superior to the external occipital protuberance. Notably, no child over the age of 1 year exhibits a lesion that would have been active at the time of death, but a number of older children and adults exhibit evidence of healed lesions in this same area on the occipital. The restricted nature of these lesions, in terms of both their locations and ages of those actively affected, suggests that the use of cradleboards may have been at least a contributing, if not initiatory, factor in their creation. Specifically, this study suggests that the pressure and friction of an infant's head against a cradleboard may have 1) produced ischemic ulcers, 2) produced the conditions favorable for bacterial infections such as impetigo or carbuncles, or 3) complicated the treatment of other infections appearing on the back of the scalp.