Datura stramonium (Common Name : Jimson Weed) Medicinal Uses, Side Effects and Benefits

Datura stramonium (Common Name : Jimson Weed) Medicinal Uses, Side Effects and Benefits

Posted on November 20, 2014

What is Datura plant?

Datura is an herbaceous perennial plant, which is grown in temperate and tropical region of the globe. All the species of Datura are poisonous in nature. Some are aphrodisiac too. The seeds and flowers are more poisonous in nature. Sometimes, datura is termed as witches weeds and shows properties like deadly nightshade and henbane. Datura use is known for feverish state and even death. However, in Ayurveda, it is used as medicine and ritual as well as prayers has also place this. Even being a poisonous plant, datura has been using since the ancient times by ayurveda physicians, spiritual purposes, holy men and its use in modern medicine drugs.

Datura seeds parts used are seeds, flowers and leaves. All the parts of datura contain dangerous level of poison like tropane alkaloids atropine, hyoscyamine, scopolamine, which are considered as deliriants or anticholinergics.

Datura should be taken only after consultation from the good practitioner as the difference between medical dose and toxic dose is very very small.

Datura distribution

Initially, datura was found in United States of America but now it is spread all over the world. In United States, datura is generally found in Southern America and Mexico. Datura is found in the deserts of America such as southern California, east Texas, and northern region of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Nevada.  It grows wild in the tropical as well as temperate climate where it is found in the road side area as well as the medicinal plant nursery. In Europe, it grows as weed on the wasteland and garbage. In India, it is distributed in the Himalayn region.

Common names of Datura

It has been known by many names such as jimson weed, stink weed, mad apple, thorn apple stramonium, dhatura tatula, and datura seeds. Datura is also known by other common names such as Devil's snare, hell's bell, devil's trumpet, devil's weed, tolguacha, locoweed, pricklyburr and devil's cucumber.

• English Name- Thorn apple, Devil's trumpet, Metel
• Hindi Name- Sada Dhatura
• Tamil Name- Ummattangani/ Vella- Ummathai
• Telugu Name- Ummetta
• Bengal Name- Dhattura
• Gujarati name – Dhattura
• Marathi Name-Dhattura
• Kannada name- Unmatta, Dhattura
•  Malayalam Name- Unmatta, Dhattura
• Arabic name – Datur
• Persian name – Tatur

Datura uses for hair fall

 Utmost precautions should be taken while ingesting datura as it may seriously harm you or kill you.

• Datura is used as poison because the presence of alkaloids such as scopolamine, hyoscyamine, and atropine.
• The growing datura plant acts like as insect repellent thereby protects other plants from insects.
• The juice of datura plant is applied over the scalp to treat hair fall, hair loss and dandruff.

Datura classification

• Botanical name: Datura stramonium
• Kingdom: Plantae
• Division: Magnoliophyta
• Class: Magnoliopsida
• Order: Solanales
• Family: Solanaceae (deadly Nightshade family)
• Genus: Datura
• Species: Datura stramonium

List of Datura species

• Datura wrightii also called Southwestern Thorn Apple
• Datura stramonium also called Jimson weed
• Datura metaloides also called sacred datura
• Datura inoxia named as Toloache
• Datura discolor is also known as Moon flower.
• Datura ceratocaula
• Datura ferox: long spined thorn-apple
• Datura leichhardti: Leichhardt's datura
• Datura quercifolia: Oak-leaf thorn-apple

Datura drugs and medicinal benefits

Recently, FDA has recognized the medicinal uses of Datura because the presence of chemical compounds such as scopolamine and atropine.

• Flying Ointment: Flying ointment is used by medieval witches of Europe so that they can fly. Flying ointment is a complex drug that is made from the plants such as henbane, hemlock, wolfsbane and some plants from nightshade family. The ointment is used to apply on the soles of the feet, vagina and armpits.
• Ayahuasca brews: Ayahuasca brew is used by shamans to make brew. Only 2-3 leaves are used for 30-40 people.
• Smoking blends of datura and cannabis are used as smoke because it is not ruthless and burns easier.
• It has been used by the British soldiers to treat respiratory problems. Both scopolamine and atropine are used as sedatives and sometimes helps in curing of motion sickness, nausea and dizziness.
• Datura has been used in Ayurveda for asthma symptoms where jimson weed's leaves are smoked in cigarette or pipe.
• The Zuni once used it as analgesic for bone setting while the Chinese were used it as anaesthesia during surgery.

Datura seeds benefits

• Datura leaves are used to treat pain. The paste of roasted leaves is applied over the area to relieve pain.
• It is used as herbal medicine, especially in case of ayurveda for asthma and bonesetting.
• Jimson weed is used to treat spasm of bronchitis in asthma.
• Datura seeds and leaves are used as antiasthmatic, antispasmodic, hypnotic and narcotic.
• Externally, the jimson seeds are used in treating of fistulas and abscesses
• Datura leaves are enriched with hyoscyamine and atropine, can be used as mind altering drug.
• The oil extract from the datura seed is used to treat baldness and stimulate growth of hair.

Datura leaves benefits

•  The leaves of datura are good to relieve headache.
• The vapour of datura leaves infusion is used to relieve arthritis such as rheumatism and gout.
• The burning leaf smoke of datura is good to treat asthma and bronchitis.
• The ethanol extract from datura leaves are used as acaricidal, repellent and oviposition deterrent properties against mites.
• The ethanol extract of datura is used as repellent against larva and mosquito.
• The leaves of datura are used to treat heart problems like palpitations and hypertension.
• Datura leaves juice is used to treat earache.
• Boils can also be overcome by applying datura leaves as poultice.

Datura side effects

• Datura is poisonous plant, so it should be taken only after consultation with the experienced physicians.
• Datura chemicals such as scopolamine and atropine are used as poison and used in murders and suicides.
• Datura increases the heart beat and may lead to cardiac arrest.
• Ingesting datura may cause violent behavior because the presence of chemical substance called anticholinergic.
• Taking datura results to dilated pupils.
• One can also experience amnesia due to this.
• Blurred vision, nausea, giddiness, confusion, rapid pulse, hyperthermia are some of the side effects of datura.
• Datura can affect the nervous system adversely.
• The juice of datura leaves is also very harmful for eyes.

 

Calotropis gigantea – Arka -Uses, Dose, Side Effects, Ayurveda Details

Calotropis gigantea is known as Arka in Sanskrit. It is widely used many Ayurvedic treatments, both externally (ksharasutra) and internally. It is a very common herb seen widely throughout India. It is called as Madar in English. Often, its another variety Calotropois procera is also used in the same name. 

Botanical Name– Calotropis Gigantea(Linn). R. Brown
Family –  Asclepiadaceae( Periplocaceae) – Arka Kula

Vernacular Names
Hindi Name- Madara, Akavan, Aak (latex of Arka is called Aak ki doodh)
English Name- Madar
Telugu Name- Jilledu, Mandaram
Bengali Name- Aakand
Marathi Name- Rui/ Akamadar
Gujarati Name- Akad, Akado
Tamil Name- Pellerukku, Erukku
Punjabi Name – Ak
Arab name – Ushar
Pharsi name – Kharak

Synonyms–
Arka – arka means Sun rays. This herb is as pungent, hot and strong as Sun rays.
Toolaphala – fruit has ridges
Ksheeraparna – leaves yield milk (latex)
Arkaparna – Parna means leaf. Leaves are strong, hot and pungent.
Vikirana – its pollination is by air (spreading)
Asphota – the fruit bursts open.
Alarka, Mandara. Saapuspa, Talaphala, Krsaparna, Arkaparna, Vikirana, Asphota.

Classical categorization–
Caraka – Bedaniya, Vamonopaga, Svedopaga
Susruta- Arkadi, Adhobhagahara
Vaghata- Arkadi

Major chemical constituents
Calotropis Gigantea– Laurane, Saccharose, B-amyrin; a&B calotropeols; holarrhetine, Cyanidin-3-rhamnoglucoside; Taraxsterol isovalerate; Giganteol; Calotroposide;Calactin, Calotoxin; Calotropins DI &DII, Gigantin etc.

Calotropis procera– A&B Amyrins, Cyanidin-3-Rhamnoglucoside, procesterol,  B-sitosterol, Calactin, Caotoxin, Calotropagenin, Calotropin, Calotropain, Proceroside, Proceragenin etc.
(Reference: Illustrated Dravyaguna VIjnana, Vol. II, by Dr JLN Shastry)

Arka – Medicinal Properties-
Rasa (taste) – Katu (pungent) Tikta (bitter)
Guna (qualities) – Laghu (lightness), Ruksha (dryness), Teekshna
Vipaka- Katu – Undergoes pungent taste conversion after digestion.
Veerya – Ushna – hot potency
Effect on Tridosha – Because of its hot potency, it balances Vata and Kapha.
Red type's flower has bitter and sweet tate. Hence it balances Pitta and Kapha.

Medicinal uses of Calotropis gigantea –

Arka ksheera – The latex of Madar plant is used in Vamana (vomiting therapy) and Virechana (purgation therapy). It is capable of inducing vomiting and purgation.
Kushtahara – useful in skin diseases
Gulmahara – useful in abdominal tumors, bloating
Udarahara – used in the treatment of ascites.

Madar plant is
Vatahrut – balances Vata
Deepana – improves digestion
Sara – eases bowel movements.
Shophahara – anti inflammatory
Vranahara – brings about quick wound healing
Kanduhara – relieves itching
Kushtahara – useful in skin diseases
Pleehahara – useful in spleen disorders
Krumihara – useful in intestinal worm infestation

Madar flower –
Vrushya – acts as aphrodisiac
Laghu – light to digest
Deepana – improves digestion strength
Pachana – carminative
Arochaka – useful in anorexia
Praseka – excessive salivation
Arsha – hemorrhoids
Kasa shwasahara – useful in respiratory disorders – cough, asthma etc. It acts as a good expectorant.

Red coloured flowers –
Tikta Madhura – sweet, bitter in taste
Kushtahara – relieves skin diseases
Krumighna – useful in worm infestation
Kaphanashana – balances Kapha.
Arshahara – useful in hemorrhoids
Vishahara – anti toxic
Raktapitta – useful in bleeding disorders
Sangrahi – useful in diarrhoea
Gulma – useful in abdominal tumors, bloating
Shvayathuhara – anti inflammatory.

Root bark is useful in cough, cold and constipation. (acts as laxative).

Snake bites – In ancient times, for poisonous snake bite, its leaves were chewed and latex was applied over the wound.
Gastritis – Its leaves are processed with Saindhava salt to prepare a medicine called Arka Lavana, widely used in the treatment of gastritis.
Its latex is applied over the gums to relieve toothache.

Part used– Root bark, flowers, leaf, latex, seeds.

Dosage– Root bark, powder 0.5-1 g. flower power 1-2 g

Ayurvedic medicines prepared with Calotropis gigantea –
Ardraka Ghrita – used in indigestion and chronic diarrhoea
Arkadi Kashaya – used in cough, cold, backache with stiffness
Asanadi Kashaya – used in treating diabetes, obesity etc.

Side effects and precautions –
Over-dosage may cause diarrhoea and vomiting.
It is not safe to use in pregnancy or during lactation period.

VMware and Microsoft are the top virtualization leaders, according to Gartner

Gartner's Magic Quadrant for x86 server virtualization puts VMware and Microsoft as leaders. Find out what the report's findings indicate for the future of the data center.

By Janakiram MSV July 28, 2015, 10:01 AM PST

Gartner has released its Magic Quadrant report on x86 server virtualization infrastructure for 2015. VMware and Microsoft retained their spots in the top right quadrant, which Gartner reserves for the leaders. Vendors that made it into the niche players quadrant are Citrix, Huawei, Odin, Oracle, and Red Hat.

Magic Quadrant for x86 server virtualization infrastructure

 Image: Gartner (July 2015)

VMware leads the pack but faces challenges

VMware is still the undisputed leader in the x86 virtualization segment, but it is clear the company is under pressure due to the increased adoption of cloud infrastructure services, market saturation, and competitive pressure from Microsoft. Gartner states that it is witnessing increased client inquiries about comparing vSphere and Hyper-V.

While some large enterprises are moving away from VMware to Microsoft, a few are switching from Hyper-V to vSphere. The company is also facing a competitive threat from Oracle, as customers prefer to run mission-critical database workloads on a homogenous, certified virtualization platform. The rise in the adoption of OpenStack-based private clouds and containers are impacting vSphere's adoption in the enterprise. Red Hat is moving towards becoming a preferred platform for running virtualized Linux workloads.

Gartner also highlighted the trend of cloud-native workloads moving to Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) platforms such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, which is an area of concern for VMware. vCloud Air, VMware's hybrid cloud platform, has yet to make a dent in the market.

Microsoft is augmenting Hyper-V with Azure capabilities

The report comes at a time when Microsoft is readying the next version of Windows Server, which includes a newer version of Hyper-V. Compared to last year, Microsoft's Hyper-V has moved up by a few notches in the top right quadrant, which indicates that the company is making progress with its virtualization strategy. Hyper-V's tight integration with the OS and management tools makes it easy for customers to deploy and manage large workloads. Since the hypervisor is bundled with Windows Server, the cost is almost zero.

Gartner said, "Microsoft's efforts in enabling Azure-like capability have been attracting enterprises interested in leveraging Azure and managing both on-premises Hyper-V and Azure services. There is a growing interest in using Hyper-V for Microsoft-based development teams, especially due to its Azure affinity."

Microsoft's game plan of building a private cloud platform that's highly compatible with the Azure public cloud is paying off; the recently announced Azure Stack is a step in that direction. With the battleground slowly shifting from plain vanilla virtualization to the private cloud, Microsoft is solidifying its hybrid cloud strategy by reducing the gap between its public and private cloud platforms.

Once branded as a Windows-only hypervisor, Microsoft has invested in making Hyper-V compatible with Linux; this is helping the company acquire new customers with heterogeneous environments. "Hyper-V will likely be more successful in development teams interested in Azure, but requiring on-premises deployments. As Microsoft further improves its support for Azure affinity, and adds support for Windows containers in a future release, its success with development teams will continue to grow," says Gartner.

Microsoft has some work to do with its tools when compared to VMware; Gartner found that its tools are not easy to use. Similar to VMware, open source technologies are eating into Microsoft's virtualization revenue.

RHEV as the foundation for Red Hat's cloud

Red Hat is eyeing the third slot in the Magic Quadrant, after VMware and Microsoft. According to Gartner, Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV), a KVM-based hypervisor, has a 5% adoption rate in the market. Its integrated stack of RHEV, CloudForms, OpenStack, and OpenShift will help penetrate the enterprise market.

Citrix feels the heat from vSphere and Hyper-V

When compared to its position in the 2014 Magic Quadrant, Citrix hasn't made much progress with its XenServer, XenDesktop, and XenApp portfolio. Given the adoption of Xen hypervisor in the public cloud service provider market, including Amazon Web Services, Citrix is focusing on winning this category. Though XenDesktop and XenApp are enjoying wide usage in the desktop virtualization segment, the backend hypervisor is either vSphere or Hyper-V.

The company is also pushing its CloudStack based CloudPlatform into the enterprise market. The competition from OpenStack and commercial cloud platforms based on vSphere and Hyper-V makes it an uphill battle for Citrix.

Oracle, Huawei, and Odin are finding their niches

Oracle VM, which is based on the open source hypervisor Xen, is preferred by customers who consider Oracle certification, license, and support. Gartner says that the third-party ecosystem for Oracle virtualization is smaller than that of the market leaders, which impacts its adoption.

FusionSphere, Huawei's virtualization platform, is making inroads in emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China.

In March 2015, Parallels, Inc., a cross-platform hosting automation company, spun off its service provider business into Odin. Given its broad expertise of containers, the company hopes to acquire new service provider customers.

What this means to enterprise IT

With Gartner stating that 75% of x86 workloads are already virtualized, most of the organizations are considering the next logical step: deploying a hybrid cloud. VMware vCloud Air and Microsoft Azure Stack are viable options for customers to implement the hybrid strategy.

Enterprise IT is also evaluating the rapidly evolving container technologies. With the recent announcements of the Open Container Initiative and the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, there is an emphasis on migrating a certain class of applications to containers. Traditional virtualization vendors including Microsoft, VMware, and Red Hat are heavily investing in containerized technologies. Indicators of this trend are: Microsoft's investment in Hyper-V containers andNano Server; VMware's decision to build Photon, a specialized OS for containers; and Red Hat's launch of Atomic Host.

Customers should carefully analyze their portfolio of applications to identify workloads that are best suited for traditional virtualization, containerization, and cloud. The future of the data center is the hybrid cloud followed by containers.

VMware and Microsoft are the top virtualization leaders In 2015

PC shipments drop in June quarter: Gartner

PC shipments drop in June quarter: Gartner

PTI | Jul 10, 2015, 05.30PM IST

 

MUMBAI: Global PC shipments witnessed a 9.5 % decline in the second quarter of 2015 totalling to 68.4 million units, according to research firm Gartner.

This was the steepest PC shipment dip since the third quarter of 2013, Gartner said while adding that PC shipments are projected to decline 4.4% in 2015.

"The price hike of PCs became more apparent in some regions due to a sharp appreciation of the US dollar against local currencies. The price hike could hinder PC demand in these regions," Gartner principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa said in a statement.

"Secondly, the worldwide PC market experienced unusually positive desk-based growth last year due to the end of Windows XP support. After the XP impact was phased out, there have not been any major growth drivers to stimulate a PC refresh," he said

Kitagawa further said the Windows 10 launch scheduled for third quarter of 2015 has created self-regulated inventory control, as PC vendors and the channels tried clearing inventory as much as possible before the Windows 10 launch.

Lenovo led the market with 19.7% market share, followed by followed by HP with 17.4% and Dell with 14%

PC shipment in Asia/Pacific region reached 24.2 million units in the second quarter of 2015, a 2.9% decline from the same period last year.

Both desk-based and mobile PC shipments dwindled from the second quarter of 2014. PC shipments in China are estimated to have dipped 4% in the quarter as demand for consumer PCs remained weak, it said.

VMware Vsphere 5.x - Books

• Disaster Recovery Using VMware vSphere Replication and vCenter Site Recovery Manager = Abhilash GB = Packt Publishing.pdf 4 MB
• Implementing VMware vCenter Server = Konstantin Kuminsky = Packt Publishing.pdf 11 MB
• Learning Veeam Backup & Replication for VMware vSphere = Christian Mohn = Packt Publishing.pdf 6 MB
• Managing and Optimizing VMware vSphere Deployments = Sean Crookston,Harley Stagner = VMware Press.pdf 5 MB
• Mastering VMware vSphere 5.5 = Nick Marshall, Scott Lowe, Forbes Guthrie, Matt Liebowitz, Josh Atwell = Sybex, an Imprint of Wiley.pdf 44 MB
• Networking for VMware Administrators = Chris Wahl, Steve Panto = VMware Press.pdf 18 MB
• The Official VCP5 Certification Guide = Bill Ferguson = VMware Press.pdf 92 MB
• Torrent downloaded from demonoid.ph.txt 0 MB
• Troubleshooting vSphere Storage = Mike Preston = Packt Publishing.pdf 2 MB
• VCAP5-DCD Official Cert Guide = Paul McSharry = VMware Press.pdf 2 MB
• VCP-Cloud Official Cert Guide = Tom Ralph, Nathan Raper = VMware Press.pdf 31 MB
• VCP5 VMware Certified Professional on vSphere 5 Study Guide = Brian Atkinson = Sybex, an Imprint of Wiley.pdf 18 MB
• VMware Cookbook 2nd Edition = Ryan Troy and Matthew Helmke = O'Reilly.pdf 13 MB
• VMware Private Cloud Computing with vCloud Director = Simon Gallagher,Aidan Dalgleish = Packt Publishing.epub 29 MB
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• VMware vCloud Security = Prasenjit Sarkar = Packt Publishing.epub 11 MB
• VMware vCloud Security = Prasenjit Sarkar = Packt Publishing.pdf 4 MB
• VMware vSphere 5 Administration Instant Reference = Christopher Kusek,Van V. Van Noy,Andy Daniel = Sybex, an Imprint of Wiley.pdf 9 MB
• VMware vSphere 5.1 Clustering Deepdive = Duncan Eppin,Frank Denneman.pdf 15 MB
• VMware vSphere 5.1 Cookbook = Abhilash GB = Packt Publishing.epub 38 MB
• VMware vSphere 5.1 Cookbook = Abhilash GB = Packt Publishing.pdf 11 MB
• VMware vSphere Design 2nd Edition = Forbes Guthrie, Scott Lowe = Sybex, an Imprint of Wiley.pdf 16 MB
• VMware vSphere Performance Designing CPU, Memory, Storage, and Networking for Performance-Intensive Workloads = Matt Liebowitz,Christopher Kusek,Rynardt Spies = Sybex, an Imprint of Wiley.pdf 6 MB
• VMware vSphere Resource Management Essentials = Jonathan Frappier = Packt Publishing.pdf 2 MB
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• vSphere Design Best Practices = Brian Bolander, Christopher Kusek = Packt Publishing.epub 3 MB
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• vSphere High Performance Cookbook = Prasenjit Sarkar = Packt Publishing.epub 12 MB
• vSphere High Performance Cookbook = Prasenjit Sarkar = Packt Publishing.mobi 18 MB
• vSphere High Performance Cookbook = Prasenjit Sarkar = Packt Publishing.pdf 6 MB

Cisco to provide networking infra for four smart city projects

Cisco to provide networking infra for four smart city projects

 

Eyes $50-billion smart city market opportunity in India

Networking company Cisco, which has been in discussions with State Governments across the country to transform 20 cities into smart and connected cities, has closed four project proposals in Navi Mumbai, Pune, Jaipur and Lucknow.

While Cisco will provide the networking infrastructure for the projects, it will work with partners who will provide different solutions such as smart street lighting, traffic management, CCTV security surveillance and water management.

"The four projects are up and running and we typically start by deploying one solution such as, an IP-based city surveillance system in Navi Mumbai, which alerts the Police Department about suspicious movements and objects and allows better security management through 24/7 intelligent monitoring," Amit Phadnis, President Engineering and India Site Leader, Cisco told BusinessLine.

"However, in Jaipur we have deployed four solutions to start with, including, Wi-Fi connectivity, interactive citizen services kiosks, intelligent video cameras for security and environmental sensors to monitor pollution, temperature and humidity" Phadnis said on the sidelines of Cisco Connect, a customer event held in the city, where Cisco showcased solutions for the Digital Era.

$50-billion market

The latest report from Sustainability Outlook pegs the smart city market opportunity in India at $45-$50 billion over the next five years. To cash in on this opportunity, Cisco has also developed the ICT master plan for four new smart and connected cities in the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor, which includes the four cities of Dholera Special Investment Region in Gujarat, Shendra-Bidkin Mega Industrial Park in Maharashtra, Manesar Bawal Investment Region in Haryana and Khushkhera Bhiwadi Neemrana Investment Region in Rajasthan.

In an earlier interaction with BusinessLine, Dinesh Malkani, President, Cisco India & SAARC, had said the Internet of Everything (IoE) value at stake in India from 2013-2022 is $511 billion. Of this, private sector value at stake is $394.4 billion and public sector value is $116.2 billion.

As Digital India begins to take shape, Cisco is looking to tap this emerging opportunity over the next three to six years with a specia