Diploid Health Dictionary

Linn.

Family: Araceae.

Habitat: Wild and cultivated throughout India in damp marshy places from 900 to 1,800 m; common in Manipur and Naga Hills.

English: Sweet Flag, Calamus.

Ayurvedic: Vachaa, Ugragandhaa, Ugraa, Golomi, Shadgranthaa, Shataparvaa, Tikshnagandhaa, Kshudra-patra, Maangalyaa, Ghor- bach.

Unani: Waj-e-Turki, Waj.

Siddha/Tamil: Vasambu.

Action: Rhizome—nervine tonic, hypotensive, tranquilizer, sedative (with neuroleptic and antianxiety properties), analgesic, spasmolytic, anticonvulsant; used for bronchial catarrh, chronic diarrhoea and dysentery.

Along with other therapeutic applications, The Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India indicates the use of the dried rhizomes as a brain tonic in weak memory, psychoneurosis and epilepsy.

Four types of Calamus are used in herbal medicine: type I—Acorus calamus L. var. americanus, a diploid American var.; type II—var. vulgaris L. (var. calamus), a European triploid; type III and type IV—var. augustatus Bess. and var. versus L., subtropical tetraploids.

Beta-asarone is carcinogenic in animals. Volatile oil of types II, III and IV—major constituent is usually beta- asarone (isoasarone), up to 96%. Indian calamus oil contains asarone up to 82% and its beta-isomer. In type I, beta-asarone and other phenylpropa- noids are absent. It is superior in spasmolytic activity to the other types.

Indian practitioners mostly use A. calamus externally. Shveta Vachaa (Haimavati, equated with Acorus gra- mineus Scoland. Ex Ait., a diploid, is used internally. Unani physicians use Paris polyphylla Sim. as Khuraasaani Bach.

The essential oil-free alcoholic extract of A. calamus possesses sedative and analgesic properties.

Alpha-asarone potentiates pento- barbital, accounts for some, but not all, neurodepressive activity. Beta-asarone is reportedly hallucinogenic. (Francis Brinker.)

The ethanolic extract of rhizomes show significant antisecretory and an- tiulcerogenic activity; also, protective effect against cytodestructive agents, experimentally.

Dosage: Rhizome—60-120 mg powder. (API Vol. II.)... acorus calamus

An almost invariably fatal viral infection of the CNS in mammals. Caused by a rhabdovirus and mostlytransmitted by bite. While there is no effective treatment for the infection, it can be prevented by the use of a human diploid vaccine if given before the onset of symptoms.... rabies

n. any chromosome that is not a *sex chromosome and occurs in pairs in diploid cells. —autosomal adj.... autosome

n. the basic unit of genetic material, which is carried at a particular place on a *chromosome. Originally it was regarded as the unit of inheritance and mutation but is now usually defined as a sequence of *DNA or *RNA that acts as the unit controlling the formation of a single polypeptide chain (see cistron). In diploid organisms, including humans, genes occur as pairs of *alleles. Various kinds of gene have been discovered: structural genes determine the biochemical makeup of the proteins; regulator genes control the rate of protein production (see operon). Architectural genes are responsible for the integration of the protein into the structure of the cell, and temporal genes control the time and place of action of the other genes and largely control the *differentiation of the cells and tissues of the body.... gene

(monoploid) adj. describing cells, nuclei, or organisms that have a single set of unpaired chromosomes. In humans the gametes are haploid following *meiosis. Compare diploid; triploid. —haploid n.... haploid

(reduction division) n. a type of cell division that produces four daughter cells, each having half the number of chromosomes of the original cell. It occurs before the formation of sperm and ova and the normal (*diploid) number of chromosomes is restored after fertilization. Meiosis also produces genetic variation in the daughter cells, brought about by the process of *crossing over. Meiosis consists of two successive divisions, each divided into four stages (see prophase; metaphase; anaphase; telophase). (See illustration.) Compare mitosis. —meiotic adj.... meiosis

n. a condition in which there is one chromosome missing from the normal (*diploid) set. Compare trisomy. —monosomic adj.... monosomy

adj. describing cells, tissues, or individuals in which there are three or more complete sets of chromosomes. Compare diploid; haploid. —polyploidy n.... polyploid

adj. describing cells, tissues, or individuals in which there are three complete chromosome sets. Compare haploid; diploid. —triploid n.... triploid

n. a condition in which there is one extra chromosome present in each cell in addition to the normal (diploid) chromosome set. A number of chromosome disorders are due to trisomy, including *Down’s syndrome and *Klinefelter’s syndrome. —trisomic adj.... trisomy