Rhizome

The aim of the study was to compare the effect of mefenamic acid and ginger on pain management in primary dysmenorrhea. One hundred and twenty-two female students with moderate to severe primary dysmenorrhea were randomly allocated to the ginger and mefenamic groups in a randomized clinical trial. The mefenamic group received 250 mg capsules every 8 h, and the ginger group received 250 mg capsules (zintoma) every 6 h from the onset of menstruation until pain relief lasted 2 cycles. The intensity of pain was assessed by the visual analog scale. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, t test, Chi-square, Fisher exact test and repeated measurement. The pain intensity in the mefenamic and ginger group was 39.01 ± 17.77 and 43.49 ± 19.99, respectively, in the first month, and 33.75 ± 17.71 and 38.19 ± 20.47, respectively, in the second month (p > 0.05). The severity of dysmenorrhea, pain duration, cycle duration and bleeding volume was not significantly different between groups ...

• The aim of this study was to establish the histological effects of exposure to microcystin-LR (MC-LR), a cyanotoxin, on axenic Phragmites australis plantlets.• Plantlets were regenerated from embryogenic reed calli by tissue culture methods.• Microcystin-LR inhibited the growth and development of embryogenic calli and the growth of reed plantlets. The 50% plantlet growth inhibitory concentration value (IC50) of MC-LR was 12 µg ml−1 (12.07 µm) on mineral medium and 36 µg ml−1 (36.22 µm) on Murashige-Skoog medium. In the case of roots, the IC50 value was 4.1 µg ml−1 (4.12 µm) on both media. Microcystin-LR induced aerenchyma obturation, altered lignification of cell walls in the axial organs, root necrosis and the capture of lateral or adventitious roots in the tissues of axial organs of reed plantlets. Cyanotoxin induced the premature development of lateral roots, root coalescence and early aerenchyma formation.• Our data suggest that microcystin-LR, a cyanotoxin, induced developmental and histological alterations leading to growth inhibition of reed, and the induced harms have an impact on understanding reed decay in eutrophic fresh waters.The aim of this study was to establish the histological effects of exposure to microcystin-LR (MC-LR), a cyanotoxin, on axenic Phragmites australis plantlets.Plantlets were regenerated from embryogenic reed calli by tissue culture methods.Microcystin-LR inhibited the growth and development of embryogenic calli and the growth of reed plantlets. The 50% plantlet growth inhibitory concentration value (IC50) of MC-LR was 12 µg ml−1 (12.07 µm) on mineral medium and 36 µg ml−1 (36.22 µm) on Murashige-Skoog medium. In the case of roots, the IC50 value was 4.1 µg ml−1 (4.12 µm) on both media. Microcystin-LR induced aerenchyma obturation, altered lignification of cell walls in the axial organs, root necrosis and the capture of lateral or adventitious roots in the tissues of axial organs of reed plantlets. Cyanotoxin induced the premature development of lateral roots, root coalescence and early aerenchyma formation.Our data suggest that microcystin-LR, a cyanotoxin, induced developmental and histological alterations leading to growth inhibition of reed, and the induced harms have an impact on understanding reed decay in eutrophic fresh waters.

The three major curcuminoids, curcumin, demethoxycurcumin and bis-demethoxycurcumin, from Curcuma domestica Val. (Curcuma longa L.) and Curcuma xanthorrhiza Roxb. (Zingiberaceae) were fully separated and quantified in less than 5 min using a capillary zone electrophoresis method with standard fused-silica capillaries and photodiode array detection. An electrolyte solution of 20 mm phosphate, 50 mm sodium hydroxide and 14 mmβ-cyclodextrin was found to be appropriate. Quantification was performed with 3,4-dimethoxy-trans-cinnamic acid as internal standard, and the limit of detection was 0.01 mg/mL. Extraction, stabilisation during sample storage and quantification procedures were optimised and carried out with drugs and commercial curry powder from different provenances. The results were compared with the photometric method of the monograph Curcumae xanthorrhizae rhizoma of the European Pharmacopoeia. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Neurodegerative diseases have been linked to oxidative stress arising from peroxidation of membrane biomolecules and high levels of Fe have been reported to play an important role in neurodegenerative diseases and other brain disorder. Malondialdehyde (MDA) is the end-product of lipid peroxidation and the production of this aldehyde is used as a biomarker to measure the level of oxidative stress in an organism. The present study compares the protective properties of two varieties of ginger [red ginger (Zingiber officinale var. Rubra) and white ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe)] on Fe2+ induced lipid peroxidation in rat brain in vitro. Incubation of the brain tissue homogenate in the presence of Fe caused a significant increase in the malondialdehyde (MDA) contents of the brain. However, the aqueous extract from both varieties of ginger caused a significant decrease in the MDA contents of the brain in a dose-dependent manner. However, the aqueous extract of red ginger had a significantly higher inhibitory effect on both Fe2+-induced lipid peroxidation in the rat brain homogenates than that of white ginger. This higher inhibitory effect of red ginger could be attributed to its significantly higher phytochemical content, Fe2+ chelating ability, OH

Abstract :Costus speciosus is an erect perennial herb belonging to family Costaceae, an important medicinal plant
widely used in several indigenous medicinal formulations. Presently, these plants could be collected from
wild habitat only. Due to indiscriminate collection from natural habitat it has become endangered. In the
present investigation, the phytochemical and antioxidant activity of the rhizome extracts of Costus speciosus
were evaluated. Phytochemical screening indicated that, rhizomes are rich in a variety of primary and
secondary metabolites such as carbohydrates, alkaloids, vitamin C, vitamin E, flavonoids, phenols,
glycosides, saponins and minerals like Zn, Cu, Mn, Se and Fe. The DPPH antiscavenging activity of
aqueous extract was 9.98% lower than those of methanol (78.03%), chloroform (18.33%) and acetone
(30.02%) extracts. The present findings for flavonoids and minerals suggested that their contents are
responsible for significant antioxidant activity in all extracts.
Keywords: Costus speciosus, phytochemicals, antioxidant, rhizome, secondary metabolites, flavonoids.

Cinema and literature are both forms of narration and reality representation, while cinema has visual nature and literature has literary one. In reading we experience the author’s style while in watching movie we cannot. Style is the spirit of the work, which is changed by the movie production process. If the visual signs are properly used, cinema is able to move beyond literature. The visual sign, not only is completely far from the written sign, but also steps further to pass it behind. This article tends to compare the novel Ragtime by E.L.Doctorow, and the movie with the same name by director Milos Forman, by the use of rhizome concept of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. Rhizome is the deliberate effort to create resistance against late capitalist society. Rhizome is a safe area existing in a spatial metaphor. This area is influential on people’s ideas and feelings in a capitalist monopolist like system. But in a new stage of economy, the deliberate effort unintentionally fails. In this article, by comparison between the novel and movie of Ragtime, it is shown that re-narration in cinema as a hyper realistic representation of literature, and movie production system support late capitalism in rhizome safe space.
Key words: Late Capitalism, rhizome, comparison, Ragtime, movie production, re-narration, monopoly

Volatile oil from the rhizomes of Curcuma haritha Mangaly and Sabu from the Western Ghats, southern India, was isolated by hydrodistillation and characterized by a combination of GC–FID, GC–MS, co-GC, database and literature search, linear retention indices, prep. TLC, IR, NMR and MS. Refractive index, specific rotation and specific gravity of C. haritha rhizome oil were measured. Fifty constituents, comprising 99.9% of C. haritha rhizome oil, were identified, of which monoterpene hydrocarbons, oxygenated monoterpenes, sesquiterpene hydrocarbons and oxygenated sesquiterpenes constituted 7.7%, 72.0%, 1.9% and 18.2%, respectively. Camphor (36.0%), 1,8-cineole (13.9%), isoborneol (10.6%), camphene (5.7%) and linalool (4.7%) were the major monoterpenes, while curdione (6.9%), furanogermenone (3.3%) and germacrone (2.8%) were the major sesquiterpenoids in C. haritha rhizome oil. Camphor and curdione were quantified by external standardization. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The aim of the present paper is to show how the female narrator’s (post)colonial identity of the last, autobiographical, book of Assia Djebar, Nulle part dans la maison de mon père [Nowhere in my father’s house], fits into the concept of rhizome by Deleuze and Guattari. The language and the culture of the coloniser influence the colonised who does not forget, however, his/her own tradition, which leads to the creation of  a complex, rhizomorphic identity. The paper is divided into three parts. The first one analyses the relations between the French and the Arabic languages. The second focuses on the culture while the last one is devoted to tradition. The opposition between the West and the East is not dichotomous but much more complex since the two heritages continue to mix up. To be able to survive in this multifaceted reality, the narrator should come to terms with the rhizomes she lives in (and which live within herself).

At its most fundamental level, sustainability is the ability of an organism or system to endure or continue. “Sustaining a narrative “ can mean the capacity of a narrative to sustain the interest of a “reader” and it can mean the capacity of a narrative to sustain itself, or continue, indefinitely.
 
In Pan’s Labyrinth and Inception, the labyrinth is both metaphor and material; the device that sustains the narrative and the structure that supports the film. Del Toro and Nolan code an un-resolvable question into their narratives, experimenting with infinity within a bounded space, with closed, recursive loops, and employing a visual, optical language distinct to the medium of film to accomplish this. The directors don’t adapt a pre-existing book or story to the screen, but adapt the creation and the telling of STORY itself to the screen. They adapt narrative itself to the medium. The directors create stories that transpire within the boundaries of a finite running time and yet contain multiple, even endless possible interpretations. Viewers return again and again to re-experience and re-interpret each film, as the narrative paths divide and multiply, various meanders leading to alternate outcomes, and yet each ending returning to the origin point.

Abstract

This dissertation is divided into two parts.  In part I the argument is put forward that the ideas and practices informing life and work (with a special focus upon work within the human services industries, including education) must emerge from and find ways to return to the specific relational and ecological assemblages that include the land, air, and water with which we live and work.  The term geophilosophy is explored to help unpack such an assemblage of land and thought, ecology and history.  In Part II of this thesis the reader is invited into a succession of explorations with a geophilosophy.  These explorations involve a kind of pilgrimage with a river, in particular with the Fraser River – a geological entity with which the author has close personal ties.  In articulating the concept of geophilosophy, the author takes guidance from a diverse group of  thinkers, such as: Deleuze and Guattari, Gregory Bateson, Lynn Hoffman, Jacques Derrida, Tompson Highway, John Kelley, Isabelle Stengers, Bruno Latour, Dianne Chisholm, Brian Massumi, Eduardo Galeano, and Bruce Alexander. 

Part II of this geophilosophical journey involves two forms of chapters.  First, there is what the author calls the Dérive-Prayer, a process which requires travel with the river accompanied by a series of reflective essays focusing upon the relations that emerge between a specific location along the river and spiritual, political, and ecological realities that also come to life within the same area of the river.  Secondly, there is a series of essays that the author describes as Experiments – these are geophilosophical experiments. Significant philosophical concepts are tied to the geographies connected with the river.  This pilgrimage with the Fraser River watershed follows a particular path -- beginning at Sts’ailes First Nation and moving upstream along the Fraser’s watershed, through Kamloops, the Thompson and the North Thompson Rivers, all the way to the Fraser’s headwaters at the continental divide.  The Fraser is then followed downstream through its Eastern reaches, past the Cariboo, past the town of Lillooet, through the Fraser Canyon and the Fraser Valley, rolling on through Vancouver and into the Salish Sea.  This pilgrimage ends in the same place the river begins, far out in the cold waters of the Pacific.

This study is seen as having an ontological focus in that it attempts to open-up possible worlds in which those who recognize their relations with these geographies can learn to live and take action.  Such ontological unfoldings hold much diverse relevance for the assortments of living beings who reside with the river, and it holds particular relevance for those of us who work within the various human service industries connected with these lands.  The author offers this work as a form of contemplative inquiry placed philosophically before the creation of ethical imperatives, yet after, or in the midst of, its ontological unfolding.

Keywords:  geophilosophy, philosophy of education, ecological philosophy, philosopher naturalist, contemplative inquiry, Fraser River, Stó:lō, Sumas Lake, Sts’ailes, overlanders, Deleuze and Guattari, Gilles Deleuze, Lynn Hoffman, Gregory Bateson, Jacques Derrida, rhizome, arborescence, lines of flight, ontology, lyrical ontology, relational ontology, posthuman, affect theory, Gaia, ecology, smooth space, striated space, withness, derive, death of god, will to power, neoliberalism.

The aim of this text is not to prove a linear academic thesis, yet to record a spectrum of homologies and resonances across the history of the tree as a symbolic and logic form. The inspiration for this sort of Warburgian excursus comes from the simple recognition that a plant is found at the centre of ancient cosmologies as much as at the centre of modern epistemologies. The tree form has been adopted to support religious architectures as much as the abstract world of logic. " We're tired of trees " remarked, though, the French philosophers Deleuze and Guattari in 1980, especially after reading Julien Pacotte's book Le réseau arborescent, schème primordial de la pensée (The arborescent network, primordial diagram of thought). Already in 1936 Pacotte explored the abstract tree form in disciplines such as mathematics, biology and chemistry. He believed that the ramifying network is a " universal aspect of intimate reality " and " the very foundation of formal thought ". 1 In any case the enslavement of a natural form says more about political and social structures and hierarchies of human knowledge than about the mind itself. As much as other biomorphic symbols, the tree figure is but a mirror of the human and through the inversion of its branches we discern the society of its time.

The authors of this edition propose a novel and inspiring research approach to the subject of plants, which – being a form of life that is different, yet akin to us – is a constant source of nourishment and metaphors, decoration and obsessions. The articles included in this thematic block on plants enter into lively ongoing debates on genetics, feminism, ecology and plant ontology. They are excellent examples of the fact that in Polish philosophical and cultural reflection there was an understanding very early on of the challenges that posthumanism poses to our anthropocentric intellectual habits. Foreign readers will recognize in these Polish reflections a bold willingness to ask ethical and aesthetic questions of great relevance to the modern world that go far beyond the safe, though most likely imagined, limits of what it is to be human.

Des premiers explorateurs du Nord de l’Amérique, Jacques Cartier et Samuel de Champlain en tête, à la littérature de jeunesse québécoise contemporaine en passant par les missionnaires et voyageurs de la Nouvelle-France, les grands auteurs de la littérature canadienne-française du XIXème siècle, les almanachs du début du XXème siècle ou encore les manuels scolaires des années 1950-1970, « l’Amérindien de papier », pour reprendre la formule de Gilles Thérien, a été décrit puis écrit sous l’influence de représentations européennes parfois très anciennes et au gré des intérêts politiques, religieux, économiques ou encore philosophiques des auteurs occidentaux. Entre fascination et répulsion, il en résulte tout un réseau de figures doubles qui pourraient être résumées dans la dualité sans cesse réactualisée qui met aux prises le célèbre Bon sauvage des Lumières au guerrier sanguinaire encore présent dans les films hollywoodiens des années 1960.
En regard de cet héritage, comment les auteurs amérindiens d’expression française du Québec définissent-ils leur(s) identité(s) ? De fait, la réalité amérindienne contemporaine, bien plus complexe qu’elle ne le paraît depuis la lointaine Europe, impose aux auteurs autochtones une réflexion identitaire qui va bien au-delà de la simple revendication atavique. Entre retour à soi par l’exploration des lieux et de la mémoire, et rencontre de l’Autre en soi, notamment par l’exercice de l’écriture, si étrangère aux sociétés de tradition orale, la littérature amérindienne du Québec invite à de multiples voyages : à travers le temps,  l’espace, la langue ou encore les rêves et la spiritualité.  La littérature amérindienne semble plus encore inviter  à la pratique de la Relation au sein d’une société québécoise résolument rhizome.

George Orwell's 'Big Brother' and Michel Foucault's 'panopticon' have dominated discussion of contemporary developments in surveillance. While such metaphors draw our attention to important attributes of surveillance, they also miss some recent dynamics in its operation. The work of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari is used to analyse the convergence of once discrete surveillance systems. The resultant 'surveillant assemblage' operates by abstracting human bodies from their territorial settings, and separating them into a series of discrete flows. These flows are then reassembled in different locations as discrete and virtual 'data doubles'. The surveillant assemblage transforms the purposes of surveillance and the hierarchies of surveillance, as well as the institution of privacy.

“O rizoma é uma estrutura de pensamento inteiramente alternativa e bizarra. O rizoma tende a crescer na horizontal, imediatamente abaixo ou acima do solo, criando estolhos. É impossível classificar, orientar ou intervir no seu crescimento. O rizoma não tem um princípio ou um fim, carece de qualquer eixo de indexação ou de simetria. É caracterizado por um intervalo sem significado. O rizoma pode quebrar-se num ponto e reconectar-se por completo sem perder o seu sentido, porque em vez de ter um sentido ele produ-lo. O rizoma tem memória curta. Ele convive com a própria amnésia porque não há ninguém a quem se possa queixar. É caracterizado pela anti-genealogia: gera múltiplas versões dos acontecimentos, muitas vezes contraditórias, e favorece a liberdade e o acaso.”

Deleuze and Guattari's Thousand Plateaus includes some useful concepts to understand technologies and their relations to humans as individuals and as a society. This article provides an introduction to their notions of machine and becoming and places them in the context of technological use in general, with a special focus on the cellphone. The concept of machine exceeds the technological context, yet it can be still relevant to technologies, especially digital ones. The concept of becoming assists in better understanding co-shaping processes in which a technology and its users change in tandem. Becoming is analyzed as a set of five characteristics: [1] transduction, a change process in both the user and the technology; [2] rhizome, no starting or end point; [3] molecularity, small movement or change that can create a big difference; [4] partial simulation, creating a non-identical copy; and [5] antimemory, forgetting the past. Based on this analysis, the concept of becoming-mobile is introduced as a new way of understanding the interrelations between humans and their cellphones. Becoming-mobile can be further developed either with Deleuze and Guattari's own concepts such as nomadicism or with "external" concepts such as postphenomenology's embodiment and new mobility studies' virtual mobility. Machine, becoming, and becoming-mobile address some basic questions in philosophy of technology, thereby enabling us to refer to Deleuze and Guattari as philosophers of technology.