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Due to the increase in allergic reactions to synthetic drugs, there has been a demand to expand the range of medications based on medicinal plant-based raw materials. Tanacetum vulgare is a medicinal plant that contains large amount of biologically active substances and is widely used in traditional and modern medicine. The aim of the study was to elaborate the chemical composition and pharmacological activity of extracts (the essential oil, the tincture and the petroleum extract) derived from medicinal plant-based raw materials of Tanacetum vulgare. The object of the study was essential oil obtained from fresh Tanacetum vulgare grass, petroleum extraction of Tanacetum vulgare and tincture obtained from Tanacetum vulgare using the maceration method. The qualitative composition of essential oil, tincture and petroleum extraction was determined by chromatography-mass spectrometry. In essential oil, regardless of the preparation method, the maximal antioxidant activity is shown by the petroleum extraction from the grass of Tanacetum vulgare. Hydrodistillation was performed using a Ginsberg method or hydrodistillation using a Cleveger method. More than 80 compounds have been identified; more than 100 compounds have been identified in tincture, and more than 150 compounds have been identified in petroleum extraction,such as camphor, borneol, ascaridiol, isoaromadendrene, cubenol, limonene, carvacrol, pinene, cineol, terpineol and chrysanthenon. Tincture and essential oil exhibit antioxidant activity slightly lower than petroleum extraction.

PurposePolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are contaminants with carcinogenic effects but little is known about their presence in environments surrounding oil drilling operations and spills or exposure levels in nearby communities. The objective of this study was to characterize PAH levels in people living near oil drilling operations in relation to fish consumption, occupation, source of water and other socio-demographic characteristics.MethodsThis pilot study examined PAH exposure by measuring 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP) in urine samples using high-performance liquid chromatography and fluorescence detection from 75 women and men in the Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazon living near oil drilling operations and who answered a questionnaire collecting socio-demographic, occupational and dietary information. Data were analyzed using multiple linear regression models.ResultsThe mean value of 1-OHP was 0.40 μmol/mol creatinine, 95% CI 0.32–0.46 μmol/mol creatinine. Women who used water from a surface source (for washing clothes or bathing) had almost twice the amount of 1-OHP in their urine (mean 1-OHP = 0.41 μmol/mol creatinine, 95% CI 0.28–0.54 μmol/mol creatinine, n = 23) as women who used water from either a well, a spring or rain (mean 1-OHP = 0.22 μmol/mol creatinine, 95% CI 0.11–0.34 μmol/mol creatinine, n = 6). Men who reported eating a bottom-dwelling species as their most commonly consumed fish (mean 1-OHP = 0.50 μmol/mol creatinine, 95% CI 0.36–0.64 μmol/mol creatinine, n = 31) had twice as much 1-OHP in their urine as men who reported a pelagic fish (mean 1-OHP = 0.25 μmol/mol creatinine, 95% CI 0.15–0.35 μmol/mol creatinine, n = 15), signaling either oral (fish consumption) or dermal (while standing in water fishing benthic species) exposure.ConclusionsMore contact with surface water and benthic fish may result in higher levels of 1-OHP in human urine among the study population. Reducing the amount of oil and wastes entering the waterways in Andean Amazonia would be one way to reduce exposure.

Elevated mercury (Hg) concentrations in fish from Amazonia have been associated with gold-mining, hydroelectric dams and deforestation but few studies consider the role of petroleum extraction. Hg levels were determined in fish samples collected in three river basins in Ecuador and Peru with contrasting petroleum exploitation and land-use characteristics. The non-migratory, piscivorous species, Hoplias malabaricus , was used as a bioindicator. The rate of Hg increase with body weight for this species was significantly higher on the Corrientes River, near the site of a recent oil spill, than on the other two rivers. In the absence of substantial deforestation and other anthropogenic sources in the Corrientes River basin, this finding suggests that oil contamination in Andean Amazonia may have a significant impact on Hg levels in fish.

The concentrations of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are on the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) priority pollutant list, were studied in ten different soil samples from Shengli Oil Field, China. The total PAHs concentrations in the sampled soils attained 1214.9-2965.1 ng/g (2159.6 ng/g on average). The highest total PAHs concentration was in the soil with a huge content of oil sludge, while the lowest was in fine soil environment areas. The soil contamination with PAHs in the study areas was classified as severe. The major pollutants were naphthalene, phenathrene, fluorine (Flu), pyrene (Pyr), while the detected concentration of benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), benzo(b)fluoranthene was relatively low. Among the 16 kinds of PAHs, the concentration increased in the order: 6 rings < 5 rings < 4 rings < 2 rings < 3 rings. The ratios of Flu/(Flu + Pyr) and indeno benzene(1,2,3-c,d)pyrene (IP)/(IP + BaP) were 0.46-0.48, and 0.36-0.64, respectively. Our results suggest that the main sources of PAHs were petroleum extraction and petroleum combustion. In addition, a small amount of PAHs originated from combustion of grass, woods, and coal.

Pinellia tuber, the dried tuber of Pinellia ternata , causes a very strong acridity sensation in the oral and laryngopharynx mucosa when taken orally in its unprocessed form. In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), this sensation has been called \"toxicity\", and Pinellia tuber must be processed using ginger extract, licorice, or alum. In Japanese traditional Kampo medicine, since “toxicity” can be eliminated by decocting, it should not be processed. However, little is known about the mechanism underlying the \"detoxification\" of Pinellia tubers. In this study, we produced murine antiserum using recombinant P. ternata lectin (PTL), developed an immuno-fluorescence staining method for PTL in the needle-shaped crystals (raphides) that were prepared by petroleum ether extraction (PEX) from Pinellia tuber, and elucidated the mechanism of the processing of Pinellia tuber using heat or ginger extract. After heating the raphides in water, the amount of PTL contained in the raphides was significantly reduced by the immunostaining, although the shape of the raphides was not changed. Incubating raphides with dried ginger extract also significantly reduced the amount of PTL in the raphides in a concentration-dependent manner. By the activity-guided fractionation of ginger extract, the active ingredients in the ginger extract were oxalic acid, tartaric acid, malic acid, and citric acid. Among these four organic acids, oxalic acid mainly contributed to the effect of dried ginger extract by its content in ginger extract and its activity. These results exhibit scientific evidences for the traditional theories of processing to \"detoxify\" Pinellia tuber in TCM and Kampo medicine. Graphical abstract

The Cameron River runs through a small, remote petrochemical development in the Cameron Hills (Northwest Territories, Canada). In order to evaluate the exposure of aquatic biota to contaminants from oil and gas activities, we measured polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) in macroinvertebrates collected from sites and tributaries along the Cameron River, including upstream and downstream of the development, and sites located near drilled wells (developed). Macroinvertebrate tissue PAC burdens ranged from 0.2–2.8 μg g⁻¹ lipid for unsubstituted compounds, and from 4.2–63.2 μg g⁻¹ lipid for alkylated compounds, relatively low compared to similar studies from more industrialized regions in North America. There was no significant difference in tissue PAC burdens between upstream, downstream, or developed sites (p = 0.12), although alkyl PACs in five out of seven developed sites were higher than the regional average. Petrogenic PACs were dominant in most samples, including alkyl fluorines, alkyl phenanthrene/anthracenes, and alkyl dibenzothiophenes. Minimal changes in PAC composition in macroinvertebrate tissues were detected along the Cameron River, with the exception of the two sites furthest downstream that had high concentrations of C3-C4 naphthalene. Overall, our results suggest that oil and gas development in the Cameron Hills has not resulted in substantial increases in PAC bioaccumulation in stream macroinvertebrates, although the potential that alkyl naphthalenes are being transported downstream from the development warrants further attention.

In this paper, we analyze state practices of border-making through an ethnographic focus on Ecuadorian Amazonia and the Waorani, an Indigenous society, who, before sustained contact with the outside world began in 1958, possessed stark spatial and social borders often reinforced through warfare. Following that contact and the creation of various iterations of a legally-demarcated Waorani territory, the spatial and social borders of Waorani culture, based on a common property regime, came into conflict with the borders produced by the state in cooperation with transnational capitalism in the form of the oil industry. We discuss how these shifting borders led to cascading effects on Waorani reciprocity, their relationship to natural resources, sense of security and designation of membership in the community. Finally, we discuss how the leftist Ecuadorian state under President Rafael Correa justifies and facilitates the country’s oil-focused spatial processes through a post-neoliberal discourse.