Perilla frutescens (L.) Britt. (PF) is an annual herbal medicinal, aromatic, functional food, and ornamental plant that belongs to the mint family, Lamiaceae. The origin of perilla traces back to East Asian countries (China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, and India), where it has been used as a valuable source of culinary and traditional medicinal uses. The leaves, seeds, and stems of P. frutescens are used for various therapeutic applications in folk medicine. In the absence of a comprehensive review regarding all aspects of perilla, this review aims to present an overview pertaining to the botanical drug, ethnobotany, phytochemistry, and biological activity. It was found that the taxonomic classification of perilla species is quite confused, and the number of species is vague. Perilla has traditionally been prescribed to treat depression-related disease, anxiety, asthma, chest stuffiness, vomiting, coughs, colds, flus, phlegm, tumors, allergies, intoxication, fever, headache, stuffy nose, constipation, abdominal pain, and indigestion, and acts as an analgesic, anti-abortive agent, and a sedative. Until now, 271 natural molecules have been identified in perilla organs including phenolic acids, flavonoids, essential oils, triterpenes, carotenoids, phytosterols, fatty acids, tocopherols, and policosanols. In addition to solvent extracts, these individual compounds (rosmarinic acid, perillaldehyde, luteolin, apigenin, tormentic acid, and isoegomaketone) have attracted researchers’ interest for its pharmacological properties. Perilla showed various biological activities such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-allergic, antidepressant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and neuroprotection effects. Although the results are promising in preclinical studies (in vitro and in vivo), clinical studies are insufficient; therefore, further study needs to be done to validate its therapeutic effects and to ensure its safety and efficacy.

Background: Medicinal plants still play an important role in the Kurdish community. Sulaymaniyah Province in South Kurdistan (Iraq) has a great diversity of plants, including medicinal plants, yet very few scattered ethnobotanical studies conducted in Kurdistan are available in the scientific literature. Thus the study of Kurdish ethnobotany may be crucial for understanding local medicinal plant uses and their relationships to surrounding areas. Therefore, the objective of this investigation was to document traditional medicinal plant uses among healers of southern Kurdistan. Methods: An ethnobotanical survey was conducted to document traditional knowledge on medicinal plants uses among traditional healers in the Province of Sulaymaniyah during 2014 and 2015. The data were collected by interviewing 45 traditional healers (36 males and 9 females between the ages of 25 and 80 years) who retain traditional knowledge on medicinal plants. Furthermore, the use value (UV) of taxa was determined and informant consensus factor (ICF) was calculated for the medicinal plants included in the study. Further analysis was carried out to compare the field data with the Kurdish ethnobotanical literature. Results: The present study found a total of sixty-six plant species, belonging to sixty-three genera within thirty-four plant families, used to treat ninghty-nine different types of ailments and diseases. The most important family was Lamiaceae (7 species), followed by Apiaceae, Asteraceae, and Fabaceae (6 species each). The most frequently used parts were leaves (46 %), followed by flowers (15 %), and seeds (10 %). The most common preparation method was decoction (68 %), whereas few taxa were consumed as a vegetable (13 %) or ingested in powder form (10 %). The respiratory issues category had the highest ICF value (0.68), followed by inflammations and women’s diseases (0.58 and 0.54, respectively). The highest UVs were recorded for the species Zingiber officinale (0.48), Matricaria chamomilla (0.37), Adiantum capillus-veneris (0.31), Thymus vulgaris (0.31) and Pimpinella anisum (0.31). A comparison with previous ethnobotanical studies conducted in Kurdistan (especially within the territory of present-day Turkey) and surrounding areas showed that several medicinal plant reports recorded in the current investigation are new to Kurdish ethnomedicine, and that they have possibly been influenced by other scholarly medical traditions. Conclusions: The present study demonstrates that the area is rich in medicinal plant knowledge. The information reported by the traditional healers of this region is invaluable for further research in the field of cross-cultural ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology.

Metal oxide photocatalyst is one of the promising photocatalysts in the water remediation process. The present work is aimed at synthesizing the green production of TiO₂ (G‐TiO₂) nanoparticles from mulberry plant extract. Plant phytochemicals serve a different role to produce the nanophase particles. The bioreductant is safer and noxious free compound for synthesizing the G‐TiO₂ nanoparticles. The synthesized G‐TiO₂ nanoparticles in anatase phase and their crystallite size of 24 nm were characterized from X‐ray diffraction analysis. The Ti‐O bonding and plant derivatives and their reduction were confined from FTIR analysis. The wide bandgap of G‐TiO₂ nanoparticles (3.16 eV) and their optical characterization were captured from UV‐DRS analysis. The spherical surface morphology and their Ti and O elemental configurations were characterized from FESEM with EDX technique. The photocatalytic dye degradation was examined against methylene blue dye, and their pseudo‐first‐order kinetics were evaluated. The cyclic experiments declared their catalytic potential. The bacterial resistance of G‐TiO₂ nanoparticles was examined against gram‐positive and gram‐negative bacteria. Hence, the catalytic potential and bacterial stability of G‐TiO₂ nanoparticles are the powerful candidate for water remediation and biomedical applications.

Nanotechnology recently emerged among the most exciting science-related innovations. Nanotechnology-produced metal nanoparticles got a lot of attention. This is emerging as a rapidly developing field due to its effective applications that targeted the manufacturing of new materials at the nanoscale level. There is considerable interest in the application of nanomaterials in many areas of industry including agrifood and biomedical products. In the agrifood area, nanomaterials have benefits in diverse areas which include fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, sensors, and quality stimulants, among other food processing, food packaging, and nutraceuticals to improve nutritional value. These applications in agriculture result in enhanced quality and crop yield, reduction in pollution caused by various chemicals, etc. In the pharmaceutical area, nanomaterials are claimed to ameliorate drug safety and efficacy, as well as bioavailability. They are utilized for targeting various drugs to a specific location in the body. However, there are also concerns that some nanoparticles may have adverse effects on human health. These include titanium dioxide, copper oxides, and other nanomaterials which lead to liver damage, skin damage, lung damage, and various other human health-related problems. This review is aimed at presenting a briefing on the state of the art in the application of nanotechnology in food and human nutrition and drug administration, consumer attitudes, and their challenges and opportunities with future perspectives.

Now-a-days nanotechnology is one of the booming fields for the researchers. With the increase in industrialization mainly textile, paper, medicine, plastic industry, there is an increase in concentration of organic dyes as pollutant. Release of harmful dyes in water bodies has become a serious issue, as most of the dyes are carcinogenic and mutagenic in nature and causes various diseases. Therefore, there is a requirement to find out new approaches for efficient treatment of effluent containing dyes. Nanoparticles are one of the potential solutions to this problem. They can be synthesized from different methods, however synthesis of nanoparticles from different plant parts (leaf, root or stem extract) is economical as well as ecofriendly. Phytogenic nanoparticles have various environmental applications and one of them is remediation of dyes. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of last five years studies about catalytic and photocatalytic degradation of various harmful dyes by plant synthesized nanoparticles, mechanism of degradation and advantages and disadvantages of phytogenic synthesis.