The modern unhealthy diet and lifestyle in conjunction with pathogens, environmental carcinogens and multiple other risk factors increase humans' susceptibility to different diseases exemplified by elevated levels of cancers, cardiovascular and communicable diseases. Screening of potential drugs from medicinal plants and animals provides a promising strategy for the alleviation of the impact of these diseases. Components with potential medicinal applications include RIPs, RNases, lectins, protease inhibitors and numerous small compounds. These compounds have shown both preventive and therapeutic effects for humans. This book is a compilation of articles written by internationally renowned experts exploring the different uses of medicinal compounds in human therapeutics. Here we provide a comprehensive outlook on both qualitative and quantitative studies focusing on medicinal plants and animals, and establishing a link between laboratory research discovery and clinical applications.

The modern unhealthy diet and lifestyle in conjunction with pathogens, environmental carcinogens and multiple other risk factors increase humans' susceptibility to different diseases exemplified by elevated levels of cancers, cardiovascular and communicable diseases. Screening of potential drugs from medicinal plants and animals provides a promising strategy for the alleviation of the impact of these diseases. Components with potential medicinal applications include RIPs, RNases, lectins, protease inhibitors and numerous small compounds. These compounds have shown both preventive and therapeutic effects for humans. This book is a compilation of articles written by internationally renowned experts exploring the different uses of medicinal compounds in human therapeutics. Here we provide a comprehensive outlook on both qualitative and quantitative studies focusing on medicinal plants and animals, and establishing a link between laboratory research discovery and clinical applications.

Hemagglutinins refers to glycoproteins which bring about agglutination of erythrocytes or hemagglutination. Hemagglutination can be used to identify surface antigens on erythrocytes (with known antibodies) and, hence, the blood type of an individual. Hemagglutinins consist of lectins and antibodies. Lectins (from the Latin legere, "to select") are non-immune glycoproteins that exhibit reversible binding to specific carbohydrate structures, glycans of glycoproteins, glycolipids and polysaccharides. Lectins own at least one non-catalytic domain, and, in some cases, a few carbohydrate binding domains, which enable them to effect agglutination of erythrocytes and other cells or precipitation of glycoconjugates. Lectins are found in a constellation of organisms and display an array of activities. Topics discussed in this book encompass algal lectins, plant type 2 ribosome inactivating proteins, edible legume lectins, jacalin, jacalin-related lectin, wheat lectins, rice lectins, banana lectins and potato lectin, immunomodulatory action of plant lectins, piezoelectric assay using the galactose-binding Bauhinia monandra leaf lectin and its antibody as a potent tool for detection of antigen-antibody recognition, assays using hemagglutinins of different origins to investigate their mechanisms of action, lectins from medicinal herbs and medicinal mushrooms, C-type lectins from a diversity of invertebrates and vertebrates, fish lectins and amphibian lectins.