CLUSTERING-BASED APPROACHES FOR ELUCIDATING POSSIBLE THERAPEUTIC APPLICATIONS OF PHYTOCONSTITUENTS OF Arnebia AND Dactylorhiza FOUND IN THE HIMALAYAN REGION

Abstract

Health and quality of life can be improved by using medicinal plants. In today’s scientific arena there is a huge need for
integrating modern algorithms for proving worth of any traditional system of knowledge. Two such plants used
traditionally to cure health related disorders are Arnebia and Dactylorhiza. Arnebia has medicinal properties for treating
sore throats, fevers, and other ailments and Dactylorhiza is traditionally used for the treatment of dysentery, diarrhea,
chronic fever, stomachaches, as well as wounds and burns. It is also used to increase regenerative fluid in debilitated
women after childbirth and to treat general weakness. Very few experimental studies are done to prove the therapeutic
importance of both these plants. In this research work, therefore Data Mining algorithm of Clustering implemented
through WEKA has been used for proving the therapeutic value of both the plants. The phytoconstituents of both the plants have been tested, using various attributes, to belong to a particular drug class and hence falling in the cluster to which these drugs belong. This kind of research work can open up multifarious ways of data analysis with merger of new techniques into traditional practices.