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Background: For centuries, the Changunarayan municipality has been inhabited by people who have a long tradition of using medicinal plants to treat human ailments. Habitat degradation and improper harvesting are the major threats to the medicinal plant species in this area. The present study aims at documenting and identifying plant-based ethnomedicinal knowledge of the local people in order to preserve the dwindling indigenous knowledge.Methods: The primary information on the medicinal plants were collected through field observation, interviews, and a semi-structured questionnaire. A frequency index value was determined to compare the medicinal plants that were used frequently by the local people. Moreover, the factor of informant consensus (FIC) was determined for the assessment of homogeneity on the informants' knowledge regarding medicinal plants. A Pearson correlation test and a simple linear regression were performed to evaluate the relationship between the age of respondents and plants described by them.Results: A total of 96 medicinal plant species belonging to 56 families and 85 genera were used for the 40 different ailments documented in the municipality. Herbs (n = 47) occurred most frequently in the study area, and the most frequently used plant part was leaves (n = 30). The majority of the species were collected from the wild (57%).Ocimum tenuiflorum and Curcuma longa had the highest frequency index of 65%. The value of Chi-square test between genders and the number of plants described by them was determined to be significant (p-value < 0.001). A positive correlation (r = 0.708) was found between the age groups of informants and the number of plants described by them. The FIC value in the study ranged from 0.4 (cardio-vascular) to 0.90 (fever). Conclusion: The medicinal plants have been playing an enormous role in the health care of the villagers, though the study area is very close to the capital city. The plants used in the study might open the way for the development of a scientifically verified botanical derivatives for modern medicine. Valuable traditional knowledge was limited to the older generation, which indicates a huge gap in knowledge transmission from the older to the younger generation.

The present study aimed to determine Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn concentrations using flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer (FAAS) in five vegetables viz., Coriander (Coriandrum sativum), Mustard (Brassica campestris), Radish (Raphanus sativus), Spinach (Spinacea oleracea) and Chinese spinach (Amaranthus dubius), and their growing soils in three agricultural sites (Manohara, Bode, and Nagadesh) of Madhyapur Thimi, Bhaktapur district and to assess health risks using USEPA deterministic approaches. The average concentrations of HMs in soils were 0.85, 30.65, 40.06, 47.42, and 129.55 mg/kg for Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn respectively, exceeding the normal soil quality standards except Cr. Similarly, the average concentrations of HMs in vegetables were 0.42, 6.63, 22.33, 1.34, and 77.16 mg/kg for Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn respectively exceeding joint FAO/WHO standards except for Cu. The I-geo values revealed a class of unpolluted to moderately polluted levels for the agricultural soils indicating the 1st degree of soil pollution. Among the vegetables, Chinese spinach measured considerably high transfer factor (TF) for Cd (0.79), Cr (0.34), Cu (0.76), Pb (0.04), and Zn (0.89) indicating health concerns to the consumers. The hazard index (HI) for these HMs was found less than the acceptable limit (1.0) indicating no non-carcinogenic risk to adults through vegetable consumption. However, the lifetime carcinogenic risk (LCR) parameter indicated low to high cancer risk for Cd, Cr, and Pb. Among the vegetables, Chinese spinach estimated the highest LCR values for the HMs suggesting regular monitoring of HMs in soil and vegetable on account of their toxic effects.

A total of forty seven street dust samples, collected from five different types of land use viz., industrial, urban, heavy traffic road, residential and undisturbed areas (control) of Kathmandu district (Nepal), were subjected to characterize the physico-chemical parameters such as pH, electrical conductance (EC), total alkalinity (T. Alk), total organic carbon (TOC) and particle size distribution. Four heavy metals of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn were determined in dust samples using flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer (FAAS). It was found that all types of dust samples possessed alkaline nature along with variation in EC, T. Alk and TOC values. Results revealed that the dust of industrial areas contained high concentrations of Zn (143.3 mg/kg) and Cu (106.42 mg/kg), whereas the heavy traffic areas were mainly affected by Cd (0.90 mg/kg) and Pb (70.08 mg/kg). The average metal concentrations of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn in dust of all the types of land use in Kathmandu were found to be 0.73, 68.86, 51.46 and 104.30 mg/kg and their average metal enrichment factors were 2.28, 5.50, 1.92 and 3.17, respectively. The results were also compared against heavy metals status in street dust from various cities/countries around the world. Pollution indices such as contamination factor (CF), degree of contamination (CD) and geo-accumulation index (Igeo) showed different classes of metal contamination in street dust of Kathmandu indicating traffic emission, automobiles, construction and demolition activities and other anthropogenic activities as the potential sources.