Assessment of patients’ knowledge of tuberculosis and its impact on self-management ability

Purpose: To assess the knowledge of patients of tuberculosis (TB) and its relationship with patients’ self-management in Saudi Arabia. Methods: The study is based a prospective cross-sectional design. It included a sample of 176 cases with an active or latent diagnosis of TB. A survey was conducted in some hospitals, including King Abdul-Aziz University from November 2016 to January 2017. The collected data were statistically analyzed. Results: The survey showed that 70 % of the patients had inadequate information on TB and its treatment, while only 4 % showed awareness of the prevalence of TB. Moreover, a significant correlation was found between the educational level of patients and their knowledge of TB. Patients’ educational level substantially contributed to their understanding of health education. Conclusion: The findings suggest that active educational campaigns need to be initiated to enhance the patients’ awareness and knowledge of TB

Phenolics from Barleria cristata var. Alba as carcinogenesis blockers against menadione cytotoxicity through induction and protection of quinone reductase

Abstract Background There are increasing interests in natural compounds for cancer chemoprevention. Blocking agents represent an important class of chemopreventive compounds. They prevent carcinogens from undergoing metabolic activation and thereby suppressing their interaction with cellular macromolecular targets. Methods The effect of phenolic compounds isolated from Barleria cristata var. alba as chemopreventive agent was evaluated. The ethyl acetate fraction of B. cristata was subjected to different chromatographic techniques for isolation of its major phenolic compounds. The isolated compounds were evaluated for their potential to induce the cancer chemopreventive enzyme marker NAD(P)H quinonereductase 1 (NQO1) in murine Hepa-1c1c7 cell model. Results The ethyl acetate fraction of B. cristata var. alba yielded five known compounds identified as verbascoside (1), isoverbascoside (2), dimethoxyverbascoside (3), p-hydroxy benzoic acid (4), and apigenin-7-O-glucoside (5). Among the tested compounds, isoverbascoside (2) was shown to potently induce the activity of the enzyme in a dose –dependent manner. As a functional assay for detoxification, compound 2 was the strongest to protect Hepa-1c1c7 against the toxicity of menadione, a quinone substrate for NQO1. Conclusion This effect seemed to be attributed to the compound’s potential to induce both the catalytic activity and protein expression of NQO1 as revealed by enzyme assay and Western blotting, respectively

New fatty acids from the Red Sea sponge <i>Mycale euplectellioides</i>

<div><p>Chemical investigation of the Red Sea sponge <i>Mycale euplectellioides</i> afforded two new compounds; hexacosa-(6<i>Z</i>,10<i>Z</i>)-dienoic acid methyl ester (<b>1</b>) and hexacosa-(6<i>Z</i>,10<i>Z</i>)-dienoic acid (<b>2</b>), along with two known compounds: icosa-(8<i>Z</i>,11<i>Z</i>)-dienoic acid methyl ester (<b>3</b>) and β-sitosterol (<b>4</b>). The structures were elucidated by the interpretation of their spectral data. The total methanol extract (TME) of the sponge exhibited potent antimicrobial activity against the different strains at a concentration of 100 mg/mL. All tested fractions did not exhibit any activity against <i>Serratia marcescens</i> and tested fungal strains. The TME and different fractions displayed anti-inflammatory and antipyretic activities at doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg compared with indomethacin (8 mg). The TME exhibited a remarkable hepato-protective effect in CCl₄-induced liver damage compared with silymarin. Furthermore, compounds <b>1</b> and <b>2</b> displayed weak activity against A549 non-small cell lung cancer, the U373 glioblastoma and the PC-3 prostate cancer cell lines.</p></div

Leptochelins A–C, Cytotoxic Metallophores Produced by Geographically Dispersed Leptothoe Strains of Marine Cyanobacteria

Metals are important cofactors in the metabolic processes of cyanobacteria, including photosynthesis, cellular respiration, DNA replication, and the biosynthesis of primary and secondary metabolites. In adaptation to the marine environment, cyanobacteria use metallophores to acquire trace metals when necessary as well as to reduce potential toxicity from excessive metal concentrations. Leptochelins A–C were identified as structurally novel metallophores from three geographically dispersed cyanobacteria of the genus Leptothoe. Determination of the complex structures of these metabolites presented numerous challenges, but they were ultimately solved using integrated data from NMR, mass spectrometry and deductions from the biosynthetic gene cluster. The leptochelins are comprised of halogenated linear NRPS-PKS hybrid products with multiple heterocycles that have potential for hexadentate and tetradentate coordination with metal ions. The genomes of the three leptochelin producers were sequenced, and retrobiosynthetic analysis revealed one candidate biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) consistent with the structure of leptochelin. The putative BGC is highly homologous in all three Leptothoe strains, and all possess genetic signatures associated with metallophores. Postcolumn infusion of metals using an LC-MS metabolomics workflow performed with leptochelins A and B revealed promiscuous binding of iron, copper, cobalt, and zinc, with greatest preference for copper. Iron depletion and copper toxicity experiments support the hypothesis that leptochelin metallophores may play key ecological roles in iron acquisition and in copper detoxification. In addition, the leptochelins possess significant cytotoxicity against several cancer cell lines

Leptochelins A-C, Cytotoxic Metallophores Produced by Geographically Dispersed Leptothoe Strains of Marine Cyanobacteria

Metals are important co-factors in the metabolic processes of cyanobacteria including photosynthesis, cellular respiration, DNA replication, and the biosynthesis of primary and secondary metabolites. In adaptation to the marine environment, cyanobacteria use metallophores to acquire trace metals when necessary as well as reduce potential toxicity from excessive metal concentrations. Leptochelins A-C were identified as structurally novel metallophores from three geographically dispersed cyanobacteria of the genus Leptothoe. The leptochelins are halogenated linear NRPS-PKS hybrid products with multiple heterocycles that have potential for hexadentate and tetradentate coordination with metal ions. The genomes of the three leptochelin producers were sequenced, and retrobiosynthetic analysis revealed one candidate biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) consistent with the structure of leptochelin. The putative BGC is highly homologous in all three Leptothoe strains, and all possess genetic signatures associated with metallophores. Post-column infusion of metals using an LC-MS metabolomics workflow performed with leptochelin A and B revealed promiscuous binding of iron, copper, cobalt, and zinc, but with greatest preference for copper. Iron depletion and copper toxicity experiments support the hypothesis that leptochelin metallophores may play a key ecological role in iron acquisition and in copper detoxification. In addition, the leptochelins possess significant cytotoxicity against several cancer cell lines