Antibacterial Effect of Curcuma zedoaria Extract on Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus epidermidis

Background: White turmeric (Curcuma zedoaria), a plant used traditionally for medicine, is easily obtained at a relatively cheap price in Indonesia. White tumeric contains alkaloids, phenols, saponins, glycosides, steroids, terpenoids, and other compounds; and these compounds have shown antimicrobials, antifungal, anticancer, antiallergic, antioxidant, and analgesic effects. The aim of this study was to determine the antibacterial effect of white turmeric (Curcuma zedoaria) rhizome extract on the growth of Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus epidermidis bacteria.Methods: This was an experimental study with a Post-test Only Control Group Design. It was carried out using the disc diffusion method with six treatments, consisting of negative control (aquadest), positive control (ciprofloxacin), and the extract of white turmeric rhizome with various concentrations. Kruskal Wallis test and one way ANOVA were used to analyze the data. The results showed a statistically significant value smaller than α (0.021 20mm.Conclusions: Curcuma zedoaria has an antibacterial effect against Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus epidermidis. Further study is needed, exploring the effectivity of white turmeric in the animal models

Duration of diabetes as an important risk factor of microalbuminuria in type 2 diabetes

BACKGROUND Microalbuminuria is the earliest evidence of diabetic nephropathy and a major predictor of end stage renal disease (ESRD). The objective of the study was to determine the influence of several risk factors on the presence of microalbuminuria in type 2 diabetics. METHODS This observational cross-sectional study was done on 73 patients with type 2 diabetes, who attended the Prolanis program in Primary Health Care from May to November 2018. Detailed medical histories including duration of diabetes and relevant clinical examinations including fasting blood sugar (FBS), post-prandial blood sugar (PPBS), HbA1c, serum creatinine, blood urea and urinary microalbumin were recorded for each patient. A multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the data. The analysis was assessed at 5% level of significance. RESULTS Mean age of study population was 51.89 ± 6.78 years with female preponderance (51.1%). Mean FBS, PPBS, HbA1c, duration of diabetes, systolic blood pressure, microalbuminuria and serum creatinine was 182.51 ± 74.63 mg/dL, 186.25 ± 26.72 mg/dL, 8.8 ± 1.83%, 9.37 ± 5.96 years, 118.44 ± 4.13 mmHg, 30.32 ± 3.2 mg/day and 1.33 ± 0.64 mg/dL respectively. Duration of diabetes and HbA1c were positively correlated with microalbuminuria (â=0.052; Beta =0.367; p<0.001 and â=0.058; Beta=0.363; p<0.001) respectively. CONCLUSIONS Duration of diabetes was the most important risk factor of microalbuminuria in type 2 diabetes patients. Therefore microalbuminuria can predict diabetic nephropathy earlier, as a warning to prevent further worsening of diabetic complications