Free Radical Scavenging Potential of Mentha arvensis of South Gujarat: Evidence from In-vitro Assay

Present work was undertaken to evaluate efficacy of aqueous and methanol extracts Mentha arvensis leaves as free radical scavenger. The free radical scavenging activity was evaluated by nitric oxide scavenging method, hydrogen peroxide scavenging method and ferric thiocyanate method. The result of the studies was compared with the standard solution of Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) treated with same reagent. The results of all the studies showed significant free radical scavenging activity in both aqueous and methanolic extracts of Mentha arvensis and methanolic extract showed the highest free radical scavenging potential than aqueous extract. Keywords: Free radical, Mentha arvensis, Nitric oxide, Hydrogen peroxide, ferric thiocyanat

An Eco-benign Synthesis of AgNps using Hydroalcoholic Extract of Brassica oleracea var. italica Plenck : Anticancer Response against Human Breast Cancer Cells MCF-7

Breast Cancer is the second foremost reason of Cancer mortality in females globally. The conventional treatments available for Breast Cancer include surgery yet they are related to serious side effects that have moved the worldwide focus towards Complementary and Alternative Medicines (CAM). One of the emerging strategies has been the use of plant extracts for synthesizing metal nanoparticles (such as gold and silver) for anticancer applications. The objective of this study is to reflect the current availed study on green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNps) with its future prospects to treat Breast Cancer. The development of eco-friendly and reliable techniques for silver nanoparticles synthesis is a vital initiative in the area of nanotechnology. Brassica oleracea var. italica Plenck Leaves Extract (LE) prepared by maceration process and silver nanoparticles of LE prepared by using biological reduction method. Female rats were divided into 5 groups, Group-I served as Positive Control and received normal saline. Group-II served Negative Control (Tumor Bearing) and was treated with single dose of MCF 7. Breast Cancer Cells (1.7 mg/pellet). Group-III served Standard Control (Tumor Bearing) treated with Paclitaxel 40 mg/Kg. Group-IV served test and treated with LE 400 mg/Kg, Group-V served test and treated with LENP 400 mg/Kg respectively about 21 days and on 21th day blood samples were collected for Hematological Parameters and Feed and Water Consumption, Body Weight Determination and Organ Weight were estimated. These discoveries infer that the synthesized Silver nanoparticles utilizing green nanotechnology could be a perfect methodology to battle malignant growth and irresistible ailments. Keywords:  Breast Cancer, Nanotechnology, Synthesis, , MCF-7, CA

Impacts of biomedical hashtag-based Twitter campaign: #DHPSP utilization for promotion of open innovation in digital health, patient safety, and personalized medicine

The open innovation hub Digital Health and Patient Safety Platform (DHPSP) was recently established with the purpose to invigorate collaborative scientific research and the development of new digital products and personalized solutions aiming to improve human health and patient safety. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of a Twitter-based campaign centered on using the hashtag #DHPSP to promote the visibility of the DHPSP initiative. Thus, tweets containing #DHPSP were monitored for five weeks for the period 20.10.2020–24.11.2020 and were analyzed with Symplur Signals (social media analytics tool). In the study period, a total of 11,005 tweets containing #DHPSP were posted by 3020 Twitter users, generating 151,984,378 impressions. Analysis of the healthcare stakeholder-identity of the Twitter users who used #DHPSP revealed that the most of participating user accounts belonged to individuals or doctors, with the top three user locations being the United States (501 users), the United Kingdom (155 users), and India (121 users). Analysis of co-occurring hashtags and the full text of the posted tweets further revealed that the major themes of attention in the #DHPSP Twitter-community were related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), medicine and health, digital health technologies, and science communication in general. Overall, these results indicate that the #DHPSP initiative achieved high visibility and engaged a large body of Twitter users interested in the DHPSP focus area. Moreover, the conducted campaign resulted in an increase of DHPSP member enrollments and website visitors, and new scientific collaborations were formed. Thus, Twitter campaigns centered on a dedicated hashtag prove to be a highly efficient tool for visibility-promotion, which could be successfully utilized by healthcare-related open innovation platforms or initiatives

The International Natural Product Sciences Taskforce (INPST) and the power of Twitter networking exemplified through #INPST hashtag analysis

Background: The development of digital technologies and the evolution of open innovation approaches have enabled the creation of diverse virtual organizations and enterprises coordinating their activities primarily online. The open innovation platform titled "International Natural Product Sciences Taskforce" (INPST) was established in 2018, to bring together in collaborative environment individuals and organizations interested in natural product scientific research, and to empower their interactions by using digital communication tools. Methods: In this work, we present a general overview of INPST activities and showcase the specific use of Twitter as a powerful networking tool that was used to host a one-week "2021 INPST Twitter Networking Event" (spanning from 31st May 2021 to 6th June 2021) based on the application of the Twitter hashtag #INPST. Results and Conclusion: The use of this hashtag during the networking event period was analyzed with Symplur Signals (https://www.symplur.com/), revealing a total of 6,036 tweets, shared by 686 users, which generated a total of 65,004,773 impressions (views of the respective tweets). This networking event's achieved high visibility and participation rate showcases a convincing example of how this social media platform can be used as a highly effective tool to host virtual Twitter-based international biomedical research events

Chemically defined elicitors activate priming in tomato seedlings

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is an important crop that possesses about 35,000 genes. The treatment of plants with elicitors or pathogen attacks causes a cascade of defense reactions. We investigated tomato responses to the BamFXTM solution containing Zn and Cu elicitors and report the results of comparative transcriptome analysis of tomato seeds treated with Zn and Cu elicitors. The seeds were treated with optimum concentrations of Bam-FX solutions and subjected to cold methanolic extraction methods to obtain the secondary metabolites produced within them at different time intervals post-Bam-FX treatment. The metabolite mixture was analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS). In transcriptome sequencing, GO and KEGG analyses revealed that the majority of the DEGs in BamFx-treated tomato was associated with primary and secondary metabolism, plant hormone signal transduction, TF regulation, transport, and responses to stimuli.The secondary metabolites found in the BamFX treated tomato seedlings – Esters of Fumaric acid, Succinic acid etc. The transcript levels of most auxin transporter-encoding genes changed significantly in the BamFX-treated seedlings (e.g., Solyc01g007010.3, a RING-type E3 ubiquitin transferase). The gene Solyc07g061720.3 for Gibberellin 2-oxidase and the Phorbol-ester/DAG-type domain-containing protein (Solyc02g068680.1) associated with the intracellular signaling genes were found upregulated in the BamFx-treated seeds. The time-dependent effect of the BamFX (1:500 for 60 min) was found to be regulating Abscisic acid signaling pathway genes (Solyc09g015380.1). This study identified many candidate genes for future functional analyses and laid a theoretical foundation for an improved understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the BamFx treatment of tomatoes to improve stress resistance

Antihyperglycemic, antihyperlipidemic and antioxidative evaluation of compounds from <i>Senna sophera</i> (L.) Roxb in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

<p><i>Senna sophera</i> (L.) Roxb (Common name: <i>Kasunda</i>, <i>Baner</i>) (<i>Leguminosae</i>) is used as traditional medicine in Africa and Asia. The compounds were isolated from methanolic extract of leaves of <i>Senna sophera</i> (MFCS). Compound A was identified as Hexahydroxy diphenic acid and Compound B as Kaempferol. MFCS administration to diabetic rats exhibited significant reduction in the blood sugar level and showed gain in body weight. After the treatment of 100 mg/kg of MFCS, the blood sugar level was reduced to 52.33 ± 2.83 mg/dl in comparison to the blood sugar level of vehicle control 76.66 ± 3.17 mg/dl, whereas treatment with 50 mg/kg of MFCS reduced the blood sugar level slightly (72.33 ± 2.42 mg/dl). The daily continuous administration of MFCS for a period of 21 days normalised the serum lipid levels confirming the effect of MFCS on diabetic hyperlipidemia. Treatment with MFCS also reversed the activities of antioxidants, which could be a result of decreased lipid peroxidation.</p

Synthesis and evaluation of 1, 2, 3-triazole benzoate derivatives for inhibition of serine β-lactamases in extensively drug resistant pathogenic E. coli strains

The β-lactamase enzyme is a leading cause of drug resistance developed by bacteria. The combination of β-lactam (BL) antibiotics with an appropriate β-lactamase inhibitor (BLI) is a fundamental approach used to circumvent the problem of β-lactamase mediated resistance. In the present study, non-repeated eight clinical E. coli strains were used in the study. Prior to the screening of synthesized compounds, E. coli strains were phenotypically and genotypically characterized on the basis of MIC and PCR amplification respectively. All newly synthesized thirty-five 1, 2, 3-triazole benzoate derivatives were screened against extended-spectrumtrum β-lactamase class A, class B and class C producing clinical E. coli strains. A zone of inhibition was observed against a class C ESBL trait-bearing isolate with a combination disc containing PB 4 and Cefoxitin indicated the inhibitory activity of PB 4. Similarly, inhibitions by PB 6, PB 7, PB 8, PB 9, PB 15, PB 30 and Cefotaxime against class-A ESBL trait-bearing isolates are indicative of class A ESBL inhibitor capacity of these compounds. In conclusion, cefoxitin in combination with PB 4 and cefotaxime in combination PB 6, PB 7, PB 8, PB 9, PB 15, and PB 30 overcomes the class C and class A β-lactamase enzymatic activity respectively in E. coli strains

Design and synthesis of phosphonate functionalized naphthalenediimide: Application to induce mitochondria mediated apoptosis in the human skin melanoma cells (SKMEL2)

506-512New phosphonate functionalized naphthalenediimides (NDI-1 and NDI-2) have been synthesized and evaluated as potential drug candidates to treat the skin malignancy. The aforementioned candidates have resulted in an induced apoptosis pathway of cytotoxicity, at concentrations lower than 4 μM, in human skin melanoma cells, and elicited a stronger apoptotic response in cells. Regulation of the Bcl2, Caspases, Bak1, Bax protein in NDI-induced apoptosis in cells has been analyzed by real time PCR, and the cell viability and apoptosis determined by flow cytometry. The obtained results indicate that NDIinduced apoptosis by regulation of Bcl2 and Bak1 occurs in human skin melanoma cells (SKMEL-2)

<i>Calotropis procera</i> extract induces apoptosis and cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase in human skin melanoma (SK-MEL-2) cells

<div><p><i>Calotropis procera</i> (family: Asclepiadaceae) contains cardiac glycosides which are cytotoxic to cancer cells. The extracts of <i>C. procera</i> have been reported to be cytotoxic to many cancer cell lines and this is the first report against the human skin melanoma cells (SK-MEL-2). The SK-MEL-2 cells treated with <i>C. procera</i> methanolic extract (CPME) were analysed for growth inhibition and apoptosis. The exposure of phosphatidylserine in apoptotic SK-MEL-2 was analysed by using the Annexin-V FITC flow cytometry method. In CPME-treated SK-MEL-2 cells, 19.6% of apoptotic and 58.3% dead cells were observed. The 15.97% and 15.85% of early apoptotic cells were found at 20 μg/mL of the ouabain and paclitaxel, respectively. Active caspases, nuclear degradation confirmed apoptotic SK-MEL-2 cells in time- and dose-dependent manner. The cell cycle analysis shows that CPME treated cells halt at G2/M phase. Significant cytotoxic activity of CPME against SK-MEL-2 may be attributed to its high cardenolide content.</p></div