Antiviral Activity of Some Plants Used in Nepalese Traditional Medicine

Methanolic extracts of 41 plant species belonging to 27 families used in the traditional medicine in Nepal have been investigated for in vitro antiviral activity against Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and influenza virus A by dye uptake assay in the systems HSV-1/Vero cells and influenza virus A/MDCK cells. The extracts of Astilbe rivularis, Bergenia ciliata, Cassiope fastigiata and Thymus linearis showed potent anti-herpes viral activity. The extracts of Allium oreoprasum, Androsace strigilosa, Asparagus filicinus, Astilbe rivularis, Bergenia ciliata and Verbascum thapsus exhibited strong anti-influenza viral activity. Only the extracts of A. rivularis and B. ciliata demonstrated remarkable activity against both viruses

Kampf gegen Korruption in Rumänien: Das Verfassungsgericht verhindert eine Katastrophe

Die EU-Kommission hat gestern ihren 13. Fortschrittsbericht unter dem Kooperations- und Kontrollverfahren für Rumänien veröffentlicht. Sowohl Rumänien als auch Bulgarien werden seit 2007 von der EU-Kommission überwacht, die dabei hilft, rechtsstaatliche Reformen umzusetzen. Der Bericht betont die Sorgen der Kommission über die bedrohte Unabhängigkeit der Justiz und lobt den Verfassungsgerichtshof dafür, das Desaster einer „übereilten und intransparenten Änderung des Strafgesetzbuchs im Dezember 2013“ verhindert zu haben.The EU Commission published yesterday its 13th progress report under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) for Romania. Both Romania and Bulgaria have been subjected to monitoring by the EU Commission since 2007, which assisted the countries in their rule of law reforms. The report stressed the EU Commission’s concerns about threats to the independence of justice and praised the Constitutional Court for preventing the disaster of the “rushed and untransparent amendment of the Criminal Code in December 2013.”</p

Mutations in the putative pore-forming domain of CFTR do not change anion selectivity of the cAMP activated Cl− conductance

AbstractCystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) apparently forms Cl− channels in apical membranes of secretory epithelial cells. A detailed model describes molecular structure and biophysical properties of CFTR and the impact of various mutations as they occur in cystic fibrosis. In the present report mutations were introduced into the putative 6th α-helical transmembrane pore forming domain of CFTR. The mutants were subsequently expressed in Xenopus oocytes by injection of the respective cRNAs. Whole cell (wc) conductances could be reversibly activated by IBMX (1 mmol/l) only in oocytes injected with wild-type (wt) or mutant CFTR but not in oocytes injected with water or antisense CFTR. The activated conductance was partially inhibited by (each 100 μmol/l) DIDS (27%) and glibenclamide (77%), but not by 10 μmol/l NPPB. The following mutations were examined: K335E, R347E, R334E, K335H, R347H, R334H. They did not measurably change the wt-CFTR anion permeability (P) and wc conductance (G) sequence of: PCl− >PBr− >P1− and GCl− >GBr− >G1−, respectively. Moreover, anomalous mole fraction behavior for the cAMP activated current could not be detected: neither in wt-CFTR nor in R347E-CFTR. Various mutants for which positively charged amino acids were replaced by histidines (K335H, R347H, R334H) did not show pH sensitivity of the IBMX activated wc conductance. We, therefore, cannot confirm previous results. CFTR might have a different molecular structure than previously suggested or it might act as a regulator of ion conductances