PHARMACOGNOSTIC STUDIES ON FLOWERS OF DREGEA VOLUBILIS: EVALUATION FOR AUTHENTICATION AND STANDARDIZATION

Objective: The various parts of Dregea volubilis (Family: Apocynaceae), locally known as Jukti (Bengali), are commonly used in Indian system of medicine to treat various ailments such as inflammation, piles, leukoderma, asthma, and tumors. Literature review suggested that there has been no detailed work on systemic pharmacognostic and phytochemical studies done on the flowers of the plant. The present study is aimed to lay down quality control parameters for D. volubilis flowers to confirm its identity, quality, and purity. Methods: The present work was designed to study detailed organoleptic, histological, quantitative standards, physicochemical, spectroscopic, and chromatographic characteristics of the flowers of D. volubilis. Results: The total ash, acid insoluble ash, water soluble ash, loss on drying, water, and alcohol soluble extractive values were found to be 11.767±0.130% (w/w), 1.287±0.106% (w/w), 9.140±0.344% (w/w), 14.110±0.061% (w/w), 21.600±0.133% (w/v), and 9.603±0.104% (w/v), respectively. Phytochemical screening of different extracts showed the presence of carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, steroids, glycosides, alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, and phenolics. The chromatographic study revealed the presence of rhamnose (103.229±4.994 μg/g), fructose (738.670±25.714 μg/g), glucose (285.532±24.465 μg/g), and maltose (49.082±5.206 μg/g). Conclusion: The characterization parameters of the present study may serve as a reference standard for proper authentication, identification and for distinguishing the plant from its adulterants

Enhancement of quality parameters and shelf-life of papaya fruit (Carica papaya L.) by edible coating during storage and transportation

The postharvest losses of papaya fruits are important concerns during storage, shipping and marketing; the causes of these postharvest losses include microbial infestation, temperature, inappropriate handling and other factors. Which can be decreased by using edible coatings that have enhanced quality and have a longer shelf life. The effects of three different coating materials-aloe vera gel, ascorbic acid and chitosan on the shelf life and qualitative parameters of papaya fruits that were maintained at room temperature for a period of 15 days were investigated. When compared to fruits that have not been coated, fruits that have been coated with aloe vera gel, ascorbic acid and chitosan retain the original values for all of the qualitative parameters, including total soluble solids (9.9), titratable acidity (0.670 %), ascorbic acid (67.125 100 g/mg), TSS: acid ratio (23.116 percent), total sugar (0.119 %), reducing sugar (24.570 %) and non-reducing. According to the findings of this investigation, the combination of aloe vera gel (50%), chitosan (1%) and ascorbic acid (1%) has the potential to lengthen the shelf life of papaya fruits while maintaining their nutritional qualities, which is significant for the purposes of commercial storage, transportation and sales

Malabaricone-A Induces A Redox Imbalance That Mediates Apoptosis in U937 Cell Line

BACKGROUND: The 'two-faced' character of reactive oxygen species (ROS) plays an important role in cancer biology by acting both as secondary messengers in intracellular signaling cascades and sustaining the oncogenic phenotype of cancer cells, while on the other hand, it triggers an oxidative assault that causes a redox imbalance translating into an apoptotic cell death. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using a tetrazolium [{3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl}-2H-tetrazolium] based cell viability assay, we evaluated the cytotoxicity of a plant derived diarylnonanoid, malabaricone-A on leukemic cell lines U937 and MOLT-3. This cytotoxicity hinged on its ability to cause a redox imbalance via its ability to increase ROS, measured by flow cytometry using 5-(and-6)-chloromethyl-2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate and by decreasing glutathione peroxidase activity. This redox imbalance mediated apoptosis was evident by an increase in cytosolic [Ca(2+)], externalization of phosphatidyl serine as also depolarization of the mitochondrial membrane potential as measured by flow cytometry. There was concomitant peroxidation of cardiolipin, release of free cytochrome c to cytosol along with activation of caspases 9, 8 and 3. This led to cleavage of the DNA repair enzyme, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase that caused DNA damage as proved by labeling with 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI); furthermore, terminal deoxy ribonucleotide transferase catalysed incorporation of deoxy uridine triphosphate confirmed DNA nicking and was accompanied by arrest of cell cycle progression. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, compounds like MAL-A having pro-oxidant activity mediate their cytotoxicity in leukemic cells via induction of oxidative stress triggering a caspase dependent apoptosis

Application of natural preservatives and sweeteners in fruit products to reduce health risks - a review

The costs of food deterioration in terms of both money and health are rising. Fungi, bacteria, yeast, insects, and rodent contamination of food supplies continue to be a major public health concern. Chemical preservatives are effective but can be potentially fatal to human health in certain cases. As potent food preservatives, essential oils made from plants are a great alternative to synthetic preservatives. They also possess a variety of anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antioxidant effects. The use of artificial sweeteners in food products, which raises safety questions and health issues while also having reduced nutritional value, is another problem in the food industry. Because natural sweeteners are linked to a healthy lifestyle and have superior nutritional qualities, consumers today prefer them. This article goes through the issues with artificial sweeteners and preservatives and goes into great length about the many different essential oils and natural sweeteners that are much safer and healthier alternatives

Multi-ancestry genome-wide association meta-analysis of Parkinson?s disease

Although over 90 independent risk variants have been identified for Parkinson’s disease using genome-wide association studies, most studies have been performed in just one population at a time. Here we performed a large-scale multi-ancestry meta-analysis of Parkinson’s disease with 49,049 cases, 18,785 proxy cases and 2,458,063 controls including individuals of European, East Asian, Latin American and African ancestry. In a meta-analysis, we identified 78 independent genome-wide significant loci, including 12 potentially novel loci (MTF2, PIK3CA, ADD1, SYBU, IRS2, USP8, PIGL, FASN, MYLK2, USP25, EP300 and PPP6R2) and fine-mapped 6 putative causal variants at 6 known PD loci. By combining our results with publicly available eQTL data, we identified 25 putative risk genes in these novel loci whose expression is associated with PD risk. This work lays the groundwork for future efforts aimed at identifying PD loci in non-European populations

Evaluation of appendicitis risk prediction models in adults with suspected appendicitis

Background Appendicitis is the most common general surgical emergency worldwide, but its diagnosis remains challenging. The aim of this study was to determine whether existing risk prediction models can reliably identify patients presenting to hospital in the UK with acute right iliac fossa (RIF) pain who are at low risk of appendicitis. Methods A systematic search was completed to identify all existing appendicitis risk prediction models. Models were validated using UK data from an international prospective cohort study that captured consecutive patients aged 16–45 years presenting to hospital with acute RIF in March to June 2017. The main outcome was best achievable model specificity (proportion of patients who did not have appendicitis correctly classified as low risk) whilst maintaining a failure rate below 5 per cent (proportion of patients identified as low risk who actually had appendicitis). Results Some 5345 patients across 154 UK hospitals were identified, of which two‐thirds (3613 of 5345, 67·6 per cent) were women. Women were more than twice as likely to undergo surgery with removal of a histologically normal appendix (272 of 964, 28·2 per cent) than men (120 of 993, 12·1 per cent) (relative risk 2·33, 95 per cent c.i. 1·92 to 2·84; P < 0·001). Of 15 validated risk prediction models, the Adult Appendicitis Score performed best (cut‐off score 8 or less, specificity 63·1 per cent, failure rate 3·7 per cent). The Appendicitis Inflammatory Response Score performed best for men (cut‐off score 2 or less, specificity 24·7 per cent, failure rate 2·4 per cent). Conclusion Women in the UK had a disproportionate risk of admission without surgical intervention and had high rates of normal appendicectomy. Risk prediction models to support shared decision‐making by identifying adults in the UK at low risk of appendicitis were identified

Berberine chloride causes a caspase-independent, apoptotic-like death in Leishmania donovani promastigotes

Berberine chloride, a quarternary isoquinoline alkaloid, is a promising anti-leishmanial compound, IC50 being 7.1 µM in L. donovani promastigotes. This leishmanicidal activity was initiated by its pro-oxidant effect, evidenced by enhanced generation of reactive oxygen intermediates that was accompanied by depletion of thiols; pre-incubation in N-acetyl cysteine, attenuated its cell viability, corroborating that generation of free radicals triggered its parasiticidal activity. Externalization of phosphatidylserine and elevation of intracellular calcium preceded depolarization of the mitochondrial membrane potential, which translated into an increase in the sub G0/G1 population and was accompanied by DNA laddering, hallmarks of apoptosis. Berberine chloride failed to induce caspase activity and anti-leishmanial activity in the presence of a pan caspase inhibitor, Z-Val-Ala-DL-Asp (methoxy)-fluoromethylketone remained unchanged, which indicated that the apoptosis was caspase independent. Collectively, the data indicates that Berberine chloride triggers an apoptosis-like death following enhanced generation of reactive oxygen species, thus meriting further pharmacological investigations

Design of a Highly Selective and Potent Class of Non-planar Estrogen Receptor Agonists

Selective activation of the estrogen receptor (ER) could be a safe approach to hormone replacement therapy for both women and men, in contrast to the estrogens currently used for women which activate both ER and ER, occasionally causing severe side effects. cis-10-SR, was shown to have an EC50 value of <1nM, potency 100-fold higher than that of AC-131. Even more interestingly, compound trans-10-SS exhibited 1000-fold ER/ER selectivity while still maintaining good potency (approximate to 10nM). In addition, trans-10-SS showed only partial agonist activity (30-60% Eff.) toward ER at 10M. trans-10-SS appears to be the first molecule to take advantage of both conservative amino acid differences found in the - and -faces of the binding cavities of ER and ER beta

Cytotoxicity of crude extract of Rampatri and its derived compounds.

*<p>U937 and MOLT-3 cells (5×10⁴/200 µl) were treated with a crude extract of Rampatri and its derived compounds (0–40 µg/ml) for 48 h, and cell viability was measured by MTS-PMS assay as described in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0036938#s2" target="_blank">Materials and methods</a>; each data is the IC₅₀ (Mean ± SEM) derived from at least three experiments in duplicate.</p