Study of Phytochemical, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activity of Artocarpus heterophyllus

In today’s world, search for natural medicines is increasing as a result of drug resistance of pathogens and also due to negative consequences of antibiotic. Presence of phytochemicals, antioxidant potential and antimicrobial activity of Artocarpus heterophyllus was carried out in this study. Leaf of this plant was subjected to warm extraction with three different solvents namely methanol, aqueous methanol and ethyl acetate. Leaf extract showed the presence of coumarin, alkaloid, terpenoid in methanol solvent; tannin, coumarin, saponin in aqueous methanol extract and coumarin, terpenoids in ethyl acetate solvent. Further, antimicrobial activity was assessed through disc diffusion method with six pathological bacteria and two fungi strains in four different concentrations of plant extract. Largest ZOI of 16mm was obtained against B. subtilis in 200mg/ml concentration for ethyl acetate extract. Antioxidant potential was measured by DPPH (Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) assay. DPPH free radical Scavenging Activity was expressed in % inhibition with L Ascorbic acid as standard and leaf extract in methanol showed the best activity

Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic response on intrapartum care, stillbirth, and neonatal mortality outcomes in Nepal: a prospective observational study

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic response is affecting maternal and neonatal health services all over the world. We aimed to assess the number of institutional births, their outcomes (institutional stillbirth and neonatal mortality rate), and quality of intrapartum care before and during the national COVID-19 lockdown in Nepal. METHODS: In this prospective observational study, we collected participant-level data for pregnant women enrolled in the SUSTAIN and REFINE studies between Jan 1 and May 30, 2020, from nine hospitals in Nepal. This period included 12·5 weeks before the national lockdown and 9·5 weeks during the lockdown. Women were eligible for inclusion if they had a gestational age of 22 weeks or more, a fetal heart sound at time of admission, and consented to inclusion. Women who had multiple births and their babies were excluded. We collected information on demographic and obstetric characteristics via extraction from case notes and health worker performance via direct observation by independent clinical researchers. We used regression analyses to assess changes in the number of institutional births, quality of care, and mortality before lockdown versus during lockdown. FINDINGS: Of 22 907 eligible women, 21 763 women were enrolled and 20 354 gave birth, and health worker performance was recorded for 10 543 births. From the beginning to the end of the study period, the mean weekly number of births decreased from 1261·1 births (SE 66·1) before lockdown to 651·4 births (49·9) during lockdown-a reduction of 52·4%. The institutional stillbirth rate increased from 14 per 1000 total births before lockdown to 21 per 1000 total births during lockdown (p=0·0002), and institutional neonatal mortality increased from 13 per 1000 livebirths to 40 per 1000 livebirths (p=0·0022). In terms of quality of care, intrapartum fetal heart rate monitoring decreased by 13·4% (-15·4 to -11·3; p&lt;0·0001), and breastfeeding within 1 h of birth decreased by 3·5% (-4·6 to -2·6; p=0·0032). The immediate newborn care practice of placing the baby skin-to-skin with their mother increased by 13·2% (12·1 to 14·5; p&lt;0·0001), and health workers' hand hygiene practices during childbirth increased by 12·9% (11·8 to 13·9) during lockdown (p&lt;0·0001). INTERPRETATION: Institutional childbirth reduced by more than half during lockdown, with increases in institutional stillbirth rate and neonatal mortality, and decreases in quality of care. Some behaviours improved, notably hand hygiene and keeping the baby skin-to-skin with their mother. An urgent need exists to protect access to high quality intrapartum care and prevent excess deaths for the most vulnerable health system users during this pandemic period.De två sista författarna delar sistaförfattarskapet</p

Biochemical, Antimicrobial, and Antioxidant activities of some wild Mushrooms from Nepal

Wild mushrooms represent a crucial dietary staple for many tribal groups throughout the world since they consist of a significant source of bioactive constituents such as phenolic compounds, tocopherol, and act as anti-cancer, anti-allergic, anti-obesity, anti-inflammatory compounds, etc. Wild mushrooms including Scleroderma citrinum, Heterobasidion annosum, Coriolus hirsutus, Cavimalum indicum, Russula sanguinea, and Suillus punctatipes were studied to evaluate their phytochemical constituents, antimicrobial activity, antioxidant activity, toxicity and its importance as a source of food along with safety concerns. Initially, the total flavonoid content (TFC), total phenolic content (TPC), and total tannin content (TTC) along with antioxidant, and antimicrobial activity were assessed using ethanolic extracts of fungus. Furthermore, a Brine shrimp bioassay was performed, the correlation of which with antioxidant activity, TPC, TFC, TTC, and lethal concentration (LC50) value was shown by principal component analysis (PCA). Secondary metabolites like glucosides, flavonoids, polyphenols, alkaloids, terpenoids, saponins, and quinones were identified using phytochemical investigations. The TPC ranged from 45.98 to 102.3 mg GAE/g for the extracts, TFC from 100 to 225 mg QE/g, and the TTC was found to vary between 80 to 180 mg GAE/g. The findings of the antioxidant studies demonstrated that S. punctatipes exhibited the highest antioxidant activity (IC50 = 16.95 µg/mL), followed by C. indicum (IC50 = 22.5 µg/mL), and C. hirsutus (IC50 = 35.34 µg/mL). Likewise, S. punctatipes exhibited strong antimicrobial activity as compared to other extracts. The larvicidal efficacy against brine shrimp tests revealed that three mushrooms; C. hirsutus, C. indicum, and S. punctatipes—contain highly toxic substances while the other three are non-toxic and when properly examined can be consumed to some extent

Management of Low Anal Fistula by Chedana and Ksharkarma A Case Study and Review of Literature

Introduction:-Bhagandara is considered under the Ashta Mahaarogas (Eight grave disorders).The prevalence rate of fistula-in-ano has been accepted as second highest after piles in ano-rectal disorders. Sushruta has given equal emphasis to surgical as well as parasurgical measures for the management of bhagandara, he advocated chedana (fistulectomy) of fistulous tract followed by ksharkarma. Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of chedana (fistulectomy) with ksharakarma in management of low anal fistula. Material &amp; Methods: A 43 years old male patient visited OPD with throbbing pain in ano, swelling and fever with chills. On examination external opening was seen at 11 o’clock approximately 4 cm from anal verge with abscess. TRUS (Transrectal Ultrasonography) was done to confirm the diagnosis. Patient had history of surgery before 2 years for drainage of perianal abscess. So, it was diagnosed as a case of perianal abscess with intersphicteric low anal fistula. Chedana (fistulectomy) followed by teekshna Apamarga kshara application under spinal anesthesia (Xylocaine 2% with adrenaline) was done. Observation And Results: The wound was assessed weekly and it was observed that in first week pain was reduced completely. On second week healthy granulation was observed without any discharge. The wound healed completely within one and half month with minimal scar formation and normal skin coloration. Conclusion: This single case study concluded that chedana (fistulectomy) with ksharkarma is one of the option for management of low anal fistula. &nbsp

Sweet Potato Chips Development and Optimization of Chips Processing Variables

Sweet potatoes are nutritionally rich and can be converted into chips using a simple frying technique. However, frying processing variables affect the quality of chips significantly and optimization of processing variables is necessary to produce the desired quality chips. The objective of this study was to optimize the pre-drying time and the frying conditions (time and temperature) to obtain quality sweet potato chips with low fat. RSM with CCRD was used to develop regression and response surface models to observe the effect of pre-drying time and frying variables and optimize the frying conditions for the desired physicochemical properties of chips as response variables. The regression and response surface modeling indicated that the pre-drying time, frying temperature and frying time had a linear effect on moisture content, water activity, oil content and total color difference and a quadratic effect on L value, hardness and crispness of the sweet potato chips. The numerical and graphical optimization indicated that the quality of the chips was improved in the range of pre-drying (25-30 min), frying temperature (155-160°C) and frying time (5-6 min). The findings of this research will be helpful for a commercial setting of processing variables for sweet potato chips development within the experimental range

Study of Phytochemical, Anti-Microbial, Anti-Oxidant, Phytotoxic, and Immunomodulatory Activity Properties of Bauhinia variegata

There is growing interest in the use plants for the treatment and prevention of cancer and are currently being evaluated as promising anticancer agents. In this paper, we investigated the anti-microbial, anti-oxidant, phytotoxic and immunomodulatory of plant Bauhinia variegata and also established the presence of important phytoconstituents which might signify its anticancer property. Phytochemical screening, anti-microbial assay, phytotoxicity assay, anti-oxidant assay and immunomodulatory analysis was done according to the protocol established at Department of Biotechnology, Kathmandu University and Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, University of Karachi, Pakistan. In the phytochemical screening, we observed the presence of different phytochemicals like steroids, terpenoids, flavonoids, reducing sugars and glycosides. In case of Antimicrobial assay, the plant was found to be most effective against B.cereus with the highest zone of inhibition (ZOI) of 12mm and against Rhizopus with ZOI of 11mm. During the antioxidant assay in comparison to Ascorbic acid; at highest concentration, the scavenging activity shown by the plant Bauhinia variegata are 43.38% as compared to ascorbic acid 89.25%. In the Immunomodulatory assay at the highest concentration i.e. 250 µg/ml, the plant showed 75.1% effect, which showed that the plant has potential anti-inflammatory potential. In phytotoxicity assay, Bauhinia variegata showed 20% phytotoxicity. Bauhinia variegata has thus been proven to be an important candidate to be used as an antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, phytotoxic and anticancer agent. Separation of pure compounds with bioassay guided extraction, spectrometric analysis and subsequent cytotoxicity assay of the pure bioactive compounds from Bauhinia variegate is highly recommended as crude extract itself showed promising phytotoxicity and other pharmaceutical potential