Screening of Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Secondary Metabolites from Endophytic Fungi Isolated from Wheat (Triticum Durum)

The emergence of antibiotic-resistant micro-organisms calls for inventive research and development strategies. Inhibition of these pathogenic micro-organisms may be a promising therapeutic approach. The screening of antimicrobial compounds from endophytes is a promising way to meet the increasing threat of drug-resistant strains of human and plant pathogens. In the present study, a total of 20 endophytic fungi and 23 endophytic actinomycetes have been isolated from wheat (Triticum durum). Mohamed Ben Bachir variety collected from Bordj Bou Arreridj region (Algeria) during winter 2010. The isolates were screened and evaluated for their antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. Antimicrobial activity was evaluated for crude ethyl acetate extracts using an agar diffusion assay against twelve pathogenic bacteria, yeast, and two phytopathogenic fungi. All extracts showed inhibitory activity on at least one or more pathogenic microorganisms, with an average zone of inhibition varied between 7 mm to 25 mm, and the largest zone was of 25 and 25.3 mm against candida albicans and Escherichia coli respectively. The antioxidant capacity of the extracts was evaluated by β-carotene/linoleic acid assay. Results showed that 60% of these extracts have antioxidant activity, exhibiting 50, 57% to 78, 96% inhibitions. While the inhibitory activity for oxidation of linoleic acid of 40% of them was less than 50%. From the present work it is possible to conclude that these microorganisms could be promising source of bioactive compounds, and warrant further study

Antimotility and andidiarrhoel activity of Myrtus communis L. Leaves essential oil in mice

Objective: To analyze the myrtle (Myrtus communis L.) leaves essential oil (MEO) and to investigate its antimotility and antidiahhroeal effects in mice. Methods: The chemical composition of the volatile fraction of myrtle was studied using GC-MS analysis. The antimotility activity was evaluated using normal gastric emptying and intestinal transit. The antidiarrhoeal and antisecretory activities of the essential oil were tested using castor oil methods in mice. Results: The results revealed that MEO characterized by its richness of α-pinene (54.1%) and 1.8-cineole (26.5%). MEO significantly decreased gastric emptying at the highest dose (500 mg/kg) and the intestinal transit at the three used doses (50, 250 and 500 mg/kg). The essential oil demonstrated also dose dependent antidiarrhoeal and antisecretory activities. Conclusion: MEO has antidiarrhoeal and antisecretory activity in mice, which may justify the use of this plant in traditional medicine for treatment of diarrhea and other gastrointestinal motility disorders

Cataloguing and displaying Web feeds from French language health sites: a Web 2.0 add-on to a health gateway

Abstract. Among the numerous new functionalities of the Internet, commonly called Web 2.0, Web syndication illustrates the trend for better and faster information sharing. Web feeds (a.k.a RSS feeds), which were used mostly on weblogs at first, are now also widely used in academic, scientific and institutional websites such as PubMed. As very few French language feeds were listed or catalogued in the Health field by the year of 2007, it was decided to implement them in the quality-controlled health gateway CISMeF ([French] acronym for Catalogue and Index of French Language Health Resources on the Internet). Furthermore, making full use of the nature of Web syndication, a Web feed aggregator was put online in to provide a dynamic news gateway called "CISMeF actualités" (http://www.chu-rouen.fr/actualites/). This article describes the process to retrieve and implement the Web feeds in the catalogue and how its terminology was adjusted to describe this new content. It also describes how the aggregator was put online and the features of this news gateway. CISMeF actualités was built accordingly to the editorial policy of CISMeF. Only a part of the Web feeds of the catalogue were included to display the most authoritative sources. Web feeds were also grouped by medical specialties and by countries using the prior indexing of websites with MeSH terms and the so-called metaterms. CISMeF actualités now displays 131 Web feeds across 40 different medical specialities, coming from 5 different countries. It is one example, among many, that static hypertext links can now easily and beneficially be completed, or replaced, by dynamic display of Web content using syndication feeds

Atractylis gummifera L. poisoning: an ethnopharmacological review

Atractylis gummifera L. (Asteraceae) is a thistle located in the Mediterranean re ions. Despite the plant's well-known toxicity, its ingestion continues to be a common cause Of Poisoning. The toxicity of Atractylis gummifera resides in atractyloside and carboxyatractyloside, two diterpenoid glucosides capable of inhibiting mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. Both constituents interact with a mitochondrial protein. the adenine nucleotide translocator, responsible for the ATP/ADP antiport and involved in mitochondrial membrane permeabilization. Poisoned patients manifest characteristic symptoms such as nausea. vomiting, epigastric and abdominal pain, diarrhoea, anxiety, headache and convulsions. often followed by coma. No specific pharmacological treatment for Atractylis gummifera intoxication is yet available and all the current therapeutic approaches are only symptomatic. In vitro experiments showed that some compounds such as verapamil, or dithiothreitol could protect against the toxic effects of atractyloside, but only if administered before atractyloside exposure. New therapeutic approaches Could come front immunotherapy research: some Studies have already tried to produce polyclonal Fab fragments against the toxic components of Atractylis gummifera. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

RNTL Technolangue ATONANT. Aide à l'enrichissement semi-automatique d'ontologies

National audienc

Flavonoid profile, antioxidant and antiglycation properties of <i>Retama sphaerocarpa</i> fruits extracts

<p><i>Retama sphaerocarpa</i> occurs in the Mediterranean area of North-east Africa and in the Iberian Peninsula, and grows on a variety of soil types and climatic conditions. Used in Algerian folk medicine, it is a valuable species for revegetation and soil restoration. The aim of this study is to evaluate flavonoid composition and antioxidant and antiglycation properties of methanolic and aqueous extracts from <i>R. sphaerocarpa</i> fruits. HPLC-PDA/ESI-MS was used to identify/quantify flavonoid content. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by Folin–Ciocalteu, ORAC, FRAP, TEAC, and DPPH assays, and antiglycation capability by glucose/fructose-BSA assay. Results showed that fruits contain isoflavones (daidzein and genistein derivatives) and flavonols (apigenin, isorhamnetin, kaempferol and quercetin derivatives), and extracts (especially the methanolic one, richer in flavonoids) possess good <i>in vitro</i> antioxidant and antiglycation properties. These findings evidence that <i>R. sphaerocarpa</i> fruits are a source of valuable phytochemicals, with potential applications in the field of phytopharmaceuticals and in food industry.</p