Targeting cancer signaling pathways by natural products: Exploring promising anti-cancer agents

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death and significantly burdens the healthcare system. Due to its prevalence, there is undoubtedly an unmet need to discover novel anticancer drugs. The use of natural products as anticancer agents is an acceptable therapeutic approach due to accessibility, applicability, and reduced cytotoxicity. Natural products have been an incomparable source of anticancer drugs in the modern era of drug discovery. Along with their derivatives and analogs, natural products play a major role in cancer treatment by modulating the cancer microenvironment and different signaling pathways. These compounds are effective against several signaling pathways, mainly cell death pathways (apoptosis and autophagy) and embryonic developmental pathways (Notch pathway, Wnt pathway, and Hedgehog pathway). The historical record of natural products is strong, but there is a need to investigate the current role of natural products in the discovery and development of cancer drugs and determine the possibility of natural products being an important source of future therapeutic agents. Many target-specific anticancer drugs failed to provide successful results, which accounts for a need to investigate natural products with multi-target characteristics to achieve better outcomes. The potential of natural products to be promising novel compounds for cancer treatment makes them an important area of research. This review explores the significance of natural products in inhibiting the various signaling pathways that serve as drivers of carcinogenesis and thus pave the way for developing and discovering anticancer drugs.This study was supported by Sidra Medicine Precision Program funding to Ajaz A. Bhat (5081012003) and Mohammad Haris (5081012002)

The Counseling Needs of Students with Disabilities at the University and their Relationship to the Level of Aspiration and the Attitude towards Study

The current study aimed to identify the counseling needs and their relationship to the level of aspiration and attitudes towards study among university students with disabilities. The sample consisted of 85 students with disabilities enrolled at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University. The results indicated high percentages of counseling needs, and it came in the following order: academic, professional, psychological, health, social, and informatics. Also, it showed high level of aspiration and attitude among the study sample, and existence of a statistically significant negative correlation between the counseling needs and both the level of aspiration and attitude. No statically significant differences were found in the counseling needs, the level of aspiration, and attitude according to the specialization and disability type. Also, a statically significant difference was found in the counseling needs in favor of those with low aspiration and attitude compared with high aspiration, and presence of significant differences in the counseling needs for the low studying attitude group. There were no significant differences at the level of aspiration between those with a high and a low attitude towards studying. Keywords: counseling needs, level of Aspiration, Attitude towards study, disabilitie