Ficus carica

This paper describes the botanical features of Ficus carica L. (Moraceae), its wide variety of chemical constituents, its use in traditional medicine as remedies for many health problems, and its biological activities. The plant has been used traditionally to treat various ailments such as gastric problems, inflammation, and cancer. Phytochemical studies on the leaves and fruits of the plant have shown that they are rich in phenolics, organic acids, and volatile compounds. However, there is little information on the phytochemicals present in the stem and root. Reports on the biological activities of the plant are mainly on its crude extracts which have been proven to possess many biological activities. Some of the most interesting therapeutic effects include anticancer, hepatoprotective, hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic, and antimicrobial activities. Thus, studies related to identification of the bioactive compounds and correlating them to their biological activities are very useful for further research to explore the potential of F. carica as a source of therapeutic agents

Inhibition of the chemiluminescence and chemotactic activity of phagocytes for selected Ficus species extract and their lipoxygenase and xanthine oxidase enzyme inhibitory

The effects of crude methanol from seven Ficus species on reactive oxygen species (ROS) production were evaluated using luminol based chemiluminescence assay and their inhibition of PMNs chemotaxis was investigated using Boyden chamber technique. Crude methanol of F. aurantiaca, F. parietalis, and F. annulata showed strong activity against PMN chemotaxis with IC 50 values of 1.4, 0.3 and 2.2 µg/mL, respectively, while crude methanol from F. aurantiaca and F. parietalis on whole blood and ROS production of PMNs exhibited high inhibitory activity for luminol enhanced chemiluminescence with IC 50 values of 1.4, 0.9, and 1.0, 0.4 µg/mL, respectively. In xanthine oxidase inhibition assay, crude methanol from F. aurantiaca (stem), F. parietalis (stem), and F. annulata (leaf) exhibited greater than 92% inhibition at concentration of 100 µg/mL (with IC50 values of 0.9, 1.0 and 8.9 µg/mL, respectively) while some extracts of other species showed more than 60% inhibitions at this concentration. In soybean lipoxygenase (SBL) assay, the methanolic extracts of these 3 species showed potent SBL inhibition with IC50 values of 0.3, 0.7, and 6.3 µg/mL, respectively. The overall results suggest that F. parietalis, F. annulata, and F. aurantiaca might be a prospective source of anti-inflammatory mediators and as a source of new immunomodulatory agents

Numerical solution for the chemotaxis model by finite difference method

The finite difference method for discretization space fractional chemotaxis model is introduced in this study. The space fractional chemotaxis system is obtained from the classical advection-diffusion equations of the chemotaxis system by replacing the spatial derivative with a generalized derivative of fractional order. We compare the numerical solution of finite difference method and exact solution for a test example. The results reveal that the finite difference method is very simple and efficient for solving space fractional chemotaxis system

Chemical constituents of garcinia prainiana

Five compounds identified as friedelin 1, eupha-8, 24- diene 3-β-ol 2, stigmasterol 3, teraxerone 4 and teraxerol 5 have been isolated from Garcinia prainiana (Guttiferae) for the first time. There has been no previous report on the chemical constituents and biological activities of this plant. Compounds 1, 2 & 3 were isolated from the methanol extract of the twigs while compounds 4 & 5 were isolated from the methanol extract of the leaves. The structures for all the compounds were evaluated based on spectroscopic analysis and comparison with the published information in the literature

Isolation of Terpenoids from the Stem of Ficus aurantiaca Griff and their Effects on Reactive Oxygen Species Production and Chemotactic Activity of Neutrophils

Three new triterpenoids; namely 28,28,30-trihydroxylupeol (1); 3,21,21,26-tetrahydroxy-lanostanoic acid (2) and dehydroxybetulinic acid (3) and seven known compounds; i.e., taraxerone (4); taraxerol (5); ethyl palmitate (6); herniarin (7); stigmasterol (8); ursolic acid (9) and acetyl ursolic acid (10) were isolated from the stem of Ficus aurantiaca Griff. The structures of the compounds were established by spectroscopic techniques. The compounds were evaluated for their inhibitory effects on polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) chemotaxis by using the Boyden chamber technique and on human whole blood and neutrophil reactive oxygen species (ROS) production by using a luminol-based chemiluminescence assay. Among the compounds tested, compounds 1–4, 6 and 9 exhibited strong inhibition of PMN migration towards the chemoattractant N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP) with IC50 values of 6.8; 2.8; 2.5; 4.1; 3.7 and 3.6 μM, respectively, comparable to that of the positive control ibuprofen (6.7 μM). Compounds 2–4, 6, 7 and 9 exhibited strong inhibition of ROS production of PMNs with IC50 values of 0.9; 0.9; 1.3; 1.1; 0.5 and 0.8 μM, respectively, which were lower than that of aspirin (9.4 μM). The bioactive compounds might be potential lead molecules for the development of new immunomodulatory agents to modulate the innate immune response of phagocytes

A novel iterative method for solving chemical kinetics system

The purpose of this research is to impose a semi-analytical method called the Iterative Method (IM) to the chemical kinetics system, which appears in the form of a system of Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs). To test the accuracy of the standard IM, we have applied the classical fourth-order Runge-Kutta method (RK4) and the IM to the chemical kinetics system. It is significantly notable that, approximate analytical precisions of standard IM made a high agreement with those obtained from the RK4 technique. Numerical outputs and solution procedures indicate that IM can be easily applicable to a large class of scientific numeric applications with high accuracy

New iterative method for solving chemistry problem

The chemical kinetics model or chemistry problem is extremely well known in nonlinear science. In this paper, we implement a semi analytical technique, the New Iterative Method (NIM), for solving chemical kinetics systems which appear in the form of nonlinear ordinary di˙erential equations. To examine the reliability and e˙ectiveness of the technique, first we solved the selected system by the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method (RK4) and then by New Iterative Method (NIM). Numerical outcomes show good agreement of the proposed technique in terms of precision compare to conventional fourth-order Runge-Kutta method (RK4). It is notable that this procedure requires less computational exertion and provides fast approximate solutions without any transformation, linearization and discretization. Consequently, it can be predicted that the NIM is an eÿcient approach in finding approximate numerical solutions for a wide range of initial value problems

Accurate numerical treatment on a stochastic SIR epidemic model with optimal control strategy

In this paper, a numerical study has been undertaken on the susceptible-infectedrecovered (SIR) epidemic model that encompasses the mechanisms of the evolution of disease transmission; a prophylactic vaccination strategy in the susceptible populations, depending on the infective individuals. We furnish numerical and graphical simulation combined with explicit series solutions of the proposed model using the New Iterative Method (NIM) and Modified New Iterative Method (MNIM). The analytic-numeric New Iterative Method failed to deliver accurate solution for the large time domain. A new reliable algorithm based on NIM, the coupling of the Laplace transforms, and the New Iterative method is called Modified New Iterative Method (MNIM) which is presented to enhance the validity domain of NIM techniques. The convergence analysis of the MNIM has also been illustrated. The simulation results show that the vaccination strategy can slow down the spread of the epidemic rapidly. Numerical results illustrate the excellent performance of the MNIM and show that the modified method is much more accurate than the NIM

Accurate Numerical Treatment on a Stochastic SIR Epidemic Model with Optimal Control Strategy

In this paper, a numerical study has been undertaken on the susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) epidemic model that encompasses the mechanisms of the evolution of disease transmission; a prophylactic vaccination strategy in the susceptible populations, depending on the infective individuals. We furnish numerical and graphical simulation combined with explicit series solutions of the proposed model using the New Iterative Method (NIM) and Modified New Iterative Method (MNIM). The analytic-numeric New Iterative Method failed to deliver accurate solution for the large time domain. A new reliable algorithm based on NIM, the coupling of the Laplace transforms, and the New Iterative method is called Modified New Iterative Method (MNIM) which is presented to enhance the validity domain of NIM techniques. The convergence analysis of the MNIM has also been illustrated. The simulation results show that the vaccination strategy can slow down the spread of the epidemic rapidly. Numerical results illustrate the excellent performance of the MNIM and show that the modified method is much more accurate than the NIM