Chemical Constituents of Garcinia Mangostana, G. Parvifolla, G. Griffitti and G. Diversifolia (Guttiferae) and Their Biological Activities

Four plants from the Garcinia genus were subjected to chemotaxonomic investigations with the isolation of a number of compounds. The structures of the compounds were established by spectroscopic methods such as MS, UV, IR, 1HNMR and 13C-NMR and by comparison with previous studies. The investigations of the pericarp of local grown Garcinia mangostana afforded known compounds which are mangostin, l3-mangostin, y-mangostin and gartanin.In investigations of the bark and heartwood of G. parvifolia collected from Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve, Puchong two xanthones, GP2, GH2 and stigmasterol were isolated. From another separate collection of the same species from Johor, three compounds were isolated: stigmasterol, an unidentified compound and an novel compound, GK3. Study on the leaves and stems of G. griffitti collected from Taman Negara , Pahang afforded two known compounds friedelin and (3-amyrin. Investigations on leaves and stems of G. diversifolia collected from Fraser's Hill also yielded friede!in. The plant extracts were evaluated for their biological activities against selected fungal and bacterial pathogens. The antifungal activity was performed using the 'Poison Food' method. The extracts from the test plant showed different antifungal activity towards the vegetative growth of plant pathogenic fungi ; Helminthosporium oryzae, Alternaria padwickii, Colletotrichum capsici, Fusarium oxysporum, Curvularia lunata and Pesta/otia theae The chloroform extract of the heartwood of G. parvifolia collected from Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve, Puchong was the most effective in inhibiting the mycelial growth for the test fungi. The antibacterial activity was tested using the 'Agar Diffusion' method. The extracts from the test plant also showed different antibacterial activity against the growth of six test bacteria ; Bacillus subtilis, E. coli, Erwinia carotovora, Microccoccus sp, Proteus vulgariS and Pseudomonas solanacearum. Chloroform extract of G. mangostana gave the highest average zone of inhibition, indicating the degree of its sensitivity

An in vitro study of the antifungal activity of Trichoderma virens 7b and a profile of its non-polar antifungal components released against Ganoderma boninense

Ganoderma boninense is the causal agent of a devastating disease affecting oil palm in Southeast Asian countries. Basal stem rot (BSR) disease slowly rots the base of palms, which radically reduces productive lifespan of this lucrative crop. Previous reports have indicated the successful use of Trichoderma as biological control agent (BCA) against G. boninense and isolate T. virens 7b was selected based on its initial screening. This study attempts to decipher the mechanisms responsible for the inhibition of G. boninense by identifying and characterizing the chemical compounds as well as the physical mechanisms by T. virens 7b. Hexane extract of the isolate gave 62.60% ± 6.41 inhibition against G. boninense and observation under scanning electron microscope (SEM) detected severe mycelial deformation of the pathogen at the region of inhibition. Similar mycelia deformation of G. boninense was observed with a fungicide treatment, Benlate® indicating comparable fungicidal effect by T. virens 7b. Fraction 4 and 5 of hexane active fractions through preparative thin layer chromatography (P-TLC) was identified giving the best inhibition of the pathogen. These fractions comprised of ketones, alcohols, aldehydes, lactones, sesquiterpenes, monoterpenes, sulphides, and free fatty acids profiled through gas chromatography mass spectrometry detector (GC/MSD). A novel antifungal compound discovery of phenylethyl alcohol (PEA) by T. virens 7b is reported through this study. T. virens 7b also proved to be an active siderophore producer through chrome azurol S (CAS) agar assay. The study demonstrated the possible mechanisms involved and responsible in the successful inhibition of G. boninense

Spectroscopic identification of geometrical isomers of α- and β-carotenes from palm oil

To date, all identification of palm carotenoids are tentative based on electronic absorption spectra, comparison of the elution sequence with past studies and authentic standards. This study reports the isolation of individual major isomers of palm carotenes using a semi-preparative C30 column. The results of MS, 1 H NMR of four isolated peaks, assigned as Fraction 1 (a mixture of 13 and 13’ cis α-carotene), Fraction 2 ( 13 cis β-carotene), Fraction 3 (all trans α-carotene) and Fraction 4 (cis β-carotene) supported the identification of their structures

Health-status outcomes with invasive or conservative care in coronary disease

BACKGROUND In the ISCHEMIA trial, an invasive strategy with angiographic assessment and revascularization did not reduce clinical events among patients with stable ischemic heart disease and moderate or severe ischemia. A secondary objective of the trial was to assess angina-related health status among these patients. METHODS We assessed angina-related symptoms, function, and quality of life with the Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ) at randomization, at months 1.5, 3, and 6, and every 6 months thereafter in participants who had been randomly assigned to an invasive treatment strategy (2295 participants) or a conservative strategy (2322). Mixed-effects cumulative probability models within a Bayesian framework were used to estimate differences between the treatment groups. The primary outcome of this health-status analysis was the SAQ summary score (scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better health status). All analyses were performed in the overall population and according to baseline angina frequency. RESULTS At baseline, 35% of patients reported having no angina in the previous month. SAQ summary scores increased in both treatment groups, with increases at 3, 12, and 36 months that were 4.1 points (95% credible interval, 3.2 to 5.0), 4.2 points (95% credible interval, 3.3 to 5.1), and 2.9 points (95% credible interval, 2.2 to 3.7) higher with the invasive strategy than with the conservative strategy. Differences were larger among participants who had more frequent angina at baseline (8.5 vs. 0.1 points at 3 months and 5.3 vs. 1.2 points at 36 months among participants with daily or weekly angina as compared with no angina). CONCLUSIONS In the overall trial population with moderate or severe ischemia, which included 35% of participants without angina at baseline, patients randomly assigned to the invasive strategy had greater improvement in angina-related health status than those assigned to the conservative strategy. The modest mean differences favoring the invasive strategy in the overall group reflected minimal differences among asymptomatic patients and larger differences among patients who had had angina at baseline

Initial invasive or conservative strategy for stable coronary disease

BACKGROUND Among patients with stable coronary disease and moderate or severe ischemia, whether clinical outcomes are better in those who receive an invasive intervention plus medical therapy than in those who receive medical therapy alone is uncertain. METHODS We randomly assigned 5179 patients with moderate or severe ischemia to an initial invasive strategy (angiography and revascularization when feasible) and medical therapy or to an initial conservative strategy of medical therapy alone and angiography if medical therapy failed. The primary outcome was a composite of death from cardiovascular causes, myocardial infarction, or hospitalization for unstable angina, heart failure, or resuscitated cardiac arrest. A key secondary outcome was death from cardiovascular causes or myocardial infarction. RESULTS Over a median of 3.2 years, 318 primary outcome events occurred in the invasive-strategy group and 352 occurred in the conservative-strategy group. At 6 months, the cumulative event rate was 5.3% in the invasive-strategy group and 3.4% in the conservative-strategy group (difference, 1.9 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.8 to 3.0); at 5 years, the cumulative event rate was 16.4% and 18.2%, respectively (difference, 121.8 percentage points; 95% CI, 124.7 to 1.0). Results were similar with respect to the key secondary outcome. The incidence of the primary outcome was sensitive to the definition of myocardial infarction; a secondary analysis yielded more procedural myocardial infarctions of uncertain clinical importance. There were 145 deaths in the invasive-strategy group and 144 deaths in the conservative-strategy group (hazard ratio, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.32). CONCLUSIONS Among patients with stable coronary disease and moderate or severe ischemia, we did not find evidence that an initial invasive strategy, as compared with an initial conservative strategy, reduced the risk of ischemic cardiovascular events or death from any cause over a median of 3.2 years. The trial findings were sensitive to the definition of myocardial infarction that was used