Current trends on seaweeds: Looking at chemical composition, phytopharmacology, and cosmetic applications

Seaweeds have received huge interest in recent years given their promising potentialities. Their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, hypolipemic, and anticoagulant effects are among the most renowned and studied bioactivities so far, and these effects have been increasingly associated with their content and richness in both primary and secondary metabolites. Although primary metabolites have a pivotal importance such as their content in polysaccharides (fucoidans, agars, carragenans, ulvans, alginates, and laminarin), recent data have shown that the content in some secondary metabolites largely determines the effective bioactive potential of seaweeds. Among these secondary metabolites, phenolic compounds feature prominently. The present review provides the most remarkable insights into seaweed research, specifically addressing its chemical composition, phytopharmacology, and cosmetic applications.We would like to thank the University of Aveiro and FCT/MCT for their financial support for the QOPNA Research Unit (FCT UID/QUI/00062/2019) and the cE3c Center (UID/BIA/00329/2013) through national founds, and where applicable, co-financed by the FEDER within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement. Martins N. would like to thank the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT-Portugal) for the strategic project ref. UID/BIM/04293/2013 and "NORTE2020-Programa Operacional Regional do Norte" (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000012). Acknowledgments: We would like to thank the University of Aveiro and FCT/MCT for their financial support for the QOPNA Research Unit (FCT UID/QUI/00062/2019) and the cE3c Center (UID/BIA/00329/2013) through national founds, and where applicable, co-financed by the FEDER within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement. Martins N. would like to thank the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT–Portugal) for the strategic project ref. UID/BIM/04293/2013 and “NORTE2020—Programa Operacional Regional do Norte” (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000012)

Phytosterols: From Preclinical Evidence to Potential Clinical Applications

Phytosterols (PSs) are plant-originated steroids. Over 250 PSs have been isolated, and each plant species contains a characteristic phytosterol composition. A wide number of studies have reported remarkable pharmacological effects of PSs, acting as chemopreventive, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antidiabetic, and antiatherosclerotic agents. However, PS bioavailability is a key issue, as it can be influenced by several factors (type, source, processing, preparation, delivery method, food matrix, dose, time of administration into the body, and genetic factors), and the existence of a close relationship between their chemical structures (e.g., saturation degree and side-chain length) and low absorption rates has been stated. In this sense, the present review intends to provide in-depth data on PS therapeutic potential for human health, also emphasizing their preclinical effects and bioavailability-related issues.NCM acknowledges the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the Horizon 2020 Program (PTDC/PSI-GER/ 28076/2017)

Turmeric and Its Major Compound Curcumin on Health: Bioactive Effects and Safety Profiles for Food, Pharmaceutical, Biotechnological and Medicinal Applications

Curcumin, a yellow polyphenolic pigment from the Curcuma longa L. (turmeric) rhizome, has been used for centuries for culinary and food coloring purposes, and as an ingredient for various medicinal preparations, widely used in Ayurveda and Chinese medicine. In recent decades, their biological activities have been extensively studied. Thus, this review aims to offer an in-depth discussion of curcumin applications for food and biotechnological industries, and on health promotion and disease prevention, with particular emphasis on its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, anticancer, hepatoprotective, and cardioprotective effects. Bioavailability, bioefficacy and safety features, side effects, and quality parameters of curcumin are also addressed. Finally, curcumin’s multidimensional applications, food attractiveness optimization, agro-industrial procedures to offset its instability and low bioavailability, health concerns, and upcoming strategies for clinical application are also covered

Naturally-Occurring Bioactives in Oral Cancer: Preclinical and Clinical Studies, Bottlenecks and Future Directions

Oral cancer (OC) is the eighth most common cancer, particularly prevalent in developing countries. Current treatment includes a multidisciplinary approach, involving chemo, radio, and immunotherapy and surgery, which depends on cancer stage and location. As a result of the side effects of currently available drugs, there has been an increasing interest in the search for naturally-occurring bioactives for treating all types of cancer, including OC. Thus, this comprehensive review aims to give a holistic view on OC incidence and impact, while highlights the preclinical and clinical studies related to the use of medicinal plants for OC prevention and the recent developments in bioactive synthetic analogs towards OC management. Chemoprophylactic therapies connect the use of natural and/or synthetic molecules to suppress, inhibit or revert the transformation of oral epithelial dysplasia (DOK) into oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Novel searches have underlined the promising role of plant extracts and phytochemical compounds, such as curcumin, green tea extract, resveratrol, isothiocyanates, lycopene or genistein against this malignancy. However, poor bioavailability and lack of in vivo and clinical studies and complex pharmacokinetic profiles limit their huge potential of application. However, recent nanotechnological and related advances have shown to be promising in improving the bioavailability, absorption and efficacy of such compounds.Scopu

Gastroprotective activity of chloroform extract of Muntingia calabura and Melastoma malabathricum leaves

Context: Muntingia calabura L. (family Muntingiaceae) and Melastoma malabathricum L. (family Melastomaceae) are traditionally used to treat gastric ulcer. Objective: The present study determines the mechanisms of gastroprotective activity of the chloroform extract of leaves obtained from both the plants using several in vitro and in vivo assays. Materials and methods: Phytochemical screening, HPLC analysis, and antioxidant activity of the respective extract were carried out. Gastroprotective activity was determined using ethanol-induced gastric ulcer assay while the mechanisms of gastroprotection were determined using the pyloric ligation assay. The test solutions [8% Tween-80 (vehicle), 20 mg/kg omeprazole, and different doses of extracts (50, 250, or 500 mg/kg] were administered orally once daily for 7 consecutive days before the animals were subjected to ethanol induced gastric ulcers. Results: The chloroform-extracted M. calabura (CEMC) contains tannins, polyphenolics, triterpenes, and steroids while the chloroform-extracted M. malabathricum (CEMM) contains only triterpenes and steroids. CEMC, but not CEMM, exerted remarkably strong antioxidant activity in the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH)- (86% versus 16%) and superoxide- (73% versus 36%) radical scavenging assays. Both extracts demonstrated significant (p < 0.05) gastroprotection with the EC50 value recorded at 192.3 or 297.7 mg/kg, respectively. In the pylorus ligation assay, CEMC and CEMM significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the total and free acidity and volume; while increased the pH of gastric juice as well as the gastric wall mucus content in comparison with the vehicle-treated group. Discussion and conclusion: CEMC and CEMM exert gastroprotective effects in animals with ethanol-induced gastric ulcers via antioxidant and anti-secretory effects

Factors of fraud occurrence and corporate governance structures: Evidence from emerging market Malaysia

The main objective of this research is to examine the possible factors of the corporate environment which may contribute to the occurrence of fraud by investigating whether there are any differences in corporate governance, earnings management activities and compensation structures between scandal and non-scandal firms. The sample of this study consists of 57 scandal firms matched with non-scandal firms in the Malaysian financial environment. The scandal firms are the Malaysian publicly listed companies which have been reported to be involved in fraud over the period 1995 to 2008. Non-parametric tests such as Paired t-test and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test are conducted to investigate the differences in characteristics of the two sub-groups (scandal firms vs. non-scandal firms). The results show that the independent directors of scandal firms were holding fewer directorships. In addition, there is evidence to show that scandal firms are reporting lower earnings and therefore paying lower dividends. However, no significant differences are found in the compensation structures of the executive directors in both sets of our sample. The results of the logistic regression reveal that factors such as the nature of dividend payments; the effectiveness of independent committees and the influence of powerful/dominant positions in a company may have been contributing to fraud