Streblus asper Lour. (Shakhotaka): A Review of its Chemical, Pharmacological and Ethnomedicinal Properties

Streblus asper Lour is a small tree found in tropical countries, such as India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. Various parts of this plant are used in Ayurveda and other folk medicines for the treatment of different ailments such as filariasis, leprosy, toothache, diarrhea, dysentery and cancer. Research carried out using different in vitro and in vivo techniques of biological evaluation support most of these claims. This review presents the botany, chemistry, traditional uses and pharmacology of this medicinal plant

In vitro antifilarial activity, antioxidant potential and phenolic constituents of Quisqualis indica L.

648-654Quisqualis indica L., commonly known as ‘Rangoon-ki-bel’ or ‘Madhumalti’, has been used by the traditional healers as it is active against some of the commonly occurring diseases like boils, fevers diarrhea and helminthiasis. However, no systematic and scientifically validated studies on antifilarial activity of Q. indica are available. In the present study, we report in vitro antifilarial activity of ethanolic and hydroethanolic extracts of the leaves (QILE and QILEW) and flowers (QIFE and QIFEW) of this plant on microfilariae (mf) and female adult worms of human lymphatic filariid Brugia malayi using motility and or 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5 diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT)-reduction assays. The hydroalcoholic extract of flowers (QIFEW) was found effective as it killed adult female worms (LC100: 62.5 µg/mL) and mf (LC100: 125 µg/mL); IC50 values for the respective parasite stages were 34.50 and 31.88 µg/mL. SI values recorded with respect to motility of female parasite and mf was more than 20. The active principle(s) responsible for antifilarial activity may thus be present in QIFEW. The antioxidant activity results also indicated QIFEW to possess better antioxidant potential than the other extracts studied. HPLC analysis showed that the 02 keyphenolics present in hydroalcoholic extract of the flowers (QIFEW) were gallic acid and ellagic acid. In the different extracts, the concentration of gallic acid was found to vary from 26.9 mg/g to 2.50 mg/g while ellagic acid ranged between 11.5 mg/g to 6.77 mg/g. It was also observed that the leaves were rich in flavonoids whereas the flowers were rich in phenolics. The findings indicate that active molecule (s) of hydroalcoholic extractfrom Q. indica flowers may help in providing new leads for developing antifilarial agents. We believe that this is the first systematically studied report on the in vitro antifilarial activity of the hydroalcoholic extract of Q. indica flowers

Sposobnost hvatanja slobodnih radikala biljke Saussarea costus

Saussurea costus (Falc.) Lipschitz belonging to the family Asteraceae is an important medicinal drug, roots of which are widely used as a folk medicine. The antioxidant activity of the plant has been studied using its ability to scavenge DPPH, nitric oxide, superoxide radicals along with the ability to inhibit lipid peroxidation and GSH oxidation. The 1 mg mL-1 extract had antioxidant activity with 85.2% reduction of DPPH and a 72.7% decrease in lipid peroxidation. It showed the maximum inhibition of superoxide radical of 66,0%, and 58.4% inhibition of the nitric oxide formation. The concentration of chlorogenic acid was found to be 0.027% in the extract of S. costus. Thus therapeutic activity of the plant may be due to its antioxidant activity, which may be as a result of chlorogenic acid presence.Saussurea costus (Falc.) Lipschitz (Asteraceae) važna je ljekovita biljka čiji se korijen upotrebljava u narodnoj medicini. U ovom radu proučavano je antioksidativno djelovanje te biljke. Praćena je sposobnost vezanja DPPH, oksida dušika, superoksidnih radikala i inhibicije peroksidacije lipida i oksidacije GSH. 1 mg mL-1 ekstrakta reducira 85,2% DPPH i za 72,7% smanjuje peroksidaciju lipida. Maksimalna inhibicija superoksidnih radikala bila je 66%, a inhibicija stvaranja oksida dušika 58,4%. Koncentracija klorogenske kiseline u ekstraktu S. costus je 0,027%. Smatra se da je upravo prisutnost te kiseline presudno za antioksidativno djelovanje

Geotechnical Assessment of the Foundation of Housing Chamber of Yaragol Gravity Dam, Karnataka State, India

Geotechnical assessment of the foundation including engineering geological investigations are essential for important civil structures to provide permanent data set for geological interpretations and for recommendations of suitable engineering measures for the improvement of the foundation. Yaragol Gravity Dam for drinking water is being constructed across Markandaya river in Karnataka State of India. Engineering geological mapping on 1:200 scale was carried out for Housing Chamber of Yaragol Gravity Dam to evaluate the design basis foundation parameters. 2 m x 2 m grids were prepared for mapping of the floor. Based on the field observations and evidences, it was found that the floor area consists of foliated gneiss and granite. No evidence of faulting or shearing was observed on the surface of the floor area. Geotechnical assessment of the foundations was done on the basis of detailed engineering geological mapping and laboratory test results. Classification of rock mass using Rock Mass Rating (RMR) of Bieniawski (1989) has been attempted and based on investigations recommendations for the treatment of foundation were given. Rock type and Rock Mass Rating (RMR) methods were used for assessing the safe bearing pressure of the foundation. Consolidation grouting up to 6 m depth in the foundation using primary at 6 m spacing and secondary holes at 3 m spacing was recommended. After detailed investigations it was found that, the foundation is suitable to locate a housing chamber

In vitro antifilarial activity, antioxidant potential and phenolic constituents of Quisqualis indica L.

Quisqualis indica L., commonly known as ‘Rangoon-ki-bel’ or ‘Madhumalti’, has been used by the traditional healers as it is active against some of the commonly occurring diseases like boils, fevers diarrhea and helminthiasis. However, no systematic and scientifically validated studies on antifilarial activity of Q. indica are available. In the present study, we report in vitro antifilarial activity of ethanolic and hydroethanolic extracts of the leaves (QILE and QILEW) and flowers (QIFE and QIFEW) of this plant on microfilariae (mf) and female adult worms of human lymphatic filariid Brugia malayi using motility and or 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5 diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT)-reduction assays. The hydroalcoholic extract of flowers (QIFEW) was found effective as it killed adult female worms (LC100: 62.5 μg/mL) and mf (LC100: 125 μg/mL); IC50 values for the respective parasite stages were 34.50 and 31.88 μg/mL. SI values recorded with respect to motility of female parasite and mf was more than 20. The active principle(s) responsible for antifilarial activity may thus be present in QIFEW. The antioxidant activity results also indicated QIFEW to possess better antioxidant potential than the other extracts studied. HPLC analysis showed that the 02 keyphenolics present in hydroalcoholic extract of the flowers (QIFEW) were gallic acid and ellagic acid. In the different extracts, the concentration of gallic acid was found to vary from 26.9 mg/g to 2.50 mg/g while ellagic acid ranged between 11.5 mg/g to 6.77 mg/g. It was also observedthat the leaves were rich in flavonoids whereas the flowers were rich in phenolics. The findings indicate that active molecule (s) of hydroalcoholic extractfrom Q. indica flowers may help in providing new leads for developing antifilarial agents. We believe that this is the first systematically studied report on the in vitro antifilarial activity of the hydroalcoholicextract of Q. indica flowers

Open Access Extracts from Acacia catechu suppress HIV-1 replication by inhibiting the activities of the viral

Background: Acacia catechu (Mimosa family) stem bark extracts have been used traditionally as a dietary supplement as well as a folk medicine given its reported anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, hepatoprotective, antioxidant, anti-microbial and anti-tumor activities. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the anti-HIV-1 activity of the extracts from stem bark of A. catechu. Methods: The aqueous and 50 % ethanolic extracts of A. catechu stem bark were prepared and 50 % ethanolic extract was further fractioned by successively partitioning with petroleum ether, chloroform and n-butanol. All the extracts and fractions were evaluated for cytotoxicity and anti-HIV-1 activity using different in vitro assays. The active n-butanol fraction was evaluated for its inhibition against HIV-1 reverse transcriptase, integrase, protease, pro-viral genome integration and viral Tat protein mediated transactivation. The effect of n-butanol fraction on the induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines secretion in Vk2/E6E7 cells and transepithelial resistance in Caco-2 and HEC-1A cells was investigated. Results: The aqueous and 50 % ethanolic extracts of A. catechu showed IC50 values of 1.8 ± 0.18 μg/ml and 3.6 ± 0.31 μg/ml, respectively in cell-free virus based assay using TZM-bl cells and HIV-1NL4.3 (X-4 tropic). In the above assay, n-butanol fraction exhibited anti-HIV-1 activity with an IC50 of 1.7 ± 0.12 μg/ml. The n-butanol fractio

Ultralight vector dark matter search using data from the KAGRA O3GK run

Among the various candidates for dark matter (DM), ultralight vector DM can be probed by laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors through the measurement of oscillating length changes in the arm cavities. In this context, KAGRA has a unique feature due to differing compositions of its mirrors, enhancing the signal of vector DM in the length change in the auxiliary channels. Here we present the result of a search for U(1)B−L gauge boson DM using the KAGRA data from auxiliary length channels during the first joint observation run together with GEO600. By applying our search pipeline, which takes into account the stochastic nature of ultralight DM, upper bounds on the coupling strength between the U(1)B−L gauge boson and ordinary matter are obtained for a range of DM masses. While our constraints are less stringent than those derived from previous experiments, this study demonstrates the applicability of our method to the lower-mass vector DM search, which is made difficult in this measurement by the short observation time compared to the auto-correlation time scale of DM