Centella asiatica (L.) Urban: From Traditional Medicine to Modern Medicine with Neuroprotective Potential

This paper covers the studies relevant to neuroprotective activity of Centella asiatica (L.) Urban, also known as “Gotu Kola.” The plant is native to the Southeast Asia and has been used traditionally as brain tonic in ayurvedic medicine. The neuroprotective effect of C. asiatica has been searched using the key words “Centella, Centella asiatica, gotu kola, Asiatic pennywort, neuroprotection, and memory” through the electronic databases including Sciencedirect, Web of Science, Scopus, Pubmed, and Google Scholar. According to the literature survey, C. asiatica (gotu kola) has been reported to have a comprehensive neuroprotection by different modes of action such as enzyme inhibition, prevention of amyloid plaque formation in Alzheimer's disease, dopamine neurotoxicity in Parkinson's disease, and decreasing oxidative stress. Therefore, C. asiatica could be suggested to be a desired phytopharmaceutical with neuroprotective effect emerged from traditional medicine

Antiprotozoal activity and cytotoxicity of Lycopodium clavatum and Lycopodium complanatum subsp. chamaecyparissus extracts

Objective: the aim of this study is to investigate the in vitro antioxidant activity, the total phenol and flavonoid content and the possible protective effects of commercial propolis on gentamicin-induced nephrotoxicity in rabbits. Methods: the in vitro antioxidant activity was measured by ferric reducing antioxidant power assay and cupric reducing antioxidant capacity assay, the total phenols content was measured by folin–ciocalteau assay, the flavonoids content by the alcl3 colorimetric method and the renoprotective effects of propolis methanol extract was evaluated in a rabbit model of gentamicin-induced nephrotoxicity. The protective effects of propolis on gentamicin-induced nephrotoxicity in rabbits were evaluated through biochemical parameter (measuring serum urea and creatinine) and histopathological alterations in kidneys Results: methanol extract of propolis showed a strong antioxidant activity, which is attributed to its high phenolic and flavonoid contents. Oral administration of propolis extract to rabbits at a dose of 1 mg/kg body weight significantly protected against histopathological and biochemical alterations induced by gentamicin. Conclusion: the present study demonstrated that commercial propolis is strong antioxidant and is effective for the prevention of gentamicin-induced renal damage in rabbit

Pharmacognosy: Science of natural products in drug discovery

Pharmacognosy deals with the natural drugs obtained fromorganisms such as most plants, microbes, and animals. Up todate, many important drugs including morphine, atropine,galanthamine, etc. have originated from natural sources whichcontinue to be good model molecules in drug discovery.Traditional medicine is also a part of pharmacognosy and mostof the third world countries still depend on the use of herbalmedicines. Consequently, pharmacognosy always keeps itspopularity in pharmaceutical sciences and plays a critical role indrug discovery

Bakim Verenlerin Bakimi: İhtimam Etigi Perspektifinden Bir İnceleme

Amaç: Kanserle yaşayan bireylerin (KYB) bakımında, resmiyette görünür olmayan ve çoğunlukla herhangi bir profesyonel donanıma sahip olmayan, ama sürecin başından sonuna, hasta bireye eşlik eden bakım verenler kritik öneme sahiptir. Baş etmesi zor bir hastalık olan kanserle mücadele eden bireylerin bakımında, bakım verenler fiziksel, zihinsel ve sosyal birtakım zorluklarla karşılaşmaktadır. Bu araştırma, KYB’lere bakım veren, yakınlarının karşılaştıkları zorlukları gündeme getirmeyi ve ihtimam etiği perspektifinden, bakım verenlerin bakımına yönelik öneriler sunmayı amaçlamaktadır. Gereç ve Yöntem: Bu araştırma tanımlayıcı ve kesitsel olup araştırmanın evreni Marmara Üniversitesi Pendik Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi (MÜPEAH) Onkoloji kliniğinde takip edilen, 15 Mart-5 Nisan tarihleri arasında kemoterapi ünitesine ve servis hizmetlerine başvuran KYB’lerin bakım veren yakınlarıdır. KYB’lere bakım verenlerin umutsuzluk derecelerini tespit etmek ve bunu etkileyen faktörleri ölçmek için, veri toplama aracı olarak; sosyodemografik sorular, bakım alan bireyin hastalık derecesine yönelik sorular ve Beck Umutsuzluk Ölçeği sorularından oluşan bir anket elden dağıtılmıştır. Anket bakım verene yönelik sosyodemografik sorular 8, KYB’nin hastalığının durumu ile ilgili sorular 7, Beck Umutsuzluk Ölçeği 20 olmak üzere 35 sorudan oluşmaktadır ve yaklaşık 10 dakikada tamamlanmaktadır. Elde edilen veriler önce Microsoft Excel aracılığıyla dijitalleştirilmiş, ardından IBM SPSS 27.0.1 sürümüyle analiz edilmiştir. Verilerin analizinde Ki-kare, Fisher’s Exact testi ve Pearson Korelasyon analizi kullanılmış, istatistiksel anlamlılık değeri için p\u3c0.05 kabul edilmiştir. Bulgular: Ankete katılan 151 bakım verenin 83’ü (%55,3) kadın, 67’si (%44,7) erkektir. Katılımcıların yaş ortalaması 40,09’dur. Bakım verenlerin %41,1’i umutsuzluk düzeyi ölçeğinde “minimal ya da yok”, %39,7'si "hafif düzeyde", %13.2'si orta düzeyde ve %6’sı “aşırı düzeyde” skorunu almıştır. KYB’lere bakım verenlerin demografik özellikleri ile umutsuzluk düzeyi arasında anlamlı bir ilişki bulunmamıştır. Bakım verenlerin yaşı, cinsiyeti, medeni durumu, gelir durumu ve bakım verme süresi ile umutsuzluk skorları arasında anlamlı bir ilişki bulunmazken, eğitim seviyesi ile umutsuzluk skorları arasında anlamlı bir ilişki bulunmuştur. (p=0,019). Sonuç: Bakım verenlerin, umutsuzluk düzeyleri göz önüne alındığında, önemli psikolojik yükler taşıdığına ve bu yükün, özellikle bakım verenin eğitim seviyesi ile hastanın sağlık durumu arasında belirgin ilişkiler gösterdiğine ulaşılmıştır. Bu bilgiler ışığında, sosyodemografik özelliklerin bakım verenleri önemli ölçüde etkilediği görülmüştür. Bakım verenlerin duygusal yükleri, bakım alıcılarla olan ilişkileri ve bu sürecin hem bireysel hem toplumsal düzeyde getirdiği zorluklar ve sorumluluklar, ihtimam etiği kapsamında ele alınmıştır. Araştırma neticesinde bakım verenlerin karşılaştığı zorluklar ve ihtiyaçlarının daha geniş bir toplumsal ve etik perspektiften ele alınmasının gerekliliği ortaya konmuştur. Bakım verenlerin bakımına yönelik öneriler, duygusal destek; teorik eğitim ve bilgilendirme desteği; pratik ve uygulamalı destek; kaynak erişimi ve tahsisi; tanıma ve doğrulama başlıkları altında sunulmuştur

Selective in vitro and in silico butyrylcholinesterase inhibitory activity of diterpenes and rosmarinic acid isolated from Perovskia atriplicifolia Benth. and Salvia glutinosa L.

Cholinesterase inhibition is one of the most treatment strategies against Alzheimer's disease (AD) where metal accumulation is also strongly associated with pathology of the disease. In the current study, we assessed inhibitory effect against acetyl- (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) and metal-chelating capacity of twelve diterpenes: arucadiol, miltirone, tanshinone IIa, 1-oxomiltirone, cryptotanshinone, 1,2-didehydromiltirone, 1,2-didehydrotanshinone IIa, 1b-hydroxycryptotanshinone, 15,16- dihydrotanshinone, tanshinone I, isotanshinone II, 1(S)-hydroxytanshinone IIa, and rosmarinic acid, isolated from Perovskia atriplicifolia and Salvia glutinosa. The compounds were tested at 10 µg/mL using ELISA microtiter assays against AChE and BChE. QSAR and molecular docking studies have been also performed on the active compounds. All of the compounds showed higher [e.g., IC50 = 1.12 ± 0.07 µg/mL for 1,2-didehydromiltirone, IC50 = 1.15 ± 0.07 µg/mL for cryptotanshinone, IC50 = 1.20 ± 0.03 µg/mL for arucadiol, etc.)] or closer [1,2-didehydrotanshinone IIa (IC50 = 5.98 ± 0.49 µg/mL) and 1(S)-hydroxytanshinone IIa (IC50 = 5.71 ± 0.27 µg/mL)] inhibition against BChE as compared to that of galanthamine (IC50 = 12.56 ± 0.37 µg/mL), whereas only 15,16-dihydrotanshinone moderately inhibited AChE (65.17 ± 1.39%). 1,2-Didehydrotanshinone IIa (48.94 ± 0.26%) and 1(S)-hydroxytanshinone IIa (47.18 ± 5.10%) possessed the highest metal-chelation capacity. The present study affords an evidence for the fact that selective BChE inhibitors should be further investigated as promising candidate molecules for AD therapy.Ciencias AmbientalesCiencias de la AlimentaciónFarmaciaIngeniería, Industria y ConstrucciónMedicin

A critical analysis of extraction techniques used for botanicals: Trends, priorities, industrial uses and optimization strategies

Plant extracts have been long used by the traditional healers for providing health benefits and are nowadays suitable ingredient for the production of formulated health products and nutraceuticals. Traditional methods of extraction such as maceration, percolation, digestion, and preparation of decoctions and infusions are now been replaced by advanced extraction methods for increased extraction efficiency and selectivity of bioactive compounds to meet up the increasing market demand. Advanced techniques use different ways for extraction such as microwaves, ultrasound waves, supercritical fluids, enzymes, pressurized liquids, electric field, etc. These innovative extraction techniques, afford final extracts selectively rich in compounds of interest without formation of artifacts, and are often simple, fast, environmentally friendly and fully automated compared to existing extraction method. The present review is focused on the recent trends on the extraction of different bioactive chemical constituents depending on the nature of sample matrices and their chemical classes including anthocyanins, flavonoids, polyphenols, alkaloids, oils, etc. In addition, we review the strategies for designing extraction, selection of most suitable extraction methods, and trends of extraction methods for botanicals. Recent progress on the research based on these advanced methods of extractions and their industrial importance are also discussed in detail

Development and validation of a nomogram for assessing survival in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia

Background: The outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in 2019 has spread worldwide and continues to cause great threat to peoples’ health as well as put pressure on the accessibility of medical systems. Early prediction of survival of hospitalized patients will help the clinical management of COVID-19, but such a prediction model which is reliable and valid is still lacking. Methods: We retrospectively enrolled 628 confirmed cases of COVID-19 using positive RT-PCR tests for SARS-CoV-2 in Tongji Hospital in Wuhan, China. These patients were randomly grouped into a training cohort (60%) and a validation cohort (40%). In the training cohort, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression analysis and multivariate Cox regression analysis were utilized to identify prognostic factors for in-hospital survival of patients with COVID-19. A nomogram based on the three variables was built for clinical use. Areas under the ROC curves (AUC), concordance index (C-index) and calibration curve were used to evaluate the efficiency of the nomogram in both the training and validation cohorts. Results: Hypertension, higher neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and increased NT-proBNP value were found to be significantly associated with poorer prognosis in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. The three predictors were further used to build a prediction nomogram. The C-index of the nomogram in the training and validation cohorts was 0.901 and 0.892, respectively. The AUC in the training cohort was 0.922 for 14- day and 0.919 for 21-day probability of in-hospital survival, while in the validation cohort was 0.922 and 0.881, respectively. Moreover, the calibration curve for 14- day and 21-day survival also showed high coherence between the predicted and actual probability of survival. Conclusion: We managed to build a predictive model and constructed a nomogram for predicting in-hospital survival of patients with COVID-19. This model represents good performance and might be utilized clinically in the management of COVID-19. Keywords: Coronavirus; COVID-19; nomogram; prediction; surviva

Berberine, a popular dietary supplement for human and animal health: Quantitative research literature analysis a review

Berberine is an alkaloid with a wide range of reported beneficial health effects. The current work provides an extensive literature analysis on berberine. Bibliometric data were identified by means of the search string TOPIC=(berberin* OR umbellatine*), which yielded 5,547 publications indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection electronic database. The VOSviewer software generated bubble maps to visualize semantic terms with citation results. The ratio of original articles to reviews was 13.6:1. The literature has been growing more quickly since the 2010s. Major contributing countries were China, the United States, India, Japan, and South Korea. Most of the publications appeared in journals specialized in pharmacology pharmacy, biochemistry molecular biology, chemistry, and plant science. Some of the frequently mentioned chemicals/chemical classes were alkaloid, palmatine, jatrorrhizine, coptisine, isoquinoline, and sanguinarine. The prevalent medical conditions under investigation included Alzheimers disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity.Acknowledge the support by the Polish KNOW (LeadingNational Research Centre) Scientific Consortium “Healthy Animal-Safe Food,” decision of Ministry of Science and Higher Education No. 05-1/KNOW2/2015 and the European Union under the European Regional Development Fund (Homing/2017-4/41). Antoni Sureda has been supported by the Institute of Health Carlos III (Project CIBEROBN CB12/03/30038). Joanna Feder-Kubis was financed by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education for the Faculty of Chemistry of Wrocław University of Science and Technology.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The effects of baicalein and baicalin on mitochondrial function and dynamics: A review

Mitochondria play an essential role in cell survival by providing energy, calcium buffering, and regulating apoptosis. A growing body of evidence shows that mitochondrial dysfunction and its consequences, including impairment of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, excessive generation of reactive oxygen species, and excitotoxicity, play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of different diseases such as neurodegenerative diseases, neuropsychiatric disorders, and cancer. The therapeutical role of flavonoids on these diseases is gaining increasing acceptance. Numerous studies on experimental models have revealed the favorable role of flavonoids on mitochondrial function and structure. This review highlights the promising role of baicalin and its aglycone form, baicalein, on mitochondrial function and structure with a focus on its therapeutic effects. We also discuss their chemistry, sources and bioavailability