METHODS: The free radical scavenging activity of the L. siceraria (Molina) fruit extract was assayed by using α,α-diphenyl-β-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,20-azinobis 3-ethyl benzothiazoline-6-sulfonate (ABTS), FRAP, reducing power, chelating ability and β-carotene bleaching assay.
RESULTS: The IC(50) values of DPPH and ABTS radical-scavenging activity was found to be 1.95 mg/mL and 19 mg/mL, respectively. In ferrous chelation assay, the percentage of inhibition was found to be 89.21%. The reducing power of ethanolic extract of L. siceraria (Molina) fruit was 0.068 at 1 mg/mL and increased to 0.192 at 5 mg/mL. The β-carotene linoleate bleaching assay was 46.7% at 5 mg/mL and antioxidant activity using FRAP at 0.305 for 1 mg/mL to 0.969 for 5 mg/mL.
CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that L. siceraria (Molina) fruit could be an important sources of natural radical scavengers.
METHODS: Galactagogue activity was evaluated in terms of quantity of milk produced from the rats treated with petroleum ether, ethanol or water extracts of the flower. Lactating rats (n = 5) of Spraque Dawley with six pups each were administered with the extracts in the amount of 500 mg/kg body weight, while the control rats were given an equivalent amount of distilled water. The rats were daily administered via oral feeding starting from Day 5 until Day 14 and the performance of milk production was measured along the experimental period by weight-suckle-weight method. Results were statistically analyzed using SPSS by means of ANOVA at 0.05 and was expressed as their mean?standard deviation. The rates of pups' growth were measured as the weight gain along the experimental period.
RESULTS: The rats treated with aqueous extract produced higher milk than control and ethanol groups. Aqueous extract was identified to increase milk production by 25%, while petroleum ether extract by 18%. The mean of yields produced by the rats during suckling period for aqueous, petroleum ether, ethanol and control were 4.62±2.45, 4.37±1.93, 3.65±1.89 and 3.69±1.79, respectively. Growth rates of pups for the rats treated with control, aqueous, ethanol extract and petroleum ether were (1.85±0.49), (1.78±0.56), (1.65±0.46) and (1.56±0.42) g/pup, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: The present study reveals the potential of M. x paradisiaca flower to enhance milk production of nursing mothers which could be exploited for commercialization of the isolated extract.
METHODS: The dried leaves powder was extracted with methanol at room temperature by using Soxhlet extractor. Methanol crude extracts of M. borneensis were extrastel with hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and butanol.
RESULTS: Qualitative analyses of various organic crude extracts showed that majority of these are flavonoids, terpeniods, alkaloids and glycosides. Most of the identified compounds by GC-MS are biologically important. Further the M. borneensis leaf possesses certain characteristics that can be ascribed to cultivation on a domestic plantation.
CONCLUSIONS: The suitable extracts for respective compounds can be chosen on the basis of above GC-MS analysis. All the major compounds from different extracts are biologically active molecules. Thus the identification of a good number of compounds from various extracts M. borneensis might have some ecological significance.
METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 605 stool samples were collected and screened for the presence of Giardia duodenalis (G. duodenalis) cysts and/or trophozoites by using three different diagnostic methods: direct smear, formalin-ether sedimentation, and trichrome staining. A pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect information on the demographic, socioeconomic, behavioural and environmental characteristics of the participants.
RESULTS: Overall, 28.1% (170/605) of the participants were infected by G. duodenalis. The prevalence was significantly higher among male participants compared to female (P = 0.034); however, it was not significant among different age groups (P > 0.05). Univariate and multivariate analyses identified four variables as the significant key risk factors of Giardia infection among the sampled communities. These are, in addition to being of the male gender, using unsafe water sources for drinking water, not washing hands after defecation, presence of other family members infected with Giardia, and close contact with domestic animals.
CONCLUSIONS: The study reveals that Giardia infection is still prevalent among rural communities in Yemen. The provision of clean and safe drinking water, proper sanitation, and health education regarding personal hygiene practices, particularly handwashing, as well as identifying and treating infected family members is imperative and these interventions should be considered in a strategy to control intestinal parasites among these communities in order to curtail the transmission and morbidity caused by G. duodenalis.
METHODS: Diabetes was induced by intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of streptozotocin (55 mg/kg) in to male Sprague-Dawley rats. Rats were divided into six different groups; normal control rats were not induced with STZ and served as reference, STZ diabetic control rats were given normal saline. Three groups were treated with OS aqueous extract at 0.2, 0.3 and 0.5 g/kg, orally twice daily continuously for 21 d. The fifth group was treated with glibenclamide (6 mg/kg) in aqueous solution orally continuously for 21 d. After completion of the treatment period, biochemical parameters and expression levels of glucose transporter 2 (Slc2a2), glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase) and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PCK1) were determined in liver by quantitative real time PCR.
RESULTS: Administration of OS at different doses to STZ induced diabetic rats, resulted in significant decrease (P<0.05) in blood glucose level in a dose dependent manner by 36%, 48%, and 64% at doses of 0.2, 0.3 and 0.5 g/kg, respectively, in comparison to the STZ control values. Treatment with OS elicited an increase in the expression level of Slc2a2 gene but reduced the expression of G6Pase and PCK1 genes. Morefore, OS treated rats, showed significantly lower levels of serum alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and urea levels compared to STZ untreated rats. The extract at different doses elicited signs of recovery in body weight gain when compared to STZ diabetic controls although food and water consumption were significantly lower in treated groups compared to STZ diabetic control group.
CONCLUSIONS: O. sumatrana aqueous extract is beneficial for improvement of hyperglycemia by increasing gene expression of liver Slc2a2 and reducing expression of G6Pase and PCK1 genes in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.
METHODS: Cytochrome P450 of Ae. aegypti was amplified using polymerase chain reaction, cloned and sequenced. Evolutionary relationship of the sequence was inferred and bioinformatics tools were used to predict subcellular localisation, signal peptide, transmembrane helix, phosphorylation, O-glycosylation, secondary and tertiary structures of the deduced protein.
RESULTS: Polymerase chain reaction rather amplified a cytochrome P450 pseudogene which was named CYP4H44P (GenBank accession number KF779932). The pseudogene has 1537 nucleotides and an open reading frame of 335 amino acids containing cytochrome P450 motifs except the WxxxR motif. It is highly homologous to CYP4H28 and CYP4H28v2. Phylogenetic analysis and evolutionary divergence showed strong clustering with CYP4H28 alleles and least divergence from the alleles respectively. The deduced protein was predicted to be found in the cytoplasm and likely to be phosphorylated but devoid of signal peptide, transmembrane helix and O-glycosylated sites. The secondary and tertiary structures were also generated.
CONCLUSIONS: A cytochrome P450 pseudogene, CYP4H44P was cloned from Ae. aegypti. The pseudogene is homologous with CYP4H28 alleles and seems to have recently diverged from this group. Isolating this pseudogene is an important step for evaluating its biological role in the mosquito and for the evolutionary analysis of Ae. aegypti CYPs.
METHODS: A total of 45 samples from four hospitals that provide HIV viral load services were subjected to the amplification of the protease and two third of reverse transcriptase regions of the pol gene by RT-PCR and Sanger sequencing. Drug resistance mutation (DRM) interpretation reports the presence of mutations related to protease inhibitors (PIs), Nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitors (NRTI) and Non-nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTI) based on analysis using Stanford HIV database program.
RESULTS: DRMs were identified in 35% of patients, among which 46.7% of them showed minor resistance to protease inhibitor with A71V and L10l were the commonest DRMs detected. About 21.4% and 50.0% of patients had mutations to NRTIs and NNRTIs, respectively. CRF01_AE was found to be the predominant HIV-1 subtype.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings have served as an initial crucial data in determining the prevalence of transmitted HIV-1 drug resistance for the country. However, more samples from various parts of the country need to be accumulated and analyzed to provide overall HIV-1 drug resistance in the country.
METHODS: The dry powder leaves of Tetrastigma were extracted with different organic solvent such as hexane, ethyl acetate, chloroform, butanol and aqueous methanol. The total phenolic and total flavonoids contents of the essential oil and various organic extracts such as hexane, ethyl acetate, chloroform, butanol and aqueous ethanol were determined by Folin - Ciocalteu method and the assayed antioxidant activity was determined in vitro models such as antioxidant capacity by radical scavenging activity using α, α-diphenyl- β-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method.
RESULTS: The total phenolic contents of the essential oil and different extracts as gallic acid equivalents were found to be highest in methanol extract (386.22 mg/g) followed by ethyl acetate (190.89 mg/g), chloroform (175.89 mg/g), hexane (173.44 mg/g), and butanol extract (131.72 mg/g) and the phenolic contents not detected in essential oil. The antioxidant capacity of the essential oil and different extracts as ascorbic acid standard was in the order of methanol extract > ethyl acetate extract >chloroform> butanol > hexane extract also the antioxidant activity was not detected in essential oil.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings show that the extent of antioxidant activity of the essential oil and all extracts are in accordance with the amount of phenolics present in that extract. Leaves of Tetrastigma being rich in phenolics may provide a good source of antioxidant.
METHODS: Phytochemical studies of the crude extract led to the isolation of six alkaloids using recycle high performance liquid chromatography and preparative thin layer chromatography. The antiplasmodial activity of the isolated compounds was evaluated using the histidine-rich protein II assay. The isolated alkaloids were also tested for their antioxidant activity using three different assays; DPPH, ferric reducing ability of plasma and metal chelating assays.
RESULTS: Malaria infection caused the formation of free radicals which subsequently led to oxidative stress and apoptosis. The antioxidant properties of the alkaloids under investigation revealed that in addition to the antiplasmodial activity, the alkaloids could also prevent oxidative stress. (+)-laurotetanine and (+)-norstephasubine exhibited strong antiplasmodial activities with IC50 values of 0.189 and 0.116 μM, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: Interestingly, the two most potent compounds that exhibit antiplasmodial activity also exhibit good antioxidant activities. The crude dichloromethane extract and the isolated compounds exert substantial antiplasmodial and antioxidative activities which in turn suppress oxidative stress and cause less damage to the host.
METHODS: Larvicidal activity of the seaweeds towards the larvae of Ae. aegypti was determined according to WHO. The inhibition effect of seaweeds was assessed by determining the mortality, adult emergence rate, larval and pupa duration of the treated larvae. Histopathological effect on midgut epithelium of larvae and morphological aberration induced by the methanol extracts were examined. Phytochemical analysis was done to determine the presence of alkaloids, saponins, steroids and terpenoids in the seaweeds.
RESULTS: Chloroform partition of B. pennata extract exhibited the strongest larvicidal activity (LC50 = 82.55 μg/mL), followed by methanol extract of B. pennata (LC50 = 160.07 μg/mL) and chloroform partition of S. binderi extract (LC50 = 192.43 μg/mL). The methanol extract of S. binderi exhibited the strongest effect on prolongation of larval period (1.5-fold longer as compared to control) and resulted in strongest inhibition effect in adult emergence (98.67%). The histopathological study showed that larvae treated with seaweed extracts had cytopathological alteration of the midgut epithelium. The morphological observation revealed that the anal papillae and terminal spiracles of larvae were the common sites of aberrations.
CONCLUSIONS: The study provided information on various effects of seaweed extracts on Ae. aegypti. Further investigation on identifying the active compounds and their mechanisms of action is recommended.
METHODS: Antioxidative property of methanolic leaves extract of A. paniculata (0.06 mg/mL). Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined by its ability to reduce hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) toxicity against S. aureus ATCC 25923 [(3.8 × 108) cfu/mL]. Effects of the extract on expressions of katA (encoding catalase), sodA and sodM [encoding superoxide dismutases (SODs)], and ahpC [encoding alkylhydroperoxide reductase C (AhpC)] in S. aureus were determined by RT-qPCR and corresponding enzyme activity assays were performed. Nitroblue tetrazolium reduction (NBT) assay was performed to determine effects of the extract on intracellular and extracellular levels of O2- in S. aureus.
RESULTS: Cells challenged with 7.5 mmol/L H2O2 showed 0% survival in 30 min whereas 25% survived after treatment with the extract and H2O2. Cells that were treated with the extract alone had 43% survival in the same exposure period. Expressions of sodA and sodM genes in extract-treated cells were lowered 0.8-fold and 0.7-fold, respectively with decrease in total SOD activity of 26.8 U compared to untreated cells, 32.4 U (P
METHODS: The mid-stream urine collected from both male and female patients diagnosed with dengue fever at Penang General Hospital and fourty-three healthy individuals were analyzed with (1)H NMR spectroscopy, followed by chemometric multivariate analysis. NMR signals which highlighted in the OPLS-DA S-plot were further selected and identified using Human Metabolome Database, Chenomx Profiler.
RESULTS: The results pointed out that NMR urine profiling was able to capture human gender metabolic differences that are important for the distinction of classes of individuals of similar physiological conditions; infected with dengue. Distinct differences between dengue infected patients versus healthy individuals and subtle differences in male versus female infected with dengue were found to be related to the metabolism of amino acid and tricarboxylic acid intermediates cycle.
CONCLUSIONS: The (1)H NMR metabolomic investigation combined with appropriate algorithms and pattern recognition procedures, gave an evidence for the existence of distinct metabolic differentiation of individuals, according to their gender, modulates with the infection risk.
METHODS: In this study the nested multiplex malaria PCR was redesigned, targeting the 18S rRNA gene, to identify the fifth human Plasmodium species, Plasmodium knowlesi, together with the other human Plasmodium (Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium malariae) by amplified fragment size using only two amplification processes and including an internal reaction control to avoid false negatives.
RESULTS: The technique was validated with 91 clinical samples obtained from patients with malaria compatible symptoms. The technique showed high sensitivity (100%) and specificity (96%) when it was compared to the reference method employed for malaria diagnosis in the Instituto de Salud Carlos Ⅲ and a published real-time PCR malaria assay.
CONCLUSIONS: The technique designed is an economical, sensitive and specific alternative to current diagnosis methods. Furthermore, the method might be tested in knowlesi-malaria endemic areas with a higher number of samples to confirm the quality of the method.
METHODS: The cytotoxic activity of the hexane and ethyl acetate extracts of Curcuma mangga rhizomes against human colorectal adenocarcinoma cell lines (HT29) was determined by using the SRB assay.
RESULTS: The ethyl acetate extract showed a higher cytotoxic effect compared to the hexane extract. Morphological changes of the HT29 cells such as cell shrinkage, membrane blebbling and formation of apoptotic bodies while changes in nuclear morphology like chromatin condensation and nuclear fragmentation were observed. Further evidence of apoptosis in HT29 cells was further supported by the externalization of phosphatidylserine which indicate early sign of apoptosis.
CONCLUSIONS: The early sign of apoptosis is consistent with the cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 checkpoint which suggests that the changes on the cell cycle lead to the induction of apoptosis in HT29.
METHODS: Peripheral blood, bone marrow and spleen aspirate samples were collected from clinically suspected VL patients (n = 26). A new PCR primer pair (MK1F/R) was designed targeting kinetoplast mini circle DNA sequences of Leishmania donovani, and Leishmania infantum, and was used to diagnose VL along with some other established primers for VL in polymerase chain reactions. Test was validated by comparing with several other diagnostic methods.
RESULTS: The designed primer set showed 100% specificity and 98% sensitivity in detecting VL using blood samples, when compared with more invasive samples: bone marrow or spleen aspirates.
CONCLUSIONS: The newly designed primer MK1F/R could be a better alternative for PCR based diagnosis of VL using less invasive sample, peripheral blood instead of bone marrow or spleen aspirates.