scholarly journals Microbial Quality Assurance of Dried Roots of Chlorophytum borivilianum Sant F (Safed Musli)

Author(s):  
Mansi Shrivastava ◽  
Poonam Sharma ◽  
Rambir Singh

Aim: To assess total bacterial load and detect E. coli and Salmonella in Chlorophytum borivilianum (Safed Musli), cultivated and processed in the Bundelkhand region. Study Design: Quality assurance of medicinal plant raw material is essential for the preparation of good quality herbal medicines. The dried roots of Safed Musli were collected from different regions of the Bundelkhand and total aerobic microbial count was measured. Methodology: We collected 10 samples of Safed Musli dried roots from different regions of Bundelkhand. A stock suspension was prepared using sterile peptone water and plated on a nutrient agar medium which was used to calculate total aerobic bacterial load as colony-forming units per gram (CFU/g). Further, biochemical tests were performed to confirm the identification of E. coli and Salmonella. Results: The total aerobic bacteria count in dried roots of Safed Musli was within the permissible limit (105-107CFU/g of dried raw material) as per globally recognized pharmacopoeia and other regulatory agencies such as the Central Council of Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), Ministry of AYUSH, Govt. of India, United States Pharmacopoeia (USP), Brazilian Pharmacopoeia (BP), European Pharmacopoeia (EP), World Health Organization (WHO), American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) and National Science Foundation/American National Standards Institute (NSF/ANSI). Although 2 out of 10 samples were found to have contamination of E. coli and Salmonella within the permissible limit of WHO, EP and NSF/ANSI. Conclusion: The results indicated that the Safed Musli cultivated and processed in the Bundelkhand region is suitable for the preparation of herbal medicines and food supplements.

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 691-698
Author(s):  
Vandana ◽  
Rajesh Lather ◽  
Sridevi Tallapragada ◽  
Gurnam Singh

Since thousands years back approximately around 900 BC, medicinal plants are considered as a source of many biomolecules with therapeutic potential. Herbal medicines are considered as safer, better, physiologically compatible and costeffective. The oldest evidence of medicinal and aromatic plants depicts that with the emergence of human civilization, plants have been considered as the main source to heal and cure various serious ailments. It has been proven that the secondary metabolites e.g. alkaloid, glycosides, flavonoides, steroids etc present in the medicinal plants possesses ability to prevent occurrence of some of the diseases, means medicinal plants acts as a “preventive medicine”. Medicinal plants have a paramount importance and a great interest due to its pharmaceutical, cosmetic and nutritional values. Some plants are also considered as an important source of nutrition and are known to have a variety of compounds with potential therapeutic properties. India is the principal repository of large number of medicinal and aromatic plants or we can say India is one of the rich mega-biodiversity countries of the world. Medicinal plants are “backbone” of traditional medicinal system (TMS). Crude drugs are usually dried parts of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) such as roots, stems, wood, bark, seeds, fruits, flowers, leaves, rhizomes, whole plant etc. that form the essential raw material for the production of medicines in various systems of Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, Tibatian, Tribal and Homeopathy. According to the survey of the World Health Organization (WHO), about 80% of the world population are using herbs and other traditional medicines for their primary healthcare and have established three kinds of herbal medicines: raw plant material, processed plant material, and herbal products. Now days, variety of available herbs are used throughout the world and they continue to promote good health. As the benefits from medicinal and aromatic plants are recognized, these plants will have a special role for humans in the future. The present review on medicinal and aromatic plants revealed similar combination of studies.


Author(s):  
Dr Rahul Kumar Gupta ◽  
◽  
Dr Renu Bharat Rathi ◽  

Background : for acceptance of Ayurveda at global level there is needed to standardize herbal drugs according to modern techniques. For the standardization of herbal medicines it is essential to establish its identify, purity, quality, safety, and efficacy. This study reports on standardization of Martina annua linn root. In tribal pockets of satpura plateau in Madhya Pradesh. Root paste of Martina annua is used in folk medicine to treat cancer and rheumatism. Objective: This study aimed to indentify anthers herb and establishing pharmacognostical, Physiochemical and phytochemical standard for the Martina annua linn. Root. Material and Methods: Plant roots was collected from Govt. Ayurved college campus, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh and evaluated for pharmacognostical, Physiochemical and phytochemical parameter using guidelines of the world health organization and pharmacopoeial laboratory for Indian medicine for quality control of herbal drugs. Results: Chemical evaluation shown presence of alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids, steroids and tannins. The microscopic characters have shown presence of Epiblema, Periderm, Cortex, Phloem and Madullary Rays, and Xylem vessels. Microscopy analysis of the powder included the parenchyma cells, fibers and vessel. In results, it was found that the root containing various phytochemicals were present in its Aqueous extract, Hydroalcoholic extract and Alcoholic extract. Hydroalcoholic extract of Martynia annua root had the highest of total phenolic content (364.15 mg GAE /100gm) and highest total flavonoid content (139.84 mg QE /100gm). Conclusions: Pharmacognostical and preliminary phytochemical screening of Martynia annua roots will be useful in order to authenticate, standardize and avoid any adulteration in the raw material and will be helpful in the development of a monograph.


Author(s):  
Cam Le ◽  
Erik Lehman ◽  
Thanh Nguyen ◽  
Timothy Craig

Lack of proper hand hygiene among healthcare workers has been identified as a core facilitator of hospital-acquired infections. Although the concept of hand hygiene quality assurance was introduced to Vietnam relatively recently, it has now become a national focus in an effort to improve the quality of care. Nonetheless, barriers such as resources, lack of education, and cultural norms may be limiting factors for this concept to be properly practiced. Our study aimed to assess the knowledge and attitude of healthcare workers toward hand hygiene and to identify barriers to compliance, as per the World Health Organization’s guidelines, through surveys at a large medical center in Vietnam. In addition, we aimed to evaluate the compliance rate across different hospital departments and the roles of healthcare workers through direct observation. Results showed that, in general, healthcare workers had good knowledge of hand hygiene guidelines, but not all believed in receiving reminders from patients. The barriers to compliance were identified as: limited resources, patient overcrowding, shortage of staff, allergic reactions to hand sanitizers, and lack of awareness. The overall compliance was 31%; physicians had the lowest rate of compliance at 15%, while nurses had the highest rate at 39%; internal medicine had the lowest rate at 16%, while the intensive care unit had the highest rate at 40%. In summary, it appears that addressing cultural attitudes in addition to enforcing repetitive quality assurance and assessment programs are needed to ensure adherence to safe hand washing.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Molla Rahman Shaibur ◽  
Mohammed Sadid Hossain ◽  
Shirina Khatun ◽  
F. K. Sayema Tanzia

AbstractThis study aimed to determine the quality of drinking water supplied in different types of food stalls in Jashore Municipality, Bangladesh. A total of 35 water samples were collected from different tea stalls, street side fast food stalls, normal restaurants and well-furnished restaurants. The water quality was evaluated by determining the distinct physical, chemical and biological parameters. The results revealed that the water used in the food stalls and restaurants for drinking purpose was in desired quality in terms of turbidity, electrical conductivity, pH, total dissolved solids, nitrate (NO3−), sulfate (SO42−), phosphate (PO43−), chloride (Cl−), sodium (Na) and potassium (K) concentrations. The values were within the permissible limit proposed by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and the World Health Organization. Concentrations of calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) found in several samples were higher than the World Health Organization standard. Iron (Fe) concentrations were higher than the permissible limit of the World Health Organization. Only 46% exceeded the permissible limit of Bangladesh Bureau Statistics. The threatening result was that the samples were contaminated by fecal coliform, indicating that the people of Jashore Municipality may have a greater chance of being affected by pathogenic bacteria. The drinking water provided in the street side fast food stalls was biologically contaminated. The findings demonstrate that the drinking water used in food stalls and restaurants of Jashore Municipality did not meet up the potable drinking water quality standards and therefore was detrimental to public health.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 1804
Author(s):  
Cassi J. Gibson ◽  
Abraham K. Maritim ◽  
Jason W. Marion

Quantitatively assessing fecal indicator bacteria in drinking water from limited resource settings (e.g., disasters, remote areas) can inform public health strategies for reducing waterborne illnesses. This study aimed to compare two common approaches for quantifying Escherichia coli (E. coli) density in natural water versus the ColiPlate™ kit approach. For comparing methods, 41 field samples from natural water sources in Kentucky (USA) were collected. E. coli densities were then determined by (1) membrane filtration in conjunction with modified membrane-thermotolerant E. coli (mTEC) agar, (2) Idexx Quanti-Tray® 2000 with the Colilert® substrate, and (3) the Bluewater Biosciences ColiPlate kit. Significant correlations were observed between E. coli density data for all three methods (p < 0.001). Paired t-test results showed no difference in E. coli densities determined by all the methods (p > 0.05). Upon assigning modified mTEC as the reference method for determining the World Health Organization-assigned “very high-risk” levels of fecal contamination (> 100 E. coli CFU/100 mL), both ColiPlate and Colilert exhibited excellent discrimination for screening very high-risk levels according to the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (~89%). These data suggest ColiPlate continues to be an effective monitoring tool for quantifying E. coli density and characterizing fecal contamination risks from water.


Antibiotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 336
Author(s):  
Andrea Miró-Canturri ◽  
Rafael Ayerbe-Algaba ◽  
Andrea Vila-Domínguez ◽  
Manuel E. Jiménez-Mejías ◽  
Jerónimo Pachón ◽  
...  

The development of new strategic antimicrobial therapeutic approaches, such as drug repurposing, has become an urgent need. Previously, we reported that tamoxifen presents therapeutic efficacy against multidrug-resistant (MDR) Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli in experimental infection models by modulating innate immune system cell traffic. The main objective of this study was to analyze the activity of N-desmethyltamoxifen, 4-hydroxytamoxifen, and endoxifen, three major metabolites of tamoxifen, against these pathogens. We showed that immunosuppressed mice infected with A. baumannii, P. aeruginosa, or E. coli in peritoneal sepsis models and treated with tamoxifen at 80 mg/kg/d for three days still reduced the bacterial load in tissues and blood. Moreover, it increased mice survival to 66.7% (for A. baumannii and E. coli) and 16.7% (for P. aeruginosa) when compared with immunocompetent mice. Further, susceptibility and time-kill assays showed that N-desmethyltamoxifen, 4-hydroxytamoxifen, and endoxifen exhibited minimum inhibitory concentration of the 90% of the isolates (MIC90) values of 16 mg/L, and were bactericidal against clinical isolates of A. baumannii and E. coli. This antimicrobial activity of tamoxifen metabolites paralleled an increased membrane permeability of A. baumannii and E. coli without affecting their outer membrane proteins profiles. Together, these data showed that tamoxifen metabolites presented antibacterial activity against MDR A. baumannii and E. coli, and may be a potential alternative for the treatment of infections caused by these two pathogens.


2011 ◽  
Vol 77 (13) ◽  
pp. 4669-4675 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dawn C. Bisi ◽  
David J. Lampe

ABSTRACTThe insect-vectored disease malaria is a major world health problem. New control strategies are needed to supplement the current use of insecticides and medications. A genetic approach can be used to inhibit development of malaria parasites (Plasmodiumspp.) in the mosquito host. We hypothesized thatPantoea agglomerans, a bacterial symbiont ofAnophelesmosquitoes, could be engineered to express and secrete anti-Plasmodiumeffector proteins, a strategy termed paratransgenesis. To this end, plasmids that include thepelBorhlyAsecretion signals from the genes of related species (pectate lyase fromErwinia carotovoraand hemolysin A fromEscherichia coli, respectively) were created and tested for their efficacy in secreting known anti-Plasmodiumeffector proteins (SM1, anti-Pbs21, and PLA2) inP. agglomeransandE. coli.P. agglomeranssuccessfully secreted HlyA fusions of anti-Pbs21 and PLA2, and these strains are under evaluation for anti-Plasmodiumactivity in infected mosquitoes. Varied expression and/or secretion of the effector proteins was observed, suggesting that the individual characteristics of a particular effector may require empirical testing of several secretion signals. Importantly, those strains that secreted efficiently grew as well as wild-type strains under laboratory conditions and, thus, may be expected to be competitive with the native microbiota in the environment of the mosquito midgut.


2013 ◽  
Vol 829 ◽  
pp. 294-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehrdad Rashidzadeh

High purity Cadmium (Cd) metal was used as raw material and placed in a microwave susceptor. an evaporation/oxidation process occurs under exposure to microwave in less than 2 minutes. Then, Evaporated cadmium reacted with oxygen and cadmium oxide was collected on the inner surface of a glassy container that was placed a few centimeters above the susceptor. Morphological and structural information of As-synthesized CdO nanopowder, were investigated via SEM and X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy. The antibacterial activities of different concentration of the CdO nanoparticles were tested by treating Escherichia coli (Gram negative) cultures with CdO nanoparticles. The Study indicates that cadmium oxide nanoparticles show effective antibacterial activity toward the gram-negative bacterium E. coli. Electrochemical properties of as-synthesized powder were investigated via linear and two vertex cyclic voltammetery in the presence of ethanol, a pair of Oxidation/reduction peaks were achieved.


Foods ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliane Dao ◽  
Kathrin Stenchly ◽  
Oumar Traoré ◽  
Philip Amoah ◽  
Andreas Buerkert

Vegetable production in urban gardens of Ouagadougou contributes to food security, but water for irrigation is often of low quality. This is particularly acute if irrigation water is taken from wastewater polluted channels. This study aimed at (i) verifying to what degree irrigation water quality is correlated with contamination of lettuce with Escherichia coli, total coliforms, and Salmonella spp., and (ii) assessing effects of post-harvest handling on pathogen development during the trade chain. We tested pathogen removal efficiency on lettuce by applying post-harvest washing. Irrigation water of production areas in Ouagadougou (n = 10) showed a mean E. coli load of 2.1 × 105 CFU 100 mL−1. In 60% of the cases, irrigation water did not meet the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO) for safe irrigation water, and in 30% of the cases, irrigation water was contaminated with Salmonella spp. Loads of total coliforms on lettuce leaves ranged from 2.9 × 103 CFU g−1 to 1.3 × 106 CFU g−1, while E. coli averaged 1.1 × 102 CFU g−1. Results on post-harvest handling revealed that microbial loads increased along the trade chain. Overall, half of all lettuce samples (n = 60) were tested positively for Salmonella spp. The experiment showed that appropriate post-harvest handling could prevent the increase of total coliforms.


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