Effect of Adhatoda vasica (Acanthaceae) on Antioxidant and Immunological Profile in Sheep

Background: A study was conducted to evaluate the antioxidant and immunological profile of methanolic extract of Adhatoda vasica leaves (AVE) in naturally infected sheep with gastrointestinal nematodes and compared with commonly used anthelmintic albendazole in sheep. Methods: Fifty four sheep found positive for gastrointestinal nematodes were divided into 3 equal groups, GI (infected-untreated: control), GII (infected- AVE treated) and GIII (infected- albendazole treated). Blood samples were drawn on 5th and 14th day after treatment for analysis of oxidative stress markers such as TBARS, TAC, SOD and catalase and immunological parameters such as total immunoglobulin, IgG and IL-10. Result: Helminthiasis in sheep cause a considerable oxidative stress. The anthelmintic activity of Adhatoda vasica surpassed the conventional synthetic drug albendazole in sheep in terms of oxidative and immunological changes in blood.

Inhibition of the α-glucosidase enzyme from Pelawan stem extract (Tristaniopsis merguensis Griff)

Diabetes mellitus continues to increase along with the increasing pattern of consuming ready-to-eat foods. The consequences of this habit will have a negative impact on the health of the body so that it can cause death. Treatment of diabetes mellitus is carried out in various ways, including administration of insulin and synthetic drug therapy. However, this medication has dangerous side effects. Therefore, research was carried out on Pelawan stems (Tristaniopsis merguensis Griff) which have the potential to be associated with secondary metabolites and bioactivity as antidiabetic so that they can be considered as raw material for herbal medicines in the future. total phenolic content of the methanol fraction of T. merguensis stems is 176.37 mg GAE/g DW. The total flavonoid content of the methanol fraction of T. merguensis stems is 9.85 mg QE/g DW. The results of the antidiabetic test for the methanol fraction of T. merguensis stems obtained an IC50 of 5.31 μg/mL. When viewed from the qualitative results of phenolics and flavonoids that have been carried out, it is likely that the activity of the α-glucosidase enzyme in this study is more influenced by polyphenolic compounds.

Recent Analytical Method for Detection of Chemical Adulterants in Herbal Medicine

Herbal medicine has become popular in recent years as an alternative medicine. The problem arises when herbal medicines contain an undeclared synthetic drug that is illegally added, since it is a natural product that does not contain any chemical drugs due to the potential cause of harmful effects. Supervision of herbal medicines is important to ensure that these herbal medicines are still safe to use. Thus, developing a reliable analytical technique for the determination of adulterated drugs in herbal medicine is gaining interest. This review aims to provide a recent analytical method that has been used within the past 5 years (2016–2021) for the determination of chemical adulterants in herbal medicine.

Development and Psychometric Properties of the Synthetic Drug Dependence Scale in a Chinese Sample

Objective: In contrast to the drug situation in the rest of the world, synthetic drugs, rather than traditional drugs, have been the dominant abused drugs in China since 2019. However, the public misconception that synthetic drugs are not as addictive as traditional drugs, such as opioids and the scarcity of specific measurement instruments, have hindered the clinical diagnosis and treatment of synthetic drug abusers, thus the development of a localized instrument to evaluate dependence on synthetic drugs is in urgently needed.Method: Using a sample of 618 Chinese synthetic drug abusers (Mean age = 34.69 years; 44.17% female), the present study developed and examined the psychometric properties of a self-reporting instrument, the Synthetic Drug Dependence Scale (SDDS), which consists of four subscales: physical dependence, psychological dependence, health injury, and social function injury.Results: The SDDS revealed a three-factor model structure (weighted root mean square residual (WRMR) = 0.876, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.965, Tucker–Lewis index (TLI) = 0.953, and Root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.070), with good internal consistency (composite reliability = 0.912, alfa = 0.801) and convergent validity. Elevated scores on the SDDS were associated with a higher level of reward sensitivity, punishment sensitivity, and stronger impulsivity. Interestingly, psychological dependence was the only significant predictor (p < 0.05) of criterion variables compared with the other three subscales, implying the important role of psychological factors in synthetic drugs dependence. Adequate measurement equivalence across sex, age (18–30 and 31–57 years old), and employment group (employed and unemployed) was also established.Conclusion: The SDDS appears to be an effective and reliable instrument that could be used to further investigate the characteristics of synthetic and traditional drug dependence, promoting a deeper understanding of the physical and psychological roles in drug dependence.

GC–MS Analysis, Molecular Docking and Pharmacokinetic Properties of Phytocompounds from Solanum torvum Unripe Fruits and Its Effect on Breast Cancer Target Protein

This study was designed to identify phytocompounds from the aqueous extract of Solanum torvum unripe fruits using GC–MS analysis against breast cancer. For this, the identified phytocompounds were subjected to perform molecular docking studies to find the effects on breast cancer target protein. Pharmacokinetic properties were also tested for the identified phytocompounds to evaluate the ADMET properties. Molecular docking studies were done using docking software PyRx, and pharmacokinetic properties of phytocompounds were evaluated using SwissADME. From the results, ten best compounds were identified from GC–MS analysis against breast cancer target protein. Of which, three compounds showed very good binding affinity with breast cancer target protein. They are ergost-25-ene-3,6-dione,5,12-dihydroxy-,(5.alpha.,12.beta.) (− 7.3 kcal/mol), aspidospermidin-17-ol,1-acetyl-16-methoxy (− 6.7 kcal/mol) and 2-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-4-[[2-[1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinyl]ethyl amino]-6-[trichloromethyl]-s-triazine (− 6.7 kcal/mol). Further, docking study was performed for the synthetic drug doxorubicin to compare the efficiency of phytocompounds. The binding affinity of ergost-25-ene-3,6-dione,5,12-dihydroxy-,(5.alpha.,12.beta.) is higher than the synthetic drug doxorubicin (− 7.2 kcal/mol), and the binding affinity of other compounds is also very near to the drug. Hence, the present study concludes that the phytocompounds from the aqueous extract of Solanum torvum unripe fruits have the potential ability to treat breast cancer.

THE PROBLEM OF SYNTHETIC DRUG DEPENDENCE AND CURRENT APPROACHES TO PSYCHOPHARMACOTHERAPY

В работе представлен анализ современных литературных данных и данных клинической практики по применению атипичных нейролептиков в терапии психических и поведенческих расстройств. Показана эффективность применения нейролептика Оланзапин (Ферзапин) в лечении психических и поведенческих расстройств. The paper presents an analysis of contemporary literature and clinical practice data on the use of atypical neuroleptics in the treatment of psychiatric and behavioral disorders. The effectiveness of using the neuroleptic Olanzapine (Ferzapine) in the treatment of psychiatric and behavioral disorders is shown

Structure-based Assessment of Homologous Analogues of NAtural products -SAHANA: A novel approach to screen bioactive compounds in comparison with their synthetic drug counterparts

Background The present study describes a novel strategy to screen natural products (NPs) for their therapeutic effects with predicted most-probable mode of action. The method entitled ‘Structure-based Assessment of Homologous Analogues of NAtural products-SAHANA’ follows a strategy to compare natural products against synthetic drugs based on their molecular properties and 2-dimensional structural similarities. The method is based on a well-established hypothesis that, the molecules with similar structural properties will have similar functions.Methods The method was validated by implementing it for the screening of NPs against different disease conditions. The biological effect of the identified NPs were evaluated based on their binding affinity with the target of their synthetic drug counterpart, prior to which, their in-silico pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics properties were assessed. The stability of binding was validated using molecular dynamics simulation studies.Results The study yielded NPs with significant structural similarities to synthetic drugs and binding interactions stabilizing the macromolecular structures.Conclusions The results envisage a strong indication that the natural product drugs can work in a manner similar to that of synthetic drugs if administered individually. Further, the results encourage the application of the current strategy to screen competent drugs against any disease condition ad libitum.