Ethnic Use, Phytochemistry, and Pharmacology of Cyperus rotundus

Cyperus rotundus (nut grass in English) is a perennial erect sedge plant and is distributed in over 90 countries of the world, where it has been mostly classified as a highly invasive weed. Despite this classification, the plant has been considered from traditional times to be medicinally important. The traditional uses of the plant in various countries include uses against various gastrointestinal tract disorders, skin diseases, leprosy, fever, and neurological disorders. Evaluation of the plant and especially its rhizomes in a scientific manner has revealed the presence of numerous phytochemicals and wide-ranging pharmacological activities, which include anti-microbial, gastrointestinal, wound healing, anti-diabetic, anti-cancer, anti-malarial, anti-obesity, hepatoprotective, and anti-pyretic activity. The scientific validation of a number of traditional uses strongly indicates that the plant may prove useful in the discovery of a number of lead compounds and novel drugs.

TLC-Based Metabolite Profiling and Bioactivity-Based Scientific Validation for Use of Water Extracts in AYUSH Formulations

We aimed to develop a chromatographic method for scientific validation of water extract of some important Indian traditional plants used in AYUSH-based formulation as immunomodulator and to evaluate their bioactive potential. Fruits of Phyllanthus emblica L. and Piper nigrum L., stem of Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) Miers, rhizome of Curcuma longa L., leaves of Ocimum sanctum L. and Achillea millefolium L., roots of Withania somnifera L., and stem bark of Azadirachta indica A. Juss. were coarsely powdered and extracted in three different solvents (water, ethanol, and hydroethanol). The antioxidant potential was determined through 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl and ferric reducing capacity methods. Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) was carried out for the comparative metabolite profiling of the extracts using toluene, ethyl acetate, and formic acid (5 : 4 : 1, v/v/v) as a solvent system. In vitro immunomodulatory activity of the extracts has been tested on splenocyte proliferation and pinocytic assay. Hydroethanolic extract (HEE) of most of the plant materials has the highest phenolic and flavonoid contents, followed by water extract (WE) and ethanolic extract (EE), whereas the water extracts of most of the plant material showed better antioxidant activity. Almost all extract exhibited splenocyte proliferation and pinocytic activity in a dose-dependent manner. But water extract showed significantly higher splenocyte proliferation and pinocytic activity as compared to the other two extracts. TLC analysis resulted in detection of totally 63 and 56 metabolites at 254 nm and 366 nm, respectively. Through principal component analysis (PCA), it was observed that metabolite pattern of different extracts from same plant materials may be different or similar. This preliminary result can be used for quality evaluation and to develop a synergy-based polyherbal combination of water extracts of selected plant materials.

Scientifically validated applications for monitoring the practice of physical activities and energy expenditure using the smartphone accelerometer: a integrative review

Introduction: Mobile technologies, especially smartphone applications, have contributed a lot in the area of health and physical activity, but there is an increasing concern with the validation criteria of these tools. It is extremely important to know if the physiological parameters used are safe and reliable to promote and monitor the practice of physical activity. With technological innovation, it is possible to process the data of accelerometer to measure energy expenditure. Objective: this study searched for evidence of scientific validation in Apps that uses smartphone’s accelerometer as energy expenditure indicator. Method: The keywords, inclusion and exclusion criteria were defined. The selected articles were categorized using an adapted questionnaire. Result: In a total of 1923 articles, eight articles meted all inclusion criteria that developed and validated apps for physical activity analysis. Conclusion: The results induced the effectiveness of smartphone's accelerometer to recognize physical activity and energy expenditure. It can be used to encourage healthy and safe practices, leading to improvements in quality of life. The limited number of articles with scientifically validated Applications indicates the need for more research.

Salvia Species as Nutraceuticals: Focus on Antioxidant, Antidiabetic and Anti-Obesity Properties

Salvia plants belong to the Lamiaceae family and are recognized as being strongly aromatic, being widely used for different purposes in culinary or traditional medicine. These plants are well recognized as being rich in phenolic acids, flavonoids and terpenic compounds, which exhibit health-beneficial activities, protecting against oxidative and inflammatory-related diseases, such as diabetes and obesity. Because of these properties, phytochemicals from Salvia species have been investigated as health promoting agents, for application in distinct fields. However, the growing demand for natural products with possible uses and applications in industry requires scientific validation studies. This review consists of a compilation of relevant studies with an emphasis on the antioxidant, antidiabetic and anti-obesity properties of phenolic-rich extracts from Salvia plants.

Pharmacologic Activities of Plant-Derived Natural Products on Respiratory Diseases and Inflammations

Respiratory inflammation is caused by an air-mediated disease induced by polluted air, smoke, bacteria, and viruses. The COVID-19 pandemic is also a kind of respiratory disease, induced by a virus causing a serious effect on the lungs, bronchioles, and pharynges that results in oxygen deficiency. Extensive research has been conducted to find out the potent natural products that help to prevent, treat, and manage respiratory diseases. Traditionally, wider floras were reported to be used, such as Morus alba, Artemisia indica, Azadirachta indica, Calotropis gigantea, but only some of the potent compounds from some of the plants have been scientifically validated. Plant-derived natural products such as colchicine, zingerone, forsythiaside A, mangiferin, glycyrrhizin, curcumin, and many other compounds are found to have a promising effect on treating and managing respiratory inflammation. In this review, current clinically approved drugs along with the efficacy and side effects have been studied. The study also focuses on the traditional uses of medicinal plants on reducing respiratory complications and their bioactive phytoconstituents. The pharmacological evidence of lowering respiratory complications by plant-derived natural products has been critically studied with detailed mechanism and action. However, the scientific validation of such compounds requires clinical study and evidence on animal and human models to replace modern commercial medicine.

COVID-19 and Other Prevalent Diseases in Africa: A Pragmatic Approach

The aim of this paper is to propose that the development and legitimization of African knowledge and validation systems on a pragmatic basis, is an efficient and effective means of responding to a myriad of health problems plaguing Africans, particularly the COVID-19 pandemic. Whenever there is a novel disease outbreak, the norm is to wait for the development of scientifically proven vaccines for its treatment. However, the scientific validation of drugs is a rigorous and lengthy process, thereby inappropriate for dealing with health emergencies like the COVID-19 outbreak. The alarming rapidity with which the novel COVID-19 pandemic rages globally and decimates humanity has brought to the fore the need for Africa to look inwards in search of viable and efficient alternative approaches to the pandemic. In this paper, I examine pragmatism as a theoretical framework and relate it to proposed African epistemic and validation frameworks with a particular reference to homegrown orthodox and alternative/complementary medicines. I argue that the validation and approval of any knowledge claim based on pragmatism is a more expeditious mode of attending to COVID-19 and other prevalent diseases in Africa. The application of knowledge that brings practical success in dealing with health challenges in Africa without necessarily following rigid and lengthy scientific validation procedures will go a long way toward improving human conditions and well-being. I conclude that pragmatic considerations should ultimately inform local approval to homegrown African medicines for use in Africa.

Background mechanisms of UHD working

Background In spite of strong opposition from the orthodox scientific circles, the UHD effects are gradually becoming a part of the accepted science, because of the quickly growing corpus of UHD effects evidence. While this process should continue, the next great step would be to disentangle UHD working mechanisms with the perspective to give us understanding and explanation of its rational, causal-consequential and objective background. Aims Based on the already known and confirmed UHD phenomena as well as some more developed proposed theories that try to explain them, the aim of the presentation is to explore, which of the theories could be the most appropriate for the development of the UHD science. It should lead to the one that would be acceptable by a majority of the concerned scientific community (physicists, physical-chemists, biologists, medical doctors, etc.). Methodology We contrast the established facts of UHD science with the most developed theories to find out, which theory could cover the phenomena in the most comprehensive way. The applied theories are as follows: the basic and the extended theory of coherent domains (Preparata – Giudice – Yinnon), hydrogen bonded clusters theory (Chaplin), nanomaterial theories (Rajendran, Chikramane), the theory of chains of water nano-pearls (Meessen). Results and discussion The results show that the advanced theory of coherent domains (Yinnon) together with the theory of chains of water nano-pearls (Meessen) are the most promising. They connect the basic UHD background mechanisms to the electromagnetic and electric fields and are supported with advanced and recent physicochemical research. Nevertheless, the theories are still in the stage of principal explanation and are mostly not yet capable of giving exact predictions. Therefore, the theory that would predict phenomena and would initiate a virtuous circle of scientific validation of UHD effects is still needed. Conclusion The most developed contemporary theories cover a plethora of UHD phenomena. However, they may still have some deficiencies regarding the explanation of the whole richness of the UHD phenomena.