Revealing the Therapeutic Uses of Garlic (Allium sativum) and Its Potential for Drug Discovery

Background. Garlic is a common bulb vegetable that is used to flavor and flavor food. The plant contains biologically active components that contribute to its pharmacological properties. This paper attempts to examine the therapeutic uses and potential role in the drug development of garlic for various human diseases. Methods. To obtain crucial data and scientific knowledge about the therapeutic uses of garlic, systematic literature searches were conducted using key terms on well-known indexed platforms such as PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Medline, Embase, and popular search engines. Results. Garlic, which is utilized as a spice and flavoring ingredient, is found to have fundamental nutritional components. Carbohydrates, protein, fat, minerals, water, and vitamins are all found in abundance in this plant. The plant also has a high medicinal value and is used to cure a variety of human diseases. It has anti-inflammatory, rheumatological, ulcer inhibiting, anticholinergic, analgesic, antimicrobial, antistress, antidiabetes, anticancer, liver protection, anthelmintics, antioxidants, antifungal, and wound healing properties, as well as properties that help with asthma, arthritis, chronic fever, tuberculosis, runny nose, malaria, leprosy, skin discoloration, and itching, indigestion, colic, enlarged spleen, hemorrhoids, fistula, bone fracture, gout, urinary tract disease, diabetes, kidney stones, anemia, jaundice, epilepsy, cataract, and night blindness. Conclusions. The nutritional content of the plant is significant, and it has incredible therapeutic potential. The findings of this study are needed to investigate the therapeutic potential, as it may be a promising option for drug development.

Vitamin B12 Deficiency Resembling Acute Leukemia: A Case Report

Vitamin B12 deficiency in children can cause megaloblastic anemia, poor growth, and increased chances of infections. It is an important reversible cause of bone marrow suppression which at the time of presentation can mimic hematological malignancy. Therefore, it should be considered as a differential diagnosis in cases suspected of acute leukemia. We report a case of 14 months old child who had atypical presentation of vitamin B12 deficiency. He had chronic fever, decreased feeding and increased paleness for one year. Pancytopenia with severe anemia was present along with 19% reactive/atypical cells in peripheral blood smear suggesting acute leukemia. However, bone marrow aspiration and biopsy showed features of megaloblastic anemia. Vitamin B12 level measured was very low and treatment with cyanocobalamin caused drastic improvement in the child’s condition.

Mevalonate Kinase Deficiency: A Cause of Severe Very-Early-Onset Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Mevalonate kinase deficiency should be considered in patients with severe very-early-onset inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), especially in patients with a history of recurrent or chronic fever, peritoneal adhesions, and atypical IBD pathology. Anti-interleukin-1 therapy may be efficacious in these patients with monogenic very-early-onset IBD.

PHYTOCHEMICAL AND ELEMENTAL PROFILING AND STANDARDIZATION OF SOME AYURVEDA MEDICINES USED IN COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Tribhuvankirti Rasa is a herbo-mineral Ayurvedic medicine regularly used to treat different types of fever. It has antipyretic and analgesic activities. It is an effective medicine for the common cold, flu and other Vata kapha problems. Laghumalini Vasanta is also Ayurvedic medicine, used to treat chronic fever and effective in pitta disorders. Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India also recommended these medicines to prevent the severe conditions of Cov-2 infection. Review of literature suggested that phytochemical and elemental characterization parameters of Tribhuvankirti Rasa and Laghumalini Vasant are not reported. The objective of this study is to report phytochemical and elemental profiling and to standardize Tribhuvankirti Rasa (TKR) and Laghumalini Vasant (LMV) to confirm quality and purity. Tribhuvankirti Rasa and Laghumalini Vasant evaluated for phytochemical and elemental parameters by HPTLC and ICP-OES respectively. HPTLC analysis confirms LMV contains Piperine and TKR contains Piperine and 6-Gingerol. The solvent systems toluene: ethyl acetate (7: 3) v/v for Piperine & Hexane: Ethyl acetate: Formic acid (4 : 6 : 0.1) v/v for 6-Gingerol were optimized. ICP-OES analysis confirms presence of Zn in LMV and Hg in TKR. HPTLC and ICP-OES methods were validated successfully for Tribhuvankirti Rasa and Laghumalini Vasant. The characterization and method validation parameters presented in this paper may serve as standard reference for quality control analysis of Tribhuvankirti Rasa and Laghumalini Vasant.

PHYTOPHARMACOLOGICAL REVIEW OF KNEMA ATTENUATA (HOOK F. AND THOMSON) WARB

Knema attenuata, a member of Myristicaceae family and commonly known to world as ‘wild nutmeg’ is broadly used in folk medicine for treating ailments such as jaundice, chronic fever, inflammations, spleen disorders, breathing disorders and impaired taste sensation. This review article aims to compile all the updated information on the phytochemical and pharmacological activities of plant Knema attenuata. Studies indicate that different parts such as aril, seed and stem bark of the plant is rich in phenolics, flavonoids, tannins, steroids, terpenes, resins and glycolipids. Moreover, stem bark of Knema attenuata contains a lignan ‘attenuol’ with diverse pharmacological activities. In addition, different extracts of plant parts have been found to possess various pharmacological activities such as antioxidant, antifungal, larvicidal, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antihyperlipidemic, and hepatoprotective activities. More research on phytochemical composition and therapeutic implications are recommended.

Prevalence of the Syndrome of Inappropriate Antidiuretic Hormone Secretion (SIADH) in Patients With Brucellosis: A Meta-Analysis

Background: Hyponatremia is prevalent amongst hospitalized patients and is associated with adverse outcomes. Syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH) is a common cause of hyponatremia. In our experience in a middle eastern country, we observed a relationship between brucellosis and SIADH associated hyponatremia. Nonetheless, there is limited literature describing this association. Thus, we aimed to systematically review the literature and pool the prevalence of SIADH in patients with brucellosis. Methods: We comprehensively searched PubMed, EMBASE, and Google scholar (first 100 hits) for observational studies ascertaining the prevalence of SIADH in brucellosis patients. We had no age, language, or date limitations. We used a proportion meta-analysis utilizing the random-effects model with double arcsine transformation. I2 was used to ascertain heterogeneity. We used MetaXl software for statistical analysis. The protocol was preregistered at PROSPERO. Results: Our search in PubMed and EMBASE retrieved 107 articles, of which only four observational studies were relevant. Aysha et al. conducted the first analysis of 58 brucellosis patients in which 24% had sodium levels of less than 130 mmol/L. We excluded this study from our quantitative synthesis as the SIADH prevalence could not be accurately ascertained. Finally, the quantitative synthesis comprised three studies encompassing 306 patients and revealed a pooled SIADH prevalence of 20% (95% CI 0-52%, I2 96%). The quality assessment revealed low to moderate quality of included studies. Conclusion: The reported prevalence of SIADH in individual studies included in our analysis ranged from 3-56%. The results were heterogeneous, as depicted by a high I2. This varying prevalence is perhaps due to the varying age of included participants, definitions used by the primary studies, and the included data’s observational nature. Nonetheless, our meta-analysis revealed a relatively high prevalence of SIADH of 20% in patients with brucellosis. Hence, hyponatremia in patients with chronic fever should prompt a workup for SIADH and brucellosis, especially in endemic areas for brucellosis. Larger prospective studies are needed to ascertain the exact prevalence of SIADH in this patient cohort and its impact on the overall prognosis.

Chemical Constituents and Biological Activities of Cordia Myxa L.: A Review

Background: Cordia myxa L. (CM) is a valuable ethnomedicinal plant from Boraginaceae family. Traditionally, CM parts especially fruits and leaves are used in chest and urinary tract infections, diarrhoea, dysentery, tuberculosis, liver and spleen disorders, chronic fever, malaria etc. Objective: Despite of known importance and uses, CM has gained relatively less attention of researchers and concise reviews revealing the medicinal potential of CM are scanty. The present review summarizes the chemical constituents and biological activities of CM and aims to stimulate future research to develop it as a functional health food. Results: Analysis of literature on CM showed that its fruits are a rich source of nutrients and are frequently employed in wide ailments such as urinary and respiratory tract infections, chronic fever, liver disorders, asthma, used as anthelmintic, diuretic, expectorant and purgative. Scientific studies have shown the antidiabetic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, antioxidant, antiplasmodial, hepatoprotective, hypotensive, antiulcer and antimicrobial activities of CM. More than 45 compounds belonging to carbohydrates, steroids, carotenoids, phenols, flavonoids and alkaloids have been reported from various parts of CM. Conclusion: Systematic preclinical studies support the traditional claims of CM. The analysis of available literature showed that CM could be developed as a drug. Further, studies such as detailed pharmacological and toxicological evaluation, isolation of bioactive compounds, quantitative phytochemistry and structure activity relationship are scanty and thus, crucial to be addressed for uplifting the scientific value of this revered medicinal plant.

Molecular and docking studies of tetramethoxy hydroxyflavone compound from Artemisia absinthium against carcinogens found in cigarette smoke

Artemisia absinthium (AA) is an indigenous medicine used for treatment of inflammation of the liver and chronic fever, and is studied as an antimalarial and anticancer agent. The focus of the current investigation was to determine the action and effect of AA on microRNAs (miRNAs) from breast cancer cell lines. Molecular docking is a structure-based drug design process that studies the interaction of small molecule ligands with receptor biomacromolecules to predict binding mechanism and affinity. MiRNA expression profiling was done using microarray technology. Validation of transcripts with regulated expression pattern was done by SYBR-based quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR). AutoDock 4.2 programming allots polar hydrogens, bound together total Kollman charges, solvation borders, and fragmental volumes to the protein using auto dock devices in docking research (ADT). As confirmed by SYBR-based RT-PCR, our investigation discovered an upregulation of the miRNA-22 articulation and a downregulation of miRNA-199a*. These findings support and demonstrate the role of AA as a miRNA articulation-influencing factor in human breast cancer progression. AA’s tetramethoxy hydroxyflavone (p7F) molecule was found to be effective in the treatment of cancer. Changes in miRNA expression patterns could be a key pathogenic component in AA’s physiological action on cancer cells.

Optimization of Maclura cochinchinensis Extract as a Cosmeceutical Component for Antioxidant and Anti-Tyrosinase Activities

Maclura cochinchinensis Corner or Kae Lae in Thai belongs to the Moraceae family. The plant is found in Southeast Asian countries and used in traditional medicine as a tonic agent to treat chronic fever and skin infections. Previous studies have demonstrated that plants in Moraceae family, such as Morus alba and Artocarpus lakoocha are rich source of antioxidant and anti-tyrosinase agents. Thus, the current study aimed at comparing different solvent extracts (50% ethanol, 80% ethanol, methanol by ultrasound and water decoction) of M. cochinchinensis heartwood for their antioxidant and anti-tyrosinase activities. Total phenolic content, 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2′-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging activity, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and anti-lipid peroxidation assays were performed to compare the antioxidant activity, whereas, Dopachrome method was performed for anti-tyrosinase activity. The results demonstrated that 80% ethanol and methanol extracts had better antioxidant activities based on EC50 value of DPPH (9.96±0.21 and 9.50±0.46 μg/mL, respectively), ABTS (6.54±0.13 and 6.58±0.69 μg/mL, respectively), anti-lipid peroxidation (228.31±2.03 and 231.43±1.41 μg/mL, respectively), and anti-tyrosinase (7.60±0.29 and 7.91±0.41 μg/mL, respectively) assays. Further, 80% ethanol extract was selected to evaluate the bioactive compound using bioactivity-guided isolation. Oxyresveratrol identified as bioactive compound, exhibited higher activities than the positive controls (quercetin and kojic acid). In conclusion, 80% ethanolic M. cochinchinensis heartwood extract obtained using the ultrasound technique exhibited strong antioxidant and anti-tyrosinase effects and can be used as a potential active ingredient for cosmeceutical products. Oxyresveratrol could be used as bioactive marker for quality control of the extract and products.