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Copyright of Journal of Faculty of Pharmacy of Ankara University / Ankara Üniversitesi Eczacilik Fakültesi Dergisi is the property of Ankara University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Citrus is one of the most important fruit crop of Pakistan in terms of area and production. Pakistan ranks 7th according to area and 13th according to production. While comparing with leading citrus producing nations like Brazil, USA, China and Spain, citrus production of Pakistan is far behind and increasing at an average annual rate of only 5%. Brazil holds the 35% share in total citrus production of world while share of Pakistan is only 1.46%. Citrus cultivars are propagated asexually through grafting and budding on specific rootstocks. Rootstocks play very important role in Citriculture industry and decide success or failure of citrus cultivation. Under a specific and uniform set of climatic and soil conditions, citrus rootstocks tend to vary in their compatibility with a specific scion cultivar. The rootstocks have significant influence overall growth of tree including vegetative growth, mineral uptake, physiological performance of scion cultivar and reproductive growth of scion cultivars. The role of rootstocks in manipulating or improving the performance of citrus scion cultivars has been discussed in present review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Boletín Latinoamericano y del Caribe de Plantas Medicinales y Aromáticas is the property of Universidad de Santiago de Chile and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Faculty of Pharmacy of Ankara University / Ankara Üniversitesi Eczacilik Fakültesi Dergisi is the property of Ankara University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the last decade there is a huge increase in the human population that has witnessed the important changes in the ecology, climate and human behaviour which ultimately favours the survival and increase in the population of urban pests. More alarmingly, a dramatic expansion in the rodent's populations is a growing threat to the humans living in different urban settings. It is supposed that several socio-economic issues, environmental factors and type of housing facilities are contributing towards this higher increase in the rodent's population in these areas. However, urban rat control programs are still ineffective as very little is known about their ecology. This study sought to investigate the type of housing and environment factors that provide food, water, shelter and harborage to rats and mice and risk factors of rodent infestations in three of the housing systems i.e. in squatter's settlements, departmental colonies and posh residences including bungalows in Faisalabad. A total of 720 structures (240 each) were selected from these three housing systems. Snap and live trapping of commensal rats and mice (Rattus rattus, Rattus norvegicus, Mus musculus) was carried out fortnightly from November, 2017 to October, 2018 suspecting the rats and mice population as variable as different structured housing systems. The removal data were used to estimate the size of the population of rats and mice per system. For rat and mice population estimation, Change-in-ratio (CIR) and Regression of daily capture on cumulative captures (RR) were employed. The higher number of rats/mice (814 specimens) were collected in squatter' settlements. Among these 560, 184 and 70 specimens were of Mus musculus, Rattus rattus and Suncus murinus, respectively. The number of rodents captured from departmental colonies and posh residences/bungalows was 210 specimens (129 of M. musculus, 71 of R. rattus and 10 specimens of S. murinus) and 30 specimens of M. musculus, respectively. The major socio-economic factors contributing to these higher rodent infestations were low-grade residences with inadequate or no building maintenance measures and higher housing densities along with heterogenous breeding sites. These higher densities of rats and mice may pose a serious disease threats to human populations as they are carriers of a number of pathogens. The findings of the present study provide the specific features of rats and mice population in concern to human residences and may help to formulate controlling strategies against these culprits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clausena excavata is a famous folklore medicinal plant in tropical and subtropical Asian region that is being used for the treatment of different disorders. This study was conducted to investigate the antibacterial activity of leaves extract of C. excavata against methicillin-resistance Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and flowcytometry techniques. Cell viability assay was performed by using microplate AlamarBlue assay. Among different extracts, ethyl acetate (EA) extract was found to have the lowest minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 375 µg/mL followed by chloroform (CH) and methanol (MOH) extracts with MIC values of 750 and 1500 µg/mL, respectively. EA and CH extracts were selected for further mechanistic study by using AFM, and propidium iodide (PI) flowcytometry techniques. AFM results of treated cells showed highly damaged cells scattered all over due to loss of the potential to form clusters of cocci. Flowcytometry results showed that there were increases in PI fluorescence due to increase in the number of dead cells. This is the first report that highlights the antimicrobial activity of C. excavata against MRSA by the using above mentioned techniques. Further investigations are required to identify the pure compounds responsible for anti-MRSA activity, and its mechanistic study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agaricus bisporus have long been used in ancient times to treat diseases like cancer, diabetes, antimicrobial and inflammatory throughout the world. The objectives of present study were to evaluate the anti-Helicobacter pylori profile of AgNPs produced by A. Bisporus (AB). Materials and Methods: H. pylori bacteria were isolated from patients with duodenal ulcer by using (Endoscope) and identified using biochemical tests. Silver nanoparticles (AB-AgNPs) were prepared using aqueous extract of A. Bisporus as bioreductant. The characterization of AB-AgNps was also determined by UV-Visible. Well diffusion assay was used to determine the anti-Helicobacter effect of A. Bisporus extracts and AB-AgNPs at concentrations 100, 75, 50 and 25 mg mL-1. Result: AB-AgNps were recorded to be highest in zone of inhibition as compared to ethanolic (EOH) and aqueous (EQ) extracts in all concentration. Conclusion: This is the first report that highlights the anti-H.pylori activity of ABAgNPs. The overall result showed that AB-AgNPs could be controlled the H. pylori and are presumed to be promising therapeutic agent in ulcerative diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The herein reported studies were conducted to investigate the ovicidal effect of different insect growth regulators (IGRs), viz., lufenuron 50EC, flufenoxuron 10DC, pyriproxyfen 10.8EC, tebufenozide 20SC, methoxyfenozide 240SC, triflumuron 20SC, and buprofezin 25%WP against Trogoderma granarium (Everts) and Tribolium castaneum (Herbst). All these IGRs were applied to the glass vials at four concentrations viz., 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 ppm, additionally, an untreated control using four replicates through Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Results showed that highest ovicidal action was exerted by pyriproxyfen where only 32.83% hatching was recorded in T. castaneum eggs followed by lufenuron at 10ppm while methoxyfenozide was least effective. Similarly, in T. granarium, the hatching suppression was highest (38.83% hatching) due to pyriproxyfen treatment and was lowest in methoxyfenozide treatment. The growth rate was highly effected by pyriproxyfen and least effected by methoxyfenozide against both insects. From these results, it is concluded that the applications of IGRs have proved to be very effective against both species examined in the present study. Hence, these compounds particularly pyriproxyfen, an analog of the juvenile hormone (JH) followed by Chitin synthesis inhibitors (i.e., flufenoxuron, lufenuron and triflumeron) should be considered as potential components in managing immature stages of stored grains insect pests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an important opportunistic pathogen that affects immunocompromised individuals. Viable bacterial count method was used to count the number of adhered bacteria. The current study showed the efficiency of S. maltophilia (Sm2) adhesion on different parts of mouse intestinal tract (IT), small intestinal tract (SIT), large intestinal tract (LIT) and rectum (P<0.05) and this ability was equal for each part of IT [ANOVA test (P > 0.05)]. Moxifloxacin (0.03 x MIC) resulted a significant decrease in adhesion of S. maltophilia to SIT (P<0.05) versus control and other sub-inhibitory moxifloxacin concentrations (0.06 x and 1.2 x MIC). It can be concluded from the current study that the S. maltophilia (Sm2) has a good ability to adhere to mouse IT and the lowest concentrations of moxifloxacin (0.03 x MIC) reduced the ability of this bacterium to infect IT by reducing the ability of this bacterium to adhere to IT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clausena excavata is a natural herb with both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. It has been used for decades in folkloric practice for the amelioration of various ailments. In this study, the gastroprotective activity of methanolic extract of C. excavata leaves (MECE) was determined in the Sprague Dawley rat ethanol-induced gastric ulcer model. Rats were pretreated with a single dose of vehicle (5% Tween 20), 20 mg/mL omeprazole, 400 and 200 mg/mL of MECE dissolved in 5% Tween 20. Ulcer was induced with 5 mL/kg of ethanol and stomach tissue was obtained after 1 hour. Histological examination was done on hematoxylin and eosin, periodic acid-Schiff, and immunochemically stained gastric mucosal tissues. Prostaglandin E2, superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and lipid peroxidation levels of the gastric tissue homogenates were also determined. Significantly (P<0.05) smaller ulcer areas, less intense edema, and fewer leukocytes' infiltration were observed in MECE- and omeprazole-treated than in untreated gastric mucosa with ulcer. The gastric pH, mucus production, superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase contents increased, while the lipid peroxidation content decreased as a result of MECE treatment. Bcl-2-associated X protein was underexpressed, while heat shock protein 70 and transforming growth factor-beta protein were overexpressed in the ulcerated gastric mucosa tissues treated with omeprazole and MECE. Similarly, there was a reduction in the levels of tumor necrotic factor-alpha and interleukin-6, while the level of interleukin-10 was increased. This study showed that the gastroprotective effect of MECE is achieved through inhibition of gastric juice secretion and ulcer lesion development, stimulation of mucus secretion, elevation of gastric pH, reduction of reactive oxygen species production, inhibition of apoptosis in the gastric mucosa, and modulation of inflammatory cytokines.

Clausena excavata (Lour.), locally known as "Kemantu hitam," is a common plant in Malaysian folklore medicine. This study evaluated the antioxidant properties of the solvent extracts of C. excavata leaves and determined the acute toxicity of methanolic extract C. excavata (MECE) leaves in Sprague-Dawley rats. Harvested leaves were dried and subjected to solvent extraction using petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol in succession. The antioxidant activity of each extract was determined using the ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl dihydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity. The total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoids content (TFC) were estimated by Folin-Ciocalteu and ethanolic aluminium chloride method, respectively. The chloroform extract was found to be highest in flavonoid content, while the methanolic extract showed the highest TPC and antioxidant activity. There was no mortality in rats treated with MECE leaves even at a high dose of 5000 mg/kg body weight. However, the MECE leaves produced mild to moderate pathological changes in the liver and kidneys, shown by mild degenerative changes and leucocyte infiltration. The extract did not affect the haematological parameters or relative weights of the liver or kidneys. Overall, the MECE leaves have potent antioxidant activity and are presumed safe to be used orally as health-promoting product at low to moderate doses.