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Abstract: Indian Arrowroot (Curcuma angustifolia Roxb) belongs to the Zingiberaceae family is widely distributed in India and some parts of Nepal, Thailand, Bangladesh, Pakistan. It is traditionally used as medicine for treating various diseases and also used as food. Few data are available about its application in pharmacology and therapeutics. Literature search for related contents, keywords such as “Curcuma angustifolia Roxb”, “traditional food”, “ethnomedicine”, “pharmacology”, “phytochemicals”, “pharmacological activities” were used in search engines including pubmed, google scholar, scopus, sciencedirect, and semantic scholar. Secondary metabolites found in Indian Arrowroot include essential oils, alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, phytosterols, terpenes, phenols, and others. Pharmacological activities such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative, anti-ulcerogenic, hepatoprotective, and anti-cancerous activities have been shown by Indian Arrowroot (Curcuma angustifolia Roxb). The presence of nutritional value and pharmaceutical potential gained demand in the various food production industries and pharmacology research. It may play a vital role for future studies of Curcuma angustifolia Roxb as ethnomedicine and further exploitation in pharmacological studies.

Urinary tract infections (UTI) caused primarily by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) are indeed an extremely contagious disease that affects people all over the world. FimH is a major virulence component in UTI pathogenesis, and inhibiting FimH function can be an efficient means to disarm UPEC bacteria, as well as a crucial target in the development of non-antibiotic mediated UTI treatment options. The goal of this study was to identify anthocyanins in plant parts and assess their pharmacological characteristics. A computational methodology was used to predict the pharmacological characteristics of such substances. Compounds with pharmacophores comparable to those of known fimH inhibitors were chosen. Following that, additional research was carried out to assess their drug similarity, inhibitory potential, and IC50 values. Thus, the present study reports few novel fimH inhibitors derived from the selected plant’s phytochemicals, and is significant owing to their therapeutic implication as a non-antibiotic mediated therapy for UTI.

Urinary tract infection (UTI), mainly caused by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC), is a dreaded infectious disease globally. FimH is a key virulence factor in UTI pathogenesis and inhibition of FimH function can be an effective way to disarm the UPEC bacteria and can act as a vital target in the development of the non-antibiotic mediated approach to treat UTIs. The present study was undertaken to identify phytochemicals from the cranberry and bearberry plant parts and to evaluate their pharmacological properties. The pharmacological properties of those compounds were predicted using a computational approach. The compounds with similar pharmacophores with that of known fimH inhibitors were selected. After that, further studies were performed to determine their drug likeness, inhibitory potential, and IC50 values. The results were promising, and few compounds were found to have high drug likeness and a potent inhibitor of fimH with good IC50 value. Thus, the present study reports few novel fimH inhibitors from selected plant sources and is significant owing to their therapeutic implication as a non-antibiotic mediated therapy for UTI.

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the most common form of nosocomial infection primarily caused by Escherichia coli. Complicated UTIs carries higher risk of treatment failure, recurrent infections and increased morbidity. Methionine aminopeptidase (MetAP) has got tremendous importance as bacterial drug target due to its role in cell growth and membrane integrity. However, participation of metal chelating residues and occurrence of the enzyme in human body complicates the process of selection of suitable inhibitor. This necessitates search of novel inhibitors with more interaction with active site residues as the MetAP has highly conserved active site residues. In this study, novel catechol derivatives were generated virtually and performed computational studies to find the best group of molecules with more stable binding.

Objective: Computer Aided Drug Designing of the NAP binding site of MabA enzymes. Methodology: Mycobacterium tuberculosis causes global infectious disease tuberculosis, which has remained among the top 10 causes of death worldwide. The emerged multidrug-resistant TB (MDR TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR TB) makes this problem more complex. β-ketoacyl-ACP reductase (MabA), a member of the type-II fatty acid elongation system (FAS-II) is primarily involved in the creation of very long chain fatty acid derivatives. These derivatives are essential precursors for mycolic acids, primary constituents of M. tuberculosis cell wall. Here we have adopted the computational approach followed by ligand molecular modelling, ligand screening, virtual screening and binding pattern analysis in search of potential new lead compounds for Mycobacterium tuberculosis MabA protein. Results: The ligands were screened using an integrated computational protocol that relies on virtual screening and ADMET analysis methods. In this study, we found two compounds, i.e., Compound a1 and a2, which showed the highest binding energy and established the hydrogen bond with the MabA enzyme. Conclusion: Computer Aided Drug Designing approach revealed that two compounds (a1 and a2) had the potential to interact with the NAP binding site of MabA enzymes. Keywords: β-ketoacyl-ACP reductase, MabA, Computer Aided Drug Designing, ADMET

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has emerged as one of the biggest global health issues. Spike protein (S) and nucleoprotein (N), the major immunogenic components of SARS-CoV-2, have been shown to be involved in the attachment and replication of the virus inside the host cell.Several investigations have shown that the SARS-CoV-2 nucleoprotein can elicit a cell-mediated immune response capable of regulating viral replication and lowering viral burden. However, the development of an effective vaccine that can stop the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 remains a matter of concern. Literature was retrieved using the keywords COVID-19 vaccine, role of nucleoprotein as vaccine candidate, spike protein, nucleoprotein immune responses against SARS-CoV-2, and chimera vaccine in PubMed, Google Scholar, and Google.We have focussed on the use of chimera protein, consisting of N and S-1 protein components of SARS-CoV-2, as a potential vaccine candidate. This may act as a polyvalent mixed recombinant protein vaccine to elicit a strong T and B cell immune response, which will be capable of neutralizing the wild and mutated variants of SARS-CoV-2, and also restricting its attachment, replication, and budding in the host cell.

The North-eastern parts of India have immense therapeutic floras, Ottelia alismoides is an aquatic plant that has been in use for a long time in traditional medicine for treating diseases like cancer, tuberculosis, diabetes, febrifuge, hemorrhoids, and rubefacient. In lung and skin carcinoma cells with a high rate of proliferation and metastasis including drug resistance and non-specific target activity, generates important challenges towards their treatment strategy. Thus, finding novel therapeutic targets to treat lung and skin cancer progression is essential to enhance the patients' survival with treatment.The purpose of this study was to evaluate the apoptotic potential of acetone extract of O. alismoides (L.) Pers. (OA-AC) and to identify the compounds responsible for this effect, HRLC-MS-QTOF analysis of the extract has been undertaken along with in-silico molecular docking analysis of the identified compounds.A549 and A431 cells were treated with acetone extract of O. alismoides (OA-AC) at 24 h and 48 h exposure and cell cycle phase distribution was evaluated and also apoptosis induction activity was evaluated by OA-EtBr staining and Mitochondrial outer membrane potential assay. Western blotting was performed for the evaluation of apoptotic protein expression. At last, the HR-LCMS of OA-AC was analyzed to identify the compounds responsible for the apoptotic activity of the extract.The cell cycle phase distribution analysis in A549 and A431 cells at 24hrs exposure with 10 μg/mL and 25 μg/mL of OA-AC showed a potent arrest or blockage at the G2/M phase of the cell cycle with reduced expression of cyclin B and p-Cdc2. At 48 h exposure, apoptosis was observed in these cancer cells with elevated expression of Bax, p21 and cleaved caspase 3 and reduced expression of the Bcl2.AO-EtBr staining of these cancer cells reveals that the death induced by OA-AC was apoptotic in nature with depolarization of mitochondrial membrane due to loss or damage of the mitochondrial membrane. The HRLC-MS-QTOF analysis of OA-AC depicted 14 major isolable compounds and molecular docking analysis displayed 4 compounds that might act as an inhibitor of cyclin B for G2/M phase arrest that leads to apoptotic induction in the cells.

Abstract: Deadly disease cancer has many types; among them, lung cancer is responsible for the highest number of cancer mortality. Existing therapies as well as drugs for treating lung cancer are not effective and are often associated with innumerable side effects and toxicities. For these reasons, researchers have been working on developing novel anti-cancer medicines from plants and other natural sources that have a high safety profile. Natural flavonoids are a polyphenolic group of phytochemicals extracted from plants and other plant-derived compounds. Natural flavonoids are gaining popularity due to their unique and priceless medicinal properties, including anticancer properties. Several researchers have already declared that flavonoids possess the ability to treat different cancers, particularly lung cancer. The bioactivity of natural flavonoids is mainly due to their structural diversity. Natural flavonoids fight against lung cancer by regulating redox homeostasis, upregulating apoptosis, pro-apoptotic factors, and survival genes, arresting cell cycle progression, autophagy, reducing cell proliferation and invasiveness, maintaining inflammation response, downregulating anti-apoptotic factors, and targeting lung cancer signaling pathways. Flavonoids can act alone or synergistically with other agents to treat lung cancer. Due to these reasons, it is possible to use natural flavonoids as pharmaceutical leads to prevent and treat lung cancer.

Osteoarthritis (OA), a disorder of joints, is prevalent in older age. The contemporary cure for OA is aimed to confer symptomatic relief, consisting of temporary pain and swelling relief. In this paper, we discuss various modalities responsible for the onset of OA and associated with its severity. Inhibition of chondrocytes receptors such as DDR2, SDF-1, Asporin, and CXCR4 by specific pharmacological inhibitors attenuates OA, a critical step for finding potential disease modifying drugs. We critically analyzed recent OA studies with an emphasis on intermediate target molecules for OA intervention. We also explored some novel and safe treatments for OA by considering disease prognosis crosstalk with cellular signaling pathways.

Background and Introduction: Sesquiterpene lactones are a class of secondary metabolite that contains sesquiterpenoids and lactone ring as pharmacophore moiety. A large group of bioactive secondary metabolites such as phytopharmaceuticals belong to this category. From the Asteraceae family-based medicinal plants, more than 5,000 sesquiterpene lactones have been reported so far. Sesquiterpene lactone-based pharmacophore moieties hold promise for broad-spectrum biological activities against cancer, inflammation, parasitic, bacterial, fungal, viral infection and other functional disorders. Moreover, these moiety based phytocompounds have been highlighted with a new dimension in the natural drug discovery program worldwide after the 2015 Medicine Nobel Prize achieved by the Artemisinin researchers. Objective: These bitter substances often contain an α, β-unsaturated-γ-lactone as a major structural backbone, which in recent studies has been explored to be associated with anti-tumor, cytotoxic, and anti-inflammatory action. Recently, the use of sesquiterpene lactones as phytomedicine has been increased. This study will review the prospect of sesquiterpene lactones against inflammation and cancer. Methods: Hence, we emphasized on the different features of this moiety by incorporating its structural diversity on biological activities to explore structure-activity relationships (SAR) against inflammation and cancer. Results: How the dual mode of action such as anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer has been exhibitedby these phytopharmaceuticals will be forecasted in this study. Furthermore, the correlation of anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activity executed by the sesquiterpene lactones for fruitful phytotherapy will also be revealed in the present review in the milieu of pharmacophore activity relation and pharmacodynamics study as well. Conclusion: So, these metabolites are paramount in phytopharmacological aspects. The present discussion on the future prospect of this moiety based on the reported literature could be a guide for anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer drug discovery programs for the upcoming researchers.

Colistin resistance has increased due to the increasing and inappropriate use of this antibiotic. The mechanism involves modification of lipid A with phosphoethanolamine (PEtN) and/or 4-amino-4deoxy-l-arabinose (L-Ara4N). EptA and eptB catalyze the transfer of phosphoethanolamine to lipid A. In this study, gene network was constructed to find the associated genes related to colistin resistance, and further in vitro validation by transcriptional analysis was performed. In silico studies showed that eptB gene is a highly interconnected node in colistin resistance gene network. To ascertain these findings twelve colistin-resistant clinical isolates of Escherichia coli were selected in which five were harboring the plasmid-mediated mcr-1. Screening for colistin resistance was performed by broth microdilution (BMD) method and Rapid polymyxin NP test. PCR confirmed the presence of the eptA and eptB genes in all isolates and five isolates were harboring mcr-1. Transcriptional expression in five isolates harboring mcr-1, showed an enhanced expression of eptB when exposed under sub-inhibitory colistin stress. The present study for the first time highlighted genetic interplay between mcr-1 and eptA and eptB under colistin exposure.

Urinary tract infections (UTI) caused primarily by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) are indeed an extremely contagious disease that affects people all over the world. FimH is a major virulence component in UTI pathogenesis, and inhibiting FimH function can be an efficient means to disarm UPEC bacteria, as well as a crucial target in the development of non-antibiotic mediated UTI treatment options. The goal of this study was to identify phytochemicals in Cranberry and Bearberry plant parts and assess their pharmacological characteristics. A computational methodology was used to predict the pharmacological characteristics of such substances. Compounds with pharmacophores comparable to those of known fimH inhibitors were chosen. Following that, additional research was carried out to assess their drug similarity, inhibitory potential, and IC50 values.Thus, the present study reports few novel fimHinhibitors derived from the selected plant’sphytochemicals, and is significant owing to their therapeutic implication as a non-antibiotic mediated therapy for UTI.International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Vol. 06 No. 04 Oct’22 Page: 420-431

Objectives: The work aims to screen the antioxidative potentials of different crude extracts of the fronds of two medicinally important pteridophytes of Southern Assam, India, namely, Cyclosorus interruptus (Willd.) H. Itô and Pronephrium nudatum (Roxb. ex Griff.) Holttum. Methods: Frond extracts of the pteridophytes were prepared by Soxhlet hot extraction method. Total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) of the hexane, ethyl acetate, acetone, and methanol extracts of the fronds of the plants were done by following standard protocol. In vitro assessment of the antioxidative behavior of the extracts was performed using standard 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl scavenging assay, reducing power assay, metal chelating assay, hydroxyl, superoxide, and 2,2’- azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline - 6 – sulfonic acid) radical scavenging methods in different in vitro systems. Results: Preliminary phytochemical analysis implicated the presence of phenolic and flavonoid compounds in all the frond extracts. The methanol extract of the fronds of both the plants showed maximum phenolic and flavonoid contents in comparison to the other extracts, however, that of C. interruptus was found to be higher than P. nudatum. Antioxidative potentials of the said extracts were also found to be impressive and noteworthy. The decreasing order of the antioxidative efficacies of the extracts was found to be same as that of TPC and TFC of the extracts. Conclusion: It is pertinent to comment that the methanol extract of the fronds of both the plants may be treated as a potential source of natural antioxidants.

In the era where issue of antibiotic resistance is increasing at an alarming rate and resistance to most antibiotics has occurred, carbapenems have been the choice of drug against most infection because of its unique structure. However due to lack of antibiotic policy carbapenems too have achieved resistance and led to the emergence of carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE). Members of Enterobacteriaceae family produce New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM), a type of carbapenemase that can cleave carbapenems. Therefore, new anti-microbial targets need to be identified and for this purpose a holistic model is designed in this approach in order to find out the influential genes that are liable in imparting carbapenem resistance owing to the presence of NDM. In this research approach, firstly genes associated with resistance owing to NDM are collected from NCBI database. A total of 419 genes from E. coli that have been obtained from NCBI were subjected to STRING for protein-protein interaction analysis. Out of 419 genes, only 59 genes showed interaction. STRING gave 1679 functional partners at different confidence levels. In the next stage, clustering analysis of the 1679 functional partners was done using MCODE app of Cytoscape software which generated 71 clusters. Topological properties of the 804 functional partners obtained from the 71 clusters were done using Network Analyser plugin of Cytoscape software. 797 functional partners were streamlined and they were subjected to functional enrichment analysis by DAVID Database. This database finally gave 21 genes from 15 clusters, thus indicating that these 15 genes might have a crucial role in the development of carbapenem resistance owing to NDM. These genes can be targeted for designing new anti-microbial drugs in future by the way of gene silencing or altering the genetic expression.

Effluents from a pulp and paper mill in India were analyzed for various physicochemical parameters and heavy metals. Multivariate statistical analysis was used to interpret the data obtained and predict the toxicity of each component to Cyprinus carpio L. fingerlings. The results showed that most of these parameters exceeded recommended levels set by various agencies, and the effluent was not suitable for discharge into agricultural fields or water bodies without further treatment. The results of static renewal toxicity tests revealed median lethal concentrations at 24, 48, 72, and 96 h to be 42, 25, 18.6 and 14.5%, respectively, and the fingerlings exhibited severe behavioral anomalies. The sublethal dose of 2.9% (v/v) caused alterations in the gill and liver at durations of 7, 14, 21, and 28 d. Anomalies such as mucous secretion, leucocyte infiltration, curling of the secondary lamellae tip, clubbing, and the fusion of the secondary lamellae, aneurism, etc. were prominent. The liver showed inflammatory infiltration, cytoplasmic inclusion bodies, vacuolar degeneration, fatty degeneration, pyknosis, karyolysis, distorted pancreatic area, and piecemeal necrosis, among other pathological symptoms. The study concluded that the effluent, even in greatly diluted form, was highly toxic and the severity of responses depended on the length of exposure.

Background The issue of carbapenem resistance in E.coli is very concerning and it is speculated that cumulative effect of both primary resistance genes and secondary resistance genes that act as helper to the primary resistance genes are the reason behind their aggravation. Therefore, here we attempted to find the role of two secondary resistance genes (SRG) ccdB and repA2 in carbapenem resistance in E. coli (CRE). In this context influential genes belonging to secondary resistome that act as helper to the primary resistance genes like blaNDM and blaCTX-M in aggravating β-lactam resistance were selected from an earlier reported in silico study. Transcriptional expression of the selected genes in clinical isolates of E.coli that were discretely harboring blaNDM-1, blaNDM-4, blaNDM-5, blaNDM-7 and blaCTX-M-15 with and without carbapenem and cephalosporin stress (2 μg/ml) was determined by real time PCR. Cured mutants sets that were lacking (i) primary resistance genes, (ii) secondary resistance genes and (iii) both primary and secondary resistance genes were prepared by SDS treatment. These sets were then subjected to antibiotic susceptibility testing by Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method. Results Out of the 21 genes reported in the in silico study, 2 genes viz.repA2 and ccdB were selected for transcriptional expression analysis. repA2, coding replication regulatory protein, was downregulated in response to carbapenems and cephalosporins. ccdB, coding for plasmid maintenance protein, was also downregulated in response to carbapenems except imipenem and cephalosporins. Following plasmid elimination assay increase in diameter of zone of inhibition under stress of both antibiotics was observed as compared to uncured control hinting at the reversion of antibiotic susceptibility by the-then resistant bacteria. Conclusion SRGs repA2 and ccdB help sustenance of blaNDM and blaCTX-M under carbapenem and cephalosporin stress.

Additional file 1: Supplementary material Fig A. Transcriptional response of repA2 to aminoglycosides and quinolones. Fig B. Transcriptional response of ccdB to aminoglycosides and quinolones

Ovarian granulosa cell (GC) functions decide the fate of an ovarian follicle to establish fecundity and regular ovarian cycle. Literature depicts the combined effects of two or more herbal components are likely to be more prominent than the effect of a single ingredient. Based on this, the current study was designed to evaluate the combined effects of aqueous extract (RA) of Ricinus communis L. and curcumin (Cur) of Curcuma longa L., ethnopharmacologically reputed plants and porcine ovarian granulosa cell functions, in vitro. Cytotoxicity was determined by using real-time cell analyser. Combination ofAQ+Cur enhanced cyclin-B1 accumulation at low concentrations and significantly upregulated caspase-3 accumulation, evaluated by immunocytochemistry, and significantly decreased progesterone (P4) and inhibited testosterone (T) release, as determined by the enzyme immunoassay. The resulted observations suggested the possible combined effect of AQ and Cur on GC cell functions via steroid output.

Background: COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 in December 2019 has become a pandemichazard to the community health. It is a respiratory difficulty causing fever, dry cough, fatigue,shortness of breath, muscle aches and some instances lead to pneumonia. Coronaviruses havelarge viral RNA Genomes and are single-stranded positive-sense RNA viruses. The nsp10/nsp16protein is an important target because it is essential for the virus to replicate, the papain-likeprotease (Nsp3), the main protease (Nsp5), the primary RNA-dependent RNA polymerase(Nsp12) are also attractive drug targets for this disease. The uses of phytochemicals astherapeutic agents have been increasing in recent years. Some antiviral phytochemicals weretaken based on literature survey for this study.Methods: ADME parameters and drug like nature of phytochemicals were screened usingSwissADME web tool. Three dimensional structures of targets are downloaded from ProteinData Bank and docked with phytochemicals & control by using software FlexX.Results: Morin shows significant results in ADME screening and Drug likeness predictionstudies, it shows stable bonding pattern with all four targets in compare to other phytochemicalsand control, shows least score in docking and forms maximum number of hydrogen bonds withthe active residues of the receptors.Conclusion: Based on present observation of docking results, ADME parameters and drug likenature, we suggest that morin may be a potent new drug candidate against Covid-19.Keywords: COVID-19, coronavirus, drug target, phytochemicals, Drug likeness, ADME,docking, morin

Background: The global pandemic of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA betacoronavirus of the family Coronaviridae. Papain-like protease (PLpro) of SARS CoV-2 is an important target of COVID-19 because it is a multifunctional cysteine protease essential for coronaviral replication. Large numbers of phytochemicals with varied chemical structures isolated from medicinal plants have been shown to possess antiviral activity. Some of these phytochemicals have been chosen on the basis of literature survey for this study. Reported inhibitors of the papain-like protease are taken as control and for QSAR study.Methods: Three dimensional structure of target was downloaded from Protein Data Bank and docked with phytochemicals & inhibitors by using software FlexX. Inhibitors of the papain-like protease were taken from binding database and QSAR analysis was performed by using EasyQSAR software.Results: Six phytochemicals: Baicalin, Rutin, Biopterin, Licoleafol, Luteolin and Quercetin shows stable bonding pattern with the target in compare to known inhibitors as it shows least score in docking, forms maximum number of hydrogen bonds with the active residues of the receptor. The predicted IC50 values of the phytochemicals are also better than the known inhibitors.Conclusion: Based on present observation of docking score of both phytochemicals and known inhibitors, IC50 value of known inhibitors and predicted IC50 of phytochemicals, we suggests above mentioned six phytochemicals may be the Papain-like protease (PLpro) targeted potent drug leads against Covid-19.

Recently, different nanocrystals have been reported to be the alternative, optimistic, and novel antimicrobial agent against the many antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Here, ligand-free CdS and Ag-doped CdS (Ag/CdS) nanocrystals have been synthesized by chemical methods for the study of the antimicrobial activity on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus by Kirby-Bauer diffusion method to see the effect against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. These prepared nanocrystals have been characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). TEM and SEM images confirm the spherical morphology of both the sample and the respective XRD patterns indicate polycrystalline nature having a cubic zinc blende structure. Antibacterial activities have been tested with CdS and Ag/CdS, considering concentrations ranging from 10 to 200 μg/ml. After 24 h of incubation, the zone of inhibition (ZOI) is measured for each concentration, which shows that both the nanocrystals are ineffective against E. coli but much effective against S. aureus at this low concentration range. Furthermore, Ag/CdS nanocrystals have been found to show much more ZOI than CdS. Differences in the antibacterial activity can be due to the presence of different cell wall in E. coli and S. aureus.

Since the inception of human civilization, plants and the products obtained from plants have been a choice for therapeutic cure. Mangrove vegetations comprise taxonomically varied floras that are predominant along the belt of intertidal regions of tropical and subtropical coastlines. It accounts for one of the greatest productive ecosystems in the world, possessing economical and medicinal values. Phytochemical investigations have showed that the extracts derived from mangrove plants, constituted of flavonoids, phenols, saponins, alkaloids, and tannins, have the potential to combat human, animal, and plant infectious agents. It has also been established that the phytochemical compounds isolated from different species of mangrove plants have the potential to manage diabetes and its long-term complications. Diabetes is a metabolic disorder characterized by an abnormality in insulin secretion and action due to impairment in the beta cells of pancreas. Chronic diabetes is often associated with macro- and microvascular diseases like coronary heart disease, heart attack, retinopathy, and nephropathy. Plant-derived compounds have always been drugs of choice compared to conventional medicines because of their low toxicity and high efficacy and viability. Thus understanding the need of the hour, an attempt has been made to elucidate the antidiabetic attributes of bioactive compounds derived from the extracts of mangrove plants or their parts and in turn contribute to the management of its associated complications.

Mangroves, the littoral vegetation of the tropical and subtropical areas of the world, are of immense importance to the people living in coastal areas. Apart from being a vital source of livelihood and economic support to the people living by seashores, these trees also have medicinal value. The salt-tolerant trees are known to contain huge quantities of saponins, steroids, triterpenes, alkaloids, flavonoids, and tannins. These bioactive compounds impart therapeutic values and thus are used against various infectious diseases. Because of the promising biological activities of the compounds, the extracts of mangroves are used in folklore medicines. Hence, in this chapter an attempt has been made to explore the therapeutic potentials of the products derived from mangroves with special emphasis on their antifungal properties in order to draw attention toward the exploration of this category of vegetation.

Intellectual property right (IPR), an exclusive privilege for intangible human creation, incorporates elusive manifestations of the human acumen and envelops copyrights, patent, and trademarks. It incorporates different sorts of rights, for example, exchange insider facts, publicity rights, moral rights, and rights against unjustifiable rivalry. Both in developed and developing countries, herbal-based drugs are now gaining importance in curing vivid physiological anomalies and in turn enriching their commercial values. These increasing demands of traditional plant-based medicines are due to their affordability and availability. Traditional medicine generally includes natural assets and the information of local and indigenous people groups as well as healers in regard to their therapeutic utility. Subsequently, it is interlinked with biodiversity preservation and indigenous people groups’ rights over their insight and assets. So, for this situation, there is a constant need for improving the safety of both pharmaceutical and conventional frameworks. Again, there is a probability of stealing of newly designed or some novel developed medication derived from natural products. To ensure safety of research, it is mandatory to protect the discovered outcome or product by any means involving law. Such protecting law includes patent or with trade secret. In this chapter, we will discuss the importance of intellectual property rights (IPR) and patent in the field of natural product research.

Article history: Objective: To explore and enumerate the medicinal plants used by the Chorei tribe residing in Sourthern Assam part of North Eastern India in the treatment of various ailments. Methods: Systematic and intensive field surveys were conducted in Chorei inhabited parts of Southern Assam part of North East India to collect information on medicinal plants used by them in treatment of various ailments. Data was collected through structured questionnaires and personal observations made during the field visit. Results: A total of 53 different medicinal plants were recorded along with their vernacular names, parts used and mode of utilization by the Chorei tribes. Each of the plants was categorized according to their use in treatment of particular disease. Conclusions: The present study revealed that the Chorei tribe is primarily dependent of medicinal plant for treatment of various ailments.

Introduction – Prenylated and pyrano-flavonoids of the genus Artocarpus J. R. Forster & G. Forster are well known for their acetylcholinesterase (AchE) inhibitory, anticholinergic, antiinflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiproliferative and tyrosinase inhibitory activities. Some of these compounds have also been shown to be effective against Alzheimer’s disease. Objective – The aim of the in silico study was to establish protocols to predict the most effective flavonoid from prenylated and pyrano-flavonoid classes for AchE inhibition linking to the potential treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Methodology – Three flavonoids isolated from Artocarpus anisophyllus Miq. were selected for the study. With these compounds, Lipinski filter, ADME/Tox screening, molecular docking and QSAR were performed in silico. In vitro activity was evaluated by bioactivity staining based on the Ellman’s method. Results – In the Lipinski filter and ADME/Tox screening, all test compounds produced positive results, but in the target fishing, only one flavonoid could successfully target AchE. Molecular docking was performed on this flavonoid, and this compound gained the score as -13.5762. From the QSAR analysis the IC50 was found to be 1659.59 nM. Again, 100 derivatives were generated from the parent compound and docking was performed. The derivative number 20 was the best scorer i.e., -31.6392 and IC50 was predicted as 6.025 nM. Conclusion – Results indicated that flavonoids could be efficient inhibitors of AchE and thus, could be useful in the management of Alzheimer’s disease.

The therapeutic option of a carbapenem antibiotic is compromised in Pseudomonas aeruginosa owing both to acquired and intrinsic resistance mechanisms. In recent years, New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase has been the focus as a predominant carbapenem resistance determinant. However, it is unclear which of the mechanisms might be adopted by a P. aeruginosa strain possessing both blaNDM-1 and an overexpressed MexAB-OprM system during carbapenem therapy. This study investigated the interplay of both mechanisms in clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa when exposed to meropenem. Five strains were used: (i) strain overexpressing MexAB-OprM but with no blaNDM-1; (ii) strain harbouring blaNDM-1 but expressing MexAB-OprM at basal level; (iii) strain possessing blaNDM-1 and overexpressing MexAB-OprM; (iv) P. aeruginosa PAO1; and (v) P. aeruginosa K2733-PAO1 (ΔMexAB-OprMΔMexCD-OprJΔMexEF-OprNΔMexXY-OprM) into which blaNDM-1 was cloned. Strains were incubated in Luria-Bertani broth with and without 1μg/mL meropenem. Total RNA was isolated at 45-min intervals and was immediately reverse transcribed to cDNA. This was repeated for 6h. Quantitative real-time PCR was performed for both resistance mechanisms. Meropenem exposure did not significantly elevate transcription of either the blaNDM-1 or mexA gene. However, an interesting finding was that upon single-dose exposure to carbapenem, the efflux pump system played a major role in bacterial survival compared with NDM-1. This study gives an insight into the bacterial response to carbapenem antibiotic when two different resistance mechanisms coexist. This type of study would be helpful in designing future antimicrobials.

Plant-based natural components have always been an important source of food and beverages. Traditional beverages are either directly derived from a single plant or by mingling several components of more than one plant. Beverages of plant origin are also known to be good healers of many ailments. North-east India has diverse ethnic communities which have very rich traditional and cultural practices of herbal products; traditional practice of beverages is also a part of their living. Extract of fruits, vegetables, food grains, and other plant parts is used in the preparation of beverages either in raw form or through fermentation. They have their own traditional method of fermenting food materials to get the desired beverages. In modern scientific era, use of their traditional knowledge in beverage industry could bring a revolution in terms of production as well as in maintaining proper natural nutrient constituents of the beverages.

Fungal endophytes are epitomes of various secondary metabolites and natural products, which have a place in the medical and industrial arenas. They comprise components of plant microecosystems that dwell asymptomatically and symbiotically within plant tissue systems. Certain contemporaneous endophytes and their specific hosts have established a unique correlation that can expressively control plant metabolites and affect the physicochemical properties of medicinal-plant-based crude drugs. Currently, shifting lifestyles have led to a rise in maladies like pulmonary disease, asthma, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. Though several new medicines have been introduced to the market, the development of resistance to these drugs has become increasingly evident, especially in patients suffering from chronic disease. Synthetic drug therapy has proven to be uncertain, so there is an overall need to develop new protective agents from microorganisms that are highly effective with minimal side effects. Natural products thus have always been a choice for the isolation of novel bioactive molecules for diverse therapeutic applications. It has been determined that nearly 20, 00,000 natural products are of microbial origin. This chapter will thus provide an insight into the novel aspects of some natural products of fungal endophytic origin that may have significant therapeutic potential in disease control and eventually facilitate product discovery with a focus on understanding the interface between endophytic fungi and therapeutic plants. Such an understanding can lead to a more widespread use of superior plant-based drugs in the near future.

The prevalence of multi-drug resistant bacteria is a global concern and addressing this issue is the need of the hour. Efflux mediated resistance is one of the major mechanisms of drug resistance in bacteria and is mainly attributed to the class of Resistance Nodulation Division pumps. In our study, a network of directly interacting proteins with the components of the AcrAB-TolC efflux system was generated. Functional enrichment analysis was performed for the concerned genes. The protein-protein association network was grouped in clusters and topological parameters were analysed. From the study, we sorted out genes that have no direct connection to the efflux system from those which can act as drug targets.

Objectives Nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems can resolve the poor bioavailability issue allied with curcumin. The therapeutic potential of curcumin can be enhanced by making nanocomposite preparation of curcumin with metal oxide nanoparticles, poly lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) nanoparticles and solid lipid nanoparticles that increases its bioavailability in the tissue. Key findings Curcumin has manifold therapeutic effects which include antidiabetic, antihypertensive, anticancer, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties. Curcumin can inhibit diabetes, heavy metal and stress-induced hypertension with its antioxidant, chelating and inhibitory effects on the pathways that lead to hypertension. Curcumin is an anticancer agent that can prevent abnormal cell proliferation. Nanocurcumin is an improved form of curcumin with enhanced therapeutic properties due to improved delivery to the diseased tissue, better internalization and reduced systemic elimination. Summary Curcumin has multiple pharmacologic effects, but its poor bioavailability reduces its therapeutic effects. By conjugating curcumin to metal oxide nanoparticles or encapsulation in lipid nanoparticles, dendrimers, nanogels and polymeric nanoparticles, the water solubility and bioavailability of curcumin can be improved and thus increase its pharmacological effectiveness.

Ethnopharmacological relevance Being one of the most common types of life threatening diseases in Southern Assam, India, the digestive system disorders (DSD) have gained much attention in recent decades. Traditional beliefs and inadequate income of mass population result in the use of alternative phytotherapies to treat the diseases. Aim of the study The present paper documents the medicinal knowledge and utilization of plants for treatment of digestive system disorders in Southern Assam, India by Disease Consensus Index (DCI). It also determines the most suitable plant species used to treat digestive system disorders in the study area. Materials and methods The study was based on ethnomedicinal field survey covering a period of 1 year from 2014–2015. The ethnomedicinal information was collected by using semi-structured questionnaires from different traditional Bengali people having knowledge on medicinal plants. Collected data were analyzed by calculating DCI. Results During the survey, 29 informants were interviewed and a total of 49 plants under 46 genera belonging to 33 families were listed. Data analysis revealed that Litsea glutinosa, Momordica charantia, Andrographis paniculata, Lawsonia inermis, Cleome viscosa, Psidium guajava, Ageratum conyzoides, Cuscuta reflexa, Cynodon dactylon and Carica papaya are the most prominent plants among the people of Southern Assam for treating DSD. Conclusion This explorative survey emphasizes the need to preserve and document the traditional healing practices for managing DSD inviting for more imminent scientific research on the plants to determine their efficacy as well as safety. With the help of statistical analysis (DCI), we propose 10 priority plants for DSD in present work. Systematic pharmacological study with these plants may contribute significant result.