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Strobilanthes ciliatus was used in the traditional medicine to treat central nervous system problems and cancer. This study aims to investigate the cytotoxic and inhibitory activity of acetylcholinesterase in extracts and isolated compounds of S. ciliatus. Chemical investigation of S. ciliatus led to isolation of two compounds. The isolated compounds were characterized by spectral studies like (IR, UV-Vis, MS and NMR) as lupeol and stigmasterol. The extracts and isolated compound have been evaluated for AChE inhibitory activity by Ellman’s method and cytotoxicity on Hela and K562 cell lines by MTT method. The extracts and the isolated compounds showed moderate activities against acetylecholinesterase enzyme and HeLa and K562 cell lines.

A continuing outbreak of pneumonia-related disease novel, Coronavirus has been recorded worldwide and has become a global health problem. This research aims to generate a constructive training data set for a neural network to detect COVID-19 from X-ray images. The creation of medical images is an issue in the field of deep learning. Medical image datasets are frequently unbalanced; using such datasets to train a deep neural network model to correctly classify medical conditions typically leads to over-fitting the data on majority class samples. Data augmentation is commonly used in training data to expand the dataset. Data augmentation may not be beneficial in medical domains with limited data. This paper proposed a data generation model using a Deep Convolutional Generative adversarial network (DCGAN), which generates fake instances with comparable properties to the original data. The model's Fréchet Distance of Inception (FID) was 23.78, close to the original data. Deep transfer learning-based models VGG-16, Inceptionv3 and MobilNet, were chosen as the backbone for COVID-19 detection. The present study aims to increase the dataset using the DCGAN data augmentation technique to improve classifier performance.

A novel molecule PG-1, tri-O –punicyl glycerol was isolated and characterized from the seed extract of Punica granatum which was found to possess ant proliferative effect against lung cancer cell lines (A549) without any harmful effects on fibroblast cell line. The IC50 value determined by MTT assay is 25±8.5µg/ml for PG-1 and that of L- ascorbic acid is 22±7.4. Comet assay showed the damage of DNA at a concentration of 250µg/ml and Flow cytometry indicated a cell cycle arrest at G0 phase at a concentration of 12µg/ml. PG-1 also possesses an effective antioxidant activity which was determined through in vitro DPPH and ABTS assay methods. In DPPH assay the IC50 value was 26±5.7 µg/ml, 24±6.8 µg/ml and in ABTS assay the IC50 value was 26±0.62 µg/ml and 23±0.65µg/ml, for PG-1 and L-ascorbic acid respectively. PG-1 can be considered as a lead molecule from a natural plant P. granatum with lower side effects against lung cancer cell line (A549). Further the GC-MS analysis of ethyl acetate extract from P. granatum led to the identification of twelve compounds out of which octadecatrienoic acid which constitutes 19.88% of the whole extract is the major compound.

Background: Phytochemicals utilization in the cosmetics are the current trend in the beauty and fashion. Most women prefer the cosmetics derived from natural products over synthetic chemicals, as the natural products are devoid of undesirable side effects. Skin protection has become not only aesthetic, but also linked to health. Therefore, exploring the use of phytochemicals in cosmetic dermatology is essential. Objective: In the current in vitro studies, we investigated the skin-protection properties of capsanthin 50%w/w crystals (CAP-50CR) and capsanthin 1.5% w/w soft extract (CAP-1.5SE) obtained from red bell pepper fruits, out of which one is an industrial by-product on sunburn, melanin inhibition, tyrosinase inhibition, anti-fungal activity and, gene expression of Aquaporin 3 (AQP-3) in the human keratinocyte cell line. Methodology: The two extracts, obtained by solvent extraction, super critical extract purification, saponification, characterized, and examined on their dermatological activities. Results: Capsanthin 50%w/w crystals (CAP-50CR) showed a sun protection factor (SPF) value of 34.44 whereas capsanthin 1.5% w/w soft extract (CAP-1.5SE) showed a value of 20.63. Minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of CAP-50CR against Malassezia furfur was 0.625 mg/mL and CAP-1.5SE showed a MIC of 5mg/mL. Both CAP-50CR and CAP-1.5SE showed the same MIC against Candida albicans which is 2.5 mg/mL. In the MTT assay on mouse skin melanoma cells (B16F10), the test substance CAP-50CR showed a CTC50 value of 98.44±2.55 µg/mL whereas the test substance CAP-1.5SE exhibited a CTC50 value greater than 1000 µg/mL. Further, the non-toxic concentrations of the test items were evaluated for forskolin-induced melanin inhibition activity. For CAP-50CR, the non-toxic concentration of 7 and 3 µg/mL showed the melanin inhibition of 48.73±0.75% and 42.29±5.2% and for CAP-1.5SE the melanin inhibition was found to be 55.84%±1.47 and 46.44%±1.05 for the non-toxic concentration of 50 and 25µg/mL. The CAP-50CR extract showed 43.78% and 39.37% tyrosinase inhibition at the tested concentrations of 7 and 3 µg/mL. Similarly, CAP-1.5SE showed the tyrosinase inhibitions as 34.6% and 22.9% for the concentrations of 50 and 25 µg/mL. The test substances CAP-50CR and CAP-1.5SE exhibited a CTC50 value of 76.59±3.25 μg/mL and 664.95±2.88 µg/mL on the HaCaT cells. In the gene expression study, both the test substances showed an increase in the levels of AQP-3 mRNAs at lower and higher concentrations as compared to the control in the semi-quantitative RT-PCR procedure. Conclusion: CAP-50CR and CAP-1.5SE showed skin protection from UV radiation and hyperpigmentation. Also exhibits anti-fungal, skin brightening, anti-wrinkle and moisturizing properties. These results suggests that capsanthin from red bell pepper fruit can be employed as cosmetic active ingredient in skin guard formulations and as a potential therapeutic agent for variety of dermatological disorders. This study breaks new ground by investigating the potential of capsanthin in the management of skin protection for the first time.

Dry eye disease (DED) is a complex ocular surface inflammatory disease. Its occurrence varies widely over the world, ranging from 5% to 34%. The use of preservatives, specifically benzalkonium chloride, in the ocular drops worsens the DED conditions. Furthermore, the Covid-19 pandemic increased screen time and the use of face masks and shields. As a result, the number of people suffering from dry eye disease (DED) has increased significantly in recent years. The main objective of our study is to find a solution to manage the dry eye disease (DED) preferably from natural source without any adverse events. In this study, the beneficial effects of capsanthin from Capsicum annum (CCA) were evaluated on benzalkonium chloride (BAC)-induced dry eye disease (DED) in Albino Wistar rats. Oral supplementation of CCA resulted in a statistically significant decrease in intraocular pressure (IOP) (p .0001), increase in tear break-up time (TBUT) (p .01), decline in Schirmer test results (p .01), and decrease in corneal surface inflammation (p .01). Capsanthin ameliorated in reducing oxidative stress by increasing serum antioxidant levels such as glutathione peroxidase (GPX), nitric oxide (NO), and lactoferrin (LTF) and inhibiting matrix metalloproteinases 2 and 9 (MMP2 and MMP9) (p .0001). Capsanthin treatment significantly inhibited the expression of inflammatory cytokines, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukins (IL-2, IL-4, IL-6), and pro-inflammatory mediator, matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP9). Furthermore, the lacrimal gland expressed vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM-1), and prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2 (PTGS2) was suppressed by CCA treatment. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Benzalkonium chloride (BAC), a preservative widely used in the topical ocular drug delivery system (ODDS), causes undesirable effects such as dry eye disease as well as ameliorating intraocular pressure leading to optical nerve damage and irreversible vision loss. Capsanthin from Capsicum annum (CCA) can be used to treat symptoms related to dry eye disease such as inflammation, eye irritation, visual disturbance, ocular discomfort with potential damage to the ocular surface. The CCA may be beneficial in the treatment of glaucoma, an elevated intraocular pressure. Capsanthin from C. annum can be useful in managing DED by increasing tear break-up time (TBUT), declining in Schirmer test results and decreasing in corneal surface inflammation.

Artabotrys species which belongs to Annonaceae family are pleasant smelling and it is attributed to the presence of mono and sesquiterpenoids present in the essential oil of the plant. The objective of the present work is to review the chemical composition of the essential oils reported from twenty different Artabotrys species from various parts of the world. In the various Artabotrys species, the major compounds are monoterpene and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons and oxygenated sesquiterpenes. The frequently and most commonly identified constituents are β-caryophyllene, caryophyllene oxide, 3-Carene, cyperene, cyperenone and 1,5-epoxy-salvial4(14)-ene. Other constituents seems to be more specific to the respective Artabotrys species.