Search

Elnaz Saki,1 Vinuthaa Murthy,1 Hao Wang,1 Roshanak Khandanlou,1 Johanna Wapling,2 Richard Weir3 1Faculty of Science and Technology, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia; 2Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia; 3Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade, Berrimah Veterinary Laboratory, Darwin, Northern Territory, AustraliaCorrespondence: Elnaz Saki, Faculty of Science and Technology, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, 0909, Australia, Tel +61 42439 3238, Email elnaz.saki@cdu.edu.auIntroduction: Tinospora smilacina is a native plant used in traditional medicine by First Nations peoples in Australia to treat inflammation. In our previous study, an optimised Calophyllum inophyllum seed oil (CSO) nanoemulsion (NE) showed improved biomedical activities such as antimicrobial, antioxidant activity, cell viability and in vitro wound healing efficacy compared to CSO.Methods: In this study, a stable NE formulation combining T. smilacina water extract (TSWE) and CSO in a nanoemulsion (CTNE) was prepared to integrate the bioactive compounds in both native plants and improve wound healing efficacy. D-optimal mixture design was used to optimise the physicochemical characteristics of the CTNE, including droplet size and polydispersity index (PDI). Cell viability and in vitro wound healing studies were done in the presence of CTNE, TSWE and CSO against a clone of baby hamster kidney fibroblasts (BHK-21 cell clone BSR-T7/5).Results: The optimised CTNE had a 24 ± 5 nm particle size and 0.21± 0.02 PDI value and was stable after four weeks each at 4 °C and room temperature. According to the results, incorporating TSWE into CTNE improved its antioxidant activity, cell viability, and ability to promote wound healing. The study also revealed that TSWE has > 6% higher antioxidant activity than CSO. While CTNE did not significantly impact mammalian cell viability, it exhibited wound-healing properties in the BSR cell line during in vitro testing. These findings suggest that adding TSWE may enhance CTNE’s potential as a wound-healing treatment.Conclusion: This is the first study demonstrating NE formulation in which two different plant extracts were used in the aqueous and oil phases with improved biomedical activities.Keywords: medicinal plants, nanoemulsion, RSM, wound healing, in vitro

The Problem - Supply Side Plagiarism, the most commonly recognized form of academic, or intellectual, misconduct is nothing new. Would-be authors, scientists, students, faculty members, journalists, and others have used [...]

The Problem--Supply Side Plagiarism, the most commonly recognized form of academic, or intellectual, misconduct is nothing new. Would-be authors, scientists, students, faculty members, journalists, and others have used the shortcut [...]

This study examines the baseline characteristics and changes in health status and cost of use of health services associated with use of publicly funded home support services. The analysis includes 122 people 75 years of age or more who were eligible for home support services. Over a 6-month period, one third of the sample used home support services for more than 1 hr/week; these seniors had higher rates of depression and cognitive impairment, lower levels of physical and emotional functioning, and less effective coping styles than those who used fewer services. Cognitive impairment explained 17 per cent of the variation in use of home support services. At 6 months, use of home support services for more than 1 hr/week by seniors with higher levels of need was associated with lower cost of use of health services and lower levels of improvement in health status. These findings suggest the need for further research to identify efficacious ways of providing home support services to this population to enhance their health status using available resources.