There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

The use of and search for drugs and dietary supplements derived from plants have accelerated in recent years. Ethnopharmacologists, botanists, microbiologists, and natural-products chemists are combing the Earth for phytochemicals and “leads” which could be developed for treatment of infectious diseases. While 25 to 50% of current pharmaceuticals are derived from plants, none are used as antimicrobials. Traditional healers have long used plants to prevent or cure infectious conditions; Western medicine is trying to duplicate their successes. Plants are rich in a wide variety of secondary metabolites, such as tannins, terpenoids, alkaloids, and flavonoids, which have been found in vitro to have antimicrobial properties. This review attempts to summarize the current status of botanical screening efforts, as well as in vivo studies of their effectiveness and toxicity. The structure and antimicrobial properties of phytochemicals are also addressed. Since many of these compounds are currently available as unregulated botanical preparations and their use by the public is increasing rapidly, clinicians need to consider the consequences of patients self-medicating with these preparations.

Plant Products as Antimicrobial Agents

https://cyberleninka.org/article/n/132565.pdf

Discovery and resupply of pharmacologically active plant-derived natural products: A review.

Medicinal plants are gaining much interest recently because their use in ethno medicine treating common disease such as cold, fever and other medicinal claims are now supported with sound scientific evidences. The study on medicinal plants started with extraction procedures that play a critical role to the extraction outcomes (e.g. yield and phytochemicals content) and also to the consequent assays performed. A wide range of technologies with different methods of extraction is available nowadays. Hence, this review aim to describe and compare the most commonly used methods based on their principle, strength and limitation to help evaluating the suitability and economic feasibility of the methods.

https://www.longdom.org/open-access/a-review-on-the-extraction-methods-use-in-medicinal-plants-principle-strength-and-limitation-2167-0412-1000196.pdf

A Review on the Extraction Methods Use in Medicinal Plants, Principle, Strength and Limitation

EBV was the first human virus to be directly implicated in carcinogenesis. It infects >90% of the world's population. Although most humans coexist with the virus without serious sequelae, a small proportion will develop tumors. Normal host populations can have vastly different susceptibility to EBV-related tumors as demonstrated by geographical and immunological variations in the prevalence of these cancers. EBV has been implicated in the pathogenesis of Burkitt's lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and lymphomas, as well as leiomyosarcomas arising in immunocompromised individuals. The presence of this virus has also been associated with epithelial malignancies arising in the gastric region and the breast, although some of this work remains in dispute. EBV uses its viral proteins, the actions of which mimic several growth factors, transcription factors, and antiapoptotic factors, to usurp control of the cellular pathways that regulate diverse homeostatic cellular functions. Recent advances in antiviral therapeutics, application of monoclonal antibodies, and generation of EBV-specific CTLs are beginning to show promise in the treatment of EBV-related disorders.

https://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/clincanres/10/3/803.full.pdf

Epstein-Barr Virus and Cancer

Antibacterial activity of plant extracts used externally in traditional medicine

The present study aimed to evaluate acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory and antioxidant activities of Lamiaceae medicinal plants growing wild in Croatia. Using Ellman’s colorimetric assay all tested ethanolic extracts and their hydroxycinnamic acid constituents demonstrated in vitro AChE inhibitory properties in a dose dependent manner. The extracts of Mentha x piperita, M. longifolia, Salvia officinalis, Satureja montana, Teucrium arduini, T. chamaedrys, T. montanum, T. polium and Thymus vulgaris at 1 mg/mL showed strong inhibitory activity against AChE. The antioxidant potential of the investigated Lamiaceae species was assessed by DPPH• scavenging activity and total antioxidant capacity assays, in comparison with hydroxycinnamic acids and trolox. The extracts differed greatly in their total hydroxycinnamic derivatives content, determined spectrophotometrically. Rosmarinic acid was found to be the predominant constituent in most of the investigated medicinal plants (by RP-HPLC) and had a substantial influence on their AChE inhibitory and antioxidant properties, with the exception of Teucrium species. These findings indicate that Lamiaceae species are a rich source of various natural AChE inhibitors and antioxidants that could be useful in the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s and other related diseases.

/pdf/acetylcholinesterase-inhibitory-antioxidant-and-4up6v5hh98.pdf

Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitory, Antioxidant and Phytochemical Properties of Selected Medicinal Plants of the Lamiaceae Family

Adhatoda vasica Nees is a shrub widespread throughout the tropical regions of southeast Asia. It possesses a wide spectrum of medicinal properties including positive effects on inflammatory diseases. The antiinflammatory activity of the methanol extract, the non-alkaloid fraction, the saponins and the alkaloids was evaluated by the modified hen's egg chorioallantoic membrane test. The alkaloid fraction showed potent activity at a dose of 50 microg/pellet equivalent to that of hydrocortisone while the MeOH extract and the other fractions showed less activity.

Adelheid Brantner

Papers

Antibacterial activity of plant extracts used externally in traditional medicine

Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitory, Antioxidant and Phytochemical Properties of Selected Medicinal Plants of the Lamiaceae Family

Study of alkaloids from Adhatoda vasica Nees on their antiinflammatory activity

Cancer chemopreventive activity of Achyranthes aspera leaves on Epstein–Barr virus activation and two-stage mouse skin carcinogenesis

Antimicrobial activity of Paliurus spina-christi Mill. (Christ's thorn)