Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Nanoparticles (NPs) are increasingly used to target bacteria as an alternative to antibiotics. Nanotechnology may be particularly advantageous in treating bacterial infections. Examples include the utilization of NPs in antibacterial coatings for implantable devices and medicinal materials to prevent infection and promote wound healing, in antibiotic delivery systems to treat disease, in bacterial detection systems to generate microbial diagnostics, and in antibacterial vaccines to control bacterial infections. The antibacterial mechanisms of NPs are poorly understood, but the currently accepted mechanisms include oxidative stress induction, metal ion release, and non-oxidative mechanisms. The multiple simultaneous mechanisms of action against microbes would require multiple simultaneous gene mutations in the same bacterial cell for antibacterial resistance to develop; therefore, it is difficult for bacterial cells to become resistant to NPs. In this review, we discuss the antibacterial mechanisms of NPs against bacteria and the factors that are involved. The limitations of current research are also discussed.

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The antimicrobial activity of nanoparticles: present situation and prospects for the future

The use of herbal medicinal products and supplements has increased tremendously over the past three decades with not less than 80% of people worldwide relying on them for some part of primary health care. Although therapies involving these agents have shown promising potential with the efficacy of a good number of herbal products clearly established, many of them remain untested and their use are either poorly monitored or not even monitored at all. The consequence of this is an inadequate knowledge of their mode of action, potential adverse reactions, contraindications and interactions with existing orthodox pharmaceuticals and functional foods to promote both safe and rational use of these agents. Since safety continues to be a major issue with the use of herbal remedies, it becomes imperative, therefore, that relevant regulatory authorities put in place appropriate measures to protect public health by ensuring that all herbal medicines are safe and of suitable quality. This review discusses toxicity related-issues and major safety concerns arising from the use of herbal medicinal products and also highlights some important challenges associated with effective monitoring of their safety.

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The growing use of herbal medicines: issues relating to adverse reactions and challenges in monitoring safety

Code and data for "Aerosol and Surface Stability of SARS-CoV-2 as Compared with SARS-CoV-1"

Oxidative stress is a normal phenomenon in the body. Under normal conditions, the physiologically important intracellular levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are maintained at low levels by various enzyme systems participating in the in vivo redox homeostasis. Therefore, oxidative stress can also be viewed as an imbalance between the prooxidants and antioxidants in the body. For the last two decades, oxidative stress has been one of the most burning topics among the biological researchers all over the world. Several reasons can be assigned to justify its importance: knowledge about reactive oxygen and nitrogen species production and metabolism; identification of biomarkers for oxidative damage; evidence relating manifestation of chronic and some acute health problems to oxidative stress; identification of various dietary antioxidants present in plant foods as bioactive molecules; and so on. This review discusses the importance of oxidative stress in the body growth and development as well as proteomic and genomic evidences of its relationship with disease development, incidence of malignancies and autoimmune disorders, increased susceptibility to bacterial, viral, and parasitic diseases, and an interplay with prooxidants and antioxidants for maintaining a sound health, which would be helpful in enhancing the knowledge of any biochemist, pathophysiologist, or medical personnel regarding this important issue.

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Oxidative Stress, Prooxidants, and Antioxidants: The Interplay

Preface. List of Contributors. 1 Bioactive Phytocompounds: New Approaches in the Phytosciences (Ricardo Ramos Mendonca-Filho). 1.1 Introduction. 1.2 Development of Fast Reliable Methods of Extraction and High-Throughoutput Screening (HTS) of Crude Plant Extracts: New Challenges. 1.3 Antimicrobial Bioactive Phytocompounds from Extraction to Identification: Process Standardization. 1.4 Problems Associated with the Efficacy, Stability and Quality Control of Herbal Drugs Preparations. 1.5 Novel Bioactive Phytocompounds Against Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria/Fungi: The Management of Infectious and Chronic Diseases. 1.6 Mode of Action of Bioactive Phytocompounds and their Interactions with Macromolecules and Toxicity. 1.7 Bioactive Phytocompounds and Future Perspectives. References. 2 Quality Control, Screening, Toxicity, and Regulation of Herbal Drugs (Wickramasinghe M. Bandaranayake). 2.1 Introduction. 2.2 Preparation of Herbal Drugs. 2.3 Quality Control of Herbal Drugs. 2.4 Herbal Supplements. 2.5 Adulteration of Herbal Drugs. 2.6 Contamination of Herbal Drugs and Herb-Drug Interactions. 2.7 Toxicity of Herbal Drugs. 2.8 Screening of Herbal Drugs. 2.9 Labeling of Herbal Products. 2.10 Policies and Regulations. 2.11 Trends and Developments. 2.12 Conclusions. References. 3 Herbal Medicines: Prospects and Constraints (Iqbal Ahmad, Farrukh Aqil, Farah Ahmad, and Mohammad Owais). 3.1 Introduction. 3.2 Prospects for Herbal Medicine. 3.3 Constraints in Herbal Medicine. 3.4 Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) for Herbal Medicine. 3.5 Improving the Quality, Safety and Efficacy of Herbal Medicine. 3.6 Conclusions. Acknowledgments. References. 4 Bioactive Phytocompounds and Products Traditionally Used in Japan (Jin-ichi Sasaki). 4.1 Introduction. 4.2 Garlic. 4.3 Mushroom. 4.4 Sweetcorn. 4.5 Oil and Flavor of Tree Hiba (Japanese Cypress) (Hinokitiol). 4.6 Conclusions. Acknowledgments. References. 5 Plant Extracts Used to Manage Bacterial, Fungal, and Parasitic Infections in Southern Africa (J.N. Eloff and L.J. McGaw). 5.1 Introduction. 5.2 Biodiversity in Southern Africa. 5.3 Use of Plants in Southern African Traditional Medicine. 5.4 The Need for Anti-Infective Agents. 5.5 Selection of Plant Species to Investigate. 5.6 Collecting, Drying, and Storage of Plant Material. 5.7 Extraction of Plant Material. 5.8 Evaluating Quantitative Antimicrobial Activity. 5.9 Evaluating Qualitative Biological Activity. 5.10 Expression of Results. 5.11 Antibacterial Activity. 5.12 Results on Antibacterial Activity Obtained with Members of the Combretaceae. 5.13 Antifungal Activity. 5.14 Antiparasitic Activity. 5.15 Other Anti-Infective Research in South Africa. 5.16 Cytotoxicity. 5.17 Ethnoveterinary Research. 5.18 Determining the in vivo Efficacy of Extracts and Isolated Compounds. 5.19 Conclusion. References. 6 Biological and Toxicological Properties of Moroccan Plant Extracts: Advances in Research (M. Larhsini). 6.1 Introduction. 6.2 Ethnobotanic and Ethnopharmacology of Traditional Moroccan Plants. 6.3 Toxicological Assays. 6.4 Conclusions. References. 7 Anti-MRSA and Anti-VRE Activities of Phytoalexins and Phytoncides Isolated from Tropical Plants (Yoshikazu Sakagami). 7.1 Introduction. 7.2 Phytoalexins and Phytoncides. 7.3 Antibiotics. 7.4 Bacteria and Broth. 7.5 Isolation of Phytoalexins and Phytoncides. 7.6 Minimum Inhibitory Concentration. 7.7 Synergism of Antibacterial Compounds with Commercially Available Antibiotics. 7.8 Antibacterial Activities. 7.9 Synergism Between the Test Compounds and Commercial Antibiotics Against VRE, MRSA, VSE, and MSSA. References. 8 Methods for Testing the Antimicrobial Activity of Extracts (Jenny M. Wilkinson). 8.1 Introduction. 8.2 Antibacterial Assays. 8.3 Antifungal Assays. 8.4 In vivo Assessment of Antibacterial and Antifungal Activity. 8.5 Methods for Assessing Antiviral Activity. 8.6 Screening of Plant Extracts for Antiparasitic Activity. 8.7 Conclusions. References. 9 Targeted Screening of Bioactive Plant Extracts and Phytocompounds Against Problematic Groups of Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria (Farrukh Aqil, Iqbal Ahmad, and Mohammad Owais). 9.1 Introduction. 9.2 Approaches to Targeted Screening Against MDR Bacteria. 9.3 Other Potential Approaches. 9.4 Conclusions and Future Directions. Acknowledgments. References. 10 Activity of Plant Extracts and Plant-Derived Compounds against Drug-Resistant Microorganisms (Antonia Nostro). 10.1 Introduction. 10.2 Plant Materials with General Antimicrobial Activity Including some Drug-Resistant Strains. 10.3 Plant Materials with Specific Antimicrobial Activity Against Drug-Resistant Strains. 10.4 Plant Materials that Restore the Effectiveness of Antimicrobial Agents and/or Inhibit Drug Resistance Mechanisms. 10.5 Conclusions. References. 11 An Alternative Holistic Medicinal Approach to the Total Management of Hepatic Disorders: A Novel Polyherbal Formulation (Mohammad Owais, Iqbal Ahmad, Shazia Khan, Umber Khan, and Nadeem Ahmad). 11.1 Introduction. 11.2 Conventional Medicines for Liver Disorders. 11.3 Herbal Medicines - Potential Therapeutic Agents with Minimal Side-Effects. 11.4 Contributions of Elementology to Potential Treatments for Hepatic Disorders. 11.5 Other Alternatives in Liver Therapy. 11.6 Conclusions. References. 12 Traditional Plants and Herbal Remedies Used in the Treatment of Diarrheal Disease: Mode of Action, Quality, Efficacy, and Safety Considerations (Enzo A. Palombo). 12.1 Introduction. 12.2 Methods Used in the Evaluation of Bioactivity of Medicinal Plants. 12.3 Traditional Medicinal Plants Used in the Treatment of Diarrhea that Display Antimicrobial Activity. 12.4 Traditional Medicinal Plants Used in the Treatment of Diarrhea that Display Antidiarrheal Activity. 12.5 Phytochemical Analysis, Identification of Active Plant Components, and Mechanism of Action of Medicinal Plants Used in the Treatment of Diarrhea. 12.6 Quality, Efficacy, and Safety Considerations. 12.7 Conclusions. Acknowledgments. References. 13 Mutagenicity and Antimutagenicity of Medicinal Plants (Javed Musarrat, Farrukh Aqil, and Iqbal Ahmad). 13.1 Introduction. 13.2 Plants as Protective Agents Against DNA Damage. 13.3 Antimutagenic Properties of Edible and Medicinal Plants. 13.4 Mutagenicity of Plant Extracts and Phytocompounds. 13.5 "Janus Carcinogens and Mutagens". 13.6 Chemical Nature of Phytoantimutagenic Compounds. 13.7 Assays for Mutagenicity and Antimutagenicity. 13.8 Paradigms in Antimutagenicity Research. 13.9 Conclusions. References. 14 Potential of Plant-Derived Products in the Treatment of Mycobacterial Infections (Deepa Bisht, Mohammad Owais, and K. Venkatesan). 14.1 Introduction. 14.2 Current Therapy of Tuberculosis and Leprosy. 14.3 Need for Newer Antimycobacterial Drugs. 14.4 Plant Extracts. 14.5 Well-Characterized Plant-Derived Compounds. 14.6 Conclusion. Acknowledgements. References. 15 Ethnomedicinal Antivirals: Scope and Opportunity (Debprasad Chattopadhyay). 15.1 Introduction. 15.2 Antiviral Ethnomedicines Against Common Virus Families. 15.3 Major Groups of Antivirals from Plants. 15.4 Mixtures and Other Compounds. 15.5 Experimental Approaches. 15.6 Future Prospects. 15.7 Conclusions. Acknowledgments. References. 16 Immunomodulatory Effects of Phytocompounds (Buket Cicioglu Ar dogan). 16.1 Introduction. 16.2 Effect of Specific Medicinal Herbs on Immune System and Immune Cells. 16.3 General Properties of Echinacea Species. 16.4 Effects of Echinacea Species on the Immune System and Various Immune Cells. 16.5 Asteraceae. 16.6 Lithospermum erythrorhizon. 16.7 Guarana. 16.8 Side and Adverse Effects of Some Phytocompounds. 16.9 Conclusion. References. 17 Use of a Liposomal Delivery System for Herbal-Based Therapeutics (with a Focus on Clove Oil) (Nadeem Ahmad, Maroof Alam, Iqbal Ahmad, and Mohammad Owais). 17.1 Introduction. 17.2 Rationale for Using Liposomized Formulation of Clove Oil. 17.3 Experiments Conducted to Develop Liposomal Clove Oil Formulation. 17.4 Conclusions. References. Subject Index.

Modern phytomedicine: Turning Medicinal Plants into Drugs

Antibacterial efficacy of Withania somnifera (ashwagandha) an indigenous medicinal plant against experimental murine salmonellosis

BACKGROUND Nanomaterials are considered to be the pre-eminent component of the rapidly advancing field of nanotechnology. However, developments in the biologically inspired synthesis of nanoparticles are still in their infancy and consequently attracting the attention of material scientists throughout the world. Keeping in mind the fact that microorganism-assisted synthesis of nanoparticles is a safe and economically viable prospect, in the current study we report Candida albicans-mediated biological synthesis of gold nanoparticles. METHODS AND RESULTS Transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and various spectrophotometric analyses were performed to characterize the gold nanoparticles. The morphology of the synthesized gold particles depended on the abundance of C. albicans cytosolic extract. Transmission electron microscopy, nanophox particle analysis, and atomic force microscopy revealed the size of spherical gold nanoparticles to be in the range of 20-40 nm and nonspherical gold particles were found to be 60-80 nm. We also evaluated the potential of biogenic gold nanoparticles to probe liver cancer cells by conjugating them with liver cancer cell surface-specific antibodies. The antibody-conjugated gold particles were found to bind specifically to the surface antigens of the cancer cells. CONCLUSION The antibody-conjugated gold particles synthesized in this study could successfully differentiate normal cell populations from cancerous cells.

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Fungus-mediated biological synthesis of gold nanoparticles: potential in detection of liver cancer.

The degradation of organic pollutants in the aqueous medium using semiconductor photocatalysts has become an attractive method for detoxification of water. ZnO is an efficient photocatalyst with few disadvantages such as: (i) the wide band gap (3.37 eV); and (ii) the fast recombination rate of photogenerated electron–hole pairs which limit the photodegradation efficiency of bare ZnO photocatalyst. Herein, we report a strategy for the suppression of electron–hole pair recombination rate, extention the absorption edge in the visible region and enhancement of photocatalytic efficiency by introducing rare earth metal as a dopant. We present the fabrication of pure and Er/Nd doped ZnO semiconductor photocatalysts with hexagonal wurtzite structure using sol gel method. The prepared photocatalysts were characterized by standard analytical techniques, such as XRD, SEM-EDS, TEM, FTIR, XPS, BET, TGA, DTA, DSC, PL, DRS and UV-vis spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity of pure and doped ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) was investigated by studying the degradation of two different organic dyes as a function of irradiation time. The results indicate that the photocatalytic activity of doped ZnO was found to be higher than bare ZnO for degradation of dyes. This may be attributed predominantly due to decrease in the recombination rate by the efficient charge separation of photoinduced electron–hole pair as inferred from PL studies. The results also indicate that parameters such as amount of photocatalyst dose, initial pH and different quenchers play a significant role for degradation of model dyes. The synthesized photocatalyst was recycled four times for degradation of dye with very little decrease in efficiency. Interestingly, comparative in vitro antibacterial and anticancer potential of the pure and Er/Nd doped ZnO NPs were also investigated against human pathogenic bacterial strains and various human cancer cell lines. The result of our study clearly revealed that Nd doped ZnO NPs showed better antibacterial as well as anticancer efficacy as compared to pure and Er doped ZnO NPs.

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Facile fabrication of highly efficient modified ZnO photocatalyst with enhanced photocatalytic, antibacterial and anticancer activity

Hindawi Publishing Corporation BioMed Research International Volume 2013, Article ID 835105, 2 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/835105 Editorial Novel Vaccine Adjuvants Anshu Agrawal, 1 Mohammad Owais, 2 and Udai P. Singh 3 Division of Basic and Clinical Immunology, Department of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh 202002, India Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, University of South Carolina, School of Medicine, Building 1, Room B 42, 6439 Garners Ferry Road, Columbia, SC 29208, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Anshu Agrawal; aagrawal@uci.edu Received 11 September 2013; Accepted 11 September 2013 Copyright © 2013 Anshu Agrawal et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Vaccines still remain the most successful method for pro- tection and eradication against diseases. However, to avoid harmful effects associated with whole organism vaccines, new vaccine candidates are composed of parts of an organism, and therefore these are weakly immunogenic. Adjuvants are essential components of vaccines that nonspecifically stim- ulate the immune system, particularly the innate immune system cells, to enhance the immunogenicity of vaccines. Initially the major function of adjuvants such as alum was to allow sustained presence of antigens by preventing their degradation in vivo. Recent advances have, however, demonstrated that success of alum as an adjuvant is also due to its ability to activate the innate immune system cells. Significant progress in the last decade has increased our understanding of the innate immune system which is highly complex and can be activated via a wide array of receptors to generate different immune responses. The nature of adaptive immune response, quality, and quantity are governed by how the innate immune responses are activated. Novel adjuvants are therefore targeted to receptors expressed on antigen-presenting cells (APCs) such as dendritic cells (DCs) to activate the innate immune system. DCs express an array of pathogen recognition receptors (PRRs) so that they can recognize any threat to the body. Examples of PRRs include the TLRs, CLRs, and NLRs. Apart from preventing infections, vaccinations are also being used as therapy against tumors. Targeting antigens to APCs along with adjuvants allows the induction of immune response against tumors. The manuscript by L. Arribillaga et al., in this tissue, demonstrates that fusion of an antigen to the extra domain A from fibronectin (EDA) targets antigens to TLR4-expressing cells such as DCs leading to their activation. The approach is also effective for cross-presentation as well as the induction of antiviral/tumor immunity. Furthermore, the approach is universal as conjugation of EDA to streptavidin allows any biotinylated antigens to be used as immunogen for vaccination purposes. In contrast to the approach above, N. Kojima et al. use oligomannose-coated liposomes to target and stimulate APCs. The oligomannose on the liposomes targets antigens to the C-type lectin receptor (CLR) and is effective in inducing CTLs and/or Th1 cells. This approach is also universal because both lipophilic and hydrophilic antigens can be incorporated in the liposomes. Contrary to these surface receptor targeting methodologies, C. A. Colaco et al. discuss the merits of using heat shock proteins (HSPs) as vaccine adjuvants because HSPs are not just stimulators of innate immunity but can also traffic antigens into APCs, facil- itating the induction of specific acquired immune responses. Since the new generations of adjuvants being developed are highly specific in the type of CD4T, CD8T, or B-cell response they can stimulate, therefore, recent approaches for vaccine development are focused on utilizing a combi- nation of adjuvants to activate the various components of immune system to generate an effective memory response. The manuscript by E. Mata et al. provides an excellent example of a combinatorial approach in which they discuss that a successful malaria vaccine may require a combination of adjuvants which can activate different parts of the immune system. The review also provides an excellent overview of various types and properties of adjuvants in both preclinical

https://downloads.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2013/835105.pdf

Mohammad Owais

Papers

Modern phytomedicine: Turning Medicinal Plants into Drugs

Antibacterial efficacy of Withania somnifera (ashwagandha) an indigenous medicinal plant against experimental murine salmonellosis

Fungus-mediated biological synthesis of gold nanoparticles: potential in detection of liver cancer.

Facile fabrication of highly efficient modified ZnO photocatalyst with enhanced photocatalytic, antibacterial and anticancer activity

Novel Vaccine Adjuvants