Agastache honey has superior antifungal activity in comparison with important commercial honeys.

There is an urgent need for new effective antifungal agents suitable for the treatment of superficial skin infections, since acquired resistance of fungi to currently available agents is increasing. The antifungal activity of mono-floral Agastache honey and commercially available honeys were tested against dermatophytes (T. mentagrophytes and T.

Antimicrobial Activity of Honey and Characterization of Its Bioactive Compounds in Comparison With Important Commercial Honeys.

There is an urgent need for new effective antimicrobial agents since acquired resistance of bacteria to currently available agents is increasing. The antimicrobial activity of Mono-floral honey produced from Australian grown was compared with the activity of commercially available honeys derived from species and with Jarrah honey for activity against clinical and non-clinical strains of (methicillin-susceptible and methicillin-resistant strains), , and . The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for honey was in the range of 6-25% (w/v) for all species examined.

Honey and Its Role in Relieving Multiple Facets of Atherosclerosis.

Honey, a natural sweetener has been used universally as a complete food and in complementary medicine since early antiquity. Honey contains over 180 substances, including sugars mainly fructose and glucose, water and a plethora of minor constituents such as vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals. The chemical composition of honey varies depending on floral origin, environment and geographical conditions.

The role of symptoms and insight in mediating cognition and functioning in first episode psychosis.

Introduction: Achieving functional recovery in patients with psychosis is a challenge in clinical practice. Investigating the complex interplay between cognition, symptoms, insight and functional outcome in first episode psychosis will be crucial to understanding the factors leading to better functioning.

Methods: In this 12-month prospective follow-up study, we investigated how cognition, clinical symptoms, and insight into illness affected overall functioning in 160 patients with first episode psychosis recruited from the Early Assessment Service for Young People with Psychosis (EASY) in Hong Kong from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2016.

Predicting first-episode psychosis patients who will never relapse over 10 years.

Background: Although relapse in psychosis is common, a small proportion of patients will not relapse in the long term. We examined the proportion and predictors of patients who never relapsed in the 10 years following complete resolution of positive symptoms from their first psychotic episode.

Method: Patients who previously enrolled in a 12-month randomized controlled trial on medication discontinuation and relapse following first-episode psychosis (FEP) were followed up after 10 years.

A Comparison of Temporal Dominance of Sensation (TDS) and Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA™) to Identify Flavors in Strawberries.

Unlabelled: Temporal dominance of sensations (TDS) is a rapid descriptive method that offers a different magnitude of information to traditional descriptive analysis methodologies. This methodology considers the dynamic nature of eating, assessing sensory perception of foods as they change throughout the eating event. Limited research has applied the TDS methodology to strawberries and subsequently validated the results against Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA™).

Identifying Key Flavors in Strawberries Driving Liking via Internal and External Preference Mapping.

Unlabelled: Australian consumers desire the development of a more flavorsome Australian strawberry cultivar. To aid in the development of well-liked strawberries, the attributes driving liking need to be identified. The objective of this research is to apply Preference Mapping (PM) techniques to the descriptive profile of commercial and newly bred strawberry cultivars, together with consumer preference data to determine the flavors contributing to liking.

Long-term effects of discontinuation from antipsychotic maintenance following first-episode schizophrenia and related disorders: a 10 year follow-up of a randomised, double-blind trial.

Background: The long-term consequences of discontinuing antipsychotic medication after successful treatment of first-episode psychosis are not well studied. We assess the relation between early maintenance therapy decisions in first-episode psychosis and the subsequent clinical outcome at 10 years.

Methods: This is a 10 year follow-up study, spanning Sept 5, 2003, to Dec 30, 2014, of a randomised, double-blind trial in seven centres in Hong Kong in which 178 patients with first-episode psychosis with full positive symptom resolution after at least 1 year of antipsychotic treatment were given maintenance treatment (n=89; oral quetiapine 400 mg daily) or early treatment discontinuation (n=89; placebo) for 12 months.

Characterization of Physico-Chemical Properties and Antioxidant Capacities of Bioactive Honey Produced from Australian Grown Agastache rugosa and its Correlation with Colour and Poly-Phenol Content.

The antioxidant and antimicrobial components of honey vary based on sourced of nectar. Medicinal plants with the therapeutic value have potential to produce honey with greater bioactivity. The aim of the present study was to characterize the physico-chemical and antioxidant capacities of honey produced from and compare them with other popular commercial honeys sold in Australia.

Identification and validation of FaP1D7, a putative marker associated with the biosynthesis of methyl butanoate in cultivated strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa).

Breeding strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) with enhanced fruit flavour is one of the top breeding goals of many strawberry-producing countries. Although several genes involved in the biosynthetic pathways of key aroma compounds have been identified, the development and application of molecular markers associated with fruit flavour remain limited. This study aims to identify molecular markers closely linked to genes controlling strawberry aroma.

Saposhnikoviae divaricata: a phytochemical, pharmacological, and pharmacokinetic review.

Saposhnikoviae divaricata (Turcz.) Schischk (SD) is a traditional Chinese herb commonly used to treat clinical conditions such as rheumatism and allergic rhinitis. This review article evaluates a collection of works on in vitro and biochemical studies of SD.

Application of subtracted gDNA microarray-assisted Bulked Segregant Analysis for rapid discovery of molecular markers associated with day-neutrality in strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa).

A Fragaria Discovery Panel (FDP; strawberry-specific SDA) containing 287 features was constructed by subtracting the pooled gDNA of nine non-angiosperm species from the pooled gDNA of five strawberry genotypes. This FDP was used for Bulk Segregant Analysis (BSA) to enable identification of molecular markers associated with day-neutrality. Analysis of hybridisation patterns of a short day (SD) DNA bulk and three day-neutral (DN) DNA bulks varying in flowering strength allowed identification of a novel feature, FaP2E11, closely linked to CYTOKININ OXIDASE 1 (CKX1) gene possibly involved in promoting flowering under non-inductive condition.

Antimicrobial Activity of Tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum) Essential Oil and Their Major Constituents against Three Species of Bacteria.

In recent years scientists worldwide have realized that the effective life span of any antimicrobial agent is limited, due to increasing development of resistance by microorganisms. Consequently, numerous studies have been conducted to find new alternative sources of antimicrobial agents, especially from plants. The aims of this project were to examine the antimicrobial properties of essential oils distilled from Australian-grown Ocimum tenuiflorum (Tulsi), to quantify the volatile components present in flower spikes, leaves and the essential oil, and to investigate the compounds responsible for any activity.

Analysis of the volatile organic compounds from leaves, flower spikes, and nectar of Australian grown Agastache rugosa.

Background: The foraging choices of honey bees are influenced by many factors, such as floral aroma. The composition of volatile compounds influences the bioactivity of the aromatic plants and honey produced from them. In this study, Agastache rugosa was evaluated as part of a project to select the most promising medicinal plant species for production of bioactive honey.

Prospective relationship between duration of untreated psychosis and 13-year clinical outcome: a first-episode psychosis study.

Background: The adverse effects of a long duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) have been explored in numerous short-term studies. These studies support the development of early interventions that reduce treatment delay and promote recovery. However, the enduring impact of DUP is largely unknown, partly due to the paucity of prospective long-term studies.

Predicting 1-year risk for relapse in patients who have discontinued or continued quetiapine after remission from first-episode psychosis.

Objective: Relapse is common among patients with psychotic disorders. Identification of relapse predictors is important for decision regarding maintenance medication. Naturalistic studies often identify medication non-adherence as a dominant predictor.

Subtracted diversity array identifies novel molecular markers including retrotransposons for fingerprinting Echinacea species.

Echinacea, native to the Canadian prairies and the prairie states of the United States, has a long tradition as a folk medicine for the Native Americans. Currently, Echinacea are among the top 10 selling herbal medicines in the U.S.

Chemical characterisation of two Australian-grown strawberry varieties by using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

The volatile compositions of two strawberry varieties ('Albion' and 'Juliette') grown in Australia were analysed with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) combined with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ToFMS). A suitable data processing method was created that should be sufficiently robust to compare sample chromatograms within a harvest season as well as between seasons with relative ease. Ninety-four compounds were tentatively or positively identified between the two varieties of which 20 have apparently not been previously reported to be components of strawberry volatiles.

First report of fingerprinting dried herbal products using a subtractive diversity array.

Unlabelled: Introduction Sequence - independent microarrays have never been used to identify and authenticate dried herbal plants.

Methods: We report successful fingerprinting of seven species: Leonurus sibiricus, Astragalus membranaceus, Coix lachryma-jobi, Magnolia biondii, Abutilon theophrasti, Physalis alkekengi, and Salvia miltiorrhiza from dried tissues using a sequence-independent microarray, "Subtracted Diversity Array".

Results: Herbal plants could be identified from tissues as they were sold at the clinic.

A gDNA microarray for genotyping salvia species.

Salvia is an important genus from the Lamiaceae with approximately 1,000 species. This genus is distributed globally and cultivated for ornamental, culinary, and medicinal uses. We report the construction of the first fingerprinting array for Salvia species enriched with polymorphic and divergent DNA sequences and demonstrate the potential of this array for fingerprinting several economically important members of this genus.

Fingerprinting the Asterid species using subtracted diversity array reveals novel species-specific sequences.

Background: Asterids is one of the major plant clades comprising of many commercially important medicinal species. One of the major concerns in medicinal plant industry is adulteration/contamination resulting from misidentification of herbal plants. This study reports the construction and validation of a microarray capable of fingerprinting medicinally important species from the Asterids clade.

Array-based techniques for fingerprinting medicinal herbs.

Poor quality control of medicinal herbs has led to instances of toxicity, poisoning and even deaths. The fundamental step in quality control of herbal medicine is accurate identification of herbs. Array-based techniques have recently been adapted to authenticate or identify herbal plants.

Detection of Panax quinquefolius in Panax ginseng using 'subtracted diversity array'.

Background: Food adulteration remains a major global concern. DNA fingerprinting has several advantages over chemical and morphological identification techniques. DNA microarray-based fingerprinting techniques have not been used previously to detect adulteration involving dried commercial samples of closely related species.