Nature's Toolbox for Alzheimer's Disease: A Review on the Potential of Natural Products as Alzheimer's Disease Drugs.

Numerous clinical trials involving natural products have been conducted to observe cognitive performances and biomarkers in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) patients. However, to date, no natural-based drugs have been approved by the FDA as treatments for AD. In this review, natural product-based compounds that were tested in clinical trials from 2011 to 2023, registered at www.

Breaking Down Cachexia: A Narrative Review on the Prevalence of Cachexia in Cancer Patients and Its Associated Risk Factors.

Cachexia is an irreversible condition that involves a significant loss of body weight, muscle mass, and adipose tissue. It is a complex condition that involves a variety of metabolic, hormonal, and immune-related factors, with the precise mechanisms not yet fully understood. In this review, the prevalence of cachexia in different types of cancer as well as the potential risk factors was evaluated from literature retrieved from databases such as ScienceDirect, PubMed and Scopus.

Finding Lead Compounds for Dengue Antivirals from a Collection of Old Drugs through Target Prediction and Subsequent Validation.

Dengue virus (DENV) infection is one of the most widely spread flavivirus infections. Despite the fatality it could cause, no antiviral treatment is currently available to treat the disease. Hence, this study aimed to repurpose old drugs as novel DENV NS3 inhibitors.

In silico toxicity studies of traditional Chinese herbal medicine: A mini review.

With the availability of public databases that store compound-target/compound-toxicity information, and Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) databases, in silico approaches are used in toxicity studies of TCM herbal medicine. Here, three in silico approaches for toxicity studies were reviewed, which include machine learning, network toxicology and molecular docking. For each method, its application and implementation e.

Structure-Activity Relationship Analysis of Flavonoids and Its Inhibitory Activity Against BACE1 Enzyme Toward a Better Therapy for Alzheimer's Disease.

Drug development in Alzheimer's disease (AD) suffers from a high attrition rate. In 2021, 117 agents tested in phases I and II and 36 agents tested in phase III were discontinued. Natural product compounds may be good lead compounds for AD as they contain functional groups that are important for binding against key AD targets such as β-secretase enzyme (BACE1).

Bioactive 2-(Methyldithio)Pyridine-3-Carbonitrile from Persian Shallot ( Regel.) Exerts Broad-Spectrum Antimicrobial Activity.

Antibiotic resistance is a problem that continues to challenge the healthcare sector, especially in clinically significant pathogens like methicillin-resistant (MRSA). Herein is described the isolation and structure elucidation of a bioactive compound from with antimicrobial activity. Crude dichloromethane extract (ASDE) was subjected to systematic purification by chromatographic procedures to afford various bioactive fractions.

In vivo efficacy of tobramycin-loaded synthetic calcium phosphate beads in a rabbit model of staphylococcal osteomyelitis.

Background: Osteomyelitis is an acute or chronic inflammatory process of the bone following infection with pyogenic organisms like Staphylococcus aureus. Tobramycin (TOB) is a promising aminoglycoside antibiotic used to treat various bacterial infections, including S. aureus.

Maternal Cognitive Impairment Associated with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus-A Review of Potential Contributing Mechanisms.

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) carries many risks, where high blood pressure, preeclampsia and future type II diabetes are widely acknowledged, but less focus has been placed on its effect on cognitive function. Although the multifactorial pathogenesis of maternal cognitive impairment is not completely understood, it shares several features with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). In this review, we discuss some key pathophysiologies of GDM that may lead to cognitive impairment, specifically hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, oxidative stress, and neuroinflammation.

Antifungal and antibiofilm activity of Persian shallot (Allium stipitatum Regel.) against clinically significant Candida spp.

Candida species are the most common cause of fungal infections that range from non-life-threatening mucocutaneous illness to life-threatening invasive processes that may involve virtually any organ. Such a broad range of infections requires an equally broad range of therapeutic approach. Persian shallot (Allium stipitatum Regel.

Antibacterial and Antibiofilm Activities of Nonpolar Extracts of Regel. against Multidrug Resistant Bacteria.

The present study assessed the antibacterial and antibiofilm potential of hexane (ASHE) and dichloromethane (ASDE) extracts of (Persian shallot) against planktonic cells and biofilm structures of clinically significant antibiotic resistant pathogens, with a special emphasis on methicillin-sensitive (MSSA), methicillin-resistant (MRSA), and emerging pathogens, and . Antibacterial activities were determined through disk diffusion, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC), time-kill kinetics, and electron microscopy. Antibiofilm activity was assessed by XTT [2,3-(2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfo-phenyl)-2H-tetrazolium-5-carboxanilide] reduction assay and by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM).

Whole-Exome Sequencing of ETV6/RUNX1 in Four Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia Cases.

Background: ETV6/RUNX1 gene fusion is the most frequently seen chromosomal abnormality in childhood acute lymphobastic leukamia (ALL). However, additional genetic changes are known to be required for the development of this type of leukaemia. Therefore, we here aimed to assess the somatic mutational profile of four ALL cases carrying the ETV6/RUNX1 fusion gene using whole-exome sequencing.

Understanding the mode-of-action of Cassia auriculata via in silico and in vivo studies towards validating it as a long term therapy for type II diabetes.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Cassia auriculata (CA) is used as an antidiabetic therapy in Ayurvedic and Siddha practice. This study aimed to understand the mode-of-action of CA via combined cheminformatics and in vivo biological analysis. In particular, the effect of 10 polyphenolic constituents of CA in modulating insulin and immunoprotective pathways were studied.

Animal Model of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus with Pathophysiological Resemblance to the Human Condition Induced by Multiple Factors (Nutritional, Pharmacological, and Stress) in Rats.

This study attempts to develop an experimental gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) animal model in female Sprague-Dawley rats. Rats were fed with high fat sucrose diet, impregnated, and induced with Streptozotocin and Nicotinamide on gestational day 0 (D0). Sleeping patterns of the rats were also manipulated to induce stress, a lifestyle factor that contributes to GDM.

Global Mapping of Traditional Chinese Medicine into Bioactivity Space and Pathways Annotation Improves Mechanistic Understanding and Discovers Relationships between Therapeutic Action (Sub)classes.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) still needs more scientific rationale to be proven for it to be accepted further in the West. We are now in the position to propose computational hypotheses for the mode-of-actions (MOAs) of 45 TCM therapeutic action (sub)classes from in silico target prediction algorithms, whose target was later annotated with Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway, and to discover the relationship between them by generating a hierarchical clustering. The results of 10,749 TCM compounds showed 183 enriched targets and 99 enriched pathways from Estimation Score ≤ 0 and ≥ 5% of compounds/targets in a (sub)class.

Computer-aided (in silico) approaches in the mode-of-action analysis and safety assessment of ostarine and 4-methylamphetamine.

Objective: This study exemplifies computer-aided (in silico) approaches in assessing the risks of new psychoactive substances emerging in the European Union. In this work, we (i) consider the potential of Ostarine exhibiting psychoactivity and (ii) anticipate potential activities and toxicities of 4-methylamphetamine.

Method: The approach, termed in silico target prediction, suggests potential protein targets modulated by compounds given their chemical structure.

Diversity selection of compounds based on 'protein affinity fingerprints' improves sampling of bioactive chemical space.

Diversity selection is a frequently applied strategy for assembling high-throughput screening libraries, making the assumption that a diverse compound set increases chances of finding bioactive molecules. Based on previous work on experimental 'affinity fingerprints', in this study, a novel diversity selection method is benchmarked that utilizes predicted bioactivity profiles as descriptors. Compounds were selected based on their predicted activity against half of the targets (training set), and diversity was assessed based on coverage of the remaining (test set) targets.

Chemogenomics approaches to rationalizing the mode-of-action of traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicines.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Ayurveda have been used in humans for thousands of years. While the link to a particular indication has been established in man, the mode-of-action (MOA) of the formulations often remains unknown. In this study, we aim to understand the MOA of formulations used in traditional medicine using an in silico target prediction algorithm, which aims to predict protein targets (and hence MOAs), given the chemical structure of a compound.