The Potential of Fruits as a Natural Contraceptive: Antifertility Activity and Phytochemical Analysis.

Background: (family, Euphorbiaceae) is native to Yemen, where it is commonly known as the Ebki shrub. The fruits of the plant are traditionally ingested by local women as a natural method of contraception. This study was undertaken to investigate the phytochemical content of the methanol extract of fruits and to evaluate its antifertility potential.

Antioxidant, Antimicrobial and Wound Healing Potential of - An Interesting Plant Endemic to Yemen.

Background And Objective: Jatropha variegata is traditionally used in Yemeni folk medicine for antiseptic and hemostatic purposes. In this study, the methanolic extract of the plant leaves was evaluated for its antioxidant, antibacterial and wound healing activity.

Materials And Methods: The antioxidant activity was assessed using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay.

The Yemeni Brown Algae Exhibit High Anticancer Activity Independent of Its Antioxidant Capability.

The aim of this study was to investigate the anticancer and antioxidant activities as well as the safety of the brown algae of the Western seacoast of Yemen. Cytotoxicity of methanol extract of and several of its fractions, petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, n-butanol, and aqueous extracts against seven different cancer cell lines was determined by crystal violet staining. The antioxidant activity was also assessed using the DPPH radical scavenging assay.

Transcription factor-induced activation of cardiac gene expression in human c-kit+ cardiac progenitor cells.

Although transplantation of c-kit+ cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) significantly alleviates post-myocardial infarction left ventricular dysfunction, generation of cardiomyocytes by exogenous CPCs in the recipient heart has often been limited. Inducing robust differentiation would be necessary for improving the efficacy of the regenerative cardiac cell therapy. We assessed the hypothesis that differentiation of human c-kit+ CPCs can be enhanced by priming them with cardiac transcription factors (TFs).

C-Kit Promotes Growth and Migration of Human Cardiac Progenitor Cells via the PI3K-AKT and MEK-ERK Pathways.

A recent phase I clinical trial (SCIPIO) has shown that autologous c-kit+ cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) improve cardiac function and quality of life when transplanted into patients with ischemic heart disease. Although c-kit is widely used as a marker of resident CPCs, its role in the regulation of the cellular characteristics of CPCs remains unknown. We hypothesized that c-kit plays a role in the survival, growth, and migration of CPCs.

c-kit+ Cardiac stem cells alleviate post-myocardial infarction left ventricular dysfunction despite poor engraftment and negligible retention in the recipient heart.

Although transplantation of c-kit+ cardiac stem cells (CSCs) has been shown to alleviate left ventricular (LV) dysfunction induced by myocardial infarction (MI), the number of exogenous CSCs remaining in the recipient heart following transplantation and their mechanism of action remain unclear. We have previously developed a highly sensitive and accurate method to quantify the absolute number of male murine CSCs in female recipient organs after transplantation. In the present study, we used this method to monitor the number of donor CSCs in the recipient heart after intracoronary infusion.