Herbs have always been the principal form of medicine in India. Medicinal plants have curative properties due to the presence of various complex chemical substances of different composition, which are found as secondary plant metabolites in one or more parts of these plants. Murraya koenigii (L.) commonly known as Meethi neem, family Rutaceae, is used traditionally as antiemetic, antidiarrhoeal, febrifuge and blood purifier. The whole plant is considered to be a tonic and stomachic. The leaves are used extensively as a flavoring agent in curries and chutneys. The oil derived from the leaves is also applied externally to bruises and eruptions. The oil is also used in the perfume and soap industries. Studies indicate that it possesses antioxidant, antibacterial, anticarcinogenic, anti-lipid peroxidative, hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic properties. The present review aims to update information on its phytochemistry and pharmacological activities.

Composting is used in the management as a method to recover organic wastes. It provides the environmental and health benefits by reducing the survival and spread of pathogens. The growth of urban population and economic activities has resulted in corresponding growth of solid waste in Robe town. However, the traditional approach to organic solid waste management in the town focuses on the end of line solutions that are capital intensive, and therefore costly. The main purpose of the current study was to assess the challenges and opportunities of composting organic solid wastes. The research used descriptive method with survey strategy. To draw the sample, both probability and nonprobability sampling method were used and the total sample sizes of 384 from the three selected kebeles were selected proportionally to their respective household numbers. Both qualitative and quantitative tools such as questionnaires, interview, field observation and photography were used to collect the required data. The data quality was measured in terms of validity, reliability and practicability. The data were analyzed using, SPSS and Microsoft Excel. The finding of the study revealed that, there is no proper composting of organic solid wastes in the town. The challenges that hold back the implementation of composting organic solid waste includes lack of awareness, lack of adequate space for composting, lack of support from government, policy frame work, institutional problem (lack of department of urban agriculture) and budget constraint. However, the opportunities are availability of huge amount of organic wastes, farmers engaged in urban agriculture, suitable environment for composting, huge demand for organic fertilizer and an increase in price of chemical fertilizer.

Rhinosporodiosis is defined as a chronic granulomatous disease of the mucous membranes of the nasal cavity which is usually characterized by polyps or other forms of hyperplasia and caused by a yeast like microorganism, Rhinosporidium seeberi. It is one of the most common granulomatous condition of the nose which is characterised by nasal obstruction, epistaxis, rhinoorhea, foreign body sensation. In about 70% of the caes, the usual presentation site is the nasal cavity. It also occurs in connjunctiva and lacrimal apparatus of the eye in 15% of the cases. Skin, genital organs, rectum, mouth and upper airway is also affected in 15% of the cases. Diagnosis is confimed through a biopsy of the polyp which shows several round or oval shaped sporangia bursting through the chitinous wall when seen under a microscopy. The following is a detailed case discussion of a case of rhinosporodiosis in a 47 year old female who was treated and cured in our clinic.

The present study was aimed to study the effect of alcoholic and aqueous extracts of fruits of Tribulus terrestris, commonly known as Gokhru, (belongs to family, Zygophyllaceae) on specific and non specific immune functions in Wistar rats. The immunomodulatory activity was investigated by phagocytic carbon clearance, antibody titre, and Delayed type hypersensitivity test. Control group received 0.1% Carboxyl methyl cellulose and treated groups received different concentrations (0.5, 1, 2 mg/kg b.w.) of alcoholic and aqueous extracts of fruits of Tribulus terrestris intraperitoneally. The study revealed that alcoholic and aqueous extracts of fruits of Tribulus terrestris has exhibited the immunostimulatory activity by increasing humoral antibody titre and delayed hypersensitivity reaction as indicated by increase in footpad thickness, it also shown significant increase in phagocytic activity in wistar rats at different concentrations which reveals increase in the specific and non specific immune responses. The present investigation reveals that both the aqueous and alcoholic extract of the plant possess the potent immunomodulatory activity; further investigation is required to isolate the active compound to see its mechanism of action and to develop an immunostimulating agent among herbal origin.

Resistant (J11) and susceptible (JL24) varietie fungi, were infected with Aspergillus flavus. Lipoxygenase activity and Aflatoxin content were measured in germinating seedlings, before and after infection. Lipoxygenase activity levels showed negati correlation with Aflatoxin production. In PnLOX2 at pH 6.5 in both resistant and susceptible seedlings without infection. On the other hand, PnLOX3 was expressed only in resistant seedlings in in infected resistant seedlings at pH 6.5 may be responsible for increased LOX activity and production of 13S-hydroperoxides during peanut seed decrease in Aspergillus mycelial weight and aflatoxin content, on treating with 13S 9S-HPODE or Linoleic acid had no inhibitory effect. The data suggests that 13S for conferring resistance to aflatoxin contamination in peanut.

The in vivo radioprotective effect of a beta-glucan (BG) isolated from the mushroom Ganoderma lucidum, against radiation (RT) induced damage was investigated taking mouse survival, hematology, liver GSH (Reduced glutathione), liver Malondialdehyde (MDA) and bone marrow chromosomal aberrations as end points. Young adult swiss albino mice were whole body exposed to gamma radiation. For mouse survival study, BG was administered orally (250μg/kg body wt or 500μg/kg body wt) 15min before or 5min after 8Gy exposure. For other parameters BG was given orally 5min after 4Gy exposure. The radioprotective effect of BG was compared with that of clinically used radioprotective drug amifostine (WR-2721), at 300mg/kg body wt administered intraperitoneally, 30min before irradiation. BG (500μg/kg body wt) produced (66%) mouse survival at 30 days given post irradiation, and 83% survived at 30 days with 300mg/kg body wt of amifostine administered before RT while RT alone produced 100% mortality. BG is not toxic at the radioprotective dose. Significant reduction in number of aberrant cells and different types of aberration was observed in both BG and amifostine administered groups compared to radiation alone treated group. BG seems to have potential for use in protection against unplanned radiation exposures.

India has a rich tradition of plant-based knowledge on healthcare. A large number of plants/plant extracts/decoctions or pastes are equally used by tribals and folklore traditions in India for treatment of cuts, wounds and burns. The resistance of the microorganism has increased due to the indiscriminate use of commercial antimicrobial drugs commonly used for the treatment of infectious diseases. Resistance to antimicrobial agents has resulted in morbidity, mortality, from treatment failures and increased health care costs. There is an urgent need to discover novel, effective plant-based antimicrobial drug to the increasing problem of drug resistance. This situation forced the scientist to search for new antimicrobial substances from various sources including medicinal plants. Iresine herbstii, Ecbolium linneanum , Chrozophora rottleri have been used in folk remedies and is reported to have a broad range of therapeutic effects. Therefore this paper attempts to bridge the lacunae in the existing literature and offers immense scope for researchers engaged in validation of the traditional claims and development of safe and effective therapeutic agent.

Sleep has been identified as a state that optimizes the consolidation of newly acquired information in memory. Many evidences prove that both procedural and declarative memories are improved during sleep. Sleep does this through neurotransmitters and neurohormone secretion between its stages. While we sleep, our bodies secrete hormones that affect our mood, energy, memory and concentration. There occur two stages of sleep that include NREM (Non-Rapid Eye Movement) and REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. Hippocampus-dependent memories benefit primarily from slow-wave sleep (SWS), whereas memories not depending on the hippocampus, show greater gains over periods containing high amounts of Rapid Eye Movement sleep. During sleep, the brain rewires its circuits to make sure that all newly gained knowledge is stored for future use. The parts of the brain that we use to learn a task become active again during sleep. This activity, scientists suggest, could be the brain transferring memory from short-term to long-term storage.

OBJECTIVES:Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) has often been used as a marker to aid assessment of tumour growth fraction. This paper addresses the question of whether it can be used as an S-phase marker, when the non-chromatin-bound form of the protein is removed by pepsin treatment.MATERIALS AND METHODS:Cytofluorometric measurements were carried out after immunofluorescence staining of PCNA and counterstaining of DNA. S-phase fraction was determined with the help of windows on PCNA versus DNA scattergrams, or mathematically from DNA histograms.RESULTS:S-phase fractions obtained using the two methods correlated well, but did not always agree, exact discrepancies depending on the mathematical model used for histogram analysis.CONCLUSIONS:Determination of S-phase fractions with the help of PCNA immunofluorescence staining is possible, and probably more reliable than calculation of S-fractions from DNA histograms. It thus offers an alternative to assays involving BrdU labelling in vivo.

C. Abbott N. Abolmaali K. Agata M. Ahmed J.-Y. Ahn I. Akushevich Y. Akutsu M. Akyolcu B. Al-Safadi N. J. Alkayed M. J. Allalunis-Turner S. A. Amundson S. K. An K. Ando N. Andratschke A. Andreassen P. Andreassen C. N. Andreassen M. S. Anscher R. Arora C. Arus B. Austin E. Azzam A. Bhatia A. Baeyens G. A. Bajarnason A. Bakri M. Bala J. Ballinger D. Banerjee N. Bangia S. K. Banu A. Bao M. H. Barcellos-Hoff S. A. Barman F. Barnes J. F. Barquinero D. Bartkowiak J. R. Battista M. Baumann J. Bedford J. Behari I. Belyaev O. Belyakov L. Bemis M. Berens E. Bernhard J.-M. Bertho D. Bettega B. Beuthien-Baumann S. Bhattacharya P. Bischoff T. Bjork-Eriksson C. Blackman E. Blakely W. Blakely K. Blomgren K. Bobrowski M. Boerma O. C. Boerman Z. Bohrerova S. Bouffler A. Boutis D. D. Bowman M. Boyd H. Braselmann C. L. Brelsfoard D. P. Briskin R. Bristow A. Brooks R. M. Brosh, Jr. S. Brown G. Brunborg F. Buchegger F. Burns B. Butler D. Cai Z. Cai L. Cai C. Cano Y. Cao M. Caraglia V. N. Cardozo D. R. Cassatt P. Chang A. Chapel M. W. Charles G. Q. Chen X. Chen N. Cherdyntseva S. Chevillard C. S. Chiang B. D. Chithrani G. Chodick H. Christiansen S.-H. Chu A. Ciereszko P. Colautti M. Coleman S. Cos I. Cosic S. Costes M. E. Cox T. E. Coyle F. Cucinotta C. Culmsee F. Currell J. Dahle J. Dahm-Daphi N. Dainiak T. Damron E. Danen R. Danesi F. Darroudi Z. Darzynkiewicz S. Dasdag M. J. Davies A. Debucquoy T. F. Delaney J. W. Denham U. P. Devi E. Dikomey G. A. DosReis J. Drevs M. Drouet A. Dube Int. J. Radiat. Biol., Vol. 86, No. 2, February 2010, pp. 176–179

The aim of the study was to determine the antitumor and antimicrobial activities as well as the inhibition of in vitro lipid peroxidation evoked by Dendrobium nobile. Antimicrobial activity of different solvent extracts of flowers and stem of D. nobile against Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Proteus, Salmonella typhi and Staphylococcus aureus were analyzed separately. The swiss albino mice were induced with Dalton's Lymphoma Ascites (DLA) cell lines and the antitumor effect of D. nobile was studied by administering orally the aqueous extracts of the flowers of D. nobile. The antitumor activity was measured in DLA cell line induced mice. Inhibition of in vitro lipid peroxidation activity of the D. nobile in both liver homogenate and RBC ghosts was also carried out. The aqueous extracts of stem and flower of D. nobile showed better zone of bacterial inhibition than that of ethanol and chloroform extracts. The plant extracts treated DLA cell induced mice showed better tumor regression, and the flowers of the plant inhibited the in vitro lipid peroxidation, significantly. The present work indicates that the D. nobile flower extracts possessed antimicrobial and antitumor properties in addition to antiperoxidative activity.

Elevated cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose are known independent risk factors for coronary heart disease. This study examines the status of cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose of schizophrenia patients with positive, negative and cognitive symptoms and to investigate the association between these levels and obesity. This was a prospective observational study involving samples of patients who met established criteria for schizophrenia and were admitted to the mental health care center, Coimbatore. Glucose, total cholesterol and triglycerides levels increased when schizophrenia patients are treated with anti-psychotic drugs. Although mean changes in glucose and cholesterol levels remained within clinically normal ranges, about one patient in eight studied developed abnormally high glucose, and also one in five patients assessed has abnormal cholesterol levels. The obesity and metabolic disorders observed in the patients were higher than the prevalence in the control group and confirms that there are deregulations of metabolic pathways in schizophrenic patients. The rate of obesity and metabolic disorders observed in this study were higher than the prevalence in the control group sugesting that more attention should be paid to the metabolic condition of psychiatric patients.

Methanolic extract of leaves of Merremia gagentica (MEMG) and Litsea glutinosa (MELG) were investigated for their in vitro antimicrobial properties by agar disc diffusion method. The crude methanolic extracts of MEMG and MELG inhibited the growth of both Gram positive bacteria (Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Micrococcus luteus) and Gram negative bacteria (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella typhimurium). The Gram positive bacteria tested appeared to be more susceptible to the extracts than the Gram negative bacteria. Both the extracts at the concentration range between 250 and 1000 mu g/mL showed inhibitory activity against all tested bacteria except MEMG which did not show activity against S. typhimurium at 250 mu g/mL concentration. At 100 mu g/mL concentration of MEMG was found neutral against Micrococcus luteus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella typhimurium while MELG was neutral against Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa at same concentration. The extracts also showed significant antifungal activity against Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans. All tested microorganisms showed dose dependent susceptibility towards the methanolic extracts. The antibacterial and antifungal activity of the extracts and standard drugs were statistically significant. Based on the current findings, it can be concluded that both the plants possess potent antimicrobial activity.

The radiation induced changes in a critically radiation-sensitive tissue, bone marrow of Swiss albino mice and its modification by two sulfhydryl compounds, MPG and WR-2721, were studied cytogenetically after whole body exposure to 0.5, 1.5, 3.0, 4.5 and 6.0 Gy of 60Co gamma radiation. The changes in the structural arrangements of chromosomes in the bone marrow were studied at various post-irradiation times from 1 to 28 days. Both the control (irradiated) and experimental (drug + irradiation) animals showed qualitatively similar types of aberrations; the severity of lesions increased with the radiation dose. The maximum damage in all the groups was seen on day 1, post-irradiation. Both the drugs afforded better protection at lower doses of exposure, their effectiveness decreasing with an increasing radiation dose. Of the two drugs, WR-2721 was more effective than MPG against initial aberration yield but the former, at the present drug dose, showed some toxic effect at the later post-irradiation intervals (2 weeks onward) as manifested by an increase in the chromatid breaks and polyploidy.

The methanolic extract of Murraya koenigii (L.) leaves was investigated for the tumor take inhibitory activity. The aim of the present study was to asses the tumor take inhibition of the leaves of Murraya koenigii. Tumor regression studies showed a regression response for tumor growth in vivo of a murine mouse melanoma. Preventive group animals were injected daily with the extract at dose 100mg/kg body weight i.p. for 10 consecutive days. The control group animals were injected with double distilled water. The animals were observed for the growth of tumor after injection of B16F10 melanoma cells, three weeks after the last dose of the Murraya koenigii extract, into the dorsal skin of mice. In tumor regression studies, the Volume Doubling Time (VDT) and Growth Delay (GD) were calculated from the growth curves of individual tumor bearing mice. Pretreatment with the drug showed delay tumor growth by increasing the VDT and GD. The leaves had shown better mean survival time.

Aim: The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the levels of non dietary antioxidants and the status of complete blood count in schizophrenia patients with positive, negative and cognitive symptoms.Materials and Methods: This was a prospective observational study involving samples of 60 schizophrenia patients who met the established criteria for schizophrenia, and were admitted to the mental health care center, Coimbatore district. Sixty age and sex matched control subjects were also taken. Planned assessments included the levels of uric acid, albumin, bilirubin. Creatinine and complete blood count were performed using standard biochemical methods by applying the Roche/Hitachi Modular D-P automated chemistry analyzer 112.Results: It is predicted from the results that there was a significant increase in uric acid levels in all the schizophrenics when compared to normal values (p<0.01), but a statistically more significant increase in the status of uric acid was found for schizophrenics with cognitive symptoms(p<0.001). It was observed that there was a significant decrease in serum bilirubin, albumin and creatinine levels in patients with schizophrenia, when compared to controls (0.01). There was no statistically pronounced difference among the levels of albumin, bilirubin and creatinine in schizophrenia patients with positive, negative and cognitive symptoms.Conclusion: These data reveal that non dietary antioxidant defence mechanisms might be impaired in schizophrenic patients. Understanding these basic pathological processes may yield novel targets for the development of more effective treatments.