Food is the major source for serving the nutritional needs, but with growing modernization some traditional ways are being given up. Affluence of working population with changing lifestyles and reducing affordability of sick care, in terms of time and money involved, are some of the forces that are presently driving people towards thinking about their wellness. There has been increased global interest in traditional medicine. Efforts to monitor and regulate traditional herbal medicine are underway. Ayurveda, the traditional Indian medicine, remains the most ancient yet living traditions. Although India has been successful in promoting its therapies with more research and science-based approach, it still needs more extensive research and evidence base. Increased side effects, lack of curative treatment for several chronic diseases, high cost of new drugs, microbial resistance and emerging, diseases are some reasons for renewed public interest in complementary and alternative medicines. Numerous nutraceutical combinations have entered the international market through exploration of ethnopharmacological claims made by different traditional practices. This review gives an overview of the Ayurvedic system of medicine and its role in translational medicine in order to overcome malnutrition and related disorders.

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dQuorum sensing (QS) regulates group behaviors of Candida albicans such as biofilm, hyphal growth, and virulence factors. The sesquiterpene alcohol farnesol, a QS molecule produced by C. albicans, is known to regulate the expression of virulence weapons of this fungus. Fluconazole (FCZ) is a broad-spectrum antifungal drug that is used for the treatment of C. albicans infections. While FCZ can be cytotoxic at high concentrations, our results show that at much lower concentrations, quercetin (QC), a dietary flavonoid isolated from an edible lichen (Usnea longissima), can be implemented as a sensitizing agent for FCZresistant C. albicans NBC099, enhancing the efficacy of FCZ. QC enhanced FCZ-mediated cell killing of NBC099 and also induced cell death. These experiments indicated that the combined application of both drugs was FCZ dose dependent rather than QC dose dependent. In addition, we found that QC strongly suppressed the production of virulence weapons-biofilm formation, hyphal development, phospholipase, proteinase, esterase, and hemolytic activity. Treatment with QC also increased FCZmediated cell death in NBC099 biofilms. Interestingly, we also found that QC enhances the anticandidal activity of FCZ by inducing apoptotic cell death. We have also established that this sensitization is reliant on the farnesol response generated by QC. Molecular docking studies also support this conclusion and suggest that QC can form hydrogen bonds with Gln969, Thr1105, Ser1108, Arg1109, Asn1110, and Gly1061 in the ATP binding pocket of adenylate cyclase. Thus, this QS-mediated combined sensitizer (QC)-anticandidal agent (FCZ) strategy may be a novel way to enhance the efficacy of FCZ-based therapy of C. albicans infections. Candidiasis is a prevalent fungal infection caused by species of the yeast genus Candida. There are more than Candida 20 species, the most common of which is Candida albicans. Candidiasis is the fourth most common cause of health care-associated bloodstream infections in India and the United States (1). This yeast normally lives on the skin and mucous membranes without causing infection. However, overgrowth of these microbes can cause superficial mycoses, invasive mucosal infections, and disseminated systemic disease, particularly in AIDS patients, transplant recipients, and other immunocompromised people (2, 3). It is well documented that the emergence of drug-resistant C. albicans is increasing at an alarming pace (4-6). Therefore, the need for effective anticandidal therapy is increasing, as the available drugs are still very restricted.Currently available therapies for candidiasis are based on antifungal drugs including azoles, echinocandins, and inhibitors of calcineurin, Hos2 deacetylase, and Hsp90 (7-10). Fluconazole (FCZ) is most widely used to treat candidiasis infections because of its high bioavailability and low toxicity (11-13). However, excessive and indiscriminate clinical use of FCZ has led to the emergence of multiple-drug-resistant (MDR) strains of C. albicans (5,14,15). Importantly, t...