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Fasting during Ramadan, the holy month of Islam, is mandatory for all healthy adult Muslims. It is estimated that there are 1.1-1.5 billion Muslims worldwide, comprising 18-25% of the world population. About 62% of the world's Muslim population resides in Asia. Women comprise approximately 50% of this population. There is great religious fervor and enthusiasm in the majority of Muslims the world over for observing the religious fasting. Many of the Muslim women perhaps due to the family and societal pressures or lack of proper information hesitate and fail to avail themselves of the generous provisions of temporary or permanent exemptions from fasting available in Islam. It is therefore important that medical professionals as well as the general population be aware of potential risks that may be associated with fasting during Ramadan. This familiarity and knowledge is as important in South Asia and the Middle East as it is in Europe, North America, New Zealand, and Australia. There has not yet been any statement of consensus regarding women's health issues during Ramadan, namely menstruation, sexual obligations of married life, pregnancy, and lactation. This document aims to put forward some of the general guidelines for these issues especially for the South Asian Muslim women.

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Breast cancer (BC) is among the most frequent malignancies women face around the globe. Nanotherapeutics are constantly evolving to overcome the limitations of conventional diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. Nanotechnology-based nanocarriers have a higher entrapment efficiency, low cytotoxicity, greater stability and improved half-life than conventional therapy. Nano-drug delivery systems have improved pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics parameters because of nanomeric size. Currently, various nano-formulations are in preclinical and clinical settings for breast cancer, like polymeric nanoparticles, micelles, nanobodies, magnetic nanoparticles, liposomes, niosomes, gold-nanoparticles, dendrimers and carbon-nanotubes. This review highlights the recent advancement in developing nano-drug delivery systems for BC treatment. This review will open the gateway to researchers to understand the current approaches to developing nano-formulation and improving problems associated with conventional therapy.

Background: Curcumin is a polyphenol phyto-compound found in turmeric (Curcuma longa), which inhibits tumorigenesis by introducing apoptosis as well as by restricting cell survival and proliferation. This in vitro research article focuses on the pharmacodynamics interactions of Curcumin (Cur.) combined with the commercial drug Doxorubicin (Doxo.) to enhance the cytotoxicity of doxo. at lower doses against breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 with the chemo-protective effect against normal HEK-293. The synergism of two drugs is calculated based on the combination index (CI) and median-effect equation, calculated by the software Compusyn. In this study, we observed the dose-dependent cytotoxicity, increased ROS generation, down-regulation of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), and increased chromatin condensation in combination doses, compared to the single drugs. Moreover, the cell cycle arrest and overexpression of checkpoints regulatory genes ATM, CHEK2, BRCA1, BRCA2, and TP53 were observed for preventing cell proliferation. Methodology: MTT analysis is performed to determine cell viability at different doses, ROS-generation is observed using DCFH-DA stained fluorescence images, reducing MMP is detected by Rhodamine123 staining method, condensation of DNA is detected by Hoechst33342 stained photomicrographs, apoptosis analysis is performed by both AO/EtBr staining and Annexin-V/FITC & PI flow cytometry. To validate the findings, mRNA expression of cell-cycle check-point markers is quantified by rt-qPCR. Result & Conclusion: The calculated combination dose showing maximum growth inhibition is 33.117µM Cur. + 0.331µM Doxo. against MDA-MB-231 and 14.361µM Cur. + 0.14361µM Doxo. against MCF-7 with negligible toxicity against normal HEK-293 cells. Significant increase in mRNA expressions of TP53, BRCA1, BRCA2, ATM, and CHEK2 genes (Ct-value) were evident with G0/G1 and S-phase cell cycle arrest. Thus, Curcumin synergistically chemo-sensitizes the anticancer activity of Doxorubicin and enhances the responses towards conventional chemo-therapy attenuating breast cancer