Leishmaniasis, a group of tropical diseases caused by protozoan parasites of genus Leishmania, is a major health problem worldwide that affects millions of people especially in the developing nations. Generic pentavalent antimonials have been the mainstay for therapy in the endemic regions due to efficacy and cost effectiveness, but the growing incidence of their resistance has seriously hampered their use. In many cases the drugs employed for the treatment are toxic, marginally effective, given by injection and, compromised by the development of resistance. Therefore, the development of new mechanism based safe, effective and affordable chemotherapeutic agents to fight leishmaniasis would be an urgent priority research. The recent researches focused on natural products have shown a wise way to get a true and potentially rich source of drug candidates against leishmaniasis, where alkaloids have been found more effective. The present review briefly illustrates an account on current status of leishmaniasis, life cycle of parasites and biology, synergy of the disease with HIV, therapeutic options available to cure this disease and, highlights why natural products especially alkaloids as folk medicines are so important? Additionally, the outlines for the leishmanicidal activities of various alkaloids including indole, quinoline, isoquinoline, pyrimidine-beta-carboline, steroidal and diterpene alkaloids from various plants as well as alkaloids from marine sources have been provided with their mechanistic studies.
Discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE) is a chronic form of cutaneous lupus erythematosus that runs an indolent course. The rare complications of DLE include scarring, mutilation, non-healing ulceration, cicatricial alopecia and malignancy. DLE progresses to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in around 5% of localized cases and 22% of generalized cases. We report a case of DLE, presenting with a six-month history of ulcerated fungating plaques and small crusted nodules superimposed on DLE plaques over both the forearms. Two weeks prior to the presentation, maggots were also noticed on these plaques. Skin biopsies from these lesions were suggestive of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and keratoacanthoma. A wide surgical excision of the tumor followed by partial split-thickness skin grafting was performed with complete healing of the lesions. No recurrence has been noted 18 months from follow-up.
Leishmania is known to elicit Th2 response that causes leishmaniasis progression; on the other hand, Th1 cytokines restricts amastigote growth and disease progression. In this study, we report the potential of two leishmanial antigens (65 and 98 kDa, in combination) which enhance strong macrophage effector functions, viz., production of respiratory burst enzymes, nitric oxide, and Th1 cytokines. The identification of antigens were done by resolving the crude soluble antigens on SDS-PAGE and eluted by reverse staining method. Further, RAW264.7 macrophages were challenged with eluted antigens, and the innate immune response was observed by detecting respiratory burst enzymes, nitric oxide (NOx), TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-12, toll-like receptors (TLRs) gene expression, and TLR-signaling proteins. These antigens increased the production of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase, superoxide dismutase, NOx, TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-12, TLR2, and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase. These antigens also induced human peripheral blood mononuclear cells proliferation and Th1 cytokine production. This study concludes that these antigens induce innate immune response as well as have prophylactic efficacy.
The present investigation was carried out to study different selection parameters for foliage yield and its important yield contributing traits in 29 strains of vegetable amaranth (A. tricolor). The data were recorded for plant height (cm), stem diameter (cm), branches/plant, leaves/plant, leaf size (cm 2 ), and protein content (mg/100 mg) in each cutting separately. Foliage yield (kg) was recorded on plot basis comprising 4 cuttings. The highest foliage yield per plot was recorded for strain AV-38, followed by AV-23 and AV-31. In general, protein content was high in the 2 nd cutting in all strains. The heritability estimates were in general high for all the characters in all the cuttings and ranged from 74.87% to 93.33%. Genetic advance was maximum for foliage yield (42.50%), followed by leaf size (31.02%) and stem diameter (21.13%). It was concluded that foliage yield could be increased substantially in vegetable amaranth through indirect selection based on the characters leaf size and stem diameter.
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