Introduction: Cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.) is an annual plant that is not only one of the most popular seed species but also one of the oldest and most cultivated aromatic and herbaceous natural products with numerous medicinal, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical properties. It is widely used in the beverage, food, liquor, medicine, perfume, and toiletry industries. The objective of this work was to provide a precise and up-to-date review of the ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry, and biological activities of cumin. Methods: Information was gathered from the review of relevant literature obtained from various databases, such as Science Direct, Springer, PubMed, Google, and Google Scholar. Results: The various parts of the cumin plant (leaves, shoot, root, and flowers) contain similar and different chemical compounds. Conclusion: The medicinal and health potential of cumin is mainly attributed to its antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, insecticide, and immunomodulatory properties. More studies are, however, required to unravel novel components and applications of cumin.

This study aims to determine phytochemicals and antibacterial activity of ethanolic extract and essential oil of Persicaria hydropiper, and their potential as antibacterial agents in polylactic acid (PLA) film. The yield of ethanolic extract and essential oil were 11.02 and 0.70%, respectively. Chlorogenic acid, ferulic acid, rutin, myricetin and quercetin were detected as major components in the P. hydropiper ethanolic extract, while dodecanal, caryophyllene, caryophyllene oxide, decanal, α‐caryophyllene, citronellol, heptadecanal, linalool and phytol were detected in the P. hydropiper essential oil. Based on the disc diffusion assay, both ethanolic extract and essential oil of P. hydropiper possessed antibacterial activity against bacteria Staphylococcus aureus only at different concentrations, with minimum inhibitory concentration values: 0.625 and 5 mg/ml, respectively; and minimum bactericidal concentration values: 5 and 40 mg/ml, respectively. However, they found to show antibacterial activity against three bacteria S. aureus, Escherichia coli and Salmonella Typhimurium at different concentrations and time using time‐kill kinetics assay. Incorporation of ethanolic extract and essential oil in PLA film also exhibited an antibacterial effect against S. aureus. Our findings confirmed the potential use of both P. hydropiper ethanolic extract and essential oil as antibacterial agents in biodegradable PLA film.

Peganum harmala is one of the most famous medicinal plants and natural products commonly used in traditional medicine and extensively spread in Middle and East Asia and North Africa. This study aimed to evaluate the radical scavenging activity of ethanolic crude extracts of P. harmala seeds from Libya using DPPH assay; to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBC) of the P. harmala seeds crude extracts against Gram-negative Salmonella typhi ATCC14028 and Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and also Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 33591; and to screen the phytochemicals in the ethanolic crude extracts of the Libyan P. harmala seeds using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The IC50 value of P. harmala seeds extract was 179.62±7.32 μg/mL. The MIC ranged from 1.95 to 31.25 mg/mL while the MBC ranged from 7.80 to 62.50 mg/mL. The eight compounds identified were harmine, harmaline, leptalorine, hexahydro fluorene, 3-methoxy-6-methyl, 1H-pyrido [3,4-b]indole,2,34,9- tetrahydro-6methoxy-1-methyl, 9,12-octadienoic acid ethyl ester, linoleic acid ethyl ester, 9,12-octadienoic acid (z,z). This study has, therefore, revealed the antixodant and antibacterial efficacy of P. harmala ethanolic extract. Thus, it could be further developed as a substitute for chemical antioxidants and as antibacterials agent.

Bioactive compounds that exhibit antimicrobial properties in frogs are parts of the animal defense against microbial infections.  The lyophilized frog’s skin secretions containing varies bioactive compounds were subjected to screen for their antimicrobial activity. This study was conducted as part of an effort on the search of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) profiles of Malaysian frogs. The results indicate the collected frog skin secretion has antimicrobial effect against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria.  BLAST and standard phylogenetics were used to establish a preliminary identity of the frog samples.

Olive oil is depicted as "green gold" in Libya. It plays an inevitable role in Libyan food culture and countries' economies. This review highlighted the most recent advances and challenges about the botanical classification of olives', factors affecting olive oil quality and virgin olive oil processing techniques. Furthermore, this review explores the most significant attributes of olive oil in health and pharmaceutical applications. For instance, reduced pure olive oil considerably lowers the risk of cholesterol-related and other vascular diseases. Also exhibits excellent pharmaceutical properties for curing oxidative damage linked to cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. In addition, this review highlights the nutritional and food benefit of olive oil. Olive oil is an excellent antioxidant whereby olive oil can be applied to protect highly refined food such as meat from any pathogenic food spoilage. We hope that this review will give comprehensive knowledge about the health benefits of olive oil, which help to utilise oil in pharmaceuticals.

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Acid Tolerance Response (ATR) in Shigella sonnei and Shigella flexneri was induced by preexposing the mid exponential phase cultures at sub lethal pH of 4.5 for 90 min before challenging them in lethal pH of 3.0. The ATR was exhibited by both species with S. flexneri displaying a higher tolerance to lethal acid killing. Analyses of protein profiles of both unadapted and adapted cells using 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) revealed that the acid adapted cells of S. sonnei demonstrated differential expression of 19 Acid Stress Proteins (ASPs). Five of these proteins were synthesized de novo, 11 were upregulated while three other proteins were repressed. In S. flexneri, two proteins were synthesized de novo, four upregulated and two proteins were repressed. Two of these proteins with estimated molecular weights of 14.1 and 15.1 kDa and isoelectric points (pI) of 5.50 and 5.58, respectively were found to be consistently induced in both species. An inducible ATR in Shigella may protect the bacteria from environmental pH stress and aid in their pathogenesis. The detection of proteins important for ATR may present novel targets for antimicrobial intervention.

Biofilms are extracellular structures formed by many species of bacteria that attached on various surfaces. The formation of biofilms is responsible for many health problems as they are very difficult to treat effectively due to enhanced resistant to antibiotics. Frog skin secretions contain bioactive compounds that may exhibit antibiofilms properties against biofilms infection. This study aims to screen the presence of antibiofilm activities from lyophilized skin secretions collected from Malaysian frogs. In this study, lyophilized skin secretions from four species of Malaysian frogs were tested for biofilm inhibition activities against the bacteria Staphylococcus epidermidis, ATCC 35984. Antibiofilm activity was tested at three different stages of biofilm formation which were biofilm maturation, biofilm attachment and biofilm dispersion. Biofilm treated with skin secretion from Fejervarya multistriata showed the presence of antibiofilm activities of 45 % which was able to reduce biofilm formation to 55 % at the attachment stage. Similarly, the biofilm formation at the maturation stage was reduced to 65.8 % only. No antibiofilm activities of Fejervarya multistriata was detected at the dispersion stage. The sample showing positive results was fractionated using column chromatography and further purified by C18 reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatography column (HPLC). Mass spectroscopy revealed the presence of a single peptide. In conclusion, frog skin secretion of F. multistriata contains peptide that inhibits biofilm at both attachment and maturation stages.