Nain-e Havandi (Andrographis paniculata Nees.) (AP) is an annual herbaceous plant belonging to the family Acanthacea. Only a few species of Andrographis genus out of 28 are medicinally concerned of which AP is the most important. Knowledge about the arrival of AP to Iran is extremely lacking but most probably it has been imported from India. However, evidence implies the familiarity of Iran's folkloric medicine with this plant, but it has been disappeared from contemporary medicine for unknown reasons. Presence of active ingredients from diterpenoids group such as andrographolide, neoandrographolide and 14-deoxy-11,12-didehydroandrographolide has given incredible unique medicinal properties to the plant. Traditionally, Nain-e Havandi has been used in the role of a non-farm plant as a remedy for skin problems, flu, respiratory disease, and snakebite in East and Southeast Asia for centuries. Recently, it has been utilized as a treatment for HIV, hepatitis, diabetes, cancer and kidney disorders. Intensive cultivation of the herb started only in the past decade in countries such as China, India, Thailand, Indonesia, West Indies, Mauritius and to some extent, in Malaysia. Availability of different ecological zones in Iran complies with reestablishment of AP in tropical and temperate regions of the country. This is killing two birds with one stone, supporting the conservational and economic aspects.

BackgroundMyrtle (Myrtus communis L.) has been used in the Iranian Traditional Medicine as a treatment for abnormal uterine bleeding-menometrorrhagia. The main aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of myrtle fruit syrup on abnormal uterine bleeding-menometrorrhagia.MethodsA randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study was conducted on 30 women suffering from abnormal uterine bleeding-menometrorrhagia. Treatment comprised of giving 15 ml oral myrtle syrup daily (5 ml three times a day) for 7 days starting from the onset of bleeding. The myrtle syrup along with placebo was repeated for 3 consecutive menstrual periods. Menstrual duration and number of used pads were recorded by the Pictorial Blood loss Assessment Chart at the end of each menstrual period. The quality of life was also evaluated using the menorrhagia questionnaire.ResultsThe mean number of bleeding days significantly declined from 10.6 ± 2.7 days to 8.2 ± 1.9 days after 3 months treatment with the syrup (p = 0.01) and consequently the participants in the intervention group used fewer pads after 3 months (16.4 ± 10.7) compared with the number of pads used at the beginning of the treatment (22.7 ± 12.0, p = 0.01). Bleeding days and number of pads used by the participants in the placebo group did not change significantly. Also significant changes of quality of life scores were observed in the intervention group after 3 months compared to the baseline.ConclusionMyrtle syrup is introduced as a potential remedy for abnormal uterine bleeding-menometrorrhagia.

Acinetobacter baumannii is a serious health threat with a high mortality rate. We have already reported prophylactic effects of IgYs raised against OmpA and Omp34 as well as against inactivated whole-cell (IWC) of A. baumannii in a murine pneumonia model. However, the infection was exacerbated in the mice group that received IgYs raised against the combination of OmpA and Omp34. The current study was conducted to propose reasons for the observed antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) in addition to the therapeutic effect of specific IgYs in the murine pneumonia model. This phenomenon was hypothetically attributed to topologically inaccessible similar epitopes of OmpA and Omp34 sharing similarity with peptides of mice proteins. In silico analyses revealed that some inaccessible peptides of OmpA shared similarity with peptides of Omp34 and Mus musculus. Specific anti-OmpA and anti-Omp34 IgYs cross-reacted with Omp34 and OmpA respectively. Specific IgYs showed different protectivity against A. baumannii AbI101 in the murine pneumonia model. IgYs triggered against OmpA or IWC of A. baumannii were the most protective antibodies. IgY triggered against Omp34 is ranked next after those against OmpA. The lowest protection was observed in mice received IgYs raised against the combination of rOmpA and rOmp34. In conclusion, specific IgYs against OmpA, Omp34, and IWC of A. baumannii could serve as novel biotherapeutics against A. baumannii pneumonia.

BackgroundSweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) is one of the most important consumed crops in many parts of the world because of its economic importance and content of health-promoting phytochemicals.MethodsWith the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) as our model, we investigated the exogenous effects of three plant-growth regulators methyl jasmonate (MeJA), salicylic acid (SA), and abscisic acid (ABA) on major phytochemicals in relation to phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) activity. Specifically, we investigated the total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), total anthocyanin content (TAC), and total β-carotene content (TCC). Individual phenolic and flavonoid compounds were identified using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC). Antioxidant activities of treated plants were evaluated using a 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay and a β-carotene bleaching assay. Anticancer activity of extracts was evaluated against breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231) using MTT assay.ResultsTPC, TFC, TAC, and TCC and antioxidant activities were substantially increased in MeJA-, SA-, and ABA-treated plants. Among the secondary metabolites identified in this study, MeJA application significantly induced production of quercetin, kaempferol, myricetin, gallic acid, chlorogenic acid, 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid, and 4,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid. Luteolin synthesis was significantly induced by SA application. Compared with control plants, MeJA-treated sweet potato exhibited the highest PAL activity, followed by SA and ABA treatment. The high DPPH activity was observed in MeJA followed by SA and ABA, with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of 2.40, 3.0, and 3.40 mg/mL compared with α-tocopherol (1.1 mg/mL). Additionally, MeJA-treated sweet potato showed the highest β-carotene bleaching activity, with an IC50 value of 2.90 mg/mL, followed by SA (3.30 mg/mL), ABA (3.70 mg/mL), and control plants (4.5 mg/mL). Extracts of sweet potato root treated with MeJA exhibited potent anticancer activity with IC50 of 0.66 and 0.62 mg/mL against MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cell lines respectively, compared to that of extracts of sweet potato treated with SA (MDA-MB-231 = 0.78 mg/mL; MCF-7 = 0.90 mg/mL) and ABA (MDA-MB-231 = 0.94 mg/mL; MCF-7 = 1.40 mg/mL). The results of correlation analysis showed that anthocyanins and flavooids are corresponding compounds in sweet potato root extracts for anticancer activity against breast cancer cell lines.ConclusionsMeJA has great potential to enhance the production of important health-promoting phytochemicals in sweet potato.

Sorghum is an important forage crop, and both quantity and quality of this crop are affected by drought stress. Accordingly, in order to investigate the effect of drought stress on quantity and quality of morpho-physiological traits, a split-plot experiment was conducted based on randomized complete block design with four replicates in Isfahan, Iran, during 2017 and 2018 crop seasons. Treatments were irrigation regimes with four levels (control, preventing irrigation at pollination, seed milky, and seed doughy stages) and three varieties of sorghum (Sepideh, Kimia, and Payam). The results showed that drought stress negatively influenced morphological and yield-related traits of sorghum, while its effect was positive on some quality-related traits such as total soluble carbohydrate, crude protein, and proline contents. According to the results, drought stress based on prevention of irrigation at doughy stage (representing moderate drought stress) caused inconsiderable reduction in sorghum yield. In addition, drought stress has effect on relationships between morpho-physiological traits in sorghum. Considering morphological and yield-related traits together with susceptibility (stress susceptibility index) and tolerance (geometric mean product) indices indicated that Payam variety is more proper to be used in both drought stress and non-stress conditions. Furthermore, both Kimia and Payam varieties were shown to be suitable varieties based on quality-related traits, but because of having low NDF Payam variety might be more suitable.