The COVID-19 outbreak has spread rapidly across the world and has affected health, social, and economic impacts in many countries, including Indonesia. This editorial focuses on the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the fisheries sector in Indonesia along with recommendations on how we should deal with the current status. The pandemic has resulted in several negative impacts on the Indonesian community that is directly related to a significant decline in the demand for fisheries products. A range of problems has been reported, including marketing disturbances, issues related to post-harvest and cultivation cycles, and the livelihoods of small-scale fishermen. To overcome these issues, we provide recommendations for various stakeholders to rapidly mobilize the fisheries sector by assisting MSMEs and by helping to market fishery products online, thus facilitating the export of fishery products. These recommendations are expected to stimulate the fisheries sector to mitigate the long-term effects of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Indonesia's mindset has been focusing on the use of natural medicines, food, and healing practices widely recognized by the nation's culture. Traditional medicines and herbs used in traditional medicine can often lead to the discovery of drugs against certain diseases. The aim of this review was to study evidence-based data on the importance of Sembung plant, Blumea balsamifera, as a potential traditional medicine. The distribution, ethnopharmacology, secondary metabolites, and bioactivity against several diseases are focused in this review. Information and research related to Sembung plant were searched using the terms "B. balsamifera," "phytochemicals," and "pharmacological activity" on ResearchGate, Google Scholar, Science Direct, PubMed, and scientific information-based databases up to 2020. Several ethnomedical articles recommend B. balsamifera for the treatment of sinusitis, colic pain, cough, kidney stones, flu, or as a diuretic. This knowledge has already been applied in several countries in Southeast Asia. B. balsamifera has been reported to contain several phytochemicals both volatile (terpenoids, fatty acids, phenols, alcohol, aldehydes, ethers, ketones, pyridines, furans, and alkanes) and non-volatile (flavonoids, flavanones, and chalcones). Extracts and phytochemicals of B. balsamifera contain several biological capacities such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, hypolipidemic, anti-infertility, hepatoprotective activity, antidiabetic, gastroprotective, antitumor, anticancer, and immunomodulatory agent against Coronavirus disease-19 infection. This review provides essential data for the potential application of B. balsamifera as a nutraceutical or in future medicinal preparations.

Caesalpinia bonducella F. (Leguminosae) is widely used medicinal plant which contains flavonoid, tannin, saponin, and a potent antioxidant activity. However, the antihyperglycemic effect of the seed of C. bonducella is remained to be evaluated. This study used 24 male Wistar albino rats that were induced for type 2 diabetes with streptozotocin (STZ) and nicotinamide (NA). The rats were divided into three groups: the distilled water-treated group (NC group), glibenclamide-treated group (10 mg/kg/d, oral; PC group), and C. bonducella seed extract-treated group (500 mg/kg/d, oral; T group). Blood glucose and plasma insulin measurements were done after 14 days of treatment. The results showed that the postprandial blood glucose (PPBG) level of both PC and T groups were decreased significantly (p < 0.01 for both), whereas in NC group, the PPBG level was rising (p < 0.01). Glibenclamide was found to be more effective to decrease the PPBG level than C. bonducella seed extract (p < 0.01). The post-test fasting insulin level of T group was higher than other groups (p < 0.05). In summary, our results suggest that ethanolic extract of C. bonducella seed possesses antidiabetic activity against experimentally-induced type 2 diabetes.

High fat and high cholesterol diet cause hyperlipidemia, leading to various health problems including reproductive health. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of sembung (Blumea balsamifera) leaf extract on testicular histology profile of high-fat-dietinduced wistar. This research used 16 adult male rats (Rattus norvegicus), aged 3-4 month, weighing 150-200 g, and randomly divided into two groups. Eight rats were treated with distilled water and eight rats were treated with 2 mg/mL B. balsamifera extract. High-fat diet was a 30 days of porcine fat feed. The results showed that the diameter of seminiferous tubules, the number of spermatogenic cells of spermatogonium A, spermatocytes Pakiten and spermatid 16 were increased by giving sembung leaf extract for 50 days (p <0.05). These results suggested that the sembung leaf extract improves testis histology of high-fat diet-induced rats. ABSTRAKMakanan tinggi lemak dan tinggi kolestrol menyebabkan hiperlipidemia yang menimbulkan masalah pada sistem reproduksi. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui manfaat pemberian ekstrak daun sembung (Blumea balsamifera) terhadap profil tubulus seminiferus dan sel-sel spermatogenik pada tikus wistar yang diinduksi pakan tinggi lemak. Sebanyak 16 ekor tikus wistar jantan dewasa (Rattus norvegicus) umur 3-4 bulan, berat 150-200 g, secara random dibagi dua kelompok, yaitu 8 ekor tikus kelompok kontrol (aquades steril) dan 8 ekor tikus kelompok perlakuan (ekstrak daun sembung dosis 2 mg/mL). Tikus diinduksi pakan tinggi lemak berupa lemak babi selama 30 hari. Pada prettest dilakukan pemeriksaan diameter tubulus seminiferus dan sel-sel spermatogenik. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa rata-rata diameter tubulus seminiferus tikus meningkat signifikan setelah pemberian ekstrak daun sembung. Peningkatan secara signifikan juga diikuti oleh spermatogonium A, spermatosit Pakiten dan spermatid 16 (p<0,05). Dapat disimpulkan bahwa ekstrak daun sembung memperbaiki histologi testis tikus wistar yang diinduksi pakan tinggi lemak.

BACKGROUND: The discovery of herbal ingredients for antihypercholesterolemic and to improve male reproductive function is very necessary due to high-cholesterol diet factors. Blumea balsamifera leaf extract (BBLE) is known to be able to increase the number and diameter of Leydig cells in rats given high-fat feed. This study was to conducted to determine the levels of total cholesterol, body weight, plasma malondialdehyde (MDA), Superoxide Dismutase (SOD), Luteinizing Hormone (LH) in high-cholesterol-fed male rats provided with BBLE.METHODS: This research utilized a randomized post-test only control group. Ethanol was used to extract the BBLE, which was then evaporated. For 21 days, 16 Wistar rats were given a high-cholesterol diet. To determine the effect of BBLE on the high-cholesterol diet, the samples were divided into two groups (control and BBLE group) on day 22. The treatments lasted 30 days. SOD, plasma MDA, LH, and total cholesterol were measured.RESULTS: The results showed that the SOD and LH parameters were significantly higher in the treatment of BBLE compared to the control group (p<0.05). The parameters of total cholesterol levels, bodyweight, and MDA of rats given BBLE were significantly lower than those of the control group (p<0.05).CONCLUSION: Our findings highlight that BBLE has antihypercholesterolemic and antioxidant effects. The BBLE also has potential to be used as a therapy to maintain male reproductive function because it has a positive effect on the hypothalamic-pituitary axis through increasing LH secretion.KEYWORDS: Malondialdehyde, Superoxide dismutase, Luteinizing hormone, Blumea balsamifera extract, High-cholesterol diet