Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are crucial effectors of the innate immune system. They provide the first line of defense against a variety of pathogens. AMPs display synergistic effects with conventional antibiotics, and thus present the potential for combined therapies. Insects are extremely resistant to bacterial infections. Insect AMPs are cationic and comprise less than 100 amino acids. These insect peptides exhibit an antimicrobial effect by disrupting the microbial membrane and do not easily allow microbes to develop drug resistance. Currently, membrane mechanisms underlying the antimicrobial effects of AMPs are proposed by different modes: the barrel-stave mode, toroidal-pore, carpet, and disordered toroidal-pore are the typical modes. Positive charge quantity, hydrophobic property and the secondary structure of the peptide are important for the antibacterial activity of AMPs. At present, several structural families of AMPs from insects are known (defensins, cecropins, drosocins, attacins, diptericins, ponericins, metchnikowins, and melittin), but new AMPs are frequently discovered. We reviewed the biological effects of the major insect AMPs. This review will provide further information that facilitates the study of insect AMPs and shed some light on novel microbicides.

Humic substances as part of humus-soil organic matter-are compounds arising from the physical, chemical and microbiological transformation (humification) of biomolecules. They are important because they constitute the most ubiquitous source of non-living organic material that nature knows. Approximately 80% of the total carbon in terrestrial media and 60% of the carbon dissolved in aquatic media are made up of humic substances. Humic substances have important roles in soil fertility, and are considered to have primal relevance for the stabilization of soil aggregates. They can be divided into three components according to their solubility: humic acids, fulvic acids and humin. Humic acids are the most explored group of humic substances. Beyond their relevance for life these substances have industrial applications in the development of absorbents to be used at the sources of metal-poisoning. Being natural substances, their purification process is cheaper than the synthesis of any other sorbent and, moreover, due to their high operability, they absorb more than the absorbents used to date, such as active charcoals or clays. The specific properties of humic acid products enable their application in industry, agriculture, environmental and biomedicine.

Cardiovascular diseases are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in most developed countries of the world. Pharmaceuticals, illicit drugs, and toxins can significantly contribute to the overall cardiovascular burden and thus deserve attention. The present article is a systematic overview of drugs that may induce distinct cardiovascular toxicity. The compounds are classified into agents that have significant effects on the heart, blood vessels, or both. The mechanism(s) of toxic action are discussed and treatment modalities are briefly mentioned in relevant cases. Due to the large number of clinically relevant compounds discussed, this article could be of interest to a broad audience including pharmacologists and toxicologists, pharmacists, physicians, and medicinal chemists. Particular emphasis is given to clinically relevant topics including the cardiovascular toxicity of illicit sympathomimetic drugs (e.g., cocaine, amphetamines, cathinones), drugs that prolong the QT interval, antidysrhythmic drugs, digoxin and other cardioactive steroids, beta‐blockers, calcium channel blockers, female hormones, nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory, and anticancer compounds encompassing anthracyclines and novel targeted therapy interfering with the HER2 or the vascular endothelial growth factor pathway.

Pentacyclic triterpenes are produced by arrangement of squalene epoxide. These compounds are extremely common and are found in most plants. There are at least 4000 known triterpenes. Many triterpenes occur freely but others occur as glycosides (saponins) or in special combined forms. Pentacyclic triterpenes have a wide spectrum of biological activities and some of them may be useful in medicine. The therapeutic potential of three pentacyclic triterpenes -lupeol, betuline and betulinic acid -is discussed in this paper. Betulinic acid especially is a very promising compound. This terpene seems to act by inducing apoptosis in cancer cells. Due to its apparent specificity for melanoma cells, betulinic acid seems to be a more promising anti-cancer substance than drugs like taxol.