These findings suggest that the plant may be a potential source for the development of new oral hypoglycemic agent.

No abstract

Health outcomes are linked to air pollution, demographic, or socioeconomic factors which vary across space and time. Thus, it is often found that relative risks in space-time health data have locally different temporal patterns. In such cases, latent modeling is useful in the disaggregation of risk profiles. In particular, spatio-temporal mixture models can help to isolate spatial clusters each of which has a homogeneous temporal pattern in relative risks. In mixture modeling, various weight structures can be used and two situations can be considered: the number of underlying components is known or unknown. In this paper, we compare spatio-temporal mixture models with different weight structures in both situations. In addition, spatio-temporal Dirichlet process mixture models are compared to them when the number of components is unknown. For comparison, we propose a set of spatial cluster detection diagnostics based on the posterior distribution of the weights. We also develop new accuracy measures to assess the recovery of true relative risks. Based on the simulation study, we examine the performance of various spatio-temporal mixture models in terms of proposed methods and goodness-of-fit measures. We apply our models to a county-level chronic obstructive pulmonary disease data set from the state of Georgia.

This paper extends the spatial local-likelihood model and the spatial mixture model to the space-time (ST) domain. For comparison, a standard random effect space-time (SREST) model is examined to allow evaluation of each model's ability in relation to cluster detection. To pursue this evaluation, we use the ST counterparts of spatial cluster detection diagnostics. The proposed criteria are based on posterior estimates (e.g., misclassification rate) and some are based on post-hoc analysis of posterior samples (e.g., exceedance probability). In addition, we examine more conventional model fit criteria including mean square error (MSE). We illustrate the methodology with a real ST dataset, Georgia throat cancer mortality data for the years 1994-2005, and a simulated dataset where different levels and shapes of clusters are embedded. Overall, it is found that conventional SREST models fair well in ST cluster detection and in goodness-of-fit, while for extreme risk detection the local likelihood ST model does best.

Among metallic nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have a wide spectrum of medical applications. Herein, biogenic silver nanoparticles (bAgNPs) were prepared from extracts of Caesalpinia digyna leaf as a reducing agent at different pH values (i.e., 5, 7, 8, and 10). The as-synthesized bAgNPs were characterized using UV–vis and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopies, scanning transmission electron microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction analysis, dynamic light scattering, and ζ-potential analysis. The sizes of bAgNPs prepared at pH 5, 7, 8, and 10 were 45.4, 11.3, 11.4, and 40.8 nm, respectively, and all of the nanoparticles were negatively charged. The antimicrobial activity of the as-prepared bAgNPs was investigated against Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli DH5α, E. coli K12, enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), and Salmonella typhi. The bAgNPs prepared at pH 8 showed the highest antibacterial propensity against all of the bacterial strains as exhibited in the zone of inhibition (ZOI) as well as the CellTox green assay, which can be due to their relatively small size, stability, and higher surface area-to-volume ratio. The bAgNPs synthesized at pH 8 showed the highest ZOI against B. subtilis, which was ∼25 mm in diameter. The lipid peroxidation assay demonstrated the formation of the malondialdehyde-thiobarbituric acid (MDA-TBA) adduct while treating the bacteria with bAgNPs due to the oxidation of fatty acids present in the membrane. The highest amount of MDA-TBA adduct was observed when Gram-positive B. subtilis was exposed to bAgNPs. On the contrary, rats treated with bAgNPs demonstrated no significant toxicity in terms of hematological and biochemical parameters. The bAgNPs also showed excellent compatibility with human red blood cells. Overall, bAgNPs synthesized at pH 8 have superior antimicrobial activity and excellent biocompatibility and, therefore, can be used as potential antibacterial agents.

In folk medicine Mallotus repandus (Willd.) Muell. Arg. is used to treat muscle pain, itching, fever, rheumatic arthritis, snake bite, hepatitis, and liver cirrhosis. This study aimed to evaluate the antinociceptive as well as the anti-inflammatory activities of the methanol extract of leaf. The leaves were extracted with methanol following hot extraction and tested for the presence of phytochemical constituents. Analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities were evaluated using acetic acid induced writhing test, xylene induced ear edema, cotton pellet induced granuloma, and tail immersion methods at doses of 500, 1000, and 2000 mg/kg body weight. The presence of flavonoids, saponins, and tannins was identified in the extract. The extract exhibited considerable antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activities against four classical models of pain. In acetic acid induced writhing, xylene induced ear edema, and cotton pellet granuloma models, the extract revealed dose dependent activity. Additionally, it increased latency time in tail immersion model. It can be concluded that M. repandus possesses significant antinociceptive potential. These findings suggest that this plant can be used as a potential source of new antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory candidates. The activity of methanol extract is most likely mediated through central and peripheral inhibitory mechanisms. This study justified the traditional use of leaf part of this plant.

In folk medicines, Justicia gendarussa (J. gendarussa) is used as a depurative herb for treating fever, pain, and cancer and as laxative for constipation. The aim of the present investigation was to evaluate the hepatoprotective effect of the leaf methanol extract of J. gendarussa leaf (J gMe) against carbofuran (CF)-intoxicated liver injuries in Sprague−Dawley rats, along with the antioxidant activity of this extract. For this purpose, levels of serum diagnostic markers, hepatic antioxidant enzymes, and liver histoarchitecture were employed to justify the protective efficacy of J gMe. In addition, the phenolic and flavonoid contents of the extract were quantified, and antioxidant activity was investigated using the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), nitric oxide, hydrogen peroxide, and hydroxyl free radical scavenging assays. Results revealed that the leaf extract caused a significant (<0.05, <0.01) decrease of the level of hepatic enzymes, triglycerides, and bilirubin and an increase of the total protein. J gMe has also significantly (<0.05, <0.01) lowered the level of malonylaldehyde. Carbofuran markedly suppressed hepatic antioxidant enzymes, however, the leaf extract significantly augmented these enzymes. The hepatoprotective effect was demonstrated by the improvement in the histo-architectural features of liver sections of CFintoxicated rats treated with J gMe at 500 mg/kg dose. In addition, J gMe showed moderate total phenolic and total flavonoid content, whereas the IC 50 values of DPPH, nitric oxide, hydrogen peroxide, and hydroxyl free radical scavenging assays were 71.31 ± 0.42, 134.82 ± 0.14, 47.69 ± 0.38, and 118.44 ± 0.30 μg/mL, respectively. In conclusion, the present study suggests the protective role of J gMe against hepatic injury induced by CF, which may be attributed to its higher antioxidant properties and thereby scientifically justifies its traditional use.

Citrus macroptera Montr. (C. macroptera) is locally known as Satkara. The fruit of this plant is used as appetite stimulant and in the treatment of fever. This study therefore aimed to evaluate the toxic effects of the fruit extract using some biochemical and hematological parameters in rat model. The effects of methanol extract of Citrus macroptera Montr. fruit administered at 250, 500 and 1000 mg/kg body weight were investigated on hematological and biochemical parameters in Sprague-Dawley female rats. Moreover, histopathological study was performed to observe the presence of pathological lesions in primary body organs. The extract presented no significant effect on body weight, percent water content, relative organ weight and hematological parameters in rat. Significant decrease from control group was observed in the levels of triglyceride, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein and very low density lipoprotein; thus leading to significant decrease of cardiac risk ratio, castelli's risk index-2, atherogenic coefficient and atherogenic index of plasma at all doses. 500 mg/kg dose significantly decreased alkaline phosphatase (P<0.05), 1000 mg/kg dose significantly increased high density lipoprotein cholesterol (P<0.05) and 250 mg/kg dose significantly decreased the level of glycated hemoglobin (P<0.05) from the control group. There were no significant alterations observed with other serum biochemical parameters. Histopathological study confirmed the absence of inflammatory and necrotic features in the primary body organs. Study results indicate that methanolic fruit extract is unlikely to have significant toxicity. Moreover, these findings justified the cardio-protective, moderate hepato-protective and glucose controlling activities of the fruit extract.