Breast cancer is a leading cause of death in women worldwide both in the developed and developing countries. Thus effective treatment of breast cancer with potential antitumour drugs is important. In this paper, human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 has been employed to evaluate the antiproliferative activity of red sorghum bran anthocyanin. The present investigation showed that red sorghum bran anthocyanin induced growth inhibition of MCF-7 cells at significant level. The growth inhibition is dose dependent and irreversible in nature. When MCF-7 cells were treated with red sorghum bran anthocyanins due to activity of anthocyanin morphological changes were observed. The morphological changes were identified through the formation of apoptopic bodies. The fragmentation by these anthocyanins on DNA to oligonuleosomal-sized fragments, is a characteristic of apoptosis, and it was observed as concentration-dependent. Thus, this paper clearly demonstrates that human breast cancer cell MCF-7 is highly responsive by red sorghum bran anthocyanins result from the induction of apoptosis in MCF-7 cells.

There is increasing interest in natural food colorants like carotenoids and anthocyanins with functional properties. Red sorghum bran is known as a rich source for anthocyanins. The anthocyanin contents extracted from red sorghum bran were evaluated by biochemical analysis. Among the three solvent system used, the acidified methanol extract showed a highest anthocyanin content (4.7 mg/g of sorghum bran) followed by methanol (1.95 mg/g) and acetone (1 mg/g). Similarly, the highest total flavonoids (143 mg/g) and total phenolic contents (0.93 mg/g) were obtained in acidified methanol extracts than methanol and acetone extracts. To study the health benefits of anthocyanin from red sorghum bran, the total antioxidant activity was evaluated by biochemical and molecular methods. The highest antioxidant activity was observed in acidified methanol extracts of anthocyanin in dose-dependent manner. The antioxidant activity of the red sorghum bran was directly related to the total anthocyanin found in red sorghum bran.

Skin lesions were collected from 15 adult crossbred pigs maintained at the pig farm of ICAR Research Complex for the North-Eastern Hill Region, Umiam, a hilly region of the state of Meghalaya, India. Skin scrapings of these 15 animals were examined by KOH digestion method. Presence of mites were detected in five animals which were indistinguishable from Sarcoptes scabiei var. suis. Infected pigs were treated with a single dose of Ivermectin at 200 ug/kg body weight, subcutaneously. No mites were recovered from treated pigs after a period of 10 days of post-treatment. The presence of S. scabiei var. suis in pigs from this part of the country has never been reported. This infestation has great significance because it affects the growth rate and feed conversion significantly, specially to the grower and weaned pigs. It can be concluded that S. scabiei var. suis infestation is prevalent in hilly region of Meghalaya. The pig producers are generally unaware about the severity of the problem of mite infestation, so precaution should be taken to prevent their valuable pigs from S. scabiei var. suis infestation.

Background Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. (Jackfruit tree) is one of the most ancient fruits indigenous to Western Ghats of India. They are large edible summer fruits and are good source of nutritional and antioxidant components which hold their potential for nutraceutical development. Main body The present review attempts to document reports on the chemical and pharmacological investigations carried out with jackfruit. Research shows that the fruit contains a huge amount of phytochemicals such as phenolics, flavonoids, terpenoids, steroids, glycosides, saponins, alkaloids, and tannins which exhibit antioxidant properties. Conclusions Diversity of secondary metabolites present in the jackfruit shows that it is a functionally, nutritionally, and medicinally important fruit. Detailed studies are essential for awareness among people for the proper use of jackfruit as a functional food and utilize the medicinal uses of jackfruit.