Parkinson's disease (PD) is a complex multi-factorial neurodegenerative disorder where various altered metabolic pathways contribute to the progression of the disease. Tryptophan (TRP) is a major precursor in kynurenine pathway (KP) and it has been discussed in various in vitro studies that the metabolites quinolinic acid (QUIN) causes neurotoxicity and kynurenic acid (KYNA) acts as neuroprotectant respectively. More studies are also focused on the effects of other KP metabolites and its enzymes as it has an association with ageing and PD pathogenesis. Until now, very few studies have targeted the role of genetic mutations in abnormal KP metabolism in adverse conditions of PD. Therefore, the present review gives an updated research studies on KP in connection with PD. Moreover, the review emphasizes on the urge for the development of biomarkers and also this would be an initiative in generating an alternative therapeutic approach for PD.

The present study explored the effects of Jatropha curcas leaf extract and Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis larvicidal activity against the lymphatic filarial vector, Culex quinquefasciatus. Wights were selected for investigating the larvicidal potential against the first to fourth instar larvae of the laboratory-reared mosquito species, C. quinquefasciatus Say, in which the major lymphatic filariasis was used. The medicinal plants were collected from the area around Bharathiar University, Coimbatore. The dried plant materials were powdered by an electric blender. From the powder, 100 g of the plant materials was extracted with 300 ml of organic solvents of methanol for 8 h, using a Soxhlet apparatus, and filtered. The crude plant extracts were evaporated to dryness in a rotary vacuum evaporator. The plant extract showed larvicidal effects after 24 h of exposure; however, the highest larval mortality was found in the leaf extract of methanol J. curcas against the first to fourth instar larvae of values LC(50) = 1.200%, 1.290%, 1.358%, and 1.448% and LC(90) = 2.094%, 2.323%, 2.444%, and 2.544% and B. thuringiensis israelensis against the first to fourth instar larvae of values LC(50) = 9.332%, 9.832%, 10.212%, 10.622% and LC(90) = 15.225%, 15.508%, 15.887%, and 15.986% larvae of C. quinquefasciatus, respectively. No mortality was observed in the control. These results suggest methanol extracts of J. curcas and B. thuringiensis israelensis have potential to be used as an ideal eco-friendly approach for the control of the major lymphatic filarial vector, C. quinquefasciatus.

Highlights COVID-19 is associated with the comorbidities such as male reproductive dysfunction COVID-19 patients connected with the male reproductive dysfunction have decreased spermatogenesis, attenuated levels of testosterone via altering the cytokines such as TNF-α, IL-4, IL-6, and IL-12. Inflammation is one of the causes of COVID-19 linked to male reproductive dysfunction through TNF-α and interferon. IL-4 activated by the Th2 cells would trigger the JAK-STAT signaling and Batf/Irf4, and Bach2/Batf pathway Augmented Th2 cells by the COVID-19 alters the IL-4, JAK-STAT signaling, and leads to male reproductive dysfunction.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has grown to be global public health emergency. The biosurfactants (BSs) are surface-active biomolecules with unique properties and wide applications. Several microbes synthesize secondary metabolites with surface-active properties which has wide range of anti-inflammatory and anti-viral role.. The monocytes and neutrophils are activated by bacteria which subsequently result in high secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8, IL-12, Il-18 and IL-1β) and toll-like receptors-2 (TLR-2). Following the inflammatory response, BSs induce the production of cationic proteins, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and lysozyme, and thus can be utilized for therapeutic purposes. This review provides recent advances in the anti-inflammatory and antiviral activities of biosurfactants and discusses the potential use of these compounds against COVID-19, highlighting the need for in-vitro and in-vivo approaches to confirm this hypothesis. This suggestion is necessary because there are still no studies that have focused on the use of biosurfactants against COVID-19.

Background: Cancer causes leading death in the world population due to exposure of various carcinogenic/mutagenic agents, radiation and life style. There are 2.6 million new cases diagnosed each year. Therefore, the objective is aimed to study the antibacterial and antioxidant activities of solvent fractions of ethanolic extract of T. conoides and its anticancer activity also evaluated by analyzing cytotoxicity, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in HepG2 cell line. Methods: Antibacterial activity was done by disc diffusion method and expressed as in millimeter diameter of zone inhibition. Antioxidant activity was done by ABTS radical assay, superoxide radical assay, iron chelation and uric acid formation inhibitory assays. The cytotoxicity efficacy was estimated using MTT assay. Annexin-V FITC kit was used to estimate the apoptosis and cell cycle arrest by flowcytometer. Morphological changes of cell through alteration of nuclear content and mitochondrial membrane potential were also examined using Hoechst and JC1 stains under fluorescence microscopy, respectively. Results: Highest antibacterial activity, TAA and RAA were found in EAF followed by DMF, HF and AF. Cytotoxicity of EAF was found to be 67% at 24 h and 83% at 48 h over the standard of quercetin (86% at 48 h). The cancer cells were found to be significantly (p < 0.05) higher in the proliferative G0/G1 phase where as significantly decreased in the S phase. Hence, treatment with T. conoides fraction showed statistically (p < 0.05) significant increase of apoptotic cells than that of quercetin standard (32%, 80 μg/mL). The apoptotic cell formation might be due to the change of nuclear content and mitochondrial membrane potential were further confirmed in HepG2 cells under fluorescence microscopy. Conclusion: Ethyl acetate fraction of T. conoides showed highest antibacterial, antioxidant and anticancer activity through exhibiting synergistic effects over the respective standard compounds.

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