Date palm is an important crop, especially in the hot-arid regions of the world. Date palm fruits have high nutritional and therapeutic value and possess significant antibacterial and antifungal properties. In this study, we performed bioactivity analyses and metabolic profiling of date fruits of 12 cultivars from Saudi Arabia to assess their nutritional value. Our results showed that the date extracts from different cultivars have different free radical OPEN ACCESSMolecules 2015, 20 13621 scavenging and anti-lipid peroxidation activities. Moreover, the cultivars showed significant differences in their chemical composition, e.g., the phenolic content (10.4-22.1 mg/100 g DW), amino acids (37-108 μmol·g −1 FW) and minerals (237-969 mg/100 g DW). Principal component analysis (PCA) showed a clear separation of the cultivars into four different groups. The first group consisted of the Sokary, Nabtit Ali cultivars, the second group of Khlas Al Kharj, Khla Al Qassim, Mabroom, Khlas Al Ahsa, the third group of Khals Elshiokh, Nabot Saif, Khodry, and the fourth group consisted of Ajwa Al Madinah, Saffawy, Rashodia, cultivars. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) revealed clustering of date cultivars into two groups. The first cluster consisted of the Sokary, Rashodia and Nabtit Ali cultivars, and the second cluster contained all the other tested cultivars. These results indicate that date fruits have high nutritive value, and different cultivars have different chemical composition.

BackgroundHaemoglobinopathies constitute the commonest recessive monogenic disorders worldwide, and the treatment of affected individuals presents a substantial global disease burden. β-thalassaemia is characterised by the reduced synthesis (β+) or absence (βo) of the β-globin chains in the HbA molecule, resulting in accumulation of excess unbound α-globin chains that precipitate in erythroid precursors in the bone marrow and in the mature erythrocytes, leading to ineffective erythropoiesis and peripheral haemolysis. Approximately 1.5% of the global population are heterozygotes (carriers) of the β-thalassemias; there is a high incidence in populations from the Mediterranean basin, throughout the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and Melanesia to the Pacific Islands.AimThe principal aim of this paper is to review, from a historical standpoint, our knowledge about an ancient disease, the β-thalassemias, and in particular, when, how and in what way β-thalassemia spread worldwide to reach such high incidences in certain populations.ResultsMutations involving the β-globin gene are the most common cause of genetic disorders in humans. To date, more than 350 β-thalassaemia mutations have been reported. Considering the current distribution of β- thalassemia, the wide diversity of mutations and the small number of specific mutations in individual populations, it seems unlikely that β-thalassemia originated in a single place and time.ConclusionsVarious processes are known to determine the frequency of genetic disease in human populations. However, it is almost impossible to decide to what extent each process is responsible for the presence of a particular genetic disease. The wide spectrum of β-thalassemia mutations could well be explained by looking at their geographical distribution, the history of malaria, wars, invasions, mass migrations, consanguinity, and settlements. An analysis of the distribution of the molecular spectrum of haemoglobinopathies allows for the development and improvement of diagnostic tests and management of these disorders.

Many studies have discussed the influence of elevated carbon dioxide (eCO) on modeling and crop plants. However, much less effort has been dedicated to herbal plants. In this study, a robust monitoring for the levels of 94 primary and secondary metabolites and minerals in two medicinal herbs, basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) and peppermint (Mentha piperita L.), grwon under both ambient (aCO, 360 ppm) and eCO (620 ppm) was performed. We also assessed how the changes in herbal tissue chemistry affected their biological activity. Elevated CO significantly increased herbal biomass, improved the rates of photosynthesis and dark respiration, and altered the tissue chemistry. Principal Component Analysis of the full data set revealed that eCO induced a global change in the metabolomes of the two plants. Moreover, Hierarchical Clustering Analyses showed quantitative differences in the metabolic profiles of the two plants and in their responsiveness to eCO. Out of 94 metabolites, 38 and 31 significantly increased in basil and peppermint, respectively, as affected by eCO. Regardless of the plant species, the levels of non-structural carbohydrates, fumarate, glutamine, glutathione, ascorbate, phylloquinone (vitamin K1), anthocyanins and a majority of flavonoids and minerals were significantly improved by eCO. However, some metabolites tended to show species specificity. Interestingly, eCO caused enhancement in antioxidant, antiprotozoal, anti-bacterial and anticancer (against urinary bladder carcinoma; T24P) activities in both plants, which was consequent with improvement in the levels of antioxidant metabolites such as glutathione, ascorbate and flavonoids. Therefore, this study suggests that the metabolic changes triggered by eCO in the target herbal plants improved their biological activities.

The functional food value of herbal plants is greatly related to their contents of valuable phytochemicals. Regarding its impact on primary and secondary plant metabolism, CO enrichment could be a candidate strategy to modulate the levels of nutritionally and medicinally interesting phytochemicals in herbal plants. Herein, the concentrations of 81 metabolites and minerals were evaluated in shoot tissues of parsley and dill grown under two levels of CO, ambient (378 ± 25 µmole CO mole air, aCO) and elevated (627 ± 24 µmole CO mole air, eCO). Regardless of the plant species, eCO improved the levels of soluble sugars, starch, organic acids, some EAAs, most of USFA, total phenolics, total flavonoids and vitamins A and E. However, notable variations in the metabolites responsiveness to eCO were recorded among the tested plant species. Moreover, considerable improvements in the total antioxidant capacity, antiprotozoal, antibacterial and anticancer activities were recorded for parsley and dill in response to eCO.

BackgroundDiosgenin, a naturally occurring steroid saponin found abundantly in C. speciosus, is a well-known precursor of various synthetic steroidal drugs that are extensively used in the pharmaceutical industry.MethodsThe present study was conducted to evaluate the in vitro anticancer and apoptotic effects on cell proliferation of diosgenin isolated from C. speciosus (Koen.) Sm.ResultsThe results indicated that the treatment of HepG2 cells with the sample resulted in a cytotoxic effect as concluded from the IC50 value 32.62 μg/ml, while the treatment of HepG2 cells with paclitaxel, a known anti-cancer drug, resulted in an IC50 value of 0.48 μg/ml. The treatment of MCF-7 cells with the tested sample resulted in high inhibition in the cell viability, and resulted in an IC50 value of 11.03 μg/ml, while the treatment of MCF-7 cells with paclitaxel resulted in an IC50 value of 0.61 μg/ml. The levels of DR4 and caspase-3 were significantly increased (P < 0.01) in MCF-7 cells treated with the tested sample compared to untreated cells and possessed a similar activity of paclitaxel in DR4 induction but lower induction in caspase-3. On the other hand the treatment of macrophages or lymphocytes with diosgenin (250 μg/ml) resulted in an induction in the cell proliferation up to 3.2-fold and 2.1-fold of control, respectively.ConclusionsThe results presented here may suggest that diosgenin isolated from C. speciosus possess anticancer and apoptotic effects on cell proliferation, and therefore, can be used as pharmaceuticals drugs.