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Ethnopharmacological relevance:Alchornea laxiflora (Benth.) Pax & K. Hoffm. (Euphorbiaceae) is an important traditional medicinal plant grown in tropical Africa. The stem, leaves, and root have been widely used in the folk medicine systems in Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa, and Ghana to treat various ailments, including inflammatory, infectious, and central nervous system disorders, such as anxiety and epilepsy.Material and methods: The scientific name of the plant was validated using the “The Plant List,” “Kew Royal Botanic Gardens,” and Tropicos Nomenclatural databases. The literature search on A. laxiflora was performed using electronic search engines and databases such as Google scholar, ScienceDirect, PubMed, AJOL, Scopus, and Mendeley.Results: To the best of our knowledge, no specific and detailed review has been reported on A. laxiflora. Consequently, this review provides an up-to-date systematic presentation on ethnobotany, phytoconstituents, pharmacological activities, and toxicity profiles of A. laxiflora. Phytochemical investigations disclosed the presence of important compounds, such as alkaloids, flavonoids, phenolics, terpenoids, and fatty acids. Furthermore, various pharmacological activities and traditional uses reported for this botanical drug were discussed comprehensively.Conclusion: This systemic review presents the current status and perspectives of A. laxiflora as a potential therapeutic modality that would assist future researchers in exploring this African botanical drug as a source of novel drug candidates for varied diseases.

This study used a simple solution evaporation approach to make a bioinorganic titanium dioxide (Bi-TiO2) photocatalyst for dye contaminant degradation. A variety of techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX), and differential reflectance spectroscopy, had been employed to classify the structural and optical properties of the prepared bioinorganic photocatalyst (UV-DRS). Using simulated solar irradiation, the photocatalytic activity of the produced Bi-TiO2 nanoparticles was examined by detecting the degradation of a solution of methylene blue (MB) as a model dye molecule. The developed Bi-TiO2 photocatalyst demonstrates superior photocatalytic action than commercially available powder TiO2, according to photo-degradation experiments. E.coli and S.aureus bacterial strains were employed to assess the antibacterial activity of Bi-TiO2 nanoparticles. The most active molecules that gain antibacterial activity were examined in isolated or extracted components from the tulsi plant. The chosen compounds were docked with thymidylate kinase (TMPK), a potential therapeutic goal for the preparation of novel antibacterial drugs with the PDB ID of 4QGG. Five compounds, namely rosmarinic acid, vicenin-2, orientin, vitexin, and isoorientin, out of the 27 chosen compounds, showed a higher docking score and may aid in boosting antibacterial activity. The synthesized Bi-TiO2 nanoparticles produced antibacterial activity that was effective against Gram-positive bacteria. The nanomaterials that have been synthesized have a lot of potential in wastewater treatment and biomedical management technologies.

Dementia is a clinical syndrome characterized by progressive cognitive decline, and the symptoms could be gradual, persistent, and progressive. In the present study, we investigated 47 genes that have been linked to dementia. Compositional, selectional, and mutational forces were seen to be involved. The influence of these two compositional constraints on codon usage bias (CUB) was positive for nucleotide A and negative for GC. Nucleotide A also experienced the highest mutational force, and GC-ending codons were preferred over AT-ending codons. A high bias towards GC-ending codons enhanced the gene expression level, evidenced by the positive association between CAI and GC-ending codons. The unusual behavior of TTG codon showing an inverse relationship with GC-ending codon and negative influence of gene expression, a behavior contrary to all other GC-ending codons, shows operative selectional force. Furthermore, parity analysis, higher translational selection value, preference of GC-ending codons over AT-ending codons, and the association of gene length with gene expression refer to the dominant role of selection pressure with compositional constraint and mutational force shaping codon usage.

Several medicinal plants have the potential to be a promising alternative pharmacological therapy for a variety of human illnesses. Many insects, including mosquitoes, are important vectors of deadly pathogens and parasites, which in the world’s growing human and animal populations can cause serious epidemics and pandemics. Medicinal plants continue to provide a large library of phytochemicals, which can be used to replace chemically synthesized insecticides, and utilization of herbal product-based insecticides is one of the best and safest alternatives for mosquito control. Identifying new effective phyto-derived insecticides is important to counter increasing insect resistance to synthetic compounds and provide a safer environment. Solanum genus (Solanaceae family or nightshades) comprises more than 2500 species, which are widely used as food and traditional medicine. All research publications on insecticidal properties of Solanaceae plants and their phytoconstituents against mosquitoes and other insects published up to July 2020 were systematically analyzed through PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, EBSCO, Europe PMC, and Google Scholar databases, with focus on species containing active phytoconstituents that are biodegradable and environmentally safe. The current state of knowledge on larvicidal plants of Solanum species, type of extracts, target insect species, type of effects, name of inhibiting bioactive compounds, and their lethal doses (LC50 and LC90) were reviewed in this study. These studies provide valuable information about the activity of various species of Solanum and their phytochemical diversity, as well as a roadmap for optimizing select compounds for botanical repellents against a variety of vectors that cause debilitating and life-threatening human diseases.

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