Biochemistry

This study was conducted to evaluate the hepatoprotective activity of
aqueous and ethanol extract of Mangifera-indica stem bark in paracetamolinduced
liver injury in winstar albino rats. Aqueous and ethanolic extracts of
M. indica stem bark at a dose of 200mg/kg were administered for 7 days to
rats in groups II and III respectively while vitamin C (200mg/kg) was given
as a standard antioxidant to group IV along with water and standard feed.
Groups I and V received water and standard feed for 7day. On the 8th day all
groups except group I received paracetamol at a dose of 2g/kg body weight
and all rats were sacrificed 12hrs after paracetamol administration. Serum
total protein (TP), albumin, aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine
transaminase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were determined to
assess the effect of the extract on the paracetamol induced hepatic damage in
addition to hepatic antioxidant status. The ethanolic extract was found to be
more effective than the aqueous extract (200 mg/kg) in paracetamol induced
liver damage by decreasing the activity of serum enzymes AST, ALT and
ALP while increasing significantly (P<0.05) the levels of total proteins and
albumin. Glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase
(SOD) activity were significantly increased (P<0.05) in the treated groups
while malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were reduced. From this studies it is
concluded that both aqueous and ethanol extract of M. indica stem bark
possesses hepatoprotective activity.

The Moringa plant provides a rich and rare combination of zeatin, quercetin, sitosterol, caffeoylquinic acid and kaempferol. In addition to its compelling water purifying powers and high nutritional value, M. oleifera is very important for its medicinal value. Various parts of this plant such as the leaves, roots, seed, bark, fruit, flowers and immature pods act as cardiac and circulatory stimulants, antipyretic, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antiepileptic, diuretic, antiulcer, antispasmodic antihypertensive, cholesterol lowering, antidiabetic, antioxidant, antibacterial, hepatoprotective, and antifungal activities, and are being employed for the treatment of different ailments in the indigenous system of medicine, particularly in South Asia.

Madhuca longifolia (Mahua) belongs to family Sapotaceae. Madhuca commonly known as the Butter nut tree is a medium to large sized deciduous tree distributed in Nepal, India and Sri Lanka. Madhuca longifolia is a large tree, about 17m high with a large top. Mahua is a large, shady, deciduous tree doting much of the central Indian landscape, both wild and cultivated. Mahua seeds are of economic importance as they are good source of edible fats. Medicinal herbs are moving from fringe to mainstream use with a great number of people seeking remedies and health approaches free from side effects caused by synthetic chemicals. Madhuca longifolia is reported to contain sapogenins, triterpenoids, steroids, saponins, flavonoids and glycosides. It is used as spasmogenic, oxytocic, uterotonic, anti-bacterial, anti-implantation, anti-tumour, anti-progestational, antiestrogenic activity against menorrhagia and anti-cancer. This review contains the traditional uses of various parts of plant, Phytochemical constituent and different reported pharmacological activity.

AbstrAct It is a current concern in the wood preservation field to avoid the use of toxic chemicals and develop new technologies based on low environmental impact agents and sustainable principles. Under this expectation, an intended state-of-the-art is introduced on the application of natural products such as traditional tar and wood oils as well as tannins and plant extracts. A particular revision to heartwood chemical components is offered. The combined methods of using natural and chemical components are reviewed, considering as outstanding the mixtures of natural organic constituents with cooper and boron salts that seem to be under encouraging experimentation. Fungicides and anti-termite applications are commented as well the leaching problem of inorganic salts. Chemical modification of wood structure through the formation of adducts and the treatment with nanomaterials are promising tools that will change the actual view and performance of wood preservation techniques. resumen Una de las prioridades actuales en el campo de la preservación de madera es evitar el uso de materiales tóxicos, desarrollando nuevas tecnologías fundamentadas en principios sustentables y empleando agentes de bajo impacto ambiental. Con esta expectativa se plantea una revisión del estado del arte sobre la aplicación de productos naturales, tales como taninos, alquitrán, aceites y extractos vegetales. Se presenta en particular una revisión sobre los componentes químicos contenidos en el duramen de maderas naturalmente resistentes. Se analizan los métodos combinados de ingredientes naturales y químicos, resaltando las mezclas de componentes naturales orgánicos con sales de cobre y boro que parecen representar una opción experimental confiable. Se comentan también las aplicaciones fungicidas y anti termitas, así como los problemas de lixiviación de sales inorgánicas. Opciones como la modificación química de la madera vía la formación de aductos y por tratamiento con nanomateriales son procesos promisorios que cambiaran eventualmente la manera de ver y aplicar la tecnología actual de preservación de maderas.

ABSTRACT
This work was carried out to investigate the chemical/mineral composition of the water extract of zobo (Hibiscus sabdariffa) drink using the modern atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Zobo drink is a popular drink in the Nigeria, especially in the northern part of Nigeria. The result of the analysis indicated that the drink is high in vital mineral nutrients required for the healthy growth by humans and for the proper metabolic processes to be adequately maintained. Zobo drink is high, as indicated in the result, in iron – a major component of the human haemoglobin, when compared with other leaf like the popular vegetable leaf known as awa (Piper methysticum).

This study evaluates the percentage content of carbohydrate components present in sour sop pulp peels. The samples were washed and dried at 60oC for eighteen hours; this was done to prevent the volatilization of some components at higher temperatures. The carbohydrate components that were determined included starch, lignin, cellulose, hemicelluloses, holocellulose and reducing sugar. Standard methods were used to determine the various parameters. Results showed that starch, lignin, cellulose, hemicelluloses, holocellulose and reducing sugar had percentage concentrations of 0.25%, 14.7%, 20%, 15%, 34% and 14.3% respectively. This study shows that the peels of sour sop pulp have some industrial potentials especially in the production of paper and low cost ethanol.

DNA computing is a new computing paradigm which uses bio-molecular as information storage media and biochemical tools as information processing operators. It has shows many successful and promising results for various applications. Since DNA reactions are probabilistic reactions, it can cause the different results for the same situations, which can be regarded as errors in the computation. To overcome the drawbacks, much works have focused to design the error-minimized DNA sequences to improve the reliability of DNA computing. In this research, Population-based ACO (P-ACO) is proposed to solve the DNA sequence optimization. P-ACO approach is a meta-heuristic algorithm that uses some ants to obtain the solutions based on the pheromone in their colony. The DNA sequence design problem is modelled by four nodes, representing four DNA bases (A, T, C, and G). The results from the proposed algorithm are compared with other sequence design methods, which are Genetic Algorithm (GA), and Mult...

This paper presents researches regarding the content of essential oils, flavonoids, polyphenolic and phenolic compounds in leaf parsley from an organic culture and the methods of extraction used for determinations. The obtained results highlight the medicinal properties of parsley, both the alimentary and economic importance, as a vegetable aromatic plant used for human consumption worlwide.

The present work is in the technical field of plant extraction. More particularly, the work relates to the extraction of medicinal plants using liquid nitrogen in a closed environment. The principal objective of this work is to provide a new method of plant extraction using liquid nitrogen which is simple, safe and less time consuming as compared to the existing open method of plant extraction using liquid nitrogen. The plant used for the study was Cynodon dactylon (Linn.) Pers. The new method includes the steps of size reduction of the plant material, taking the plant material and solvent in culture tubes, closing the tubes properly and dipping these tubes into liquid nitrogen at below-196 °C, melting the frozen material inside the tubes and collecting the liquid extract. The new method of plant extraction avoids exposing liquid nitrogen in open environment and thus avoids the drawbacks of the available methods of plant extraction using liquid nitrogen in open environment.

Cystic fibrosis is the most common autosomal recessive potentially lethal hereditary disease. The disease is caused by mutations in the CFTR gene of the transmembrane peptide. CFTR, functioning as a cAMP-dependent chlorine channel, regulates chlorine and sodium channels, participates in water and ATP. As a result of a genetic defect, the secretion of the glands of external secretion thickens, its evacuation becomes more difficult, secondary changes occur in the organs.

The present study was designed to evaluate the preventive and curative cardioprotective potential of native and gemmotherapeutically treated on the basis of biochemical, histopathological and antioxidant parameters in the salbutamol (albuterol) induced myocardial necrosis in rabbits. Gemmotherapy is a newly emerging way of treatment and no work so far has been done on evaluation of curative cardioprotective potential of Withania somnifera. Rabbits were divided into eight main groups: Normal, Ischemia, WS Gemmo-baseline, WS Native-baseline, WS Gemmo-preventive, WS Native-preventive, WS Gemmo-curative and WS Native-curative groups. Gemmo and native-baseline groups were treated with gemmo and native W. somnifera (50 mg/kg) for 20 days. Native and Gemmo-preventive groups were pre-treated with native and gemmotherapeutically treated W. somnifera at a dose 50 mg/kg for 3 weeks. On 20 th and 21 st day animals of all groups except normal and baseline groups were given Salbutamol (50mg/ kg), orally at an interval of 24 h. The Native-curative and Gemmo-curative groups were then treated with native and gemmotherapeutically treated W. somnifera at a dose 50 mg/ kg for 5 days, subsequent to the treatment with Salbutamol. Rabbits were subsequently sacrificed for gross pathological studies and hearts were removed for antioxidant assay. Administeration of Salbutamol significantly increased (p<0.05) the serum level of CK-MB, LDH, SGOT and SGPT in ischemia group as compared to Normal. However, pre-and post-treatment with Native and Gemmo extracts of W. somnifera significantly restored and reduced (p<0.05) the elevated serum levels of these cardiac markers. Also Native and Gemmo extracts of W. somnifera significantly increased (p<0.05) antioxidant enzymes; superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase. No significant change was observed in the activity of cardiac enzymes in baseline groups. Protective actions of W. somnifera on heart have also been confirmed by gross pathology.