Phytochemical investigation on Vitex negundo leaves and their anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities

Abstract The phytochemical investigation on Vitex negundo leaves has led to the isolation of one new iridoid glucoside (8α-hydroxy-4-carboxyl-5ßH-9ßH-iridoid-1α-O-(6'-O-(6,7-dihydrofoliamenthonyl)-ß-ᴅ-glucopyranoside, 3), together with three known compounds, namely agnuside (1), 6'-O-E-caffeoylmussaenosidic acid (2), and 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid (4). The HPLC analytical study was also performed to quantify the content of agnuside (1) in dried leaves. The results indicated the very high content of 1 (3.04 ± 0.02%). The method was also validated by various parameters, including linearity (R2= 0.9999), precision (intra-day RSD ≤ 2.50%, inter-day RSD= 0.76%), and accuracy (recovery rates 96.58-101.86%). The animal testing data showed that the extract did not reduce pain at the doses of 9.6 and 28.8 g /kg (leaf weight/body weight) in the hot plates and pain measuring models but showed the pain reduction in the acetic acid-induced pain model. The extract at the dose of 5.6 g/kg (leaf weight/body weight) also had effects on the acute inflammation in the carrageenin-induced edema model. The extract at the dose 9.6 and 28.8 g/kg (leaf weight/body weight) also showed significant chronic anti-inflammation, comparable to methylprednisolone at the dose 10 mg/kg on the mouse peritoneal

The Correlation between Gender Problems and Gender Counseling's Need of Vietnamese Students

The relation between gender problems and the need for gender counseling of high school students is an unidentified issue which should be paid more attention in Vietnam. This study is performed to verify the hypothesis that whether there is no connection between gender problems and gender counseling’s need for Vietnamese high school students. The survey on 1,200 high-school students in Vietnam, from grade 6 to grade 12, shows that the average point of gender problems is 2.39 equivalent to under average. Different school levels result in different gender problems. The average point of students’ need for gender counseling is 2.86 equivalent to optional. Differences in gender and school levels results in differences in the needs of gender counseling. There is a close connection between gender problems and gender counseling’s need for Vietnamese high school students. This data proves that the more gender problems the students face, there is a higher need for gender counseling.

Evaluation of antimicrobial activities of Bacillus megaterium with a third-generation cephalosporin (ceftriaxone).

Bacillus megaterium T04 isolated from Rach Lang stream in Vietnam was tested for antimicrobial activities. The antimicrobial activities of Bacillus megaterium T04 (57.3x108 cfu/mL) against Candida albicans, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus sciuri, Micrococcus luteus were detected by agar well diffusion method in different cultivation conditions at three temperatures (25, 37, and 45oC) in three incubation periods (24, 48, and 72 hours). The efficacy of antimicrobial activities of this strain were determined in comparison with ceftriaxone activity against Candida albicans, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus scuiri, Micrococcus luteus. The antimicrobial activity potency was equivalent to ceftriaxone in a range ( 3.3 0.6 μg/mL to 46.5 6.2 μg/mL) for Candida albicans (0.9 0.2 μg/mL to 35.5 7.7 μg/mL) for Salmonella typhi, , (0.4 0.1 μg/mL to 28.4 4.4 μg/mL) for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, (119.8 21.2 μg/mL to 283.7 26.0 μg/mL) for Staphylococcus scuiri, (3.3 0.4 μg/mL to 64.4 7.4 μg/mL) for Micrococcus luteus.

Project of National Strategies for Food Fortification in Vietnam.

Objectives: The overall goal is to reduce the prevalence of vitamin and mineral deficiencies including vitamin A, iron and zinc deficiencies. The project will continue its efforts to prevent the population from falling back into deficiency. Over the project, 4 type of fortified food are produced: soya sauce, fish sauce, vegetable oil and flavoring powders for >55 million people (50% of the total population) throug >20 manufacturers Methods: Micronutrient deficiency is public health problem in Vietnam. Iron status has improved but a large part of the population continues to be deficient for zinc and vitamin A or has a marginal status for all the bio-indicators tested. With the support of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) in Vietnam began to fortify fish sauce in 2005, following studies showed the positive impact of fish sauce fortification. The second phase of the four year projects subsidizes fortificant for the producers over one year in Vietnam; provides technical support in the area of production and standards to get mandatory fortification in place. Results: 16 food producers signed a commitment to join in the project. Vitamin A-fortified oil, vitamin A-fortified granules, iron fortified fish sauce, iron-fortified soya sauce are introduced to Vietnam consumers. Fortification legislation is developed and revised by the government. The food law contains an article on fortification which stipulates that micronutrient fortification is mandatory if it can be shown the corresponding deficiency constitute a public health problem. Conclusions: The project begun in 9/2011 and be concluded in 10/2015.

Functional analysis of ATP-binding cassette transporter of Streptomyces coelicolor.

ATP- binding cassette (ABC) transporters are characterized as multi drug resistant transporters utilizing ATP hydrolysis. The SCO5113 (GeneID: 1100554) encoding a multidrug resistance ABC transporter in Streptomyces coelicolor was expressed in E.coli BL21 (DE3) plysS, using pET 21 a(+). The expression of his – tag fused SCO5113 at 65 kDa under 0.1 M IPTG in 6 h was detected on SDS-PAGE after purification using affinity chromatography. The E. coli BL21 (DE3) plysS harboring SCO5113 was used to test for the antibiotic resistance, using disc diffussion method. The results showed the resistance of E. coli BL21 (DE3) plysS harboring SCO5113 to five kinds of tested antibiotics such as cephalothin (1mg/ml), kanamycin (1mg/ml), ampicillin (10mg/ml), erythromycin (10mg/ml), and chloramphenicol (1mg/ml). The study reported the function of the SCO5113 gene of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2).

Characterization of Antimicrobial Activities of Pediococcus pentosaceus Vtcc-B-601.

In this study, Pediococcus pentosaceus VTCC-B-601 was investigated and characterized for bacteriocin production. The antimicrobial activities were produced strongly at the late exponential phase (5x108 CFU/ml), corresponding to the activity of cephalosporin (13.3μg/ml) against Salmonella typhimurium ATCC 19430, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, Staphylococus aureus ATCC 25923, and Micrococcus luteus ATCC 10240. The bacteriocin activity was reduced after proteinase K treatment while the activity was still stable in high temperature. This work supplied a Pediococcus pentosaceus bacteriocin identification that was useful in food preservation, clinical use, and agriculture.

Studies on the Prodigiosin Production from Streptomyces coelicolor in Liquid Media by Using Heated Lactobacillus rhamnosus.

Prodigiosin (PG) is not only an antibiotic but it has also been characterized immunosuppressive and anticancer activities. Prodigiosin is produced by Streptomyces coelicolor and Seratia marcescens. In this study, prodigiosin (PG) production of S. coelicolor was optimized using 50μL, 100μL of heated cells at 70oC and 100oC of Lactobacillus rhamnosus. With 50μL heat-killed cells at 70oC L. rhamnosus, prodigiosin (PG) production of S. coelicolor enhanced the maximum prodigiosin concentration (9.79  1.68 mg/L) by six-fold at the early stage in the second day incubation in the comparison with prodigiosin (PG) production of S. coelicolor without heated L. rhamnosus (1.43  0.22 mg/L). There were the affects of the components of L. rhamnosus on PG production. This is the first report that L. rhamnosus affecting on PG production in S. coelicolor.

Detection of uronic acid of Lactobacillus rhamnosus PN04.

Lactobacillus rhamnosus is known as species that had many benefits in pharmaceutical, dairy food industry. To supply more applications for life, the detection of uronic production of Lactobacillus rhamnosus PN04 was done. After the extracellular components of Lactobacillus rhamnosus PN04 culture were precipitated with 1% cetyl pyridium chloride, the precipitants were used to check the uronic acid production capacity by carbazole assay according to BP98. As a result, the highest uronic acid yield was produced at 96 h cultivation. The maximum of uronic acid was about 74mg/L. The study was the first report the uronic acid existing in Lactobacillus rhamnosus PN04.

Exopolysaccharide in Lactobacillus Rhamnosus Pn04 After Co-Culture with Leuconostoc mesenteroides Vtcc-B-643.

Exopolysaccharides (EPS) from lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have many applications in food industry, and pharmaceutical field. To improve EPS production in Lactobacillus rhamnosus PN04 and Leuconostoc mesenteroides VTCC-B-643, these bacteria were co-cultured together. There were shape changes in Lactobacillus rhamnosus into curved rod. Their EPS were estimated after co-cultured. After ethanol precipitation method, the colorimetric method were done using phenol-sulfuric acid assay, the EPS from L. rhamnosus PN04 increased from 2.446 mg/l to 4.228 mg/l while Leuconostoc mesenteroides increased from 3.217 mg/l to 4.712 mg/l. By SDS-PAGE analysis in both straight and curved Lactobacillus rhamnosus, there were the expressed proteins with the estimated molecular weight of 14, 60, 66 kDa while the curved Lactobacillus rhamnosus showed another proteins with molecular weight of 14, 20, 31, 45, 60, 66, 95 kDa. The results suggested that there were the interaction between two these strains. This is the first report showed there were differences in EPS production and protein expression after co-culture of Lactobacillus rhamnosus PN04 and Leuconostoc mesenteroides VTCC-B-643.

Study on Minicell Generation of Lactobacillus acidophilus VTCC-B-871 for Drug Delivery.

The practice of developing molecularly targeted drugs to achieve a higher degree of cancer therapy and antibiotic resistance is indispensable. Recently, bacterially derived 400nm sized minicells was reported on the ability of encapsulation with chemotherapeutic drugs. Lactobacillus acidophilus strain participated in the anti-cancer effects and performed the high-level specificity for cancer cell lines. Here we discuss minicells generation of Lactobacillus acidophilus VTCC-B-871 for drug delivery. The present work was the first report on that L. acidophilus VTCC-B-871 formed minicells with highly significant ratio (25 %) in modified MRS broth with fructose 10 g/l carbon source concentration. The minicells were packaged with Paclitaxel (10 μg/ml) and Cephalosporin (10 μg/ml) at different times of incubation (10, 15, 24 hours) at 37°C. As a result, minicells could completely absorbed in 10 hours by detecting the extraction after drug packaged minicells on antimicrobial activities on S. aureus ATCC 25923, E. coli ATCC 9637, Salmonella typhi ATCC 19430, C. albicans ATCC 14053, P . aeruginosa ATCC 27853.

Study of Complex Nutrients, Temperature and Salts on Hyaluronic acid Production In Streptococcus zooepidermicus ATCC 43079.

The hyaluronic acidproducing Streptococcus zooepidermicus ATCC 43079 was used to study the hyaluronic acid production. We used the Plackett-Burman design of optimum multifactorial experiments to estimate the level effects of different factors such as peptone, meat extract, yeast extract, glucose, tween 80, dipotassium phosphate, sodium acetate, ammonium citrate, magnesium sulphate and manganese sulphate on hyaluronic acid production. As a result, meat extract (0.2%), yeast extract (0.1%) and glucose (0.4%) gave the highest production in Streptococcus zooepidermicus at temperature (40oC). In order to confirm the estimated hyaluronic acid yield, the designated experiments were done. The maximum yield of hyaluronic acid in Streptococcus zooepidermicus ATCC 43079 was 42.38 mg/l while the predicted HA was 42.32 mg/l. The results also showed the Plackett - Burman can be used to predict the HA yield.The study was the first report of HA production affected by complex nutrient, temperature and salts.

Some epidemic factors and the characteristics of media otitis in Phu Vang district, Thua Thien Hue province

4189 persons in Phu Vang – Hue were enrolled in an inquiry on health and morbidity. Results showed that ear diseases account for 6.1%, among them media otitis trended to increase with children age; deaf and dumb 0.2%, dull 0.1%. In the right ear and left ear the incidence of media otitis was similar. Hearing capacity was less sensitive if it has media otitis of both sides. In children, extern otitis was preponderant, while in adult the main problems were buzzed ear, hearing loss, drum membrane perforation, mainly in the centre, then in ¼ infero anterior and ¼ posterioinferior, chronic media otitis 97.75%, acute 2.25%. About ¾ cases of media otitis lost hearing capacity, 28.5% had not been treated, 31.1% treated in commune health station, 25% in private physician office, 25.2% self treated at home, 18.7% in district and provincial hospital. In > 3 children family group, 81.6% and in > 5 children family group, 46.2% had media otitis