ABSTRACT
Increasing body immunity is very necessary after the Covid-19 pandemic. One of the efforts that can be made to increase the body's immunity is to consume functional foods with immunostimulant activity, such as processed snakehead fish products in the form of nuggets, and "parkusel" juice made from a mixture of bitter melon, dates and celery. The purpose of community service is to provide knowledge and skills to housewives and the community at the Veteran ABRI Housing Complex in Medan Estate, Deli Serdang Regency, in making functional food products in the form of snakehead fish nuggets and Perkusel juice. The community service method used is the counseling method with leafet aids and training in making snakehead fish nuggets and perkusel juice. The results of the activity showed that there was an increase in the knowledge of the community participants in community service activities about nutritious snack products that can increase body immunity by 71% in the good value category.
ABSTRACT
Stress during Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affects the physiological and immunological response to women's reproductive health. Meanwhile, Apium graveolens and Eucalyptus globulus are immunomodulators related to women's reproductive health. This investigation had a goal to examine the effectiveness of A. graveolens and E. globulus towards the expression of Heat Shock Protein-70 (HSP70) as the primary biomarker of stress, Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha (TNF-alpha) as a pro-inflammatory protein, along with Luteinizing Hormone (LH) and Growth Differentiation Factor 9 (GDF-9) as folliculogenesis markers. An experimental randomized controlled trial was utilized by using a pre-test and post-test control group design. Sixty women, who had stress based on DASS-21 questionnaire, were divided into two groups in Nusukan Health Center, Indonesia. The intervention group was orally administered with 300 mg A. graveolens capsules and E. globulus essential oil for 14 days, while the control group was given a placebo. Blood samples and stress levels were then evaluated before and after the intervention. No significant difference was found in the stress levels of the control and treatment groups at the pre-test. Meanwhile, the intervention group had the decreased HSP70, TNF-alpha, and stress levels (p<0.001). In contrast, increased LH and GDF-9 levels were displayed in the intervention group compared to the control group (p<0.001). These findings revealed that A. graveolens supplementation and E. globulus essential oil have the ability to decrease stress and are able to protect folliculogenesis markers on women's reproductive health due to stressful conditions during pandemic COVID-19. Copyright © 2022 by Indonesian Journal of Pharmacy (IJP).
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The emergence of COVID-19 in the late of 2019 resulted in the massive screening of drugs, including natural products, to support the current vaccines. Apium and Foeniculum vegetables are members of the Apiaceae family that potentially used to be natural immunosuppressant. AIM: The purpose of this research is to analyze the phylogenetic position between these two plants as well as find out their secondary metabolites potency against COVID-19 main protease (Mpro) and the papain-like protease (PLpro). METHODS: The phylogenetic analysis of Apium and Foeniculum from Indonesia was carried out based on internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and the bioactive virtual screening assay was completed through AutoDock Vina software. CONCLUSION: Overall, Apium and Foeniculum have close relationships among the members of Apiaceae after maximum likelihood analysis. Furthermore, it also has 70 similar bioactive compounds that some of these potentially inhibit both of COVID-19 proteases.