Antibacterial and cytotoxicity evaluation of Arum hygrophilum Bioss.

OBJECTIVE: Arum hygrophilum Bioss is a plant native to Asia, Europe, and Northern Africa. It is consumed as beverages, spices, or cooked leaves to cure gastrointestinal infections and cancer. This study aims to determine the antibacterial and anticancer effectivenesss of A. hygrophilum Bioss. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using the well-diffusion method, the antimicrobial activity of the plant's aqueous extract and five other organic extracts were evaluated against bacteria often associated with food poisoning. The assessment of the antiproliferative activity by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was done on five cancerous cell lines and on fibroblasts as a reference cell line. RESULTS: The growth of L. monocytogenes was significantly inhibited by the aqueous and ethanolic extracts. Both extracts had a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 62.5 mg/mL. The inhibition caused by the methanolic extract had a MIC of 500 mg/mL. The growth of S. aureus and MRSA were inhibited by the aqueous extract with a MIC of 500 mg/mL, while the inhibition caused by the ethanolic extract had a MIC of 250 mg/mL on MRSA and 500 mg/mL on S.aureus. Both strains of S.aureus were also inhibited by the 3-pentanon extract, while the butanol extract only exhibited a moderate growth inhibition against MRSA. The MTT assay showed that the aqueous extract had not affected the proliferation of cancer cell lines. The cytotoxicity of the ethanolic and methanolic extracts had no concentration-inhibition relationship and the IC50 values were above 800 µg/mL for all extracts. CONCLUSIONS: L. monocytogenes, S. aureus, and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were inhibited by different Arum extracts. The antibacterial activity of Arum hygrophilum Bioss against foodborne pathogens makes it safe to use as a natural food preservative, and as a source for sanitizers and antimicrobials. Further investigation is recommended to determine the cytotoxicity of the plant against additional cancer cell lines.

Manure composting reduces house fly population.

Three experiments were conducted in a University of Jordan field in the Al-Jubeiha area, to evaluate the effect of manure composting for 0, 2, 4, or 6 weeks prior to planting on the house fly (Musca domestica L.) population. The obtained results indicated that the housefly prefers broiler and layer manures over other tested materials for breeding. Composting can reduce house fly populations, especially with longer composting periods. Reduction in house fly numbers was linearly correlated with composting period. Even though organic manures composted for longer periods reduce house fly populations, broiler and layer manures were still favored.

Herbal medicine in Jordan with special emphasis on less commonly used medicinal herbs.

The use of herbal medicine in Jordan is very common. In order to evaluate the knowledge and the attitudes of the herbalists and acquire the common and less common medicinal herbs sold by the Jordanian herbalists, more than 100 herbalists throughout the country were interviewed and data concerning herbs present in their shops, the herbalists' recommendations and other observations were collected. The present paper reports on the less common herbs and problems observed dealing with them.