Annual Phytochemical Variations and Antioxidant Activity within the Aerial Parts of Lavandula angustifolia, an Evergreen Medicinal Plant.

Acknowledging the importance of medicinal compounds, flavonoids, and phenolic acids in plants and human health; understanding the best time to harvest plants to get the most potentially therapeutic biological activity; and predicting and controlling the quality of medicinal plants are very useful. The rich chemical composition of medicinal lavender, as well as its antioxidant activity, has led to its wide application in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and food industries. In the current research, seasonal differences in phenolic content; the main constituents of essential oil, essential oil yield, and antioxidant activity; and flavonoid content were evaluated. In this investigation, for all the investigated factors, three replications were considered as completely randomized designs. The predominant natural components were α-pinene, camphene, 1,8-cineole, limonene, camphor, borneol, cryptone, isobornyl formate, cumin aldehyde, carvone, caryophyllene oxide, and epi-α-cadinol. The highest rate of 1,8-cineole was seen in summer, while camphor and borneol showed their highest percentages in the cold season. Some of the compounds such as caryophyllene oxide, isobornyl formate, and cumin aldehyde showed their highest amounts in the spring with the activation of some important plant enzymes such as peroxidase. The total content of flavonoids and some phenolic compounds (coumarin and p-coumaric acid) increased when plants received sunlight for a longer time than in the colder to warmer seasons. On the other hand, increases in chlorogenic acid and vanillin were observed in spring. Also, the highest antioxidant activity was observed in lavender, which was accompanied by an increase in the important phenolic composition of rosmarinic acid in the cold season. Generally, this investigation provides beneficial evidence about the most appropriate harvest time for lavender to produce the most favorable constituents for optimization in food, pharmaceutical, and herbal products.

The effect of harvest time on the natural product of Rosmarinus officinalis L. from South Iran (Fars province).

The medicinal composition of rosemary essential oil has led to its widespread use in the food, cosmetic, health and herbal industries. In the present work, seasonal variations of essential constituents of essential oil, essential oil yield were evaluated. The predominant components of rosemary were: camphene, limonene, α-pinene, camphor, borneol, linalool, 1,8-cineole, (E)- caryophyllene and bornyl acetate. The highest rate of linalool was seen in summer, while camphor, limonene and borneol showed the highest percentage in cold season. Some of the compounds such as α-pinene, camphene, bornyl acetate and (E)- caryophyllene in the spring with the activation of some important plant enzymes such as peroxidase showed the highest amount. It is hoped that this research will provide very useful information about the best time to harvest the valuable rosemary plant and can be useful for the health, food and herbal industries that use this plant.

Seasonal variation on the major bioactive compounds: total phenolic and flavonoids contents, and antioxidant activity of rosemary from shiraz.

The rich bioactive compounds of medicinal rosemary, as well as their antioxidant activity has led to its wider application in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries. In the present work, seasonal variations of phenolic, flavonoid content and antioxidant activity were evaluated. This experiment was performed based on a complete randomised design with three replications. The total content of flavonoids and some phenolic compounds (caffeic acid and quercetin) increased when plants received sunlight for a longer period of time than the colder seasons. On the other hand, the highest antioxidant activity was observed in rosemary, which was accompanied by an increase in the important phenolic composition of rosmarinic acid in the cold season. Overall, this study can provide useful information about the best harvest period for rosemary to produce the desired compounds for use in the food, pharmaceutical and plant industries.

Can Opium Use Contribute to a Higher Risk of Colorectal Cancers? A Matched Case-control Study in Iran.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancers (CRCs) including colon, rectum and anal cancers are the third most prevalent cancers in the world. There are strong evidence showing the risk of the cigarette smoking, alcohol use, low physical activity and some types of diets in CRCs; however, few studies explored the relationship between opium use and CRCs. This study aimed to investigate the association between opioid use and the incidence of CRCs. METHODS: In a population-based matched case-control study in Kerman, Iran, 175 patients with colorectal cancers and 350 healthy controls (matched for age, sex, and place of residence) were interviewed from Sep 2014 to Nov 2014. Opium and its derivatives, cigarette, alcohol, and diet use were collected using a valid and reliable questionnaire. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: The use of opioids was associated with an increased risk of CRCs (adjusted odds ratio= 4. 5, 95% CI: 2. 4-8. 7). In addition, a dose-response relationship was observed between the cumulative use of opioids and the incidence of CRCs (with low use OR=3. 7; 95% CI: 1. 5-8. 6 and high use OR= 8. 0; 95% CI: 2. 9-21. 7). This dose-response relationship was also strong in patients with colon cancers, with OR= 3. 9 (95% CI: 1. 5-9. 9) and 9. 4 (95% CI: 3. 3-27. 0) for the low and high uses of opioids, respectively. CONCLUSION: Opioid use can lead to an increased risk of CRCs. Therefore, it is necessary to implement preventive policies to control the use of opioids.

Potential of human umbilical cord matrix and rabbit bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells in repair of surgically incised rabbit external anal sphincter.

PURPOSE: Anal sphincter defects and fecal incontinence are complicated surgical problems. We investigated the ability of human umbilical cord matrix (hUCM) and rabbit bone marrow (rBM) stem cells to improve anal sphincter incontinence due to induced sphincter defects without surgical repair. METHODS: We harvested hUCM cells from human Wharton's jelly and rBM stem cells from rabbit femurs and tibias. To induce sphincter defects, we made an incision in the external anal sphincter. Rabbits were randomly allocated to 5 groups to receive either no intervention (n = 3) or injections of 10 hUCM cells in medium (10 microL RPMI-1640), rBM cells in medium, medium only, or normal saline (n = 7 per group), 2 weeks after sphincterotomy. Transplanted cells were tracked in the injured sphincters by prelabeling with bromodeoxyuridine. Electromyography was performed before and 2 weeks after the external anal sphincterotomy, and 2 weeks after cell transplantation. We also evaluated the proliferation and differentiation of injected cells with histopathologic techniques. RESULTS: Electromyography showed significant improvement in sphincter function 2 weeks after local injection of rBM stem cells compared with pretreatment values and controls. Moderate, nonsignificant improvement was observed with hUCM cell injection. Cells with incorporated bromodeoxyuridine were detected at the site of injury after transplantation of hUCM and rBM. Histopathologic evaluation showed normal or muscle-dominant sphincter structure in all animals receiving rBM and fibrous-dominant sphincter structure in most animals receiving hUCM. CONCLUSIONS: Stem cell injection at the site of injury can enhance contractile function of the anal sphincter without surgical repair. Transplantation of stem cells, particularly bone marrow mesenchymal cells, may provide an effective tool for treating anal sphincter injuries in humans.

Presence of lead in opium.

Opium addiction is a common form of addiction in Middle East countries such as Iran. Recently several reports suggested some kinds of pathologic findings such as abdominal pain, nephropathy, and anemia in opium addict patients. Such pathologic findings suggest lead poisoning in the patients. In this study, the concentration of lead in 10 opium samples was evaluated. The mean concentration of lead in the opium samples was 1.88 ppm. This may explain some of the pathologic findings found in addict patients. The authors would suggest further investigations to evaluate the lead concentration in opium addicts' sera and also routine screening for lead poisoning in opium addict patients.