Efforts Made to Eliminate Drug-Resistant Malaria and Its Challenges.

Since 2000, a good deal of progress has been made in malaria control. However, there is still an unacceptably high burden of the disease and numerous challenges limiting advancement towards its elimination and ultimate eradication. Among the challenges is the antimalarial drug resistance, which has been documented for almost all antimalarial drugs in current use. As a result, the malaria research community is working on the modification of existing treatments as well as the discovery and development of new drugs to counter the resistance challenges. To this effect, many products are in the pipeline and expected to be marketed soon. In addition to drug and vaccine development, mass drug administration (MDA) is under scientific scrutiny as an important strategy for effective utilization of the developed products. This review discusses the challenges related to malaria elimination, ongoing approaches to tackle the impact of drug-resistant malaria, and upcoming antimalarial drugs.

Ethnomedicine Claim Directed in Silico Prediction of Anticancer Activity.

BACKGROUND: The merits of ethnomedicine-led approach to identify and prioritize anticancer medicinal plants have been challenged as cancer is more likely to be poorly understood in traditional medicine practices. Nonetheless, it is also believed that useful data can be generated by combining ethnobotanical findings with available scientific studies. Thus, this study combined an ethnobtanical study with ligand based in silico screening to identify relevant medical plants and predict their anticancer potential based on their phytoconstiutents reported in scientific literatures. METHODS: First, relevant medicinal plants were identified through an ethnobotanical survey. A list of phytochemicals was prepared based on literature review of articles which reported on the natural products of identified medicinal plants. Then, their phytochemicals were subjected to in silico evaluation, which included a hybrid score similarity measure, rule of five, Ghose-Viswanadhan-Wendoloski (GVW)-indices and structural features criteria, to predict their anticancer activity and drugability. RESULTS: A total of 18 medicinal plants and 265 phytoconstituents were identified. The natural product pool constituted 109(41.13%) terpenoids, 67(25.28%) phenolics, 29(10.94%) simple and functionalized hydrocarbons, 26(9.81%) alkaloids, 25(9.43%) glycosides and 9(3.40%) compounds belonging to different phytochemical classes. The similarity measure using CDRUG identified 34(12.73%) phytochemicals with high (p-Value < 0.05) and 35(13.21%) with moderate possibility (p-Value < 0.1) of anticancer activity. In fact, three of the predicted compounds had the same structure with known anticancer compounds (HSCORE=1). The 80% GVW-indices based antineoplastic drugabilityranges were all mate by 25 of the predicted compounds. Predicted compounds were also shown to have ring structures and functional groups deemed important for anticancer activity. CONCLUSIONS: Given the findings, there is a promising anticancer activity by the traditionally used medicinal plants and a potential for the predicted phytochemicals to be pursued as possible hits or me-too drugs.

Evaluation of anti-malarial drugs' use in Fitche Hospital, North Shoa, Oromia Region, Ethiopia.

OBJECTIVE: Retrospective evaluation of anti-malarial drugs' use in Fitche Hospital, North Shoa, Oromia Region, Ethiopia. METHODS: Retrospective cross-sectional study design was conducted using selected patients cards of 1-year (January 2012-January 2013 G.C) with anti-malarial agents from January 18 to 30, 2013. The sample size was calculated by using Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Health care Organization criteria and sampling was done by using a systematic random sampling technique. RESULTS: One hundred and twenty-five patient cards with anti-malarial drugs were reviewed of which 32.8%, 21.6%, 15.2% belongs to age range of 20-29, 10-19, and 30-39, respectively. Chloroquine prescription accounts for 50.4% from total anti-malarial drugs. 71.2% and 78.4% of patients received antibiotics and analgesics, respectively, with anti-malarial drugs. 77.6% of drugs were prescribed by generic name while the brand name was 22.39%. CONCLUSIONS: The study done in Fitche Hospital revealed that the use of anti-malarial agent was not in complete agreement with the current guideline of Ethiopia despite good practice.

Antiplasmodial activity of solvent fractions of methanolic root extract of Dodonaea angustifolia in Plasmodium berghei infected mice.

BACKGROUND: Malaria is one of the most important infectious diseases in the World. The choice for the treatment is highly limited, and several of these may eventually be lost or compromised due to drug resistance. The use of plant medicine in the treatment of malaria and its various presentations is a common practice in many countries of Africa where the disease is mostly endemic. Dodonaea angustifolia is traditionally used in Ethiopia for prophylaxis against malaria. The present study is attempted to evaluate the antimalarial activity of the solvent fractions of root extracts of D. angustifolia in P. berghei infected mice. METHODS: In this study, 4-days Peter's suppressive test was used to determine parasite inhibition. Acute toxicity test was also conducted on the most active fraction according to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) guidelines 425. Data was analyzed by using Windows SPSS version 16 and expressed as mean ± SD for each dose level. ANOVA followed by Post Hoc Tukey's HSD was used to compare result between treatment and control groups. Students paired t-test was employed to test significance for the difference between initial and final results within the same group. RESULTS: All three fractions showed varying degrees of antiplasmodial activity. The n-butanol fraction displayed a relatively highest suppression of parasitaemia (67.51%) at an oral dose of 600 mg/kg. Lower doses, 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg, of the fraction also resulted in parasitaemia suppression of 38.02% and 55.85%, respectively. Chemosuppressive activity of chloroform and aqueous fractions was less compared to that of n-butanol fraction. All the three fractions displayed dose dependent significant (P < 0.001) antiplasmodial activity as compared to the control. Survival time was prolonged in case of n-butanol and chloroform fractions. No lethality to mice was seen with n-butanol fraction up to a dose of 2000 mg/kg. CONCLUSION: All the three fractions possessed significant antiplasmodial activity as compared with the control group. n-butanol fraction was found to be the most active fraction with minimal toxicity and might contain potential lead molecule for the development of a new drug for treatment of malaria.