Traditional and contemporary herbal medicines in management of cancer: A scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and is primarily managed by chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. Traditional medicine is widely used worldwide due to availability, affordability, wide applicability and accessibility. While potential for traditional medicines in management of cancer is well-documented, there is limited literature that collates traditional knowledge and contemporary herbal medicine practice. To collate available evidence on herbal medicines used in the management of all cancers from traditional world-wide sources, and the management of lung and colorectal cancers in contemporary practice. Medicinal plants with anti-cancer properties were identified following JBI methodology for scoping reviews through searches of the following sources: Trove, Archive.Org, and Henriette's herbal medicine page (traditional texts), book list available from World Naturopathic Federation white paper (contemporary naturopathic texts), and in PubMed, MEDLINE, SCOPUS, ScienceDirect, AMED and JSTOR (case studies). Of the 1973 citations retrieved, 38 traditional texts, 3 contemporary naturopathic texts and 10 case studies were included in the review. The traditional texts (n = 110) noted the highest number of different anti-cancer herbal species, followed by case reports (n = 52) and contemporary texts (n = 13). This review identified various herbal medicines used to treat cancer traditionally which is distinct to those found in contemporary use. Moreover, this review identified the use of herbs from other native medical systems around the world in the contemporary naturopathic practice and individual case management. The evidence presented in the review could be utilized in pre-clinical settings to research traditional preparations of herbs.

An inquiry-based practical for a large, foundation-level undergraduate laboratory that enhances student understanding of basic cellular concepts and scientific experimental design.

Student-centered education involving research experiences or inquiry have been shown to help undergraduate students understand, and become excited about, the process of scientific investigation. These benefits are particularly important for students in the early stages of their degree (Report and Kenny, http://naplesccsunysbedu/Pres/boyernsf/1998). However, embedding such experiences into the curriculum is particularly difficult when dealing with early stage students, who are in larger cohorts and often lack the background content knowledge necessary to engage with primary research literature and research level methods and equipment. We report here the design, delivery, assessment, and subsequent student learning outcomes of a 4-week practical module for 120 students at the beginning of their second year of university, which successfully engages students in designing cell culture experiments and in understanding the molecular processes and machinery involved in the basic cellular process of macropinocytosis.

Laser desorption and ionization time-of-flightversus matrix-assisted laser desorption and ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry of and metal complexes.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) has been recently established as a powerful, "soft" ionization technique for the analysis of both transition metal complexes, which are used as metallo-drugs in the therapy of various types of tumors, and biomolecules. Since some metal complexes absorb light in the UV range, it should be possible to analyse them without additional matrices, i.e. using LDI-TOF MS. In this study, the matrix-free approach was tested for the analysis of [PtCl2(dach)] (dichloride(1,2-diamincyclohexane) platinum(ii)), [RuCl2(en)2]Cl (dichloridobis(ethylenediamine) ruthenium(iii) chloride) and [RuCl2(bipy)2]Cl (bis(bipyridine)dichloridoruthenium(iii) chloride) and the detection limit for these compounds was determined. In summary, the LDI-TOF mass spectra of [PtCl2(dach)] and [RuCl2(en)2]Cl are rather simple, whereas in the presence of 2,5-DHB as a matrix, additional peaks are generated. On the other hand, the standard MALDI-TOF mass spectrum of [RuCl2(bipy)2]Cl exhibits only one peak arising from the complex, in contrast to six peaks detectable in the LDI-TOF mass spectrum. The detection limit in the MALDI-TOF MS analysis of [PtCl2(dach)] and [RuCl2(bipy)2]Cl complexes was lower than that determined in LDI-TOF MS. Taking all into account, in this paper, we have demonstrated some advantages and drawbacks of the matrix-free LDI-TOF mass spectrometric analysis of transition metal complexes.