Pharmacology and Ethnomedicinal Potential of Selected Plants Species from Apiaceae (Umbelliferae).

BACKGROUND: The Apiaceae or Umbelliferae is one of the largest families in terms of species representation in the plant kingdom. It is also a prominent family in the field of phytochemicals and pharmacology. The family is also quite prominent in the production of spices and condiments and food supplements in nutrition, aside from the potential of species in the family to induce apoptotic, antimicrobial, antitumor, and hepatoprotective activities. OBJECTIVE: This work presents a detailed structural elucidation and functional aspects of phytochemicals from the Apiaceae or Umbelliferae family. METHODS: Furthermore, the application of members of this family in traditional and modern pharmacology is emphasized. This review also highlights the linkage of phytochemicals used in the conventional system of medication for the development of novel therapeutics through a chain of pre-clinical and clinical trials. CONCLUSION: This study may represent a valuable step ahead in the clinical development of natural drugs for curing several ailments, including respiratory and virus-related diseases.

Acinetobacter baumannii: An overview of emerging multidrug-resistant pathogen.

The emergence of infections caused by Acinetobacter baumannii, a multidrug-resistant bacterium, has been a concern worldwide. This bacterium is an important hospitalacquired pathogen that causes several diseases including ventilator-associated pneumonia, bloodstream infections, and meningitis. This study aimed to determine antibioticresistant mechanisms in the pathogenesis of A. baumannii and the alternative treatment strategies against it. The combined actions of outer membrane protein A, formation of a biofilm on biotic and abiotic surfaces, phospholipases C and D, metal homeostatic system, lipopolysaccharides, and verotoxins are relevant for virulence and pathogenesis. A. baumannii resists the broad-spectrum antibiotics by its mechanisms of resistance, such as ß-lactamases, efflux pump, aminoglycoside modifying enzymes, permeability changes, and alternation of targets. In an attempt to overcome the resistance mechanisms, plant-derived compounds and a combination of the antibiotics and the plant phytocompounds have been focused. Nanoparticles synthesised with the plant extract have been studied extensively. Furthermore, we projected modern methods, including multi-omics analysis, to study insight into mechanisms of actions of antibiotics. The information suggested that the potential antibiotic mechanisms of A. baumannii could lead to an alternative treatment against A. baumannii infections.

Alcohol-based hand sanitisers as first line of defence against SARS-CoV-2: a review of biology, chemistry and formulations.

The pandemic due to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has emerged as a serious global public health issue. Since the start of the outbreak, the importance of hand-hygiene and respiratory protection to prevent the spread of the virus has been the prime focus for infection control. Health regulatory organisations have produced guidelines for the formulation of hand sanitisers to the manufacturing industries. This review summarises the studies on alcohol-based hand sanitisers and their disinfectant activity against SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses. The literature shows that the type and concentration of alcohol, formulation and nature of product, presence of excipients, applied volume, contact time and viral contamination load are critical factors that determine the effectiveness of hand sanitisers.

Death or near-death in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea: a compendium of case reports of critical complications.

The care of surgical patients with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) invokes concerns with safety and liability because of the risk that exists for perioperative death or near-death. The purpose of this review is to analyse the available literature to identify risk factors for perioperative critical complications in patients with OSA. Literature reports were screened for life threatening complications and deaths in surgical patients with OSA. The critical complications were sub-grouped as death/near-death events (death and anoxic brain damage) vs critical respiratory events (CRE)/other events and analysed for various risk factors. Both univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to identify the potential risk factors.In total, 15 case reports and two medico-legal reports, comprising of 60 total patients with OSA were included in our analysis. Overall, there were 43 deaths or near-death events and 12 critical respiratory events and five other life threatening events. Ten patients (17%) with OSA were undiagnosed before surgery. Only 31% (11/35) were on preoperative continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), with 36% (4/11) of them continuing CPAP in the postoperative period. The majority of them received a morphine equivalent daily dose less than 10 mg. Eighty percent of the events occurred in the first 24 h and 67% occurred on the general hospital ward.Patients with OSA are at risk of critical complications including death during the initial 24 h after surgery. Morbid obesity, male sex, undiagnosed OSA, partially treated/untreated OSA, opioids, sedatives, and lack of monitoring are risk factors for death or near-death events.

In vitro bioactivity and phytochemical screening of Suaeda maritima (Dumort): a mangrove associate from Bhitarkanika, India.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the in vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial activities along with phytochemical screening of organic and aqueous extracts of leaf and stem of Suaeda maritima (Dumort), a mangrove associate from Bhitarkanika of Odisha, India. METHODS: Antioxidant activity of the crude extracts was evaluated in terms of total antioxidant capacity, total phenol content, ascorbic acid content, DPPH radical scavenging, metal chelating, nitric oxide scavenging, and reducing power etc. The antimicrobial activity of the plant was determined by agar well diffusion method along with MIC and MBC carried out by microdilution techniques against 10 gram positive and gram negative human pathogenic bacteria. The qualitative and quantative phytochemical screening were carried out by standard biochemical assays. RESULTS: Out of the seven antioxidant bioassays, both the leaf and stem extracts were found to posses strong antioxidant properties of 70 % to 92 % for phenol, total antioxidant capacity, DPPH free radical scavenging activity and fairly good ascorbic acid content, metal chelating (1.33 %-22.55 %), reducing power (0.01-0.12) and nitric oxide scavenging (0.84 %-66.99 %) activities. Out of the four extracts evaluated for antimicrobial activity, two leaf extracts such as acetone and ethanol showed promising activity against four pathogenic bacteria and one stem methanol extracts against one pathogenic bacteria when compared with amoxcycillin as standard. The MIC and MBC values of the antimicrobial extracts ranged between 2.5 to 5.0 mg/mL. Screening of phytochemicals showed presence of carbohydrates, protein, tannins, alkaloids and flavonoids in comparatively higher amount than other phytochemicals tested. CONCLUSIONS: The present study reveals the presence of potential antioxidants and antimicrobial properties in the plant extract which could be exploited for pharmaceutical application.

Dose-response relationship between alcohol consumption before and during pregnancy and the risks of low birthweight, preterm birth and small for gestational age (SGA)-a systematic review and meta-analyses.

BACKGROUND: Descriptions of the effects of moderate alcohol consumption during pregnancy on adverse pregnancy outcomes have been inconsistent. OBJECTIVE: To review systematically and perform meta-analyses on the effect of maternal alcohol exposure on the risk of low birthweight, preterm birth and small for gestational age (SGA). SEARCH STRATEGY: Using Medical Subject Headings, a literature search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, CABS, WHOlist, SIGLE, ETOH, and Web of Science between 1 January 1980 and 1 August 2009 was performed followed by manual searches. SELECTION CRITERIA: Case-control or cohort studies were assessed for quality (STROBE), 36 available studies were included. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two reviewers independently extracted the information on low birthweight, preterm birth and SGA using a standardised protocol. Meta-analyses on dose-response relationships were performed using linear as well as first-order and second-order fractional polynomial regressions to estimate best fitting curves to the data. MAIN RESULTS: Compared with abstainers, the overall dose-response relationships for low birthweight and SGA showed no effect up to 10 g pure alcohol/day (an average of about 1 drink/day) and preterm birth showed no effect up to 18 g pure alcohol/day (an average of 1.5 drinks/day); thereafter, the relationship showed a monotonically increasing risk for increasing maternal alcohol consumption. Moderate consumption during pre-pregnancy was associated with reduced risks for all outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Dose-response relationship indicates that heavy alcohol consumption during pregnancy increases the risks of all three outcomes whereas light to moderate alcohol consumption shows no effect. Preventive measures during antenatal consultations should be initiated.

Nonlinear dynamic system identification using Chebyshev functional link artificial neural networks.

A computationally efficient artificial neural network (ANN) for the purpose of dynamic nonlinear system identification is proposed. The major drawback of feedforward neural networks, such as multilayer perceptrons (MLPs) trained with the backpropagation (BP) algorithm, is that they require a large amount of computation for learning. We propose a single-layer functional-link ANN (FLANN) in which the need for a hidden layer is eliminated by expanding the input pattern by Chebyshev polynomials. The novelty of this network is that it requires much less computation than that of a MLP. We have shown its effectiveness in the problem of nonlinear dynamic system identification. In the presence of additive Gaussian noise, the performance of the proposed network is found to be similar or superior to that of a MLP. A performance comparison in terms of computational complexity has also been carried out.

Evaluation of phytotoxicity and genotoxicity of uranyl nitrate in Allium assay system.

Uranyl nitrate inhibited root growth of Allium cepa at > or = 25 microM concentration. Fluorimetric analysis of metal uptake indicated the entry and accumulation of uranium into the root cell. Uranyl nitrate was neither clastogenic nor aneugenic as it failed to induce micronuclei significantly, but between 25 and 100 microM concentration, it increased significantly the frequency of sister chromatid exchange over that of control, implying its genotoxicity that possibly interfered with DNA replication and/or repair process.

Modeling of an intelligent pressure sensor using functional link artificial neural networks.

A capacitor pressure sensor (CPS) is modeled for accurate readout of applied pressure using a novel artificial neural network (ANN). The proposed functional link ANN (FLANN) is a computationally efficient nonlinear network and is capable of complex nonlinear mapping between its input and output pattern space. The nonlinearity is introduced into the FLANN by passing the input pattern through a functional expansion unit. Three different polynomials such as, Chebyschev, Legendre and power series have been employed in the FLANN. The FLANN offers computational advantage over a multilayer perceptron (MLP) for similar performance in modeling of the CPS. The prime aim of the present paper is to develop an intelligent model of the CPS involving less computational complexity, so that its implementation can be economical and robust. It is shown that, over a wide temperature variation ranging from -50 to 150 degrees C, the maximum error of estimation of pressure remains within +/- 3%. With the help of computer simulation, the performance of the three types of FLANN models has been compared to that of an MLP based model.

Aluminium triggers genotoxic adaptation to methyl mercuric chloride and ethyl methane sulfonate, but not to maleic hydrazide in plant cells in vivo.

Non-toxic, conditioning doses of aluminium chloride were tested for induction of adaptive response to the genotoxic challenge doses of methyl mercuric chloride (MMCl), maleic hydrazide (MH) and ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS). Embryonic shoot cells of Hordeum vulgare and root meristem cells of Allium cepa were employed as the assay systems. Plant tissues fixed at different recovery hours following the challenge treatments with or without prior Al-conditioning were analyzed for cells with genotoxicity markers that include spindle and/or chromosome aberrations and micronuclei (MNC). The results provided evidence that Al(3+) triggered adaptive response that protected the plant cells from the genotoxicity of MMCl and EMS. Al(3+), however, failed to induce adaptive response against the genotoxicity of MH. A comparison of Al-induced adaptive response with that induced by heavy metals: Cd(2+), Cu(2+), Hg(2+), Ni(2+), Pb(2+), Zn(2+) and oxidative agents: hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) and paraquat (PQ) pointed to the similarity of Al-adaptive response to that of PQ rather than to other heavy metals or H(2)O(2). Al-induced adaptive response demonstrated in the present study to MMCl and EMS possibly involved antioxidant defense and DNA repair systems, respectively.

Identification of nonlinear dynamic systems using functional link artificial neural networks.

We have presented an alternate ANN structure called functional link ANN (FLANN) for nonlinear dynamic system identification using the popular backpropagation algorithm. In contrast to a feedforward ANN structure, i.e., a multilayer perceptron (MLP), the FLANN is basically a single layer structure in which nonlinearity is introduced by enhancing the input pattern with nonlinear functional expansion. With proper choice of functional expansion in a FLANN, this network performs as good as and in some cases even better than the MLP structure for the problem of nonlinear system identification.

Nonlinear channel equalization for QAM signal constellation using artificial neural networks.

Application of artificial neural networks (ANN's) to adaptive channel equalization in a digital communication system with 4-QAM signal constellation is reported in this paper. A novel computationally efficient single layer functional link ANN (FLANN) is proposed for this purpose. This network has a simple structure in which the nonlinearity is introduced by functional expansion of the input pattern by trigonometric polynomials. Because of input pattern enhancement, the FLANN is capable of forming arbitrarily nonlinear decision boundaries and can perform complex pattern classification tasks. Considering channel equalization as a nonlinear classification problem, the FLANN has been utilized for nonlinear channel equalization. The performance of the FLANN is compared with two other ANN structures [a multilayer perceptron (MLP) and a polynomial perceptron network (PPN)] along with a conventional linear LMS-based equalizer for different linear and nonlinear channel models. The effect of eigenvalue ratio (EVR) of input correlation matrix on the equalizer performance has been studied. The comparison of computational complexity involved for the three ANN structures is also provided.

A comparison of biochemical responses to oxidative and metal stress in seedlings of barley, Hordeum vulgare L.

Biochemical responses on the bases of activities of antioxidant enzymes; peroxidase, catalase, superoxide dismutase and glutathione reductase as well as estimations of total protein, lipid peroxidation and thiols in the form of protein, non-protein, glutathione and phytochelatin measured in growing seedlings of barley, Hordeum vulgare L., from Day 2 through 8 were compared following treatment of seeds for 2 h with oxidative agents, paraquat 5 x 10(-5), 10(-4), 10(-3) M, H2O2 10(-3), 5 x 10(-3), 10(-2) M and a metal salt, CdSO4 10(-5), 10(-4), 10(-3) M. A significant induction of all antioxidant enzymes along with an increase in the levels of protein, lipid peroxidation and glutathione was noted in response to oxidative stress, CdSO4 induced significant peroxidase and catalase activities but not superoxide dismutase. In a marked contrast from oxidative stress, CdSO4 decreased glutathione reductase activity as well as glutathione levels but increased phytochelatin level. The differential biochemical responses thus underlined the crucial involvement of glutathione and phytochelatin in the oxidative and metal-induced adaptive responses, respectively.

Differential induction of adaptive responses by paraquat and hydrogen peroxide against the genotoxicity of methyl mercuric chloride, maleic hydrazide and ethyl methane sulfonate in plant cells in vivo.

Induction of adaptive response by conditioning doses of paraquat (PQ) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in embryonic shoot cells of Hordeum vulgare and root meristem cells of Allium cepa was tested against the genotoxicity of challenge doses of methyl mercuric chloride (MMCl), maleic hydrazide (MH) or ethylmethane sulfonate (EMS). Plant tissue fixed at different recovery hours following the challenge treatments was analysed for cells with genotoxicity markers that include spindle or chromosome aberrations and micronuclei. The results provided clear-cut evidence that whereas H2O2 induced adaptive response for the chromosome damage caused by MMCl and MH, PQ induced the same for MMCl and EMS, but not for damage caused by MH. The findings pointed to the differences in the underlying mechanisms of oxidative responses induced by H2O2 and O2-.

Persistence of cadmium-induced adaptive response to genotoxicity of maleic hydrazide and methyl mercuric chloride in root meristem cells of Allium cepa L.: differential inhibition by cycloheximide and buthionine sulfoximine.

With an objective to determine the period of persistence of the metal-induced adaptive response to chemical mutagens and heavy metals, growing root meristems of Allium cepa were conditioned by cadmium sulfate (CdSO4), 4 x 10(-7) and 4 x 10(-6) M for 1 h and subsequently challenged by maleic hydrazide (MH), 5 x 10(-3) M or methyl mercuric chloride (MMCl), 1.26 x 10(-6) M for 3 h at different time intervals ranging from a few minutes to several hours following the conditioning dose. Root meristems, fixed at regular intervals during recovery from 6 to 48 h, were cytologically analysed for cells with micronuclei (MNC). The adaptive responses to MH and MMCl were observed as early as 5 min after the Cd-conditioning that persisted for at least 48 h. Metabolic inhibitors, cycloheximide (CH). 10(-7) M and buthionine sulfoximine (BSO), 10(-4) M administered either prior to or simultaneous with Cd-conditioning effectively prevented the adaptive response to MH. Whereas BSO, an inhibitor of phytochelatin synthesis, prevented the adaptive responses from 15 min to 8 h after the conditioning dose, CH an inhibitor of cytoplasmic protein synthesis prevented the same from 6 to 48 h. The findings underscored the differential roles of phytochelatins and proteins underlying the foregone metallo-adaptive response.

Cycloheximide and buthionine sulfoximine prevent induction of genotoxic adaptation by cadmium salt against methyl mercuric chloride in embryonic shoot cells of Hordum vulgare L.

Presoaked seeds of barley Hordeum vulgare L. pretreated with cycloheximide (CH), 10(-6) M or bythionine sulfoximine (BSO), 10(-4) M, were exposed to methyl mercuric chloride (MMCl), 10(-4) M, with or without prior conditioning with cadmium sulfate (CdSO4), 10(-4) M. Subsequently as the seeds germinated the endpoints measured were mitotic index, cells with mitotic aberrations and micronuclei (MNC) in embryonic shoot cells fixed at 40, 44, 48 and 52 h of recovery. Indicated by the significant reduction (p < or = 0.05) of the yield of cells with aberrations or MNC, the results confirmed that CdSO4-conditioning triggered an adaptive response to MMCl-challenge. Pretreatments of CH and BSO, whereas they potentiated the genotoxicity of MMCl, significantly prevented (p < or = 0.05) the Cd-induced genotoxic adaptation. That underscores a possible involvement of proteins in addition to phytochelatins in the underlaying mechanisms.