Dietary polyphenols including phenolic acids, flavonoids, catechins, tannins, lignans, stilbenes, and anthocyanidins are widely found in grains, cereals, pulses, vegetables, spices, fruits, chocolates, and beverages like fruit juices, tea, coffee and wine. In recent years, dietary polyphenols have gained significant interest among researchers due to their potential chemopreventive/protective functions in the maintenance of human health and diseases. It is believed that dietary polyphenols/flavonoids exert powerful antioxidant action for protection against reactive oxygen species (ROS)/cellular oxidative stress (OS) towards the prevention of OS-related pathological conditions or diseases. Pre-clinical and clinical evidence strongly suggest that long term consumption of diets rich in polyphenols offer protection against the development of various chronic diseases such as neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), cancer, diabetes, inflammatory disorders and infectious illness. Increased intake of foods containing polyphenols (for example, quercetin, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, resveratrol, cyanidin etc.) has been claimed to reduce the extent of a majority of chronic oxidative cellular damage, DNA damage, tissue inflammations, viral/bacterial infections, and neurodegenerative diseases. It has been suggested that the antioxidant activity of dietary polyphenols plays a pivotal role in the prevention of OS-induced human diseases. In this narrative review, the biological/pharmacological significance of dietary polyphenols in the prevention of and/or protection against OS-induced major human diseases such as cancers, neurodegenerative diseases, CVDs, diabetes mellitus, cancer, inflammatory disorders and infectious diseases have been delineated. This review specifically focuses a current understanding on the dietary sources of polyphenols and their protective effects including mechanisms of action against various major human diseases.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurological disorder that affects 50 million people. Despite this, only two classes of medication have been approved by the FDA. Therefore, we have planned to develop therapeutics by multitarget approach. We have explored the library of 2029 natural product-like compounds for their multi-targeting potential against AD by inhibiting AChE, BChE (cholinergic pathway) MAO-A, and MOA-B (oxidative stress pathway) through in silico high-throughput screening and molecular dynamics simulation. Based on the binding energy of these target enzymes, approximately 189 compounds exhibited a score of less than −10 kcal/mol against all targets. However, none of the control inhibitors exhibited a binding affinity of less than −10 kcal/mol. Among these, the top 10 hits of compounds against all four targets were selected for ADME-T analysis. As a result, only F0850-4777 exhibited an acceptable range of physicochemical properties, drug-likeness, pharmacokinetics, and suitability for BBB permeation with high GI-A and non-toxic effects. The molecular dynamics study confirmed that F0850-4777 remained inside the binding cavity of targets in a stable conformation throughout the simulation and Prime-MM/GBSA study revealed that van der Waals’ energy (ΔGvdW) and non-polar solvation or lipophilic energy (ΔGSol_Lipo) contribute favorably towards the formation of a stable protein–ligand complex. Thus, F0850-4777 could be a potential candidate against multiple targets of two pathophysiological pathways of AD and opens the doors for further confirmation through in vitro and in vivo systems.

The results indicated that NATs are more effective than serology tests for detecting TTIs. Moreover, correlations between standard serology tests and NATs indicated that using NATs could improve test sensitivities and decrease residual risks of TTIs and ensure safe blood transfusions.

Background: Hepatitis B and C viral infections, which are the most common cause of liver infection worldwide, are major health issues around the globe. People with chronic hepatitis infections remain at risk of liver cirrhosis and hepatic carcinoma, while also being a risk to other diseases. These infections are highly contagious in nature, and the prevention of hepatitis B and C transmission during blood transfusion is a major challenge for healthcare workers. Although epidemiological characteristics of hepatitis B and C infections in blood donors in Saudi Arabia have been previously investigated in multiple studies, due to targeted cohorts and the vast geographical distribution of Saudi Arabia, there are a lot of missing data points, which necessitates further investigations. Aim of the study: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of hepatitis B and hepatitis C viral infections among blood donors in the northern region of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Methods: To determine the given objectives, a retrospective study was performed which included data gathered from serological as well as nucleic acid test (NAT) screening of blood donors. Clinical data of 3733 blood donors were collected for a period of 2 years (from January 2019 to December 2020) at the blood bank of King Khalid General Hospital and the associated blood banks and donation camps in the region. Statistical analysis of the clinical data was performed using SPSS. Results: The blood samples of 3733 donors were analyzed to determine the seroprevalence of hepatitis B and C among the blood donors in the northern region of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Among the total of 3733 blood donors, 3645 (97.65%) were men and 88 (2.36%) were women. Most of the donors were younger than 27 years of age (n = 1494). The most frequent blood group in our study was O-positive (n = 1534), and the least frequent was AB-negative (n = 29). After statistically analyzing the clinical data, we observed that 7 (0.19%), 203 (5.44%) and 260 (6.96%) donor blood samples were positive for the HBV serological markers HBsAgs, HBsAbs and HBcAbs, respectively, and 12 (0.32%) blood samples reacted positively to anti-HCV antibodies. Moreover, 10 (0.27%) and 1 (0.027%) samples were NAT-HBV positive and NAT-HCV positive, respectively. Conclusion: In the current study, low prevalence rates of HBV and HCV were observed in the blood donors. Statistical correlations indicated that both serological tests and NATs are highly effective in screening potential blood donors for HBV and HCV, which, in turn, prevents potential transfusion-transmitted hepatitis.

Aims: Hyptis suaveolens (L.) Poit, is one of the natural herbs with several medicinal properties. However, many medicinal aspects of this herb still need to be explored. Therefore, our aim was to examine the antioxidant, antimicrobial properties and genoprotective effect of H. suaveolens methanolic extracts (HSME) of seed, stem, and root. Study design: extraction and therapeutic aspects of H. suaveolens. Place and Duration of Study: 1) Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Majmaah University, Al-Majmaah and 2) Clinical Biochemistry & Natural Product research laboratory, Department of Biosciences, Integral University, lucknow between 2018-2020. Methodology: HSME were extracted through soxhlet extractor and further analyzed for TPC, antioxidant activity through DPPH and FRAP assay followed by antimicrobial potential through zone of inhibition and MIC/MBC assay. We also examined the genoprotective properties of HSME on oxidative DNA damage. Results: Our results showed that TPC (180±5 mg GAE/g dw), DPPH scavenging activity (IC50 value = 72±0.45 µg/ml) and FRAP value (1.443±0.02 µM ferrous ion/mg extract) was highest in HSME seeds followed by root and stem. The results also illustrated that the antimicrobial activity of HSME (seed and stem) against five bacterial strain were found very effective than root part. Moreover, genoprotective effect of HSME seeds (80±3 % retention) was better than stem (41±2 %) and root (32±2 %) extract. Conclusion: The study revealed that HSME seed extract showed potential bioactivities might be due to presence of high TPC and can be used to treat diseases related with oxidative stress or microbial infections.