The nutritional composition of the raw and boiled shoots of two bamboo species, Bambusa vulgaris and Gigantochloa ligulata were investigated. Boiling the shoots at 100 °C for 20 min significantly increased the crude fat and crude fiber contents while it decreased the crude protein content for both species. In general, the boiled shoots of both species were high in moisture (≥92 g/100 g fw), crude protein (≥29 g/100 g dw), and crude fiber (≥7.7 g/100 g dw) but low in crude fat (≤3.7 g/100 g dw). Boiling had varying effects on the mineral contents of both shoots, depending on the mineral. Potassium was the most abundant mineral for the raw and boiled shoots of B. vulgaris (310 and 240 μg/100 g dw, respectively) and G. ligulata (240 and 120 μg/100 g dw, respectively). The extracts (sequentially: hexane, ethyl acetate, ethanol, water) obtained from the boiled shoots of both species showed stronger antifungal activity (MIC: 0.01-2.50 mg/mL) than antibacterial activity (MIC: 0.31-2.50 mg/mL). All extracts from B. vulgaris showed stronger DPPH radical scavenging activity and ferric-reducing antioxidant power but similar cellular antioxidant activity with HeLa cells, and higher total phenolic and flavonoid contents than G. ligulata. However, the lowest half-maximum inhibitory concentration values for α-amylase and α-glucosidase were shown by the ethanol (300 μg/mL) and hexane (71 μg/mL) extracts of G. ligulata shoots, respectively. The results suggested that the shoots of B. vulgaris and G. ligulata are a potential health food and a source of bioactive compounds.

Snowdrop is an iconic early spring flowering plant of the genus Galanthus (Amaryllidaceae). Galanthus species (Galanthus spp.) are economically important plants as ornaments. Galanthus spp has gained significance scientific and commercial interest due to the discovery of Galanthamine as symptomatic treatment drug for Alzhiermer disease. This review aims to discuss the bioactivities of Galanthus spp including anticholinesterase, antimicrobial, antioxidant and anticancer potential of the extracts and chemical constituents of Galanthus spp. This review highlights that Galanthus spp. as the exciting sources for drug discovery and nutraceutical development.

Black soldier fly (BSF) larva is an attractive animal feed replacer due to its noticeable nutritional content. However, the conventional rearing method often resulted in BSF with undesirably high heavy metal residues that are harmful to animals. In this work, putrefied Sesbania grandiflora (S. Grandiflora) leaves were employed as feed to rear BSF larvae. The resultant BSF prepupae were found to contain 43.5% protein and 16.7% fat, reflecting a comparable protein content and a 2-fold reduction in crude fat than those reared using conventional kitchen waste. Moreover, high quantities of arginine (25.4 g/kg dry matter basis (DM)), carnitine (32.9 g/kg DM), and short-chain fatty acids, including lauric (40.00%), palmitic (19.20%), and oleic (12.10%) acids, have also been noticed in the BSF prepupae. Furthermore, the BSF larvae have been recorded with 0.185 mg/kg chromium, 0.380 mg/kg selenium, and mercury below the detection limit, which is far lower than those reared using conventional kitchen and agricultural wastes (≈1.7 mg/kg chromium, 1.2 mg/kg selenium, and 0.2 mg/kg mercury). Overall, the study shows that the nutritional quality of BSF prepupae is extensively improved when using S. Grandiflora as their feed. The resultant BSF prepupae may serve as an alternative feed for animal rearing.

Atherosclerosis represents one of the major causes of death globally. The high mortality rates and limitations of current therapeutic modalities have urged researchers to explore potential alternative therapies. The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) system is commonly deployed for investigating the genetic aspects of Atherosclerosis. Besides, advances in CRISPR/Cas system has led to extensive options for researchers to study the pathogenesis of this disease. The recent discovery of Cas9 variants, such as dCas9, Cas9n, and xCas9 have been established for various applications, including single base editing, regulation of gene expression, live-cell imaging, epigenetic modification, and genome landscaping. Meanwhile, other Cas proteins, such as Cas12 and Cas13, are gaining popularity for their applications in nucleic acid detection and single-base DNA/RNA modifications. To date, many studies have utilized the CRISPR/Cas9 system to generate disease models of atherosclerosis and identify potential molecular targets that are associated with atherosclerosis. These studies provided proof-of-concept evidence which have established the feasibility of implementing the CRISPR/Cas system in correcting disease-causing alleles. The CRISPR/Cas system holds great potential to be developed as a targeted treatment for patients who are suffering from atherosclerosis. This review highlights the advances in CRISPR/Cas systems and their applications in establishing pathogenetic and therapeutic role of specific genes in atherosclerosis.