BackgroundHerbs and spices are very important and useful as therapeutic agent against many pathological infections. Increasing multidrug resistance of pathogens forces to find alternative compounds for treatment of infectious diseases.MethodsIn the present study the antimicrobial potency of garlic and ginger has been investigated against eight local clinical bacterial isolates. Three types of extracts of each garlic and ginger including aqueous extract, methanol extract and ethanol extract had been assayed separately against drug resistant Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Shigella sonnei, Staphylococcusepidermidis and Salmonella typhi. The antibacterial activity was determined by disc diffusion method.ResultsAll tested bacterial strains were most susceptible to the garlic aqueous extract and showed poor susceptibility to the ginger aqueous extract. The (minimum inhibitory concentration) MIC of different bacterial species varied from 0.05 mg/ml to 1.0 mg/ml.ConclusionIn the light of several socioeconomic factors of Pakistan mainly poverty and poor hygienic condition, present study encourages the use of spices as alternative or supplementary medicine to reduce the burden of high cost, side effects and progressively increasing drug resistance of pathogens.

Side-effects associated with the cancer chemotherapy limit the scope of chemotherapeutic drugs and no data was available about these side effects in Pakistan. Moreover starvation based differential chemotherapy has been proved to greatly reduce the side effects of chemotherapy depending on starvation time. The current study was conducted to survey the common side effects of the chemotherapeutic drugs and the role of starvation to reduce them. The study included total 100 subjects with multiple carcinomas. A comprehensive questionnaire about starvation inquiry, chemotherapy side effects and their basic information was filled by interviewers as told by patients. There were 48% patients with breast cancer and 11% with uterine cancer. Out of these patients 30%, 28%, 9% and 9% patients were agreed to starve for 12, 24, 36 and 48 hours respectively. The survey regarding the side effects of chemotherapy showed that 43% patients were suffering from headache, fatigue 90%, weakness 95%, hair loss 76%, nausea 77%, vomiting 75%, diarrhea 31%, abdominal cramps 40%, mouth sores 47%, dry mouth 74%, memory impairment 14% and numbness 49%. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Pakistan. Only 18% of the total patients were agreed to starve for more than one day. Chemotherapy-associated side effects vary greatly and it does not depend upon cancer type. But these side effects depend on multiple factors such as the type and dose of chemotherapeutic drug, patient's health status and stage of cancer.

BackgroundThe emerging resistance of pathogen against the currently available antimicrobial agents demands the search of new antimicrobial agents. The use of medicinal plants as natural substitute is the paramount area of research to overwhelm the drug resistance of infectious agents. Scientists have not made enough effort on the evaluation of safety of medicinal plant yet.MethodsIn the present study antimicrobial activity of Lawsonia inermis is investigated against clinical isolates of seven bacteria including four Gram negative (Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Klebsiella spp., Shigella sonnei) and three Gram positive (Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis) using disc diffusion method. Four types of Lawsonia inermis extracts were prepared using methanol, chloroform, acetone and water as extraction solvents, while DMSO (Dimethyl sulfoxide) and water as dissolution solvents. The rate and extent of bacterial killing was estimated by time-kill kinetic assay at 1× MIC of each bacterial isolate. The overall safety of Lawsonia inermis extracts was assessed in mice.ResultsLawsonia inermis displayed noteworthy antimicrobial activity against both gram positive and gram negative bacterial strains used in the study. The minimum value of MIC for different bacterial strains ranged from 2.31 mg/ml to 9.27 mg/ml. At 1x MIC of each bacterial isolate, 3log10 decrease in CFU was recorded after 6 hours of drug exposure and no growth was observed in almost all tested bacteria after 24 hours of exposure. No sign of toxidrome were observed during in vivo toxicity evaluation in mice at 300 mg/kg concentration.ConclusionIn conclusion, the present study provides the scientific rational for medicinal use of Lawsonia inermis. The use of Lawsonia inermis extracts is of great significance as substitute antimicrobial agent in therapeutics.

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Interferon alpha 2b (IFNα-2b) is an important cytokine and used for antiviral and anticancer treatment. The low cost production of IFNα-2b with high biological activity is necessary to provide the interferon therapy to the hepatitis patients in Pakistan. In the present study, human interferon alpha 2b (hIFNα-2b) gene from a healthy person was cloned and overexpressed in E. coli BL21(DE3). The molecular weight of the expressed hIFNα-2b is 19 kDa. The over expressed recombinant hIFNα-2b was checked by ELISA using antibodies raised against commercially available hIFNα-2b. The biocomputational analysis of recombinant hIFNα-2b gene showed the 99.9% nucleotide sequence and 100% deduced amino acid sequence homology with reported sequences of IFNα-2b. The predicted 3D-structure showed mainly five α-helices, one 310 helix and two disulfide bonds at Cys1-Cys98 and Cys129-Cys138. The amino acid sequence alignment indicated that the disulfide linkage position is conserved in all IFNα family members. On the basis of sequence homology among interferon alpha family, new potent variants of hIFNα-2b with enhance efficacy can be produced. Indigenous production of IFNα-2b from gene of local population will reduce the cost and increase tolerability of interferon therapy.