No abstract

Ketogenic diet (KD) is a high-fat, adequate-protein, and low-carbohydrate diet that leads to nutritional ketosis, long known for antiepileptic effects and has been used therapeutically to treat refractory epilepsy. This review attempts to summarize the evidence and clinical application of KD in diabetes, obesity, and other endocrine disorders. KD is usually animal protein based. An empiric vegetarian Indian variant of KD has been provided keeping in mind the Indian food habits. KD has beneficial effects on cardiac ischemic preconditioning, improves oxygenation in patients with respiratory failure, improves glycemic control in diabetics, is associated with significant weight loss, and has a beneficial impact on polycystic ovarian syndrome. Multivitamin supplementations are recommended with KD. Recently, ketones are being proposed as super-metabolic fuel; and KD is currently regarded as apt dietary therapy for “diabesity.”

Novel Coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2 outbreak has developed a pandemic condition all over the world. The virus is highly infectious and spreads by human to human local transmission mode. Till date, there is no vaccination or drugs been approved for the treatment by the World Health Organisation. Henceforth, the discovery of the potential drugs is an urgent and utmost requirement for the medical fraternity. Since, the side effects of plant-derived compounds will be lower compared to synthetic/ chemical drugs. The Main protease (3CL pro or NSP5) and endoribonuclease (NSP15) proteins are necessity for viral replication and its survival in the host cell. In the present study, in-silico approach of drug development was used to search for potential antiviral plant-derived compounds as inhibitors against SARS-CoV-2 replication proteins. Eight plant-derived compounds of which the antiviral activity was known and available, and two reported drugs against SARS-CoV-2 selected for the molecular docking analysis. The docking results suggested that bisdemethoxycurcumin, demethoxycurcumin, scutellarin, quercetin and myricetin showed least binding energy, i.e., greater than À6.5 Kcal/mol against 3CL pro and endoribonuclease of SARS-CoV-2. Further studies of ADME-Tox and bioavailability of drugs were also performed that exhibited efficient parameters of drug likeness. Molecular dynamics simulation calculations were performed for the most negative binding affinity of the compound to evaluate the dynamic behavior,and stability of protein-ligand complex. Our findings suggest that these compounds could be potential inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 main protease and endoribonuclease. However, further invitro and pre-clinical experiments would validate the potential inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 proteins.

Preoperative ultrasonography, urodynamic study and cystourethroscopy detect associated abnormalities in children with hypospadias, albeit asymptomatic, irrespective of location of meatus.

Clinical limitations and drug-resistance are the basis of the search for new antifungal therapeutics against biofilm forming pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus. Cis-9-hexadecenal is a natural compound present in various plants extracts, but its antifungal activity against A. fumigatus is still unexplored. The aim of present study was to evaluate the antifungal efficacy of cis-9-hexadecenal on A. fumigatus, specifically its biofilm and to assess its cytotoxicity. Broth micro-dilution method revealed that cis-9hexadecenal inhibited 90% of planktonic growth of A. fumigatus at 0.078 mg/ml. In-vitro combinatorial effect between drug amphotericin B and cis-9-hexadecenal was studied by checkerboard assay. Cis-9-hexadecenal, in combination to amphotericin-B had additive effect and showed enhanced drug efficacy against A. fumigatus. The effect of cis-9-hexadecenal on pre-formed biofilm was analyzed through 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and scanning electron microscopy. In MTT assay, minimum biofilm-eradicating concentration-80 of cis-9-hexadecenal was 0.156 mg/ml. Scanning electron micrograph showed absence of extracellular matrix and tangled hyphae in cis-9-hexadecenal treated biofilm whereas these structures were present in both untreated and amphotericin-B treated biofilm. Drug-likeness was predicted through in-silico ADMET studies. The study envisaged that cis-9-hexadecenal followed Lipinski's rule but had a higher Log P value indicating that it's not hydrophilic. The compound can be modified to enhance the absorption and permeation. Cell cytotoxicity study exhibited that cis-9-hexadecenal was not toxic to normal human lung epithelial cell line L-132 upto 0.62 mg/ml. The study concluded that cis-9-hexadecenal might be explored further as a potential therapeutic molecule for A. fumigatus associated diseases.