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Amaranthus spinosus has long been cultivated in tropical and subtropical areas of the world, especially in South Asia. It is well accepted by the people for its nutritional, pharmacological, phytochemical, and therapeutic functions in the human body. Tender stems, leaves, shoots, grains and sometimes the whole part of A. spinosus are eaten by humans or fed to farm animals, which contain carbohydrates, proteins, fats, fibers, vitamins, minerals and many other phytochemicals. This review aims to represent the nutritional and pharmacological activities of A. spinosus. To have a better understanding, we have discussed the nutritional status of A. spinosus, its available phytochemicals and their functional properties. Further, we demonstrated the potentiality of A. spinosus in various disease condition by discussing its functional activities, which includes antioxidant, antidiabetic, immuno-modulatory, hematological, gastrointestinal, anti-inflammatory, diuretic, antimicrobial, antimalarial, anti-ulcer, antipyretic, and antigenic activity. The availability of various important phytochemicals along with their functional properties make Amaranthus spinosus valuable for pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals industry.

Antioxidant properties of plants can help thwart a plethora of conditions including cancer, bronchitis, asthma, ulcers, coronary heart diseases, scabies, insomnia, senile debility, diabetes, dysentery, etc. In this study, Andrographis paniculata (Family: Acanthaceae) was investigated for antioxidant activity. 1, 1-Diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH), reducing power assay, total antioxidant capacity, 2,2'-azino-bis (3ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS), nitric oxide test, total phenolic and flavonoid from methanol, acetone, and water extracts were investigated employing various established in-vitro system. The results divulged that methanol extract had significant activity in quenching of DPPH, reducing power, ABTS, nitric oxide, antioxidant capacity when compared to other extracts. All extracts were correlated with two specific standard antioxidants ascorbic acid and butylated hydroxyanisole. The methanol extract at 500 µg/ml showed the highest scavenging activity of DPPH (91.78 ± 0.02%), ABTS (99.76 ± 0.05%). Total antioxidant capacity was 83.35 ± 0.13 AAE/mg. Reducing the power of methanol extract was significant compared to all other fractions. Nitric oxide scavenging activity was maximum in acetone extract (80.73 ± 0.05%). The quantitative estimation of the extract revealed a considerable amount of flavonoids and conversely, the amount of phenolic compounds was poor. The flavonoid content (592.34 ± 0.13 mg QE/g of dry extract) was maximum in methanol extract but phenolic content of methanol and acetone extract was very similar. This study strongly suggests that methanol extract exhibits more potent antioxidant activity than other extracts of acetone and water.

Background: Quality and microbial safety of milk is demanding day by day as it is considered as a host for pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms. In this study, isolation and molecular characterization of shigatoxigenic O157 and non-O157 Escherichia coli in raw milk marketed in Chittagong, Bangladesh were done on 186 raw milk samples in Bangladesh. Methods: MacConkey agar was initially used to screen for the presence of E. coli and the suspected growth as evidenced by large pink colonies on MacConkey agar. Finally the organism was verified by plating through Eosin Methylene Blue (EMB) agar (a selective medium for E. coli where it produces metallic sheen) and applying standard biochemical tests for E. coli. The presence of virulent genes, Shiga-like toxin (stx1 and stx2), Intimin (eaeA), O157 antigen rfbE and Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) Hemolysin (EHEC) hlyA in the contaminating E. coli population was determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) run on a thermocycler (Applied Biosystem, 2720 thermal cycler, Singapore). Result: Among the raw milk samples, 33 samples were identified as E.coli positive and among the isolates, 6 (18.18%) were identified as possible EHEC O157 and rest of the isolates (81.82%) were considered as probable non EHEC O157. About, 3.23% (186 samples) EHEC O157 was isolated from raw milk samples. Then all the 33 isolates were taken under PCR assay for the identification of five virulent genes Stx1, Stx2, eaeA, rfbE and hlyA. No virulent genes were found in non- EHEC O157 isolates, but 4 stx2 (66.67%) and 1 hlyA (16.67%) gene were observed in another 4 EHEC O157 isolates out of 6, but one isolates contained the both genes and hence the prevalence of STEC was 2.15% in raw milk. Result indicated poor hygienic standard of raw milk from uncontrolled environments and the increased public health risk of those consuming raw milk from such uncontrolled sources.