Ethanolic extracts of some fruits of Cucurbitaceae family such as Cucumis sativus (cucumber), Lagenaria siceraria (white pumpkin), Luffa acutangula (ridge gourd), Benincasa hispida (ash gourd), Citrullus lanatus (sweet melon) and Cucarbita maxima (pumpkin) have been studied for their hypoglycemic effects on alloxan induced diabetic rats (AIDRs). Screening results suggested that among the tested fruits the hypoglycemic potency follows: cucumber > white pumpkin > ridge gourd. These three fruit-extracts were further investigated for their hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic and glycogenesis effects. Cucumber, white pumpkin and ridge gourd extracts reduced blood glucose level by 67, 65 and 51%, respectively at 12 hours after single intraperitoneal injection; while reduced the low density lipoprotein (LDL) level to 13, 28 and 86%, respectively in AIDRs. The maximum reduction 87% was observed by cucumber extract. Cucumber, white pumpkin and ridge gourd extracts reduced total cholesterol level to 29, 15 and 38%, respectively comparing with the diabetic control group. Here the maximum reduction of 85% was observed by white pumpkin extract. Cucumber, white pumpkin and ridge gourd also reduced triglyceride levels to 72, 68 and 80%, respectively. Maximum reduction of 32% was observed by white pumpkin. Significant improvement of glycogenesis was also observed by ridge gourd extracts in AIDRs.

The antidiabetic and hypolipidemic effects of petroleum-ether, ethyl acetate and chloroform fractions from ethanolic extract of the leaves of Catharanthus roseus (C. roseus) were investigated in normal and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats (SIDRs). Single doses (150 mg/kg, i.p.) of C. roseus extracts in the fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels were determined in normal and SIDRs on 0, 1, 2, 3, 6, 10, 16, and 24 th hours and serum triglyceride (TG) and serum total cholesterol (TC) levels were determined after 24 th hour. In normoglycemic rats and in SIDRs, petroleum-ether and ethyl acetate fraction of C. roseus reduced blood glucose level significantly. In case of hypolipidemic effects, all fractions reduced serum total cholesterol but the ethyl acetate fraction of C. roseus was the most effective. All fractions of C. roseus reduced serum triglyceride level but the ethyl acetate fraction reduced triglyceride level at the highest. The antidiabetic and hypolipidemic activities were compared to metformin HCl (150 mg/kg). Of all the three fractions, ethyl acetate fractions were the best in activity. Ethyl acetate fraction of C. roseus was found to contain flavonoids and alkaloids. The mechanism underlying the antidiabetic activity is probably increased glycogenesis, decreased gluconeogenesis or decreased absorption of glucose from intestine.

Chronic inflammation contributes to multiple ageing-related musculoskeletal and neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease. More recently, chronic neuroinflammation has been attributed to Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease and autism-spectrum and obsessive-compulsive disorders. To date, pharmacotherapy of inflammatory conditions is based mainly on nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs which in contrast to cytokine-suppressive anti-inflammatory drugs do not influence the production of cytokines such as tumour necrosis factor-α or nitric oxide. However, their prolonged use can cause gastrointestinal toxicity and promote adverse events such as high blood pressure, congestive heart failure, and thrombosis. Hence, there is a critical need to develop novel and safer nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs possessing alternate mechanism of action. In this study, plants used by the Dharawal Aboriginal people in Australia for the treatment of inflammatory conditions, for example, asthma, arthritis, rheumatism, fever, oedema, eye inflammation, and inflammation of bladder and related inflammatory diseases, were evaluated for their anti-inflammatory activity in vitro. Ethanolic extracts from 17 Eucalyptus spp. (Myrtaceae) were assessed for their capacity to inhibit nitric oxide and tumor necrosis factor-α production in RAW 264.7 macrophages. Eucalyptus benthamii showed the most potent nitric oxide inhibitory effect (IC50  5.57 ± 1.4 µg/mL), whilst E. bosistoana, E. botryoides, E. saligna, E. smithii, E. umbra, and E. viminalis exhibited nitric oxide inhibition values between 7.58 and 19.77 µg/mL.

Diabetes Mellitus is a leading cause of death in present world. This study was carried out to evaluate the management, control, complication profile and treatment strategies in patients with diabetes and to determine what extent management of diabetes in a tertiary-care diabetic hospital in Bangladesh adhered to current guidelines. Total 140 diabetic pa- tients (type-1 = 3, type-2 = 137) were randomly selected from outpatient department of a tertiary care diabetic hospital in the Rajshahi city, Bangladesh, during the month of August to September. A standard questionnaire was constructed in local language and interview was administrated. The result was expressed as mean ± SD and the age was 53.2 ± 10.5 yr, duration of diabetes was 6.3 ± 5.6 yr and age at the onset of diabetes was 46.9 ± 9.9 yr. The study group comprised of about 43% male and 57% female with varying risk factors including family history (49%), smoking (11%) and both smoking and family history (4%). Results showed deteriorating glycemic control with mean FBG (fasting blood glucose) and PPG (postprandial blood glucose) level was 8.9 ± 3.6 mmol/L and 11.2 ± 4.7 mmol/L respectively. About 25% patients had FBG level < 6.1 mmol/L, 24% had FBG 6.1 - 7.8 mmol/L and rest 51% had FBG > 7.8 mmol/L. Of the 51% patients with hypertension, 94% were taking anti-hypertensive medicine and 21% patients with dyslipidemia, 59% were treated with lipid lowering agents. Micro-vascular and Macro-vascular complications were reported in 49% and 11% patients respectively. The rates of diabetic complications were cataract 19%, diabetic retinopathy 14%, neuropathy symptoms 35%, nephropathy 6%, MI 6%, cerebral stroke 4% and history of angina pectoris was 7%. Proportion of patients on diet control alone, oral hypoglycemic agent (OHA), insulin and combination of insulin & OHA was 10, 44, 25 and 21 percent respectively. Quality of life evaluation showed that about half of patients have poor quality of life as well as poor adherence to diet, exercise and self testing of blood glucose. In conclusion, majority of the patients were still not satisfactorily controlled. There is an urgent need for effective remedial measures to increase adherence to practice guidelines and to educate both patients and healthcare personnel on importance of achieving clinical targets for metabolic control.