No abstract

Dementia is a term that encompasses a group of clinical symptoms affecting memory, thinking and social abilities, characterized by progressive impairment of memory performance and cognitive functions. There are several factors involved in the pathogenesis and progression of dementia, such as old age, brain ischemia, toxin exposure, and oxidative stress. There are extensive similarities between dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD) either in clinical manifestations or experimental animal models. AD is the most dominant form of dementia, characterized by the accumulation of beta-amyloid protein and cholinergic neurotransmission deficits in the brain. Currently available medications for the treatment of dementia, such as choline esterase inhibitors, N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonists (memantine), have short-term efficacy and only relieve symptoms rather than targeting the main underlying pathogenesis. Several animal studies and clinical trials are being conducted to provide a rational approach to these medicinal plants in the prevention or treatment of memory deficits. This review highlights the potential effects of medicinal plants and their derived lead molecules, and explains the related mechanisms and effects reviewed from published literature as major thrust aspects and hopeful strategies in the prevention or treatment of dementia.

Periostin is a matricellular, nonstructural protein belonging to the fasciclin family and is encoded by the POSTN gene in humans. Periostin plays an important role in maintaining a normal tissue matrix in the lungs. Despite the vital role as a structural mediator in tissue growth and repair, periostin is involved in the pathogenic mechanism during tissue remodeling and fibrosis. Periostin is a chemoattractant mediator, promotes eosinophil recruitment and adhesion on the airways sub-epithelial membrane of asthmatic patients. POSTN gene was identified as one of the highly expressed genes induced by interleukins IL-13, IL-5 and IL-4 - the key cytokines of Th2 immune responses in the bronchial tissues of asthmatic patients. This review highlights the potential role of periostin as a validated biomarker in respiratory disease progression and its candidacy to predict the response to treatments targeting Th-2 cytokines in bronchial asthma. In addition, its potential role in COPD, IPF, lung cancer and lung infection, is also speculated.   Keywords Periostin, Asthma, Pneumonia, COPD, Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, Biomarker

Proteins are macromolecules made up of many amino acids that linked together by peptide bond to make a protein molecule. The sequence and the number of amino acids determines each protein unique structure and specific function. Proteins play a vital role in living systems and play important biological functions. Biosynthesis of protein occur in our body cells in order to support the biological function in our body. Intracellular protein synthesis is a complex process that involve the transformation of information and instructions from a genetic material DNA inside the nucleus to form mRNA molecules that transferred to the cytoplasm and liked to the cytoplasmic ribosome. Subsequently, the m RNA and further encode a sequence of amino acid in a specific order and number to form a polypeptide chains that finally undergoes conformational changes and folding to form a particular structure protein. This review will focus on the tow consecutive stages of protein biosynthesis; transcription and translation, and their substage processes; initiation, elongation, and termination. Briefly, overview the role of protein in the biological function and the different types of protein structure.