Plants possess a unique defense mechanism unlike humans and animals that protects them from harmful microorganism to herbivores by secreting low molecular weight compounds called secondary metabolites. The compounds are concentrated in essential oil of the plants and its medicinal properties cure human illnesses too. Some of those plants still being used in traditional medicine by human, ever since civilized using plants as medicine. The ancient civilizations India, China and Europe only used plants as medicine. The emergence and enormous growth of allopathic medicine in the 19th century caused the downfall of the traditional medicine system. Now in the 21st century the scenario changed, the scientists trying to rediscover the ancient medicine through science to cure deadly diseases. In this review we focused on the researches that determined the antiviral properties of plant secondary metabolites for the development of drugs. Keywords: Secondary metabolites, Antiviral properties, Alkaloids, Phenols, Viral diseases, Medicinal plants

Calotropis gigantea white (Asclepiadaceae) has been documented as a traditional treatment of diabetes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antidiabetic activity of chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts from the flower in normal and alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Blood samples were obtained and blood glucose levels were analyzed employing a glucometer at different time intervals on 1st, 4th, 8th and 12th day of the treatment with C. gigantea white extracts compare to glibenclamide (10 mg / kg). From the results, it is revealed that the test chloroform, and ethyl acetate extracts at a dose level 500 mg / kg, showed a significant reduction in blood sugar level day in a progressive manner comparable to glibenclamide. Biochemical parameters, including hemoglobin, urea, creatinine, serum cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) were also assessed. Treatment of diabetic rats with the two extracts of this plant restored the elevated biochemical parameters significantly (p<0.05) to the normal level. It also proves the traditional claim with regard to C. gigantea white for its anti-diabetic activity.

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The aim of the present study is to assess the impact of screening programme for the patients visiting community pharmacies and factors influencing the prescribing pattern of antihypertensive and/ or antihyperlipidemic agents. The study was designed as a prospective cohort study conducted between December 2017 and November 2019. Data were collected from the hypertensive patients visiting regularly in the 5 selected community pharmacies located at 5 Taluks of Erode district, Tamil Nadu, India. The required data were collected either from the patient’s record or interview. Data were collected from 946 (75.68%) patients of 1250 patients visited the selected community pharmacies.49.4% and 50.6% of patients were randomly allotted to the control (group I) and intervention (group II) groups respectively.In this study 50.56% and 46.67% of males were in group I and II respectively. Average SBP was measured as 151.5 ± 11.8 mmHg and 168.1 ± 13.6 mmHg for the patients in group I and II respectively whereas 92.9 ± 9.3 mmHg and 92.6 ± 9.5 mmHg were the DBP readings among the patients in group I and II respectively. Average total cholesterol was measured as 253.66 ± 33.67 mg/dL and 271.04 ± 39.91 mg/dL for the patients in group I and II respectively. The difference in the prevalence is 0.7 and 2.05 for the antihypertensive and antihyperlipidemic agents respectively whereas the incidence was observed as 4.75 and 2.5 for the antihypertensive and antihyperlipidemic agents respectively. The odds ratio of SBP and DBP is 1.12 and 0.99 respectively in the group II. The values of multivariate analysis showed that there is an agreement between intervention and utilization pattern of antihypertensive and antihyperlipidemic agents. It is to conclude that the preliminary screening of blood pressure and lipid profile showed many patients were not visiting regularly for consultations. The screening programme has resulted in good improvement in the utilization pattern of antihypertensive and antihyperlipidemic agents. The age, lipid levels and comorbid conditions were main factors among the individuals which have determined the prescribing pattern of agents.