Protein glycation and oxidative stress lead to severe health complications in various diseases including diabetes mellitus. The intake of flavonoid-rich foods has been confirmed previously to have a positive effect on human health. Ginger is an important source of flavonoids and is one of the most widely used traditional medicines in many Asian countries. The aim of this study was to verify the therapeutic potential of methanolic extract from ginger against glycation and other oxidative stress-induced complications using in vitro study. In this study, quantitative estimations of antioxidant components such as total phenolic and flavonoids were determined by UV–visible spectrophotometry. The anti-inflammatory action of the ginger extract was checked by determining its protective action against the denaturation of proteins, anti-proteinase activity and its membrane stabilization effect. The anti-inflammatory action of ginger extract was found to be comparable with reference standard drugs. The antiglycating effect of ginger extract was investigated by placing bovine serum albumin (BSA) with glucose in the presence and absence of ginger extract for two weeks at 37 °C. The incubated samples were analyzed for the number of glycation products, secondary structural changes, aggregation and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) formation by checking browning intensity, determination of aggregation index and Congo red assays. Our findings demonstrated that ginger extract (600 µg/mL) significantly reduced the browning, secondary structural changes, aggregation and AGEs formation. Thus, it can be concluded from these results that ginger extract is a wealthy source of antioxidants and can be used to prevent the glycation and oxidative stress-induced damage of biomolecules in various health complications including inflammation.

To investigate the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (T-AgNPs) using leaf extract of Tamarix articulata and their possible role in attenuation of oxidative stress mediated human diseases. T-AgNPs were characterized by several biophysical techniques. Various health beneficial activities were also investigated. The synthesized T-AgNPs showed an absorption peak at 413 nm on UV-Visible spectroscopy indicating the surface plasmon resonance of the nanoparticles. TEM analysis clearly showed that particles were spherical with an average size of about 25 nm. SEM image analysis confirmed the spherical shape of T-AgNPs. T-AgNPs (600 µg/ml) showed effective DPPH scavenging (68.23%), ferric reducing (68.23%), and hydrogen peroxide reducing (70.09%) activities. Besides, T-AgNPs at 600 µg/ml, also showed strong anti-glycating, and AGEs formation inhibitory activities as indicated by reduced browning intensity (51.62%), aggregation index (48.86%), and cross amyloid structures (53.62%) as compared to positive controls (100%). A 600 µg/ml of T-AgNPs was found to have potent in vitro anti-inflammatory activity as revealed by albumin denaturation inhibition (73.19%), protease activity inhibition (70.196%), membrane stability against heat (74.16%), and hyposaline (72.98%) induced hemolysis as compared to controls. Altogether, these findings confirm that T-AgNPs can be promising candidates for the development of antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, membrane stabilizing, antiglycating and AGEs inhibitory agents.

Honey is a complex sweet highly viscous liquid and is composed of various ingredients such as sugar, proteins, minerals, and polyphenolic compounds. Honey is used in traditional medicine systems for centuries because of its ability to inhibit the pathogenesis of various diseases through modulating various biological activities. In this study, antimicrobial potential of different types of honey was tested against selected pathogenic bacterial strains through agar well diffusion method. Four types of honey were used in the present investigation, and the potential antimicrobial activities of these varieties were further compared with that of antibiotics commonly used against targeted microbial strains. Among all of the four tested honey, three types were classified as blossom honey, being Talha (Acacia sp) honey (TH), Zahoor (mixed flower) honey (ZH), and Manuka (Leptospermum based honey) honey (MH). Both gram positive and gram negative bacterial species were used for this investigation. The pathogenic gram-positive bacterial strains included Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212 and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus (MRSA) ATCC 43300. Three gram negative bacteria like Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Klebsiella pneumonia ATCC 700603, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 were also used to confirm the antimicrobial activities. As reflected from our study, we found that three varieties of honey including TH, ZH, and MH (with different UMF +20, +16, +5) displayed a broad spectrum antibacterial activity against all tested microbial strains. However, all strains showed a high frequency of resistance to BF honey. Gram-positive (G+) bacteria were found to be more sensitive to all tested honey types except (BF) as indicated by significantly higher zone of inhibition (ZOI) values than those of gram-negative (G-) bacteria. As a conclusion, this study suggests that antimicrobial potential of honey types might be helpful in order to treat the pathogenic microorganisms threatening the public health and changing antibiotics into last-resort drugs.

Introduction: Occupational and environmental pollutant is one of the culprits of morbidity and mortality. Welding materials or fumes of welding materials causes pathogenesis of diseases including asthma, tuberculosis, chest tightness, and other lungs diseases.

Door handles are being reported to harbor a diverse group of microorganisms, mainly bacteria. Presence of pathogenic and antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the door handles carry risk to the health of the public. For this reason, a study was carried in the Qassim region of Saudi Arabia by isolating bacteria from the pharmacy door handles from four different areas. Total 100 samples were collected by wiping the door handles with a sterile cotton swab soaked in sterile water. Microorganisms were isolated using Blood agar and MacConkey agar and identified following standard microbiological procedure. Siemens MicroScan Walkaway system was used for determination of antibiotic susceptibility pattern. In total, 301 bacteria from 13 bacterial species were isolated and identified. The predominant bacterial species include Staphylococcus spp. 56.48% followed by Bacillus spp. 12.29% and Micrococcus spp. 10.30%. Gram-negative bacteria like Shigella sonnei and Salmonella paratyphiA were also isolated. Being the most predominant species, Antibiotic resistance pattern of 39 Staphylococcus spp. were determined. 38.46% of the Staphylococcus spp. were found to be resistant to Cefoxitin, and 30.76% were beta-lactamase producing. The results also indicated that about one -third of Staphylococcus spp. were methicillin resistant. The door handles of pharmacies in the Qassim region carry risk to the health of the public. Proper hygienic measures are recommended for the public health safety until doors are made automatic and touch-free.