Mitragyna is a genus belonging to the Rubiaceae family and is a plant endemic to Asia and Africa. Traditionally, the plants of this genus were used by local people to treat some diseases from generation to generation. Mitragyna speciosa (Korth.) Havil. is a controversial plant from this genus, known under the trading name “kratom”, and contains more than 40 different types of alkaloids. Mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine have agonist morphine-like effects on opioid receptors. Globally, Mitragyna plants have high economic value. However, regulations regarding the circulation and use of these commodities vary in several countries around the world. This review article aims to comprehensively examine Mitragyna plants (mainly M. speciosa) as potential pharmacological agents by looking at various aspects of the plants. A literature search was performed and information collected using electronic databases including Scopus, ScienceDirect, PubMed, directory open access journal (DOAJ), and Google Scholar in early 2020 to mid-2021. This narrative review highlights some aspects of this genus, including historical background and botanical origins, habitat, cultivation, its use in traditional medicine, phytochemistry, pharmacology and toxicity, abuse and addiction, legal issues, and the potential of Mitragyna species as pharmaceutical products.

Paramita S, Kosala K, Dzulkifli D, Saputri DI, Wijayanti E. 2017. Anti-inflammatory activities of ethnomedicinal plants from Dayak Abai in North Kalimantan, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 18: 1556-1561. Inflammation is a normal process in the human body as a response to injury from the healing process. Meanwhile, chronic inflammation will cause new health problems to patients. Antiinflammatory drugs generally used for those conditions, have several side effects to patients. The objective of this research was to find alternative anti-inflammatory drugs, especially from natural sources. Three medicinal plants recorded from Dayak Abai in North Kalimantan, Indonesia for health problems caused by the inflammation process i.e. Amomum xanthophlebium Baker, Clerodendrum buchananii (Roxb.) Walp., and Donax canniformis (G.Forst.) K.Schum. were used as material in this research. The experimental method using carrageenan-induced rat paw edema was used followed by the resulting measurement using plethysmometer. The results showed that significant differences of AUC (area under the curve) with p = 0.001 (p < 0.05) were achieved between negative control, positive control, and treatment group with plant medicinal extracts. AUC of leaves ethanol extract of C. buchananii showed the strongest antiinflammatory activities. It could be concluded that the medicinal plants recorded from ethnomedicinal data from Dayak Abai in North Kalimantan, have anti-inflammatory activities, with C. buchananii as the most potential ones which could be further developed as a new source of the anti-inflammatory drug.

Hypertension is a major health problem throughout the world, including Indonesia. The use of traditional medicine as part of the treatment of hypertension is increasing in the last decade. This is due to several factors, especially traditional medicine is a cheaper alternative with fewer undesirable side effects. This study tried to look at the pattern of use of natural medicine as a complementary therapy in hypertensive patients at the health center. The study is a descriptive study conducted in Puskesmas Sempaja Samarinda in the period September 2016, interviewing 62 hypertension patients with the use of natural medicine. The results showed 70.9% of patients with hypertension in the health center also uses natural medicines. All patients using herbal medicine which in theory is proven to lower blood pressure. However, there is no natural medicines used include standardized herbal medicine or phytopharmacy. Only 15.2% of patients using herbal medicine in accordance with the criteria BPOM regulation on herbal medicine. For conclusions, this study shows the patients still need to be educated for the use of natural medicine in the management of hypertension.

Objective: Breast carcinoma has no longer been considered as a single and standalone disease. Its subtypes havebeen known to vary in terms of risk factors, natural histories, and responses to therapies. In particular, intrinsic molecularsubtypes based on St. Gallen International Expert Consensus 2013 have classified breast carcinoma into luminal A,luminal B, HER2+, and triple-negative, depending on the expression of ER, PgR, HER2, and Ki-67. Research onintrinsic molecular subtypes of breast carcinoma in Indonesia, however, are rarely conducted, which then triggersthe intention to conduct this study. Methods: In this work, a retrospective study was conducted on 92 formalin-fixedparaffin-embedded samples of invasive ductal breast carcinoma patients. These samples were from patients at AbdulWahab Sjahranie County General Hospital Samarinda, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, in 2016. Next, immunohistochemicalstaining using anti-ER, PgR, HER2, and Ki-67 antibodies was applied to classify intrinsic molecular subtypes. Then, anassociation between clinical and immunohistochemical factors with intrinsic molecular subtypes of breast carcinomawere analyzed using Chi-square test. Results: Looking at results of the retrospective study, luminal B was discovered asthe most common intrinsic molecular subtypes of breast carcinoma (42.39%) in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. The nextranks of breast carcinoma subtypes in the region included HER2+ (39.13%), triple-negative (10.87%), and luminal A(7.61%). In fact, there was a significant association between age (p = 0.019) with intrinsic molecular subtypes of breastcarcinoma. Conclusion: The study found luminal B as the most common intrinsic molecular subtypes of Indonesianbreast carcinoma in the region under investigation. In the future, the higher positivity rate of luminal B in breastcarcinoma patients compared to prior studies would require further investigations.

Aim: To find risk factors associated with cervical cancer. Methods: This a case-control study conducted in A.W. Sjahranie County General Hospital at Samarinda East Kalimantan from January until July 2009. There were 58 patients for each case and control group. Variables in this study were age, menarche, menopause, age of first marriage, parity, spouse’s smoking status, hormonal contraception use, type of hormonal contraception, duration of hormonal contraception, IUD (intra uterine device) contraception use and duration of IUD contraception. Results: final data analysis shows that parity and duration of hormonal contraception use increased the risk of cervical cancer. Women who had 5-12 children than 0-4 children had 2.6-folds increased risk to be cervical cancer. Compared to women never use of hormonal contraception, those who ever had hormonal contraception for 1-4 years and 5-25 years had two time and 4.5 times increased risk to be cervical cancer respectively. Conclusion: Cervical cancer screening recommended to be focused on high-risk groups, among others, women with the number of children born more than fi ve people or women in particular users of hormonal contraception methods with a range of use more than fi ve years. (Med J Indones 2010; 19:268-72) Keywords: Cervical cancer, hormonal contraception, menarche, parity

Poor indoor air quality may lead to hospital acquired infection. Microbiological parameter is one of main standards of indoor air quality. The study objective was to investigate microbiological assessment of indoor air of different wards of Takalar County Hospital, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Four wards were used for sample collection and these included third, second, first and VIP class ward. Room air temperature, humidity, lighting and number of visitor were also observed. Passive air sampling technique using open Petri dishes containing different culture media was employed. Blood agar plate was used for the bacteria, while Sabouraud dextrose agar plates were used for the fungi. Samplings were done twice daily, one in the morning and other in the afternoon. Isolates were identified according to standard methods. Results show that there was second class ward recorded the highest bacterial growth (1,413 cfu/m³ in the afternoon). The bacteria isolates were Bacillus sp, Enterobacter sp, Staphylococcus aureus, and Staphylococcus epidermidis. Staphylococcus aureus was the predominantly isolated bacterium. For the conclusion, from the reduction noticed in the morning samples, stringent measures such as proper disinfection and regular cleaning, restriction of patient relatives’ movement in and out the wards need to be enforced so as to improve the quality of indoor air of hospital wards.