It is currently recognized that an injudicious strategy about caries in the last decades has been not only focusing of research mostly in children, but also the narrow focusing on fluoride, because despite sufficient availability of fluoride in water and oral healthcare products, caries levels escalate steadily as people get older and caries remain a main public health issue to be settled. In the last two decades the scientific community intensified efforts of exploring other products for caries prevention, herbal products being one of these approaches. Preliminary evidence indicated that clinical trials for caries prevention with herbal products are heterogeneous in design, quality and products evaluated, we therefore performed a scoping review intended to explore the main characteristics of such clinical trials. From an initial collection of 1986 unique papers from different literature databases, 56 articles satisfied the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The species investigated, dosage forms, study designs, duration of intervention, controls, endpoints, quality of reporting, and risk of bias are discussed. Of the trials reviewed here, 85.71% reported positive results but given the methodological flaws and biases affecting them, it is difficult to conclude on the efficacy of those products based on the studies published thus far.

Aspergillus species, especially A. fumigatus, and to a lesser extent others (A. flavus, A. niger, A. terreus), although rarely pathogenic to healthy humans, can be very aggressive to immunocompromised patients (they are opportunistic pathogens). Although survival rates for such infections have improved in recent decades following the introduction of azole derivatives, they remain a clinical challenge. The fact that current antifungals act as fungistatic rather than fungicide, that they have limited safety, and that resistance is becoming increasingly common make the need for new, more effective, and safer therapies to become more acute. Over the last decades, knowledge about the molecular biology of A. fumigatus and other Aspergillus species, and particularly of calcineurin, Hsp90, and their signaling pathway proteins, has progressed remarkably. Although calcineurin has attracted much interest, its adverse effects, particularly its immunosuppressive effects, make it less attractive than it might at first appear. The situation is not very different for Hsp90. Other proteins from their signaling pathways, such as protein kinases phosphorylating the four SPRR serine residues, CrzA, rcnA, pmcA-pmcC (particularly pmcC), rfeF, BAR adapter protein(s), the phkB histidine kinase, sskB MAP kinase kinase, zfpA, htfA, ctfA, SwoH (nucleoside diphosphate kinase), CchA, MidA, FKBP12, the K27 lysine position from Hsp90, PkcA, MpkA, RlmA, brlA, abaA, wetA, other heat shock proteins (Hsp70, Hsp40, Hsp12) currently appear promising and deserve further investigation as potential targets for antifungal drug development.

Background: Hyssopus officinalis L. (hyssop), a species native to the Caspian Sea region, has been cultivated in the Republic of Moldova as aromatic plant and has been used in folk medicine as antitussive, expectorant, carminative, digestive and sedative remedy. Material and methods: The aerial parts of H. officinalis L., with pink, white and blue flowers, were collected from the collection of the Scientific Practical Center in the Field of Medicinal Plants during flowering phase. The extracts were obtained with 70% ethanol by maceration with stirring. The concetration of the extracts was done with the rotative evaporator Laborota 4011. Identification of phenolic compounds in dried extracts from hyssop herb was carried out by thin-layer chromatography. The total content of hydrocyanamic acids was measured in plant products and dried ethanolic extracts, by spectrophotometric method, with Arnow’s reagent. Quantitative analysis of total phenolic content was carried out by UV-spectrophotometry analysis, using a Metertech UV/VIS SP 8001 spectrophotometer. Results: The chlorogenic (Rf 0.47) and caffeic (Rf 0.93) acids were identified in the three genotypes of Hyssop herba, with pink, white and blue flowers. The total of hydroxycinnamic acids, expressed in caffeic acid, for both, aerial parts and dry extract, was the highest in H. officinalis L. with white flowers (1.484 mg/g; 3.014 mg/g respectively), followed by H. officinalis L. with pink flowers (1.190 mg/g; 2.915 mg/g) and H. officinalis L. with blue flowers (1.015 mg/g; 2.851 mg/g). The highest polyphenol content, expressed in gallic acid equivalent (GAE), was found in the dry extract of H. officinalis L. with blue flowers (39.056 mgGAE/g dry extract). Conclusions: This study showed that the extract of the Hyssopus officinalis L. containing phenolic compounds, can be used as a natural antioxidant in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.

It is currently recognized that an injudicious strategy in the last decades has been not only focusing of research typically on caries in children, but also the narrow focusing on fluoride, because despite sufficient availability of fluoride in water and oral healthcare products, caries levels escalate steadily as people get older and caries remain a main public health issue to be settled. In the last two decades the scientific community intensified efforts of exploring other products for caries prevention, herbal products being one of these approaches. Because preliminary evidence indicated that clinical trials for caries prevention with herbal products are heterogeneous in design, quality and products evaluated, we performed a scoping review intended to explore the main characteristics of such clinical trials. From an initial collection of 1986 unique papers from different literature databases, 56 articles satisfied the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The species investigated, dosage forms, study designs, duration of intervention, controls, endpoints, quality of reporting and risk of bias are discussed. 85.71% of the trials reviewed here reported positive results but given the methodological flaws and biases affecting them, it is difficult to conclude on the efficacy of those products based on the studies published thus far.

Introduction. Carotenoids and chlorophylls are plant pigments that play a vital role in plant life, participating in the process of photosynthesis and in the synthesis of growth regulators, stress signalers and fungicide attack agents. Research from the last decades has shown that, widely used as nutrients, chlorophyll and carotenoid pigments have beneficial effects on the human body. They exert antioxidant, energizing, detoxifying, anti-inflammatory properties, and can be applied in the prevention and treatment of 21st century diseases (cancer, cardiovascular diseases, low immunity), which are related to numerous causal factors (excessive chemicalization of the food industry, progressive climate change and environmental pollution), which reflects on the quality of human health. Material and methods. We aimed to determine the content of carotenoid and chlorophyll pigments in different plant organs (stems, leaves, flowers and aerial parts), collected during the flowering period from 2 species, G. verum and G. aparine from the spontaneous flora of the Republic of Moldova. Determination was carried out by spectrophotometric method with the Metertech UV/VIS SP 8001 spectrophotometer, used as an extractant ethyl alcohol at 60% and 95% concentration. The data were reported as mean values ± standard deviation (SD). Results. Experimental data obtained on the comparative application of 2 concentrations of ethyl alcohol (60 and 95%) for the extraction of carotenoid and chlorophyll pigments show that 95% ethyl alcohol is the most efficient for all analyzed samples. The determination of carotenoid pigments in different organs of G. verum and G. aparine species indicates that the maximum carotenoid content is extracted from the aerial parts of G. verum sp. (52.66 mg/%) than those of G. aparine (27.38 mg/%); compared to the content of chlorophyll pigments, which is quantitatively predominant in G. aparine sp. (chlorophyll a – 2.85 and chlorophyll b – 4.33 mg/l) compared to G. verum sp. (chlorophyll a – 1.2 and chlorophyll b – 1.9 mg/l). Conclusions. The results of spectrophotometric determination of carotenoids, chlorophylls a and b in different organs of G. verum and G. aparine sp. denote that the highest content of pigments is extracted with 95% ethyl alcohol in aerial parts in both species of the spontaneous flora of the Republic of Moldova.