Natural products represents an important source of new lead compounds in drug discovery research. Several drugs currently used as therapeutic agents have been developed from natural sources; plant sources are specifically important. In the past few decades, pharmaceutical companies demonstrated insignificant attention towards natural product drug discovery, mainly due to its intrinsic complexity. Recently, technological advancements greatly helped to address the challenges and resulted in the revived scientific interest in drug discovery from natural sources. This review provides a comprehensive overview of various approaches used in the selection, authentication, extraction/isolation, biological screening, and analogue development through the application of modern drug-development principles of plant-based natural products. Main focus is given to the bioactivity-guided fractionation approach along with associated challenges and major advancements. A brief outline of historical development in natural product drug discovery and a snapshot of the prominent natural drugs developed in the last few decades are also presented. The researcher’s opinions indicated that an integrated interdisciplinary approach utilizing technological advances is necessary for the successful development of natural products. These involve the application of efficient selection method, well-designed extraction/isolation procedure, advanced structure elucidation techniques, and bioassays with a high-throughput capacity to establish druggability and patentability of phyto-compounds. A number of modern approaches including molecular modeling, virtual screening, natural product library, and database mining are being used for improving natural product drug discovery research. Renewed scientific interest and recent research trends in natural product drug discovery clearly indicated that natural products will play important role in the future development of new therapeutic drugs and it is also anticipated that efficient application of new approaches will further improve the drug discovery campaign.

Photodegradation is an efficient strategy for the removal of organic pollutants from wastewater. Due to their distinct properties and extensive applications, semiconductor nanoparticles have emerged as promising photocatalysts. In this work, olive (Olea Europeae) fruit extract-based zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO@OFE NPs) were successfully biosynthesized using a one-pot sustainable method. The prepared ZnO NPs were systematically characterized using UV-Vis, FTIR, SEM, EDX and XRD and their photocatalytic and antioxidant activity was evaluated. SEM demonstrated the formation of spheroidal nanostructures (57 nm) of ZnO@OFE and the EDX analysis confirmed its composition. FTIR suggested the modification/capping of the NPs with functional groups of phytochemicals from the extract. The sharp XRD reflections revealed the crystalline nature of the pure ZnO NPs with the most stable hexagonal wurtzite phase. The photocatalytic activity of the synthesized catalysts was evaluated by measuring the degradation of methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) dyes under sunlight irradiation. Improved degradation efficiencies of 75% and 87% were achieved within only 180 min with photodegradation rate constant k of 0.008 and 0.013 min⁻¹ for MB and MO, respectively. The mechanism of degradation was proposed. Additionally, ZnO@OFE NPs exhibited potent antioxidant activity against DPPH, hydroxyl, peroxide and superoxide radicals. Hence, ZnO@OFE NPs may have potential as a cost-effective and green photocatalyst for wastewater treatment.

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are a fast-growing class of biopharmaceuticals. They are widely used in the identification and detection of cell makers, serum analytes, and pathogenic agents, and are remarkably used for the cure of autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, or malignancies. The successful application of therapeutic mAbs is based on their ability to precisely interact with their appropriate target sites. The precision of mAbs rely on the isolation techniques delivering pure, consistent, stable, and safe lots that can be used for analytical, diagnostic, or therapeutic applications. During the creation of a biologic, the key quality features of a particular mAb, such as structure, post-translational modifications, and activities at the biomolecular and cellular levels, must be characterized and profiled in great detail. This implies the requirement of powerful state of the art analytical techniques for quality control and characterization of mAbs. Until now, various analytical techniques have been developed to characterize and quantify the mAbs according to the regulatory guidelines. The present review summarizes the major techniques used for the analyses of mAbs which include chromatographic, electrophoretic, spectroscopic, and electrochemical methods in addition to the modifications in these methods for improving the quality of mAbs. This compilation of major analytical techniques will help students and researchers to have an overview of the methodologies employed by the biopharmaceutical industry for structural characterization of mAbs for eventual release of therapeutics in the drug market.

The main characteristic feature of diabetes mellitus is the disturbance of carbohydrate, lipid, and protein metabolism, which results in insulin insufficiency and can also lead to insulin resistance. Both the acute and chronic diabetic cases are increasing at an exponential rate, which is also flagged by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF). Treatment of diabetes mellitus with synthetic drugs often fails to provide desired results and limits its use to symptomatic treatment only. This has resulted in the exploration of alternative medicine, of which herbal treatment is gaining popularity these days. Owing to their safety benefits, treatment compliance, and ability to exhibit effects without disturbing internal homeostasis, research in the field of herbal and ayurvedic treatments has gained importance. Medicinal phytoconstituents include micronutrients, amino acids, proteins, mucilage, critical oils, triterpenoids, saponins, carotenoids, alkaloids, flavonoids, phenolic acids, tannins, and coumarins, which play a dynamic function in the prevention and treatment of diabetes mellitus. Alkaloids found in medicinal plants represent an intriguing potential for the inception of novel approaches to diabetes mellitus therapies. Thus, this review article highlights detailed information on alkaloidal phytoconstituents, which includes sources and structures of alkaloids along with the associated mechanism involved in the management of diabetes mellitus. From the available literature and data presented, it can be concluded that these compounds hold tremendous potential for use as monotherapies or in combination with current treatments, which can result in the development of better efficacy and safety profiles.

It has been seventy years since a water-soluble version of vitamin E called tocophersolan (also known as TPGS) was produced; it was approved by USFDA in 1998 as an inactive ingredient. Drug formulation developers were initially intrigued by its surfactant qualities, and gradually it made its way into the toolkit of pharmaceutical drug delivery. Since then, four drugs with TPGS in their formulation have been approved for sale in the United States and Europe including ibuprofen, tipranavir, amprenavir, and tocophersolan. Improvement and implementation of novel diagnostic and therapeutic techniques for disease are goals of nanomedicine and the succeeding field of nanotheranostics. Specifically, imaging and treating tumors with nanohybrid theranostics shows promising potential. Docetaxel, paclitaxel, and doxorubicin are examples of poorly bioavailable therapeutic agents; hence, much effort is applied for developing TPGS-based nanomedicine, nanotheranostics, and targeted drug delivery systems to increase circulation time and promote the reticular endothelial escape of these drug delivery systems. TPGS has been used in a number of ways for improving drug solubility, bioavailability improvement, and prevention of drug efflux from the targeted cells, which makes it an excellent candidate for therapeutic delivery. Through the downregulation of P-gp expression and modulation of efflux pump activity, TPGS can also mitigate multidrug resistance (MDR). Novel materials such as TPGS-based copolymers are being studied for their potential use in various diseases. In recent clinical trials, TPGS has been utilized in a huge number of Phase I, II, and III studies. Additionally, numerous TPGS-based nanomedicine and nanotheranostic applications are reported in the literature which are in their preclinical stage. However, various randomized or human clinical trials have been underway for TPGS-based drug delivery systems for multiple diseases such as pneumonia, malaria, ocular disease, keratoconus, etc. In this review, we have emphasized in detail the review of the nanotheranostics and targeted drug delivery approaches premised on TPGS. In addition, we have covered various therapeutic systems involving TPGS and its analogs with special references to its patent and clinical trials.

The optimal design of renewable-based distributed generations (DGs) is a challenging issue in order to maximise their benefits and to overcome power quality problems. Therefore, this paper proposes a methodology for optimal allocation and sizing of renewable DG units to minimise total power losses over radial distribution systems. The planning problem is formulated as a single objective nonlinear mixed integer-constrained optimisation problem and is solved by using the augmented Lagrangian genetic algorithm (ALGA) by combining the objective function and the nonlinear constraints. In that case, the ALGA solves a sequence of sub-problems where the objective function penalises the constraints violation in order to obtain the best solution. The proposed technique is applied to IEEE radial test systems including 33-bus, 69-bus and 119-bus and is implemented with different scenarios including all possible combinations and various types of renewable DG units to prove the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.