The prevalence of fungal infections is growing at an alarming pace and the pathogenesis is still not clearly understood. Recurrence of these fungal diseases is often due to their evolutionary avoidance of antifungal resistance. The development of suitable novel antimicrobial agents for fungal diseases continues to be a major problem in the current clinical field. Hence, it is urgently necessary to develop surrogate agents that are more effective than conventional available drugs. Among the remarkable innovations from earlier investigations on natural-drugs, flavonoids are a group of plant-derived substances capable of promoting many valuable effects on humans. The identification of flavonoids with possible antifungal effects at small concentrations or in synergistic combinations could help to overcome this problem. A combination of flavonoids with available drugs is an excellent approach to reduce the side effects and toxicity. This review focuses on various naturally occurring flavonoids and their antifungal activities, modes of action, and synergetic use in combination with conventional drugs.

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a Gram-positive bacterium that may cause life-threatening diseases and some minor infections in living organisms. However, it shows notorious effects when it becomes resistant to antibiotics. Strain variants of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites that have become resistant to existing multiple antimicrobials are termed as superbugs. Methicillin is a semisynthetic antibiotic drug that was used to inhibit staphylococci pathogens. The S. aureus resistant to methicillin is known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which became a superbug due to its defiant activity against the antibiotics and medications most commonly used to treat major and minor infections. Successful MRSA infection management involves rapid identification of the infected site, culture and susceptibility tests, evidence-based treatment, and appropriate preventive protocols. This review describes the clinical management of MRSA pathogenesis, recent developments in rapid diagnosis, and antimicrobial treatment choices for MRSA.

Bionanotechnology has pivotal role in the development of a novel therapy, applications of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in the treatment of cancer. In this study, we found that therapeutics, pharmaceutics and diagnostic effectiveness of photosynthesized Catharanthus roseus (CR) AuNPs induces mitochondrial-mediated apoptotic signalling pathways via reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced cytotoxicity in cervical cancer cell line (HeLa) by in vitro model. The present examinations were for the most part centred around the gold chloride and photosynthesis AuNPs from the fluid leaf concentrate of CR and their harmful impacts on HeLa cell lines. The synthesized AuNPs were characterized using numerous biophysical analyses such as UV-vis, DLS, EDX, HR-TEM, SAED, FTIR and AFM. The synthesized AuNPs in the particle size range of 25–35 nm was confirmed by HR-TEM. The element gold and the crystalline nature of AuNPs were finalized using EDX, respectively. Anticancer potential of CR-AuNPs was studied using HeLa cells and the cytotoxic mechanism has been evaluated using MTT, mitochondrial-mediated apoptotic pathway through AO/EtBr staining assay, pro-apoptotic (Bax), anti-apoptotic (Bcl-2 and Bid) protein expression western blotting analysis and caspases activity using ELISA analysis. In in vitro study, the IC50 of HeLa cells was found to be 5 µg/ml confirmed using MTT assay. The present data revealed that drug delivery vehicles developed on CR-AuNPs nanocomplexes might include extensive purpose in human cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Traditional medicinal plants have been cultivated to treat various human illnesses and avert numerous infectious diseases. They display an extensive range of beneficial pharmacological and health effects for humans. These plants generally synthesize a diverse range of bioactive compounds which have been established to be potent antimicrobial agents against a wide range of pathogenic organisms. Various research studies have demonstrated the antimicrobial activity of traditional plants scientifically or experimentally measured with reports on pathogenic microorganisms resistant to antimicrobials. The antimicrobial activity of medicinal plants or their bioactive compounds arising from several functional activities may be capable of inhibiting virulence factors as well as targeting microbial cells. Some bioactive compounds derived from traditional plants manifest the ability to reverse antibiotic resistance and improve synergetic action with current antibiotic agents. Therefore, the advancement of bioactive-based pharmacological agents can be an auspicious method for treating antibiotic-resistant infections. This review considers the functional and molecular roles of medicinal plants and their bioactive compounds, focusing typically on their antimicrobial activities against clinically important pathogens.

Globally, antimicrobial resistance has grown at an alarming rate. To combat the multidrug-resistant (MDR) superbugs, silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) were synthesized using an aqueous leaf extract of seasonal desert plant Sisymbrium irio obtained from the central region of Saudi Arabia by a simple one-step procedure. The physical and chemical properties of the Ag NPs were investigated through ultraviolet visisble analysis (UV-vis), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and transmission electron microscope (TEM) analysis. The UV-vis spectrum showed an absorption band at 426 nm. The XRD results showed a highly crystalline face-centered cubic structure. The surface morphology analyzed using SEM and TEM analyses showed the particle size to be in the range 24 nm to 50 nm. Various concentrations of Ag NPs were tested against MDR Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumanii that cause ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) Escherichia coli-25922 was used as the reference control strain. The Ag NPs effectively inhibited tested pathogens, even at the lowest concentration (6.25 µg) used. The bacterial inhibitory zone ranged from 11–21 mm. In conclusion, the newly synthesized Ag NPs could be a potential alternative candidate in biomedical applications in controlling the spread of MDR pathogens.

Fungal sensitization is very common in bronchial asthmatic cases, and the connection with airway colonization by fungi remains uncertain. Antifungal therapy failure is a significant fraction of the cost and morbidity and mortality in the majority of the asthmatic cases. Hence, the present study aimed to investigate the antifungal activity of five marine macroalgae—Acanthaophora specifera, Cladophoropsis sp., Laurencia paniculata, Tydemania sp., and Ulva prolifera—which were tested on selected fungal pathogens isolated from 15 sputum of 45 bronchial asthmatic patients. The highest antifungal activity was observed in ethanol fractions of L. paniculata followed by U. prolifera, Cladophoropsis sp., A. specifera, and Tydemania sp. The minimum fungicidal concentration and minimum inhibitory concentration values of the ethanolic fractions of algal species were found to be 125–1000 µg/mL and 125–500 µg/mL, respectively. The algal extracts contained terpene alcohol, diterpene, steroids, sesquiterpene, and sesquiterpene alcohol, as determined by GC–MS/MS analyses. The present study shows that the marine macroalgae containing bioactive compounds had excellent inhibitory activity against a variety of fungal pathogens, which may be useful for combating fungal infections and recovering from chronic asthmatic states.