This study investigated the health-promoting activities of methanolic extracts of Ajwa date seed and fruit pulp extracts through in vitro studies. These studies confirmed potential antioxidant, anti-hemolytic, anti-proteolytic, and anti-bacterial activities associated with Ajwa dates. The EC₅₀ values of fruit pulp and seed extracts in methanol were reported to be 1580.35 ± 0.37 and 1272.68 ± 0.27 µg/mL, respectively, in the DPPH test. The maximum percentage of hydrogen peroxide-reducing activity was 71.3 and 65.38% for both extracts at 600 µg/mL. Fruit pulp and seed extracts inhibited heat-induced BSA denaturation by 68.11 and 60.308%, heat-induced hemolysis by 63.84% and 58.10%, and hypersalinity-induced hemolysis by 61.71% and 57.27%, and showed the maximum anti-proteinase potential of 56.8 and 51.31% at 600 μg/mL, respectively. Seed and fruit pulp inhibited heat-induced egg albumin denaturation at the same concentration by 44.31 and 50.84%, respectively. Ajwa seed showed minimum browning intensity by 63.2%, percent aggregation index by 64.2%, and amyloid structure by 63.8% at 600 μg/mL. At 100 mg/mL, Ajwa seed extract exhibited good antibacterial activity. Molecular docking analysis showed that ten active constituents of Ajwa seeds bind with the critical antioxidant enzymes, catalase (1DGH) and superoxide dismutase (5YTU). The functional residues involved in such interactions include Arg72, Ala357, and Leu144 in 1DGH, and Gly37, Pro13, and Asp11 in 5YTU. Hence, Ajwa dates can be used to develop a suitable alternative therapy in various diseases, including diabetes and possibly COVID-19-associated complications.

Oxidative stress, hyper-inflammatory responses, and protein glycation are the chief contributing factors in the pathogenesis of several diseases. This study aimed to explore the therapeutic role of myrrh in health management through in vitro and in silico studies. Antioxidant potential, anti-inflammatory potential, antiglycation, and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) formation inhibition activities were determined by various in vitro assays. Molecular docking was performed to predict the non-covalent binding of macromolecules (receptor) and a small molecule (ligand). Myrrh extract contained significant antioxidant activity as reflected by FRAP value (16.12 µg ascorbic acid/100 mg dry weight), the maximum percentage of DPPH scavenging (57.71%), and maximum hydrogen peroxide reducing activity (58.71%) at a concentration of 600 µg/mL. Further, the extract exhibited maximum protection from bovine serum albumin (BSA) denaturation inhibition (53.47%), anti-proteinase action (43.517%), and egg albumin denaturation inhibition (44.95%) at a dose of 600 µg/mL concentration. Myrrh is used in pharmacy as an antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antifungal, and anti-venom remedy. This study aimed to explore the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiarthritic, antiglycation, and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) formation inhibition ability of methanolic myrrh extract. It was found that myrrh has good antioxidant potential due to plenty of flavonoids and polyphenolic compounds, as reflected by results of the 2,2′-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) assay, FRAP (ferric reducing antioxidant power) test, and hydrogen peroxide reducing test. Furthermore, myrrh methanolic extract was found to be significantly effective against heat-induced albumin denaturation, and percent inhibition of denaturation increases with increased extract concentration. The presence of myrrh extract at a dose of 600 μg/mL decreased browning intensity (59.38%), percent aggregation index (59.88%), and percentage amyloid structure (56.13%). We used molecular docking tools to study the role of myrrh in oxidative stress (Catalase), antioxidant property (Superoxide dismutase), and antiviral property (spike protein S). The molecular docking analysis confirmed four phytoconstituents; 2,3-Furandione, Curzerene, delta-Elemene, and Furanoeudesma-1,3-Diene interact with catalase and superoxide dismutase. Curzerene and Furanoeudesma-1,3-Diene showed remarkable interaction with SARS-CoV-2 spike protein S. Our data suggest that myrrh resin extract can be used to develop a suitable alternative therapy for various diseases linked with oxidative stress, inflammation, glycation, and AGEs.

Background: The advancement of sequencing technologies results in the rapid release of hundreds of new genome assemblies a year providing unprecedented resources for the study of genome evolution. Within this context, the significance of in-depth analyses of repetitive elements, transposable elements (TEs) in particular, is increasingly recognized in understanding genome evolution. Despite the plethora of available bioinformatic tools for identifying and annotating TEs, the phylogenetic distance of the target species from a curated and classified database of repetitive element sequences constrains any automated annotation effort. Moreover, manual curation of raw repeat libraries is deemed essential due to the frequent incompleteness of automatically generated consensus sequences. Results: Here, we present an example of a crowd-sourcing effort aimed at curating and annotating TE libraries of two non-model species built around a collaborative, peer-reviewed teaching process. Manual curation and classification are time-consuming processes that offer limited short-term academic rewards and are typically confined to a few research groups where methods are taught through hands-on experience. Crowd-sourcing efforts could therefore offer a significant opportunity to bridge the gap between learning the methods of curation effectively and empowering the scientific community with high-quality, reusable repeat libraries. Conclusions: The collaborative manual curation of TEs from two tardigrade species, for which there were no TE libraries available, resulted in the successful characterization of hundreds of new and diverse TEs in a reasonable time frame. Our crowd-sourcing setting can be used as a teaching reference guide for similar projects: A hidden treasure awaits discovery within non-model organisms.

Protein glycation, hyper-inflammatory reactions, and oxidative stress play a crucial role in the pathophysiology of numerous diseases. The current work evaluated the protective ability of ethyl alcohol extract of leaves from holy basil (Ocimum sanctum Linn) against inflammation, oxidative stress, glycation and advanced glycation endproducts formation. Various in vitro assays assessed prementioned properties of holy basil. In addition, molecular docking was conducted. The highest hydrogen peroxide reduction activity (72.7 %) and maximum percentage of DPPH scavenging (71.3 %) depicted its vigorous antioxidant abilities. Furthermore, it showed the most excellent protection against proteinase activity (67.247 %), prevention of denaturation of egg albumin (65.29 %), and BSA (bovine serum albumin) (68.87 %) with 600 µg/ml. Percent aggregation index (57.528 %), browning intensity (56.61 %), and amyloid structure (57.0 %) were all reduced significantly using 600 μg/ml of extract. Additionally, the antimicrobial potential was also confirmed. According to a molecular docking study, active leaf extract ingredients were found to bind with superoxide dismutase, catalase, and carbonic anhydrase. As a conclusion, O. sanctum has a variety of health-promoting properties that may reduce the severity of many diseases in diabetic patients. However, in order to ascertain the mechanisms of action of the components of its leaves in disease prevention, more thorough research based on pharmacological aspects is needed.

Men of all ages frequently experience erectile dysfunction (ED) or impotence, and it is a difficult health issue that adversely affects the quality of life of those who experience it. There are multiple types of treatment strategies for ED available, depending on the origin and severity of ED, as well as any underlying medical issues. However, these therapeutics are known to have a number of negative health effects. In contrast, plant-based treatments are more effective for managing diseases due to their ability to modulate biological processes like inflammation, oxidative stress, and cell signaling molecules. Many medicinal plants have been reported to be quite helpful in the improvement of ED. In this review, ED and its causes, diagnostic methods, treatment strategies, and some of the most potent plant-based interventions against ED are discussed in greater detail, along with a description of their mechanisms of action and a brief discussion of approaches to increase their efficacy, with a focus on the management of ED using herbal interventions as complementary and alternative medicines. While there is hope that medicinal plants could provide lead substances for erectile dysfunction medications, additional investigation is necessary to ascertain the efficacy and security of these prospective treatments.

The advancement of sequencing technologies results in the rapid release of hundreds of new genome assemblies a year providing unprecedented resources for the study of genome evolution. Within this context, the significance of in-depth analyses of repetitive elements, transposable elements (TEs) in particular, is increasingly recognized in understanding genome evolution. Despite the plethora of available bioinformatic tools for identifying and annotating TEs, the phylogenetic distance of the target species from a curated and classified database of repetitive element sequences constrains any automated annotation effort. Manual curation of raw repeat libraries is deemed essential due to the frequent incompleteness of automatically generated consensus sequences. However, manual curation and classification are time-consuming processes that offer limited short-term academic rewards and are typically confined to a few research groups where methods are taught through hands-on experience. Crowd sourcing efforts could offer a significant opportunity to bridge the gap between learning the methods of curation effectively and empowering the scientific community with high-quality, reusable repeat libraries. Here, we present an example of such crowd sourcing effort developed through both in-person and online courses built around a collaborative peer-reviewed teaching process that can be used as teaching reference guide for similar projects. The collaborative manual curation of TEs from two tardigrade species, for which there were no TE libraries available, resulted in the successful characterization of hundreds of new and diverse TEs: A hidden treasure awaits discovery within non-model organisms.