Recycling of electric and electronic waste products (e-waste) which amounted to more than 50 million metric tonnes per year worldwide is a massive and global operation. Unfortunately, an estimated 70-80% of this waste has not been properly managed because the waste went from developed to low-income countries to be dumped into landfills or informally recycled. Such recycling has been carried out either directly on landfill sites or in small, often family-run recycling shops without much regulations or oversights. The process traditionally involved manual dismantling, cleaning with hazardous solvents, burning and melting on open fires, etc., which would generate a variety of toxic substances and exposure/hazards to applicators, family members, proximate residents and the environment. The situation clearly calls for global responsibility to reduce the impact on human health and the environment, especially in developing countries where poor residents have been shouldering the hazardous burden. On the other hand, formal e-waste recycling has been mainly conducted in small scales in industrialised countries. Whether the latter process would impose less risk to populations and environment has not been determined yet. Therefore, the main objectives of this review are: 1. to address current trends and emerging threats of not only informal but also formal e-waste management practices, and 2. to propose adequate measures and interventions. A major recommendation is to conduct independent surveillance of compliance with e-waste trading and processing according to the Basel Ban Amendment. The recycling industry needs to be carefully evaluated by joint effort from international agencies, producing industries and other stakeholders to develop better processes. Subsequent transition to more sustainable and equitable e-waste management solutions should result in more effective use of natural resources, and in prevention of adverse effects on health and the environment.

Despite the enormous achievements in conventional medicine, herbal-based medicines are still a common practice for the treatment of diabetes.Trigonella foenum-graecum,Atriplex halimus,Olea europaea,Urtica dioica,Allium sativum,Allium cepa,Nigella sativa, andCinnamomum cassiaare strongly recommended in the Greco-Arab and Islamic medicine for the treatment and prevention of diabetes. Cytotoxicity (MTT and LDH assays) of the plant extracts was assessed using cells from the liver hepatocellular carcinoma cell line (HepG2) and cells from the rat L6 muscle cell line. The effects of the plant extracts (50% ethanol in water) on glucose transporter-4 (GLUT4) translocation to the plasma membrane was tested in an ELISA test on L6-GLUT4myc cells. Results obtained indicate thatCinnamomon cassiais cytotoxic at concentrations higher than 100 μg/mL, whereas all other tested extracts exhibited cytotoxic effects at concentrations higher than 500 μg/mL. Exposing L6-GLUT4myc muscle cell to extracts fromTrigonella foenum-graecum,Urtica dioica,Atriplex halimus, andCinnamomum verumled to a significant gain in GLUT4 on their plasma membranes at noncytotoxic concentrations as measured with MTT assay and the LDH leakage assay. These findings indicate that the observed anti-diabetic properties of these plants are mediated, at least partially, through regulating GLUT4 translocation.

Propolis is a resin that honeybees produce by mixing saliva and beeswax with exudate gathered from botanical sources. The presentin vitrostudy investigated the potential use of propolis as a multitarget therapeutic product and the physicochemical properties, chemical composition, and immunomodulatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, and anticancer properties of a propolis extract from the northern Morocco region (PNM). Pinocembrin, chrysin, and quercetin were the main phenolic compounds of PNM as measured in HPLC. The PNM showed significant inhibitory effects against all tested Gram-positive and Gram-negative strains and showed high antioxidant activities by scavenging free radicals with IC50 (DPPH = 0.02, ABTS = 0.04, and FRAP = 0.04 mg/ml). In addition, PNM induced a dose-dependent cytostatic effect in MCF-7, HCT, and THP-1 cell lines at noncytotoxic concentrations with IC50 values of 479.22, 108.88, and 50.54 μg/ml, respectively. The production of tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) was decreased in a dose-dependent manner in LPS-stimulated human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNCs), whereas the production of the anti-inflammatory interleukin-10 (IL-10) was increased in a dose-dependent manner reaching 15-fold compared to the levels measured in untreated PBMNCs. Overall, the results showed that the traditionally known multitarget therapeutic properties of the PNM seem to be mediated, at least in part, through cytostatic, antibacterial, and immunomodulatory effects.

Diabetes is a predominant metabolic disease nowadays due to the off-beam lifestyle of diet and reduced physical activity. Complications of the illness include the gene-environment interactions and the downstream genetic and epigenetic consequences, e.g., cardiovascular diseases, tumor progression, retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy, polydipsia, polyphagia, polyuria, and weight loss. This review sheds the light on the mechanistic insights of antidiabetic medicinal plants in targeting key organs and tissues involved in regulating blood glucose homeostasis including the pancreas, liver, muscles, adipose tissues, and glucose absorption in the intestine. Diabetes is also involved in modulating major epigenetic pathways such as DNA methylation and histone modification. In this respect, we will discuss the phytochemicals as current and future epigenetic drugs in the treatment of diabetes. In addition, several proteins are common targets for the treatment of diabetes. Some phytochemicals are expected to directly interact with these targets. We lastly uncover modeling studies that predict such plausible interactions. In conclusion, this review article presents the mechanistic insight of phytochemicals in the treatment of diabetes by combining both the cellular systems biology and molecular modeling.