Frequently Used Allopathic and Traditional Medicine for COVID-19 Treatment and Feasibility of Their Integration

Antimicrobial therapeutic protein extraction from fruit waste and recent trends in their utilization against infections

Fruits are a very good source of various nutrients that can boost overall human health. In these days, the recovery of therapeutic compounds from different fruit wastes is trending in research, which might not only minimize the waste problem but also encounter a higher demand for various enzymes that could have antimicrobial properties against infectious diseases. The goal of this review is to focus on the recovery of therapeutic enzymes from fruit wastes and its present-day tendency for utilization. Here we discussed different parts of fruit waste, such as pulp, pomace, seed, kernel, peel, etc., that produce therapeutic enzymes like amylase, cellulose, lipase, laccase, pectinase, etc. These bioactive enzymes are present in different parts of fruit and could be used as therapeutics against various infectious diseases. This article provides a thorough knowledge compilation of therapeutic enzyme isolation from fruit waste on a single platform, distinctly informative, and significant review work on the topic that is envisioned to encourage further research ideas in these areas that are still under-explored. This paper explains the various aspects of enzyme isolation from fruit and vegetable waste and their biotherapeutic potential that could provide new insights into the development of biotherapeutics and attract the attention of researchers to enhance translational research magnitude further.

Process Optimization of Tinospora cordifolia Extract-Loaded Water in Oil Nanoemulsion Developed by Ultrasound-Assisted Homogenization

Nanoemulsions are gaining interest in a variety of products as a means of integrating easily degradable bioactive compounds, preserving them from oxidation, and increasing their bioavailability. However, preparing stable emulsion compositions with the desired characteristics is a difficult task. The aim of this study was to encapsulate the Tinospora cordifolia aqueous extract (TCAE) into a water in oil (W/O) nanoemulsion and identify its critical process and formulation variables, like oil (27-29.4 mL), the surfactant concentration (0.6-3 mL), and sonication amplitude (40% to 100%), using response surface methodology (RSM). The responses of this formulation were studied with an analysis of the particle size (PS), free fatty acids (FFAs), and encapsulation efficiency (EE). In between, we have studied a fishbone diagram that was used to measure risk and preliminary research. The optimized condition for the formation of a stable nanoemulsion using quality by design was surfactant (2.43 mL), oil concentration (27.61 mL), and sonication amplitude (88.6%), providing a PS of 171.62 nm, FFA content of 0.86 meq/kg oil and viscosity of 0.597 Pa.s for the blank sample compared to the enriched TCAE nanoemulsion with a PS of 243.60 nm, FFA content of 0.27 meq/kg oil and viscosity of 0.22 Pa.s. The EE increases with increasing concentrations of TCAE, from 56.88% to 85.45%. The RSM response demonstrated that both composition variables had a considerable impact on the properties of the W/O nanoemulsion. Furthermore, after the storage time, the enriched TCAE nanoemulsion showed better stability over the blank nanoemulsion, specially the FFAs, and the blank increased from 0.142 to 1.22 meq/kg oil, while TCAE showed 0.266 to 0.82 meq/kg.

COVID-19 home remedy consumption and perceived effectiveness among adult population in Brunei Darussalam: a PLS-SEM approach

BACKGROUND

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 affects the respiratory system and causes severe acute respiratory infections. Several cultures have influenced the use of home remedies to ease mild symptoms of COVID-19 sometimes alongside conventional medicine. The aim of this study was to investigate the usage of COVID-19 home remedies among the adult population in Brunei.

METHODS

The study design was a cross-sectional study using an online survey and distributed nationwide. The statistical analysis of the data included descriptive statistics describing the sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents, their experience with COVID-19 infection, consumption of general home remedies and COVID-19 home remedy, their practice of COVID-19 home remedy use, and their attitude towards the general use of home remedy. Sub-group analysis including Pearson's chi-square test and Fisher's exact test was computed for the variables in relation to the COVID-19 home remedy use and the perceived effectiveness of the types of home remedy. Multivariate analysis including Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was applied to determine the correlations between the factors and outcomes measured. P-value less than 0.05 is considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

There was a total of 864 eligible responses included in the study. The primary findings showed COVID-19 home remedy was used by 72.2% of the study participants. Most frequently used types of COVID-19 home remedy were cloves (37%), lemon (37%), and honey (23%). There was an infrequent usage of coconut (4.6%), eucalyptus oil (3.7%), habbatussauda (3.5%), traditional/ herbal cough syrup (2.4%), and turmeric (2.2%). The PLS-SEM demonstrated that 'Experience' appears to be a central endogenous variable that affects the decision on the use of COVID-19 home remedy. This relationship is mediated by 'Safety', 'Source', and 'Opinion' which have significant contributions to the outcome, accounting for 98.2% of the variance explained (R-square = 0.982).

CONCLUSIONS

The outcome of this study establishes the baseline prevalence of COVID-19 home remedy consumption among Bruneian residents and compared the previous study on Brunei's general use of traditional medicine. The present findings could help nurses and other healthcare professionals in Brunei understand the practice of Bruneian adults on the consumption of home remedies for COVID-19.

Reduced SARS-CoV-2 infection risk is associated with the use of Seven-Flavor Herb Tea: A multi-center observational study in Shanghai, China

OBJECTIVE

Omicron, a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variant, is responsible for numerous infections in China. This study investigates the association between the use of Seven-Flavor Herb Tea (SFHT) and the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection to develop precise and differentiated strategies for control of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

METHODS

This case-control study was conducted at shelter hospitals and quarantine hotels in China. A total of 5348 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 patients were enrolled between April 1 and May 31, 2022, while 2190 uninfected individuals served as healthy controls. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data on demographics, underlying diseases, vaccination status, and use of SFHT. Patients were propensity-score-matched using 1:1 nearest-neighbor matching of the logit of the propensity score. Subsequently, a conditional logistic regression model was used for data analysis.

RESULTS

Overall, 7538 eligible subjects were recruited, with an average age of [45.54 ± 16.94] years. The age of COVID-19 patients was significantly higher than that of uninfected individuals ([48.25 ± 17.48] years vs [38.92 ± 13.41] years; t = 22.437, P < 0.001). A total of 2190 COVID-19 cases were matched with uninfected individuals at a 1:1 ratio. The use of SFHT (odds ratio = 0.753, 95% confidence interval: 0.692, 0.820) was associated with a lower risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to untreated individuals.

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest that taking SFHT reduces the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. This is a useful study in the larger picture of COVID-19 management, but data from large-sample multi-center, randomized clinical trial are warranted to confirm the finding. Please cite this article as: Zhang SX, Chen XX, Zheng Y, Cai BH, Shi W, Ru M, Li H, Zhang DD, Tian Y, Chen YL. Reduced SARS-CoV-2 infection risk is associated with the use of Seven-Flavor Herb Tea: a multi-center observational study in Shanghai, China. J Integr Med. 2023; Epub ahead of print.

Antibacterial activities of seven ethnomedicinal plants from family Annonaceae

Serious threat to human health caused by bacterial infection persists as a global concern. It becomes more serious when the burden of multidrug-resistance bacteria is in the increasing trend. To overcome, researches have been conducted to develop antibacterial agents from plant-derived bioactive compounds. This review article focuses on the antibacterial activities of plant extracts from seven Annonaceae members, namely Annona muricata, Annona reticulata, Annona squamosa, Cananga odorata, Annona hypoglauca, Polyalthia longifolia, and Xylopia aethiopica. First, ethnomedical uses of the aforementioned plants are discussed and followed by the screening results of related phytochemicals. Among many secondary metabolites contained in the extracts of Annonaceae spp., anonaine, nornuciferine, and liriodenine are common and bioactive. The extracts were reported to have bacteriostatic and bactericidal properties against a wide spectrum of bacteria, including multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Enterococcus faecalis, Enterobacter aerogenes, Enterobacter cloacae, Salmonella choleraesuis, Salmonella typhimurium, and Shigella dysenteriae. We conclude that investigation on the extracts from Annonaceae spp. could contribute to the development of antibacterial agents that could be used against multidrug-resistant bacteria.