Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Thymoquinone in Atherosclerosis: A Mini Review

TBS-pyrrole as an "universal" reference to quantify artemisinin and structurally-diverse natural products in plants extracts by NMR

The commercial production of artemisinin and other valuable bioactive natural products depends on their plant sources, which may provide variable amounts of the compound depending on plant variety, the period of the year, abiotic stress and other factors. Therefore, it requires a method for large-scale, low-cost natural product quantification. The standard HPLC and UHPLC methods are accurate but the analysis are costly and require different optimization for structurally-diverse products. An alternative method using NMR with TBS-pyrrole as a novel "universal" reference affords a simple, fast method to quantify many different products. The method is shown with antimalarial artemisinin, whose yield using conventional and novel extraction procedures was determined by standard UHPLC-MS procedures and by our NMR protocol, with similar quantification results. The novel reference compound does not interfere with artemisinin or extract signals, only needs a small amount of the extract, is accurate and operationally simple, and a large volume of samples can be processed in little time. Moreover, bioactive terpenes, steroids, alkaloids, aromatic compounds, and quinones, among others, were quantified in a model vegetal extract with this "universal" reference with excellent accuracy.

Thymoquinone's Antiviral Effects: It is Time to be Proven in the Covid-19 Pandemic Era and its Omicron Variant Surge

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted every country in the world. With more than 400 million cases and more than 5.5 million deaths. The FDA either approved or authorized the emergency use for three vaccines against COVID-19. The treatment options of COVID-19 are very limited. Multiple complementary and alternative medicine modalities were suggested to be efficacious in the treatment of COVID-19 such as Thymoquinone. The effects of Thymoquinone have been examined and multiple studies indicate a promising beneficial effect. However, the current body of research is limited in terms of its scope, quality, and quantity. While higher-quality studies are required, physicians do not routinely recommend the use of marketed supplements of natural products, including Thymoquinone for COVID-19. Given the numerous suggested positive effects of Thymoquinone, including anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties, additional research is required to confirm or refute these promising benefits. Complementary and alternative medicine is an area that requires additional evidence-based practice and research to confirm effects observed in clinical practice.