Shazia Anjum

Albrecht introduced the concept of hamartoma at the beginning of twentieth century to designate a tumor like or non-neoplastic malformation or inborn error of tissue development. They arise virtually in all organs. They may derive from any three germinal layer of which mesodermal derived overgrowth is most common. They are slow growing and have self-limited growth. The formation of these growth take place by abnormal mixing of tissue in course of development. Present retrospective study was conducted in pathology department over a period of 2 years from July 2020 to June 2022. Total twenty cases were included in study and it was observed that twelve cases occurred in head and neck region, one case occurred over chest, one case in gastrointestinal tract and six cases in extremities. It is important to differentiate hamartomas from related lesions like choristoma, teratoma and benign tumors to avoid aggressive treatment.

We describe the oxidation of flavanones by employing phenyliodonium diacetate to form the flavone (15), isoflavone (8) and 2,3-dihydrobenzofurane (18) in this study. The oxidative method was found to be regioselective and dependent on the substitution pattern present on the two aromatic rings of the starting flavanone. The structures of products obtained were fully characterized by using IR, ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy and Mass spectrometry. X-ray crystallography further confirms the structures of flavones and isoflavone. The density field theory calculations have also been performed to get more insight about the structures, electronic and spectroscopic properties of synthetic flavonoid derivatives. The geometrical parameters such as bond lengths and angels showed a good correlation with the values obtained through X-ray crystallography. Moreover, the theoretically simulated vibrational and UV-vis spectral values are in agreement with the experimental results.

The present study is intended to compare and document the therapeutic flora, their remedial use, and the traditional knowledge used frequently by the residents of the Cholistan desert and Pothwar (Potohar) Plateau of Punjab, Pakistan. The old endemic remedies of these areas are diminishing due to lack of qualitative and quantitative research. The data was generated by unstructured-interviews, informal meetings, open-ended conversations and group discussions with local people and traditional health healers of the study area. Reported literature was also utilized. The study recorded a list of various medicinal plants used as traditional medicines by local people. Total 86 numbers of plant species belonging to 38 families and 67 plant species belonging to 29 families have been reported in the Pothwar and Cholistan respectively. Only 10.5% of similar plant species were present in the studied areas. The investigation revealed that the local people of study areas inherit a rich traditional knowledge but there is great danger of losing this wealth of knowledge in the near future. Documentation of the knowledge exclusively from desert area of Cholistan, Pakistan is unique information in its nature. The study presents the undocumented knowledge worth recognition that will not only help in conservation of medicinal plant species but will highlight the pharmacological capacity for improved human healthcare regarding many common ailments.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is potentially devastating condition which lacks good treatment options. Pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-1beta (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and oxidative stress markers such as nitric oxide (NO) and peroxide (PO) are mediators of RA pathogenesis. In the present study N-[2,4,5-trihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl) tetrahydro-2H-pyran-3-yl]acrylamide (NHAG), analogue of glucosamine, was evaluated in adjuvant-induced arthritic model of rats. The disease progression was monitored by analysing arthritis scoring, loss of body weight, paw oedema, and histological changes in joints. RA associated hyperalgesia was evaluated by gait analysis. The serum or plasma levels of NO, PO, glutathione (GSH) superoxide dismutase (SOD) IL-1β and TNF-α were analyzed to monitor the state of disease severity. The arthritic control animals exhibited significant increase in arthritic score () and paw oedema () with parallel loss in body weight (). The NHAG-treated arthritic animals exhibited refinement in the gait changes associated with arthritis. NHAG also significantly decreased the NO () and PO () with concurrent increased in GSH () and SOD (). Both IL-1β () and TNF-α (), were significantly decreased in NHAG-treated group. Thus NHAG might have a therapeutic potential for arthritis by exerting antioxidative and immunomodulatory effects.

The ntd operon in Bacillus subtilis is essential for biosynthesis of 3,3′-neotrehalosadiamine (NTD), an unusual nonreducing disaccharide reported to have antibiotic properties. It has been proposed that the three enzymes encoded within this operon, NtdA, NtdB, and NtdC, constitute a complete set of enzymes required for NTD synthesis, although their functions have never been demonstrated in vitro. We now report that these enzymes catalyze the biosynthesis of kanosamine from glucose-6-phosphate: NtdC is a glucose-6-phosphate 3-dehydrogenase, NtdA is a pyridoxal phosphate-dependent 3-oxo-glucose-6-phosphate:glutamate aminotransferase, and NtdB is a kanosamine-6-phosphate phosphatase. None of these enzymatic reactions have been reported before. This pathway represents an alternate route to the previously reported pathway from Amycolatopsis mediterranei which derives kanosamine from UDP-glucose.

Objective Glucosamine is a naturally occurring amino monosaccharide that maintains the elasticity and strength of the cartilage tissues. It has been used to treat osteoarthritis in humans; however, in severe conditions of inflammation and pain, glucosamine alone is not enough, and it is important to improve its biological activity. Our research group has recently taken an interest in the synthetic manipulation of amino sugars to develop some efficient pharmacophores, e.g., β-d-glucosamine, to combat rheumatoid arthritis, and tested its anti-arthritic effects in the collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) model in rats. Methods Arthritis was induced in female Sprague–Dawley rats by multiple intradermal injections of bovine type II collagen and challenged again with the same antigen preparation 7 days later. Arthritis was evaluated by arthritic score, body weight loss, paw volume measurement, and histological changes. Results The animals in the arthritic control group showed a gradual decrease in their body weight and concurrent increase in the paw volumes compared to the normal control group. In contrast, increased hind paw swelling was significantly suppressed with no further noticeable reduction in body weight in the glucosamine (p < 0.05) and GN1-treated (p < 0.02) arthritic animals. Histopathological evaluation of isolated knee joints by grading system and classification of the stages in arthritic lesion development revealed suppression of the inflammatory changes in the GN1-treated animals. Moreover, both the pro-inflammatory markers C-reactive protein (CRP) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels were found to be significantly decreased in animals treated with GN1 (p < 0.03 for CRP and p < 0.05 for LDL) compared to the arthritic control group. Conclusion These results suggest that GN1 has both anti-arthritic and anti-inflammatory properties. Its effects in the CIA model suggest that it could be useful in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.