Rima Erviana

Long-term and excessive use of drugs in the therapeutic management of microbial infections leads to increased antimicrobial resistance. It is necessary to select therapeutic management using natural ingredients, as well as combine some natural ingredients with conventional drugs, to prevent antimicrobial resistance. Green betel leaves have a high potential as a drug, especially as an antimicrobial agent. The study identified the active compound in the green betel leaf essential oil and determined its antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus epidermidis and Candida albicans. The bioactive components in the oil were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The antimicrobial and antifungal properties of green betel leaf essential oil were determined using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. Based on the GC-MS analysis, green betel leaf essential oil contains chavicol acetate, chavibetol, eugenol acetate, α-selinene, and β-selinene. The antibacterial activity assay showed that green betel leaf essential oil could inhibit the growth of S. epidermidis at a concentration of 12,5%, while the antifungal activity showed that the zone inhibition of C albicans was formed in the concentration of 12,5%. The zone inhibition diameter of antifungal activity tests was higher than in the antibacterial activity assay. The combination of essential oils with antibiotics and antifungal agents did not show increased activity, suggesting that the combination was not synergistic.

Redness, pigmentation, premature aging, xerosis, and even the risk of cancer can result from excessive exposure to free radicals in the form of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, which can cause skin damage. Antioxidants, including β-carotene, α-tocopherol, ascorbic acid, and flavonoids, are present in papaya (Carica papaya) leaves and Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO). Therefore, these two components may mitigate skin imperfections caused by premature aging. This study aims to formulate and determine the antioxidant activity contained in C. papaya leaf extract gel and VCO. A laboratory-based experimental approach was implemented in this study. Using the infusion method, C. papaya leaves were extracted for 15 minutes to initiate the gel formation. The C. papaya leaf extract gel with VCO was divided into five formulations, with varying amounts of each ingredient. Organoleptic, homogeneity, viscosity, pH, spreadability, and antioxidant activity tests, conducted using the DPPH method, are included in the preparation testing process. The antioxidant activity test of C. papaya leaf extract gel with VCO in each formula yielded values of 91.32 ppm, 121.21 ppm, 80.19 ppm, 67.04 ppm, and 55.31 ppm, respectively. The results indicated that the quality of the gel preparation and the IC50 value of the C. papaya leaf extract gel were influenced by variations in VCO concentration.

The rise of multidrug-resistant pathogens has become a serious health concern, creating an urgent need for novel therapeutic approaches. Among the compounds explored, AMPs have emerged as promising candidates due to their broad-spectrum activity and low propensity for resistance development. However, their clinical implementation is limited by improper size, in vivo instability, and toxicity. Here, we designed short analogs of CeHS-1 via (1) truncation of intact CeHS-1, (2) amino acid substitution, (3) end-tagging, and (4) C-terminal amidation. The results showed that short analogs fused with an RWW stretch exhibited stronger antibacterial activity than the parent analogs, without inducing hemolysis in human red blood cells. Among the tested AMPs, mechanistic studies revealed membrane-disruptive activity of certain peptides against Staphylococcus aureus. In silico analyses also suggested that the analogs bind DNA by aligning parallel to its grooves, where the RWW stretch is believed to contribute to interactions between arginine and tryptophan residues and nitrogenous bases through electrostatic, hydrogen bonding, and hydrophobic interactions. The short CeHS-1 analogs established here may serve as potential alternative antimicrobial agents, which should be tested in clinical trials in the future.

The increasing antimicrobial-resistant prevalence has become a severe health problem. It has led to the invention of a new antimicrobial agent such as antimicrobial peptides. Heteroscorpine-1 is an antimicrobial peptide that has the ability to kill many bacterial strains. It consists of 76 amino acid residues with a cecropin-like region in N-terminal and a defensin-like region in the C-terminal. The cecropin-like region from heteroscorpine-1 (CeHS-1) is similar to cecropin B, but it lost its glycine-proline hinge region. The bioinformatics prediction was used to help the designing of mutant peptides. The addition of glycine-proline hinge and positively charged amino acids, the deletion of negatively charged amino acids, and the optimization of the hydrophobicity of the peptide resulted in two mutant peptides, namely, CeHS-1 GP and CeHS-1 GPK. The new mutant peptide showed higher antimicrobial activity than the native peptide without increasing toxicity. The interaction of the peptides with the membrane showed that the peptides were capable of disrupting both the inner and outer bacterial cell membrane. Furthermore, the SEM analysis showed that the peptides created the pore in the bacterial cell membrane resulted in cell membrane disruption. In conclusion, the mutants of CeHS-1 had the potential to develop as novel antimicrobial peptides.

Pneumonia merupakan penyakit infeksi dan inflamasi pada saluran pernafasan bagian bawah yang banyak menyebabkan kematian pada pasien. Insidensi kematian yang terjadi di Indonesia karena kasus pneumonia kurang lebih mencapai 22.000 jiwa. Pneumonia disebabkan oleh adanya bakteri dan virus yang menyerang saluran pernafasan. Pemberian terapi pada pasien pneumonia yang merupakan kombinasi beberapa obat berpotensi menimbulkkan terjadinya masalah pada pengobatan khususnya interaksi obat. Penelitian ini melihat potensi interaksi obat yang terjadi pada terapi pneumonia. Penelitian ini adalah penelitian non eksperimental, menggunakan metode deskriptif analisis dan pengambilan data secara retrospektif. Data yang diambil adalah data sekunder, yaitu rekam medis pasien terdiagnosa pneumonia yang menjalani rawat inap di Rumah Sakit Paru Respira Yogyakarta. Analisis data dilakukan dengan melihat besarnya potensi interaksi obat secara deskriptif. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa potensi interaksi antara obat yang digunakan dalam terapi terjadi pada 49,30% pasien. Dari 79 potensi interaksi antar obat yang terjadi, 16,48% merupakan kategori interaksi mayor, 22,78% kategori interaksi moderat, dan 60,76% kategori interaksi minor.