scholarly journals Data-driven analysis of biomedical literature suggests broad-spectrum benevolence of culinary herbs and spices

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rakhi N K ◽  
Rudraksh Tuwani ◽  
Jagriti Mukherjee ◽  
Ganesh Bagler

AbstractSpices and herbs are key dietary ingredients used across cultures worldwide. Beyond their use as flavoring and coloring agents, the popularity of these aromatic plant products in culinary preparations has been attributed to their antimicrobial properties. Last few decades have witnessed an exponential growth of biomedical literature investigating the impact of spices and herbs on health, presenting an opportunity to mine for patterns from empirical evidence. Systematic investigation of empirical evidence to enumerate the health consequences of culinary herbs and spices can provide valuable insights into their therapeutic utility. We implemented a text mining protocol to assess the health impact of spices by assimilating, both, their positive and negative effects. We conclude that spices show broad-spectrum benevolence across a range of disease categories in contrast to negative effects that are comparatively narrow-spectrum. We also implement a strategy for disease-specific culinary recommendations of spices based on their therapeutic tradeoff against adverse effects. Further by integrating spice-phytochemical-disease associations, we identify bioactive spice phytochemicals potentially involved in their therapeutic effects. Our study provides a systems perspective on health effects of culinary spices and herbs with applications for dietary recommendations as well as identification of phytochemicals potentially involved in underlying molecular mechanisms.

PLoS ONE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. e0198030 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. K. Rakhi ◽  
Rudraksh Tuwani ◽  
Jagriti Mukherjee ◽  
Ganesh Bagler

Author(s):  
Nikola Sobot ◽  
Tanja Sobot ◽  
Katarina Radonjic ◽  
Tamara Nikolic Turnic ◽  
Anica Petkovic ◽  
...  

AbstractSulfur-containing amino acids are integral part of molecular mechanisms which underlie many aspects of cellular function and homeostasis, facilitated by reversible changes in oxidation states of sulfur atoms. Dysregulation of these pathways is associated with diverse pathologies, notably of the cardiovascular system, which are typically characterized by inappropriate plasma levels of sulfur-containing amino acids. The aim of this study was to assess the acute, direct effects of sulfur-containing amino acids and inorganic NaHS, as H2S donor, on cardiodynamic parameters in homocysteine treated rats. Moderate hyperhomocysteinemia did not cause significant decrease in myocardial contractility, but our findings suggest that NaHS and L-methionine cause negative effects on cardiac function in hearts of the rats treated with homo-cysteine, even in a single administration. Further investigations need to be carried out with purpose of better understanding and highlightening the impact of Hcy and sulphur amino acids on cardiac function.


eLife ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erinn S Gideons ◽  
Pei-Yi Lin ◽  
Melissa Mahgoub ◽  
Ege T Kavalali ◽  
Lisa M Monteggia

Lithium is widely used as a treatment for Bipolar Disorder although the molecular mechanisms that underlie its therapeutic effects are under debate. In this study, we show brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is required for the antimanic-like effects of lithium but not the antidepressant-like effects in mice. We performed whole cell patch clamp recordings of hippocampal neurons to determine the impact of lithium on synaptic transmission that may underlie the behavioral effects. Lithium produced a significant decrease in α-amino-3-hydroxyl-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor (AMPAR)-mediated miniature excitatory postsynaptic current (mEPSC) amplitudes due to postsynaptic homeostatic plasticity that was dependent on BDNF and its receptor tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB). The decrease in AMPAR function was due to reduced surface expression of GluA1 subunits through dynamin-dependent endocytosis. Collectively, these findings demonstrate a requirement for BDNF in the antimanic action of lithium and identify enhanced dynamin-dependent endocytosis of AMPARs as a potential mechanism underlying the therapeutic effects of lithium.


Molecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (22) ◽  
pp. 4030 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreia S.P. Pereira ◽  
Antonio J. Banegas-Luna ◽  
Jorge Peña-García ◽  
Horacio Pérez-Sánchez ◽  
Zeno Apostolides

Culinary herbs and spices are widely used as a traditional medicine in the treatment of diabetes and its complications, and there are several scientific studies in the literature supporting the use of these medicinal plants. However, there is often a lack of knowledge on the bioactive compounds of these herbs and spices and their mechanisms of action. The aim of this study was to use inverse virtual screening to provide insights into the bioactive compounds of common herbs and spices, and their potential molecular mechanisms of action in the treatment of diabetes. In this study, a library of over 2300 compounds derived from 30 common herbs and spices were screened in silico with the DIA-DB web server against 18 known diabetes drug targets. Over 900 compounds from the herbs and spices library were observed to have potential anti-diabetic activity and liquorice, hops, fennel, rosemary, and fenugreek were observed to be particularly enriched with potential anti-diabetic compounds. A large percentage of the compounds were observed to be potential polypharmacological agents regulating three or more anti-diabetic drug targets and included compounds such as achillin B from yarrow, asparasaponin I from fenugreek, bisdemethoxycurcumin from turmeric, carlinoside from lemongrass, cinnamtannin B1 from cinnamon, crocin from saffron and glabridin from liquorice. The major targets identified for the herbs and spices compounds were dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4), intestinal maltase-glucoamylase (MGAM), liver receptor homolog-1 (NR5A2), pancreatic alpha-amylase (AM2A), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARA), protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 9 (PTPN9), and retinol binding protein-4 (RBP4) with over 250 compounds observed to be potential inhibitors of these particular protein targets. Only bay leaves, liquorice and thyme were found to contain compounds that could potentially regulate all 18 protein targets followed by black pepper, cumin, dill, hops and marjoram with 17 protein targets. In most cases more than one compound within a given plant could potentially regulate a particular protein target. It was observed that through this multi-compound-multi target regulation of these specific protein targets that the major anti-diabetic effects of reduced hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia of the herbs and spices could be explained. The results of this study, taken together with the known scientific literature, indicated that the anti-diabetic potential of common culinary herbs and spices was the result of the collective action of more than one bioactive compound regulating and restoring several dysregulated and interconnected diabetic biological processes.


Author(s):  
Jeeyun Oh ◽  
Mun-Young Chung ◽  
Sangyong Han

Despite of the popularity of interactive movie trailers, rigorous research on one of the most apparent features of these interfaces – the level of user control – has been scarce. This study explored the effects of user control on users’ immersion and enjoyment of the movie trailers, moderated by the content type. We conducted a 2 (high user control versus low user control) × 2 (drama film trailer versus documentary film trailer) mixed-design factorial experiment. The results showed that the level of user control over movie trailer interfaces decreased users’ immersion when the trailer had an element of traditional story structure, such as a drama film trailer. Participants in the high user control condition answered that they were less fascinated with, absorbed in, focused on, mentally involved with, and emotionally affected by the movie trailer than participants in the low user control condition only with the drama movie trailer. The negative effects of user control on the level of immersion for the drama trailer translated into users’ enjoyment. The impact of user control over interfaces on immersion and enjoyment varies depending on the nature of the media content, which suggests a possible trade-off between the level of user control and entertainment outcomes.


2020 ◽  
pp. 41-50
Author(s):  
Ph. S. Kartaev ◽  
I. D. Medvedev

The paper examines the impact of oil price shocks on inflation, as well as the impact of the choice of the monetary policy regime on the strength of this influence. We used dynamic models on panel data for the countries of the world for the period from 2000 to 2017. It is shown that mainly the impact of changes in oil prices on inflation is carried out through the channel of exchange rate. The paper demonstrates the influence of the transition to inflation targeting on the nature of the relationship between oil price shocks and inflation. This effect is asymmetrical: during periods of rising oil prices, inflation targeting reduces the effect of the transfer of oil prices, limiting negative effects of shock. During periods of decline in oil prices, this monetary policy regime, in contrast, contributes to a stronger transfer, helping to reduce inflation.


2019 ◽  
pp. 46-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir V. Klimanov ◽  
Sofiya М. Kazakova ◽  
Anna A. Mikhaylova

The article examines the impact of various socio-economic and financial indicators on the resilience of Russian regions. For each region, the integral index of resilience is calculated, and its correlation dependence with the selected indicators is revealed. The study confirms the relationship between fiscal resilience and socio-economic resilience of the regions. The analysis of panel data for 75 regions from 2007 to 2016 shows that there are significant differences in the dynamics of indicators in different periods. In particular, the degree of exposure to the negative effects of the crises of 2008—2009 and 2014—2015 in non-resilient regions is higher than in resilient ones.


Author(s):  
Nham Phong Tuan ◽  
Nguyen Ngoc Quy ◽  
Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen ◽  
Hong Tra My ◽  
Tran Nhu Phu

The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of seven factors causing academic stress on students of University of Economics and Business - Vietnam National University: Lack of leisure time, Academic performance, Fear of failure, Academic overload, Finances, Competition between students, Relationships with university faculty. Based on the results of a practical survey of 185 students who are attending any courses at the University of Economics and Business - Vietnam National University, the study assesses the impact of stress factors on students. The thesis focuses on clarifying the concept of "stress" and the stress level of students, while pointing out its negative effects on students. This study includes two cross-sectional questionnaire surveys. The first survey uses a set of 16 questions to assess students’ perceptions and attitudes based on an instrument to measure academic stress - Educational Stress Scale for Adolescents (ESSA). The second survey aims to test internal consistency, the robustness of the previously established 7-factor structure. Henceforth, the model was brought back and used qualitatively, combined with Cronbach’s Alpha measurement test and EFA discovery factor analysis. This study was conducted from October 2019 to December 2019. From these practical analyzes, several proposals were made for the society, the school and the students themselves.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Turkan Ahmet

The past few decades of ongoing war in Iraq has had a dramatic impact on the health of Iraq’s population. Wars are known to have negative effects on the social and physical environments of individuals, as well as limit their access to the available health care services. This paper explores the personal experiences of my family members, who were exposed to war, as well as includes information that has been reviewed form many academic sources. The data aided in providing recommendations and developing strategies, on both local and international levels, to improve the health status of the populations exposed to war.


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