Current Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine (Formerly Current Pharmacogenomics) - Volume 16, Issue 1, 2018

Background: The Indian system of medicine has its origin in India and has been practiced since centuries in India and its neighbouring South East Asian countries. Mostly the practice of this system of medicine is believed to be the safest form of therapy, however, incidences of adverse drug reactions owing to the consumption of traditional drugs led to the origin of pharmacovigilance of Ayurvedic drugs. The Concept of Pharmacovigilance: Pharmacovigilance is the science of detection, understanding, assessment and prevention of adverse drug reactions and related untoward effects. Concepts and Regulations of Pharmacovigilance in Ayurveda: Given the current scenario of the usage of the traditional and alternative medicine at a global scale, it becomes imperative to ensure the safety of the patients consuming these medications. This makes the science of pharmacovigilance, a significant domain in the field of medicine and public health as well. Nevertheless, the adverse drug reaction of traditional Ayurvedic medicine may range from trivial effects to serious fatal outcomes leading to the death of a patient. Furthermore, the application of the principles of pharmacovigilance in the realm of Ayurveda is a challenging job owing to several of the inherent characteristic features associated with such a science. Albeit recent researches are based on in-vivo and/or in-vitro trials of many herbal preparations, however, the science of Ayurveda is the science of ages and is transmitted from generation to generation. During the recent past considering the significance of pharmacovigilance in Ayurveda and other indigenous systems of medicine, a national pharmacovigilance unit of ASU (Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha) systems of medicine has been initiated at Gujrat Ayurveda University in the year 2008.

Background: The presently practiced procedure of development of new antimicrobial substances to control infection of the pathogenic microbes is now at a point of challenge and threat for losing relevancy in near future. Objective: Exploration of an herbal source for searching alternative to the antibacterial substances. Method: Through a thorough literature survey, a list of 1060 plants with reported use among various communities throughout the globe in the purposes related to combating and controlling different types of infection has been identified. An outline of research on the plants for validation of the traditional claims by conventional antimicrobial, antioxidant and immunostimulant activity study and identification of phytochemicals is added. Limitation of the contemporary systems is discussed with a proposal of addition of fresh extract of succulent plant parts of listed medicinal plants along with conventional solvent extracted portion of dry plant parts as another parameter of study. Result: A comprehensive research proposal for a study on the medicinal plants which may act in some way as an alternative to the present system of use of synthetic antimicrobial substances to control diseases of infective origin with a detailed guideline for production, storage and global transport of succulent bio-medicines is discussed. Conclusion: Following the way of proposed thorough research, a new type of herbal medicine based treatment system may be started and an opportunity for the establishment of export-oriented agro - medicine industries may be created.

Plants are very useful to mankind, and many plants are exclusively used by humans for medical purposes to prevent or treat diseases. In recent decades, natural products including medicinal plants have gained major attention in the pharmaceutical research field. Medicinal plants are the richest and commonly available sources for drug discovery. Many pharmaceutical lead molecules are derived from plants. The cost of the treatment, duration of illness and adverse effect/ toxicity of allopathic drugs cause an increase in the use of alternative systems of medicines, which lead to the drastic development of herbal drugs industry. The estimated market for pharma and pharma products in 2022 is $1.12 trillion and this indicates the global pharma needs. This may be due to changes in lifestyle and increased risk of infection globally. The World Health Organization recommends the practice of the traditional system of medicine as it is affordable, safe and culturally acceptable. The objective of this review article is to summarize the importance of plants in drug discovery, current perspectives and challenges.

Background: Due to the ever increasing burden of multidrug resistance (MDR) in human fungi, phytotherapeutic research has gained prominence nowadays. Traditional medicines derived from natural products constitute an important source of new drugs due to their low side effects and minimal drug resistance issues. Objective: The aim of the present review is to examine the various in vitro assays to determine antifungal activities of natural products against fungal pathogens. Results: The various antifungal susceptibility testing methods are described for natural compounds that are used for novel drug discovery. A number of biological assays ranging from the classical disk diffusion and broth dilution assay format to dye-based and fluorescent/ luminescence reporter assays are in current use. Conclusion: The importance of design and implementation of antifungal susceptibility testing methods is necessary to evaluate and exploit the diversity of natural products.

Background: This study discusses the crucial factors responsible for the progression of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD). The interaction between the gut microbiota, heart and vessels in CVD pathogenesis is extremely complex and includes components such as direct bacterial translocation from the gut to vessels and metabolitemediated damage. To a greater extent, CVD seems to be entangled with a subtle immune system-to-microbiota interface. From among the most significant advances in recent years in this area, it is necessary to highlight the discovery of the pro-atherogenic effect of trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) and changes in the activity of effector T-cells in the settings of dysbiosis. Currently, we are witnessing an explosive growth in interest in using the microbiota and interlinked cascades as a target for therapeutic interventions, including direct microbiome targeting, the attenuation of toxic metabolite-induced damage, the modulation of intestinal immunity, and downstream inhibition of systemic inflammatory pathways. Objective: In this brief review, modern strategies of microbiome-based therapies for the prevention and treatment of CVD are classified and discussed from the perspective of personalized medicine.