The Phytochemistry and Pharmacology of Tulbaghia, Allium, Crinum and Cyrtanthus: 'Talented' Taxa from the Amaryllidaceae.

Amaryllidaceae is a significant source of bioactive phytochemicals with a strong propensity to develop new drugs. The genera Allium, Tulbaghia, Cyrtanthus and Crinum biosynthesize novel alkaloids and other phytochemicals with traditional and pharmacological uses. Amaryllidaceae biomolecules exhibit multiple pharmacological activities such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, and immunomodulatory effects. Traditionally, natural products from Amaryllidaceae are utilized to treat non-communicable and infectious human diseases. Galanthamine, a drug from this family, is clinically relevant in treating the neurocognitive disorder, Alzheimer's disease, which underscores the importance of the Amaryllidaceae alkaloids. Although Amaryllidaceae provide a plethora of biologically active compounds, there is tardiness in their development into clinically pliable medicines. Other genera, including Cyrtanthus and Tulbaghia, have received little attention as potential sources of promising drug candidates. Given the reciprocal relationship of the increasing burden of human diseases and limited availability of medicinal therapies, more rapid drug discovery and development are desirable. To expedite clinically relevant drug development, we present here evidence on bioactive compounds from the genera Allium, Tulgbaghia, Cyrtanthus and Crinum and describe their traditional and pharmacological applications.

Management of sexually transmitted infections: a qualitative assessment of community pharmacy practices in the Ho Municipality, Ghana.

BACKGROUND: Effective management of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is crucial in the control and spread of these infections in health systems. Community pharmacies are usually the first port of call in Ghana for most people who contract STIs for therapy. Delayed and inappropriate treatment contributes significantly to treatment failures, drug resistance and complications. However, the community pharmacies may not have diagnostic tools and trained personnel for prompt case detection and appropriate therapeutic action. Thus, posing a higher risk for inappropriate therapy with consequences of worsening symptoms and poor treatment outcomes. This study explored the STI management practices in community pharmacies in the Ho Municipality. METHODS: Purposively selected study participants were community pharmacy staff including Pharmacists (n = 6), Pharmacy Technicians (n = 2) and Dispensing Assistants (n = 10) in outlets in Ho Municipality of the Volta region, Ghana. Data collection was carried out from December 2020 to January 2021. In-depth interviews of the participants using a semi-structured interview guide were conducted and recorded. Data obtained was transcribed and analyzed using NVivo version 12 using the thematic framework. RESULTS: Some of the pharmacy staff were unaware of National Standard Treatment Guidelines (STG) and its recommendations for STI management. More than half of the participants believed the STG recommendations were important for therapy but few thought the STG recommendations were ineffective sometimes. Appropriate STI management practices observed included infection treatment based on laboratory data, and STG protocols that recommend syndromic approach. Negative STI management practices included disregarding the presence of possible mixed infections and treating all symptoms observed empirically as a single infection without laboratory confirmation. CONCLUSION: The STI management practices in the community pharmacies had many gaps that risk infective therapy, treatment failures, STI complications, and antibiotic resistance. Efforts should be invested into the training of practitioners in community pharmacies for safe and effective practices for STI management, and encouraged to have diagnostic kits or work with laboratory facilities for testing to inform definitive therapy for optimal outcomes.

Antimicrobial Compounds from Microorganisms.

Antimicrobial resistance is an exigent public health concern owing to the emergence of novel strains of human resistant pathogens and the concurrent rise in multi-drug resistance. An influx of new antimicrobials is urgently required to improve the treatment outcomes of infectious diseases and save lives. Plant metabolites and bioactive compounds from chemical synthesis have found their efficacy to be dwindling, despite some of them being developed as drugs and used to treat human infections for several decades. Microorganisms are considered untapped reservoirs for promising biomolecules with varying structural and functional antimicrobial activity. The advent of cost-effective and convenient model organisms, state-of-the-art molecular biology, omics technology, and machine learning has enhanced the bioprospecting of novel antimicrobial drugs and the identification of new drug targets. This review summarizes antimicrobial compounds isolated from microorganisms and reports on the modern tools and strategies for exploiting promising antimicrobial drug candidates. The investigation identified a plethora of novel compounds from microbial sources with excellent antimicrobial activity against disease-causing human pathogens. Researchers could maximize the use of novel model systems and advanced biomolecular and computational tools in exploiting lead antimicrobials, consequently ameliorating antimicrobial resistance.