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Introduction: The persistent development of bacterial resistance against currently available antibacterial drugs necessitates the search for new antimicrobial agents. The major part of this research is to overcome drug resistance in infectious agents by utilizing medicinal plants as the main natural source in the production of new pharmaceuticals. As 25-50% of contemporary medications are derived from plants, this sparked renewed interest in therapeutic plants. Due to the largely diverse phytochemical compounds found in crude extracts of medicinal plants, they could be used as an alternative source of antimicrobial agents. This study aims to screen the phytochemical compounds and evaluate the antibacterial effect of Momordica charantia fruit extract, obtained by maceration in 100% absolute methanol. Method: Disc diffusion and broth microdilution methods were performed to evaluate the inhibitory effect of M. charantia fruit extract on Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Salmonella typhimurium. Results: The phytochemical tests conducted revealed that the fruit extracts tested positive for alkaloids, phenols, tannins, flavonoids, and saponins. The methanolic extract of M. charantia fruit demonstrated antibacterial activity against S. aureus with a mean inhibition zone of (17mm±0.82), but not against E. coli or S. typhimurium. For S. aureus, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were 125mg/ml and 500mg/ml, respectively. Conclusion: Based on the findings, the current study offers insight into the therapeutic potential of M. charantia where the methanolic fruit extract of the fruit has been shown to have antimicrobial activity against S. aureus and has the potential to be exploited as an antimicrobial agent.

Objective: This study is aimed to investigate interfacial micro gaps between bases and hard setting calcium hydroxide liner. Materials and Methods: Twelve sound extracted human maxillary premolars were selected and immersed in 0.1% thymol solution. Samples were subjected to Class I cavity preparations with the width of 2.5 mm buccolingually, 3 mm mesiodistally, and 2 mm depth from the dentinoenamel junction (DEJ). The cavities were lined with hard setting calcium hydroxide lining (Dycal®), (Dentsply, USA) and then divided randomly into two groups. The cavities were restored with smart dentin replacement (SDR®), (Dentsply, Germany) and glass ionomer cement Ketac™ N100 (3M ESPE, USA) for Group 1 and 2, respectively, (n = 6 for each group) up to DEJ level. All samples were then packed with composite resin. Samples were cut longitudinally using a hard tissue cutter (Exact, Japan) and sanded with increasing grit sandpaper (#320, #500, #800, and #1200) for 30 s each and subjected for interfacial micro gaps analysis using scanning electron microscopy. Results: There was a significant difference of micro gap formation between two groups of base materials and hard setting calcium hydroxide (Dycal®) (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Lesser micro gap between Dycal® and SDR® compared to Dycal® and Ketac™ N100 suggested SDR® as a better base material to be used with Dycal® for deep caries management.

(1) Background: Several studies have suggested that the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene plays a role in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) susceptibility. Nonetheless, the association between T2DM and VDR polymorphisms remains inconclusive. We determined the genotype of VDR rs1544410 (BsmI) and rs2228570 (FokI) polymorphisms among Malaysian patients with T2DM and their association with glycemic control factors (vitamin D levels, calcium, magnesium, and phosphate). (2) Methods: A total of 189 participants comprising 126 patients with T2DM (63 with good glycemic control and 63 with poor glycemic control) and 63 healthy controls were enrolled in this case–control study. All biochemical assays were measured using spectrophotometric analysis. VDR gene FokI and BsmI polymorphisms were analyzed using polymerase chain reaction and endonuclease digestion. (3) Results: Our findings revealed no significant differences in VDR FokI and BsmI genotypes between participants with T2DM and healthy controls. Moreover, no significant association was observed between both single nucleotide polymorphisms and glycemic control factors. Participants with poor glycemic control had significantly lower serum magnesium levels and significantly higher HOMA-IR compared to the other groups. (4) Conclusions: The present study revealed that VDR gene BsmI and FokI polymorphisms were not significantly associated with T2DM.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the association between changes in blood oxidative stress level/activity and changes in memory performance among postmenopausal women.Methods: This study involved 39 postmenopausal women who received estrogen-progestin therapy (EPT) for16 weeks. Verbal learning and memory performance were assessed using the Malay Version of Auditory VerbalLearning Test before and after 16 weeks of EPT. Oxidative stress levels/activities before and after 16 weeks of EPTwere determined using commercially available kits. Data were analyzed using paired t test and r. P G 0.05 wasconsidered significant.Results: The activities of glutathione peroxidase and catalase were considerably increased (P G 0.05), but thelevel of 4-hydroxynonenal was notably decreased (P G 0.05), after 16 weeks of EPT. There were positive correla-tions between changes in plasma superoxide dismutase and changes in trial A2 scores (r = 0.36, P G 0.05), andbetween changes in the ratio of blood reduced glutathione to oxidized glutathione and changes in trial A2 scores (r =0.34, P G 0.05).Conclusions: Sixteen weeks of EPT increase blood antioxidant capacity. However, most of the changes inoxidative stress level/activity are not significantly associated with changes in the memory performance of post-menopausal women.KeyWords:Estrogen-progestin therapy YPostmenopauseYOxidativestress YMalayVersion ofAuditoryVerbalLearning Test.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the verbal learning and memory performance of postmenopausal women who received tualang honey (Agro Mas) in comparison with women receiving estrogen plus progestin therapy and untreated controls. Methods: A total of 102 postmenopausal women were recruited and randomly assigned to three groups: tualang honey (20 mg/d), estrogen plus progestin therapy (Femoston 1/5), and untreated control. Their verbal learning and memory performances were assessed using the Malay version of the Auditory Verbal Learning Test before and after 16 weeks of intervention. Data were analyzed using the repeated-measures analysis of variance, and a P value of less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results: There were significant differences in the mean scores of total learning as well as the mean scores of trials A1, A5, A6, and A7 between the three groups. There were also significant differences in the overall mean scores of total learning and trials A1 and A5 between both estrogen plus progestin therapy and tualang honey groups when compared with the untreated control group. However, significant differences in the mean score for trials A6 and A7 were only observed between the estrogen plus progestin therapy and untreated control groups. Conclusions: Postmenopausal women who received tualang honey showed improvement in their immediate memory but not in immediate memory after the interference and delayed recall. This is comparable with the improvement seen in women receiving estrogen plus progestin therapy.

Ageing and stress exposure may lead to memory impairment while oxidative stress is thought to be one of the underlying mechanisms involved. This study aimed to investigate the potential protective effects of Tualang honey supplementation on memory performance in aged rats exposed to noise stress. Tualang honey supplementation was given orally, 200 mg/kg body weight for 28 days. Rats in the stress group were subjected to loud noise, 100 dB(A), 4 hours daily for 14 days. All rats were subjected to novel object recognition test for evaluation of memory performance. It was observed that the rats subjected to noise stress exhibited significantly lower memory performance and higher oxidative stress as evident by elevated malondialdehyde and protein carbonyl levels and reduction of antioxidant enzymes activities compared to the nonstressed rats. Tualang honey supplementation was able to improve memory performance, decrease oxidative stress levels, increase brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) concentration, decrease acetylcholinesterase activity, and enhance neuronal proliferation in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and hippocampus. In conclusion, Tualang honey protects against memory decline due to stress exposure and/or ageing via enhancement of mPFC and hippocampal morphology possibly secondary to reduction in brain oxidative stress and/or upregulation of BDNF concentration and cholinergic system.