Mosquitoes are a serious threat to the society, acting as vector to several dreadful diseases. Mosquito management programes profoundly depend on the routine of chemical insecticides that subsequently lead to the expansion of resistance midst the vectors, along with other problems such as environmental pollution, bio magnification, and adversely affecting the quality of public and animal health, worldwide. The worldwide risk of insect vector transmitted diseases, with their associated illness and mortality, emphasizes the need for effective mosquitocides. Hence there is an immediate necessity to develop new eco-friendly pesticides. As a result, numerous investigators have worked on the development of eco-friendly effective mosquitocidal compounds of plant origin. These products have a cumulative advantage of being cost-effective, environmentally benign, biodegradable, and safe to non-target organisms. This review aims at describing the current state of research on behavioral, physiological, and biochemical effects of plant derived compounds with larvicidal effects on mosquitoes. The mode of physiological and biochemical action of known compounds derived from various plant families as well as the potential of plant secondary metabolites, plant extracts, and also the essential oils (EO), as mosquitocidal agents are discussed. This review clearly indicates that the application of vegetal-based compounds as mosquito control proxies can serve as alternative biocontrol methods in mosquito management programes.

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Hops ( Humulus lupulus L.) and juniper berries ( Juniperus communis L.) are two important medicinal plants widely used in the food, beverage, and pharmaceutical industries due to their strong antioxidant capacity, which is attributed to the presence of polyphenols. The present study is conducted to comprehensively characterize polyphenols from hops and juniper berries using liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray-ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-QTOF/MS) to assess their antioxidant capacity. For polyphenol estimation, total phenolic content, flavonoids and tannins were measured, while for antioxidant capacity, three different antioxidant assays including the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) antioxidant assay, the 2,2-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) radical cation decolorization assay and the ferric reducing-antioxidant power (FRAP) assay were used. Hops presented the higher phenolic content (23.11 ± 0.03 mg/g dw) which corresponded to its strong antioxidant activity as compared to the juniper berries. Using LC-ESI-QTOF/MS, a total of 148 phenolic compounds were tentatively identified in juniper and hops, among which phenolic acids (including hydroxybenzoic acids, hydroxycinnamic acids and hydroxyphenylpropanoic acids) and flavonoids (mainly anthocyanins, flavones, flavonols, and isoflavonoids) were the main polyphenols, which may contribute to their antioxidant capacity. Furthermore, the HPLC quantitative analysis showed that both samples had a high concentration of phenolic acids and flavonoids. In the HPLC quantification, the predominant phenolic acids in hops and juniper berries were chlorogenic acid (16.48 ± 0.03 mg/g dw) and protocatechuic acid (11.46 ± 0.03 mg/g dw), respectively. The obtained results highlight the importance of hops and juniper berries as a rich source of functional ingredients in different food, beverage, and pharmaceutical industries.

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Background Infertility is considered one of the global public health problems and during human history, it is also considered one of the unsolved problems of the continuous human race. This study aimed to collect and document the ethnopharmacological data on herbal remedies, which traditionally used by Palestinian healers in the rural areas of the West Bank area for the treatment of infertility in males and females. Methods Using a semi-structured questionnaire, an ethnopharmacological survey of medicinal plants used for the treatment of infertility in the West Bank area of Palestine was investigated. This survey involved 51 traditional healers which were interviewed in rural areas from 9 Palestinian regions. Results Information about 31 plants used in the treatment of infertility in females and 24 plants used in the treatment of infertility in males were collected. This information including names of plants, parts used, mode and methods of preparation which were obtained from 51 traditional healers interviewed in rural areas of 9 regions of the West Bank/Palestine. This investigation is the first scientific work in the Middle East area which collected information about herbal remedies used by local Palestinian traditional healers for the treatments of infertility in males and females. The highest Frequency of Citation (FC) of herbal remedies used in case of infertility in females, were 98.04% for pollen grains from Ceratonia siliqua, 88.24% for Anastatica hierochuntica fruits and 84.31% for Parietaria judaica leaves, while the highest Frequency of Citation (FC) of herbal remedies used in case of infertility in males were 96.08% for Ferula hermonis roots, 88.24% for Phlomis brachyodon leaves and 86.27% for Phoenix dactylifera pollen grains. Conclusion Herbal healers in the West Bank area of Palestine have a wide range of herbal remedies used in case of infertility in males and in females. Unfortunately, most of them lack scientific evidence of pharmacological or toxicological nature. Therefore, the information obtained in this study can serve as a scientific base for further investigations to determine their efficacy and safety which might contribute to better integration of Palestinian traditional medicine into the global health system in the future.

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The present study was designed to define the phenolic profile and the biological potential of berries methanol extract of Juniperus drupacea Labill. from Turkey. The total phenolic content (Folin-Ciocalteau assay) was 48.06±0.99mgGAE/g extract. The HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS analysis allowed the determination of the complete phenolic profile of J. drupacea berries. Phenolic acids represented more than 60% of the total phenolics, and tyrosol was the major one (1324±0.64μg/g extract); within the flavonoids amentoflavone was detected as the main constituent (927±0.35μg/g extract). The extract exhibited good antioxidant properties, as determined by different in vitro models: DPPH test (IC(50) 0.38±0.02mg/mL), reducing power (12.63±0.14ASE/mL), Fe(2+) chelating ability (IC(50) 2.26±0.06mg/mL), and TBA test (IC(50) 2.47±1.13μg/mL). Cytotoxicity against Artemia salina was highlighted (LC(50) 489.47±27.8μg/mL), and a significant decrease (p⩽0.05; p⩽0.01) in HepG2 cells viability was observed at the higher concentrations (5-10μg/mL). The extract displayed good antibacterial activity towards Gram-positive bacteria and in particular Staphylococcus aureus was the most susceptible strain (MIC 78.12μg/mL).

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Ethanolic and aqueous extracts obtained from nine plant species from seven families selected depending on their use in Turkish folk medicine, including Citrillus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. (seed), Jasminum fruticans L. (branches), Juniperus drupacea Labill. (fruits), Juniperus nana L. (fruit and leaves), Juniperus oxcycedrus L (fruit and leaves), Mentha longifolia L. (herba), Pinus nigra ssp. pallasiana (Lamb.) Richt. (fruits), Plantago lanceolata L. (leaves), and Zea mays L. (seed) were evaluated for their in vivo anthelmintic activity. Among the plant extracts studied, both ethanolic and aqueous extracts of Jasminum fruticans, Mentha longifolia and Pinus nigra ssp. pallasiana, the aqueous extracts of Zea mays, the ethanolic extracts of Citrillus lanatus, Juniperus drupacea (fruit), Juniperus oxcycedrus and Plantago lanceolata displayed significant anthelmintic activity against pinworms, Syphacia obvelata and Aspiculuris tetraptera, in mice. Rest of the extracts from plants did not show any remarkable anthelmintic activity. The results were considered significant at p<0.05.

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