Objective:To explore the medicinal importance of the stem of Desmodium elegans, methanolic extract, and its different solvent fractions were evaluated for brine shrimp lethality, insecticidal and phytotoxicity, antifungal, and antibacterial activities.
Methods:The methanolic extract and its solvent fractions were tested for cytotoxic, phytotoxic, insecticidal, antifungal, and antibacterial effects using our previous published protocols.
Results:The methanolic, DCM, ethyl acetate and n-butanol fractions exhibited insecticidal effect against Callosobruchus analis and Rhyzopertha dominic. The methanolic extract, n-hexane, DCM ethyl acetate and n-butanol showed 75, 85, 85, 65 and 5%phytotoxicity at the tested concentration of 500μg/mL respectively. The solvent fractions (DCM and ethyl acetate) were effective against F. solani (10%and 20%inhibition respectively). All the tested samples were devoid of cytotoxic and antibacterial effects.
Conclusions:It was concluded that this plant can be practiced for control of weeds and insects.

Childhood obesity and obesity-related metabolic complications are induced by a high-fat postnatal diet.The lack of a suitable animal model,however,remains a considerable challenge in obesity studies.In the current study,we provided high-fat diet (HFD) to dams during lactation and to pups after weaning.We also developed a novel model of C57BL/6J mouse pups with HFD-induced postnatal obesity.Results showed that feeding with HFD induces fat deposition and obesity in pups.Furthermore,HFD more potently increased the body weight (BW) of male than female pups.HFD-fed female pups were obese,underwent precocious puberty,and showed increased kisspeptin expression in the hypothalamus.However,parental obesity and precocious puberty exerted no synergistic effects on the HFD-induced postnatal weight gain and puberty onset of the pups.Interestingly,some HFD-fed litters with normal BW also exhibited precocious puberty.This finding suggested that diet composition but not BW triggers puberty onset.Our model suggests good construction validity of obesity and precocious puberty.Furthermore,our model can also be used to explore the mutual interactions between diet-induced postnatal childhood obesity and puberty.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate pharmacologically the traditional use of Diospyros lotus as antipyretic and antinociceptive in various animal models.

METHODSIn vivo experimental models were used in this study. Antipyretic activity of extract/fractions was evaluated in brewer's yeast induced hyperthermic mice while antinociceptive activity was studied in acetic acid induced writhing test at 50 and 100 mg/kg i.p.

RESULTSThe crude extract strongly ameliorated the induced pyrexia during various assessment times. Upon fractionation, the antipyretic effects were strongly augmented by the chloroform and ethyl acetate fractions of the plant. However, hexane and butanol fractions were insignificant in their effect as antipyretic. The extract showed marked inhibition on the noxious simulation induced by post acetic acid injection. The effect was strongly supported by other fraction expect hexane.

CONCLUSIONSIn short, our study scientifically validated the traditional use of the plant as antipyretic.