Nargis Sultana Chowdhury is a PhD student of pharmacy department of Jahangirnagar University and Doctoral fellow of Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) Laboratories, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Chowdhury received her B.Pharm and M.Pharm degree from Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Her primary research interests are in the field of natural products. She has published more than 15 papers in reputed international and national journals. She is working as an assistant professor in Manarat International University in the department of pharmacy, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

There is a general call for new antibiotics and chemotherapeutic agents that are highly effective and possess low toxicity. Plants and microorganisms, being the major source of many drugs, have attracted scientists from ancient times. Endophytes provide an abundant reservoir of bioactive metabolites for medicinal exploitation, and an increasing number of novel compounds are being isolated from endophytic fungi. This study was conducted to characterize and explore the bioactive metabolites from two aquatic plants of Bangladesh namely Monochoria hastata (L.) Solms and Aponogeton undulatus Roxb. as well as their associated endophytic fungi. Extracts from the plants and endophytic fungi were screened for bioactivities followed by isolation and characterization of the active constituents by various chromatographic and spectroscopic methods.rnrnPreliminary screening of crude extracts from plants and endophytic fungi showed significant bioactivities and revealed the presence of interesting metabolites (1,2,3,4,5 and 6).

Nazia Hoque is a PhD student of Centre of Natural Product Research, Department of Pharmacy, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. She has completed her MS in Pharmaceutical science and B. Pharm from the same institution. She is now working as a senior Lecturer in the Department of Pharmacy, East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The objective of the study was to evaluate the presence of different phytoconstituents and investigate in vitro bioactivities of pet ether extract, chloroform extract and methanol extract of Thysanolaena maxima available in Bangladesh. Phytochemical screening was conducted using specific standard procedure. Antioxidant activity of the extracts was evaluated using DPPH radical scavenging assay, determination of total phenolic content, determination of total flavonoid content and reducing power assay. Antibacterial and cytotoxic activities were investigated using disc diffusion method and brine shrimp lethality bioassay respectively. The methanol extract of T. maxima showed the highest DPPH radical scavenging activity and highest phenolic content (IC50 value for DPPH is 37.76 μg/ml and total phenolic content is 74.39±2.87 in mg/g, Gallic acid equivalents) compared to the pet ether and chloroform extract. On the other hand, chloroform extract posses maximum flavonoid content (81±7.542 in mg/g, Quercetin equivalents) and highest reducing power compare to other extracts. In antibacterial study, all the extracts showed mild to moderate activity against 5 gram positive and 6 gram negative bacteria with zone of inhibition ranging from 7 mm to 15 mm. In Brine shrimp lethality bioassay, the LC50 values for pet ether, chloroform and methanol extract were 1351.9 μg/ml, 975.61 μg/ml and 1136.74 μg/ml respectively which revealed very weak cytotoxic potential of the extracts. The results indicate that T. maxima could be a very potent source of natural radical scavenger and antimicrobial agents. Further studies are needed to be conducted to identify the compounds responsible for producing such bioactivities.

Joshua Hviddig has completed his Masters Public Health from University New South Wales, Medical Degree from University of Hawaii School of Medicine, Adult Psychiatry Residency and Child/Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at the Tripler Army Medical Center. He has published/presented more than 15 papers/posters in reputed journals and conferences.

Background: Around the turn of the 20th century, no federal regulations existed to protect the public from dangerous drugs. Medications that were not only ineffective, but also potentially harmful were sold to the general public. This is a drastically different picture from what exists today as the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is largely recognized as enforcing one of the world’s most rigorous drug review processes. The public consumers generally trust the FDA to determine what medications are safe and effective, making the FDA approval a meaningful title to many patients. \r\n\r\nPurpose/Relevance: Having a readily accessible list of Child and Adolescent psychiatric disorders in the current US Pacific Military Medicine with the corresponding FDA approved psychotropic medications clearly listed would help facilitate conversation between providers, school behavioral health specialist, parents/guardians, and patients; improve Child and Adolescent rehabilitation; and prevent bad outcomes. Currently no such document is readily available to providers in the Department of Behavioral Health of our Medical center or Hawaii Schools.

Seyeon Hwang was born in 1991 in Seoul, South Korea. She received her bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from Seoul National Universirty in 2015. She is currently\r\na M.S. candidate in the laboratory of Professor Young-Ger Suh at Seoul National Universirty.

NF-E2-related factor-2 (Nrf2) is a transcription factor which induces cytoprotective enzymes via controlling the antioxidant\r\nresponse element (ARE)/electrophile response elements (EpREs). Nrf2 activity is regulated by the Keap1 protein through the\r\nformation of the Keap1-Nrf2 complex. Under oxidative stress, a disruption of the Keap1-Nrf2 complex induces the release of Nrf2 and\r\nthe translocation of active Nrf2 into the nucleus, leading to ARE-dependent expression of HO-1. Recently endogenous 15d-PGJ2 was\r\nreported as a potent Nrf2 activator. Its Nrf2 activation is considered to be induced by a 1,4-nucleophilic addition of the reactive thiols\r\nin Keap1 to the cyclopentenone core of 15d-PGJ2. In this connection, we have been working on 15d-PGJ2 to elucidate its structural\r\nfeatures, focusing on its electrophilic binding sites, and to confi rm the proposed mechanism associated with the interaction with\r\nKeap1. Th e mechanism-based chemical transformation of 15 deoxy-PGJ2 identifi ed a series of novel Nrf2 activators and elucidated\r\nthe key roles of each binding site of 15d-PGJ2 with regard to Nrf2 activation. Th ese results enable us to develop novel 15d-PGJ2-\r\nbased Nrf2 activators. Th e rationally designed chemical probes also supported that the concise tuning of the electronic states of the\r\n15d-PGJ2 binding sites could ultimately enhance HO-1 expression. Homology modeling also predicted that the covalent adduct of\r\nα-chloro-15d-PGJ2 with Keap1 IVR is more stable than the 15d-PGJ2 adduct. Our systematic studies on Nrf2 activation associated\r\nwith 15d-PGJ2 is anticipated to provide a facile access to novel chemopreventive therapeutics.

Changjin Lim has received his Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from Seoul National University in 2011. He is currently a PhD candidate in the laboratory of Professor Young-Ger Suh at Seoul National University, South Korea.

Benzo[α]quinolizidine alkaloids have received constant attention because of their multiple pharmacological interests. Particularly,\r\nemetine, which acts as a protein synthesis inhibitor and DNA interacting agent has been clinically used for the treatment of a\r\nprotozoan infection. Recently, additional biological activities, including antiviral properties and NF-κB signaling inhibitory eff ects,\r\nwere reported. Tubulosine also exhibits various biological activities such as broad cytotoxicity in cancer cell lines, antimalarial activity,\r\nHIV reverse transcriptase-inhibitory activity and HIF-1 transcriptional inhibitory activity. (-)-Protoemetinol could be an excellent\r\nintermediate for the synthesis of various benzo[α]quinolizidine alkaloids including emetine and tubulosine because the structure of\r\nprotoemetinol is identical to that of the core upper part of those alkaloids. Th e stereoselective synthesis of (-)-protoemetinol has been\r\naccomplished through nine steps from a known homoallylic amine. Th e key steps of the synthesis involve the effi cient preparation of\r\nan aza-Claisen rearrangement (ACR) precursor using cross metathesis and amide enolate-induced ACR followed by acid-catalyzed\r\ntransannulation for the elaboration of the benzo[a]quinolizine skeleton and three stereogenic centers. Th is unique synthetic route\r\nenvisages a unifi ed and versatile strategy for the synthesis of 2,3-disubstituted benzo[a]quinolizidine.