Background: Stevia rebaudiana is a perennial semi-shrub plant which comes from the Asteraceae family, with an approximate height of around 30 cm. The leaves of Stevia are small, elliptic, and serrated, measuring 2 to 4 cm long. It has been used commercially as a natural sweetener in Japan due to the steviol glycosides (SGs) content in the leaves. The stevioside content is 300 times sweeter than sucrose. It has non-nutritive values, which is good for diabetes and obesity patients. The SGs content in Stevia can be improved by increasing light exposure (long day condition). The Senescence Associated Gene 21 (SAG21) gene is one of the interesting genes to be identified and discovered in Stevia. Aims and Objectives: The objectives of this research were to identify and characterise the SAG21 gene using in silico analysis. Materials and Methods: These data analyses were obtained using ExPASy, blastP, InterPro, Pfam, TMHMM, ProtParam, and MEGA software. Results: Putative SAG21 MS007 showed high homology with the SAG21 gene in Helianthus annuus with a high percentage of identity, which was 80.90%. It also confirmed that the putative SAG21 MS007 protein contained the domain LEA_3. It was usually found in land plants and accumulated heavily in the last stage of seed formation. ProtParam analysis found that the putative SAG21 protein was a stable globular protein. TMHMM analysis predicted that this protein is a hydrophilic protein and is located outside of transmembrane helices. Conclusion: The phylogenetic tree showed that the putative SAG21 MS007 gene had a close relationship with the SAG21 protein of H. annuus, with a bootstrap value of more than 70%.

Study Background: Bitter kola (Garcinia kola), lime juice, and honey mixture have some traditional but nonscientific applications in the treatment of some infectious diseases due to the phytochemical and phytonutrient components that may have antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, immunomodulatory, antiatherogenic, antimicrobial, purgative and antiparasitic activities while expression of hepatitis B envelope antigen (HBeAg) is an indication of active hepatitis B virus replication and a high degree of infectiousness. Aim and Objective: This work was therefore designed to determine anti-inflammatory response, possible suppression of active viral replication and liver damage in HBeAg seropositive patients who used bitter kola, lime juice and honey mixture. Materials and Methods: Out of 39 hepatitis B surface antigen and HBeAg seropositive patients who volunteered themselves for the study only 23 volunteers (23; Male: 13; Female: 10; age 34–56 years) were successfully monitored. The mixture is prepared by mixing grounded bitter kola (30 seeds) with 500 ml of Lime Juice and 500 ml of honey. The mixture was kept for 5 days before administration. The mixture was taken by subjects at 4 divided dose for 2 months using 4 teaspoonfuls per dose. Plasma alanine transaminase (ALT) was measured using COBAS C111 autoanalyzer, plasma interleukin-10 (IL-10), Antibodies against hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV), HBeAg, anti-HBeAg, p24 ag-ab by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay while acid-fast bacilli and Plasmodium were determined in the subjects by microscopic examination of stained smears. Results: The frequency of HBeAg (26.1% [6]) in the patients after the use of bitter kola, lime juice, and honey mixture was lower than the frequency of the viral protein (HBeAg 100% [23]) before the use of the mixture. None of the HBeAg seropositive patients studied expressed anti-HBeAg before the use of bitter kola, lime juice, and honey mixture but 56.5% (13) of the patients expressed anti-HBeAg while 17.4% (4) co-expressed HBeAg + anti-HBeAg after the use of the mixture. There was a significant increase in the plasma value of IL-10 and a significant decrease in the plasma value of ALT in the HBeAg seropositive patients after the use of bitter kola, lime juice, and honey mixture (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Bitter kola, lime juice, and honey mixture could have anti-inflammatory, active viral replication, and liver damage suppression bioactivities in HBeAg seropositive patients as indicated by decrease in HBeAg, expression of anti-HBeAg, decrease in plasma ALT and increase in IL-10 after the use of the mixture.

Background: Cancer has become a major cause of death today. These risk factors are also balanced with the development of drugs, one of which comes from nature. Medical products derived from natural resources such as blood clam (Anadara (tegillarca) granosa) have been already developed. Crude protein extracted from blood calm contains a 20-kDa protein which had been known to be able to inhibit the growth of HT-29 cell line. Purpose: This study aimed to determine cytotoxic activity and apoptotic effect of crude protein which is isolated from blood calm against breast cancer T47d cell line. Materials and Methods: This study used the ammonium sulfate precipitation method for the isolation of a crude protein of blood clams. MTT assay method was performed to determine cytotoxicity and to know the value of IC50, apoptosis test qualitatively and quantitatively was done by double-staining using ethidium bromide and acridine orange as well as flow cytometric dye using annexin V dyes and propidium iodide. Findings: Crude protein clams of blood have IC50 value of 11.11μg/ml and can induce apoptosis of breast cancer cell line (T47D) at 15 μg/ml concentration by double-staining method, but the calculation with flow cytometry method still shows different results in this study. Research Limitations: This study observed the inhibitory concentration of crude extract consisting of proteins with various molecular weights against the t47d cell line. Originality: The results of this study indicate that crude protein clams are cytotoxic and can induce apoptosis in breast cancer cell lines (T47D).