2017, Vol.7, No.1

CELLMED 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.02

pISSN : 3022-6805 / eISSN : 3022-6791
https://journal.kci.go.kr/cellmed

Minerals are individual of the components of foods and are not produced in the body but essential for best possible health. Several essential metals are vital for the appropriate performance of various enzymes, transcriptional factors and proteins that are essential in various biochemical paths. Metals like zinc (Zn), magnesium (Mg), and manganese (Mn) are cofactors of hundreds of enzymes. Zn is involved in the synthesis and secretion of insulin from the pancreatic β-cells. Chromium (Cr) increases the insulin receptors activity on target tissues, mainly in muscle cells. Insulin hormone is required to maintain the blood glucose amount in normal range. Continual increase of blood serum glucose level leads to marked chronic hyperglycemia or diabetes mellitus. Deficiency of insulin or its resistance, blood glucose level exceeds the upper limit of the common range of 126 mg/dl. Poor glucose control and diabetes changes the levels of essential trace elements such as Zn, Mg, Mn, Cr, iron etc. by rising urinary excretion and their related decrease in the blood. The aim of this article to discusses the important roles of essential trace elements in particular perspective of type 2 diabetes.

World health organization has recently published a strategic plan for the development and promotion of traditional system of medicine. Herbal pathies especially Unani and Ayurvedic systems of medicines have great scope in this aspect. But, there are several problems with these pathies in the current era, as the way of research and identification is still on classical system. The correct identification of medicinal plant is one of the major problems in both the system. This should be corrected with the modern tools and techniques. The various types of data including recent discoveries, economical growth, ethnobotanical literature and extremely rapid increase in herbal journals and books have emerged great scope for these pathies. At the same time several challenges and threats are present including herb-drug interaction, false reports, toxicity studies etc. In this review paper, opportunities, threats, and researches to be focused will be discussed.

The efficient removal of dead cells is an evolutionarily conserved process essential for homeostasis in multicellular organisms. The phagocytosis involves a series of steps that ultimately leads the detection of apoptotic cell by the phagocytes and the subsequent engulfment and degradation of corpse. The uptake of apoptotic cells by phagocytes not only removes debris from tissues but also generates an anti-inflammatory signal that blocks tissue inflammation. Conversely, impaired clearance of dead cells can cause loss of immune tolerance and the development of various inflammation-associated diseases such as autoimmunity, but can also affect cancer development. This review will discuss current understanding of the molecular mechanism of apoptotic cell phagocytosis and how they may be related to human diseases.