News

 Recently a group of young researchers of the Department of Pharmacy, University of Asia Pacific, has published their discovery of a noble cognitive enhancer in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology (Elsevier) that has been able to attract attention of international communities across the globe, says a press release.
The group of researchers was led by Muhammad Shahdaat Bin Sayeed, Lecturer, Department of Pharmacy of University of Asia Pacific. This work has been referred in MDlinx (a specialty site that works from a list of psychiatry journals judged by expert physician readers to be the most important sources of articles for practicing physicians), GreenMedInfos (the world’s most widely referenced, open accessed, natural medicine database) and several other influential referenced sites.
American Health Life-style magazine, Prevention (one of the largest magazines in the world, with a 2.8 million circulation, editions around the world, and over 10 million readers a month) has interviewed Muhammad Shahdaat Bin Sayeed and featured this invention in its October 2013 issue.
He also received Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) Early Career award to present this research in the “International Conference on Natural Products and Health 2013 in Singapore.
Initially the study aimed at finding a noble cognitive enhancer from traditional sources and finally devised an inventive way of preparing a neutraceutical made of black seed (Kalijira in Bangla or Nigella sativa L.) prepared with a special manner with the aid of modern pharmaceutical tools.
The experimental studies on healthy men in their 50s tested markedly better on measures of memory, attention and cognition than placebo-popping counterparts.
The research group developed customised neurophyschological testing module for Bangladeshi population and applied this module for testing memory, attention and cognition.
The more complex a task was more significant difference was observed. However, heart, liver, and kidney function was unaffected by black seed preparation in the brief study period, joining other clinical trials that have declared black cumin safe for humans.
The inventors attributed black cumin’s antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and neuron-protecting properties for the apparent brain-boosting results.
The study claims that the black seed preparation might not increase memory in young people, but it can slow the progression neuro-degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease in elderly people through putting the brakes on the breakdown of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine which is a well-established pharmaceutical method for improving memory.
Additionally this preparation is superior to the fact that it is made of food supplement, not of any synthetic drug what normally accompanies several side effects. This preparation is likely to be available in the market of Bangladesh very soon.

Source - The Daily Star