Mayadah Shehadeh

University of Jordan | UJ · Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Candida albicans (C. albicans) infections pose significant challenges in clinical settings due to their high morbidity and mortality rates in addition to their role in tumor progression. Current diagnostic methods, while effective, often suffer from limitations that hinder a timely intervention. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a simple, sens...

COVID-19 has spread and developed into a pandemic disease, forcing countries to impose challenging protocols and lockdowns. This study assessed shopping, food consumption behavior, and feelings in Jordan and several Arab countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional web-based survey among the Middle East population was conducted using a...

Urease catalyses the hydrolysis of urea to ammonia and carbon dioxide. This enzyme is important in the virulence of several human pathogens and urease activity in soil can cleave urea fertilisers prematurely, leading to waste of agricultural nitrogen. A series of arylsulfonylurea-glucosamine hybrid compounds were synthesised. Reaction of arylsulfon...

Normally, skeletal muscle accounts for 70-80% of insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in the postprandial hyperglycemia state. Consequently, abnormalities in glucose uptake by skeletal muscle or insulin resistance (IR) are deemed as initial metabolic defects in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Globally, T2DM is growing in exponenti...

Jordan is rich in the flora of ethnobotanical importance. This scoping review aims to highlight the ethnopharmacological value of Jordanian medicinal plants using the Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. A total of one hundred twenty-four articles published between 2000 and 2022 obtained from PubMed...

Minimizing antibiotic resistance is a key motivation strategy in designing and developing new and combination therapy. In this study, a combination of the antibiotics (cefixime, levofloxacin and gentamicin) with Lysobacter enzymogenes (L. enzymogenes) bioactive proteases present in the cell- free supernatant (CFS) have been investigated against the...

COVID-19 infection is a global pandemic health emergency. This contagious disease was caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus‑2 (SARS‑CoV-2) which is mutating over time. In 2021, the Delta variant became the most dominant transmissible form. During the crisis, human practice and knowledge were critical in the overall efforts to...

An electroanalytical electrode for the detection of albendazole (ABZ) active ingredient in pharmaceutical dosage form and in contaminated animal-derived products was developed using a glassy carbon electrode modified with platinum-palladium nanoparticles. The electro-catalytic performance of the bimetallic-modified glassy carbon electrode was compa...

Terfezia claveryi (T. claveryi) is used by traditional healers in the Middle East region to treat several diseases, including diabetes. The present study evaluated the total phenolic and investigated the blood-glucose-lowering potential of different aqueous extracts of this selected truffle using in vitro and in vivo models. The phytochemical profi...

Background Self-medication of upper digestive symptoms is common in middle-income countries. The study aimed to investigate user’s knowledge, reasons for use, and utilization patterns of self-medication for gastric problems in Jordan (a middle-income country). Also it aimed to investigate herbal and antibiotics use for treatment of symptoms associa...

Recently, significant advances in modern medicine and therapeutic agents have been achieved. However, the search for effective antidiabetic drugs is continuous and challenging. Over the past decades, there has been an increasing body of literature related to the effects of secondary metabolites from botanical sources on diabetes. Plants-derived met...

Recently, significant advances in modern medicine and therapeutic agents have been achieved. However, the search for effective antidiabetic drugs is continuous and challenging. Over the past decades, there has been an increasing body of literature related to the effects of secondary metabolites from botanical sources on diabetes. Plants-derived met...

Herein we report the design, synthesis and biological evaluation of structurally modified ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin and moxifloxacin standard drugs, featuring amide functional groups at C-3 of the fluoroquinolone scaffold. In vitro antimicrobial testing against various Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria and fungi revealed potential ant...

This work describes the engineering of a feasible, sensitive, and specific colorimetric assay for the detection of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) extracellular protease production, using a tailored agar-based readout platform. Firstly, S. aureus protease production was evaluated using different culture media. Maximum proteolytic activity was ach...

Background: Origanum syriacum (O. syriacum) is a very popular edible and medicinal plant in the East Mediterranean countries. The aims of the current study were to use microwave-ultrasonic assisted hydrodistillation (MUAHD) method to produce essential oils (EOs) from wild O. syriacum samples collected from four different geographical areas in The...

Background: The relationship between obesity and various chronic diseases is well documented. In Jordan, the prevalence of overweight (30.0%) and obesity (38.8%) among females is on the rise, encouraging many adults to rely on alternative health care methods to manage their weight. Aims: We explored the status of complementary and alternative me...

In the quest for discovering potent antimicrobial agents with lower toxicity, we envisioned the design and synthesis of nalidixic acid‐D‐(+)‐glucosamine conjugates. The novel compounds were synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro antimicrobial activity against Gram positive bacteria, Gram negative bacteria and fungi. Cytotoxicity using MTT ass...

Background: The semi-synthesis of drugs from natural products is still limited and complicated. Recently, there has been compelling global need to develop novel and potential antibacterial and antioxidant agents. Objectives: The current study aimed at semi-synthesizing new derivatives from naringin, to verify their chemical structures and assess th...

Association of obesity with life-threatening diseases has been well documented in literature. Currently, obesity is on the rise both in developed and developing countries. This study investigated the prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use for weight management. Cross-sectional survey was used. Data were collected from 1388 a...

Misconception about antibiotics use among the public has been widely outlined to be a main reason for inappropriate use of antibiotics including failure to complete treatment, skipping of doses, re-use of leftover medicines, and overuse of antibiotics. The study was devised to evaluate whether education might be a potential strategy to promote safe...

Unlabelled: Neuronal Nitric Oxide synthase (nNOS) is an attractive challenging target for the treatment of various neurodegenerative disorders. To date, several structure-based studies were conducted to search novel selective nNOS inhibitors. Objective: Discovery of novel nNOS lead scaffolds through the integration of ligand-based threedimension...

Background: Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women in the Western World. Method: Upon diagnosis and treatment in the preinvasive state, the five years survival rate levitate up to 93%, making early detection crucial for dedicative diagnosis and treatment. Currently, mammography is the most efficacious diag...

Sulphonylurea compounds have versatile activities such as antidiabetic, diuretic, herbicide, oncolytic, antimalarial, antifungal and anticancer. The present study describes the design, synthesis and in vivo testing of novel glycosylated aryl sulfonylurea compounds as antihyperglycaemic agents in streptozocine-induced diabetic mice. The rational for...

Objectives: Although osteoporosis is now recognized as a major health problem in Jordan, there is limited information on public perceptions, awareness and knowledge of osteoporosis. The aim of this study was therefore to assess awareness, perception and factors affecting osteoporosis knowledge in female patients in Jordan. Methods and study design:...

Abstract: - Association of obesity with life-threatening diseases has been well documented in literature. Currently, obesity is on the rise both in developed and developing countries. This study investigated the prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use for weight management. Cross-sectional survey was used. Data were collected...

Statistical association between congenital autism and prenatal exposure to ritodrine (4-(2-((1R,2S)-1-hydroxy-1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propan-2-ylamino)ethyl)phenol) as a tocolytic agent was a matter of concern. Moreover, neuronal nitric oxide momentous role in various behavioral and cognitive functions was reported. In this context, a correlation betwee...

Aristolochia maurorum L. of Jordanian origin has been investigated phytochemically, quantitatively, and biologically. Three atypical alkaloids, namely aristolochic acid I (1), aristolochic acid II (2) and aristolochic acid IIIa (3), have been isolated and identified. Of these known 1-phenanthrenecarboxylic acids, 2 and 3 are reported for the first...

Inflammation is a host defense mechanism to get rid of injurious stimuli and to induce tissue healing process. In Jordan, Salvia species are traditionally used to treat inflammation and other ailments. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of six Salvia species grown in Jordan to inhibit cutaneous inflammation. Topical anti-inflammato...

Proteases mediate a wide variety of biological events and have a critical role in the development of many diseases. Protease detection methods can be hindered by the limitation of assay safety, sensitivity, specificity, time constraints and ease of on-site analysis. Notably, the implementation of various detection methods on biosensing platforms tr...

Background Although there is little information available to quantify the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), growing evidence suggests that CAM prevalence among patients seeking infertility treatment is increasing worldwide. There are many products available on the market and many infertile patients demand information about CAM fr...

Questionnaire on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Utilization for Infertility Treatment.

Inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) has been implicated in a variety of diseases prompting several attempts to discover and optimize new iNOS inhibitors. Accordingly, we explored the pharmacophoric space of 143 iNOS inhibitors. Subsequently, genetic algorithm and multiple linear regression analysis were employed to select an optimal combination...

Factors associated with antibiotic use, resistance and safety have been well recognized worldwide in the literature. Nevertheless, only few studies have been conducted in Jordan in this area. The aim of this study was to assess knowledge, behavior and attitude toward antibiotics use among adult Jordanians. The study represents a cross sectional sur...

Irrational antibiotics use is a major reason for the spread of antibiotic resistance. Earlier studies from Jordan indicated irrational antibiotic use among the public. Our aim is to evaluate the current knowledge, attitude and behaviour regarding antibiotic use and reasons for resistance development among university students in Jordan. A cross-sect...

The quality of 20 selected medicinal plants commonly used in traditional medicine in Jordan was evaluated. Crude and powdered plant materials of the selected species were subjected to macroscopic examination to confirm their identity and to detect adulterations. Macroscopic evaluation revealed that Melissa officinalis. L. leaves were substituted by...

From the aerial parts of Ruta chalepensis L., grown in Jordan, two furanocoumarins (bergapten and chalepensin), one flavonoid glycoside (rutin) as well as several minor compounds have been isolated. The structural elucidation of these compounds was established based on spectral data (UV, IR, MS,1H-NMR and 13C-NMR). In Jordan, R. chalepensis is reco...

The phytochemical analysis of the fresh aerial parts of Portulaca oleracea (Portulacaceae), growing in Jordan, using conventional chromatographic procedures resulted in the isolation of Beta-sitosterol, Beta-sitosterol-glucoside, N,N'-dicyclohexylurea, and allantoin. The last three compounds were isolated for the first time from this plant. The str...

For the first time a normal-phase HPLC method using photodiode-array detection is described for the analysis and purification of phorbol esters. The use of the method is demonstrated with examples of 10 different tigliane and daphnane esters (TPA, DOPP, DOPPA, Sap A, Sap B, Sap C, Sap D, Thy A, Ro and Rx). Both analytical and semipreparative techni...

Extracts of forty samples from the plant families Euphorbiaceae and Thymelaeaceae were screened for the presence of biologically active diterpene esters. Plant extracts from Gnidia kraussianus, Lasiosiphone kraussianus, Thymelaea hirsuta and Daphne blagayana (Thymelaeaceae) as well as extracts from Sapium inclicum (Euphorbiaceae) induced intense in...