After cardiovascular diseases, the leading cause of death all around the world is cancer. Rhobdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the cancer of soft tissues and it mostly occurs in children and in adults aged between 10 and 25 years. There are several therapeutic modalities that are being used for treating cancer such as surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. But due to their side effects, these therapeutic modalities are not so effective. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a new treatment modality introduced for cancer treatment. Low doses of photosensitizer (PS) and light are used in PDT. In this work, combinations of the homeo-drug Hydrastis canadensis (mother tincture, H30C and H200C) and the chemo-drugs Methotrexate (MTX), Doxorubicin (DOX) and Duticine (DTIC) along with PDT were studied by using an RD cell line. The results obtained were compared with individual therapy and the most effective therapeutic combination was selected. It was found that individual administration of PDT, chemo-therapeutic drugs and Hydrastis was not effective because less killing (about 10-15%) occurred as a result of individual therapy. Conversely, combination of chemo- and homeo-drug with PDT gave efficient results. The most suitable combination that showed effective killing (about 50% cells viable) of RD cells was the combination of MTX with Hydrastis, potency H200C, along with PDT. It was concluded that the combination therapy is more effective and targeted in treating cancer than mono-therapy.

In the search for new alternatives to avoid problems associated with the use of chemical fungicides in agriculture, the use of green manure (GM) could help combat fungal diseases of crops, such as those produced by the necrotrophic pathogen Rhizoctonia solani. In the case of brassica tissues used as GM, this could have an elicitor capacity of systemic plant resistance related to the presence in these tissues of defense metabolites called glucosinolates (GSLs), as a form of damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). Kale (Brassica oleracea var. acephala) leaves were used as GM and their GSL content was removed by autoclaving and applied to pepper plants infected with R. solani. Autoclaving removed part of the GSL glucobrassicin (GBS) (85%) and sinigrin (19%) content of the kale tissues. The application of intact kale tissues to roots of pepper plants produced a systemic activation of foliar defenses via the salicylic acid (SA) and ethylene (ET) pathways, significantly reducing pathogen damage. In addition, this systemic response led to the accumulation of secondary defense metabolites in leaves, such as pipecolinic acid and hydroxycoumarin or gluconic acid, among others. Therefore, GBS-rich GM kale tissues were able to activate systemic defenses in bell pepper against foliar pathogens via the SA/ET hormonal pathways, accumulating secondary defense metabolites.