The study was designed to purify enzyme from weed plant in association with wheat crop to assess and compare the purification and biochemical properties with acid phosphatases of seedlings of various ...plants. Acid phosphatase from seedlings of Rumex dentatus (Curly dock) was purified by different chromatography and chromatofocusing techniques with specific activity of 63U/mg of protein. The yield was about 3%. Single band was detected on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis confirming the enzyme was homogeneous. Apparent molecular weight of 48 kDa was obtained. Gel filtration experiment indicated that native enzyme had a approximately molecular weight of 96 kDa, suggesting that this enzyme is homodimer. The enzyme showed Km value of 0.5 mM and Vmax of 60 and#181;M of p-nitrophenyl phosphate hydrolysed/min/mg of protein under experimental conditions. The optimum pH of 5.0 and temperature of 50and#176;C were obtained. Divalent cations such as copper and zinc ions caused acid phosphatase inhibition but the presence of 20 mM EDTA in the enzyme-metal ions incubation mixtures reversed the enzyme inhibition to some extent. The activity of 54 % and 63% were recovered back, respectively. Ca2+ and Mg2+ had very small activating effect on activity in the absence or presence of EDTA. The reaction of enzyme with iodoacetic acid or N-ethyl-maleimide had no inhibitory effect, pointing to a non-involvement of cysteine residues in enzyme action. Further, β-mercaptoethanol or dithiothreitol at low concentrations had very little activating effect revealing that SH-group containing amino acid in the enzyme may not be significant for its catalytic activity. The pH dependent variation of Km study showed that histidine may constitute a part of the active site. Acid phosphatase was competitively inhibited by phosphate and vanadate. Fluoride and Zn2+ acted as non-competitive inhibitors while molybdate showed mixed type of inhibition.
Noble metal nanoparticles (NMNPs) are viable alternative green sources compared to the chemical available methods in several approach like Food, medical, biotechnology, and textile industries. The ...biological synthesis of platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs), as a strong photocatalytic agent, has proved as more effective and safer method. In this study, PtNPs were synthesized at four different temperatures (25 °C, 50 °C, 70 °C, and 100 °C). PtNPs synthesized at 100 °C were smaller and exhibited spherical morphology with a high degree of dispersion. A series of physicochemical characterizations were applied to investigate the synthesis, particle size, crystalline nature, and surface morphology of PtNPs. The biosynthesized PtNPs were tested for the photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiations. The results showed that PtNPs exhibited remarkable photocatalytic activity by degrading 98% of MB only in 40 min. The acid phosphatase mediated PtNPs showed strong bacterial inhibition efficiency against
and
. Furthermore, it showed high antioxidant activity (88%) against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazil (DPPH). In conclusion, this study provided an overview of the applications of PtNPs in food chemistry, biotechnology, and textile industries for the deterioration of the natural and synthetic dyes and its potential application in the suppression of pathogenic microbes of the biological systems. Thus, it could be used as a novel approach in the food microbiology, biomedical and environmental applications.
The growth and productivity of wheat crops depend on the availability of essential nutrients such as zinc (Zn) and potassium (K
O), which play critical roles in the plant's physiological and ...biochemical processes. This study aimed to investigate the synergizing effect of zinc and potassium fertilizers on uptake of both the nutrients, growth, yield, and quality of the Hashim-08 cultivar and local landrace, during the 2019-2020 growing season in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan. The experiment was designed using a split plot pattern in a randomized complete pattern, with main plots for the wheat cultivars and subplots for the fertilizer treatments. Results indicated that both cultivars responded positively to the fertilizer treatments, with the local landrace exhibiting maximum plant height and biological yield, and improved Hashim-08, showing increased agronomic parameters, including the number of tillers and grains and spike length. Application of Zn and K
O fertilizers significantly enhanced agronomic parameters, such as the number of grains per plant, spike length, thousand-grain weight, grain yield, harvest index, Zn uptake of grain, dry gluten content, and grain moisture content, while crude protein and grain potassium remained relatively unchanged. The soil's Zn and K content dynamics were found to vary among treatments. In conclusion, the combined application of Zn and K
O fertilizers proved beneficial in improving the growth, yield, and quality of wheat crops, with the local landrace exhibiting lower grain yield but greater Zn uptake through fertilizer application. The study's findings highlight that the local landrace showed good response to the growth and qualitative parameter when compared with the Hashim-08 cultivar. Additionally, the combined application of Zn and K showed a positive relation in terms of nutrient uptake and soil Zn and K content.
The health of mothers and their newborns is intricately related. The weight of the infant at birth is a powerful predictor of infant growth and survival, and is considered to be partly dependent on ...maternal health and nutrition during pregnancy. We conducted a longitudinal study in an urban community within Karachi to determine maternal predictors of newborn birth weight.
Four hundred pregnant women were enrolled in the study during the period 2011-2013. Data related to symptoms of acute respiratory illness (fever, cough, difficulty breathing, runny nose, sore throat, headache, chills, and myalgia/lethargy) in the pregnant women were collected weekly until delivery. Birth weight of the newborn was recorded within 14 days of delivery and the weight of <2.5 kg was classified as low birth weight (LBW).
A total of 9,853 symptom episodes were recorded of fever, cough, difficulty breathing, runny nose, sore throat, headache, chills, myalgias/lethargy in the enrolled pregnant women during the study. Out of 243 pregnant women whose newborns were weighed within 14 days of birth, LBW proportion was 21% (n = 53). On multivariate analysis, independent significant risk factors noted for delivering LBW babies were early pregnancy weight of < 57.5 kg odds ratio adjusted (OR
) = 5.1, 95% CI: (1.3, 19.9) and gestational age OR
= 0.3, 95% CI (0.2, 0.7) for every one week increase in gestational age. Among mothers with high socioeconomic status (SES), every 50-unit increase in the number of episodes of respiratory illness/100 weeks of pregnancy had a trend of association with an increased risk of delivering LBW infants OR
= 1.7, 95% CI: (1.0, 3.1). However, among mothers belonging to low SES, there was no association of the number of episodes of maternal respiratory illness during pregnancy with infants having LBW OR
= 0.9, 95% CI: (0.5, 3.5).
While overall respiratory illnesses during pregnancy did not impact newborn weight in our study, we found this trend in the sub-group of mothers belonging to the higher SES. Whether this is because in mothers belonging to lower SES, the effects of respiratory illnesses were overshadowed by other risk factors associated with poverty need to be further studied.
In recent years, metal and metal oxide modified mesoporous materials have attracted great attention in science and technology due to their remarkable properties, such as mesoscopic bulky shape, large ...surface area, and interconnected porous structures enabling them to be one of the most exciting materials for biomedical and photocatalytic applications. In this paper, we used a hydrothermal technique to investigate new multifunctional nanostructural material i.e. CuO-MCM-41. The obtained nanocomposites were characterized using XRD, FTIR, UV, SEM, HRTEM, EDX and BET analyses. The as synthesized nanomaterials were screened for the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation. In the presence of CuO-MCM-41 photocatalyst, 97% MB was degraded only in 30 min of irradiation. The CuO-MCM-41 is an efficient antibacterial agent with effective light inhibition activity against E. coli, S. aureus, S. typhimurium, K. pneumoniae, and B. subtilis. The production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was also analysed. Furthermore, the nanomaterial is also an efficient DPPH stabilizing agent. The hydrothermally prepared CuO-MCM-41 nanocomposite may be a promising material for removing hazardous organic compounds and microorganisms.
Hydrothermal synthesis of CuO/MCM-41 nanocomposite. Display omitted
•Synthesis of new active CuO/MCM-41 nanocomposite.•Novel chemical hydrothermal protocol was applied.•CuO/MCM-41 nanocomposite was applied for the photodegradation of methylene blue dye.•Detail mechanism was studied.•CuO/MCM-41nanocomposite has significant antibacterial activity and DPPH scavenging activity.
Background Pakistan is unfortunately among the five countries that contributed to the most deaths due to diarrhea and pneumonia in 2010. To explore factors associated with diarrheal deaths we ...assessed care–seeking behavior and other predictors of diarrhea–related mortality in children in selected low–income peri–urban communities of Karachi, Pakistan. Methods A mixed methods study (qualitative and quantitative) using matched case–control design and focus group discussions with parents of children with moderate to severe diarrhea (MSD) was undertaken. Cases were children <5 years of age who died within 60 days of developing an episode of MSD. Controls were age–matched children who survived after 60 days of an episode of MSD. Demographic, clinical, and care–related behavioral predictors of mortality were assessed. Conditional logistic regression was performed, matched adjusted odds ratios (mOR) are reported. Results Parents of 77 cases and 154 controls were interviewed. Cases were less likely to receive appropriate care compared to controls (mOR = 0.2, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.05–0.91). Refusal for hospital admission (OR = 8.9, 95% CI 2.6–30.8), and delays in reaching the health facility (OR = 3.6, 95% CI 1.0–12.9) were significant independent predictors of mortality. We found strong beliefs in traditional and spiritual healing in the population; use of both modern and traditional/spiritual treatments concurrently was common. Conclusion Appropriate care seeking behavior predicts survival in children with diarrhea in Pakistan. There is a complex belief system relating to traditional and standard therapies. Health education for appropriate health care seeking should be implemented in order to achieve a substantial decline in diarrheal disease mortality in Pakistan.
Synthesis, characterization, photocatalytic and biomedical applications of TiO2 NPs.
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•An Eco-benign synthesis of novel TiO2 nanoparticles using Coronopus didymus leaf extract as ...reducing and capping agent.•TiO2 nanoparticles have efficient photocatalytic activity in terms of photocatalytic degradation of methylene Orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB) dyes.•TiO2 nanoparticles has significant antibacterial activity against multidrug resistantbacteria (i.e. S. aureus and E. coli).•Toxicity against Red Blood Cells.
Clean water is a global challenge and several conventional procedures are accompanied with a number of drawbacks. As a result, new materials and methods must be introduced to address the issue of water purification. The current study presents a green as well as facile approach for synthesizing TiO2 NPs using leaf extract Coronopus didymus for the first time, which could be used as a photocatalysts. Different microscopic and spectroscopic techniques including UV–Vis, FT-IR, XRD, HRTEM, DLS, BET, SEM, SAED and EDX were used to confirm the formation, size, shape, and crystalline structure of the biosynthesized TiO2 NPs. The as synthesized TiO2 NPs were examined for the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB) dyes. The results showed that biogenic TiO2 NPs exhibited remarkable photocatalytic degradation efficiency towards MO (95%) and MB (90%) only in 30 min of irradiations respectively. The biomediated TiO2 NPs were also screened for bacterial inhibition efficiency against S. aureus and E. coli bacteria. The cytotoxicity study revealed that TiO2 NPs are nontoxic to ordinary healthy RBCs. These exceptional antibacterial and photocatalytic activities may be due to their nanosize and wide ranging surface area of TiO2 NPs.
Herein for the first time a novel acid phosphatase from the seedlings of Cichorium intybus was purified to homogeneity by using various chromatographic techniques (salt precipitation, ion exchange, ...size exclusion and affinity chromatography) and thermodynamically characterized. The molecular mass of purified enzyme (66 kDa) was determined by SDS-PAGE under denaturing and non-denaturing conditions and by gel-filtration confirmed as dimer of molecular mass 130 kDa. The Michaelis-Menten (Km) constant for -p-NPP (0.3 mM) and (7.6 μmol/min/mg) Vmax. The enzyme was competitively inhibited by phosphate, molybdate and vanadate. Phenyl phosphate, ɑ and β-glycero-phosphate and-p-NPP were found to be good substrate. When temperature increased from (55 °C to 75 °C), the deactivation rate constant (kd) was increased (0.1 to 4.6 min−1) and half- life was decreased from 630 min to 15 min. Various thermal denaturation parameters; change in enthalpy (ΔH°), change in entropy (ΔS°) and change in free energy (ΔG°) were found 121.93 KJ·mol−1, 72.45 KJ·mol−1 and 98.08 KJ·mol−1 respectively, confirming that acid phosphatase undergoes a significant process of unfolding during deactivation. The biochemical properties of acid phosphatase from C. intybus on the behalf of biological activity and its relationship to pH variations, thermal deactivation and kinetics parameters provide an insight into its novel features.
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•Cancer is multifaceted and influenced by genetic and environmental variables, affecting health, society, and the economy.•Materials science advances, especially metal–organic ...frameworks (MOFs), have improved cancer detection, diagnosis, and treatment.•MOFs are adaptable carriers for medicinal chemicals and precise cancer cell targeting tools.•MOFs can release medicinal substances reactingto stimuli, enabling externally controlled cancer treatments.•It also addresses intelligent nanobiomaterials’ problems and possible uses in cancer treatment delivery systems.
Cancer is a complex disease that develops due tocomplex interactions between hereditary and environmental variables. This devastating disease has far-reaching consequences for human health, communities, and the economy. Therefore, there is a pressing need to improve techniques for detecting, diagnosing, and treatingcancer. In recent times, the discipline of materials science has witnessed a significant advancement inmetal–organic frameworks, more frequently referred to as MOFs. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have recently garnered considerable attention owing to their immense potential and adaptability in various applications. Notably, they have shown great promise as effective carriers for delivering therapeutic compounds and as precise tools fortargeting cancer cells. The intentional manipulation of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) has endowed them with the distinct ability to selectively release pharmaceutical agents in response to particular stimuli. This attribute has significant potential for the development of externally controlled cancer treatments.Thisreview highlights the current developments in MOF synthesis, highlighting the unique properties that make MOFs ideal for therapeutic applications. We will delve deeply into the benefits of these innovations, focusing on how they can be used in cancer therapy. We will also closely examinetheir challengesand the potential future applications of intelligent nanobiomaterials in cancer medicine delivery systems.
Since the green revolution, excessive utilization of chemical fertilizers has become prevalent due to concerns about the integrity of food production for the growing population. This indiscriminate ...use harms the fertility of the soil, especially in sandy soils where nutrient leaching, particularly nitrogen, results in yield losses as well as environmental and health problems. A pot experiment was carried out at Gomal University, Pakistan, in March 2022 to assess the nitrogen use efficiency, nitrogen uptake, and yield of okra. There were nine treatments with four replicates and the treatment combinations were established using a completely randomized design (CRD). Urea coated with agrotain (urease inhibitor) was applied each at 120 and 84 kg N ha−1 in 2 or 3 splits. Urea at 84 kg N ha−1 was also used in combination with Farmyard manure (FYM) and compared against the control (100% recommended urea). Obtained results showed that inhibitor-treated urea significantly increased soil concentrations of NO3−N and NH4−N over non-inhibitor-treated urea. The highest NO3−N was recorded where urea alone and urea treated with 3 L (3 L) agrotain was applied to 100%. The highest ammonical-N was recorded, where 70% urea treated with 3 L agrotain was applied. Urea, in combination with FYM, significantly increased the organic matter. Electrical conductivity in extract (ECe), and pH of the soil. The improvement in yield with inhibitor was at par with 70% and 100% urea. The highest improvement of 16% in fruit yield and 7.29% nitrogen use efficiency was obtained in the treatment receiving 120 kg N ha−1 treated with 3 L agrotain compared with non-inhibitor urea. The 2nd highest improvement of 10% in fruit yield on account of increased fruit length, stem diameter, and number of fruits, and 5.97% nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) was obtained in treatment receiving 120 kg N ha−1 in combination with FYM in comparison to control. These results suggested that the use of N inhibitor significantly increased the okra fruit yield on account of enhancing ammonical-N and increased N use efficiency.
•Inhibitors-treated urea significantly increased the concentration of NO3–N and NH4–N in the soil over the non-inhibitor urea.•NO3–N concentration in the soil and plant was improved by urea and urea treated with 3 L agrotain @100%.•Ammonical-N can be enhanced by using 70% urea treated with 3 L agrotain.•Urea, in combination with FYM, also increased the organic matter, ECe, and pH of the soil.•Nitrogen inhibitors remarkably increase the yield by enhancing ammonical-N efficiency in the plants.
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