Nickel phytoextraction through bacterial inoculation in Raphanus sativus

A pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the potential of two plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) viz. Bacillus sp. CIK-516 and Stenotrophomonas sp. CIK-517Y for improving the growth and Ni uptake of radish (Raphanus sativus) in the presence of four different levels of Ni contamination (0, 50, 100, 150 mg Ni kg^-1 soil). Plant growth, dry biomass, chlorophyll and nitrogen contents were significantly reduced by the exogenous application of Ni, however, bacterial inoculation diluted the negative impacts of Ni stress on radish by improving these parameters. PGPR strain CIK-516 increased root length (9-27%), shoot length (8-27%), root dry biomass (2-32%), shoot dry biomass (9-51%), root girth (6-48%), total chlorophyll (4-38%) and shoot nitrogen contents (11-15%) in Ni contaminated and non-contaminated soils. Positive regulation of chlorophyll and nitrogen contents by the inoculated plants shows plant tolerance mechanism of Ni stress. Bacterial strain (CIK-516) exhibited indole acetic acid and 1-amino-cyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase potentials which would have helped radish plant to stabilize in Ni contaminated soil and thereby increased Ni uptake (24-257 in shoot and 58-609 in root mg kg^-1 dry biomass) and facilitated accumulation in radish (bioaccumulation factor = 0.6-1.7) depending upon soil Ni contamination. Based on the findings of this study, it might be suggested that inoculation with bacterial strain CIK-516 could be an efficient tool for enhanced Ni phytoextraction in radish.

Effect of antibiotic, probiotic, and human rotavirus infection on colonisation dynamics of defined commensal microbiota in a gnotobiotic pig model

We developed a gnotobiotic (Gn) pig model colonised with defined commensal microbiota (DMF) to provide a simplified and controlled system to study the interactions between intestinal commensals, antibiotics (ciprofloxacin, CIP), probiotics (Escherichia coli Nissle 1917, EcN) and virulent human rotavirus (VirHRV). The DMF included seven gut commensal species of porcine origin that mimic the predominant species in the infant gut. Gn piglets were divided into four groups: DMF control (non-treated), DMF+CIP (CIP treated), DMF+CIP+EcN (CIP/EcN treated), DMF+EcN (EcN treated) and inoculated orally with 10⁵ cfu of each DMF strain. The pig gut was successfully colonised by all DMF species and established a simplified bacterial community by post-bacteria colonisation day (PBCD) 14/post-VirHRV challenge day (PCD) 0. Overall, Bifidobacterium adolescentis was commonly observed in faeces in all groups and time points. At PCD0, after six days of CIP treatment (DMF+CIP), we observed significantly decreased aerobic and anaerobic bacteria counts especially in jejunum (P<0.001), where no DMF species were detected in jejunum by T-RFLP. Following HRV challenge, 100% of pigs in DMF+CIP group developed diarrhoea with higher diarrhoea scores and duration as compared to all other groups. However, only 33% of pigs treated with EcN plus CIP developed diarrhoea. EcN treatment also enhanced the bacterial diversity and all seven DMF species were detected with a higher proportion of Bifidobacterium longum in jejunum in the DMF+CIP+EcN group on PBCD14/PCD0. Our results suggest that EcN increased the proportion of B. longum especially in jejunum and mitigated adverse impacts of antibiotic use during acute-infectious diarrhoea. The DMF model with a simplified gut commensal community can further our knowledge of how commensals and probiotics promote intestinal homeostasis and contribute to host health.

Pattern Of Presentation Among Adults Hospitalized With Dengue Disease

BACKGROUND

Dengue is a mosquito born viral infection that has rapidly spread in the world particularly in Southeast Asia. The aim of this hospital based study was to see the demographic, clinical and laboratory characteristics in adults with dengue infection in Hazara region of Northern Pakistan.

METHODS

This is a descriptive study. Clinical, laboratory and demographic information were collected from adult patients with suspected dengue infection (n=100) and then managed in one of medical units of tertiary care hospital in Abbottabad from August to October 2015.

RESULTS

Total number of patients was 100, 78 were male and 22 were female. 49 patients were in age group from 21 to 40 years. Most patients were from Mansehra district (69), followed by Haripur (11), Abbottabad (11), Battagram (06) and Kohistan (03). Common clinical features were fever (100%), body aches (95%), headache (94%), chills (87%), and anorexia (86%), haemorrhagic tendencies (12%), rash (05%), and sore throat (03%). Thrombocytopenia was observed in 98%, leucopoenia in 25%, high Aminotransferases (ALT) in 67%, Ns1 antigen positive 66%, negative 18% and unknown 16%. IgM Antibodies against Dengue Virus was positive 67%, negative 19% and were unknown in 14%, IgG antibodies positive in 54%, negative 32% and were unknown in 14%.

CONCLUSIONS

We concluded in our study that presentation of dengue infection is same as in other Southeast Asian countries; however, the disease is more prevalent in cities located on plain than hilly areas.

Hepatoprotective effect of a polyherbal formulation and ascorbic acid in paracetamol induced hepatic damage in rabbits

Background: The hepatoprotective effect of a polyherbal formulation was evaluated in female rabbits. The herbal formulation was used alone and in combination with ascorbic acid (AsAc) in animals with paracetamol (ParCM)-induced hepatic damage. Methods: The study design included five groups, each comprised of five animals. Group A was the control group (untreated; given only routine diet) while group B was given a single oral dose of ParCM (2 g/kg) on day 9. Groups C, D and E were pretreated with polyherbal formulation (PoHF; 500 mg/kg), ascorbic acid (AsAc; 200 mg/kg) and PoHF (500 mg/kg) combined with ascorbic acid (AsAc; 200 mg/kg), respectively for 9 consecutive days. On the last day (day 9), after 30 minutes of routine treatments, a single dose of ParCM (2 g/kg) was administered in groups C, D and E. Animals were sacrificed 24 hours after the last treatment. Blood and liver samples were collected from all animals. Serum was separated from the blood samples and subjected to biochemical tests for liver biomarker analysis. The biomarkers included alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and total bilirubin. Elevation of enzyme markers was considered an indicator of hepatocellular injury. Results: Serum levels of liver enzymes and total bilirubin were elevated significantly in group B when compared to group A. The level of serobiochemicals significantly dropped in group C but increased significantly in group D, as compared to group B. No statistically significant effect on liver enzymes was observed in group E when compared to group B. Groups D and E showed a significantly higher level of serological parameters as compared to group C. The biochemical findings were further corroborated with histopathological analyses of the liver tissue samples. Histopathological examination of the livers of rabbits in group A showed normal hepatic cell architecture. However, groups B and D revealed severe congestion of the central vein and sinusoids, periportal fibrosis and infiltration of inflammatory cells; these parameters were of mild and mostly moderate severity in groups C and E, respectively. The histopathological findings strongly supported the results of the biochemical analyses. Conclusion: Thus, our study herein demonstrates that herbal formulation remains an effective means to ameliorate ParCM-induced elevation of serum biochemical parameters and changes to the liver histology. Ascorbic acid induced deteriorating effects in a ParCM-intoxicated rabbit animal mode. Moreover, combination of herbal product and ascorbic acid failed to yield liver protecting effects in ParCM-poisoned animals. The damaging effects of ascorbic acid might be attributed to its pro-oxidant attitude, as reported by many research studies. To expand on these findings further studies are warranted, including evaluating other hepatotoxicity inducers (besides ParCM), testing different doses of ascorbic acid and ParCM, and testing a greater number of animals along with other animal models.

Unraveling the Differences between Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Probiotics in Modulating Protective Immunity to Enteric Infections

The role of intestinal microbiota and probiotics in prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, including diarrheal diseases in children and animal models, is increasingly recognized. Intestinal commensals play a major role in development of the immune system in neonates and in shaping host immune responses to pathogens. Lactobacilli spp. and Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 are two probiotics that are commonly used in children to treat various medical conditions including human rotavirus diarrhea and inflammatory bowel disease. Although the health benefits of probiotics have been confirmed, the specific effects of these established Gram-positive (G+) and Gram-negative (G−) probiotics in modulating immunity against pathogens and disease are largely undefined. In this review, we discuss the differences between G+ and G− probiotics/commensals in modulating the dynamics of selected infectious diseases and host immunity. These probiotics modulate the pathogenesis of infectious diseases and protective immunity against pathogens in a species- and strain-specific manner. Collectively, it appears that the selected G− probiotic is more effective than the various tested G+ probiotics in enhancing protective immunity against rotavirus in the gnotobiotic piglet model.

Lungs deposition and pharmacokinetic study of submicron budesonide particles in Wistar rats intended for immediate effect in asthma

The purpose of the present investigation was to study the aerosolization, lungs deposition and pharmacokinetic study of inhalable submicron particles of budesonide in male Wistar rats. Submicron particles were prepared by antisolvent nanoprecipitation method and freeze-dried to obtain free flowing powder. The freeze-drying process yielded dry powder with desirable aerodynamic properties for inhalation therapy. An in-house model inhaler was designed to deliver medicine to lungs, optimized at dose level of 10 mg for 30 sec of fluidization. The in vitro aerosolization study demonstrates that submicron particles dissolve faster with improved aerosolization effect as compared to micronized budesonide. Both submicron and micron particles were compared for in vivo lungs deposition. The results showed that relatively high quantity of submicron particles reaches deep into the lungs as compared to micron particles. Most pronounced effect observed with submicron particles from pharmacokinetic parameters was the enhancement in peak plasma concentration (C_max) by 28.85 %, and increase in area under concentration curve (AUC_0-8h) by 30.33 % compared to micron sized particles. The results suggested that developed submicronized formulation of budesonide can be used for pulmonary drug delivery for high deposition to deep lungs tissues.

Handgrip Strength as an Important Bed Side Tool to Assess Malnutrition in Patient with Liver Disease

BACKGROUND

Malnutrition is frequently present in patients with cirrhosis. Anthropometric measures such as body mass index (BMI), mid arm muscle circumference (MAMC), triceps skin fold thickness (TST) and subjective global assessment (SGA) have some limitations in assessment of malnutrition. This study aims to determine the prevalence of malnutrition in non-hospitalized cirrhotic and chronic hepatitis patients and to assess handgrip (HG) strength as a tool for identifying malnutrition.

METHODS

Consecutive patients of cirrhosis (n = 352), chronic hepatitis (n = 189) and healthy controls (n = 159) were enrolled. All patients underwent MAMC, TST, HG and SGA assessment. Malnutrition was diagnosed on basis of SGA score. Values of MAMC, TST and HG below the 5th percentile or less than 60% of healthy controls were considered as abnormal.

RESULTS

According to SGA (taken as standard) 24% patients with chronic hepatitis and 56% of patients with cirrhosis had malnutrition (P = 0.001). In patients with chronic hepatitis prevalence of malnutrition according to MAMC (12%), TST (31%) and HG (18%). In patients with cirrhosis prevalence of malnutrition according to MAMC (27%), TST (60%) and HG (42%). HG exercise strength had the highest area under curve 0.82 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.78-0.86, P = 0.001) compared to MAMC 0.60 (95% CI 0.55-0.64, P = 0.001) and TST 0.65 (95% CI 0.61-0.69, P = 0.001) for assessing malnutrition. On comparison of HG, TST and MAMC, the sensitivity was 67%, 60% and 31%, respectively, Specificity was 95%, 71% and 89%, respectively, and diagnostic accuracy was 87%, 67% and 71%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

HG strength is an excellent tool to assess at bed side the nutrition status in patients with cirrhosis and has the highest diagnostic accuracy compared to other anthropometric tests such as MAMC and TST.

Undec-10-enoic acid functionalized chitosan based novel nano-conjugate: An enhanced anti-bacterial/biofilm and anti-cancer potential

Fatty acid functionalized chitosan conjugates are of great interest in cancer therapeutics because of its internalization through receptor mediated endocytosis into the cancer cells. Keeping the above fact into consideration, herein we synthesized the undec-10-enoic acid functionalized chitosan based undecyl-chitosan (U-CS) nano-bioconjugate with the use of DCC as a coupling agent. The U-CS conjugate synthesized was confirmed and characterized by FTIR, ¹H NMR, TGA, XRD, SEM and TEM analysis. Generally, it is well established that conjugates of oleic acid with human Alpha-lactalbumin (HAMLET) induce cytotoxicity in the altered cells, but not in healthy cells. To check our presumptions, anti-bacterial and anti-cancer potential of U-CS was evaluated against bacterial pathogens (Gram +ve and Gram -ve) and human cancer cell lines (HeLa, MDA-MB-231 and Hep3B). The results of our study clearly revealed that conjugate showed enhance anti-bacterial, anti-biofilm as well as anti-cancer efficacy as compared to pure and free form of the chitosan.

A terbium(iii)-based coordination polymer for selective and sensitive sensing of nitroaromatics and ferric ion: synthesis, crystal structure and photoluminescence properties

A Tb(iii)-based coordination polymer has been synthesized and it is a visually selective and sensitive sensor for the detection of 4-nitrophenol and Fe³⁺ ion.

Designing, synthesis, and antimicrobial action of oxazoline and thiazoline derivatives of fatty acid esters

In this study, a novel series of oxazoline and thiazoline were designed as inhibitors of cytochrome P450 14 alpha-sterol demethylase (CYP51) from Candida albicans and peptide deformylase (PDF) of Escherichia coli. The long chain dibromo derivative of fatty acid esters on reaction with urea and thiourea gave their corresponding oxazolines and thiazolines, respectively. All the compounds were characterized by their spectral data (IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR and MS) and tested for antibacterial and antifungal activity by disk diffusion assay and minimum inhibitory concentration by the broth microdilution method against gram-positive and gram-negative strains of bacteria as well as fungus strains. The investigation into antimicrobial screening revealed that all the compounds were found to be potent antimicrobial agents. After calculating likeness drug properties of the compounds by Prediction of Activity Spectra for Substances software, ADMET-related descriptors were computed to predict the pharmacokinetic properties for the active and bioavailable compounds by discovery studio 2.5. Molecular docking studies have been performed on PDF of E. coli and CYP 450-14DM of C. albicans to understand the mode of binding of the molecules in the active site of the receptor. Compounds (2-amino-5-(carbomethoxyoctyl)-1,3-oxazoline, 2-amino-5-(carbomethoxyoctyl)-1,3-thiazoline and 2-amino-4-pentyl-5-[(8'R)-8' hydroxy (carbomethoxydecyl)-1,3-oxazoline) showed excellent antimicrobial activity nearly equivalent to the control compounds and compounds, 2-amino-4-octyl-5-(carbomethoxyheptyl)-1,3-oxazolin, 2-amino-4-(2'R)(2'-hydroxy octyl)-5-(carbomethoxyheptyl)-1,3-oxazoline and 2-amino-4-pentyl-5-[(8'R)-8'-hydroxy(carbomethoxy decyl)-1,3-oxazolineshowed vasodilation and antihypertensive properties. Furthermore, a computational analysis of physicochemical parameters revealed that the most of the compounds possessed drug-like attributes. Using Bioinformatics approach, we found a correlation between the observed and predicted antimicrobial activities.

Synthesis and study on the binding of thiazol-2(3H)-ylidine derivative with human serum albumin using spectroscopic and molecular docking methods

In this article, a facile and convenient synthesis of thiazol-2(3H)-ylidine derivatives of fatty acid (3a-c) is described. The binding of N'-(4,5-dimethyl-3-penylthiazol-2(3H)-ylidine)octadec-9-enehydrazide (3a) with human serum albumin (HSA) is explored using various spectral methods and molecular docking. Fluorescence quenching results show that 3a induces conformational changes in HSA and the polarity around the tryptophan residues is increased. Stern-Volmer quenching plots at different temperatures (298, 305 and 312 K) show that the fluorescence quenching mechanism is static quenching. Synchronous fluorescence, 3D fluorescence spectra, circular dichroism and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy are used to determine the structural change in HSA on interaction with 3a. Förster resonance energy transfer analysis shows that the binding distance (r₀  = 2.78 nm) between HSA (Trp214) and 3a is within the of range 2-8 nm for quenching to occur. The molecular docking study also confirms that 3a is located in subdomain IIA (site I) of HSA and is stabilized by hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic forces.

Assessment of WHO/INRUD core drug use indicators in two tertiary care hospitals of Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan

BACKGROUND

Medicines are a main therapeutic intervention provided within hospitals and their proper use in the outpatient setting is important for patients and the community. The objective of this study was to evaluate drug use patterns in the outpatient departments (OPDs) of two tertiary care hospitals (Bahawal Victoria Hospital and Civil Hospital) in the Bahawalpur district of the Punjab province of Pakistan by employing the standard World Health Organization/International Network of Rational Use of Drugs (WHO/INRUD) drug use indicators.

METHODS

A descriptive, cross-sectional study design was employed. For assessing the prescribing indicators a sample of 2400 prescriptions were systematically reviewed out of a total of 1,560,000 prescriptions written from 1st April 2014 to 31st March 2015. A total of 600 randomly selected patients and all pharmacy personnel were observed and interviewed to investigate the patient-care and facility-specific indicators. We used the published ideal standards for each of the WHO/INRUD indicators for comparison purposes.

RESULTS

Among the prescribing indicators, the average number of drugs per prescription was 2.8 (SD = 1.3), the drugs prescribed by generic name were 56.6 %, the encounters with an antibiotic prescribed were 51.5 %, no injections were prescribed and 98.8 % of the drugs prescribed were from the Essential Drugs List (EDL). Among the patient-care indicators, the average consultation time was 1.2 min (SD = 0.8), the average dispensing time was 8.7 s (SD = 4.9), the percentage of drugs actually dispensed was 97.3 %, the percentage of drugs adequately labeled was 100 % and the patients' knowledge of correct dosage schedule was 61.6 %. Among the facility-specific indicators, all OPDs had a copy of the EDL and 72.4 % of the key drugs were available in stock.

CONCLUSION

Irrational use of drugs was observed in both OPDs. Polypharmacy, brand prescribing, over-prescribing of antibiotics, short consultation and dispensing times, lack of patients' knowledge about prescribed medicines and unavailability of all key drugs in stock were the major issues that need attention of the healthcare authorities. This study necessitates the requirement to implement the relevant WHO recommended core interventions to promote rational use of medicines in these hospital-based OPDs.