Spatio-temporal analysis of land use land cover change and its impact on land surface temperature of Sialkot City, Pakistan

The dynamic interplay between urbanization and its impacts on climate is a subject of recent concern, particularly in rapidly urbanizing cities of Pakistan. This research investigated the spatio-temporal effects of urban growth in terms of Land Use Land Cover changes on the thermal environment (Land Surface Temperature) of the Sialkot city, Pakistan using satellite data spanning four distinct time periods (1989, 2000, 2009 and 2020) and predicted changes for year 2030 by employing Cellular Automata Markov Chain Model. Satellite imagery (Landsat 5, 7 and 8) was processed, and maximum likelihood supervised classification was done to generate LULC maps for each of the aforementioned years. In addition to LULC classification, thermal bands of satellite data (for summer and winter) were processed to compute Land Surface Temperature (LST) of the city. The prediction of LULC changes and LST was done for year 2030 using Cellular Automata Markov Chain Model. The accuracy of classified and prediction maps was checked using Kappa Index. The LULC analysis revealed 4.14% increase in the built-up area and 3.43% decrease in vegetation cover of the city during 1989 to 2020. Both land covers are expected to change in the future (year 2030) by + 1.31% (built-up) and - 1.1% (vegetation). Furthermore, a declining trend in the barren land and water bodies was also observed over time. These LULC changes were found affecting the LST of study area. The transformation of vegetation cover into built-up area resulted in an increase in LST over time. A notable rise of 4.5 °C (summer) and 5.7 °C (winter) in the mean LST of Sialkot was observed during 1989 to 2020 and further increases are anticipated in year 2030. This study calls for attention of the policy makers to reduce human impact on the local climate of the city. The study will also help city developers in analyzing the urban population growth trend, finding suitable location to built new infrastructure by governmental authorities and how the rising temperature can affect energy demand and agriculture production of the city in future.

Microwave-Treated Physically Cross-Linked Sodium Alginate and Sodium Carboxymethyl Cellulose Blend Polymer Film for Open Incision Wound Healing in Diabetic Animals-A Novel Perspective for Skin Tissue Regeneration Application

This study aimed at developing the microwave-treated, physically cross-linked polymer blend film, optimizing the microwave treatment time, and testing for physicochemical attributes and wound healing potential in diabetic animals. Microwave-treated and untreated films were prepared by the solution casting method and characterized for various attributes required by a wound healing platform. The optimized formulation was tested for skin regeneration potential in the diabetes-induced open-incision animal model. The results indicated that the optimized polymer film formulation (MB-3) has significantly enhanced physicochemical properties such as high moisture adsorption (154.6 ± 4.23%), decreased the water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) value of (53.0 ± 2.8 g/m²/h) and water vapor permeability (WVP) value (1.74 ± 0.08 g mm/h/m²), delayed erosion (18.69 ± 4.74%), high water uptake, smooth and homogenous surface morphology, higher tensile strength (56.84 ± 1.19 MPa), and increased glass transition temperature and enthalpy (through polymer hydrophilic functional groups depicting efficient cross-linking). The in vivo data on day 16 of post-wounding indicated that the wound healing occurred faster with significantly increased percent re-epithelialization and enhanced collagen deposition with optimized MB-3 film application compared with the untreated group. The study concluded that the microwave-treated polymer blend films have sufficiently enhanced physical properties, making them an effective candidate for ameliorating the diabetic wound healing process and hastening skin tissue regeneration.

Antibacterial activity of Ricinus communis plant extract against antibiotic resistant Helicobacter pylori and Gluconobacter oxydans isolated from fresh apple juices samples

Bacteria were isolated from samples of Fresh Apple juices from shops of three different localities of Lahore. Analysis of samples from Liberty, Anarkali and Yateem khana Markets show different levels of contamination. There were pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria in all samples and were identified by the morphological and biochemical tests. Most of the plasmids of pathogenic bacteria were 4kb in their molecular size. Ribotyping of 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing was done to confirm Helicobacter pylori strain and Gluconobacter oxydans. The highest sensitivity of 210mm was shown by Enterobacter sp. against Aztheromysine disk (15µg) while Micrococcus sp. was highly resistant against all of the Antibiotics applied. The antibiotic resistance of pathogenic bacteria was also checked against Ricinus communis plant's extracts, all isolated bacterial pathogens were resistant but only, E.coli was inhibited at 300µl of the extracts. Presence of pathogenic bacteria in Apple juice samples was due to contamination of sewage water in drinking water while some of these pathogenic bacteria came from Apple's tree and other from store houses of fruits.

Novel Ergot Alkaloids Production from Penicillium citrinum Employing Response Surface Methodology Technique

Ergot alkaloids are novel pharmaceutical and therapeutic agents synthesized in this study using fungal species Penicillium citrinum. To get the maximum yield of ergot alkaloids a statistical process of response surface methodology was employed using surface culture fermentation technique. Initially, the strain of Penicillium was improved using physical (ultraviolet (UV) and chemical (ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) treatments to get the maximum yield of ergot alkaloids through surface culture fermentation technique. After improving the strain, survival rate of colonies of Penicillium citrinum treated with UV and EMS was observed. Only 2.04% living colonies were observed after 150 min of exposure of Penicillium citrinum in UV light and 3.2% living colonies were observed after 20 min of the exposure in EMS. The mutated strains of Penicillium citrinum were screened for their production of ergot alkaloids and after fermentation experiments, maximum yield was obtained from PCUV-4 and PCEMS-1 strains. After strain improvement, Plackett–Burman design (PBD) and Box–Behnken design (BBD) of RSM were employed and 10-fold yield enhancement (35.60 mg/100 mL) of ergot alkaloids was achieved. This enhancement in yield of ergot alkaloids proved the positive impacts of RSM and UV on the yield of ergot alkaloids. The study provides a cost effective, economical and sustainable process to produce medically important ergot alkaloids which can be used in various pharmaceutical formulations to treat human diseases.

Screening and optimization of some inorganic salts for the production of ergot alkaloids from Penicillium species using surface culture fermentation process

The present study deals with the production of ergot alkaloids from Penicillium commune and Penicillium citrinum, using surface culture fermentation process. Impact of various inorganic salts was tested on the production of ergot alkaloids during the optimization studies of fermentation medium such as impact of various concentration levels of succinic acid, ammonium chloride, MgSO4, FeSO4, ZnSO4, pH and the effect of various incubation time periods was also determined on the production of ergot alkaloids from Penicillium commune and Penicillium citrinum. Highest yield of ergot alkaloids was obtained when Penicillium commune and Penicillium citrinum that were grown on optimum levels of ingredients such as 2 g succinic acid, 1.5 and 2 g NH4Cl, 1.5 g MgSO4, 1 g FeSO4, 1 and 1.5 g ZnSO4 after 21 days of incubation time period using pH 5 at 25(°)C incubation temperature in the fermentation medium. Ergot alkaloids were determined using Spectrophotometry and Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) techniques.