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Investigation of the Effect of Base Strength on the Antifungal Activity and Chemical Composition of the Fish Scales Hydrolyzates
Sadaf Niaz, Sobia Dil, Zahid Hussain, Nasim Rafiq and Shahnaz Perveen
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The effect of base strength on the antifungal activity of the fish scale hydrolyzate was investigated for six types of samples prepared from the scales of Cyprinus carpio using sodium hydroxide in the range of 1-11% strength in the aqueous solution. Each of the sample was analyzed for its acid-base content using titration against HCl in addition to the spot test analysis for phenolic compounds. Each of these samples was analyzed using FTIR spectroscopy. Variation in chemical composition and functional group were observed with variation in the base strength. The in vitro antifungal activity of the fish scale hydrolyzates was tested against four pathogenic fungi including Acremonium, Pythium, Verticillium, and Alternaria. The antifungal assay was carried out using agar well diffusion methods. The sterilization was carried out using streptomycin while ketoconazole was used as the standard antifungal agent. Minimum inhibitory concentration was determined for the most active hydrolyzate which was obtained by 9% base solution. The cause of this antifungal activity was also discussed in this communication.
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Anti-Leishmanial Evaluation of Fraxinus xanthoxyloides (G. Don) DC. Collected from District Islamabad
Tahira Younis, Muhammad Rashid Khan, Naseer Ali Shah, Jawaid Ahmad Zai and Habiba Khan
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In this study, we have investigated phytochemical classes, antileishmanial and cytotoxic activity of Fraxinus xanthoxyloides (Oleaceae) leaves. Powder of F. xanthoxyloides leaves was extracted with methanol to obtain the crude extract (FXM) and the resultant was fractionated with solvents in escalating polarity; n-hexane (FXH), chloroform (FXC), ethyl acetate (FXE), n-butanol (FXB) and the residual aqueous (FXA) fraction. Quantitative estimation of terpenoids, coumarins, flavonoids, phenolics and tannins was conducted. Anti-leishmanial activity was performed against Leishmania tropica promastigote stage parasite while insecticidal activity was assessed through brine shrimps lethality assay. Our results showed the maximum concentration of terpenoids in FXC while the highest quantity of coumarins, flavonoids, phenolics and tannins was recorded in FXE. Presence of terpenoids was not detected in FXB and in FXA. Among the extract/fractions, FXC exhibited the highest anti-leishmanial activity with LD50 of 15.23±0.9 µg/ml to that of glucantime (LD50 = 5.6±2.4 µg/ml) a reference drug. FXH exhibited the anti-leishmanial activity of LD50 = 40.68±1.9 µg/ml followed by FXE (LD50 = 102.9±3.1 µg/ml). Similarly potent insecticidal activity was recorded (LD50 = 28.15±1.8 µg/ml) for FXC followed by FXH (LD50 = 67.59±2.3 µg/ml). However, other fractions exhibited low level of anti-leishmanial and insecticidal activity. Correlation analysis exhibited a strong association (p < 0.05) between the terpenoids and the anti-leishmanial activity and a second but non significant association (p > 0.05) with the insecticidal activity. The coumarins established a medium association with the insecticidal activity. Other chemical classes exhibited a moderate to low level of association with the anti-leishmanial and the insecticidal activity. On the basis of these results we can conclude that chloroform fraction of F. xanthoxyloides is a potential source for anti-leishmanial and insecticidal activities and further studies are required to isolate the active constituents.
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Flow Injection Potentiometric Determination of Silver(I) in Photographic Film Developing Solution Samples by Polyvinylchloride Membrane Silver(I) Selective Electrode
Cihan Topcu, Fatih Coldur, Muberra Andac, Osman Cubuk, Gulsah Saydan Kanberoglu, Bulent Caglar and Ibrahim Isildak
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A polyvinylchloride (PVC) membrane silver(I) selective electrode was developed for the determination of silver(I) ions in photographic film developing solutions. The electrode was embedded into a home-made flow cell and successfully used as a potentiometric detector in a flow injection potentiometric (FIP) system. Under the optimized flow injection conditions, the electrode exhibited a non-Nernstian slope of 67.20±0.80 mV in the linear range from 1.0×10-5 to 1.0×10-1 mol/L (R2=0.9961) and the lowest value for limit of detection (LOD) was calculated as 7.1×10-6 mol/L. The electrode displayed good sensitivity, selectivity, repeatable and rapid response towards silver(I) ions. Lifetime of the electrode was determined as at least two months in FIP system. The electrode was also successfully applied for the potentiometric determination of silver(I) ions in photographic film developing solution samples in FIP system. The results attained from FIP system were compared with the atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) results by using student’s t-test at 95 % confidence level and relative deviation (RD) between the two methods was < 8 %.
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Antiurease, Antiphosphodiesterase and Antiglycation Studies of Pd(II) Complexes with Monodentate Hydrazides
Qurrat-ul-Ain, Saima Rasheed, Mohammad Mahroof-Tahir, Uzma Ashiq, Rifat Ara Jamal, Sumaira Khurshid and Sana Mustafa
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The present study was aimed to synthesize and characterize a series of Pd(II)-benzohydrazide complexes with subsequent high throughput screening to seek their effects as enzyme inhibitors and antiglycating agents. Based on complete characterization via elemental (CHN, Pd) analysis, physical (conductivity, magnetic moment) measurements and spectral (FT-IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR) techniques, all Pd(II) complexes were identified as diamagnetic, neutral and orienting in trans square planar geometry with general formula [PdL2Cl2]. The benzohydrazide (L) in these complexes depicts monodentate behavior, providing terminal amino nitrogen as a donor atom. Compared to inactive precursors (free benzohydrazides and Pd2+), almost all Pd(II) complexes showed in vitro antiglycation activity, illustrating the potential role of resulting complexes in the suppression of diabetes and related disorders. The presence of free carbonyl group in complexes has been recognized as possible cause of antiglycation. This study also indicated Pd(II) compounds as far more superior inhibitors of urease and phosphodiesterase-I than parent ligands; many of them exhibited inhibitions equivalent or even greater than the standard inhibitors (thiourea, urease; EDTA, phosphodiesterase), which shows their potential use in future in the control of peptic ulcer and arthritis, respectively. The structure activity relationship (SAR) study demonstrated that complexation, steric hindrance, position of substituents, electron density around metal centre, hydrogen bonding and coordination mode of complexed ligands play prime role in modulating the biological activities of complexes.
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Wheat Protection from Root Rot Caused by Fusarium culmorum Using Silver Nanoparticles
Al-Othman Monira Rashed, Abd-El-Aziz Abeer Ramadan Mohamed and Mahmoud Mohamed Abobakr
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Nanomaterials have a positive impact on agriculture. Silver nanoparticles were used to enhance seed germination, plant growth, and as antimicrobial agents to control plant diseases. In the present study, the effectiveness of silver nanoparticles on seed germination of wheat, growth parameters, and control of root rot disease caused by Fusarium culmorum were examined. Three different concentrations (10, 20, and 40 mg/l) were used. Exposure to AgNPs had no significant effects on the seed germination at 10 mg/l and 20 mg/l while at 40 mg/l significant effects were observed compared to that in the control (untreated). Germination was highest (86%) after exposure to 20 mg/l of AgNPs. AgNPs, at all concentrations tested, had significant effects on the pre-emergence, post-emergence and survival as compared to the control (infected and untreated with AgNPs); the highest effects were observed after exposure to 40 mg/l of AgNPs (15, 10, and 75% respectively). Additionally, our results indicate that plant height, fresh weight, and dry weight were significantly increased at 10 mg/l (23.4 cm, 6 g, and 1.45 g), and 20 mg/l (27.3 cm, 7.5 g, and 1.98 g) respectively, compared with that of the control. However, higher concentration (40 mg/l) of AgNPs decreased the growth parameters.
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Synthesis and Molecular Structures of 1-Hydroxyethyl-2-(p-Substituted) Phenoxymethyl Benzimidazoles
Jiacheng Wu, Li Zhao, Changqing Zhao, Zhiyuan Wang, Haibin Gu and Wuyong Chen
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Five novel 1-hydroxyethyl-2-(p-substituted) phenoxymethyl benzimidazoles were synthesized by a three-step route. Under microwave irradiation, the p-substituted phenols were firstly O-carboxymethylated to prepare the corresponding p-substituted phenoxymethyl acids, which then reacted with o-phenylendiamine to get the key intermediates 2-(p-substituted) phenoxymethyl benzimidazole. Finally, the solid-liquid phase transfer catalysis method, where tetrabutyl ammonium bromide (TBAB) was used as the catalyst, was applied to synthesize the target compounds c1-c5 by the N-hydroxyethylation reaction with 2-chloroethyl alcohol. The structures of the obtained compounds were well characterized and confirmed by elemental analysis, MS, IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis.
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Assessing the Processing Quality of Different Potato Cultivars during Storage at Various Temperatures
Adnan Amjad, Muhammad Atif Randhawa, Masood Sadiq Butt and Muhammad Asghar
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Processing industry needs continuous supply of tubers for fries/chips preparation throughout the year. Storage is obligatory to meet the increasing demand of population. Objective of this study was to evaluate the processing and quality characteristics of different potato cultivars (Lady Rosetta, Santé, Hermes, Crozo, Kuroda and Asterix) during storage with 75-80% relative humidity for the period of 160 days at various temperatures (3ºC, 7ºC, 11ºC). Quality parameters such as specific gravity, sprouting, weight loss, dry matter, starch content, ascorbic acid, sugar content and invertase enzyme activity were determined to estimate the processing potential of each cultivar. High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) equipped with amino (NH2) column and Refractive Index Detector (RID) was used for the identification and quantification of sugars. The findings of the present work showed that temperature significantly (p < 0.05) influenced the processing quality throughout the storage. Low temperature (3ºC) storage caused cold induced sweetening (CIS) due to increased invertase activity whereas, high temperature resulted in sprouting and weight loss of the tubers. Overall processing acceptability for all the cultivars with good frying color was obtained at an intermediate storage temperature of 7ºC in the order of Lady Rosetta > Hermes > Crozo > Santé > Asterix > Kuroda.
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Influence of Operating Parameters on the Arsenic and Boron Removal by Electrocoagulation
Berrin Zeliha Can, Recep Boncukcuoğlu, Serkan BAYAR and Yalçın Kemal BAYHAN
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Despite their high boron contents, some boron deposits contain considerable amounts of arsenic. Its toxicology and health hazard also has been reported for many years. In this work arsenic and boron removal from synthetic water was studied on laboratory scale by electrocoagulation using aluminum electrodes. The influence of main operating parameters such as current density, stirring speed, supporting electrolyte type and concentration on the arsenic and boron removal was investigated. Waste water sample was prepared with initial arsenic concentration of 50 mg L-1 and boron concentration of 1000 mg L-1. Current density was varied from 0.18 to 4.28 mA cm-2, stirring speed was varied as 50, 150, 250, 350 rpm, NaCl, KCl and Na2SO4 were used as supporting electrolyte. The obtained experimental results showed that efficiency of arsenic and boron removal increased with increasing current density. As the current density increases, the potential difference applied to the system also increases the energy consumption. Increasing the supporting electrolyte concentration increased conductivity of solution and decreased energy consumption. The most favorable supporting electrolyte type was NaCl for arsenic and boron removal. The best stirring speed were 150 rpm for arsenic and boron removal.
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Anti-Cancer Potential of Benzophenone-Bis-Schiff bases on Human Pancreatic Cancer Cell Line
Khalid Mohammed Khan, Huma Rasheed, Bibi Fatima, Muhammad Hayat, Fazal Rahim, Hayat Ullah, Abdul Hameed, Muhammad Taha, Affan Tahir and Shahnaz Perveen
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Synthetic benzophenone-bis-Schiff bases (1-17) were evaluated for PC3 cell line inhibition. Most of the compounds showed cytotoxic effects but compounds 4, 8, 14, 16, and 17 were found to be potent. The growth inhibition of PC3 cells was in a concentration-dependent manner when treated with compounds 4, 8, 14, 16 and 17 (Figure-2) after 24 h exposure time. The IC50 values of all five most active compounds were calculated as 4 (IC50 = 24 ± 1.4 µM), 8 (IC50 = 29 ± 1.3 µM), 14 (IC50 = 66 ± 2.8 µM), 16 (IC50 = 28 ± 1.4 µM) and 17 (IC50 = 18 ± 2.8 µM) when compared with standard cisplatin (IC50 = 20 ± 1.1 µM). This study has identified potent anticancer agents.
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Development and Validation of HPLC Analytical Method for Quantitative Determination of Metronidazole in Human Plasma
Kashif Ali Safdar, Syed Baqir Shyum Naqvi and Shahnaz Usman
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The objective of the present study was to develop a simple, rapid and sensitive reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) analytical method with UV detection system for the quantitative determination of metronidazole in human plasma. The chromatographic separation was performed by using C18 RP column (250mm X 4.6mm, 5µm) as stationary phase and 0.01M potassium dihydrogen phosphate buffered at pH 3.0 and acetonitrile (83:17, v/v) as mobile phase at flow rate of 1.0 ml/min. The UV detection was carried out at 320nm. The method was validated as per the US FDA guideline for bioanalytical method validation and was found to be selective without interferences from mobile phase components, impurities and biological matrix. The method found to be linear over the concentration range of 0.2812µg/ml to 18.0µg/ml (r2 = 0.9987) with adequate level of accuracy and precision. The samples were found to be stable under various recommended laboratory and storage conditions. Therefore, the method can be used with adequate level of confidence and assurance for bioavailability, bioequivalence and other pharmacokinetic studies of metronidazole in human.
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