Articles

This study investigated the water quality of tanker waters that was collected from Bengaluru urban areas to assess its suitability for domestic purpose. A total of 50 samples were collected in dry (March 2019) season. All samples were analyzed for various hydrochemical parameters, such as pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), turbidity, dissolved oxygen (DO), total hardness (as CaCO3), calcium (CaCO2+), chloride (CaCO−) and nitrate (NO3−). Bacteriological analyses of water samples were analyzed for total coliform count. A very high level of total hardness (186 - 434.6 mg L-1) was determined in 27 water samples tested in this study indicating the necessity of water treatment before used for domestic purpose. Of the 50 samples tested, 7 showed a most probable number (MPN) index of < 23 and 9 showed < 240 and the remaining 34 were unsatisfactory with an MPN index of > 1600 per 100 ml. In some locations, the presence of high MPN index, in particular, rings the bell before using the tanker water in houses and restaurants. Exploration of the mechanisms by which water quality deteriorates during supply chain and potential implication for regulatory policy for monitoring of tanker water while distribution is the need of the hour.

Botulism is the disease caused by botulinum neurotoxins. It is produced by an obligate anaerobic bacteria called Clostridium botulinum. There is no immuno-detection system available in the world for the detection of C. botulinum. Secretory proteins of cooked meat media grown C. botulinum type B were extracted by TCA precipitation method. Polyclonal antibodies were generated against secretory proteins. Cytokine profiling of secretory proteins were done. An immunodetection system was developed to detect the C. botulinum type B using Secretory proteins of C. botulinum type B.

Enzyme-modified cheeses are concentrated cheese flavors produced enzymatically from dairy substrates in order to provide an intense source of cheese flavor with broad applications. Lighvan cheese is an Iranian traditional cheese with a pleasant taste and flavor generated after ripening. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to use commercial enzymes to produce enzyme-modified Lighvan cheese made from unripened and immature cheese. In this study, Neutrase (0.05%, 0.15%, and 0.2%) and Flavourzyme (0.05%, 0.1%, and 0.2%) were added to the base mixture. The resulting mixture was stored in an incubator for 24, 72, and 96 h to provide intense cheese flavor. Sensory evaluations of all samples in terms of bitterness, flavor, taste, and general acceptance were also carried out. The results of the sensory evaluations revealed no significant difference between most of the samples in terms of bitterness, flavor, taste, and general acceptance with respect to the incubation duration and the type and level of the commercial enzymes (p ≤ 0.05). However, the effect of the different concentrations of Flavourzyme on the cheese texture was significant after 24, 72, and 96 h of incubation (p ≤ 0.05). In addition, the effects of the different concentrations of Neutrase on the cheese texture were significant after 96 h of incubation (p ≤ 0.05). Finally, the effect of different concentrations of Flavourzyme on the general acceptance of the samples was significant following 24, 72, and 96 h of incubation (p ≤ 0.05). In general, considering the flavor, taste, texture and general acceptance scores of the enzyme-modified Lighvan cheese samples, the best sample was the sample produced by using 0.1% Neutrase and 0.1% Flavourzyme mixture.

Objectives: Type-2 diabetes mellitus, caused by impaired secretion of insulin, is becoming one of the health hazardous threats to human lives across the world. Its prevalence is rising with time. In this study, 2750 phytochemicals, that are considered to have great ability to eliminate diseases caused by different viruses and bacteria, are obtained from different medicinal plants and discovery of inhibitors through in silico method was performed against Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4). Method: The pharmacological assessment and pharmacokinetics of phytochemicals, molecular docking and density functional theory (DFT) analysis helped to explore the inhibitory action of phytochemicals against DPP4. Total forty-nine phytochemicals were screened initially to reduce the number of compounds to be analyzed further based on a threshold of binding affinity ≥ -5.5 kcal/mol and were considered for further computational studies to analyze their inhibitory effects for DPP4. For comparison and validation of the results of present study, various previously reported and experimentally validated compounds were docked with the DPP4. For these dockings, binding affinity was predicted and compared with those of phytochemicals to check if these phytochemicals are competent enough to be used as an inhibitor in the treatment of diabetes mellitus in the future. Results: Only four phytochemicals showed binding affinity greater than those of experimentally validated compounds. These included two phytochemicals from Silybum marianum, i.e. Diprenyleriodictyol and Taxifolin and while other two phytochemicals from Santolina insularis and Erythrina Varigatae i.e. Papraline and Osajin respectively. The reactivity levels for these four phytochemicals with the binding site residues of DPP4 were obtained by DFT based analysis, in which ELUMO, EHOMO and band energy gap were computed. Conclusion: Based on these results, it is concluded that these four phytochemicals, after passing through in vitro and in vivo validation, can be utilized as potential DPP4 inhibitors as they have strong properties as compared to those of various experimentally validated inhibitors.

Background: Egypt has the highest prevalence of HCV in the world as more than 10% of population suffers from HCV infection. High prevalence of HCV in Egypt represents a great risk to the whole population that requires aggressive mass awareness regarding routes of infection and means of prevention. Aim: To determine the knowledge and practices of university students in 5 different faculties in Suez Canal University regarding HCV infection and means of prevention. Materials and method: A cross sectional study was conducted in five university faculties in Suez Canal University. Results: The study included 698 students from the faculties of Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Nursing and Education in Suez Canal University in Ismailia city in Egypt. There was a statistically significant difference regarding the knowledge about the diagnosis, complications and routes of transmission total knowledge score for HCV among the different faculties. Conclusion and Recommendations: Knowledge and practices of university students in Suez Canal University is partial to weak especially in students of non-biological sciences who have less close contact with patients

Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the top five pathogens causing healthcare-associated infections. Biofilm formation is nowadays a major problem. Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of virulence genes in clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa at Suez Canal University Hospitals with respect to the site of infection and microbial resistance of the strains. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out on 47 Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains collected from hospitalized patients from December 2015 to August 2017. To detect biofilm formation, we used Tissue Culture Plate Method. The virulence genes (toxA, algD, nan1, pslA and pelA) were amplified using PCR technique. Results: The highest sensitivity was to Imipenem and Ciprofloxacin (85.1% and 68.1% respectively).With respect to the virulence genes, toxA gene was detected in 45 isolates (95.7%), algD gene in 42 isolates (89.4%), pslA in 42 isolates (89.4%) %), pelA cted in 41 isolates (87.2%) and nan1gene was detected in 19 isolates (40.45%). Conclusions and Recommendations: We conclude that there is relationship between virulence genes and biofilm formation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We recommend the expansion of work on a larger sample size in a longer period of time.

Biomarkers have been used in the diagnosis of disease and other conditions for many decades. There are diverse ranges of analytical targets, including metabolites, nucleic acids and proteins were used as a biomarker. Clinical diagnoses already rely heavily on these for patient disease classification, management, and informing treatment and care pathways. For that there is always a need of rapid and point of care test. However, until fairly recently, studies of biomarker efficacy in a clinical setting were mainly limited to single or dual use, and the landscape was complex, confused, and often inconsistent. Few candidates emerged from this somewhat clouded picture: C-reactive protein, procalcitonin (PCT) for sepsis, ADA for mycobacterium tuberculosis and a Circulating miRNAs serve as molecular markers for diverse physiological and pathological conditions.

Filariasis is one of the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) known to be of serious public health importance and pose devastating socio-economic burden especially among the poor people in tropical and subtropical countries of the world. The parasite is responsible for lymphatic filariasis affecting about 1.3 billion people in 72 countries worldwide. The major parasitic agents of the infection are three closely related nematodes of clade Onchocercidaei namely Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi and B. timori that are transmitted to human through bites by mosquitoes of genera: Aedes, Anopheles, Culex and Mansonia. The disease is targeted by the World Health Organization (WHO) for elimination by 2020 through the use of chemically synthesized drugs used as therapeutic agents to cure the disease but there are some setbacks. Phytochemical extracts are viewed as alternative therapy in the management of the disease. Additionally, the species have many ecological variants and are diversified in terms of their genetic fingerprint. This diversification in terms of genomic sequences as well as rapid infection rate warrant the lymphatic filarial parasites to respond differently to diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. Thus understanding the genomic diversity of the parasite will help in efficient therapeutic management of the disease, thereby eliminating it to prevent unnecessary suffering and contribute to the reduction of poverty. In this review, we have highlighted on the used for phytochemical extracts in the therapeutic management of the lymphatic and the molecular genetic diversity of the parasite was delineated.

Chagas disease is a public health problem in Latin America and its treatment is based on the use of benznidazole or nifurtimox compounds. Both present problems such as resistance, inefficiency in chronic infection and cytotoxic effects. New compounds such as posaconazole and amiodarone have been tested against T. cruzii and shown to be effective. In addition, new molecules have been synthesized and tested against T. cruzii. Because this protozoan is highly pathogenic, even with a number of cases of accidental laboratory infections, few laboratories located outside Latin America are authorized to work with its infective developmental stages. On the other hand, Trypanosoma dionisii is a non-pathogenic protozoan phylogenetically related to T. cruzii and that shares similar strategies to complete its life cycle in mammalian cells in vitro. Here, we describe a comparative analysis of the sensitivity of both parasites to benznidazole, posoconazole and amiodarone. We also analyzed the morphological effects of these compounds on both Trypanosoma species using electron microscopy. Our results show that T. dionisii is more sensitive to the compounds tested than T. cruzii. They also support a previous suggestion that it may constitute an excellent model for large scale screening of compounds against T. cruzii.

Background: Melanin production due to phenoloxidase activity is a distinctive property of Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii species complex yeasts. Therefore, an agar medium containing a precursor of melanin pigment is potentially useful to identify and differentiate cryptococcal colonies from other yeasts. Background: This study aimed to evaluate and compare the ability of Cryptococcus neoformans species complex isolates to produce brown-pigmented colonies when grown on media prepared from various plant leaves or seeds extracts. Material and Methods: Forty-six C. neoformans species complex isolates which were obtained from various environmental and clinical samples were inoculated on different media containing coriander, cumin, soybean, lupine, flax, pumpkin, basil, peppermint, and marjoram, were observed for the rate of growth and pigment production during a five-day period. Results: All isolates were pigmented on all media within 24-48 hours, and brown or dark brown colonies were observed in less than five days, while C. albicans grew but did not produce any pigment. Conclusion: The differential media tested in the present study are simple and inexpensive, and represent alternative valid tools for presumptive identification of C. neoformans species complex from clinical and environmental samples