Quantitative assessment and status of ethnomedicinal plants of Sheen Ghar Valley, Dir Lower, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

This study was conducted from March 2017 to August 2018, to enumerate the quantitative attributes and current status of medicinal plants of Sheen Ghar Valley, District Dir Lower, Pakistan. A total of 51 species were documented for their medicinal uses. These plants belonged to 31 families. Results of this study revealed that leaves were the frequently used part (50%), followed by whole plants (only 30%) in curing different ailments. Many plants were found to be having multiple uses. Based on family importance value (FIV), Lamiaceae was the leading plant family (126.30) followed by Violaceae (55.81), while highest relative frequency of citation (RFC) was noted for Viola canescens (0.558) followed by Olea europaea (0.523). Conservation study revealed that 24 species (47%) were vulnerable, 22 species (43%) were rare and 4 species (8%) were noted as infrequent. Following IUCN standards for conservation, one species i.e. Hypericum perforatum was declared dominant. This study recommends immediate ex-situ and in-situ conservation programme for protecting the plant wealth of the locality

Ebola, the Negative Stranded RNA Virus

Ebola virus (EBV) is a deadly virus that has resulted in a number of deaths during its outbreaks in Africa in 2014–2016 and 2018–2019. This virus causes a hemorrhagic fever like other pathogenic viruses of the Filoviridae family with high mortality rate. The exact reservoir of the ebola virus is not known, but different mammal groups are the source from which it is transferred to the human population. The transmission among the human population is through body fluids of patients and also through aersol droplets in the air. The role of different glycoproteins in the budding formation has helped a lot in understanding the physiology of the ebola virus. Most of these viral glycoproteins synthesis and the replication enzymes offer a good inhibitory target for drug design against the ebola virus. Recently, different groups have claimed the development of a successful vaccine for the ebola virus. However, the availability of the vaccines to the poor population of Africa and other parts of the world is still not practical

Zika Virus, Microcephaly and its Possible Global Spread

Zika virus is an arbovirus that is spreading at an alarming state in the American continents and now in Asian countries. The Aedes mosquitoes are the vectors for the spread of this virus beside other ways of transmission. Currently, there are no vaccines or drugs available for its treatment. The Zika virus–related microcephaly cases are reported in fetuses of pregnant women who got this viral infection. However, the exact mechanism of Zika virus and microcephaly is still not established. Here we review Zika virus epidemiology, its unusual relationship with microcephaly in fetuses and current scientific research progress on it

Allelopathic inhibition of germination, seedling growth and cell division of selected plant species by Calotropis procera (Ait.) Ait.

Calotropis procera (Ait.) Ait. is perennial medicinal obnoxious shrub growing in Pakistan up to 1500 m altitude. Hot and water aqueous extracts from leaves and young stems of C. procera were used against Pennisetum glaucum (Linn.) R. Br., Setaria italica (Linn.) P. Beauv., Brassica campestris Linn. and Lactuca sativa L. under laboratory condition. It was seen that germination, seedling growth, fresh and dry biomass reduced in concentration dependent manner. It was observed that the allelopathic effects depended upon the tested species, growth parameter measured, soaking duration and concentration of the donor plant material. The C. procera litter incorporated into the growth medium inhibited the test species used. The C. procera extracts from leaves were more inhibitory than stem extracts. The tendency of inhibition was radical growth > germination > plumule growth suggesting radicle growth to be a better measure of allelopathy. Leaf extracts significantly reduced division and size of cells. It is suggested that aqueous extract from C. procera can be further assessed against microbes and weed under laboratory and field condition

Synthesis and Characterization of Azo-Guanidine Based Alcoholic Media Naked Eye DNA Sensor

DNA sensing always has an open meadow of curiosity for biotechnologists and other researchers. Recently, in this field, we have introduced an emerging class of molecules containing azo and guanidine functionalities. In this study, we have synthesized three new compounds (UA1, UA6 and UA7) for potential application in DNA sensing in alcoholic medium. The synthesized materials were characterized by elemental analysis, FTIR, UV-visible, 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectroscopies. Their DNA sensing potential were investigated by UV-visible spectroscopy. The insight of interaction with DNA was further investigated by electrochemical (cyclic voltammetry) and hydrodynamic (viscosity) studies. The results showed that compounds have moderate DNA binding properties, with the binding constants range being 7.2 x 103, 2.4 x 103 and 0.2 x 103 M-1, for UA1, UA6 and UA7, respectively. Upon binding with DNA, there was a change in colour (a blue shift in the lambda(max) value) which was observable with a naked eye. These results indicated the potential of synthesized compounds as DNA sensors with detection limit 1.8, 5.8 and 4.0 ng μl-1 for UA1, UA6 and UA7, respectively

Photosystem II oxygen-evolving complex photoassembly displays an inverse H/D solvent isotope effect under chloride-limiting conditions

© 2019 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Photosystem II (PSII) performs the solar-driven oxidation of water used to fuel oxygenic photosynthesis. The active site of water oxidation is the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC), a Mn4CaO5 cluster. PSII requires degradation of key subunits and reassembly of the OEC as frequently as every 20 to 40 min. The metals for the OEC are assembled within the PSII protein environment via a series of binding events and photochemically induced oxidation events, but the full mechanism is unknown. A role of proton release in this mechanism is suggested here by the observation that the yield of in vitro OEC photoassembly is higher in deuterated water, D2O, compared with H2O when chloride is limiting. In kinetic studies, OEC photoassembly shows a significant lag phase in H2O at limiting chloride concentrations with an apparent H/D solvent isotope effect of 0.14 ± 0.05. The growth phase of OEC photoassembly shows an H/D solvent isotope effect of 1.5 ± 0.2. We analyzed the protonation states of the OEC protein environment using classical Multiconformer Continuum Electrostatics. Combining experiments and simulations leads to a model in which protons are lost from amino acid that will serve as OEC ligands as metals are bound. Chloride and D2O increase the proton affinities of key amino acid residues. These residues tune the binding affinity of Mn2+/3+ and facilitate the deprotonation of water to form a proposed μ-hydroxo bridged Mn2+Mn3+ intermediate

Salvia reflexa (Lamiaceae): a new record for Pakistan

Salvia reflexa Hornem., a member of the New World subgenus Calosphace, ranges from North America to southern South America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Afghanistan in Asia, and still continues to expand its range. Here we report further range expansion for S. reflexa into the tribal areas of Pakistan and hypothesize that it has been introduced from Afghanistan. This represents a new record for the flora of Pakistan

Analytical representation of spatial and temporal variations of the geomagnetic field in the Indian region

The magnetic measurements of declination (D), horizontal (H) and vertical (Z) components of earth's magnetic field, collected from ground surveys between 1962 and 1966, are used to develop an analytical model of geomagnetic field variations over Indian region for the epoch 1965. In order to reflect spatial features with wavelengths of approximately 1000 km, sixth degree polynomial as a function of differential latitude and longitude is calculated by the method of least squares. The root mean square fit of the model to the input data is better than that accounted by the International Geomagnetic Reference Field for 1965.0. Isomagnetic charts drawn for D, H, Z and total force (F) reflect more details than that shown on world magnetic charts. Further, the values of the field at common repeat stations recorded between 1962 and 1974, after eliminating the field values for the epoch 1965.0, are used to get the secular variation as well as its spatial dependence again by means of polynomial which now includes coefficients which are functions of time and of geographical locations. The accuracy of coefficients is tested against the behaviour of secular variation at permanent magnetic observatories. The merits and limitations of the model are discussed

Natural Polysaccharides as Preventive and Therapeutic Horizon for Neurodegenerative Diseases

Neurodegenerative diseases are a serious and widespread global public health burden amongst aging populations. The total estimated worldwide global cost of dementia was US$818 billion in 2015 and has been projected to rise to 2 trillion US$ by 2030. While advances have been made to understand different neurodegenerative disease mechanisms, effective therapeutic strategies do not generally exist. Several drugs have been proposed in the last two decades for the treatment of different types of neurodegenerative diseases, with little therapeutic benefit, and often with severe adverse and side effects. Thus, the search for novel drugs with higher efficacy and fewer drawbacks is an ongoing challenge in the treatment of neurodegenerative disease. Several natural compounds including polysaccharides have demonstrated neuroprotective and even therapeutic effects. Natural polysaccharides are widely distributed in plants, animals, algae, bacterial and fungal species, and have received considerable attention for their wide-ranging bioactivity, including their antioxidant, anti-neuroinflammatory, anticholinesterase and anti-amyloidogenic effects. In this review, we summarize different mechanisms involved in neurodegenerative diseases and the neuroprotective effects of natural polysaccharides, highlighting their potential role in the prevention and therapy of neurodegenerative disease