Water stress induced changes in antioxidant enzymes, membrane stability and seed protein profile of different wheat accessions

Water stress induced changes in antioxidant enzymes membrane stablity index and seed protein profiling of four different wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) accessions (011251, 011417, 011320 and 011393) were determined in a pot study under natural condition during the wheat-growing season 2005 and 2006. Sampling was done 3, 6 and 9 days after induction of water stress. Recovery was studied at 48 and 72 h of re-watering. Marked increase in leaf antioxidant enzymes associated with a decrease inmembrane stability index occurred under water stress. Accession 320 showed the least increase in catalase and peroxidase activity but maximum decrease in membrane stability index. The inhibitoryeffects of water stress on plants were ameliorated by exogenous application of ABA and this ameliorating effect was found to be more significant at booting stage as compared to grainfilling particularly in the accession 320. The accessions 417 and 320 (which were most dissimilar on the basis of physiology under water stress, one most tolerant and the other most sensitive to water stress) showed least polymorphism among the four accessions on the basis of RAPD (Random AmplifiedPolymorphic DNA) analysis. Seed protein composition was found to be mainly controlled by genetic factors rather than water stress

Role of Urban Parks in Carbon Sequestration– A Case Study of Safari Park, Karachi, Pakistan

Urban parks besides their recreational use can be the potential source of climate mitigation through carbon sequestration. Present study aims to identify the carbon sequestration potential of Safari Park which is by far the largest public park of Karachi established in 1970 covering an area of 0.72 km2. A total of 153 individual trees belonging to 25 species and 14 families were included in the study. Five dominant species with highest Important Value Index (IVI) were Cocos nucifera (14.62 %), Azadirachta indica (14.21 %), Guaiacum officinale (9.93 %), Washington robusta (9.31 %) and Delonix regia (7.11 %). The highest carbon content was sequestered by C. nucifera (9472 kg) followed by D. regia (7599 kg), W. robusta (3576 kg), A. indica (1861.5 kg) while, C. erectus sequestered the lowest carbon content (765.6 kg). Pearson coefficient of all 5 dominant species showed a significantly positive correlation (p \u3c 0.05) between volume and diameter at breast height (DBH) at 0.80 - 0.93 cm, providing an assumption that trees with high DBH have a greater role in carbon sequestration. With a ratio of 17 native and 8 non-native species, the park can serve as an example of well-balanced and diverse ecosystem (Shanon and Simpson Indices of 2.8 and 0.92) focused on yielding maximum carbon content. Because of its large area with high DBH, Cocos nucifera accumulated the most carbon. The tree composition can be taken as a foundation for urban planners who are focused to integrate species diversity, richness and carbon offsetting requirements while setting up a public park in similar arid and semi-arid conditions

PRIMARY BILATERAL BREAST LYMPHOMA: A REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND REPORT OF FOUR CASES FROM A SINGLE CENTRE

Primary breast lymphoma is a rare entity and carries poor prognosis, bilateral breast lymphoma is even rarer and carries worst prognosis. Bilateral breast lymphoma is a rare disease and lacks treatment. Out of the 2766 cases of non- Hodgkin’s lymphoma registered at our institute from 1994 to 2013, 31 cases of breast lymphoma were found, of which four cases had bilateral involvement. In this review, we describe clinical presentation, histopathological subtypes, treatment administered and outcome of those four cases retrospectively. All patients were female with a median age of 31 years (range 24–64 years). Three patients were diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and mucosa associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma detected in one patient. Chemotherapy remained the main treatment modality and surgery (excision biopsy) was reserved for diagnostic purpose only, none of the patients received radiation therapy. Key words: Breast lymphoma, histopathological subtypes, palliation

PROGNOSIS OF BREAST CANCER IN VERY YOUNG AGE (LESS THAN 30 YEARS)

Purpose: Breast cancer diagnosed at a younger age has aggressive biology being triple negative and high grade and is associated with poor prognosis.Materials and Methods: Retrospectively data of 121 patients age 30 years or younger registered during the year 2008 were reviewed. Data were extracted from the cancer registry department of the institute. Demographics studied were the age at diagnosis, gender, pregnancy or lactation association, family history of breast cancer, histopathological diagnosis, and stage of the disease, receptors, type of treatment, response, local recurrence, distant relapse, and survival. Results: A total of 121 patients with age 30 years or less were included. An only a single patient was male. The age range was from 20 to 30 years; bilateral involvement was seen in a single patient. Almost half 50.4% (n = 61) patients had locally advanced disease at presentation. Pregnancy/lactation-associated breast cancer was seen in 29.8% (n = 36). The most common stage was Stage III (52.1%) and Stage II (33.9%). Invasive ductal carcinoma was the most common histology 94.2% (n = 114) of patients; triple negative was the most common molecular subtype present in 46.3% (n = 56). Chemotherapy was received by 92.6% (n = 112), 88.4% (n = 107) patients received radiation therapy. Modi ed radical mastectomy was performed in 57% (n = 69), breast conservation surgery in 35.5% (n = 43), follow- up period was 5 years, local recurrence was observed in 12.4% (n = 15) and cancer related deaths were 42.1% (n = 51). Conclusions: Breast cancer in very young has very aggressive tumour biology, needs aggressive treatment with surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and hormonal therapy. Key words: Breast cancer, pregnancy-associated aggressive tumour biology, triplenegative, young

Synthesis, single crystal X-ray diffraction, Hirshfeld surface and biological activity of quinolone derivatives

Two new quinolone derivatives, 5-nitroquinolin-8-yl-3-bromobenzoate (1) and 5-nitroquinolin-8-yl-3-chlorobenzoate (2), were synthesized and their structures were elucidated using X-ray diffraction techniques. Both compounds crystallized in P21/n (monoclinic) space group having four independent molecules in asymmetric unit. The dihedral angle between benzene and planner quinoline rings in compounds 1 and 2 were found to be 117.7(2) and 117.4(2)ᵒ, respectively. No intermolecular hydrogen bonding was observed in compound 1. However, C-H···O intermolecular interaction was found to connect the molecules in crystal lattice of compound 2. Hirshfeld surfaces analysis was performed to evaluate the directions, and strength of interactions of molecules of compounds and 1 and 2 with neighbouring molecules, and the major contribution in the crystal packing was due to O-H (1, 24.6% and 2, 25.1%) interactions. The synthesized quinoline derivatives were found as potent anti-bacterial agents against E. coli reference (ATCC25922 and ATCC 35218) and multi-drug resistant strains (M2 and M3) with 91.42 to 94.72% inhibition. Both compounds 1 and 2 showed weak antileishmanial activity against L. Major promastigotes in vitro with IC50 values 73.2±3.1 and 72.2±2.3 mg/mL, respectively, and also found as cytotoxic in nature against 3T3 fibroblast cell line

Validation of a food frequency questionnaire for assessing Macronutrient and calcium intake in adult Pakistani population

Objective: To develop and validate a food frequency table (FFQ) for use in urban Pakistani population. Study Design: A validation study. Place and Duration of Study: The Aga Khan University, Karachi, from June to November 2008. Methodology: Healthy adult females, aged ≥ 18 years who consented to be included in the study were inducted, while males, unhealthy females, aged below 18 years or who did not consent were excluded. The FFQ was administered once while 4, 24 hours recalls spread over a period of one year were administered as the reference method. Daily intakes for energy, protein, fat, and calcium intake were estimated for both the tools. Crude and energy adjusted correlations for nutrient intakes were computed for the FFQ and mean of 4, 24 hours recalls and serum N-telopeptide of type-I collagen (NTx). Results: The correlation coefficients for the FFQ with mean of 4, 24 hours recall ranged from 0.21 for protein to 0.36 for calcium, while the correlation for nutrient estimates from the FFQ with NTx ranged from -0.07 for calcium to 0.01 for energy. Conclusion: Highly significant correlations were found for nutrient intakes estimated from the FFQ vs. those estimated from the mean of 4, 24 hours recalls but no correlations was found between nutrient estimates from the FFQ and serum NTx levels. FFQ was concluded to be a valid tool for assessing dietary intake of adult females in Pakistan

Ibuprofen Nanoparticles and its cytotoxicity on A549 and HaCaT cell lines

yesIbuprofen (IBF) is an outstanding non-steroidal drug for analgesic and anti-inflammatory therapies but it exhibits poor solubility in water [1, 2]. Increased dosage administration has been linked to gastrointestinal and cardiovascular complications [3]. Many techniques have been employed to improve the solubility of NSAIDs [4]. In this study, the anti-solvent precipitation method was used to make Ibuprofen nanoparticles (IBF NPs). Optimised preparation parameters such as solvent (ethanol), raw drug concentration (400 mg), solvent/anti-solvent ratio (1:50) and surfactant concentration (0.25 mg/ml) have been studied to yield nanoparticles with a mean size of 58.8 nm, which is confirmed by dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy. These IBF NPs posess increased aqueous solubility compared to the micro counterpart and maintain with chemical integrity indicated by high performance liquid chromatography and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. In addition, in vitro cytotoxicity of IBF NPs has been studied on A549 and HaCat cell lines using MTT and LDH assays. Both cells were obtained from ATCC. The A549 cells were grown in a modification of Ham’s F-12, containing L-glutamine, called F-12K. The HaCaT cells were grown in DMEM containing sodium pyruvate (110 mg/l). Normal cell culture and sub-culture were applied and the cells were used after around 45 passages [5]. The cell culture media containing 105cells/ml were placed in a 96-well plate with addition of IBF NPs and Micro form at concentrations in the range of between 6 and 500 ug/ml by diluting them with DMEM and F-12K for use with the HaCaT and A549 cells respectively. After 24, 48 and 72h exposure, the MTT and LDH cytotoxicity assay were performed in triplicates and on three separate experiment cultures and the absorbance was recorded at 570 nm and 492nm respectively with Elisa micro plate reader. The cell viability (%) related to control (cells in culture medium without NPs) was calculated. A very good cytotoxicity profile was observed, indicating an in vitro cytocompatibility of the IBF NPs in these cell culture systems and no significant changes in cytotoxicity compared with Micro IBF. We conclude that our IBF NPs have increased solubility, same chemical integrity and unchanged cytotoxicity compared to IBF Micro drug. Further work will concentrate on optimising more rigorous parameter to produce excellent quality NPs. More detailed characterisation of IBF NPs is to be tested, such as using PXRD and SEM to further corroborate particle shape and size. The range of no toxic in vitro concentrations is also to be further confirmed. Eventually scaled up preparation of IBF NPs will be developed without relinquishing NPs quality. This would improve the potential for in vitro/ in vivo applications and clinical use of IBF NPs and NSAIDs in general

Purification and characterization of 60 kD lipase linked with chaperonin from Pseudomonas aeruginosa BN-1

An extracellular lipase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa BN-1 was purified to 42.99 fold. N-terminal sequence of purified enzyme was AAKEVKFGDS identical to sequence of a chaperonin and enzyme may be linked to it. It has an estimated molecular weight of 60 kD, while temperature and pH optima were 37°C and 8.0,  respectively. The enzyme obtained has considerable thermostability retaining 70% of activity at 50°C for 1 h. The enzyme was stable at pH 9.5 for 1 h having 70% of the residual activity. Long acyl chains were preferred as substrate and highest hydrolytic activity was observed against C-16 and C-18 4-nitrophenyl esters. Mustard oil was found to be the preferred substrate as lipolytic activity was 2.75 fold higher when compared with the activity with olive oil as the substrate. The enzymatic activity declined in the presence of Al3+, Hg2+, Co2+ and Mn2+, while Ca2+ and Ba2+ ions enhanced the activity. Non ionic detergents, Tween 80 and sodium deoxycholate, increased the activity by 1.2 and 2.5 fold, respectively. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), 2-mercaptoethanol and 1,4-dithio-DL-threitol (DTT) had no effect on lipolytic activity. Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PMSF) inhibited the enzyme activity by 90 and 98%, respectively. The lipase showed stability in organic solvents.Key words: Pseudomonas aeruginosa BN-1, chaperonin, mustard oil, organic solvent, phenyl methyl sulfonylfluoride, sodium deoxycholate, Swiss Prot Accession # P 30718

Production and partial characterization of invertase from Mucor geophillus EFRL 03

In the present study, cultural conditions for invertase production from Mucor geophillus using Brassica niger (oilcake) in batch wise submerged fermentation was  investigated. The effects of time period (24 to 240 h), carbon sources [Brassica campestris, B. niger, pomegranate peel, coconut, malta peel, apple pulp and glucose (control)] and nitrogen sources (peptone, yeast extract, corn steep liquor, ammonium chloride, sodium nitrates and potassium nitrate) were checked on  invertase production. The highest level of invertase was achieved using mineral medium containing 1.0% B. niger hydrolyzed with 0.3 N HCl and 0.5% yeast extract as carbon and nitrogen sources, respectively, and after 48 h of incubation at 45°C, initial pH was adjusted to 6.5. Invertase exhibited the maximum  stability in the range of 25 to 50°C temperature and 4 to 6 pH, respectively, within 10 min of incubation. The enzyme retained more than 60 and 50% activities at 8 and 70°C pH and temperature, respectively. In this study, cost effective substrate was utilized for invertase production. The pH and thermostable invertase can be  utilized in industrial process.Key words: Mucor geophillus, Brassica niger, submerged fermentation, invertase

Effect of Substituting Soybean Meal with Moringa oleifera Meal on the Growth and Body Composition of Labeo rohita Fingerlings

Peer reviewedPublisher PD