Intra-ECO Trade: A Potential Region for Pakistan’s Future Trade

A standard gravity model was applied to estimate the magnitude of potential trade flows between Pakistan and the nine ECO member countries. The major issue in this analysis is to explore that Intra- ECO trade has great potential for Pakistan and that it got lower share than its potential. The results from the gravity model confirm that ECO has a positive and significant impact on intra-regional trade. It suggests that intra-regional trade is lower than what would be predicted by the gravity equation, suggesting greater scope for regional integration among the ECO member countries. This is especially the case between countries that have a common geographical border. The privilege of geography and the existence of trade preferences among ECO members could be expanded to cover potential trade to neighboring countries

Fermentation impact: A comparative study on the functional and biological properties of Banana peel waste

Banana fruit is a highly consumed and widely cultivated world food crop that generates plenty of waste globally. In this work, the phytochemical, nutritional, scavenging and therapeutic potentials of banana peel (BP) extracts were compared before and after fermentation. Halophilic fungi (Alternaria alternata, Pleosporaceae spp., Fusarium culmorum) were used in fermentation media designated as fermented banana peel FBP1, FBP2, and FBP3, respectively. Phytochemical coumarins, terpenoids, tannins, saponins, quinones, flavonoids, alkaloids, carbohydrates, proteins and steroids were found in all extracts while anthraquinone was identified in BP extracts only. Fermented extracts showed less quantity of Carbohydrate, compared to BP (477.1 ± 28.93 mg/g). Fermentation influenced the protein concentration as FBP1 showed a maximum protein of 56.9 ± 8.91 mg/g. Decreased quantities of Total Phenolic Contents (TPC), Total Flavonoid contents (TFC), and Vitamin C were noted in fermented products. The BP contained TPC (18 ± 2.59 mg GAE/g), TFC (20.5 ± 2.11 mg QE/g), carotenoid (1.03 ± 0.19 mg/g) and vitamin C (33.46 ± 2.63 mg/L). For BP, high antioxidant activity was observed, IC50 values of DPPH scavenging and FRAP assay were 2.01 ± 0.06 mg/mL and 12.81 ± 0.03 mg/mL, respectively. All the extracts were potentially active against the Salmonella typhi, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli BP extract showed high antibacterial activity than the fermented products. Among all the above, S. aureus showed high sensitivity to BP and FBP2 with 26.33 ± 2.49 and 26.33 ± 0.97 mm zone of inhibition and S. typhi was highly inhibited by BP and FBP1 with 26.26 ± 1.77 and 26.66 ± 2.63 mm. BP was highly active against K. pneumoniae and P. aeruginosa with 31.33 ± 1.74 and 32.33 ± 1.59 mm zone of inhibition and E. coli was sensitive to FBP2 with 25.7 ± 2.33 mm zone, respectively. The BP extract possessed potent antifungal activity against Mucor mucedo (84 %), Aspergillus niger (72 %) and Aspergillus flavus (83 %), which was higher than the fermented products. The antileishmanial assay was undertaken for all extracts against promastigotes of Leishmania major, BP showed good activity IC50 = 0.763 ± 0.01 mg/g. In the anti-inflammatory assays the BP showed lowest IC50 values by protein denaturing (0.612 ± 0.01), proteinase inhibitory (0.502 ± 0.01) and blood hemolysis assay (0.515 ± 0.01 mg/g). The minimum concentration indicated that BP was highly potent in response to antileishmanial and inflammation activity

Phytonutrient and antinutrient components profiling of Berberis baluchistanica Ahrendt bark and leaves

Objectives: Plants are the most prevalent primary natural source of active medications. Berberis baluchistanica Ahrendt is known for the treatment of various ailments. Bioactive components, nutritional and antioxidant capacity of Berberis baluchistanica bark and leaves ethanolic extracts were evaluated in this study. Methods: Total phenolics, flavonoids, antioxidant, nutritional and anti-nutritional contents were analyzed. Analysis of bioactive components identified the presence of tannins, cardiac glycosides, flavonoids, coumarin, alkaloids, phenolics, saponins, steroids, anthraquinones and terpenoids. The capability of donating hydrogen was analyzed by their 50% inhibition concentration (IC50). Results: The bark possessed lower IC50 = 0.678 mg/mL and higher inhibition percentage of DPPH radical, compared to leaves IC50 = 0.785 mg/mL. The Ferric reducing antioxidant power of bark was relatively higher IC50 = 0.871 mg/mL than leaves IC50 = 0.996 mg/mL. The phenolic content of bark was 37.52 ± 1.56 mg GAE/g and that of leaves 28.32 ± 0.66 mg GAE/g, the total flavonoid contents in bark and leaves were 8.68 ± 0.93 and 11.81 ± 1.49 mg QE/g. Total proteins of the bark and leaves were 7.69 ± 0.65 mg BSAE/g and 3.63 ± 0.54 mg BSAE/g and carbohydrate contents of the bark and leaves were 4.46 ± 0.55 mg GE/g and 8.38 ± 0.71 mg GE/g respectively. The oxalate contents of bark were 0.12 ± 0.02 mg/g and leaves were 0.14 ± 0.19 mg/g and the phytate % composition of bark was 0.17 ± 0.24 % and leaves were 0.25 ± 0.08 % respectively. Conclusions: The determination of these compounds attaining a range of medicinal properties helps in maintaining the traditional use of bark and leaves extracts of Berberis baluchistanica in various biomedical fields

In Vitro Anti-Inflammatory, Anticancer (MCF-7, 3T3, and HeLa Cell Lines), and Brine Shrimp Lethality Assay and FTIR Analysis of the Extract and Fractions of the Whole Plant of Heliotropium europaeum

In this study, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, brine shrimp lethality, and FTIR studies were evaluated. The oxidative burst assay using the chemiluminescence technique, MTT assay, brine shrimp lethality assay, and FTIR analysis were the methods used for the evaluation of anti-inflammatory, anticancer, brine shrimp lethality, and FTIR studies, respectively. The whole-plant butanol fraction of Heliotropium europaeum (WBFHE) showed anti-inflammatory activity on ROS having IC5014.7±2.5 while the extract and other fractions of the whole plant of Heliotropium europaeum exhibited no anti-inflammatory activity. None of the extract and fractions of the whole plant of Heliotropium europaeum exhibited anticancer (MCF-7, 3T3, and HeLa cell lines) activities. The whole-plant aqueous fraction of Heliotropium europaeum (WAFHE) and whole-plant butanol fraction of Heliotropium europaeum (WBFHE) showed lethality at high concentration while at low concentration, no toxicity was shown. The whole-plant methanolic extract of Heliotropium europaeum (WMEHE) and whole-plant n-hexane fraction of Heliotropium europaeum (WHFHE) exhibited no toxicity. FTIR interpretation showed the functional groups for the aromatic compounds, phenols, carboxylic acids, esters, alkanes, alkenes, alcohols, alkyl halides, sulfate esters, phosphines, silanes, nitriles, thiols, amines, phosphoric acids, and nitro compounds

Functional Potential and Chemical Profile Analysis of Propolis Oil Extracted from Propolis of Balochistan

Propolis oil (PO) was examined for chemical composition, phenolic and flavonoid content, and antioxidant and antimicrobial potential. Phenolic and flavonoid contents were 2.388 ± 1.116 mg GAE/g and 0.579 ± 0.140 mg QE/g. Oil showed 64.59 ± 14.59% inhibition of DPPH radical and significant antibacterial activities against target bacteria. Salmonella typhi was found to be highly sensitive (27.23 ± 4.35 mm) to PO, compared to Escherichia coli (23.40 ± 3.21), Staphylococcus aureus (21.43 ± 2.80), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (21.26 ± 3.25). The MIC and MBS values of PO were 0.35 and 0.7 mg/mL for S. typhi and E. coli, whereas they were 0.7 and 1.4 mg/mL for S. aureus. Moreover, the PO was found to be bacteriostatic for K. pneumoniae. Aspergillus flavus was found to be highly sensitive to PO, with an effective growth inhibition percentage of 73%, followed by Aspergillus niger (70%), whereas Aspergillus parasiticus was less sensitive with 25% growth inhibition. Functional groups in PO were determined with an FTIR spectrophotometer, and alcohol, alkane, aldehydes, alkenes, and ketones groups were found to be present, whereas GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of 27 different medicinal compounds, among which α-copanene (29.85%), benzyl benzoate (26.8%), 2,4-bis[1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)isopropyl]phenol, acetophenone (14.92%), undecylenic aldehyde (7.46%), p-linalool (5.9%), and ethyl 3-phenylpropionate (4.47%) were found in abundance

In Vitro Antileishmanial Activity and GC-MS Analysis of Whole Plant Hexane Fraction of Achillea wilhelmsii (WHFAW)

In this study, GC-MS analysis has shown that whole plant hexane fraction of Achillea wilhelmsii (WHFAW) consists of 66 compounds which exhibited antileishmanial activity. Antileishmanial bioassay was the method used for determining antileishmanial activity. The inhibitory concentration (IC50) which was observed for whole plant hexane fraction of Achillea wilhelmsii (WHFAW) against parasitic and vector-borne disease, leishmaniasis, is 58.27 ± 0.52 μg/mL. For leishmanicidal assay, Leishmania major is the species used for analysis. Whole plant methanol extract of Achillea wilhelmsii (WMEAW) and whole plant aqueous fraction of Achillea wilhelmsii (WAFAW) exhibited no antileishmanial activity