Extraction and quantification of polyphenols from kinnow (Citrus reticulate L.) peel using ultrasound and maceration techniques

AbstractAn investigation was carried out to extract polyphenols from the peel of kinnow (Citrus reticulate L.) by maceration and ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) techniques. The antioxidant potential of these polyphenols was evaluated using ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and superoxide radical scavenging assays; and their antimicrobial activity was assessed against bacterial strains Staphyloccoccus aureus, Bacillus cereus, and Salmonella typhimurium. The highest extraction yield was obtained through the solvent ethanol at 80% concentration level, whereas UAE was a more efficient technique and yielded comparatively higher polyphenol contents than maceration. Maximum polyphenols were extracted with 80% methanol [32.48 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g extract] using UAE, whereas minimum phenolics (8.64 mg GAE/g extract) were obtained with 80% ethyl acetate through the maceration technique. Elevated antioxidant activity of kinnow peel extracts was exhibited in three antioxidant assays, where 80% methanolic extracts showed the highest antioxidant activity (27.67±1.11mM/100 g for FRAP) and the highest scavenging activity, 72.83±0.65% and 64.80±0.91% for DPPH and superoxide anion radical assays, respectively. Strong correlations between total polyphenols and antioxidant activity were recorded. Eleven phenolic compounds—including five phenolic acids and six flavonoids—were identified and quantified by high performance liquid chromatography. Ferulic acid and hesperidin were the most abundant compounds whereas caffeic acid was the least abundant phenolic compound in kinnow peel extracts. Maximum inhibition zone was recorded against S. aureus (16.00±0.58 mm) whereas minimum inhibition zone was noted against S. typhimurium (9.00±1.16 mm). It was concluded that kinnow mandarin peels, being a potential source of phenolic compounds with antioxidant and antimicrobial properties, may be used as an ingredient for the preparation of functional foods

Terrorism, Military Operations and Counterterrorism Strategies for Pakistan

Terrorism has been a major challenge in Pakistan for last two decades. Pakistan is a hotbed of religious extremism and the spread of terrorism due to political and economic instability, postcolonial crisis, corruption, lack of national unity and Pakistan’s partnership in War on Terror. However, it was only after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 that religious extremism and intolerance were systematically spread among the Pakistani people to help the Afghan resistance.Therefore, religious extremism, militant outfits and sectarianism increased in the 1980s and 1990s. On September 11, 2001, after AL-Qaeda's attacks on the United States, Pakistan was forced to fight against Taliban, many of the people it created and supported in Afghanistan in 1979 and onwards. Since 9/11, Pakistan has almost completely changed its policies. This change in policy was forced by the United States and made Pakistan the front line role as non NATO allay of theUnited States in the global war against terrorism. Although it is a well-known fact that no Pakistani was involved in 9/11 attacks on America. Pakistan's war on terror was formally launched in 2002 and since then it has lost about 70,000 citizens, about 8,000 security personnel and about 126.79 billion dollars (Economic Survey of Pakistan, 20017-18). Pakistan has conducted several military operations to curb the menace of terrorism and make way forward strategies. The main objective of this paper is to analysis of military operations that conducted by the Pakistan military and formulate some steps and policies to curb terrorism in Pakistan. The descriptive and analytical method of research is being used in this research paper

New Subclass of Analytic Functions in Conical Domain Associated with Ruscheweyh q-Differential Operator

In this paper, we consider a new class of analytic functions which is defined by means of a Ruscheweyh q-differential operator. We investigated some new results such as coefficients inequalities and other interesting properties of this class. Comparison of new results with those that were obtained in earlier investigation are given as Corollaries

Factors affecting clinical decision-making in inflammatory bowel disease and the role of point-of-care calprotectin

Objectives: Patient-reported symptoms correlate poorly with mucosal inflammation. Clinical decision-making may, therefore, not be based on objective evidence of disease activity. We conducted a study to determine factors associated with clinical decision-making in a secondary care inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) population, using a cross-sectional design. Methods: Decisions to request investigations or escalate medical therapy were recorded from outpatient clinic encounters in a cohort of 276 patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) or Crohn’s disease (CD). Disease activity was assessed using clinical indices, self-reported flare and faecal calprotectin ≥ 250 µg/g. Demographic, disease-related and psychological factors were assessed using validated questionnaires. Logistic regression was performed to determine the association between clinical decision-making and symptoms, mucosal inflammation and psychological comorbidity. Results: Self-reported flare was associated with requesting investigations in CD [odds ratio (OR) 5.57; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.84-17.0] and UC (OR 10.8; 95% CI 1.8-64.3), but mucosal inflammation was not (OR 1.62; 95% CI 0.49-5.39; and OR 0.21; 95% CI 0.21-1.05, respectively). Self-reported flare (OR 7.96; 95% CI 1.84-34.4), but not mucosal inflammation (OR 1.67; 95% CI 0.46-6.13) in CD, and clinical disease activity (OR 10.36; 95% CI 2.47-43.5) and mucosal inflammation (OR 4.26; 95% CI 1.28-14.2) in UC were associated with escalation of medical therapy. Almost 60% of patients referred for investigation had no evidence of mucosal inflammation. Conclusions: Apart from escalation of medical therapy in UC, clinical decision-making was not associated with mucosal inflammation in IBD. The use of point-of-care calprotectin testing may aid clinical decision-making, improve resource allocation and reduce costs in IBD

Alleviation of banded leaf and sheath blight disease incidence in maize by bacterial volatile organic compounds and molecular docking of targeted inhibitors in Rhizoctonia solani

Rhizoctonia solani (RS) is a pathogenic fungus that affects maize (Zea mays L.) plants and causes banded leaf and sheath blight (BLSB) with severe consequences leading to significant economic losses. Contrarily, rhizobacteria produce numerous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that help in devising the environment-friendly mechanism for promoting plant growth and stress alleviation without having physical contact with plants. In the present study, 15 rhizobacterial strains were tested for their antagonism against RS. The antagonistic potential of VOCs of the tested plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) strains ranged from 50% to 80% as compared to the control (without PGPR). Among these 15 strains, the maximum (80%) antagonistic activity was exhibited by Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes SRM-16. Thus, the potential of VOCs produced by P. pseudoalcaligenes SRM-16 to alleviate the BLSB disease in maize was evaluated. A pot experiment was conducted under greenhouse conditions to observe the effect of VOCs on disease resistance of BLSB-infected seedlings. Overall, maize seedlings exposed to VOCs showed a significant increase in disease resistance as indicated by a reduced disease score than that of unexposed infected plants. The VOCs-exposed maize exhibited lower (11.6%) disease incidence compared to the non-inoculated maize (14.1%). Moreover, plants exposed to VOCs displayed visible improvements in biomass, photosynthetic pigments, osmoregulation, and plant antioxidant and defense enzyme activities compared to the healthy but unexposed seedlings. Simultaneous application of RS and VOCs enhanced superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activities by 96.7%, 266.6%, 313.7%, 246.6%, 307%, and 149.7%, respectively, in the roots and by 81.6%, 246.4%, 269.5%, 269.6%, 329%, and 137.6%, respectively, in the shoots, relative to those of the control plants. The binding affinity of the VOCs (2-pentylfuran, 2,3-butanediol, and dimethyl disulfide) with CRZ1 and S9 protein receptors of RS was assessed by deploying in silico methods. Overall, 2-pentylfuran exhibited a binding affinity with both the selected receptors of RS, while 2,3-butanediol and dimethyl disulfide were able to bind S9 protein only. Hence, it can be deduced that S9 protein receptors are more likely the target RS receptors of bacterial VOCs to inhibit the proliferation of RS

Consumer’s Perceptions of Values Regarding Different Shelf Levels in Terms of Price

Retail shelves acts as extrinsic cues which influence consumers’ perceptions and facilitates them in their purchase dilemma. This study is about determining any possible association between vertical shelf levels and consumers’ perception of values. The assumption that consumers perceive a product at higher place as of higher value (quality) was analyzed by means of primary data and further explained by cue utilization theory. The research attempts to quantify values (extrinsic cue effect) by means of prices of the products. Here, both shelf levels and price are considered as extrinsic cues. In other words, this research analyzed the influence of one extrinsic cue on the other and thus how this affects consumer perception of the product’s value. For this purpose, a primary research was conducted involving consumer group of Swedish people (N=90) and price data was collected for three products placing at different shelf levels. Results from the questionnaire were analyzed by means of one way ANOVA test. The results disapproved hypothesis that was tested yet showed a positive trend for one the value product e.g., coffee. On the basis of result, it can be deduced that further research with different experimental techniques could be applied on the same subject matter to bring more accurate results

Quality of University Computing Education: Perception of Pakistani Students

Abstract Quality in higher education is important in toda