Search

Plant natural products or secondary metabolites have gained significant attention globally because of discoveries of semi-synthetic drugs novel bioactive compounds. Currently, a large part of global population relies on natural products to cure ailments and even chronic diseases and to enhance their immune system. Interestingly, the commonly used drugs for the treatment of some common human diseases like cancer, ulcer, tuberculosis, asthma, etc., have been reported to be of plant origin and recognized to elicit beneficial effects in virulent factors of diseases in vivo and in vitro. The herbal drugs are economical and considered as safe upto certain extent from major side effects. But, still there is need of rapid collection, characterization, taxonomy, certification, and storage for broad, efficient and effective use in drug design or discovery. In this review, we summarized the plants derived secondary metabolites used in treating common human diseases and emphasised the protein-ligand interactions between virulent factors of diseases namely Insulin, p53, Proteasome-associated ATPase, Enterotoxin, Choleragen, IgE with secondary metabolites Aloin, Sesamin, Alliin, Flavanon, Salannin Octyl-β-d-Glucopyranoside of plants respectively, through molecular docking. This study will play a valuable and effective role in drug designing and screening plant-derived metabolites for drug designing.

In this study, a comparative efficacy of Cananga odorata EO (CoEO) and its nanoencapsulated formulation into chitosan nanoemulsion (CoEO-CsNe) against a toxigenic strain of Aspergillus flavus (AF-M-K5) were investigated for the first time in order to determine its efficacy in preservation of stored food from fungal, aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) contamination and lipid peroxidation. GC and GC–MS analysis of CoEO revealed the presence of linalool (24.56%) and benzyl acetate (22.43%) as the major components. CoEO was encapsulated into chitosan nanoemulsion (CsNe) through ionic-gelation technique and characterized by High Resolution-Scanning Electron Microscopy (HR-SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis. The CoEO-CsNe during in vitro investigation against A. flavus completely inhibited the growth and AFB1 production at 1.0 μL/mL and 0.75 μL/mL, respectively. Additionally, CoEO-CsNe showed improved antioxidant activity against DPPH• and ABTS•+ with IC50 value 0.93 and 0.72 μL/mL, respectively. Further, CoEO-CsNe suppressed fungal growth, AFB1 secretion and lipid peroxidation in Arachis hypogea L. during in situ investigation without causing any adverse effect on seed germination. Overall results demonstrated that the CoEO-CsNe has potential of being utilized as a suitable plant based antifungal agent to improve the shelf-life of stored food against AFB1 and lipid peroxidation mediated biodeterioration.

BACKGROUND: Retrograde intubation is one of the well-described and alternative methods of difficult airway management. It requires effective sedation and patient preparation. Study was done to evaluate intubating conditions during retrograde guided intubation with two different doses of dexmedetomidine. METHODS: This prospective randomized double blind parallel group trial was planned on 60 patients with difficult airway. Patients were divided in two groups to receive either dexmedetomidine 1.0 μg/kg (Group A) or dexmedetomidine 1.5 μg/kg (Group B) by intravenous (IV) route. The Modified Observer Assessment Awareness and Sedation (OAA/S) was measured as primary outcome and ease of intubation, facial grimace score, cough severity, hemodynamic response, patient recall and discomfort were assessed as secondary outcome during awake retrograde intubation. RESULTS: Groups were comparable in terms of demographic and baseline parameters. OAA/S (P = 0.001), cough severity (P 0.05) between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Retrograde intubation can be easily learned and performed with minimal complications. Dexmedetomidine in a dose of 1.5 μg/kg IV is optimum and safe for retrograde intubation with clinically manageable side effects.

The present study reports the formulation of Apium graveolens essential oil (AGEO) with its major components linalyl acetate (LA) and geranyl acetate (GA) (1:1:1) as a novel green preservative for protection of postharvest food commodities from fungal infestations, aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) secretion, free radical generation and lipid peroxidation. The essential oil based novel formulation displayed considerable inhibitory action against fourteen food borne molds responsible for deterioration of stored food commodities, in addition to the most toxigenic strain of Aspergillus flavus (AFLHPR14) isolated from fungal and aflatoxin contaminated rice seeds. The observed higher efficacy of designed formulation was due to the synergistic action of essential oil and its major components. Fungal plasma membrane was recorded as the possible target site of antifungal action of the formulation as revealed through reduction in membrane ergosterol content, increased intracellular propidium iodide (PI) fluorescence and enhanced leakage of cellular ions (sodium, potassium, calcium) and 260, 280 nm absorbing materials. Further, inhibition of methylglyoxal (an aflatoxin inducer) confirmed the aflatoxin inhibitory potential of novel formulation based on essential oil and its major components. High antioxidant potential as observed through DPPH and ABTS·+ radical scavenging assay, improved phenolic content, considerable inhibition of lipid peroxidation in stored rice seeds, in situ efficacy on AFB1 inhibition in food system under storage container system, acceptable sensorial characteristics and favorable safety profile during animal trials suggest the recommendation of the designed formulation for large scale application as green preservative by food and agriculture based industries against fungal and aflatoxin contamination of stored commodities.

The study reports industrial significance of chemically characterized nanoencapuslated Ocimum sanctum essential oil (OSEO) against fungi contaminating herbal raw materials and aflatoxin B1 secretion. The chitosan encapsulated OSEO exhibited enhanced antifungal and antiaflatoxigenic potential as compared to unencapsulated OSEO. The nanoencapsulated OSEO reduced the ergosterol content and enhanced the leakage of vital cellular ions along with the loss of 260 and 280 nm absorbing material suggesting fungal plasma membrane as action site. The nanoencapsulated OSEO also reduced the methylglyoxal content, the aflatoxin inducing substrate. In addition, the OSEO nanoemulsion possessed promising antioxidant potential. The nanoemulsion was characterized through SEM, FTIR and XRD analysis. This is the first report on assessment of OSEO loaded novel chitosan nanoemulsion against aflatoxin B1 contamination. The study recommends application of the encapsulated OSEO to extend the shelf life of stored herbal raw materials and the findings also lead towards the development of aflatoxin and methylglyoxal resistant medicinal plants through green transgenics.

Raising population, deteriorating environmental conditions and limiting natural resources to handle the key environmental health problems have critically affected human health and the environment. Policy makers and planners in Nepal are more concerned today than at any other time in the past about the deterioration of the environmental condition. Therefore, understanding the connection between pollution and human wellbeing is fundamental endeavors to control pollution exposures and secure human wellbeing. This ability is especially critical for countries like Nepal where the issues of environmental pollution have customarily taken a second place to request for economic development. In this study, spatial distribution and sources of 12 heavy metals (HMs) were investigated in surface soils (n = 24) and house dust (n = 24) from four major urban areas of Nepal in order to mark the pollution level. Additionally, a health risk was estimated to establish the link between HMs pollution and human health. Results showed that the median concentration of Ag, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Sb, Mn and Zn in soil and dust were 2–13 times greater than the background value. The As, Zn, Cu, Cd, and Pb showed a relatively higher spatial variability in soil and dust. Zn was the most abundant metal measured in dust and soil and accounted for 59% and 55% of ∑7HMs, respectively. The HMs in soil and dust were poorly correlated with total organic carbon (TOC) and black carbon (BC), suggesting little or no influence on HMs contamination. Source analysis study indicated the distribution of Cr, Ni, Sb, Ag, Pb, Cu, and Zn in soil and dust are mainly affected by anthropogenic sources, particularly traffic emissions, industrial source, and domestic households materials, while Co, Fe, As, Mn and Cd were from natural sources. The estimated carcinogenic risk (CR) of HMs in soil and dust exceeded the acceptable level of human exposure, recommending significant CR to the local population.

Masticatories are prone to fungal and mycotoxin contamination during postharvest processing. The plant based preservatives may be recommended as safe alternatives of synthetic chemicals for their proper storage to protect them from fungal and mycotoxins contamination. This review presents an overview on mycoflora and mycotoxins associated with plant masticatories and prospectives of essential oils and their nanoencapsulated formulations as safe plant based preservatives.

Circular and rectangular Cr islands of nanometre size and monoatomic height exhibit an impromptu long range order on locally stepped Au(111) surface with narrow terraces. The circular islands are detached from the {100} microfaceted Au(111) step edges and nucleate between a pair of discommensuration lines of the herringbone reconstruction on ≈ 9.5 nm wide terraces. In contrast, the rectangular islands are attached to the {111} microfaceted step edges and are formed on even narrower terraces of ≈ 6 nm width. Both types of islands prefer the hcp region of the substrate as the nucleation centre. Cr deposition at elevated temperatures such as 470 K results in formation of triangular islands and spiral dislocations on wide substrate terraces. Interestingly however, at higher coverages of 3–4 ML, huge elongated ridges that are 90–260 nm in length, 10–20 nm in width and up to almost 3 nm height are observed. These ridges occur primarily along 1 1 ¯ 0 > direction, with the rest forming at an angle of 60 or 120° with respect to this direction.

Although the fate and behavior of parent polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) have been documented worldwide, the information about PAH-derivatives (NPAHs and OPAHs) is limited, especially in developing countries, including Nepal. Moreover, the greater parts of the investigations concentrating on NPAHs/OPAHs are on the air (borne) particulate phase only; and are primarily based on a limited number of compounds analyzed. Little is known about the environmental concentration, fate, and behavior of NPAHs and OPAHs in air gas phase and dust. In this study, the concentration, fate, spatial distributions of 26 NPAHs and 3 OPAHs in the air (n = 34) and dust (n = 24) were investigated in suspected source area/more densely populated areas of Nepal. Four critical source areas in Nepal were considered as it was conjectured that the urban areas are more prone to NPAH/OPAH contamination due to the high density of automobiles and industrial activities. Overall, the measured ∑19NPAHs in air and dust were 5 and 2 times lower than their parent-PAHs, respectively. Highest levels of NPAHs/OPAHs were measured in Birgunj, followed by Kathmandu, Biratnagar, and Pokhara, respectively, while Biratnagar showed the highest level of ∑OPAHs. 3-Nitrodibenzofuran (3-NDBF) was the most abundant NPAHs measured both in air and dust, whereas 9-Fluorenone (9-FLUONE) prevailing OPAHs. The molecular diagnostic ratio (MDR) of 2-Nitrofluoranthene/1-Nitropyrene indicated the contribution from secondary emission via photochemical reaction as the primary source of NPAHs, while solid fuel combustion and crop residue burning were identified as the essential sources of OPAHs. The human exposure to NPAH/OPAH through the different route of intake suggested dermal contact via dust as the primary pathway of NPAH/OPAH exposure for both adult and children. However, other routes of exposure, for instance, dietary intake or dermal absorption via soil may still be prominent in case of Nepal.

Tomato is one of the most demanding/utilizable vegetable crops worldwide after potato. It is extensively cultivated throughout the tropics and sub-tropics around the world. However, certain climate change consequences like salinity, drought, and environmental pollutants particularly heavy metals etc., lead to low soil productivity. In fact, problem of salinity, drought and soil contamination are increasing rapidly throughout the globe and severely affecting more than 10% of arable land resulting into reduction of more than 50% average yields of major crops including tomato. Therefore, sustainable agriculture is in great demand under current alarming condition of food security. Plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) has been evident as a co-evolution between plants and microbes showing antagonistic and synergistic interactions. Therefore, utilization of PGPB to tackle the problem of salinity, drought and heavy metal contamination is one of the novel biological approaches for sustainable agriculture practices. Under stress conditions, plant hormone like ethylene is known to endogenously regulate the homeostasis of plants leading to significant reduction in root and shoot growth. Few PGPB like Pseudomonas sp. and Bacillus sp. have developed tolerance mechanism against varieties of heavy metals through mobilization, surface complexation, biosorption, precipitation, intracellular compartmentalization or immobilization processes. Looking into the multiple applications of PGPB in sustainable agriculture, scientists and policy makers are currently emphasizing over selection of suitable microbial communities through interdisciplinary research disciplines including agriculture, biotechnology, chemical engineering, environmental science and nanotechnology to bring together different ecological and functional biological approaches to provide new formulations and opportunities with immense potential. The present review entails the overview of current trends in PGPB mediated abiotic stress amelioration in order to encounter the negative impacts of changing climatic conditions for sustainable enhancement in tomato productivity.

The direct incorporation of essential oils (EOs) into real food system faces numerous challenges due to high volatility, intense aroma, and instability. This research aimed to enhance the stability and bio-efficacy of Pimenta dioica essential oil (PDEO) through encapsulation in chitosan (CN) nanoemulsion. The nanoemulsion (CN-PDEO) was fabricated through ionic-gelation technique. CN-PDEO exhibited high nanoencapsulation efficiency (85.84%) and loading capacity (8.26%) with the particle size ranging between 18.53 and 70.56 nm. Bio-efficacy assessment results showed that CN-PDEO presented more effective antifungal and antiaflatoxigenic activity against Aspergillus flavus (AF-LHP-VS8) at lower doses (1.6 and 1.0 µL/mL) than the pure PDEO (2.5 and 1.5 µL/mL, respectively, p

The study explores the potential of Cistus ladanifer essential oil (CLEO) as plant based preservative against fungal and aflatoxin B1 contamination of stored oil seeds. Aspergillus flavus AF-M-K5 was identified as the most aflatoxigenic isolate during mycoflora analysis of selected oil seeds. Chemical characterization of CLEO through GC-MS revealed α-asarone (78.841%) as the major component. The minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum aflatoxin inhibitory concentration of CLEO against A. flavus AF-M-K5 were recorded to be 0.6, and 0.5 μL/mL, respectively. Significant reduction in ergosterol content and enhancement of leakage of Ca2+, K+ and Mg2+ ions from treated fungal cells emphasized fungal plasma membrane as the site for antifungal action of CLEO. The CLEO caused reduction of methylglyoxal, the aflatoxin inducing substrate. This is the first report on an essential oil as methylglyoxal inhibitor suggesting a novel mode of action in reduction of AFB1 biosynthesis. The IC50 values for CLEO as determined by DPPH• and ABTS•+ assay were 7.3 μL/mL and 1.13 μL/mL respectively, depicting remarkable antioxidant activity. CLEO caused considerable protection of stored oil seeds from contamination of A. flavus (90.6%) and from storage molds (78.03%) without affecting seed germination.

The study reports efficacy of Illicium verum essential oil (IvEO) against food borne moudls and its nanoencapsulation for enhancing antifungal and antiaflatoxigenic potency. Chemical characterization of the IvEO showed anethole (89.12%) as major compound followed by estragole (4.859%). The IvEO showed broad fungitoxic spectrum against common food borne moulds. It's minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum aflatoxin B1 inhibitory concentration (MAIC) against aflatoxigenic strain Aspergillus flavus LHP-PV-1 were 0.7, and 0.5 μL/mL respectively. Morphological observations of treatment sets by SEM and TEM along with decrease in ergosterol content and enhanced leakage of Ca2+, K+ and Mg2+ ions denoted fungal cell membrane as site of action. The IvEO showed promising free radical scavenging activity and favourable safety profile with high LD50 value on mice. The IvEO also exhibited considerable protection of Pistacia vera from fungal contamination and complete protection from aflatoxin B1 contamination in storage containers. Nanoencapsulated IvEO in gel form and lyophilized form exhibited enhanced efficacy as fungal inhibitor and aflatoxin suppressor. The chemically characterised IvEO may be recommended as plant based preservative having favourable safety and its nanocapsules may be of industrial significance as shelf life enhancer of food items. This is the first report on in situ antiaflatoxigenic efficacy and nanoencapsulation of IvEO.

To understand the current research output on arsenic (As) removal and research related to the As contamination, a bibliometric analysis based on Scopus database was carried out. The analysis includes the research covering the leading countries and year wise literature outputs. Bibliometric analysis revealed increasing trend in research published on As removal (more than 1200 articles) using physico-chemical methods during 1995 onwards and United States of America (USA) as leading contributor. Among different research institutions, Chinese Academy of Sciences has contributed maximally to research articles reaching up to 950 and maximum 635 research articles were published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology with respect to As removal using physico-chemical methods. With respect to As removal using biological methods, around 400 research articles were recorded during 1995 onwards and maximum article contribution (1052) was registered for China followed by USA (964). Based on Scopus data 2021, maximum 222 articles on As removal using biological methods were recorded for the journal ‘Chemosphere’. The present review emphasizes on currently available physico-chemical as well as emerging treatment processes for the removal of As, generally occurring as arsenite and arsenate , from drinking water. It has been suggested by various studies that a combination of low-cost physico-chemical treatment methodologies like ion exchange, reverse osmosis , precipitation, filtration and adsorption along with biological methods can be a safe alternative for As removal from drinking water. Overall, the study suggests that there is a strong need for further research on efficient processes involving lab to land approaches for As removal from groundwater in order to reduce the toxicity and contamination of As in drinking water.

Application of synthetic preservatives to control the contamination of stored food commodities with aflatoxin B1 causing considerable loss in nutritional value is a major challenge. However, employment of essential oils for protecting food commodities is much limited due to high volatility, and increased susceptibility to oxidation. Therefore, objective of the present investigation was encapsulation of Pimpinella anisum essential oil in chitosan nanobiopolymer (CS-PAEO-Nm) to improve its bioefficacy, and sensorial suitability for application in food system. The synthesized CS-PAEO-Nm was characterized through SEM, FTIR, and XRD and evaluated for improved biological activity. The CS-PAEO-Nm exhibited improved antifungal (minimum inhibitory concentration = 0.08 μL/mL) and antiaflatoxigenic (minimum aflatoxin inhibitory concentration = 0.07 μL/mL) activities. CS-PAEO-Nm treatment significantly inhibited ergosterol, enhanced leakage of ions and induced impairment in defense enzymes (p

The present study investigates the bio-efficacy of five different essential oil components viz. elemicin, apiol, p-cymene, α-pinene and fenchone as food preservative against common food contaminating fungi including aflatoxigenic Aspergillus flavus (AFLHPR14) and inhibition of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) secretion. Elemicin and apiol exhibited significant antifungal and antiaflatoxigenic efficacy as compared to α-pinene, fenchone and p-cymene. Determination of intracellular ergosterol content demonstrated plasma-membrane as the possible target site of antifungal action. Moreover, the considerable inhibition of methylglyoxal (AFB1 inducer) biosynthesis after treatment with bioactive components exhibited novel antiaflatoxigenic mechanism of action. In silico homology modeling of components with ergosterol biosynthesizing gene, lanosterol-14-α-demethylase and AFB1 synthesizing genes viz. polyketide synthase and Ver-1 suggested key steps involving molecular target site, responsible for plasma-membrane disruption and AFB1 inhibition. Moreover, superior antioxidant activity and promising in situ antifungal and antiaflatoxigenic efficacy of bioactive components in storage containers using rice (Oryza sativa L.) as the model food system recommends their utilization as potential green preservative for shelf life extension of stored food commodities.

Origanum majorana essential oil (OmEO) encapsulated into chitosan nanoemulsion is being reported as a novel preservative of stored food items against fungi, aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) contamination and lipid peroxidation. The major component of OmEO identified through GC-MS was terpinen-4-ol (28.92%). HR-SEM, FTIR and XRD analyses confirmed successful encapsulation of OmEO into chitosan nanoemulsion (OmEO-CsNe). The results showed remarkable improvement in efficacy after nanoencapsulation, since OmEO-CsNe completely inhibited the growth and AFB1 production by Aspergillus flavus at 1.0 μL/mL, which was 2.5 and 1.5 μL/mL, respectively for OmEO. The inhibition of ergosterol followed by release of cellular ions and 260 and 280 nm absorbing materials demonstrated plasma membrane as possible antifungal target. Inhibition of methylglyoxal confirmed antiaflatoxigenic mode of action. OmEO-CsNe showed enhanced antioxidant activity (IC50 = 14.94 and 5.53 μL/mL for DPPH and ABTS, respectively) and caused in situ inhibition of lipid peroxidation and AFB1 production in maize (third most important staple crop after wheat and rice) without altering their sensory attributes and presented safety profile (LD50 = 11,889 μL/kg) when tested on mice. The findings indicate that the encapsulation considerably enhances the performance of OmEO, therefore can be recommended as a promising antifungal agent to extend the shelf-life of food items.

The study reports the antifungal and antiaflatoxigenic mechanism of action of chitosan fabricated Myristica fragrans essential oil nanoemulsion (Nm-MFEO) against an aflatoxigenic strain of Aspergillus flavus (AF LHP R14). Significant inhibition in ergosterol biosynthesis by Nm-MFEO indicated plasma membrane as potential target site of antifungal action. Moreover, Nm-MFEO caused dose dependent inhibition of methylglyoxal (aflatoxin inducer) biosynthesis suggesting novel antiaflatoxigenic mechanism of action. Significant impairment in enzymatic (superoxide dismutase and catalase) and non-enzymatic (oxidized and reduced glutathione and ratio of oxidized and reduced glutathione) anti-oxidative defense molecules in AF LHP R14 cells after treatment with Nm-MFEO suggested biochemical mechanism of action. Nm-MFEO exhibited promising antioxidant activity as determined through DPPH˙ and ABTS˙+ assay with IC50 value 1.20, 0.157 μL/mL, respectively and higher phenolic content (11.87 μg/mg gallic acid). Further, the in silico molecular docking of major components of MFEO viz. myristicin, elemicin and thujanol with aflatoxin producing regulatory genes Ver 1 and Omt A depicted important molecular site of interaction supporting the applicability of MFEO nanoemulsion as plant based green food preservative. The present study is the first report on the effect of chitosan fabricated MFEO nanoemulsion resulting in the inhibition of methylglyoxal, thereby suggesting its future exploitation for the development of aflatoxin resistant food crop varieties through green transgenics.

This study reports enhanced efficacy of encapsulated α-Terpineol to control fungal, aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and free radicals mediated deterioration of stored maize samples. The α-Terpineol loaded chitosan nanoemulsion (α-TCsNe) was characterized through SEM, FTIR and XRD techniques. The α-TCsNe exhibited enhanced antifungal activity against aflatoxin secreting strain of Aspergillus flavus (AF–LHP–S1) and 12 other food borne moulds as well as AFB1 production at 0.4 and 0.3 µL/mL, respectively. Further, α-TCsNe inhibited ergosterol synthesis, methylglyoxal (the aflatoxin enhancer) content and enhanced cellular contents release. α-TCsNe showed enhanced radical scavenging activity with IC50 value equivalent to 39.57 and 6.23 µL/mL for DPPH and ABTS, respectively. In addition, α-TCsNe completely inhibited AFB1 production in stored maize samples during in situ investigation. Overall, α-TCsNe holds a promising potential and can be recommended as a novel antifungal preservative to improve the shelf–life of stored maize samples against fungal and aflatoxin contamination.

In the present paper, we have introduced an inexact Newton-like algorithm and discussed its semilocal convergence analysis under average Lipschitz condition as well as γ-Lipschitz condition for solving generalized operator equations containing non differentiable operators in Banach spaces. Our results extend and improve some well established results in the context of differentiability of involved operators. As special cases of our results, we re-obtain some well established results for the Newton method and inexact Newton method. We apply our result to solve Fredholm integral equations.

We demonstrate formation of thin AuSn and Au2Sn surface alloy layers at room and elevated substrate temperatures ( T S = 413–493 K), respectively by the deposition of Sn on Au(1 1 1) using core-level X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy. Low energy electron diffraction patterns show different surface structures: p(3 × 3) R15 ° at room temperature for AuSn, 2 1 1 3 at T S = 413 K and ( 3 × 3 ) R30 ° at T S = 493 K for Au2Sn. Angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy reveals evolution of bands from an electron-like surface state to appearance of a hole-like band structure corresponding to AuSn and Au2Sn. The 2 1 1 3 phase of Au2Sn, which has a unit cell of oblique symmetry, exhibits an interesting linear band that meets at the Fermi level in the zone-center and have Fermi velocity comparable to graphene. Thus, our study establishes that Au-Sn bimetallic surface alloys have interesting electronic properties with potential for future applications.

The present study deals with encapsulation of Myristica fragrans essential oil (MFEO) into chitosan nano-matrix, their characterization and assessment of antimicrobial activity, aflatoxin inhibitory potential, safety profiling and in situ efficacy in stored rice as environment friendly effective preservative to control the postharvest losses of food commodities under storage. Surface morphology of MFEO-chitosan nanoemulsion as well as encapsulation of MFEO was confirmed through SEM, FTIR and XRD analysis. In vitro release characteristics with biphasic burst explained controlled volatilization from nanoencapsulated MFEO. Unencapsulated MFEO exhibited fungitoxicity against 15 food borne molds and inhibited aflatoxin B1 secretion by toxigenic Aspergillus flavus LHP R14 strain. In contrast, nanoencapsulated MFEO showed better fungitoxicity and inhibitory effect on aflatoxin biosynthesis at lower doses. In situ efficacy of unencapsulated and nanoencapsulated MFEO on stored rice seeds exhibited effective protection against fungal infestation, aflatoxin B1 contamination, and lipid peroxidation. Both the unencapsulated and nanoencapsulated MFEO did not affect the germination of stored rice seeds confirming non-phytotoxic nature. In addition, negligible mammalian toxicity of unencapsulated MFEO (LD50 = 14,289.32 μL/kg body weight) and MFEO loaded chitosan nanoemulsion (LD50 = 9231.89 μL/kg body weight) as revealed through favorable safety profile recommend the industrial significance of nanoencapsulated MFEO as an effective green alternative to environmentally hazardous synthetic pesticides for protection of food commodities during storage.

Interferon beta1 (IFNB1) is a type I interferon that is mainly known for its antiviral activity, but it also regulates a number of anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory functions. Studies on mouse models of cerebral malaria have established that IFNB1 regulates severe malaria pathogenesis and increases overall survival against malaria. It down-regulates pro-inflammatory cytokines: TNF, IFNG and ICAM-1, resulting in decreased adherence of Plasmodium falciparum parasitized RBC to capillary wall, entry into the brain and delayed onset of death. Therefore, we hypothesized that variations in IFNB1 gene could regulate malarial pathogenesis. We re-sequenced the complete IFNB1 gene along with 900bp of 5' up-stream and 500bp of 3'-UTR in 437 individuals from malaria endemic regions of the Orissa and Chhattisgarh states of India. The subjects comprised of 173 cases of severe malaria, 101 of mild malaria, and 156 ethnically matched asymptomatic controls. Data were statistically compared between cases and controls for their possible association with P. falciparum malarial outcome. Two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs): a synonymous c.153C>T (rs1051922) and a non-synonymous substitution c.102C>G (rs139262191, p.Ser34Arg) were identified. The genotype and allele distribution of c.153C>T did not differ significantly between the study groups [mild, χ(2)2=4.10, p-value