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This study was conducted to find the potential of Thuja occidentalis (crude powder) in promoting the rate of recovery following the sciatic nerve injury in a mouse model. Thuja occidentalis was administered orally at a dosage of 2g/kg body weight. The motor functional recovery was measured using muscle grip force, sciatic functional index (SFI), and muscle weight. While the hotplate test and formalin test were performed to measure the recovery of sensory functions. Other biochemical tests were performed to analyze oxidative stress. We noted an early recovery of motor functions in the treatment group as determined by SFI (P

In this study, the functional metabolites of

Aim Water-deficit stress is the most devastating environmental factor that adversely affects plant growth causing yield losses and low crop productivity. In this study, we employed sodium nitroprusside (SNP) as a seed priming agent for the acclimation of water-deficit stress in wheat plants by invoking priming memory. Methods The SNP-primed (75, 100, and 125 μM) and non-primed controls were allowed to grow in pots under water deficit and normal conditions. The flag leaves of 98-days mature plants were used for biochemical and physiological studies by following the well-established methods. Results The antioxidant and hydrolytic enzymes were upregulated while reducing sugars, total sugars, and glycine betaine increased significantly in flag leaves of wheat plants originated from SNP-treated seeds compared to control under water deficit stress. However, a significant reduction in MDA and proline contents represented a lesser ROS production which resulted in enhanced cell membrane stability. Consequently, there was a significant enhancement in yield, plant biomass and 100 grains weight of wheat plants under water deficit stress. Conclusion The improvement in yield parameters indicates the induction of priming memory in SNP-primed seeds which elicit water deficit tolerance till the maturity of plants thus ensures sustainable productivity of wheat.

Cadmium happens to interfere with chlorophyll synthesis, calvin cycle and phosphate pathway and the resulting changes in biochemical attributes induce disorders in physiology, biochemistry and gene...

Priming is a valuable, facile and well-established technique used to enhance seed quality to achieve rapid germination, establishment of stress resistance and improvement of crop yields. Different natural and synthetic priming agents have been used for better crop performance and abiotic stress management. In this study, four different benzimidazoles were selected as priming agents and their comparative effects were evaluated on different biochemical attributes including total soluble protein, total oxidant status, MDA contents, antioxidant enzymes (SOD, POD) and hydrolytic enzymes (protease, estrases) compared to control. Treatments with 2-thio-1-H-benzimidazole reduced total soluble proteins and increased total oxidant status significantly but no considerable effect was observed on other parameters. Priming with 2-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-H-benzimidazole considerably increased the total oxidant status and a little improvement was observed in total soluble proteins. Seeds primed with 1-H-benzimidazole showed a noticeable decrease in the protease activity while all other priming treatments were unable to induce any detectable change compared to control. The treatment with 2-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1-H-benzimidazole induced maximum reduction in MDA contents and POD activity. Moreover, all benzimidazole priming treatments reduced mean germination time, increased germination percentage and germination rate of wheat seeds.

Water-deficit stress negatively affects seed germination, seedling development, and plant growth by disrupting cellular and metabolic functions, reducing the productivity and yield of field crops. In this study, sodium silicate (SS) has been employed as a seed priming agent for acclimation to mild water-deficit stress by invoking priming memory in wheat plants. In pot experiments, the SS-primed (20, 40, and 60 mM) and non-primed control seeds were allowed to grow under normal and mild water-deficit conditions. Subsequently, known methods were followed for physiological and biochemical studies using flag leaves of 98-day mature wheat plants. The antioxidant and hydrolytic enzymes were upregulated, while proteins, reducing sugars, total sugars, and glycine betaine increased significantly in the flag leaves of wheat plants originated from SS-treated seeds compared to the control under mild water-deficit stress. Significant decreases in the malondialdehyde (MDA) and proline contents suggested a controlled production of reactive oxygen species, which resulted in enhanced cell membrane stability. The SS priming induced a significant enhancement in yield, plant biomass, and 100-grain weight of wheat plants under water-deficit stress. The improvement in the yield parameters indicated the induction of Si-mediated stress acclimation in SS-primed seeds that elicited water-deficit tolerance until the maturity of plants, ensuring sustainable productivity of climate-smart plants.

Obesity is a chronic metabolic and noncommunicable disease that affects 50% of world population. Reactive oxygen species and oxidative stress are interconnected with the obesity and several metabolic disorders, gaining the attention of scientific community to combat this problem naturally. Among various fruits, mango as a yellow fruit is rich in polyphenols, carotenoids, terpenes, and flavonoids that act as antioxidants to protect against free radicals produced in the body. The present study was performed to explore in vivo antioxidant potential of mango peels against dyslipidemia and oxidative stress in overweight subjects. The female volunteers ( n = 31 ) between 25 and 45 years of age having a body mass index (BMI) of 25.0-29.9 (overweight) were included in this study, while participants with complications as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular, and liver diseases were excluded. The treatment group consumed 1 g mango peel powder for 84 days. The subjects were analyzed for biochemical analysis, antioxidant status, and anthropometric measurements at baseline and end of the study period. Further, at the end of study, the safety evaluation tests were also performed. The results showed that upon consumption of mango peel powder, low-density lipoproteins (LDL), cholesterol, triglyceride, urea, and creatinine levels were decreased and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) level was increased ( P ≤ 0.05 ), while thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) showed increased antioxidant status ( P ≤ 0.05 ) which suggests that mango peels have a strong management potential against oxidative stress and dyslipidemia in obese subjects.

Over the last few decades, nanotechnology has revolutionized almost all aspects of human life. Various forms of nanomaterials have shown unprecedented applications in drug delivery, bioimaging, catalysis, agriculture, pollution remediation, energy production and storage, etc. Considering the ever-increasing scope of nanomaterials, a number of approaches have been developed for their preparation. Generally bottom-up, top-down, or their combination is more frequently used for their size-controlled preparation. These approaches mainly rely on different physical, chemical, and biological methods for the preparation of nanomaterials. These methods generally show some disadvantages of slow reaction rates and material loss, and are often noneconomical for scaled-up production. In the last few decades, the one-pot synthesis has emerged as a leading atom-economical methodology for various chemical transformations in a single pot without purifying intermediate compounds. This facile strategy avoids the separation process at each step thus reduces time of reaction, saves chemical resources, and ensures high atom economy. In recent years, this eco-friendly approach has also gained considerable attention for the synthesis and functionalization of all types of nanomaterials. The subsequent sections of this chapter highlight some pioneering examples of one-pot synthesis of different types of nanomaterials. Further, the one-pot strategy has gained a new dimension of sustainability with the involvement of biomolecules such as DNA, proteins, and phytochemicals as nontoxic reducing and capping agents. Accordingly, herein, we present examples of chemical-assisted one-pot synthesis and bioinspired one-pot synthesis of nanomaterials to establish the scope of this green and economical approach.

The endocrine system consisting of hormone producing endocrine glands and their receptors; do control, coordinate, and regulate a variety of crucial physiological functions in human body. The hormones, the chemical messengers which are secreted directly into circulatory system regulate body’s growth and development, embryonic development, and primary sex characters, etc. The endocrine system manages to regulate glucose and lipid metabolism. However, it has been observed that a number of exogenous chemicals could interfere with the normal functioning of the endocrine system; disrupt the hormonal-synthesis and secretions, their transportation process and binding properties, and finally their physiological actions. Thus, they are termed as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Unfortunately, such EDCs are ubiquitous in nature and move passively into human body through various unavoidable routes. They include but not limited to environmental toxicants, pesticides, herbicides, and pharmaceuticals. These EDCs impair the normal functions of hormones and the adverse effects are observed in the form of neurological disorders, sexual abnormalities in both genders, psychological and behavioral issues. They also cause metabolic disorders leading to obesity and type 2 diabetes. This chapter focuses on pharmaceutical products as EDCs and their role on incidence of insulin resistance and obesity. The pharmaceutical products could act as EDCs when they get discharged directly from pharmaceutical industries into environment through untreated wastewater. So, they could act as EDCs when they end up in normal human body through various routes and means. Secondly, the pharmaceutical products act as EDCs when they are used as medications for treatment of diseases but they show some undesirable off-target interaction with the endocrine system.

In this study Cu-chitosan nanoparticles (Cu-CNP) have been employed as eco-friendly and safer priming agents to induce salt and PEG-induced hyperosmotic stress tolerance in wheat seedlings. Seed priming is a facile on-farm stress management technique that requires a little amount of priming agent and minimizes the eco-toxicological effects on soil fertility. The wheat seeds were primed with 0.12% and 0.16% Cu-CNP for eight hours and were allowed to germinate under normal, PEG-induced hyperosmotic stress (15% PEG-6000 – 3.0 Mpa) and salt stress (150 mM). For comparison, non-primed and hydro-primed seeds were also allowed to germinate as control under the same conditions. The biochemical analyses suggested the priming treatments enhanced the POD activity under salt stress but it was decreased under PEG-induced hyperosmotic stress. Priming with 0.12% Cu-CNP induced a significant increase in CAT while the opposite effect was observed in 0.16% treated seedling under stress and non-stress conditions. Both priming treatments did not allow the over-expression of SOD under both stress conditions. The total phenolic contents were also decreased significantly under all conditions. Except for priming with 0.16% Cu-CNP under PEG-induced hyperosmotic stress, a suppression in MDA was observed under both stress conditions. Surprisingly, the Cu-CNP priming induced a significant increase in β-carotenoids, total carotenoids, chlorophyll a, b and total chlorophyll under normal and stress conditions. In conclusion, the controlled expression of enzymatic antioxidants, low contents of non-enzymatic antioxidants and suppression of MDA mirror the stress mitigating role of Cu-CNP against PEG-induced hyperosmotic stress and salinity. The stress-insulating potential has also been reinforced by the enhanced production of plant and photosynthetic pigments. All these priming-induced biochemical changes produced positive effects on growth and germinating parameters in wheat seedlings under PEG-induced hyperosmotic stress as well as salinity.

Over the last few decades, a number of natural dyes have become non-toxic, eco-friendly and biocompatible substitutes of highly carcinogenic synthetic dyes. Herein, we selected the Acalypha wilkesiana (copper plant) as the source of a natural colorant for auxiliary-free dyeing of cotton, a way forward to eco-friendly dyeing. The bioactive phytochemical constituents of this plant include tannins, flavonoids, phlobatanins, cardiac glycosides, saponins, alkaloids, terpenes and steroids. Both the aqueous and methanol extracts of copper leaf were extracted and applied to unmodified and modified cotton fabrics with the percentage shade depths of 0.5%, 1%, 2%, 4%, 5% and 6% both at pH 4 and 7. The cationized samples rendered substantial improvement in color strength (K/S) values as compared to un-cationized ones. Aqueous and methanolic extracts offered very similar K/S values on cationized samples. Without using any metallic salts as mordants, the color fastness properties like rubbing fastness, washing fastness were also slightly improved due to greater dye fixation on cationized samples compared to uncationized ones. In conclusion, the aqueous extract exhibited dye fixation and color fastness properties comparable to methanolic extract at pH 4 and 7. Thus, it suggested the avoidance of toxic organic solvent for extraction and auxiliary chemicals in subsequent dyeing, a step towards eco-friendly sustainable dyeing.

During the production of textile materials, the functional, comfort, and aesthetic properties are mainly improved in textile wet processing operations. This major step involves a huge amount of water for washing and dissolution media; consequently, it gets loaded with auxiliary chemicals and unfixed dyes as wastewater effluents. Similarly, a number of chemicals used as washing and finishing agents pollute the water used during wet processing operations. This wastewater contaminates the ecosystem if discharged untreated. The toxic effluent of dyestuffs used during the dyeing process could severely damage the ground water and aquatic life. Various step of wet processing involves a huge consumption of energy in different forms. Textile industry puts heavy strain on global resources as it utilizes huge amounts of energy, water, and hazardous chemicals. This situation has raised issues about the sustainability of textiles due to severe burden on environment. So, alternative approaches have become necessary to ensure the sustainability of textile wet processing. In recent years, green chemistry has emerged as an effective tool to make textile wet processing sustainable. Green chemistry has helped in the development of alternative green and biodegradable chemicals usable as wetting, washing, and finishing agents. Much more reactive and biodegradable dyes have been developed for effective dyeing processing to minimize the amount of unfixed dyes in wastewater. Ionic liquids have been developed as alternative medium to replace water consumption in wet processing, ensuring its sustainability. Further, a number of biomaterials have been developed for sustainable wet processing operations. Green chemistry has played its role to strengthen the idea of sustainable wet processing.

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is classified as an autoimmune disease which progressively results in the depletion of insulin-secreting β-cells. Consequently, the insulin secretion stops leading to hyperglycemic situations within the body. Under severe conditions, it also causes multi-organ diabetes-associated dysfunctionalities notably hypercoagulability, neuropathy, nephropathy, retinopathy, and sometimes organ failures. The prevalence of this disease has been noticed about 3% that has highlighted the serious concerns for healthcare professionals around the globe. For the treatment of this disease, the cell therapy is considered as an important therapeutic approach for the replacement of damaged β-cells. However, the development of autoantibodies unfortunately reduces their effectiveness with the passage of time and finally with the recurrence of diabetes mellitus. The development of new techniques for extraction and transplantation of islets failed to support this approach due to the issues related to major surgery and lifelong dependence on immunosuppression. For T1DM, such cells are supposed to produce, store, and supply insulin to maintain glucose homeostasis. The urgent need of much-anticipated substitute for insulin-secreting β-cells directed the researchers to focus on stem cells (SCs) to produce insulin-secreting β-cells. For being more specific and targeted therapeutic approaches, SC-based strategies opened up the new horizons to cure T1DM. This cell-based therapy aimed to produce functional insulin-secreting β-cells to cure diabetes on forever basis. The intrinsic regenerative potential along with immunomodulatory abilities of SCs highlights the therapeutic potential of SC-based strategies. In this article, we have comprehensively highlighted the role of SCs to treat diabetes mellitus.

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is classified as an autoimmune disease which progressively results in the depletion of insulin-secreting β-cells. Consequently, the insulin secretion stops leading to hyperglycemic situations within the body. Under severe conditions, it also causes multi-organ diabetes-associated dysfunctionalities notably hypercoagulability, neuropathy, nephropathy, retinopathy, and sometimes organ failures. The prevalence of this disease has been noticed about 3% that has highlighted the serious concerns for healthcare professionals around the globe. For the treatment of this disease, the cell therapy is considered as an important therapeutic approach for the replacement of damaged β-cells. However, the development of autoantibodies unfortunately reduces their effectiveness with the passage of time and finally with the recurrence of diabetes mellitus. The development of new techniques for extraction and transplantation of islets failed to support this approach due to the issues related to major surgery and lifelong dependence on immunosuppression. For T1DM, such cells are supposed to produce, store, and supply insulin to maintain glucose homeostasis. The urgent need of much-anticipated substitute for insulin-secreting β-cells directed the researchers to focus on stem cells (SCs) to produce insulin-secreting β-cells. For being more specific and targeted therapeutic approaches, SC-based strategies opened up the new horizons to cure T1DM. This cell-based therapy aimed to produce functional insulin-secreting β-cells to cure diabetes on forever basis. The intrinsic regenerative potential along with immunomodulatory abilities of SCs highlights the therapeutic potential of SC-based strategies. In this article, we have comprehensively highlighted the role of SCs to treat diabetes mellitus.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) presents a serious global health threat. Initially, the health-care community mainly focused on interferon (IFN)-based therapeutic options to eradicate HCV, but with the passage of time, these applications became unsuitable due to some serious side effects related to the use of IFN. In recent years, research conducted on different phases of HCV's life cycle has opened a new gateway for the use of a direct-acting new generation of anti-HCV agents. Their safer and ultrarapid response has made possible the introduction of triple therapy and use of IFN-free therapeutic treatment strategies. However, the high cost of these successful therapies has raised serious concerns, particularly in low-income countries, and this has forced pharmaceutical scientists to explore more cost-effective IFN-free alternatives for the treatment of HCV. In this article, we have briefly summarized the latest data regarding the research and development of non-IFN-based antiviral agents. The studies mentioned in this article highlight the significance of non-IFN-based direct-acting antiviral (DAA) agents. Economical alternative anti-HCV agents are expected to become available in the near future for better and more cost-effective treatments of HCV.

The Amberboa is a medicinally important genus present in the family Asteraceae; members of this genus are mainly distributed in Pakistan and India. It has been used in different systems of traditional medicines for different diseases. Amberinone (1), a new sesquiterpene lactone, has been isolated from the ethyl acetate (EtOAc) soluble fraction of Amberboa ramosa together with chrysin (2), quercitine (3), eriodictyol (4) and keamferol (5). This is the first report of these compounds from this species. The structures of the isolated compounds have been elucidated by 1D and 2D 1H 13C NMR spectroscopy.

Purpose : To compare fungal strains including Aspergillus flavipes GCBL-72, Aspergillus flavus GCBL-60, and Aspergillus niger GCBL-45 and determine whether solid- or liquid-state fermentation (SSF or LSF) is more appropriate for lovastatin production using various inexpensive raw materials. Methods : LSF and SSF techniques were used to produce the drug lovastatin. High-performance liquid chromatography was performed out to quantify lovastatin production. A kinetic growth model was applied to estimate product formation at the expense of substrate utilization. Results : Aspergillus flavus GCBL-60 was a superior lovastatin-producing strain consuming wheat bran as the raw material in SSF. The optimum lovastatin production was 28.36 ± 0.76 mg/100mL at 35 °C, pH 5.5, inoculum size 2 mL, 96 h incubation time, and 60 % moisture content. Evaluation of the kinetic growth parameters for lovastatin production confirmed that product formation was improved after fermentation parameter optimization. Conclusion : Our results indicate that Aspergillus flavus GCBL-60 was best lovastatin-producing strain and that SSF was superior to LSF for maximum production. Careful optimization can enhance product formation. Keywords : Hypercholesterolemia, Kinetics, Optimization, Lovastatin, Solid-State Fermentation, Raw materials

For the last thirty years, ongoing efforts have revolutionized the antiretroviral therapy, which changed human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections from terrifying lethal diseases to chronic conditions. However, many challenges, like emergence of drug resistance, limited the scope of activity of currently existing anti-HIV agents. Quite often severe side effects and lifelong dependency are the major concerns of present era. All these issues have compelled the scientists to reconsider and refine the current therapies and also contemplate the pivotal priorities for the developments of novel therapeutic paradigms. In response to this global concern, medicinal chemists and pharmaceutical scientists have put in solid efforts to search for or develop novel, more effective, safer, and affordable antiretroviral agents for the treatment of HIV infections. The exploration and utilization of natural sources has always been an attractive research area in this regard. In the search of the most suitable and potent anti-HIV agents, researchers have explored the anti-HIV activity of different classes of compounds originating from plants, marine organisms, and microorganisms. This review will highlight the recent notable developments for the discovery of antiretroviral agents. Furthermore, this review also highlights the better in-depth insights of existing HIV cures and preventive strategies.

Single-nitrogen containing saturated cyclic amines are an important part of both natural and synthetic bioactive compounds. A number of methodologies have been developed for the synthesis of aziridines, azetidines, pyrrolidines, piperidines, azepanes and azocanes. This review highlights some facile and green synthetic routes for the synthesis of unsubstituted, multisubstituted and highly functionalized saturated cyclic amines including one-pot, microwave assisted, metal-free, solvent-free and in aqueous media.