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Abstract Background Herbs and spices are very important and useful as therapeutic agent against many pathological infections. Increasing multidrug resistance of pathogens forces to find alternative compounds for treatment of infectious diseases. Methods In the present study the antimicrobial potency of garlic and ginger has been investigated against eight local clinical bacterial isolates. Three types of extracts of each garlic and ginger including aqueous extract, methanol extract and ethanol extract had been assayed separately against drug resistant Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Shigella sonnei, Staphylococcusepidermidis and Salmonella typhi. The antibacterial activity was determined by disc diffusion method. Results All tested bacterial strains were most susceptible to the garlic aqueous extract and showed poor susceptibility to the ginger aqueous extract. The (minimum inhibitory concentration) MIC of different bacterial species varied from 0.05 mg/ml to 1.0 mg/ml. Conclusion In the light of several socioeconomic factors of Pakistan mainly poverty and poor hygienic condition, present study encourages the use of spices as alternative or supplementary medicine to reduce the burden of high cost, side effects and progressively increasing drug resistance of pathogens.

The use of interferon α-2 in combination with thymosin α-1 shows higher anti-cancer effect in comparison when both are used individually because of their synergistic effects. In this study we produced an important human interferon α-2-thymosin α-1 (IFNα2-Tα1) fusion protein with probable pharmaceutical properties coupled to its high-level expression, characterization, and study of its biological activity. The IFNα2-Tα1 fusion gene was constructed by over-lap extension PCR and expressed in Escherichia coli expression system. The expression of IFNα2-Tα1 fusion protein was optimized to higher level and its maximum expression was obtained in modified terrific broth medium when lactose was used as inducer. The fusion protein was refolded into its native biologically active form with maximum yield of 83.14% followed by purification with ∼98% purity and 69% final yield. A band of purified IFNα2-Tα1 fusion protein equal to ∼23 kDa was observed on 12 % SDS-PAGE gel. The integrity of IFNα2-Tα1 fusion protein was confirmed by western blot analysis and secondary structure was assessed by CD spectroscopy. When IFNα2-Tα1 fusion protein was subjected to its biological activity analysis it was observed that it exhibits both IFNα2 & Tα1 activities as well as significantly higher anticancer activity as compared to IFNα-2 alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of Moringa oleifera as natural food preservative has been evaluated in the present study. In addition, for quality assurance, the study has also been focused on the shelf life of product to authenticate the identification of plant by development of DNA based marker. Among the different extracts prepared from flower pods of Moringa oleifera, methanol and aqueous extract exhibited high antibacterial and antioxidant activity, respectively. The high phenolic contents (53.5±0.169 mg GAE/g) and flavonoid contents (10.9±0.094 mg QE/g) were also recorded in methanol and aqueous extract, respectively. Due to instability of bioactive compounds in aqueous extract, methanol extract is considered as potent natural preservative. The shelf life of methanol extract was observed for two months at 4°C under dark conditions. The developed SCAR primers (MOF217/317/MOR317) specifically amplified a fragment of 317 bp from DNA of Moringa oleifera samples collected from different regions of Punjab province of Pakistan. The methanol extract of Moringa oleifera flower pods has great potential to be used as natural preservative and nutraceutical in food industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Salmonella Typhi is a pathogenic bacterium that causes a number of infectious diseases such as gastroenteritis and typhoid fever. In this study, an antigenic (34 kDa) protein was identified, purified, and characterized from outer membrane of Salmonella typhi., Methods: Immunoblot analysis was used to screen antigenic proteins from outer membrane of Salmonella Typhi. Proteins from outer membrane were isolated and resolved on SDS-PAGE. In immunoblot analysis, four proteins with the following molecular weights of 60 kDa, 54 kDa, 34 kDa, and 26 kDa were identified as highly antigenic against the serum of patients suffering from typhoid fever. One of these outer membrane proteins, with a molecular mass of 34 kDa, was selected for this study. The 34 kDa protein was purified and characterized by a combination of anion exchange chromatography and gel permeation chromatography. The molecular weight of 34 kDa was determined using SDS-PAGE electrophoresis. The antigenic nature of the purified 34 kDa protein was determined by ELISA against serum proteins of patients suffering from typhoid fever and finally confirmed by immunoblot analysis. Antisera against the purified 34 kDa outer membrane protein of Salmonella typhi was produced and was used to recognize the epitope on the surface of an intact Salmonella typhi bacterium., Results: The antigenic 34 kDa protein from the outer membrane of Salmonella typhi was identified, purified and characterized. The antigenecity of purified protein was confirmed by using antibodies present in serum of patient suffering from typhoid fever. It was also observed that antibody against 34 kDa outer membrane protein recognizes intact Salmonella typhi cells., Conclusions: It is established from the study that 34 kDa protein is antigenic in nature and antibody against this protein can also recognize epitopes on intact Salmonella typhi cells. Furthermore, this protein can be a good source material to produce vaccine against typhoid fever.