Abridgement of Microbial Esterases and Their Eminent Industrial Endeavors

Esterases are hydrolases that contribute to the hydrolysis of ester bonds into both water-soluble acyl esters and emulsified glycerol-esters containing short-chain acyl groups. They have garnered significant attention from biotechnologists and organic chemists due to their immense commercial value. Esterases, with their diverse and significant properties, have become highly sought after for various industrial applications. Synthesized ubiquitously by a wide range of living organisms, including animals, plants, and microorganisms, these enzymes have found microbial esterases to be the preferred choice in industrial settings. The cost-effective production of microbial esterases ensures higher yields, unaffected by seasonal variations. Their applications span diverse sectors, such as food manufacturing, leather tanneries, paper and pulp production, textiles, detergents, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, biodiesel synthesis, bioremediation, and waste treatment. As the global trend shifts toward eco-friendly and sustainable practices, industrial processes are evolving with reduced waste generation, lower energy consumption, and the utilization of biocatalysts derived from renewable and unconventional raw materials. This review explores the background, structural characteristics, thermostability, and multifaceted roles of bacterial esterases in crucial industries, aiming to optimize and analyze their properties for continued successful utilization in diverse industrial processes. Additionally, recent advancements in esterase research are overviewed, showcasing novel techniques, innovations, and promising areas for further exploration.

CRISPR-Cas9 System: A Prospective Pathway toward Combatting Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotic resistance is rising to dangerously high levels throughout the world. To cope with this problem, scientists are working on CRISPR-based research so that antibiotic-resistant bacteria can be killed and attacked almost as quickly as antibiotic-sensitive bacteria. Nuclease activity is found in Cas9, which can be programmed with a specific target sequence. This mechanism will only attack pathogens in the microbiota while preserving commensal bacteria. This article portrays the delivery methods used in the CRISPR-Cas system, which are both viral and non-viral, along with its implications and challenges, such as microbial dysbiosis, off-target effects, and failure to counteract intracellular infections. CRISPR-based systems have a lot of applications, such as correcting mutations, developing diagnostics for infectious diseases, improving crops productions, improving breeding techniques, etc. In the future, CRISPR-based systems will revolutionize the world by curing diseases, improving agriculture, and repairing genetic disorders. Though all the drawbacks of the technology, CRISPR carries great potential; thus, the modification and consideration of some aspects could result in a mind-blowing technique to attain all the applications listed and present a game-changing potential.

Effect of pretreatment strategies on halophyte Atriplex crassifolia to improve saccharification using thermostable cellulases

Bioethanol is believed to be an influential revolutionary gift of biotechnology, owing to its elevating global demand and massive production. Pakistan is home to a rich diversity of halophytic flora, convertible into bounteous volumes of bioethanol. On the other hand, the accessibility to the cellulosic part of biomass is a major bottleneck in the successful application of biorefinery processes. The most common pre-treatment procedures existent include physicochemical and chemical approaches, which are not environmentally benign. To overcome these problems, biological pre-treatment has gained importance but the drawback is the low yield of the extracted monosaccharides. The current research was aimed at exploring the best pre-treatment method for the bioconversion of halophyte Atriplex crassifolia into saccharides using three thermostable cellulases. Atriplex crassifolia was subjected to acid, alkali and microwave pre-treatments, followed by compositional analysis of the pre-treated substrates. Maximum delignification i.e. 56.6% was observed in the substrate pre-treated using 3% HCl. Enzymatic saccharification using thermostable cellulases also validated the results where the highest saccharification yield i.e. 39.5% was observed for the sample pre-treated using same. Maximum enzymatic hydrolysis of 52.7% was obtained for 0.40 g of the pre-treated halophyte Atriplex crassifolia where Endo-1,4- β -glucanase (300U), Exo-1,4- β -glucanase (400U) and β -1,4-glucosidase (1000U) were simultaneously added and incubated for 6 h at 75°C. The reducing sugar slurry obtained after optimization of saccharification was utilized as glucose in submerged fermentation for bioethanol production. The fermentation medium was inoculated with Saccharomyces cerevisiae, incubated at 30°C and 180 rpm for 96 h. Ethanol production was estimated using potassium dichromate method. Maximum production of bioethanol i.e. 16.33% was noted at 72 h. It can be concluded from the study that Atriplex crassifolia owing to its high cellulosic content after pre-treatment using dilute acid method, yields substantial amount of reducing sugars and high saccharification rates when subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis using thermostable cellulases, under optimized reaction conditions. Hence, the halophyte Atriplex crassifolia is a beneficial substrate that can be utilized to extract fermentable saccharides for bioethanol production.

A novel nonlinear sliding mode observer to estimate biomass for lactic acid production

This study deals with the problem of estimating the amount of biomass and lactic acid concentration in a lactic acid production process. A continuous stirred tank bioreactor was used for the culture of Lactobacillus helveticus. A nonlinear sliding mode observer is proposed and designed, which gives an estimate of both the biomass and lactic acid concentrations as a function of glucose uptake from the culture medium. Numerical results are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed observer against a standard sliding-mode observer. It was found that the proposed observer worked very well for the benchmark bioreactor model. Also, the numerical results indicated that the proposed estimation methodology was robust to the uncertainties associated with un-modelled dynamics. These new sensing technologies, when coupled to software models, improve performance for smart process control, monitoring, and prediction.

Autonomous schema markups based on intelligent computing for search engine optimization

With advances in artificial intelligence and semantic technology, search engines are integrating semantics to address complex search queries to improve the results. This requires identification of well-known concepts or entities and their relationship from web page contents. But the increase in complex unstructured data on web pages has made the task of concept identification overly complex. Existing research focuses on entity recognition from the perspective of linguistic structures such as complete sentences and paragraphs, whereas a huge part of the data on web pages exists as unstructured text fragments enclosed in HTML tags. Ontologies provide schemas to structure the data on the web. However, including them in the web pages requires additional resources and expertise from organizations or webmasters and thus becoming a major hindrance in their large-scale adoption. We propose an approach for autonomous identification of entities from short text present in web pages to populate semantic models based on a specific ontology model. The proposed approach has been applied to a public dataset containing academic web pages. We employ a long short-term memory (LSTM) deep learning network and the random forest machine learning algorithm to predict entities. The proposed methodology gives an overall accuracy of 0.94 on the test dataset, indicating a potential for automated prediction even in the case of a limited number of training samples for various entities, thus, significantly reducing the required manual workload in practical applications.

Correction: Javed et al. The Potential Impact of Smog Spell on Humans' Health Amid COVID-19 Rages. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 11408

There was an error in the original publication [...].

Process optimization for biosynthesis of pyruvate decarboxylase (PDC) and Neuberg’s ketol (PAC) from a novel Pichia cecembensis through response surface methodology

Purpose

Phenylacetylcarbinol (PAC) is an intermediate for the synthesis of several active pharmaceutical ingredients (ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, norephedrine, etc.) used for the production of antiasthematics and decongestants. An efficient biosynthesis of PAC through condensation of benzaldehyde and acetaldehyde catalyzed by a solvent tolerant pyruvate decarboxylase (PDC) is being reported. A process for the biosynthesis of PAC was designed and optimized through response surface methodology (RSM) in the present study.

Methods

The effects of incubation time (8–18 h), incubation temperature (30–38 °C), medium pH (4–10), and inoculum size (4–10%) on PAC yield, sugar consumption, and PDC activity were determined through submerged fermentation using a newly isolated potent yeast strain of Pichia cecembensis. PAC was quantified spectrophotometerically and through HPLC. PDC produced was exposed to 40 mM benzaldehyde as whole cells, crude extract, and partialy purified preparation to check its stability against the said solvent.

Results

The highest PDC activity and PAC yield during present study were found to be 56.27 U/ml and 8.44 g/l, respectively. The yield of PAC was increased by 71% (2.22 to 8.44 g/l) after process optimization through RSM with incubation time of 13 h, incubation temperature of 33 °C, and 18% total sugar as significant factors (P-values, 0.902, 0.260, and 0.247, respectively). R-squared value of 0.770 and Adeq Precision value of 4.888 show the goodness of fit of the process design. PDC is used in the form of Pichia cecembensis whole cells revealed higher stability towards benzaldehyde and elevated temperature as compared to partially purified PDC. Whole cells and partially purified PDC showed half-lives of 240 and 72 h at 4 °C, whereas 33 and 28.5 h at 25 °C. PAC was purified though HPLC with a purity level of 76.18%.

Conclusion

Incubation time, temperature, and sugar concentration were found to be significant factors for the biosynthesis of PAC. A newly isolated Pichia cecembensis produced a highly active, solvent, and temperature-tolerant pyruvate decarboxylase (PDC) which is superior to its counterpart being presently used in the industry. Hence, this novel yeast species is a promising candidate for commercial production of PAC and other related APIs owing to its highly stable PDC.

Occurrence of Campylobacter spp. and Phenotypic Antimicrobial Resistance Profiles of Campylobacter jejuni in Slaughtered Broiler Chickens in North-Western Romania

Campylobacteriosis is recognized as one of the most common food-borne zoonoses, with worldwide distribution, having undercooked poultry meat and other cross-contaminated foodstuffs as the main sources of human infections. The current study aimed to provide data on the occurrence of the thermophilic Campylobacter spp. in seven broiler chicken flocks, from three north-western Transylvanian counties of Romania, as well as to determine the antimicrobial resistance profile of the isolated C. jejuni strains. A total of 324 fresh cecal samples were collected during the slaughtering process, and screened for the presence of Campylobacter spp., using routine microbiological and molecular diagnostic tools. Overall, 85.2% (276/324; 95% CI 80.9-88.6) of the tested samples expressed positive results for Campylobacter spp., with dominant occurrence of C. coli towards C. jejuni (63.4% vs. 36.6%). From the six tested antimicrobials, the 101 isolated C. jejuni strains were resistant against ciprofloxacin (79.2%), nalidixic acid (78.2%), tetracycline (49.5%), and streptomycin (7.9%), but total susceptibility was noticed against erythromycin and gentamicin. Seven (6.9%) isolates exhibited multidrug resistance. The study results emphasize the role of broiler chicken as reservoir of Campylobacter infections for humans, as well as strengthen the necessity of the prudent using of antimicrobials in the poultry industry.

Exploring the Function of Quorum Sensing Regulated Biofilms in Biological Wastewater Treatment: A Review

Quorum sensing (QS), a type of bacterial cell–cell communication, produces autoinducers which help in biofilm formation in response to cell population density. In this review, biofilm formation, the role of QS in biofilm formation and development with reference to biological wastewater treatment are discussed. Autoinducers, for example, acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs), auto-inducing oligo-peptides (AIPs) and autoinducer 2, present in both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, with their mechanism, are also explained. Over the years, wastewater treatment (WWT) by QS-regulated biofilms and their optimization for WWT have gained much attention. This article gives a comprehensive review of QS regulation methods, QS enrichment methods and QS inhibition methods in biological waste treatment systems. Typical QS enrichment methods comprise adding QS molecules, adding QS accelerants and cultivating QS bacteria, while typical QS inhibition methods consist of additions of quorum quenching (QQ) bacteria, QS-degrading enzymes, QS-degrading oxidants, and QS inhibitors. Potential applications of QS regulated biofilms for WWT have also been summarized. At last, the knowledge gaps present in current researches are analyzed, and future study requirements are proposed.

Sustainable Production of Bioethanol Using Levulinic Acid Pretreated Sawdust

The sustainability and economic viability of the bioethanol production process from lignocellulosic biomass depend on efficient and effective pretreatment of biomass. Traditional pretreatment strategies implicating the use of mineral acids, alkalis, and organic solvents release toxic effluents and the formation of inhibitory compounds posing detrimental effects on the environment and interfering with the enzymatic saccharification process, respectively. Ionic liquids (ILs) as green solvents were used to overcome this issue, but the deep eutectic solvent as an emerging class of ionic liquids performed better in terms of making the process environmentally and economically viable. The green solvent-based pretreatment strategy applied in the current research was levulinic, acid-based natural deep eutectic solvent (NADES). Three different hydrogen bond acceptors (HBAs)—acetamide, betaine, and choline chloride—in combination with levulinic acid as hydrogen bond donor (HBD) in (HBD: HBA) molar ratio 2:1, were screened for biomass pretreatment. The best deep eutectic solvent was levulinic acid: choline chloride in an optimized molar ratio of 1:0.5, resulting in 91% delignification. The physicochemical parametric optimization of saccharification exhibited maximum enzymatic hydrolysis of 25.87% with 125 mg of pretreated sawdust via simultaneous addition of three thermostable cellulases [i.e., endo-1,4-β-D-glucanase (240 U), exo-1,4-β-D-glucanase (180 U), and β-glucosidase (320 U)] for 5 h of incubation at 75°C. The reducing sugar slurry obtained from the saccharified biomass was then added to a fermentation medium for bioethanol production, and a maximum of 11.82% of production was obtained at 30°C, 72 h, and 180 rpm using a 2.5% 24 h old Saccharomyces cerevisiae seed culture. The current study revealed that the levulinic-based deep eutectic solvent exhibited remarkable delignification, which led to the efficient enzymatic hydrolysis of sawdust and hence bioethanol production. Furthermore, it will prospect new avenues in bioethanol production using a deep eutectic solvent. Deep eutectic solvent overcame the issues posed by ionic liquids: toxicity, expensive and complex preparation, and non-biodegradability.

Rhizosphere Signaling: Insights into Plant-Rhizomicrobiome Interactions for Sustainable Agronomy

Rhizospheric plant-microbe interactions have dynamic importance in sustainable agriculture systems that have a reduced reliance on agrochemicals. Rhizosphere signaling focuses on the interactions between plants and the surrounding symbiotic microorganisms that facilitate the development of rhizobiome diversity, which is beneficial for plant productivity. Plant-microbe communication comprises intricate systems that modulate local and systemic defense mechanisms to mitigate environmental stresses. This review deciphers insights into how the exudation of plant secondary metabolites can shape the functions and diversity of the root microbiome. It also elaborates on how rhizosphere interactions influence plant growth, regulate plant immunity against phytopathogens, and prime the plant for protection against biotic and abiotic stresses, along with some recent well-reported examples. A holistic understanding of these interactions can help in the development of tailored microbial inoculants for enhanced plant growth and targeted disease suppression.

Epitope-based peptide vaccine design and elucidation of novel compounds against 3C like protein of SARS-CoV-2

Coronaviruses (CoVs) are positive-stranded RNA viruses with short clubs on their edges. CoVs are pathogenic viruses that infect several animals and plant organisms, as well as humans (lethal respiratory dysfunctions). A noval strain of CoV has been reported and named as SARS-CoV-2. Numerous COVID-19 cases were being reported all over the World. COVID-19 and has a high mortality rate. In the present study, immunoinformatics techniques were utilized to predict the antigenic epitopes against 3C like protein. B-cell epitopes and Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) were designed computationally against SARS-CoV-2. Multiple Sequence Alignment (MSA) of seven complete strains (HCoV-229E, HCoV-NL63, HCoV-OC43, HCoV-HKU1, SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2) was performed to elucidate the binding domain and interacting residues. MHC-I binding epitopes were evaluated by analyzing the binding affinity of the top-ranked peptides having HLA molecule. By utilizing the docked complexes of CTL epitopes with antigenic sites, the binding relationship and affinity of top-ranked predicted peptides with the MHC-I HLA protein were investigated. The molecular docking analyses were conducted on the ZINC database library and twelve compounds having least binding energy were scrutinized. In conclusion, twelve CTL epitopes (GTDLEGNFY, TVNVLAWLY, GSVGFNIDY, SEDMLNPNY, LSQTGIAV, VLDMCASLK, LTQDHVDIL, TTLNDFNLV, CTSEDMLNP, TTITVNVLA, YNGSPSGVY, and SMQNCVLKL) were identified against SARS-CoV-2.

Iron Oxide-Modified Carbon Electrode and Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria for Simultaneous Enhanced Electricity Generation and Tannery Wastewater Treatment

The microbial fuel cell (MFC) is emerging as a potential technology for extracting energy from wastes/wastewater while they are treated. The major hindrance in MFC commercialization is lower power generation due to the sluggish transfer of electrons from the biocatalyst (bacteria) to the anode surface and inefficient microbial consortia for treating real complex wastewater. To overcome these concerns, a traditional carbon felt (CF) electrode modification was carried out by iron oxide (Fe₃O₄) nanoparticles via facile dip-and-dry methods, and mixed sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRBs) were utilized as efficient microbial consortia. In the modified CF electrode with SRBs, a considerable improvement in the bioelectrochemical operation was observed, where the power density (309 ± 13 mW/m²) was 1.86 times higher than bare CF with SRBs (166 ± 11 mW/m²), suggesting better bioelectrochemical performance of an SRB-enriched Fe₃O₄@CF anode in the MFC. This superior activity can be assigned to the lower charge transfer resistance, higher conductance, and increased number of catalytic sites of the Fe₃O₄@CF electrode. The SRB-enriched Fe₃O₄@CF anode also assists in enhancing MFC performance in terms of COD removal (>75%), indicating efficient biodegradability of tannery wastewater and a higher electron transfer rate from SRBs to the conductive anode. These findings demonstrate that a combination of the favorable properties of nanocomposites such as Fe₃O₄@CF anodes and efficient microbes for treating complex wastes can encourage new directions for renewable energy–related applications.

Diagnostic approach to elucidate the efficacy and side effects of direct-acting antivirals in HCV infected patients

INTRODUCTION

The conventional interferon therapy of hepatitis C virus has been substituted substantially with sofosbuvir and daclatasvir due to constraints in efficacy and tolerability. This study aimed diagnostically to monitor the effectiveness and side effects of direct-acting antivirals in the management of HCV infections.

METHODOLOGY

This prospective study was conducted on HCV-infected patients treated with sofosbuvir and daclatasvir. Different serological, biochemical, hematological, and molecular techniques were used for the assessment of patients. Only treatment-naive patients aged ≥ 18 to 75 years received 12 weeks of treatment. The primary endpoint was a sustained virologic response with undetectable HCV RNA in the patients' serum at the end of the treatment.

RESULTS

We identified 229 cases of confirmed HCV infections by PCR, 94.3% of which had genotype 3. The study population comprised 66% females and 34% males with a median age of 42.2 ± 10.6 SD. Ninety-three percent of the patients accomplished SVR at week 12. The combined therapy of SOF/DAC achieved the highest efficacy rate (92.6%) among the different HCV genotype 3 patients. A statistically significant relationship was observed between low baseline viral load (p < 0.001; 95% CI = 1.2-3.1) and HCV genotype 3 with minor side effects, including lethargy, headache, nausea, insomnia, diarrhea, and fever.

CONCLUSIONS

HCV-infected patients can be treated well with an interferon-free SOF/DAC regimen, tolerated with generally mild adverse effects with a higher SVR.

Deep Convolutional Neural Network Regularization for Alcoholism Detection Using EEG Signals

Alcoholism is attributed to regular or excessive drinking of alcohol and leads to the disturbance of the neuronal system in the human brain. This results in certain malfunctioning of neurons that can be detected by an electroencephalogram (EEG) using several electrodes on a human skull at appropriate positions. It is of great interest to be able to classify an EEG activity as that of a normal person or an alcoholic person using data from the minimum possible electrodes (or channels). Due to the complex nature of EEG signals, accurate classification of alcoholism using only a small dataset is a challenging task. Artificial neural networks, specifically convolutional neural networks (CNNs), provide efficient and accurate results in various pattern-based classification problems. In this work, we apply CNN on raw EEG data and demonstrate how we achieved 98% average accuracy by optimizing a baseline CNN model and outperforming its results in a range of performance evaluation metrics on the University of California at Irvine Machine Learning (UCI-ML) EEG dataset. This article explains the stepwise improvement of the baseline model using the dropout, batch normalization, and kernel regularization techniques and provides a comparison of the two models that can be beneficial for aspiring practitioners who aim to develop similar classification models in CNN. A performance comparison is also provided with other approaches using the same dataset.

Cassia fistula Leaves; UHPLC-QTOF-MS/MS Based Metabolite Profiling and Molecular Docking Insights to Explore Bioactives Role Towards Inhibition of Pancreatic Lipase

The present work was aimed at investigating hydroethanolic leaf extracts of Cassia fistula for their antioxidant and pancreatic lipase (PL) enzyme inhibitory properties. The most active extract was selected to profile the phytoconstituents by UHPLC-QTOF-MS/MS technique. Among the tested extracts, the 80% hydroethanolic extract exhibited the maximum levels of total phenolic and flavonoid contents (TPC and TFC) with a contribution of 201.3 ± 2.6 mg of gallic acid equivalent per gram of extract (GAE/g extract), and 116.3 ± 2.4 mg of rutin equivalent per gram of extract (RE/g extract), respectively. The same extract also showed promising 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging and PL inhibitory activity with an IC₅₀ (half maximal inhibitory concentration) of 30.5 ± 2.8 µg/mL and 17.31 ± 1.18 μg/mL, respectively. The phytochemical profiling of 80% hydroethanolic extract confirmed the presence of 23 metabolites of immense medicinal significance. Docking studies were conducted to investigate the potential interactions of compounds identified in the study. The docking study-based binding energy data and the interaction scheme both revealed the possible role of the identified compounds towards PL inhibitor. Moreover, energies of frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs), ionization potentials (IP), electron affinities (EA) and molecular electrostatic potentials (MEP) were also explored. The findings of the current work suggest that C. fistula is a promising natural source of antioxidant and antiobesity agents, which may be exploited to add pharmacological functionalities to food.

Purification and Characterization of Mannanase from Aspergillus awamori for Fruit Juice Clarification

BACKGROUND

Fruit juice clarification is a challenging aspect of beverage industry which needs to be addressed for economical and hygienic production of fruit juices.

OBJECTIVE

Current study is focused on the complete purification, characterization and thermodynamic analysis of an efficient mannanase enzyme to analyze its applicability in biological clarification fruit juice.

METHODS

Mannanase production using Aspergillus awamori IIB037 in a 25 L stirred fermenter at pre optimized reaction conditions was carried out. Enzyme purification was carried out via series of steps. Characterization of enzyme along with kinetics and thermodynamic studies was conducted. Purified and characterized enzyme was assessed for its applicability in fruit juice clarification through clarification experiments on fresh apple juice.

RESULTS

Purification fold of 3.98 was obtained along with 86.80% purification yield of mannanase with specific activity of 158.16 U/mg. The molecular size of purified enzyme was determined as 66 kDa. The enzyme depicted 56% residual activity at 60°C after 8 hrs. Thermodynamic studies of an enzyme revealed enthalpy of activation (ΔH) and activation energy (Ea) as 30.53KJ/mol, 27.76KJ/mol, respectively. The enzyme activity increased in the presence of ß-mercaptoethanol surprisingly. On the other hand, methyl alcohol, ethanol, Hg2+ and Cu2+ inhibited enzyme activity. The enzyme showed Km and Vmax values of 11.07 mM and 19.08 μM min-1 for Locust Bean Gum (LBG) under optimal conditions. Juice treated with mannanase showed decrease in absorbance and increase in reducing sugar content.

CONCLUSION

The current study demonstrated that mannanase from Aspergillus awamori in its purified form has significant characteristics to be employed industrially for juice clarification.

Detection of BCR-ABL fusion gene and its transcript variants in chronic myeloid leukaemia patients - a multi-comparison study

OBJECTIVE

To compare blood cells and plasma for BCR-ABL quantification and to find out the frequency of b2a2, b3a2 and e1a2 transcripts in chronic myeloid leukaemia patients, and to assess the correlation of BCR-ABL transcripts with haematological counts, age and gender.

METHODS

The study was conducted in April 2018 at King Edward Medical University, Lahore, Pakistan, and comprised chronic myeloid leukaemia patients from Mayo Hospital, Lahore. Ribonucleic acid was extracted using commercial extraction kits and detection of BCR-ABL messenger ribonucleic acid and its transcript variants was done by real time polymerase chain reaction. Data was analysed using SPSS 11.5.

RESULTS

Of the 48 patients, fusion of b3a2 was detected in 32(66.66%) and b2a2 in 10(32.10%), while fusion e1a2 was not detected at all. No co-expression of transcripts was seen in any patient. No significant correlation was found between transcript type and any of haematological parameters (p>0.05). No significant correlation of transcript type with gender and age was found (p>0.05). BCR-ABL/G6PD ratios in peripheral blood cells were higher than that of plasma (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Plasma can be used as an alternative to blood cells for BCR-ABL quantification, and transcript types cannot be easily explained by clinical factors.

An IoT Framework for Screening of COVID-19 Using Real-Time Data from Wearable Sensors

Experts have predicted that COVID-19 may prevail for many months or even years before it can be completely eliminated. A major problem in its cure is its early screening and detection, which will decide on its treatment. Due to the fast contactless spreading of the virus, its screening is unusually difficult. Moreover, the results of COVID-19 tests may take up to 48 h. That is enough time for the virus to worsen the health of the affected person. The health community needs effective means for identification of the virus in the shortest possible time. In this study, we invent a medical device utilized consisting of composable sensors to monitor remotely and in real-time the health status of those who have symptoms of the coronavirus or those infected with it. The device comprises wearable medical sensors integrated using the Arduino hardware interfacing and a smartphone application. An IoT framework is deployed at the backend through which various devices can communicate in real-time. The medical device is applied to determine the patient's critical status of the effects of the coronavirus or its symptoms using heartbeat, cough, temperature and Oxygen concentration (SpO2) that are evaluated using our custom algorithm. Until now, it has been found that many coronavirus patients remain asymptomatic, but in case of known symptoms, a person can be quickly identified with our device. It also allows doctors to examine their patients without the need for physical direct contact with them to reduce the possibility of infection. Our solution uses rule-based decision-making based on the physiological data of a person obtained through sensors. These rules allow to classify a person as healthy or having a possibility of infection by the coronavirus. The advantage of using rules for patient's classification is that the rules can be updated as new findings emerge from time to time. In this article, we explain the details of the sensors, the smartphone application, and the associated IoT framework for real-time, remote screening of COVID-19.

Polyphenol fingerprinting and hypoglycemic attributes of optimized Cycas circinalis leaf extracts

BACKGROUND

Cycas circinalis leaves are used to treat diabetes mellitus in local medicinal systems without any scientifically proved information on their medicinal potential and phytochemicals. In this study, the total phenolic contents, total flavonoid contents, and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging and inhibitory effects on α-glucosidase and α-amylase were determined for optimized hydroethanolic leaf extracts. Secondary metabolites were identified using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QTOF-MS/MS). In vivo studies on diabetic albino mice were also carried out to evaluate the impact of the most active extract on their blood glucose levels.

RESULTS

The 60% ethanolic extract showed the highest extract yield (209.70 ± 0.20 g kg^-1 ) and total phenolic (154.24 ± 3.28 mg gallic acid equivalent) and flavonoid (78.52 ± 1.65 mg rutin equivalent per gram dried extract) contents and exhibited the maximum DPPH scavenging activity (IC₅₀ = 59.68 ± 2.82 μg mL^-1 ). The IC₅₀ values for inhibition of α-glucosidase (58.42 ± 2.22 μg mL^-1 ) and α-amylase (74.11 ± 1.70 μg mL^-1 ) were also significant for the 60% ethanolic extract. The untargeted UHPLC-QTOF-MS/MS-based metabolite profiling confirmed the presence of iridoid glucoside, gibberellin A4, O-β-d-glucosyl-4-hydroxy-cinnamate, 3-methoxy-2-phyenyl-4H-furo[2,3-h]chromen-4-one, kaempferol, withaferin A, amentoflavone, quercitin-3-O-(6″-malonyl glucoside), ellagic acid, and gallic acid. Plant extract at a dose of 500 mg kg^-1 body weight reduced the blood glucose level by a considerable extent and also improved the lipid profile of diabetic mice after a 28-day trial.

CONCLUSION

The findings revealed the medicinal potential of C. circinalis leaves to treat diabetes mellitus and provided the nutraceutical leads for functional food development. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

An Overview on Industrial and Medical Applications of Bio-Pigments Synthesized by Marine Bacteria

Marine bacterial species contribute to a significant part of the oceanic population, which substantially produces biologically effectual moieties having various medical and industrial applications. The use of marine-derived bacterial pigments displays a snowballing effect in recent times, being natural, environmentally safe, and health beneficial compounds. Although isolating marine bacteria is a strenuous task, these are still a compelling subject for researchers, due to their promising avenues for numerous applications. Marine-derived bacterial pigments serve as valuable products in the food, pharmaceutical, textile, and cosmetic industries due to their beneficial attributes, including anticancer, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and cytotoxic activities. Biodegradability and higher environmental compatibility further strengthen the use of marine bio-pigments over artificially acquired colored molecules. Besides that, hazardous effects associated with the consumption of synthetic colors further substantiated the use of marine dyes as color additives in industries as well. This review sheds light on marine bacterial sources of pigmented compounds along with their industrial applicability and therapeutic insights based on the data available in the literature. It also encompasses the need for introducing bacterial bio-pigments in global pigment industry, highlighting their future potential, aiming to contribute to the worldwide economy.

Analysis and Evaluation of COVID-19 Web Applications for Health Professionals: Challenges and Opportunities

The multidisciplinary nature of the work required for research in the COVID-19 pandemic has created new challenges for health professionals in the battle against the virus. They need to be equipped with novel tools, applications, and resources-that have emerged during the pandemic-to gain access to breakthrough findings; know the latest developments; and to address their specific needs for rapid data acquisition, analysis, evaluation, and reporting. Because of the complex nature of the virus, healthcare systems worldwide are severely impacted as the treatment and the vaccine for COVID-19 disease are not yet discovered. This leads to frequent changes in regulations and policies by governments and international organizations. Our analysis suggests that given the abundance of information sources, finding the most suitable application for analysis, evaluation, or reporting, is one of such challenges. However, health professionals and policy-makers need access to the most relevant, reliable, trusted, and latest information and applications that can be used in their day-to-day tasks of COVID-19 research and analysis. In this article, we present our analysis of various novel and important web-based applications that have been specifically developed during the COVID-19 pandemic and that can be used by the health professionals community to help in advancing their analysis and research. These applications comprise search portals and their associated information repositories for literature and clinical trials, data sources, tracking dashboards, and forecasting models. We present a list of the minimally essential online, web-based applications to serve a multitude of purposes, from hundreds of those developed since the beginning of the pandemic. A critical analysis is provided for the selected applications based on 17 features that can be useful for researchers and analysts for their evaluations. These features make up our evaluation framework and have not been used previously for analysis and evaluation. Therefore, knowledge of these applications will not only increase productivity but will also allow us to explore new dimensions for using existing applications with more control, better management, and greater outcome of their research. In addition, the features used in our framework can be applied for future evaluations of similar applications and health professionals can adapt them for evaluation of other applications not covered in this analysis.

Anti-Obesity Attributes; UHPLC-QTOF-MS/MS-Based Metabolite Profiling and Molecular Docking Insights of Taraxacum officinale

The naturopathic treatment of obesity is a matter of keen interest to develop efficient natural pharmacological routes for disease management with low or negligible toxicity and side effects. For this purpose, optimized ultrasonicated hydroethanolic extracts of Taraxacum officinale were evaluated for antiobesity attributes. The 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl method was adopted to evaluate antioxidant potential. Porcine pancreatic lipase inhibitory assay was conducted to assess the in vitro antiobesity property. Ultra-high performance chromatography equipped with a mass spectrometer was utilized to profile the secondary metabolites in the most potent extract. The 60% ethanolic extract exhibited highest extract yield (25.05 ± 0.07%), total phenolic contents (123.42 ± 0.007 mg GAE/g DE), total flavonoid contents (55.81 ± 0.004 RE/g DE), DPPH-radical-scavenging activity (IC50 = 81.05 ± 0.96 µg/mL) and pancreatic lipase inhibitory properties (IC50 = 146.49 ± 4.24 µg/mL). The targeted metabolite fingerprinting highlighted the presence of high-value secondary metabolites. Molecular-binding energies computed by docking tool revealed the possible contribution towards pancreatic lipase inhibitory properties of secondary metabolites including myricetin, isomangiferin, icariside B4, kaempferol and luteolin derivatives when compared to the standard drug orlistat. In vivo investigations revealed a positive impact on the lipid profile and obesity biomarkers of obese mice. The study presents Taraxacum officinale as a potent source of functional bioactive ingredients to impart new insights into the existing pool of knowledge of naturopathic approaches towards obesity management.

Production of probiotic Mozzarella cheese by incorporating locally isolated Lactobacillus acidophilus

Purpose

The present study was conducted to isolate and screen the potential probiotic strains for incorporation in Mozzarella cheese.

Methods

Probiotic cultures were isolated from different randomly purchased yogurt samples and were identified as Lactobacillus sp., Bifidobacteria sp., and Pediococcus sp. after morphological and biochemical characterization. Heat tolerance of isolates was tested at 55 °C and 65 °C to determine the survival of isolates in conditions similar to commercial cheese production. Lactobacillus acidophilus (S2) showed remarkable heat tolerance among all strains and was therefore selected to assess the probiotic potential. It showed good survival at acidic pH values (2–3). Moreover, it also showed > 50% tolerance to bile salt and was resistant to antibiotics, chloramphenicol, tetracycline, gentamycin, and vancomycin and also exhibited anti-microbial activity against Salmonella typhimurium, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus. Thus, heat-tolerant Lactobacillus acidophilus (S2) isolate was an ideal strain for incorporation in Mozzarella cheese as probiotics. Three types of cheeses viz., cheese A with free cells of Lactobacillus acidophilus (S2), cheese B with encapsulated cells of Lactobacillus acidophilus (S2), and control cheese having no probiotics, were made.

Result

Microbiological analysis of prepared cheese revealed lesser loss of Lactobacillus acidophilus (S2) from encapsulated form (3.41 × 108 CFU/mL) compared to free cells of Lactobacillus acidophilus (S2) (1.10 × 107 CFU/mL). Coliforms were observed in control cheese after 10 days of storage, whereas no coliforms were observed in cheese A and cheese B even after 15 days of storage. Organoleptic properties of cheese A and cheese B were almost the same with an acceptability score of 2.7 ± 0.1 and 2.65 ± 0.1, respectively. Control cheese got the lowest scores after 15 days of storage.

Conclusion

The addition of probiotics in cheese not only prolongs the shelf-life of cheese but also increases the organoleptic properties of the cheese, making cheese a good delivery system for probiotics.

Antimicrobial resistance: more than 70 years of war between humans and bacteria

Development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria is one of the major issues in the present world and one of the greatest threats faced by mankind. Resistance is spread through both vertical gene transfer (parent to offspring) as well as by horizontal gene transfer like transformation, transduction and conjugation. The main mechanisms of resistance are limiting uptake of a drug, modification of a drug target, inactivation of a drug, and active efflux of a drug. The highest quantities of antibiotic concentrations are usually found in areas with strong anthropogenic pressures, for example medical source (e.g., hospitals) effluents, pharmaceutical industries, wastewater influents, soils treated with manure, animal husbandry and aquaculture (where antibiotics are generally used as in-feed preparations). Hence, the strong selective pressure applied by antimicrobial use has forced microorganisms to evolve for survival. The guts of animals and humans, wastewater treatment plants, hospital and community effluents, animal husbandry and aquaculture runoffs have been designated as "hotspots for AMR genes" because the high density of bacteria, phages, and plasmids in these settings allows significant genetic exchange and recombination. Evidence from the literature suggests that the knowledge of antibiotic resistance in the population is still scarce. Tackling antimicrobial resistance requires a wide range of strategies, for example, more research in antibiotic production, the need of educating patients and the general public, as well as developing alternatives to antibiotics (briefly discussed in the conclusions of this article).

Perioperative intravenous contrast administration and the incidence of acute kidney injury after major gastrointestinal surgery: prospective, multicentre cohort study

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to determine the impact of preoperative exposure to intravenous contrast for CT and the risk of developing postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery.

METHODS

This prospective, multicentre cohort study included adults undergoing gastrointestinal resection, stoma reversal or liver resection. Both elective and emergency procedures were included. Preoperative exposure to intravenous contrast was defined as exposure to contrast administered for the purposes of CT up to 7 days before surgery. The primary endpoint was the rate of AKI within 7 days. Propensity score-matched models were adjusted for patient, disease and operative variables. In a sensitivity analysis, a propensity score-matched model explored the association between preoperative exposure to contrast and AKI in the first 48 h after surgery.

RESULTS

A total of 5378 patients were included across 173 centres. Overall, 1249 patients (23·2 per cent) received intravenous contrast. The overall rate of AKI within 7 days of surgery was 13·4 per cent (718 of 5378). In the propensity score-matched model, preoperative exposure to contrast was not associated with AKI within 7 days (odds ratio (OR) 0·95, 95 per cent c.i. 0·73 to 1·21; P = 0·669). The sensitivity analysis showed no association between preoperative contrast administration and AKI within 48 h after operation (OR 1·09, 0·84 to 1·41; P = 0·498).

CONCLUSION

There was no association between preoperative intravenous contrast administered for CT up to 7 days before surgery and postoperative AKI. Risk of contrast-induced nephropathy should not be used as a reason to avoid contrast-enhanced CT.

Necrotising enterocolitis in an adult with anorexia nervosa

Necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) is a rare cause of the acute abdomen in adults and carries one of the highest mortality rates in gastroenterology. However, its rarity confines research to small case reports. Both its pathogenesis and aetiology remain enigmatic in adult patients, proving timely diagnosis and management a challenge. This paper reports on one case of NEC in an adult patient with underlying anorexia nervosa, following a seven-day period of starvation. She underwent emergency laparotomy for resection of necrotic bowel and subsequently made a good recovery. To date, there have only been eight reports linking NEC with anorexia nervosa. We review our patient in the context of plausible mechanisms hypothesised in these cases. Successful management depends on prompt diagnosis, resuscitation and surgical intervention.

Next-generation sequencing to elucidate adaptive stress response and plantaricin genes among Lactobacillus plantarum strains

Aim: The objective of this study was to identify the genes involved in plantaricin synthesis and adaptive stress response in four Lactobacillus plantarum strains (AS-6, AS-8, AS-9 and AS-10) and one Lactobacillus paraplantarum strain (AS-7) for their usage in medicine and industry. Materials & methods: Whole genomes of these strains were sequenced by a high-throughput sequencing technique known as next-generation sequencing via Ilumina MiSeq platform and the genes were identified by using various bioinformatics tools and software. Results: Plantaricin genes (plnD, plnE, plnF, plnG, plnI) and genes regulating response to temperature, pH, bile salt, osmotic and oxidative stress were identified in all strains. Conclusion: Lactobacilli could be an option to combat antimicrobial resistance and might replace harmful antibiotics in future.

Rosa brunonii Lindely fruit as a new protective agent evaluated against Rif/INH induced toxicity in rats

Rosa brunonii L., a less investigated plant contains flavonoid glycosides and is used to treat stomach ailments, heart problems, and diabetes in folk. The crude extract of the plant possesses antioxidant activity. The current work was aimed to investigate the presence of phytochemicals, antioxidative stress and protective potential of chloroform extract of the Rosa brunonii L. fruits (RBFCE) against liver and kidney toxicity induced by anti-tuberculosis drugs, rifampicin/isoniazid (Rif/INH) in Wistar albino rats. Animals were divided into six groups, each comprising 6 rats and fed with a standard pelleted diet. Normal control group was given only a standard pelleted diet. The vehicle control group received 0.5% carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) aqueous solution (vehicle). Negative and positive control groups were given Rif/INH (50+50 mg/kg, p.o) and silymarin (SILM) (200 mg/kg, p.o) in 0.5% vehicle for 30 days, respectively. Extract treated groups received low and high doses of RBFCE (500 mg/kg, p.o and 1000 mg/kg, p.o respectively) in 0.5% vehicle for 30 days. At a higher dose, animals showed significantly reduced Rif/INH induced toxicity in liver and kidney tissues as indicated by the normalized serum biochemical markers and histopathological investigations. The present exploration reveals the presence of strong antioxidant phytochemical constituents, antioxidative stress and protective potential of RBFCE against Rif/INH induced hepatic and renal damage.

UHPLC-QTOF-MS/MS based phytochemical characterization and anti-hyperglycemic prospective of hydro-ethanolic leaf extract of Butea monosperma

Butea monosperma is one of the extensively used plants in traditional system of medicines for many therapeutic purposes. In this study, the antioxidant activity, α-glucosidase and α-amylase inhibition properties of freeze drying assisted ultrasonicated leaf extracts (hydro-ethanolic) of B. monosperma have been investigated. The findings revealed that 60% ethanolic fraction exhibited high phenolic contents, total flavonoid contents, highest antioxidant activity, and promising α-glucosidase and α-amylase inhibitions. The UHPLC-QTOF-MS/MS analysis indicated the presence of notable metabolites of significant medicinal potential including apigenin, apigenin C-hexoside C-pentoside, apigenin C-hexoside C-hexoside, apigenin-6,8-di-C-pentoside and genistin etc., in B. monosperma leave extract. Docking studies were carried out to determine the possible role of each phytochemical present in leaf extract. Binding affinity data and interaction pattern of all the possible phytochemicals in leaf extract of B. monosperma revealed that they can inhibit α-amylase and α-glucosidase synergistically to prevent hyperglycemia.

Probing the Performance of Glucose Oxidase Treated Graphene-Based Field Effect Transistors

Graphene due to its unique properties of biocompatibility has received considerable attention for biosensing applications. Here, we report the effect of glucose oxidase treatment on the graphene devices. Raman spectroscopy and the electrical transport measurements are performed to study the graphene intrinsic characteristics before glucose oxidase treatment. The absence of the defect peak in the Raman spectrum shows high-quality graphene. The modulation in the electrical properties is further investigated by different period of glucose oxidase treatment. Our results illustrate that the mobility of the graphene-based field effect transistor is gradually enhanced with the glucose oxidase treatment time. The enhancement in the electrical performance of graphene FET with the biomolecules could be the suitable route for the bioelectronic devices.

Antioxidant activity, α-glucosidase inhibition and phytochemical profiling of Hyophorbe lagenicaulis leaf extracts

Background

Diabetes mellitus type II (DMT-2) is a widely spread metabolic disorder both in developed and developing countries. The role of oxidative stress is well established in DMT-2 pathogenesis. The synthetic drugs for DMT-2 are associated with serious side complications. Antioxidant and α-glucosidase inhibitory actions of phytochemicals from various plant species are considered as an alternative to synthetic drugs for DMT-2 management. The present study aimed to evaluate the antioxidant activity, α-glucosidase inhibitory potential and phytochemical profiling of Hyophorbe lagenicaulis.

Methods

The total phenolic and flavonoid contents, in vitro antioxidant activity (α, α-diphenyl-β-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging and phosphomolybdenum method) and α-glucosidase inhibition of ultrasonicated hydroethanolic H. lagenicaulis leaf extracts were determined spectrophotometrically. The results of DPPH assay and α-glucosidase inhibition were reported in terms of IC₅₀ value. The phytochemical profiling was accomplished by UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS/MS technique.

Results and Discussion

Findings leaped 60% ethanolic extract as rich fraction regarding total phenolic and flavonoid contents. The 60% ethanolic fraction was a promising source of natural antioxidants and α-glucosidase inhibitory agents as indicated by anti-radical and enzyme inibitory activities. Kaempferol, rutin, hesperetin 5-O-glucoside, kaempferol-coumaroyl-glucoside, luteolin 3-glucoside, Isorhamnetin-3-O-rutinoside, trimethoxyflavone derivatives and citric acid were identified by UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS. These compounds were believed to be responsible for the strong antioxidant and enzyme inhibitory activity of plant extracts. The extensive metabolite profiling of H. lagenicaulis was carried out the first time as never reported previously. The H. lagenicaulis might be an appropriate choice to manage diabetes mellitus in an alternate way. The findings may be further exploited extensively for toxicity evaluation to proceed with functional food development having antidiabetic attributes.

Assessing the relative importance of social determinants of health in malaria and anemia classification based on machine learning techniques

Disparate types of data including biological and environmental have been used in supervised learning to predict a specific disease outcome. However, social determinants of health, which have been explored very little, promise to be significant predictors of public health problems such as malaria and anemia among children. We considered studying their contribution power in malaria and anemia predictions based on Variable Importance in Projection (VIP). This innovative method has potential advantages as it analyzes the impact of independent variables on disease prediction. In addition, we applied five machine learning algorithms to classify both diseases, using social determinants of health data, and compared their results. Of them all, artificial neural networks gave the best results of 94.74% and 84.17% accuracy for malaria and anemia prediction, respectively. These results are consistent and reflect the significance of non-medical factors in disease prediction.

Metabolite profiling of Cycas revoluta leaf extract and docking studies on alpha-glucosidase inhibitory molecular targets by phytochemicals

The leaves of Cycas revoluta were explored for their antioxidant, α-glucosidase and α-amylase inhibitory properties to develop safe and diet based therapeutic treatment of diabetes. In optimized fractionation, 60% ethanol provided the highest extract yield of 19.35±0.05a%, TPC 95.70±1.60a mg GAE/g and TFC 55 .60 ± 1.20a mg Rutin/g extract. The antioxidant and anti α-glucosidase activities of 60% ethanolic extracts were also promising and statistically significant as compared with remaining plant extracts. Ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS) analysis of the leaf extract revealed the presence of three apigenin derivatives, kaempferol derivative, hexadecenoic acid and citric acid. The binding energy values of molecular docking studies supported the synergistic behavior of leaf extract to inhibit α-glucosidase activity. The leaves of Cycas revoluta were proved to be apigenin rich natural pool of metabolites of antidiabetic importance to improvise food functionalities.

Antioxidant activity, Hypoglycemic potential and metabolite profiling of Hyophorbe indica leaf extract

Current work was performed to evaluate antioxidant activity, α-glucosidase inhibition, phytochemical profiling and in vivo hypoglycemic activity of freeze dried, ultrasonicated Hyophorbe indica leaf extracts. The highest total phenolic contents of 208.77±2.11 mg GAE/g DE and total flavonoid contents of 173.90±2.30 mg Rutin/g DE were obtained in 60% ethanol extract. The 60% ethanol extract exhibited maximum DPPH radical scavenging with IC50 value of 35.35±0.189μg/mL and total antioxidant power of 330.26±3.13 (ASE/g PE), respectively. The highest α-glucosidase inhibition (IC50 36.52 ± 0.08μg/mL) was also observed for 60% ethanol extract. The 60% ethanol extract at dose of 450 mg/kg body weight reduced blood glucose level of alloxan induced diabetic mice by 51.41% which was quite comparable with metformin (56.67%). Twelve compounds namely citric acid, procyanidin B3, epicatechin, procyanidin B2, catechin, catechin derivative, procyanidin B1, apigenin-c-hexocide-c-hexocide, kaempferol, kaempferol derivative, quinic acid derivative and gallic acid have been identified by using UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS in 60% ethanol extract.