ABSTRACT
The current study was designed in order to elucidate the most sensitive method for daily practice as well as to evaluate the risk factors for HCV infection associated with blood transfusion in District Peshawar. A total of 1400 healthy volunteer blood donors were tested for Anti-HCV. A questionnaire was used to evaluate the risk factors. Initial testing of all blood samples was done by Immuno Chromatographic Technique [ICT] and confirmed by micro particle enzyme immunoassay [MEIA] and Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay [ELISA]. The comparison among ICT, ELISA and MEIA techniques was also evaluated for the purpose of sensitivity. Among 1400 blood donors, 26 [1.85%] cases were found positive for Anti-HCV. These 26 cases were positive on MEIA, 16 individuals were positive on ELISA while 14 were positive on ICT. These 26 cases had different histories of dental treatment [50%], traveled abroad [23.07%], surgery [11.53%], blood transfusion [7.69%] and unknown reason [7.69%]. Among all these different histories of dental treatment and blood transfusion were the main risk factors for HCV infection. The results revealed that MEIA ia a quick and reliable technique for routine screening of blood donors particularly for controlling the spread of HCV
ABSTRACT
The current study focused on the pharmacological activities of Justicia adhatoda; including antibacterial, antifungal, phytotoxic, cytotoxic, haemagglutination, insecticidal, in vitro antiglycation, DPPH antioxidant and antitermite. The crude methanolic extract [Crd. Met. Ext] showed 46.4 % antibacterial activity against M. morganii while the n-hexane fraction showed good [71.4%] and moderate [55.1%] activity against M. morganii and A. baumannii respectively. The EtOAc and aqueous fractions, in most of the cases, showed low to no activity against the selected bacterial pathogens, against A. niger, T. harzianum, A. parasiticus and V. dahliae. The Crd. Met. Ext and fractions showed low activity, against P. notatum and P. digitatum, Crd. Met. Ext. and all fractions were inactive. The percent growth regulation, in case of phytotoxic activity, by Crd. Met. Ext was 25 and 16.6, n-hexane fraction 16.6, 16.6 and 0, CHCl3 25, 8.33 and 0 % and EtOAc fractions 8.33, 8.33 and 0% at 1000 and 100 and 10microg/ml respectively. The aqueous fraction was inactive at all the test concentrations. The results of brine shrimp cytotoxic activity for Crd. Met. Ext was 13.33% and n-hexane fraction 20% at 1000, microg/ml respectively. All of the other fractions showed low to no activity at different test concentrations. All of the test samples were inactive against RBC's of the blood groups at all concentration indicating that the selected plant lack phytolectins and haemagglutination activity. The Crd. Met. Ext and various fraction showed low activity against the test insects i.e. C. pulicaria, C. chinensis and T. castaneum. The absorbance value of plant extract for anti-glycation activity at various concentration were: 0.08, 0.067, 0.053 and 0.04 in comparison with Aminoguanidine0.04, 0.035, 0.03 and 0.02 respectively at 10, 50, 90 and 130microl. The DPPH radical scavenging activities were proportional to the concentration of the fractions, as the concentration of these increased, the percent scavenging activity also increased. The CHCl3 and EtOAc fractions killed all the termites in 24 hours while Crd. Met. Ext, n-hexane and aqueous fractions took 2-3 days
ABSTRACT
In the current study, the antimicrobial, phytotoxic, haemagglutination and antioxidant potential of crude methanolic extract [Crd. MeOH Ext.] and four organic fractions of Arisaema tortuosum was investigated. All fractions have been screened for antimicrobial properties against eight bacterial pathogens and six fungal pathogens using agar well diffusion and tube dilution method, respectively. Furthermore, the organic fractions were also screened for its phytotoxicity against Lemna minor. Haemagglutination was performed against all human blood groups while free radical scavenging activity was performed to investigate the antioxidant potential of A. tortuosum. Results obtained for antibacterial activity exhibited various degree of zone of inhibition and significant activity was observed for Pseudomonas aeruginosa [27.16 +/- 0.60] followed by Bacillus cereus [18.55 +/- 0.69] for Crd. MeOH Ext. and chloroform [CHCl3] fraction, respectively while some strains showed resistant at same concentration. Similarly, non-significant antifungal activity was observed for the plant extracts. However, the highest activity among the strains was observed for Alternaria alternata [22 +/- 1.24%] and Aspergillus niger [20 +/- 1.00%] for ethyl acetate [EtOAc] fraction and Crd. MeOH Ext., respectively. The plant extracts showed good phytotoxic activity with 77.06% inhibition for n-hexane fraction at 1000microg/mL. The result of Nitric Oxide [NO] reducing assay revealed that the plant has less antioxidant activity with 46.06% inhibition for CHCl3 fraction at 900microg/mL. For haemagglutination assay, the result displayed no agglutination in all the testing concentration. Based on the current results, it can be concluded that A. tortuosum has significant antimicrobial and moderate phytotoxic potential and therefore can leads to antibiotics and herbicide production
ABSTRACT
Staphylococcus aureus is a nosocomial pathogen that resides in the soft tissues causing many diseases. The current study was conducted to determine the prevalence of Methicillin Resistant S. aureus [MRSA] in ear discharge and pus of patients and antibacterial activity of crude methanolic extract [Cr. MeOH Ext.] and various fractions of M. Africana and V. agnus castus against clinical isolates of MRSA. A total of 40 samples were collected from ear, nose and throat [ENT] outpatient department and wards of Khyber Teaching Hospital [KTH], Peshawar. Out of 40 samples, 36 [90%] samples showed growth on Mannitol Salt Agar [MSA] media out of which 9[25%] were MRSA and the remaining 27[75%] were methicillin susceptible S. aureus [MSSA]. A good antibacterial activity was observed for the Cr. MeOH Ext. [76.1%] and ethyl acetate [EtOAc] fraction of V. agnus castus against S[11] [71.4%]. The n-hexane fraction also showed good antibacterial effect [70%] against S[26]. The chloroform [CHCl[3]], butanol [BuOH] and aqueous fractions of M. africana showed good antibacterial activity against S[11] [71.4%], S[32] [70%] and S[26] [75%], respectively. The above results revealed that the selected plants can be further utilized for isolation of the active ingredients as the crude extracts were found good for inhibition of MRSA
ABSTRACT
Plants are very useful, self-generating machines, producing a variety of useful bioactive products. Keeping in view this idea, the crude methanolic extract and various fractions of Zizyphus jujuba were screened for antifungal, cytotoxic, antitermite and insecticidal activities. Low activity was shown by the crude methanolic extract [12%], n-hexane [9%], chloroform [20%] and ethyl acetate [14%] fraction against Penicillium notatum. Low activity was shown by the ft-hexane fraction against Aspergillus niger [10%] and Trichoderma harzianum [13%] and inactive against Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium oxysporum and Rhizopus stolonifer. The CHC1[3] fraction exhibited low activity of 10% against F. oxysporum while showing no activity against the rest of the test fungi. All the test samples were inactive against Rhizopus stolonifer. The crude methanolic extract was highly cytotoxic [73.33%] at the concentration of 1000 [microg/ml] while the rest of the test samples were low in toxicity at the same concentration. The crude methanolic extract of Zizyphus jujuba showed significant antitermite activity against Heterotermes indicola, among the test samples. Against Tribolium castaneum, Rhizopertha dominica and Callosbruchus analis the insecticidal activity was determined. All the test samples except rc-hexane showed low activity [20%] against T. castaneum. The w-hexane fraction showed low activity [20%] against R. dominica while the rest of the fractions were inactive against it. Low activity of 40% and 20% was shown by the chloroform and "-hexane fraction respectively against C. analis. The results of the present study revealed that the plant could be as potent source of cytotoxic drugs