Plant extract preparation and green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Swertia chirata: Characterization and antimicrobial activity against selected human pathogens.

Herbal medicinal plants have been used for centuries in traditional medicine, and it is interesting to see how modern research has identified the active compounds responsible for their therapeutic effects. The green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using herbal medicinal plants, such as Swertia chirata, is particularly noteworthy due to its antimicrobial properties. In the current study, the Swertia chirata plant was collected for the first time from the region of Murree, Punjab, Pakistan. After collection, extracts were prepared in different solvents (ethanol, methanol, chloroform, and distilled water), and silver nanoparticles were synthesized by reducing silver nitrate (AgNO3). The UV-visible spectrophotometer, SEM, and EDX were used to characterize the synthesized nanoparticles in terms of their size and shape. The phytochemical analysis of crude extract was performed to determine the presence of different kinds of phytochemicals. The antibacterial activity of plant extracts and the silver nanoparticles were then assessed using the agar well diffusion method against various pathogenic bacteria. The results showed that the plant contains several phytochemicals with remarkable antioxidant potential. The antibacterial analysis revealed that silver nanoparticles and the plant extracts exhibited a significant zone of inhibition against human pathogenic bacteria (Escherichia coli, S. capitis, B. subtilis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) as compared to the cefixime and norfloxacin. This implies that the nanoparticles have the potential to be used in nano-medicine applications, such as drug delivery systems, as well as for their antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral activities. Additionally, the development and application of materials and technologies at the nanometer scale opens possibilities for the creation of novel drugs and therapies. Overall, the study highlights the promising potential of herbal medicinal plants found in Murree, Punjab, Pakistan, and green-synthesized silver nanoparticles in various fields of medicine and nanotechnology.

Traditional Uses of Wild Edible Mushrooms among the Local Communities of Swat, Pakistan.

Mushrooms play a crucial role in human life as well as in nature, providing food, medicine, and carrying out vital processes of decomposition, nutrient recycling, and developing mycorrhizal association with plants. The traditional system of knowledge about identification, collection, and usage of mushrooms has been accumulated through the shared experiences of many generations. Unfortunately, there have been continuous threats to the folk knowledge of mushrooms mainly due to habitat degradation, urbanization, and contemporary medication. The current research was, therefore, aimed to document an ethnomycological knowledge possessed by the ethnic communities of Swat, Pakistan. The purposive randomized sampling was carried out using chain referral method. Ethno-mycological information was collected from 62 informants using free listing, preference ranking, and use totaled methods. In total, 34 species of mushrooms belonging to 31 genera and 21 families were reported. About 85% of the reported species belong to Basidiomycetes, and 12.5% to Ascomycetes are used as food and for medicinal purposes. Morchella angusticeps, M. esculenta, Pleurotus sp., Auricularia sp., Flammulina velutipes, Agaricus bisporus, Ganoderma lucidum, and Sanghuangporus sanghuang were among the most cited edible and medicinal mushrooms. The current study revealed that district Swat is rich in wild edible and medicinal mushrooms (WEMs), and the local communities possess rich traditional knowledge about their collection, storage, and utilization. The diversity of WEMs of this region could contribute substantially to the socio-economic uplifting of the local communities through appropriate domestication and commercialization. Anthropogenic factors, coupled with depletion of traditional knowledge, threaten the diversity of WEMs in the region; therefore, in situ and ex situ conservation strategies are highly recommended.

African American Prostate Cancer Displays Quantitatively Distinct Vitamin D Receptor Cistrome-transcriptome Relationships Regulated by BAZ1A.

African American (AA) prostate cancer associates with vitamin D3 deficiency, but vitamin D receptor (VDR) genomic actions have not been investigated in this context. We undertook VDR proteogenomic analyses in European American (EA) and AA prostate cell lines and four clinical cohorts. Rapid immunoprecipitation mass spectrometry of endogenous protein (RIME) analyses revealed that nonmalignant AA RC43N prostate cells displayed the greatest dynamic protein content in the VDR complex. Likewise, in AA cells, Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin using sequencing established greater 1α,25(OH)2D3-regulated chromatin accessibility, chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing revealed significant enhancer-enriched VDR cistrome, and RNA sequencing identified the largest 1α,25(OH)2D3-dependent transcriptome. These VDR functions were significantly corrupted in the isogenic AA RC43T prostate cancer cells, and significantly distinct from EA cell models. We identified reduced expression of the chromatin remodeler, BAZ1A, in three AA prostate cancer cohorts as well as RC43T compared with RC43N. Restored BAZ1A expression significantly increased 1α,25(OH)2D3-regulated VDR-dependent gene expression in RC43T, but not HPr1AR or LNCaP cells. The clinical impact of VDR cistrome-transcriptome relationships were tested in three different clinical prostate cancer cohorts. Strikingly, only in AA patients with prostate cancer, the genes bound by VDR and/or associated with 1α,25(OH)2D3-dependent open chromatin (i) predicted progression from high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia to prostate cancer; (ii) responded to vitamin D3 supplementation in prostate cancer tumors; (iii) differentially responded to 25(OH)D3 serum levels. Finally, partial correlation analyses established that BAZ1A and components of the VDR complex identified by RIME significantly strengthened the correlation between VDR and target genes in AA prostate cancer only. Therefore, VDR transcriptional control is most potent in AA prostate cells and distorted through a BAZ1A-dependent control of VDR function. Significance: Our study identified that genomic ancestry drives the VDR complex composition, genomic distribution, and transcriptional function, and is disrupted by BAZ1A and illustrates a novel driver for AA prostate cancer.

Adaptive impedance control of a robotic orthosis for gait rehabilitation.

Intervention of robotic devices in the field of physical gait therapy can help in providing repetitive, systematic, and economically viable training sessions. Interactive or assist-as-needed (AAN) gait training encourages patient voluntary participation in the robotic gait training process which may aid in rapid motor function recovery. In this paper, a lightweight robotic gait training orthosis with two actuated and four passive degrees of freedom (DOFs) is proposed. The actuated DOFs were powered by pneumatic muscle actuators. An AAN gait training paradigm based on adaptive impedance control was developed to provide interactive robotic gait training. The proposed adaptive impedance control scheme adapts the robotic assistance according to the disability level and voluntary participation of human subjects. The robotic orthosis was operated in two gait training modes, namely, inactive mode and active mode, to evaluate the performance of the proposed control scheme. The adaptive impedance control scheme was evaluated on ten neurologically intact subjects. The experimental results demonstrate that an increase in voluntary participation of human subjects resulted in a decrease of the robotic assistance and vice versa. Further clinical evaluations with neurologically impaired subjects are required to establish the therapeutic efficacy of the adaptive-impedance-control-based AAN gait training strategy.

Anti-mycobacterial activity of garlic (Allium sativum) against multi-drug resistant and non-multi-drug resistant mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Emergence of multi-drug resistant (MDR) and extensively drug resistant (XDR) TB throughout the developing world is very disturbing in the present scenario of TB management. There is a fundamental need to explore alternative anti-TB agents. Hence natural plants should be investigated to understand their antimicrobial properties and safety. Garlic (Allium sativum) is one of natural plant which possesses variety of biological properties like anti-tumor, anti-hyperlipedemic and anti-microbial etc. The present study was evaluated for anti-bacterial activity of garlic against non-MDR and MDR isolates of M. tuberculosis. A total of 20 clinical isolates of MTB including 15 MDR and 5 non-MDR were investigated. Ethanolic extract of garlic was prepared by maceration method. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was performed by using 7H9 middle brook broth dilution technique. MIC of garlic extract was ranged from 1 to 3 mg/ml; showing inhibitory effects of garlic against both non-MDR and MDR M. tuberculosis isolates. Alternate medicine practices with plant extracts including garlic should be considered to decrease the burden of drug resistance and cost in the management of diseases. The use of garlic against MDR-TB may be of great importance regarding public health.

CT and MR colonography: scanning techniques, postprocessing, and emphasis on polyp detection.

In the last decade, computed tomographic (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) colonography, two new cross-sectional techniques for imaging of the colon, emerged. Both techniques show promising initial results in the detection of polyps equal to or greater than 1 cm in diameter in symptomatic patients. Imaging protocols are still mostly under development and prone to change. Both CT and MR colonography generate a large number of source images, which have to be read carefully for filling defects and, if intravenous contrast material is used, enhancing lesions. An important postprocessing technique is multiplanar reformatting, which allows the viewer to see potential lesions in an orientation other than that of the source images. Virtual endoscopy, a volume rendering technique that generates images from within the colon lumen, is used for problem solving. CT and MR colonography have potential advantages over colonoscopy and double-contrast barium enema examination: multiplanar capabilities, detection of enhancing lesions that make the distinction between fecal residue and true lesion possible, and ante- and retrograde virtual colonoscopy. Currently, a number of studies suggest that patients have a preference for CT colonography over colonoscopy. Patients consider bowel cleansing the most uncomfortable part of any colon examination; hence, from the acceptance point of view, fecal tagging techniques are promising. Before CT and MR colonography can be implemented in daily practice, they must show approximately the same accuracy as colonoscopy for polyp detection in both symptomatic and screening patients.