Farhat Ali Khan

Bacteriological quality assessment of drinking water available at the flood affected areas of Peshawar

Monsoon flooding occurred in the main areas of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Balochistan as well as parts of Gilgit Baltistan of Pakistan and Azad Jammu Kashmir in July 2010. Water-borne diseases such as cholera, enteric fever, and dysentery were common among the inhabitants of flood-affected areas which were selected for sample collection. In the present study, 10 sites in District Peshawar were selected and drinking water samples collected. These samples were analyzed for the total plate count (TPC), total coliform bacteria (TCB), total fecal coliform bacteria (TFCB), Escherichia coli (EC), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA), Vibrio cholerae (VB), Salmonella Shigella, and Staphylococcus aureus. The TPC ranged from 8 × 101 to 7 × 104 CFU/ml. The TCB ranged from <1.1 to 280 MPN/100 ml. Twenty percent of the samples were contaminated with TFCB, EC, Salmonella, Shigella, and Staphylococcus aureus, while only one sample contaminated with PA. Forty percent of the samples were contaminated with VB. The surface and well water was greatly contaminated by flooding and major improvements on priority basis are essential.

Impact of geographical locations on Mentha spicata antibacterial activities

Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Life Sciences, Sarhad University of Science and Information Technology, Peshawar, Pakistan. Department of Microbiology, Kohat University of Science and Technology, Kohat, Pakistan. Department of Pharmacology, Kohat Institute of Medical Sciences, Kohat, Pakistan. Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Canada. Department of Oncology, Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar, Pakistan.

Phytochemical, physiochemical and anti-fungal activity of Eclipta alba

Eclipta alba, commonly known as False Daisy is an important medicinal plant and its different parts are famous for the treatment of different health problems including digestion, headache, asthma, cough and normalizing skin colour. Keeping in view the importance of E. alba, it was analyzed quantitatively, qualitatively for its phytochemicals (alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, glycosides, terpenoids, reducing sugars, anthraquinones, and cardiacglycoside) physiochemicals, and anti-fungal activity. For anti-fungal activity, four different strains including Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus fumigatus, Fusarium solani and Aspergillus flavus used has shown very promising results against the fungal strain.

Removal of Heavy Metals from Drinking Water by Magnetic Carbon Nanostructures Prepared from Biomass

Heavy metals contamination of drinking water has significant adverse effects on human health due to their toxic nature. In this study a new adsorbent, magnetic graphitic nanostructures were prepared from watermelon waste. The adsorbent was characterized by different instrumental techniques (surface area analyzer, FTIR, XRD, EDX, SEM, and TG/DTA) and was used for the removal of heavy metals (As, Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn) from water. The adsorption parameters were determined for heavy metals adsorption using Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms. The adsorption kinetics and effect of time, pH, and temperature on heavy metal ions were also determined. The best fits were obtained for Freundlich isotherm. The percent adsorption showed a decline at high pH. Best fit was obtained with second-order kinetics model for the kinetics experiments. The values of źH° and źG° were negative while that of źS° was positive. The prepared adsorbent has high adsorption capacities and can be efficiently used for the removal of heavy metals from water.

Phytochemicals and inorganic profile of Calendula officinale and Sonchus asper

The present work was carried out to investigate the quantitative determination of crude phytochemicals (alkaloids, flavonoids and saponins), heavy metals and inorganic constituents in Calendula officinale and Sonchus asper . Heavy metals were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometer and inorganic constituents by the available methods (AOAC, 2000). The studied plants showed variable amount of phytochemicals, heavy metals and inorganic constituents. In case of heavy metals, Pb, Fe, Cu, Zn, Ni and Ag were recorded. The amount of inorganic constituents was also found in considerably different levels. The study is of particular importance for providing a scientific data base line. Key words:

Analysis of silymarin in the seeds of white and blue capitulum of Silybum marianum plants

Silybum marianum is a wild medicinal plant containing silymarin, which is a known drug, used as the hepatoprotective agent. S. marianum growing in different areas of NWFP were collected and analyzed for the silymarin and oil contents. In all the samples analyzed for the silymarin, high yield was found in the sample collected from Swat district (3.85%) while high yield of oil was recorded in the sample collected from Kohat district (27.87%). The rest of samples for silymarin contents were found between 2.98 to 3.85% while the oil contents were found to be between 11 to 27.87%. Both the yield of silymarin and oil contents found in all the samples depend on the environment in which the plants were grown and the environmental conditions affecting both the contents of silymarin and oil of this highly medicinal plant. The analysis is of particular importance for collecting this medicinal plant for silymarin content and utilization in the pharmaceuticals.

Evaluation of inorganic profile and anti-nutritional values of Cocculus hirsutus

As the plants are directly in contact with air, water and soil, the constituents of these sources might contaminate the plants. Useful elements, such as Na, K, Ca, Mg, P, Fe, Cu and Co are also usually present in plants which help in good health. Cocculus hirsutus, belongs to the family Menispermaceae and it is a perennial climber mainly used for the treatment of diabetes, laxative, demulcent, anti inflammatory, analgesic and also used as tonic and diuretic. Looking at the medicinal values of C. hirsutus , the present study was aimed to estimate the inorganic constituents and anti-nutritional value for safe use. Essential bulk metal ions were observed to be dominant where potassium was highest while phosphorus was lowest. The decreasing order of essential trace metals ions was Fe>Cu>Zn>Ni>Co>Cr. Among the antinutritional components, oxalic acid was 25.32 mg/100 g, while that of phytic acid was 0.280 mg/100 g, on fresh weight basis.