Zain Ullah

Nutritional Assessment and Antioxidant Activities of Different Varieties of Vigna radiata

Three cultivars of Vigna radiata, namely, NM-92, NM-98, and NM-06, were analyzed for their proximate composition. The samples were also tested by HPLC for amino acid content. The data showed that all the varieties had same moisture level. The maximum ash content (4.29%) was present in NM-92, and crude fat (2.26%) was highest in NM-98 while NM-06 contained maximum amount of crude protein. About eighteen types of amino acids were detected in each of the three varieties. Acidic amino acids, that is, aspartic and glutamic acids, were in considerable amount ranged from 13 to 23% followed by leucine, isoleucine, alanine, valine, lysine, phenyl alanine, serine, and arginine which fell in the range of 3–8% of total protein. The maximum amount (13.00 and 22.80%) of aspartic and glutamic acids was present in NM-98. Similarly arginine (6.83%) and serine (5.45%) were also in highest amount in this variety. Leucine (7.46%) was maximum in NM-92 variety. NM-06 contained almost all the amino acids in lesser quantity except for few like threonine, proline, glycine, and alanine. It was concluded from the present study that varieties were of different nutritional value and HPLC was a sensitive method for amino acids determination. Antioxidant activities of all three varieties were also assayed and showed significant results.

Bacteriological investigation of ground water sources in selected urban areas of district Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Microbial contamination of ground water sources is a common problem in all the big cities, which endangers health and impairs quality of living . To assess this, 39 water samples were collected from highly populated 13 union councils from the urban area of district Mardan. Faecal coliform and Escherichia coli were investigated both qualitatively and quantitatively. Qualitative study showed that faecal coliform was found in 90% samples and E. coli in 56% samples. Quantitatively, faecal coliform most probable number (MPN) was ranging from 1601 to 2400 for about 28% samples, followed by 551 to 1600 and 201 to 550 for 20% samples each, 40 to 200 for 18% samples and less than 40 for about 13% samples. The major cause of the bacteriological contamination was found to be the extent of susceptibility of the water sources to intrusions from the nearest contamination source.

Evaluation of the chemical composition and element analysis of Urtica dioca

1 Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia. 2 Department of Chemistry, Gomal University, Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan. 3 Diabetis and Nutritional Sciences Division, King’s College London. 4 Department of Community Health Sciences, College of Applied Medical Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11433, Saudi Arabia. 5 Department of Chemistry, GDC Ara Khel Jawaki FR Kohat KPK, Pakistan. 6 Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, King Saud University, P. O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 7 College of Science Research Centre, King Saud University, P. O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia. 8 Department of Chemistry, Kohat University of Science and Technology, KPK Pakistan.

Analysis of biophysical studies of metal binding to zinc α2 glycoprotein (ZAG) using fluorescence

A critical element in a phage display sorting experiment is immobilization of the target protein in functional conformation. There are inherent issues associated with the current methods of immobilization, especially for proteins of limited stability. To circumvent these problems, we have developed a mutant form (N5A) of calmodulin binding peptide (CBP) as an immobilization tag for phage display sorting. The immobilization relies on the ultra high affinity of calmodulin to the mutant CBP in the presence of calcium, which can then be reversed by adding calcium chelators like EDTA allowing “capture and release” of the specific binders in a controlled manner. To evaluate the capabilities of this system, we chose a set of challenging cases that had failed in selection using traditional immobilization. In virtually all cases, we were able to generate synthetic antibodies (sABs) for these targets using CBP fused constructs in selection campaigns. The sABs are of high affinity and have been successfully used to selectively recognize antigens in cell-based experiments. Some of these targets were problematic even without any tag, so the fact that all led to successful selection endpoints means that borderline cases can be worked on with a high probability of a positive outcome. Taken together, we feel the evidence indicates that the CBP tag embodies all the attributes of covalent immobilization tags, but do not suffer from some of their well-documented drawbacks.E kinetic analysis of drug interactions has remained the same for nearly a century and has essentially been supplanted by the use IC50 and EC50 in drug analysis. The fall from favor of enzyme kinetic analysis can be primarily attributed to the difficulties associated with kinetic modeling and the absence of relevance, inhibitory classifications, have on therapeutic development. However, the problems with enzyme kinetic analysis can also be attributed to a lack of clear distinction between binding constants and terms defining the effect produced by the compounds under investigation. The most basic inhibitory equations; competitive, noncompetitive and mixed non-competitive inhibition, define inhibitory effect using the disassociation constant (Ki) and this necessitates the use of separate equations to model the inhibitory effects attributed to each equation. By designating the Ki as simply, a binding term like the Kd in receptor interactions the effects compounds have on enzyme activity can be defined separately producing a simple empirical equation for activators and inhibitors. This treatment unifies and simplifies kinetic analysis providing an intuitive way of conceptualizing the modulation of complex catalytic regulatory processes. For example, the modulation of substrate activation and substrate inhibition associated with amyloid precursor protein processing by gamma-secretase can be simple, concise manner. While IC50 values may be sufficient for characterizing the majority of drug interactions, the complex interactions at the center of diseases that have stubbornly resisted therapeutic progress may benefit from this empirical modeling approach.A total of 407 samples from western region of Saudi Arabia were collected. These samples were collected from both soil samples and dead larvae of Spodoptera littoralis (Lepidoptera) and they were examined for the presence of Bacillus thuringiensis. The bacterium was isolated by acetate-selective enrichment medium and plating. Identification of isolates performed by microscopic examination and analysis of 16S rRNA genes by DNA sequencing for PCR products. The confirmed Bacillus thuringiensis isolates are 22 in total were recovered from 4.6% of soil samples and from 6.6% of dead larvae. Although Bacillus thuringiensis was not found to be abundant in soil habitats in Makkah Province, the results suggest that the bacterium is part of the indigenous microflora of the area we have explored. The 88 kDa parasporin protein was secreted by Bacillus thuringiensis during the stationary phase of growth. Isolated strains were screened for the presence of parasporin genes by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) amplification with only four strains producing the desired bands of parasporin. The amplified fragments were cloned in pGEM-vector, sequenced and analyzed. The nucleotide sequences of parasporin were given Gene-bank accession numbers: KJ576792 and showed 99% identity with the previously isolated genes in neucleotide level while it was 98% identity in amino acid level. The full length gene was sub-cloned into pET-30a expression vector and overexpressed in E. coli under the control of the inducible T7 promoter. The heterologously produced of parasporin protein (#30% of total protein) was found in both soluble and insoluble forms. Expressed protein was been purified.

Comparative analysis of distinct diuretics through urine analysis

Diuretics are used for different diseases and are taken without knowing their adverse/side effects. To create awareness, four popular diuretics, Lasix, Spiromide, Aldactone and Conium were investigated for their effect on body. These were experimented over four volunteers with single and double doses. The urine of these volunteers was collected for analysis of sodium and potassium. The obtained results showed that the effect of medicine remained up to 6 to 12 h. In this duration, the sodium excreted value went up for a certain period and then became almost normal and same was true for potassium. The increase in dosage increased the rate of excretion of the cations and also prolonged the time period of their effects. It is concluded that although Lasix, a potential diuretic but its effects over body were also severe in terms of excretion of ions etc. Similarly, Spiromide was also noted to be a reasonably effective diuretic and its effects are totally different from Lasix in terms of excretion of ions and body weight loss. The other two medicines (Aldactone and Conium) did not show much effect upon excretion etc.