Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University

About: Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University is a education organization based out in Karachi, Pakistan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Fractional calculus & Adsorption. The organization has 295 authors who have published 680 publications receiving 7592 citations.

Bacterial biofilm and associated infections

Abstract: Microscopic entities, microorganisms that drastically affect human health need to be thoroughly investigated. A biofilm is an architectural colony of microorganisms, within a matrix of extracellular polymeric substance that they produce. Biofilm contains microbial cells adherent to one-another and to a static surface (living or non-living). Bacterial biofilms are usually pathogenic in nature and can cause nosocomial infections. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) revealed that among all microbial and chronic infections, 65% and 80%, respectively, are associated with biofilm formation. The process of biofilm formation consists of many steps, starting with attachment to a living or non-living surface that will lead to formation of micro-colony, giving rise to three-dimensional structures and ending up, after maturation, with detachment. During formation of biofilm several species of bacteria communicate with one another, employing quorum sensing. In general, bacterial biofilms show resistance against human immune system, as well as against antibiotics. Health related concerns speak loud due to the biofilm potential to cause diseases, utilizing both device-related and non-device-related infections. In summary, the understanding of bacterial biofilm is important to manage and/or to eradicate biofilm-related diseases. The current review is, therefore, an effort to encompass the current concepts in biofilm formation and its implications in human health and disease.

Green Synthesis of Zinc Oxide (ZnO) Nanoparticles Using Aqueous Fruit Extracts of Myristica fragrans: Their Characterizations and Biological and Environmental Applications.

Abstract: In the present work, bioaugmented zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) were prepared from aqueous fruit extracts of Myristica fragrans The ZnO-NPs were characterized by different techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, ultraviolet (UV) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) The crystallites exhibited a mean size of 4123 nm measured via XRD and were highly pure, while SEM and TEM analyses of synthesized NPs confirmed their spherical or elliptical shape The functional groups responsible for stabilizing and capping of ZnO-NPs were confirmed using FTIR analysis The ζ-size and ζ-potential of synthesized ZnO-NPs were reported as 66 nm and -221 mV, respectively, via the DLS technique can be considered as moderate stable colloidal solution Synthesized NPs were used to evaluate for their possible antibacterial, antidiabetic, antioxidant, antiparasitic, and larvicidal properties The NPs were found to be highly active against bacterial strains both coated with antibiotics and alone Klebsiella pneumoniae was found to be the most sensitive strain against NPs (27 ± 173) and against NPs coated with imipinem (26 ± 15) ZnO-NPs displayed outstanding inhibitory potential against enzymes protein kinase (1223 ± 042), α-amylase (7323 ± 042), and α-glucosidase (6521 ± 049) Overall, the synthesized NPs have shown significant larvicidal activity (773 ± 18) against Aedes aegypti, the mosquitoes involved in the transmission of dengue fever Similarly, tremendous leishmanicidal activity was also observed against both the promastigote (7150 ± 070) and amastigote (6141 ± 071) forms of the parasite The biosynthesized NPs were found to be excellent antioxidant and biocompatible nanomaterials Biosynthesized ZnO-NPs were also used as photocatalytic agents, resulting in 88% degradation of methylene blue dye in 140 min Owing to their eco-friendly synthesis, nontoxicity, and biocompatible nature, ZnO-NPs synthesized from M fragrans can be exploited as potential candidates for biomedical and environmental applications