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Worldwide, microbial infections have a serious impact because they cause infectious diseases, death, and significant economic losses. Zoonosis is now a major public health issue on a global scale because of the fast expansion of human exploitation of nature and animal husbandry. Notably, in the past 30 years, over 30 novel human infections have been discovered, 75% of which fall under the category of zoonosis. Resistant strains have emerged as a result of improper use of antibiotics and insufficient infection management posing a serious risk to both public health and the global economy. As alternatives, antimicrobial peptides are showing good results. The majority of living things use antibacterial peptides (ABPs) as a key part of their natural defenses against invading infections. These peptides are cationic, amphipathic, and relatively tiny with varied sequences, structures, and lengths. For the delivery of these efficacious biological peptides, nanoparticles are providing opportunities for effective, safe, and viable delivery. An innovative method of treating infectious diseases is demonstrated by nanoparticles and antibacterial peptides. When ABPs are combined with carrier nanoparticles to optimize distribution, their half-life may be increased, allowing for lower dosages and ultimately lower toxicity. For biological applications, ABPs and nanoparticle conjugates have become effective methods, enabling the treatment, prevention of disease, and detection. More than 50 peptide medications have been made available for purchase on the market as of 2018. Around 25 billion USD is spent on peptide medications each year, including ABPs. But still, there is a gap in the distribution of these ABPs as an alternative to synthetic antibiotics. It might be due to the high cost of these goods. Thus, scientists, researchers, and commercializing companies should work together so that these ABPs with a safe delivery system should be available in the market to combat resistant strains of bacteria. In doing so, we draw attention to the significant advancements made in the field as well as the difficulties still encountered in developing imaging species, active therapies, and nano-drug delivery systems that are functionalized with peptides and proteins for clinical use.

Introduction: The mounting incidence of multidrug-resistant bacterial strains and the dearth of novel antibiotics demand alternate therapies to manage the infections caused by resistant superbugs. Bacteriophages and phage=derived proteins are considered as potential alternates to treat such infections, and have several applications in health care systems. The aim of this review is to explore the hidden potential of bacteriophage proteins which may be a practical alternative approach to manage the threat of antibiotic resistance. Results: Clinical trials are in progress for the use of phage therapy as a tool for routine medical use; however, the existing regulations may hamper their development of routine antimicrobial agents. The advancement of molecular techniques and the advent of sequencing have opened new potentials for the design of engineered bacteriophages as well as recombinant bacteriophage proteins. The phage enzymes and proteins encoded by the lysis cassette genes, especially endolysins, holins, and spanins, have shown plausible potentials as therapeutic candidates. Conclusion: This review offers an integrated viewpoint that aims to decipher the insights and abilities of bacteriophages and their derived proteins as potential alternatives to antibiotics.

Infectious bursal disease (IBD), caused by IBD virus (IBDV), is one of the most devastating and immunosuppressive diseases of the poultry and has been a constraint on the sustainable poultry production around the globe including Pakistan. While the disease is threatening the poultry industry, the nature of predominant strains of IBDV in Pakistan remained ill-defined. In this study, an epidemiology survey was conducted in the main chicken-farming regions of Pakistan. The batch of Pakistan IBDVs genes simultaneously covering both VP1 and VP2 were amplified, sequenced, and analyzed. The unique segment-reassortant IBDVs (vv-A/Uniq-B), carrying segment A from vvIBDV and segment B from one unique ancestor, were identified as one important type of circulating strains in Pakistan. The data also discovered the characteristic molecular features of Pakistan IBDVs, which will contribute to scientific vaccine selection and effective prevention of the disease.

AbstractContext:Hepatitis is an endemic disease worldwide leading to chronic and debilitating cancers. The viral agents and hepatotoxic substances lead to damage of hepatocytes and release of damage associated molecules in circulation. The lack of timely and rapid diagnosis of hepatitis results in chronic disease.Objective:The present review aimed to describe regulation, release and functions of microRNAs (miR) during human liver pathology and insights into their promising use as noninvasive biomarkers of hepatitis.Methods:Comprehensive data were collected from PubMed, ScienceDirect and the Web of Science databases utilizing the keywords “biomarkers”, “microRNAs” and “hepatic diseases”.Results:The miRs are readily released in the body fluids and blood during HBV/HCV associated hepatitis as well as metabolic, alcoholic, drug induced and autoimmune hepatitis. The liver-specific microRNAs including miR-122, miR-130, miR-183, miR-196, miR-209 and miR-96 are potential indicators of liver injury (mainly via apoptosis, necrosis and necroptosis) or hepatitis with their varied expression during acute/fulminant, chronic, liver fibrosis/cirrhosis and hepato-cellular carcinoma.Conclusions:The liver-specific miRs can be used as rapid and noninvasive biomarkers of hepatitis to discern different stages of hepatitis. Blocking or stimulating pathways associated with miR regulation in liver could unveil novel therapeutic strategies in the management of liver diseases.Clinical significanceLiver specific microRNAs interact with cellular proteins and signaling molecules to regulate the expression of various genes controlling biological processes.The circulatory level of liver specific microRNAs is indicator of severity of HBV and HCV infections as well as prognostic and therapeutic candidates.The expression of liver specific microRNAs is strongly associated with infectious, drug-induced, hepatotoxic, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases.

This research explores the effect of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) on structural, electrical, magnetic and dielectric properties along with surface morphology of CoZnNd ferrites (CZNF), synthesized through sol-gel auto combustion route. The results exhibited that CZNF particles were dispersed on GNPs, which modified the structural and electromagnetic characteristics of CZNF. Moreover, SEM micrographs revealed the reduction in agglomeration with inclusion of GNPs. Additionally, resistivity was increased in the ferro region and decreased in the para region with rising temperature. TCR for CZNF/2.5 wt %GNPs composite was recorded as −3.49% at 371 K. Excellent magnetodielectric properties were observed for CZNF/2.5 wt %GNPs composite, i.e. Ms = 141.76 emu/g and Hc = 81.2 Oe along with minimum Tan δmand skin depth. On the basis of studied parameters, CZNF/2.5 wt %GNPs composite is appropriate for high frequency micro wave shielding applications, inductors, filters, bolometers and switching devices.

Liver inflammation or hepatitis is a result of pluripotent interactions of cell death molecules, cytokines, chemokines and the resident immune cells collectively called as microenvironment. The interplay of these inflammatory mediators and switching of immune responses during hepatotoxic, viral, drug-induced and immune cell-mediated hepatitis decide the fate of liver pathology. The present review aimed to describe the mechanisms of liver injury, its relevance to human liver pathology and insights for the future therapeutic interventions.

In current research work, Dy3+substituted Mg0.5Cu0.25Co0.25Fe2‒xDyxO4(0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.04 with the step interval of 0.01) soft ferrites were synthesized by the sol–gel auto combustion method. The prepared samples were characterized by the techniques using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, current–voltage (I–V) measurement, LCR meter, vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and Raman. XRD data reveal that the average crystallite size is 49.71 nm and the lattice constant is 0.83703 nm for sample x = 0.03. The non-uniform grain growth was demonstrated by micrographs and impurity-free elemental composition was observed from EDX analysis. The DC resistivity has an increasing and decreasing trend in ferromagnetic and paramagnetic regions with an increase in temperature. Moreover, the high resistivity is observed with the order of 1010Ω·cm, and the activation energy is 0.944 eV for samples x = 0.03. The dielectric parameters including dielectric constant, dielectric losses, and impedance gradually decrease with the increase in frequency from 8 Hz–8 MHz. The minimum dielectric loss at high frequency is found for sample x = 0.03. The coercivity (Hc) and saturation magnetization (Ms) are found in the ranges of 520.82–544.02 Oe and 20.5841–21.1473 emu/g, respectively. These observations confirm that dysprosium (x = 0.03) doped MCC-soft ferrites may be applicable in transformer cores, microwave absorbance, and telecommunication devices.

ABSTRACTInterleukin-33 (IL-33) has now emerged as a cytokine with diverse and pleiotropic functions in various infectious and inflammatory diseases. IL-33 is expressed by epithelial cells, endothelial cells, fibroblasts, and hepatocytes. The target cells of IL-33 are Th2 cells, basophils, dendritic cells, mast cells, macrophages, NKT cells, and nuocytes, newly discovered natural helper cells/innate lymphoid cells bearing the ST2 receptor. IL-33 has dual functions, both as a traditional cytokine and as a nuclear factor that regulates gene transcription. IL-33 functions as an “alarmin” released following cell death, as a biomarker, and as a vaccine adjuvant, with proinflammatory and protective effects during various infections. The exacerbated or protective role of the IL-33/ST2 axis during different infections is dependent upon the organ involved, type of infectious agent, whether the infection is acute or chronic, the invasiveness of the infectious agent, the host immune compartment, and cellular and cytokine microenvironments. In this review, we focus on recent advances in the understanding of the role of the IL-33/ST2 axis in various viral, bacterial, fungal, helminth, and protozoal infectious diseases gained from animal models and studies in human patients. The functional role of IL-33 and ST2 during experimentally induced infections has been summarized by accumulating the data for IL-33- and ST2-deficient mice or for mice exogenously administered IL-33. In summary, exploring the crucial and diverse roles of the IL-33/ST2 axis during infections may help in the development of therapeutic interventions for a wide range of infectious diseases.