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Non-suicidal self-injurious behaviors are getting prevalent in third world countries especially in Pakistan. This case report describes a typical case of Non-suicidal self-injurious behaviors in a young female (most vulnerable population) with symptoms of cutting different body parts that she mimic from other friends. The difference in intention and gains of both the behaviors can helps in diagnosing and treatment, preventing invasive medicinal and psychological treatments, reserving available healthcare resources. Similar cognitive, emotional, psychological and behavioral factors underlie and perpetuate non-suicidal self-injury and emotional disorders. This brief case report aims to explain the dilemma of identifying the case and to target emotional disorders in treating comorbid borderline personality traits.

Objective: To evaluate a scoring system in predicting difficulty in laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Study Design: Non-Randomized Prospective study. Setting: Surgical Unit-1 of Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi. Period: January 2018 to September 2018. Material & Methods: Patients with symptomatic gallstone disease that were admitted in SU-1 of Holy family hospital during the above period were included in the study. For collection of data, a pre-tested questionnaire was used after taking informed oral consent. On admission, one day before the surgery, preoperative points were allotted on basis of patient’s history, examination, hematological (CBC), biochemical (LFTs) and ultrasound results. Preoperative scores up to 5 was summed up as easy, scores 6 – 10 as difficult, 11 – 16 as very difficult. Calculated sample size was 229. SPSS version 22 and WHO Anthro calculator version 3.2.2 were used for data entry and analysis. Results: Among 230 patients that were included in the study, 188 were female and 42 were male. Various risk factors were found to have significant positive correlation with intraoperative difficulty during cholecystectomy. These are: Previous episodes of cholecystitis and pancreatitis (p=0.00), ERCP (p=0.00), tenderness in right hypochondrium (p=0.002), hepatitis serology (p=0.02), and Total Leukocyte Count (p=0.006). Whereas the following factors had insignificant relation with intraoperative difficult cholecystectomy: ALT and ALP (p>0.05, p=0.06 and 0.26 respectively) and hepatits serology (p=0.406). A significant correlation was found between preoperative and intraoperative scores of the patients (p=0.003) indicating that preoperative assessment of various risk factors can predict the level of difficulty of cholecystectomy and its conversion to open cholecystectomy. Conclusion: We may conclude that the scoring system evaluated in our study is a sturdy, reliable and useful benchmark to predict difficult cases. Preoperative prediction of the risk factors of conversion or difficulty of operation is an important point for operative planning and the high-risk patients may be informed accordingly.

The purpose of this study was to design and engineer a simple approach to enhance the catalytic activity and thermal stability of Lipase. Lipase is an enzyme with exciting multifarious applications in the industry. In this respect, we observed that the catalytic activity of Lipase was enhanced when it was subjected to in situ synthesis of silver nanoclusters (AgNCs) within the enzyme structure. At alkaline pH, the in situ synthesis of AgNCs inside Lipase altered its activity, and the resulting nanohybrid showed enhanced enzymatic activity. Compared with the catalytic efficiency of free Lipase (72.33 min mM ), the Lipase clustered with silver nanoclusters (L-AgNCs) showed enhanced catalytic efficiency (109.22 min mM ). Thermodynamic parameters of free Lipase and L-AgNCs were determined by calculating activation energy (Ea) values to be 19.92 KJ mol-1 and 17.29 KJ mol-1, respectively. The lower activation energy of L-AgNCs designates it to be more stabilized and highly active to bind with the substrate having a higher rate of reaction instead of free Lipase. Molecular docking analysis showed that silver binds to amino acid residues of the Lipase enzyme, which was also supported by the XPS analysis. Therefore, L-AgNCs conjugate represented a novel Lipase preparation technique with attributes of high activity and stability that could be an attractive choice in diverse applications ranging from catalysis to diagnostics. The overall study proposed an innovative strategy to improve enzyme stability and catalytic activity.

The continuous use of brackish groundwater for irrigation is detrimental for soil and crop attributes. A three-year research study was designed for the wheat crop to assess the effects of brackish groundwater on crop yield and soil health under a surface irrigation system. Three sites were selected in different cropping zones of Pakistan. The treatments comprised of irrigation with moderately brackish water having 0.8, 1.3 & 2.7 dSm−1 of salinity and canal water. The results indicated that EC, SAR, bicarbonates, Ca2+ and Mg2+ levels increased in the soil for consecutive years and this increase was more at site S3 followed by S2 and S1. As soil depth is concerned, the increase was more pronounced in upper layers of soil (0–15 cm) as compared to 15–30 cm depth. Growth and yield were also affected by the consecutive use of this water, the number of plants, plant height, the number of spikes per plant, and yield was reduced at all the three sites. However, the impact was less pronounced at the site S1 whereas S3 was the most affected one. Grain weight and dry matter weight were observed to be maximum at S1. Water productivity was also calculated for all the three sites. Maximum water productivity was observed at S1 followed by S2 & S3. It was concluded that the continuous use of brackish water would have an adverse effect on crop yield and subsequently, soil health is also affected by it significantly.

Coronavirus and pandemics have led to drastic and unexpected changes in the whole world. It has affected people’s lives and their ways of living drastically. Although lockdowns and mobility restrictions were imposed to save lives, on the other hand, it put the lives of the underprivileged population at other risks too such as violence and abuse. This paper attempts to describe the situation of children during this epidemic of covid-19. Evidence and researches proved that emergency situations are significantly related to an increased level of violence, especially against children. A number of problems from which children suffered during pandemic and lockdown have been discussed such as excessive screen use, domestic child abuse, witnessing domestic violence, etc. Furthermore, this paper also suggests essential recommendations for not only the government but also for the public as they must corporate with the government in such high alert times.

Background Glutenin macropolymer (GMP), glutenin and gliadin proteins are important indicators of the baking quality of dough. This study investigated the impacts of wheat bran and a mixture of ferulic acid (FA) and dietary fiber (DF) on the constitution of gluten proteins. Addition of wheat bran (100 and 150 g kg-1 ) into gluten decreased the gliadin/glutenin ratio, while the addition of different amounts of FA + DF (C1 group: 20 g kg-1 FA and 60 g kg-1 DF; C2 group: 30 g kg-1 FA and 90 g kg-1 DF) had the opposite effect. Results The GMP contents of wheat bran groups (B1 group: 100 g kg-1 ; B2 group: 150 g kg-1 ) were similar to that of the control group, and disulfide bond contents were increased. However, both GMP and disulfide bond contents of FA + DF groups significantly decreased. The GMP gel properties and microstructures were destroyed after addition of wheat bran and FA + DF. The wheat bran and FA + DF additives induced different effects on the thermal properties and secondary structures of glutenin, gliadin and GMP. Conclusions The results suggest that the interaction mechanism of bran fractions and gluten proteins is not only related to the physicochemical properties of the additives, but also to interactions between the additives and the components of gluten protein. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

Yeast extract (YE) is tremendously used as a flavor enhancer in foods because of its composition. However, different types of YE have different aromatic profiles. This study focuses on the thermal treatment of glutathione-enriched yeast extract (GSH-YE) at different temperatures with the addition of Maillard precursors to investigate any change in its volatile organic profile. Headspace gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (HS-GC-IMS) was utilized for the instrumental analysis. A total number of 104 volatile compounds were analyzed through this approach. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the samples were made in order to calculate the concentration of volatile compounds in samples. Sensory evaluation was performed to compare the overall aroma descriptions with the volatile profile of the heat-treated samples. Sensory scores revealed that an increase in the thermal temperature significantly affected the meaty and roasted aroma of GSH-YE. Many sulfur-containing volatile compounds including 2-methyl-3-furanthiol, 2-furfurylthiol, 2-methyl-3-(methylthio)furan, dimethyl trisulfide, 2-acetylthiazol, and some furans and pyrazines related to meaty and roasted odor notes were reported in this study. Significant increase in the amounts of furfural and dimethyl sulfide was observed in samples having higher thermal temperatures as compared with the control treatment. The temperature of 100 °C with adequate amounts of Maillard precursors in GSH-YE was considered an optimal condition for generating ample amounts of 2-methyl-3-methylthiofuran and 2-furfurylthiol. The 3D graphical data confirms the potential application of HS-GC-IMS as a more potent instrumental approach in the determination of volatile compounds in yeast extract.

Gold nanomaterials (GNMs) have unique optical properties with less antigenicity, and their physicochemical properties have strong relation with an immunological response at bio-interface including antigenicity. An interpretation of this correlation would significantly impact on the clinical and theranostic applications of GNMs. Herein, we studied the effect of GNMs morphology on the cytotoxicity (in-vitro), innate immune responses, hepatotoxicity, and nephrotoxicity (in-vivo studies) using gold nano-cups (GNCs), porous gold nanospheres (PGNSs) and solid gold nano particles (SGNPs) coated with the same ligand to ensure similar surface chemistry. The cytotoxicity was assessed via sulfo-rhodamine B (SRB) assay, and the cytotoxicity data showed that morphological features at nanoscale dimensions like surface roughness and hollowness etc. have a significant impact on cellular viability. The biochemical and histopathological study of liver and kidney tissues also showed that all GNMs did not show any toxicity even at high concentration (100 μL). The relative quantification of cytokine gene expression of TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-4, 1L-6, and 1L-17 (against each morphology) was checked after in-vivo activation in mice. Among the different nanogold morphologies, PVP stabilized GNCs (PVP-GNCs) showed the highest release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which might be due to their high surface energy and large surface area for exposure as compared to other nanogold morphologies studied. The pro-inflammatory cytokine release could be suppressed by coating with some anti-inflammatory polymer, i.e., inulin. The in-vitro results of pro-inflammatory (TNF-α, IL-1) cytokines also suggested that all GNMs may induce activation of macrophages and Th1 immune response. The in-vivo activation results showed a decrease in mRNA expression of the cytokines (TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-4, 1L-6 and 1L-17). Based on these findings, we proposed that the shape and morphology of GNMs control their immune response at nano-bio interface, and it must be considered while designing their role for different biomedical applications like immuno-stimulation and bio-imaging.

Ellagic acid, a natural polyphenolic compound commonly present in vegetables, fruits, nuts, and other edible plants, exerts many pharmacological activities. The present project was designed to explore the hepatoprotective effect of ellagic acid against alcohol-induced liver disease (ALD) and the correlation among alcohol, oxidative stress, inflammation, and gut microbiota. Fifty percent (v/v) alcohol (10 mL/kg bw daily) was orally administrated for 4 weeks in mice along with ellagic acid (50 and 100 mg/kg bw). Alcohol administration significantly (p < 0.05) increased the activities of alanine aminotransferase and serum aspartate aminotransferase, levels of triglyceride, low density lipoprotein, free fatty acid, and total cholesterol, and decreased contents of the high-density lipoprotein in model group compared with the control group, which were further improved by ellagic acid (50 or 100 mg/kg bw). Furthermore, daily supplementation of ellagic acid alleviated hepatic antioxidant activities (glutathione peroxidase, catalase, malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione), proinflammatory cytokines levels (IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α), genes expressions (Tlr4, Myd88, Cd14, Cox2, Nos2, and Nfκb1), and histopathological features in alcohol-induced liver injured mice. Additionally, results also revealed that ellagic acid supplementation improved alcohol-induced gut microbiota dysbiosis. In conclusion, ellagic acid mitigated oxidative stress, inflammatory response, steatosis, and gut microbiota dysbiosis in ALD mice. Our results suggested that ellagic acid could be applied as an ideal dietary therapy against ALD.

Nanotheranostics is an emerging frontier of personalized medicine research particularly for cancer, which is the second leading cause of death. Supramolecular aspects in theranostics are quite allured to achieve more regulation and controlled features. Supramolecular nanotheranostics architecture is focused on engineering of modular supramolecular assemblies benefitting from their mutable and stimuli-responsive properties which confer an ultimate potential for the fabrication of unified innovative nanomedicines with controlled features. Amalgamation of supramolecular approaches to nano-based features further equip the potential of designing novel approaches to overcome limitations seen by the conventional theranostic strategies, for curing even the lethal diseases and endowing personalized therapeutics with optimistic prognosis, endorsing their clinical translation. Among many potential nanocarriers for theranostics, lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have shown various promising advances in theranostics and their formulation can be tailored for several applications. Despite the great advancement in cancer nanotheranostics, there are still many challenges that need to be highlighted to fill the literature gap. For this purpose, herein, we have presented a systematic overview on the subject and proposed LNPs as the potential material to manage cancer via non-invasive approaches by highlighting the use of supramolecular approaches to make them robust for cancer theranostics. We have concluded the review by entailing the future perspectives of lipid nanotheranostics towards clinical translation., Graphical abstract Image 1, Highlights • Lipid-based theranostic systems in nanometer regime are promising carriers for cancer theranostic agents for curing different types of tumor. • LNPs can be functionalized with various targeting moieties and possess the potential to cross different physiological barriers hence improving the pharmacokinetics. • The applicability of supramolecular design of LNPs is discussed with respect to tumor physiology particularly targeting tumor microenvironment and metastasis (responsible for tumor spread) to treat resilient tumors. • Due to the negligible toxicity and multifunctional potential, currently there are many clinical trials and patents are underway based on this design.

In cereals, 95% of dietary fiber is associated with phenolic compounds. The present study examined the functional properties, phenolic composition, antioxidant activity, and in vitro bioaccessibility of phenolics and flavonoids present in rye bran (RB) and its insoluble dietary fiber (IDF). Compared to RB, higher functional properties (WHC, WRC, and OHC) were represented by IDF due to its porous structure. The IDF contained lower free but higher bound phenolics and flavonoids content as compared to RB, whereas highest total phenolics (556.6 mg GAE/100 g) and flavonoids (378.3 mg RE/100 g) content were observed in IDF. Results had identified significant differences (p < .05) in phenolic acids composition between RB and IDF determined by HPLC-MS and the total phenolic acids were higher in IDF. The antioxidant capacity of IDF was higher than RB in DPPH, FRAP, ABTS, and reducing power assay. However, the in vitro phenolics and flavonoids bioaccessibility of IDF was much lower because of its high content of bound phenolics and flavonoids. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: A successful comparative study between RB and its IDF has been conducted in this research work that edifies the health benefits associated with the phytochemicals linked with RB and IDF. The present study also carries rich information regarding the cereal chemistry of RB that truly facilitates the food developers to specifically focus on the bioaccessibility of phenolic compounds present in IDF and RB. The findings about the functional properties and antioxidant capacities of RB and its IDF can also open new research horizons when dealing with food product development tasks, specifically related to therapeutic and medically tailored meals for the targeted customers.

In order to reduce destroy of wheat bran on gluten network, wheat bran was pre-treated by co-fermentation with yeast and lactic acid bacteria or (and) xylanase hydrolysis. Effects of bioprocessing treatment on the nutritional value of wheat bran, thermomechanical properties of dough and thiol disulfide bonds contents, secondary structures, thermal stability, and microstructures of gluten protein were investigated. The results showed that fermentation and enzymatic hydrolysis increased polyphenolic compounds and soluble arabinoxylan contents in wheat bran, and the ratio of soluble dietary fiber (SDF)/insoluble dietary fiber (IDF) in the enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation bran group (E + F) also increased about 8.1% compared with the original wheat bran group. The modified wheat bran significantly (P 0.05) improved. Results have shown that bioprocessing treatment could impede the damage of wheat bran to dough and gluten polymerization.

Caesalpinia bonduc has been used in herbal medicines for the treatment of a wide range of diseases from decades. The present study has explored the remedial potential and underlying mechanism of polyphenol extract of Caesalpinia bonduc in alloxanized diabetic rats. HPLC/MS analysis confirmed the presence of phenolics in considerable concentrations in Caesalpinia bonduc extract. Administration of different doses (250 and 500 mg/kg) of CPP extract to hyperglycemic rats for 8 weeks restored blood and serum glucose, insulin, glycosylated hemoglobin, leptin, amylin, and carbohydrate metabolizing enzymes level towards normal compared to alloxanized diabetic group. The effect of CPP extract on various genes such as Pdx-1, Ins-1, ngn-3, GLUT-4, and IRS-1 in insulin signaling pathway and Traf-4, Traf-6, and Mapk-8 in MAPK downstream JNK cascade was examined through qRT-PCR to access the core molecular mechanism involved in CPP-induced recovery of diabetes. Results have revealed that CPP extract reduced oxidative stress in pancreaticβcells by restoring free radical scavenging potential, reducing the mRNA expression of Mapk-8, Traf-4, and Traf-6, and increasing the Pdx-1, Ins-1, ngn-3, GLUT-4, and IRS-1 expression ensuing regeneration ofβcells and subsequent insulin release from pancreas. The results obtained in this study recommend that CPP extract may be a promising therapeutic restorative agent in the treatment of diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND: Early detection of congenital heart defects provides better postnatal treatment strategy and prognosis. Therefore, we aimed to determine the frequency of congenital heart defects on fetal echocardiography in high-risk mothers referred to the Children hospital, Lahore. METHODS: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted in the Cardiology department, of Children Hospital, Lahore from July to December 2015. The data were collected from 138 high-risk pregnant mothers. Both maternal and fetal risk factors associated with congenital heart defects were considered for indication of fetal echocardiography. RESULTS: Of the 138 high-risk pregnancies, 131 had maternal and 7 had fetal risk factors. Of the fetuses with maternal risk factors, the prevalence of congenital heart defects was 6%. We did not find any congenital heart defects in fetuses with fetal risk factors. 2.17% congenital heart defects presented with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus and 3.62% presented with poor obstetric history (p ≤ 0.05). Atrial septal defects and ventricular septal defects each were present in 2 (1.4%) fetuses while 1 (0.72%) fetus had complete atrioventricular septal defect, 2(1.4%) had septal hypertrophies and 1 (0.72%) had pericardial effusion. CONCLUSION: We observed a 6% frequency of congenital heart defects in high-risk mothers. With this high frequency of congenital heart defects, fetal echocardiography should be included as part of second-trimester anomaly scan in all high-risk mothers.

Ultrasonic assisted extraction (UAE) conditions for the extraction of phenolic compounds from rye bran (RB) were optimized by using response surface methodology. The optimal conditions for UAE were; time: 29 min, temperature: 66 °C, and solid to solvent ratio: 1:45 (g/mL), which provided a total phenolic content of 245.74 mg GAE/100 g dw. Compared with conventional extraction (CE) technique, UAE resulted in higher yield of total phenolic and flavonoid compounds, whereas only a slight difference was reported in the total flavonol and proanthocyanidin content. The UAE extract showed higher antioxidant activity in all antioxidant assays (DPPH, FRAP, ABTS, reducing power, and H2O2). The phenolic composition of both extracts was analyzed using HPLC-MS. Resultantly, a significant (p 0.05) were observed in the FTIR spectra of UAE and CE treated RB. These finding indicates that UAE increased the yield of phenolic compounds from RB. Furthermore, these phenolic compounds could be used as a potential source of natural antioxidants.

Caco-2, a human intestinal carcinoma cell line, has been used to test the absorption and transport mechanism of functional foods and drugs across the intestinal epithelium in order to study their antioxidant, anticancer and anti-inflammatory activities. Caco-2 cells represent the morphological and functional characteristics of small intestinal cells and capable of expressing brush borders, tight junctions, intestinal efflux and uptake transporters which regulate permeation of drugs and functional food extracts from intestinal lumen to systemic circulation. The integrity of the Caco-2 monolayer is controlled by establishing the TEER between 200 and 1000 O per cm2. FFEs affect intestinal permeability by adjusting the tight junction proteins between the cells in order to maintain the epithelial barrier function. Because of the side effects of medicines, there is an increased interest in functional food extracts (FFEs) as drug substitutes. Functional foods undergo intricate transport processes and biotransformation after oral administration. Metabolism and transport studies of FFEs in Caco-2 cells are very important for determining their bioavailability. Functional foods and their constituents produce anti-proliferative and anti-cancer effects through apoptosis, cell cycle arrest and inhibition of various signal transduction pathways across Caco-2 cell lines. The current review has summarized the anti-inflammation, anticancer, antioxidant and cholesterol lowering potential of FFEs using Caco-2 cells through reducing local inflammatory signals, production of ROS and lipid accumulation. The transport, bioavailability, metabolism, mechanisms of actions, cellular pathways adopted by FFEs across Caco-2 cell lines are predominantly affected by their molecular weight, structures and physicochemical properties. These studies are beneficial for investigating the different mechanisms of action of FFEs in the human body.