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Abstract Background The rate of germination and other physiological characteristics of seeds that are germinating are impacted by deep sowing. Based on the results of earlier studies, conclusions were drawn that deep sowing altered the physio-biochemical and agronomic characteristics of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Results In this study, seeds of wheat were sown at 2 (control) and 6 cm depth and the impact of exogenously applied salicylic acid and tocopherol (Vitamin-E) on its physio-biochemical and agronomic features was assessed. As a result, seeds grown at 2 cm depth witnessed an increase in mean germination time, germination percentage, germination rate index, germination energy, and seed vigor index. In contrast, 6 cm deep sowing resulted in negatively affecting all the aforementioned agronomic characteristics. In addition, deep planting led to a rise in MDA, glutathione reductase, and antioxidants enzymes including APX, POD, and SOD concentration. Moreover, the concentration of chlorophyll a, b, carotenoids, proline, protein, sugar, hydrogen peroxide, and agronomic attributes was boosted significantly with exogenously applied salicylic acid and tocopherol under deep sowing stress. Conclusions The results of the study showed that the depth of seed sowing has an impact on agronomic and physio-biochemical characteristics and that the negative effects of deep sowing stress can be reduced by applying salicylic acid and tocopherol to the leaves.

Spatial cluster analyses of health events are useful for enabling targeted interventions. Spatial scan statistic is the stateof- the-art method for this kind of analysis and the Poisson Generalized Linear Model (GLM) approach to the spatial scan statistic can be used for count data for spatial cluster detection with covariate adjustment. However, its use for modelling is limited due to data over-dispersion. A Generalized Linear Mixed Model (GLMM) has recently been proposed for modelling this kind of over-dispersion by incorporating random effects to model area-specific intrinsic variation not explained by other covariates in the model. However, these random effects may exhibit a geographical correlation, which may lead to a potential spatial cluster being undetected. To handle the over-dispersion in the count data, this study aimed to evaluate the performance of a negative binomial- GLM in spatial scan statistic on real-world data of low birth weights in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan, 2019. The results were compared with the Poisson-GLM and GLMM, showing that the negative binomial-GLM is an ideal choice for spatial scan statistic in the presence of over-dispersed data. With a covariate (maternal anaemia) adjustment, the negative binomial-GLMbased spatial scan statistic detected one significant cluster covering Dir lower district. Without the covariate adjustment, it detected two clusters, each covering one district. The district of Peshawar was seen as the most likely cluster and Battagram as the secondary cluster. However, none of the clusters were detected by GLMM spatial scan statistic, which might be due to the spatial correlation of the random effects in GLMM.

Background: Food crop consumption is one of the primary routes through which the environment is polluted with radionuclides, metals, and metalloids. In recent years, the negative impacts of metals, metalloids, and radionuclides on crop quality via the food-human system have jeopardized both human health and food security. Because some metals, metalloids, and radionuclides are persistent and non-biodegradable, they build up in the human body's essential organs, causing a variety of serious health issues, including cancer. It is therefore absolutely essential to evaluate the potential cancer risks of radionuclides as well as metals and metalloids in the food crops consumed in the study area to avoid negative health consequences. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the potential cancer risks of metals and metalloids (As, Cd, Cr, and Pb) and Radionuclides (U-238, Th-232, and K-40) via consumption of food crops cultivated around the Riruwai mining area, northeastern Nigeria. Methodology: Thirty-three (33) food crops (15 vegetables and 18 cereal crops) were collected directly from the farmlands in the study area. The concentrations of radionuclides, metals, and metalloid in each food crop were assessed using a microwave-plasma atomic emission spectrometry (MP-AES) and a high-purity germanium (HPGe) gamma-ray spectrometer, respectively. The measured concentrations of radionuclides, metals, and metalloid were used to calculate their lifetime cancer risks (LTCRs). Results: The findings of the study revealed that the concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, and Pb in all the investigated food crops were above the threshold limits, while lower activity concentrations in all the investigated food crops below the world average standard were observed in U-238, Th-232, and K-40. LTCRs of all the individual metal and metalloid as well as radionuclide in each food crop were determined to be below the global threshold limits, indicating no likelihood of cancer risk from consuming the food crops. However, it was discovered that the total cumulative LTCRs of all the metals and metalloid in all food crops combined were 2.51E-04, which was over twofold the acceptable limit of 1.00E-04 Conclusion: The individual metal, metalloid, and radionuclide LTCRs in each food crop were found to be below global threshold limits, indicating no cancer risk from consumption. However, the cumulative LTCRs of all the metals and metalloid in all food crops were found to exceed the acceptable level, which requires proper monitoring and government intervention. Cancer risk is influenced by factors beyond food consumption, such as alcohol consumption, heredity, and air pollution, so multidimensional studies are needed before making a final decision on cancer risks in the study area.

Wheat is the most consumed crop worldwide. Zeolite application combined with good tillage practices are good combinations that provide better soil conditions for wheat crops. Zeolite also provides a good layer for carbon to be absorbed into the soil and can retain carbon for hundreds of years. The current study aimed to investigate the effect of tillage practices and zeolite treatments on soil carbon retention and wheat crop productivity. Arranging the treatments implemented according to a factorial randomized block design which includes three replications. Tillage treatments include three levels vis: T1= 6 tillage practices with the help of cultivator (farmer practice/control), T2 (minimum tillage), and T3 (2 cultivation with cultivator + Mold-board plough). The zeolite applications consist of four levels: Z1 = 0, Z2 = 5, Z3 = 10 and Z4 = 15 t ha−1. The effect of the interaction between zeolite treatments and tillage practices on various factors related to soil and crops such as emission of carbon dioxide (CO2), dissolved organic carbon, soil organic carbon, and the productivity and components of wheat productivity. Zeolite applied at 10 t ha−1 in combination with minimum tillage gave significant differences in terms of CO2 emission, dissolved organic carbon, and on soil organic carbon. The experimental results showed that minimum CO2 emission (25.43 and 31.12 (kg CO2-C ha−1 h−1), dissolved organic carbon (4.80 and 4.90 g C kg−1), soil organic carbon (7.88 and 7.97 g C kg−1), plant height (92.14 and 92.97 cm), spike length (11.88 ad 12.11 cm), number of spikelets (20.11 and 20.98), number of tillers (278.65 and 283.93) per unit area, 1000 grain weight (50.74 and 51.54 g), biological yield (8134.87 and 8187.38 kg ha−1) and grain yield (2984.28 and 3028.96 kg ha−1) and harvest index (36.69 and 37.04%) of wheat was observed in zeolite applied at 10 t ha−1 with minimum tillage practice (T2 × Z3) compared to control and other treatments for both the years, respectively. It is therefore concluded that minimum tillage should be practiced in wheat crops with the application of zeolite at 10 t ha−1 to obtain better yield and soil carbon retention under rain-fed conditions.

Anaemia is a common public-health problem affecting about two-thirds of pregnant women in developing countries. Spacetime cluster analysis of anemia cases is important for publichealth policymakers to design evidence-based intervention strategies. This study discovered the potential space-time clusters of anemia in pregnant women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan, from 2014 to 2020 using space-time scan statistic (SatScan). The results show that the most likely cluster of anemia was seen in the rural areas in the eastern part of the province covering five districts from 2017 to 2019. However, three secondary clusters in the West and one in the North were still active, signifying important targets of interest for public-health interventions. The potential anemia clusters in the province’s rural areas might be associated with the lack of nutritional education in women and lack of access to sufficient diet due to financial constraints.

Abstract Marine cyanobacterial bioactives, due to their diverse chemistry and promising pharmacological properties, hold significant potential as therapeutic agents. Here, we comprehensively review the scientific state‐of‐the‐art relating to marine cyanobacterial bioactives, including bioprospecting, preclinical and clinical studies, mechanisms of action, safety and toxicity considerations, sustainability, and conservation. We discuss challenges in and opportunities for developing marine cyanobacterial bioactives as therapeutics; we underscore their potential in treating life‐threatening health ailments, such as cancer and neurodegenerative, inflammatory and viral diseases. We further articulate the significant potential of marine cyanobacterial bioactives for improving human health, and identify future research directions underpinning their development as therapeutics.

Crop quality and nutrient uptake are considerably influenced by fertilizers inputs and their application rate. Biochar (BC) improves nitrogen uptake and crop productivity. However, its interaction with synthetic and organic fertilizers in calcareous soil is not fully recognized. Therefore, we inspected the role of biochar (0, 10, 20, and 30 t ha–1) in improving N uptake and quality of wheat in a calcareous soil under integrated N management (90, 120, and 150 kg N ha–1) applied each from urea, farmyard manure (FYM) and poultry manure (PM) along with control) in 2 years field experiments. Application of 20 t BC along with 150 kg N ha–1 as poultry manure considerably improved wheat grain protein content (14.57%), grain (62.9%), straw (28.7%), and biological (38.4%) yield, grain, straw, and total N concentration by 14.6, 19.2, and 15.6% and their uptake by 84.6, 48.8, and 72.1%, respectively, over absolute control when averaged across the years. However, their impact was more pronounced in the 2nd year (2016–2017) after application compared to the 1st year (2015–2016). Therefore, for immediate crop benefits, it is recommended to use 20 t BC ha–1 once in 50 years for enhancing the nitrogen use efficiency of fertilizers and crop yield.

We propose a new fractional-order (space and time) total variation regularized model for multiplicative noise removal in this research article. We use the regularly varying fuzzy membership degrees to characterize the likelihood of a pixel related to edges, texture regions, and flat regions to improve model efficiency. This approach is capable of maintaining edges, textures, and other image information while significantly reducing the blocky effect. We opt for the option of local actions. In order to efficiently find the minimizer of the prescribed energy function, the semi-implicit gradient descent approach is used (which derives the corresponding fractional-order Euler-Lagrange equations). The existence and uniqueness of a solution to the suggested variational model are proved. Experimental results show the efficiency of the suggested model in visual enhancement, preserving details and reducing the blocky effect while extracting noise as well as an increase in the PSNR (dB), SSIM, relative error, and less CPU time(s) comparing to other schemes.

For a connected graph $\mathcal {G}$ , the distance $d(u, v)$ between any two vertices $u$ , $v~\in ~\mathcal {V(G)}$ is defined as; $d(u,v)=\min _{\mathcal {P}_{u,v}}\{\text {length of}~\mathcal {P}_{uv}\}$ i.e the minimum length of path connecting any two vertices. Two vertices $u$ , $v$ of a graph $G$ are said to be resolved by a vertices $\mathcal {W}$ of a graph $\mathcal {G}$ if $d(u,w) \neq d(v,w)$ . An ordered set $\mathcal {W} = \{w_{1},w_{2},w_{3},\ldots,w_{k}\}\,\,\in \,\,V(G)$ is resolving set for a connected graph $G$ , if for any two vertices $u$ , $v$ there exists $w_{i} \in W$ such that $d(u,w_{i}) \neq d(v, w_{i})$ . The representation of vertices $v$ w.r.t $\mathcal {W}$ is represented by $r(v|\mathcal {W})$ which is $k$ -vector( $k$ -tuple) $(d(v,w_{1}),d(v,w_{2}),d(v,w_{3}),\ldots,d(v,w_{k}))$ . If the representation of all the vertices of graph $\mathcal {G}$ are different w.r.t $\mathcal {W}$ then $\mathcal {W}$ is the resolving set for $G$ [1]. A resolving set that contains minimum numbers of vertices is metric basis for $\mathcal {G}$ . The cardinality of smallest resolving set is the metric dimension of $\mathcal {G}$ , represented by $dim(\mathcal {G})$ [2], [3]. A family of connected graph $\mathcal {G}$ has unbounded metric dimension if $dim(\mathcal {G})$ depends on order of a graph. In this paper, we show that total graph of path power three and four have unbounded metric dimension. We also proved some results on edges of power of path graph.

Image denoising is a fundamental problem in both image processing and computer vision with numerous applications. It can be formulated as an inverse problem. Variational methods are commonly used to solve noise removal problems. The Total Variation (TV) regularization has evolved from an image denoising method for images corrupted with multiplicative noise into a more general technique for inverse problems such as denoising, deblurring, blind deconvolution, and inpainting, which also encompasses the Impulse, Poisson, Speckle, and mixed noise models. Multiplicative noise removal based on TV regularization has been widely researched in image science. In multiplicative noise problems, original image is multiplied by a noise rather than added to the original image. This article proposes a novel meshless collocation technique for the solution of a model having multiplicative noise. This technique includes TV and local collocation along with Multiquadric Radial Basis Function (MQ-RBF) for the solution of associated Euler-Lagrange equation for restoring multiplicative noise from digital images. Numerical examples demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is able to preserve small image details while the noise in the homogeneous regions is removed sufficiently. As a consequence, our method yields better denoised results than those of the current state of the art methods with respect to the Peak-Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) values.

The Digital Total Variation (DTV) scheme is a digitized energy regularization scheme used for image denoising. This technique takes advantage of being applied to arbitrarily located data points and also has the edge detective property. This article aims to introduce a novel meshless scheme using DTV filtering and Radial Basis Functions (RBFs) to solve the associated equation with the DTV model numerically which results in the image denoising to remove additive noise from image information. This meshless algorithm based on local collocation and Multiquadric Radial Basis Function. These appearances allow this algorithm not only to remove the additive noise from images but also to resolve the discontinuities sharply. It is also noticed that the proposed meshless scheme is simple, fast, computationally effective, requires simply post-processing, and can be easily implemented mathematically. Experimental results confirm that the peak signal-to-noise ratio, the structural similarity, signal-to-noise ratio, the visual effect, and the computational performance of this new meshless scheme are improved compared with state-of-the-art denoising schemes. Furthermore, the proposed scheme can be applied to colour images as well.

Food preservation and safety is drawing more attention globally due to the increasing prevalence of food-borne diseases. The natural methods of food preservation are considered safer compared to methods using synthetic preservatives. The essential oils with natural preservative properties could be useful for food safety and preservation. The objective of this study was to analyze the chemical composition of commercially available Allium sativum and Trigonella foenum-graecum essential oils by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). The antimicrobial activities of Allium sativum and Trigonella foenum-graecum essential oils were determined by agar well diffusion technique. The GC-MS analysis of Garlic essential oil (GEO) revealed that, Allyl methyl trisulfide (13.10%), Di-allyl sulfide (9.47%) and Di-allyl tetrasulfide (4.38%) were the major components, while methanolic extract of Fenugreek essential oil (FEO) showed limonene (12.92%), Silane trimethylphenyl (10.71%), carvone (4.57%) and Trigolline (0.38%) as major components. The results of our study showed a significant antimicrobial activity of GEO and FEO against the tested microbial strains, which indicates the presence of broad-spectrum antimicrobial constituents in GEO and FEO. However, further studies are needed for individual bioactive components and safety aspects for their application in food preservation.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global problem that also includes countries of the Arabian Peninsula. Of particular concern, is the continuing development of extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) in the countries of this region. Additionally, antibiotic treatment options for ESBL-producing bacteria are becoming limited, primarily due to the continuing development of carbapenem resistance (CR), carbapenems being frequently used to treat such infections. An overview of recent publications (2018–2021) indicates the presence of ESBL and/or CR in patients and hospitals in most countries of the Arabian Peninsula, although the delay between microbial isolation and publication inevitably makes an accurate analysis of the current situation rather difficult. However, there appears to be greater emphasis on CR (including combined ESBL and CR) in recent publications. Furthermore, although publications from Saudi Arabia are the most prevalent, this may simply reflect the increased interest in ESBL and CR within the country. Enhanced ESBL/CR surveillance is recommended for all countries in the Arabian Peninsula.

Background: Extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL) with subsequent endoscopic extraction of residual fragments is an established treatment option in technically challenging situations for extraction of pancreatic and common bile duct calculi. Common bile duct (CBD) stone fragmentation rates of 71 to 95% have been reported with ESWL, leading to final duct clearance rates of 70 to 90%. While complete clearance of 76% and partial clearance of 17% of pancreatic duct calculi have been documented with ESWL, our study was undertaken to investigate the efficacy and safety of ESWL in clearance of difficult bile duct and large pancreatic duct calculi. Methods: The study population consisted of 61 patients who had either large or difficult bile duct calculi or large pancreatic duct calculi documented on ultrasonography abdomen or magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP). All patients were subjected to ESWL sessions with endoscopic nasobiliary drainage (ENBD) placement till stones got fragmented. Results: A total of 1,284 patients underwent ERCP for either choledocholithiasis or pancreatic duct calculi during the study period (June 2015 to December 2016). Out of them 61 patients had either large or difficult CBD calculi or large pancreatic duct calculi. Forty (65.57%) had choledocholithiasis (Group-A) and 21 (34.42%) had chronic calcific pancreatitis (Group-B). CBD was cleared in 37 patients (92.5%) and 3 patients (7.5%) underwent surgical intervention. Main pancreatic duct (MPD) was cleared in all patients with clearance rate of 100%. Conclusions: ESWL is an effective and safe method for clearance of difficult CBD and pancreatic duct calculi. Combined efficacy of duct clearance is >90%. Complications are minimal and managed conservatively.

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess clinical profile, complications, management, and outcome of postendoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) pancreatitis. Methods: In this prospective study, 1320 patients were followed for the development of post‑ERCP pancreatitis. Post‑ERCP complications and outcome were assessed. Results: The percentage of post‑ERCP pancreatitis in our patients was 5.3%. The mean age of patients with post‑ERCP pancreatitis was 49.9 years. About 15.7% of the patients who developed post‑ERCP pancreatitis experienced complications in the form of respiratory failure and sepsis. Conclusion: The incidence of post‑ERCP pancreatitis was 5.3%. The major complications after post‑ERCP pancreatitis were respiratory failure and sepsis. The outcome of post‑ERCP pancreatitis was good, as there was no mortality. However, majority of patients with severe post‑ERCP pancreatitis developed sepsis and received antibiotics.

Pathogenic micro-organisms from contaminated food are capable of causing serious infections and hence this issue has become a healthcare problem globally. The contamination may occur, either directly by an infected food handler, or indirectly through contact with a food contact surface that has been previously contaminated by an infected food handler. The current study was aimed to detect the pathogenic bacteria from food handlers in Ha’il region of Saudi Arabia. In this study, 152 bacterial isolates were collected from 50 food handlers. Identification of bacterial isolates was performed by conventional methods as well as by automated methods using Microscan, VITEK 2 and MALDI-TOF-MS. The results of conventional methods showed, 28.3% (43/152) bacterial isolates were Gram-positive and 71.7% (109/152) were Gram-negative. Among the Gram-positive isolates, E. faecalis, S. aureus and E. faecium were found to be 8.5% (13/152), 7.2% (11/152) and 4% (6/152) respectively. Among Gram-negative isolates, P. mirabilis, E. coli, E. cloacae and K. pneumoniae were found to be 12.5% (19/152), 11% (17/152), 11% (17/152) and 10.5% (16/152) respectively. The antibiotic susceptibility of the bacterial isolates in our study showed that 100% S. aureus were ciprofloxacin resistant. Additionally, 62% E. faecalis were resistant to gentamicin, 19% E. coli and 12% K. pneumoniae were found to be ESBL positive. The identification of bacterial isolates by 3 automated methods, showed that 93% (141/152), 94% (143/152) and 96% (146/152) bacterial isolates were correctly identified by Microscan, VITEK 2 and MALDI-TOF-MS respectively. Thus MALD-TOF-MS proves to be the economical, fast and accurate method for identification of food borne pathogens. Incorporating this technique into food microbiology would lead to more successful and rapid identification of pathogenic bacteria from food sources.

Diabetes mellitus is a global threat affecting millions of people of different age groups. In recent years, the development of naturally derived anti-diabetic agents has gained popularity. Okra is a common vegetable containing important bioactive components such as abscisic acid (ABA). ABA, a phytohormone, has been shown to elicit potent anti-diabetic effects in mouse models. Keeping its anti-diabetic potential in mind, in silico study was performed to explore its role in inhibiting proteins relevant to diabetes mellitus- 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11β-HSD1), aldose reductase, glucokinase, glutamine-fructose-6-phosphate amidotransferase (GFAT), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPAR-gamma), and Sirtuin family of NAD(+)-dependent protein deacetylases 6 (SIRT6). A comparative study of the ABA-protein docked complex with already known inhibitors of these proteins relevant to diabetes was compared to explore the inhibitory potential. Calculation of molecular binding energy (ΔG), inhibition constant (pKi), and prediction of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics properties were performed. The molecular docking investigation of ABA with 11-HSD1, GFAT, PPAR-gamma, and SIRT6 revealed considerably low binding energy (ΔG from −8.1 to −7.3 Kcal/mol) and predicted inhibition constant (pKi from 6.01 to 5.21 µM). The ADMET study revealed that ABA is a promising drug candidate without any hazardous effect following all current drug-likeness guidelines such as Lipinski, Ghose, Veber, Egan, and Muegge.

Abelmoschus esculentus (Okra) is an important vegetable crop, widely cultivated around the world due to its high nutritional significance along with several health benefits. Different parts of okra including its mucilage have been currently studied for its role in various therapeutic applications. Therefore, we aimed to develop and characterize the okra mucilage biopolymer (OMB) for its physicochemical properties as well as to evaluate its in vitro antidiabetic activity. The characterization of OMB using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) revealed that okra mucilage containing polysaccharides lies in the bandwidth of 3279 and 1030 cm−1, which constitutes the fingerprint region of the spectrum. In addition, physicochemical parameters such as percentage yield, percentage solubility, and swelling index were found to be 2.66%, 96.9%, and 5, respectively. A mineral analysis of newly developed biopolymers showed a substantial amount of calcium (412 mg/100 g), potassium (418 mg/100 g), phosphorus (60 mg/100 g), iron (47 mg/100 g), zinc (16 mg/100 g), and sodium (9 mg/100 g). The significant antidiabetic potential of OMB was demonstrated using α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzyme inhibitory assay. Further investigations are required to explore the newly developed biopolymer for its toxicity, efficacy, and its possible utilization in food, nutraceutical, as well as pharmaceutical industries.

Herbs and spices have been used since antiquity for their nutritional and health properties, as well as in traditional remedies for the prevention and treatment of many diseases. Therefore, this study aims to perform a chemical analysis of both essential oils (EOs) from the seeds of Carum carvi (C. carvi) and Coriandrum sativum (C. sativum) and evaluate their antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-acetylcholinesterase, and antidiabetic activities alone and in combination. Results showed that the EOs mainly constitute monoterpenes with γ-terpinene (31.03%), β-pinene (18.77%), p-cymene (17.16%), and carvone (12.20%) being the major components present in C. carvi EO and linalool (76.41%), γ-terpinene (5.35%), and α-pinene (4.44%) in C. sativum EO. In comparison to standards, statistical analysis revealed that C. carvi EO showed high and significantly different (p < 0.05) antioxidant activity than C. sativum EO, but lower than the mixture. Moreover, the mixture exhibited two-times greater ferric ion reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) (IC50 = 11.33 ± 1.53 mg/mL) and equipotent chelating power (IC50 = 31.33 ± 0.47 mg/mL) than the corresponding references, and also potent activity against 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) (IC50 = 19.00 ± 1.00 mg/mL), β-carotene (IC50 = 11.16 ± 0.84 mg/mL), and superoxide anion (IC50 = 10.33 ± 0.58 mg/mL) assays. Antimicrobial data revealed that single and mixture EOs were active against a panel of pathogenic microorganisms, and the mixture had the ability to kill more bacterial strains than each EO alone. Additionally, the anti-acetylcholinesterase and α-glucosidase inhibitory effect have been studied for the first time, highlighting the high inhibition effect of AChE by C. carvi (IC50 = 0.82 ± 0.05 mg/mL), and especially by C. sativum (IC50 = 0.68 ± 0.03 mg/mL), as well as the mixture (IC50 = 0.63 ± 0.02 mg/mL) compared to the reference drug, which are insignificantly different (p > 0.05). A high and equipotent antidiabetic activity was observed for the mixture (IC50 = 0.75 ± 0.15 mg/mL) when compared to the standard drug, acarbose, which is about nine times higher than each EO alone. Furthermore, pharmacokinetic analysis provides some useful insights into designing new drugs with favorable drug likeness and safety profiles based on a C. carvi and C. sativum EO mixture. In summary, the results of this study revealed that the combination of these EOs may be recommended for further food, therapeutic, and pharmaceutical applications, and can be utilized as medicine to inhibit several diseases.

Selaginella species are known to have antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic as well as anticancer effects. However, no study has examined the cytotoxic and anti-metastatic efficacy of Selaginella repanda (S. repanda) to date. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the potential anti-metastatic properties of ethanol crude extract of S. repanda in human non-small-cell lung (A-549) and colorectal cancer (HCT-116) cells with possible mechanisms. Effect of S. repanda crude extract on the growth, adhesion, migration and invasion of the A-549 and HCT-116 were investigated. We demonstrated that S. repanda crude extract inhibited cell growth of metastatic cells in a dose and time dependent manner. Incubation of A-549 and HCT-116 cells with 100–500 µg/mL of S. repanda crude extract significantly inhibited cell adhesion to gelatin coated surface. In the migration and invasion assay, S. repanda crude extract also significantly inhibited cellular migration and invasion in both A-549 and HCT-116 cells. Moreover, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, and real-time PCR (RT-PCR) analysis revealed that the activity and mRNA level of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and membrane type 1-matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP) were inhibited. While the activity of tissue inhibitor matrix metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP-1); an inhibitor of MMPs was stimulated by S. repanda crude extract in a concentration-dependent manner. Therefore, the present study not only indicated the inhibition of motility and invasion of malignant cells by S. repanda, but also revealed that such effects were likely associated with the decrease in MMP-2/-9 expression of both A-549 and HCT-116 cells. This further suggests that S. repanda could be used as a potential source of anti-metastasis agent in pharmaceutical development for cancer therapy.

Abstract The total variation (TV) denoising method is a PDE-based technique that preserves the edges well but has undesirable staircase effect in some cases, namely, the translation of smooth regions (ramps) into piecewise constant regions (stairs). This paper introduces a novel mesh-free approach using TV (ROF model) regularization and radial basis function (RBF) for the numerical approximation of TV-based model to remove the additive noise from the measurements. This approach is structured on local collocation and multiquadric radial basis function. These features enable this strategy not only to eliminate noise from images and preserve the edges but also has the advantage to minimize the staircase effect substantially from real and artificial images which cause the image to look blocky. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed mesh-free approach is robust and performs well in visual improvement as well as peak signal-to-noise ratio compared with the recent partial differential equation (PDE)-based traditional methods.

PURPOSE: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a frequently encountered clinical condition in clinical practice, particularly in obese and diabetic patients. Carotid atherosclerosis is regarded as surrogate marker of coronary atherosclerosis. We aimed to know whether evaluation for carotid atherosclerosis should be done in all patients of NAFLD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 200 NAFLD patients and 100 age- and sex-matched controls were enrolled into the study. Ultrasound was done to document fatty liver and carotid intimal thickness, and relation between these two was observed. RESULTS: Grade 1 fatty liver was seen in 36% patients while Grade 2 fatty liver was found in 39% and Grade 3 fatty liver in 25%. Patients with Grade 1 fatty liver had left intima-media thickness (IMT) in the range of 0.4–0.6 mm (mean IMT - 0.69 mm) and had right IMT in the range of 0.5–0.8 mm (mean IMT - 0.71 mm). In patients with Grade 2 fatty liver, left IMT was in the range of 0.6–1.0 mm (mean IMT - 0.80 mm) and right IMT in the range of 0.7–1.0 mm (mean IMT - 0.84 mm), while in patients with Grade 3 fatty liver, left IMT was in the range of 0.8–1.2 mm (mean IMT - 0.93 mm) and right IMT in the range of 0.9–1.4 mm (mean IMT - 0.99 mm). Among controls, the mean left IMT was 0.579 mm and mean right IMT was 0.575 mm. CONCLUSION: The level of carotid intimomedial thickness was more in cases than in controls and progressively increased with the grade of fatty liver which was statistically significant.

Asphodelus tenuifolius Cav. (A. tenuifolius) is a medicinal plant with a long history of traditional use to treat ailments. In this study, total phenolic and flavonoid content evaluation using LC-ESI/MS analysis and various biological activities (antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral and cytotoxicity) of organic extracts from the aerial parts of A. tenuifolius were analyzed. ADME tools were used to predict the potential of the identified compounds from the most potent extract as specific drugs. As shown, LC-ESI/MS results of chloroformic extract allowed the tentative identification of 12 compounds. Chloroformic extract was rich in polyphenols and flavonoids and exhibited the highest antioxidant activity given by DPPH (IC50 = 25 µg/mL) as compared to the BHT standard (11.5 µg/mL) and β-carotene bleaching assays (IC50 = 95.692 µg/mL). Antibacterial activity results showed that chloroformic extract has a highest activity against Gram-positive and -negative bacteria, especially against Salmonella Typhimurium DT104 (IZ = 19.3 mm, MIC = 18.75 mg/mL, MBC = 37.5 mg/mL). The MBC/MIC ratio was evaluated to interpret the activity that was bacteriostatic rather than bactericidal. Conversely, weaker antifungal activity was registered, and no antiviral activity was observed for all extracts against Herpes Simplex Virus type 2 and Coxsakievirus B-3 viruses. Cytotoxic activity on VERO cell line results revealed that butanol extract was not toxic, with CC50 value of 1430 µg/mL, while chloroformic extract showed moderate cytotoxicity. Additionally, in silico studies performed proved promising pharmacokinetic and drug-likeness properties of the main compounds from the chloroformic extract. Taken together, this work highlights the potent bioactivity and acceptable drug-likeness of this plant, which supports its further preclinical development.

Minimization functionals related to Euler's elastica energy has a broad range of applications in computer vision and image processing. This paper proposes a novel Euler's elastica and curvature-based variational model for image restoration corrupted with multiplicative noise. It combines Euler's elastica curvature with a Weberized total variation (TV) regularization and gets a novel Euler's elastica energy and TV-based minimization functional. The combined approach in this variational model can preserve edges while reducing the blocky effect in smooth regions. The implicit gradient descent scheme is applied to efficiently finding the minimizer of the proposed functional. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model in visual improvement, as well as an increase in the peak signal-to-noise ratio, compared to the PDE-based methods.

Introduction: Lower gastrointestinal bleeding (LGIB) is one of the leading causes for hospital admissions in gastroenterology wards all over the world. Patients usually present with hematochezia or bloody diarrhea. Colonoscopy is usually the initial diagnostic intervention followed by other more sophisticated tests. Bleeding may stop spontaneously, but evaluation is important because patients may harbor a sinister lesion like cancer. Aim of the Study: To determine the various etiologies, clinical presentations, a diagnostic test used and treatments received by LGIB patients admitted in our department. Materials and Methods: A total of 300 cases were studied which included 180 retrospective cases and 120 prospective cases. For retrospective cases, all the information was obtained by analyzing their case records while as prospective patients were managed as per a predefined protocol and details of various investigations and treatments documented. Results: Most commonly affected was elderly population (>60 years), constituting 40% (120/300) of studied population. Males constituted 59% (177/300) and females 41% (123/300). The most common clinical presentation of LGIB in our patients was hematochezia (63.6%, 191/300). Growth/polyp was the most common finding on colonoscopic examination seen in 29.3% (n = 88) patients. Inflammatory lesions were seen in 77 out of 239 (25.7%) patients. Wireless capsule endoscopy was positive in 13 out of 24 patients (54%). Computed tomography (CT) enterography showed positive results in 6 out of 25 (24%) cases. Red blood cell scan was done in seven patients while as CT angiography in in four patients. Therapeutic endoscopy was successful in 115 out of 239 patients with positive colonoscopy, polypectomy was the commonest procedure performed. Medical management was carried out in 34.6% patients. Surgical treatment was offered to 21% patients. Conclusion: Colonoscopy is the initial and most common investigation used in the evaluation of GI bleed. A polyp is the most common diagnosis while as polypectomy the most common therapeutic procedure.

Introduction: Limited data is available on prevalence of extrapancreatic infection, its influence on outcome of pancreatitis. Objectives: To assess the prevalence of extra-pancreatic infections in acute pancreatitis, identify risk factors for development of such infections and influence of extrapancreatic infections on outcome of pancreatitis. Methodology: Patients of acute pancreatitis admitted from June 2013 to July 2015 were recruited in the study. The patients who developed extra-pancreatic infection formed the study group while patients who didn’t develop infections were included in the control group. Both groups were followed and their final outcome was compared. Results: A total of 350 patients comprising of 158 cases and 192 controls were studied. Prevalence of extra pancreatic infections was found in 41.5% with Urinary tract infections (UTI)(14.4 followed by Biliary (10.0%), pulmonary (8.4%), Pulmonary and UTI (3.7%),Injection site infections (2.1%). Predisposing factors for development of extra pancreatic infections and subsequent outcome of acute pancreatitis was found to be influenced by duration of hospital stay (p

This paper proposes a new variational model for joint multiplicative denoising and deblurring. It combines a total generalized variation filter (which has been proved to be able to reduce the blocky-effects by being aware of high-order smoothness) and shearlet transform (that effectively preserves anisotropic image features such as sharp edges, curves and so on). The new model takes the advantage of both regularizers since it is able to minimize the staircase effects while preserving sharp edges, textures and other fine image details. The existence and uniqueness of a solution to the proposed variational model is also discussed. The resulting energy functional is then solved by using alternating direction method of multipliers. Numerical experiments showing that the proposed model achieves satisfactory restoration results, both visually and quantitatively in handling the blur (motion, Gaussian, disk, and Moffat) and multiplicative noise (Gaussian, Gamma, or Rayleigh) reduction. A comparison with other recent methods in this field is provided as well. The proposed model can also be applied for restoring both single and multi-channel images contaminated with multiplicative noise, and permit cross-channel blurs when the underlying image has more than one channel. Numerical tests on color images are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model.