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Hospital wastewaters are produced in large volumes in Pakistan (∼362–745 L/bed.day) and are discharged without proper treatment. They are widely used by farmers for crop irrigation and induce a phytotoxic effect on plant growth. The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of untreated and treated hospital wastewater on seed germination of a fodder crop Trifolium alexandrinum (Berseem clover) and a food crop Solanum lycopersicum (tomato). A bacterial consortium was formed with three bacterial strains, i.e., Alcaligenes faecalis and Bacillus paramycoides spp., which were individually proven efficient in previous studies. The concentrations of untreated and treated hospital wastewater (25, 50, 75 and 100%) were used to irrigate these crop seeds. To assess the efficiency of treatment, the germination percentage, delay index, germination index, stress tolerance indices, seedling vigour index and phytotoxicity index were calculated and were statistically proven significant. The seeds grown in treated wastewater concentrations showed negative values of phytotoxicity indices (tomato: −0.36, −0.47, −0.78 and −1.11; Berseem clover: −0.23) which indicate a stimulatory or non-toxic effect on seedling growth. Our work proposes that this bacterial consortium is efficient for hospital wastewater treatment before crop irrigation. HIGHLIGHTS Bacterial consortia proficiently used for hospital wastewater treatment.; Novel combination of Alcaligenes faecalis and Bacillus paramycoides spp. promotes the efficiency of hospital wastewater treatment.; Consortium proved to be capable of phytotoxicity reduction in two crop plants, Trifolium alexandrinum (Berseem clover) and Solanum lycopersicum (tomato), irrigated with treated hospital wastewater concentrations.

Farmers near towns and cities are using a wide range of highly polluted wastewaters for crop irrigation in Pakistan due to severe freshwater shortage. The present study aimed to promote indigenous bacterial strains isolated from domestic, hospital, textile, pharmaceutical and mixed wastewaters to remove contaminants and colour and render these wastewaters safer for irrigation. Thirty seven bacterial strains were isolated from five wastewater samples collected from different sites in Lahore, Pakistan. Under optimal growth conditions, three isolates (D6, D7 and P1) showed >93% decolourisation potential in the treatment of hospital wastewater. 16S rDNA sequencing identified two of these isolates (D6 and D7) as showing 100% and 99.86% homology to Bacillus paramycoides spp. - novel strains from B. cereus group. Isolate P1 showed 97.47% homology to Alcaligenes faecalis. GCMS analysis of the untreated hospital wastewater revealed the presence of pharmaceutic pollutants, i.e. Phenol (876 µg/L), Salicylic acid (48 µg/L), Caffeine (7 µg/L), Naproxen (23 µg/L), Octadecene (185 µg/L) and Diazepam (14 µg/L). The analysis of treated hospital wastewaters showed percentage degradation of pharmaceutic pollutants (100%-43%) and significant reduction in the BOD5 (91%-68%), COD (89%-52%) and heavy metals concentrations. These strains therefore can represent a low-cost and low-tech alternative to bioremediate complex matrices of hospital wastewater prior to crop irrigation to support the achievement of clean re-usable water in developing countries like Pakistan.

Farmers near towns and cities are using wide range of untreated wastewaters for crop irrigation in Pakistan due to severe freshwater shortage. The present study aimed to treat different types of wastewater including domestic, hospital, textile, pharmaceutical and mixed wastewaters using indigenous bacterial isolates to remove contaminants and render these wastewaters safer for irrigation. 37 bacterial strains were isolated from the 5 wastewater samples collected from different sites in Lahore, Pakistan. Under optimum growth conditions, the isolates D6, D7 and P1 showed maximum decolourisation potential of 96, 96, 93 %, respectively against hospital wastewater. GCMS analysis of the untreated hospital wastewater confirmed the presence of pharmaceutic pollutants i.e. Phenol, Salicylic acid, Caffeine, Naproxen, Octadecene and Diazepam. These organic compounds were biodegraded into derivate Ticlopidine in the case of isolate D6, derivatives Tetradecene and Griseofulvin in the case of isolate D7, and derivatives Lidocaine and Butalbital in the case of isolate P1. 16S rDNA sequencing was used to identify these isolates. Isolates D6 and D7 showed 100 and 99.86 % homology toBacillus paramycoides, a novel strain fromBacillus cereusgroup (Liu et al., 2017). Isolate P1 showed 97.47 % homology toAlcaligenes faecalis. These strains therefore could represent a low-cost and low-tech alternative to bioremediate complex wastewaters prior to irrigation to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal 6 - clean water and sanitation in Pakistan.

Herbal medicines are important in treatment of inflammation as they are safe and nontoxic. Tannins are important bioactive compounds used as anti-inflammatory agents and possess wound healing potential. Anti-inflammatory activity of tannins extracted from seedling leaf tissue and callus culture extracts of Achyranthes aspera L. and Ocimum basilicum L. were determined using Carrageenan induced paw edema model. Wound healing potential of tannins from callus cultures of leaf explants of both plants were evaluated using four models in rabbits i.e. excision, incision, dead space and burn wound. Group I acted as control, Group II treated with Povidone iodine as standard drug. Groups III and IV were experimental groups treated with creams which consisted of tannins of callus cultures of leaf; cream A (A. aspera) and cream O (O. basilicum). The results of anti-inflammatory activity of callus cultures of leaf explants were comparable with standard drug Indomethacin. Seedling leaf tissue and callus culture extracts of A. aspera and O. basilicum plant showed decrease in paw edema thickness, size and maximum percentage inhibition of paw edema respectively. Among four wound models burn wound showed the best wound contraction by Cream O. Hydroxyproline content and tensile strength of dead space and incision wounds exhibited good result also respectively. Cream O exhibited best results as compared to cream A. Histopathological examination showed that cream O showed faster rate of fibroblast and collagen formation as compared to cream A. The results showed that condensed tannins of callus cultures of leaf of A. aspera exhibited the best anti-inflammatory activity while tannins from callus cultures O. basilicum showed the best results for wound healing. These findings may enable use of both plants for formulation of new phytomedicine.

Antibiotics are commonly used as additional material in livestock and poultry feed. Nevertheless, the absorption of antibiotics is not complete in the gastrointestinal tract, and as a result, a large quantity of these agents are excreted from the body in urine and ultimately in fertilizer and manure. Manure is used as a foundation of plant nutrients and a means of organic material to expand soil as well, particularly in organic and sustainable agronomy. Different studies were conducted in greenhouses related to uptake of these antimicrobial agents from soil in which animal dung was used as fertilizer to find out whether or not these antibiotics are present in manure (dung). The purpose of this study was to analyze the major health issues that arise when vegetables grown in soils supplemented with antimicrobial agents and animal dung are used. There are chances of increased sensitivity and resistance against antimicrobials in humans by consumption of such contaminated food items. Antibiotics degradation may cause intense problems as dispersal of antibiotic resistance genes in surroundings. Further investigations are needed to detect how these agents and bacterial species that have developed resistance over time and enter the endo-symbiotic systems of plant. The role of direct exposure to such systems is still unclear.

Human population has been increasing rapidly, which ultimately increases human consumption, especially, animal protein requirements. Therefore, demands of animal protein consumption are increasing worldwide at an extraordinary rate. In order to meet the protein demand, intensive animal and aquaculture farming are considered. Like livestock farming (poultry, pigs, sheep, livestock, horses, rabbits, etc.), aquaculture farming (fish, crustaceans, mollusks, etc.) is also becoming the globe's emergent protein production sector. More than 580 aquaculture species are farmed worldwide. Current food animal and aquaculture farming are coupled with standard usage of antimicrobials. The antimicrobial drugs are major solutions for the management of contagious illnesses in food animals and aquaculture. In animal husbandry, antimicrobials are widely utilized for animal therapy, prophylaxis, or as growth promoters. Imprudent usage of these antimicrobials in food animals and aquaculture is a major contributing factor in the spread of antimicrobial resistance. The widespread use of veterinary medicines is considered to signify a frightening population health threat. It not only results in the disclosure and escalation of resistant microbes but also causes other individual, animal, and ecological deterioration. The contribution of resistant microbes from various sources seems to be the major base of resistance in the environment. However, strict policies and regulations for antimicrobial usage in food animals and aquaculture must be made and applied. It is important to prevent their negative effects in humans, food animals, aquaculture, and the environment.

Antibiotic resistance and its widespread implications present predicament to healthcare. Different investigations show that environment plays a significant role in emergence of resistance in bacteria and pathogens. Though a clearer concept of the ancestral phylogenetic and environmental route resulting to clinical emergence of resistance genes is still missing as is familiarity of ecological distribution obstructions. So there is need of improved representation of how resistance genes change over the period of time, are moved, relocated and distributed in ecological setting. Here, we tried to describe the environmental and gradually improved ecological factors that play significant role to evolve resistance and its dissemination. Although movement of resistance genes is thought to be a continuous process, the immense mass of such genetic measures does not direct the organization of new resistance factors in bacterial species, except there is a selection pressure for preserving them or their fitness costs are unimportant. To allow defensive methods to work it is significant to find that what circumstances and to what degree ecological selection occurs for development of resistance. Moreover, knowledge about distribution obstructions of resistance genes is not only way to assess threats to evolving health issues, but also to stop emergence of novel resistance genes and resistant pathogens.

Greater awareness towards the environmental issues such as global warming, emission of toxic pollutants and contaminants in the sea, air and on land, destruction of biodiversity and the needs to meet the sustainable development goals, has stimulated interest in the development of recyclable and eco-friendly single polymer composites. These are composite materials with mechanical properties comparable to the heterogeneous composites, fully recyclable and therefore providing economic and environmental advantages. An increasing trend is the use of natural fiber reinforced composites as low-cost composites with low density and high specific properties, non-abrasive and biodegradable. The major challenge in the fabrication of single polymer composites is the small melting temperature difference between the fiber and the matrix, and in the case of natural fibers, the incompatibility of the fibers with the matrix, and the poor resistance to moisture. This review article gives an overview of the developments in single polymer composites relating to the polymer sciences, materials selection, fabrication methods and the different types of recyclable and eco-friendly single polymer composites.

Transgenic plants containing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) genes are being cultivated worldwide to express toxic insecticidal proteins. However, the commercial utilisation of Bt crops greatly highlights biosafety issues worldwide. Therefore, assessing the risks caused by genetically modified crops prior to their commercial cultivation is a critical issue to be addressed. In agricultural biotechnology, the goal of safety assessment is not just to identify the safety of a genetically modified (GM) plant, rather to demonstrate its impact on the ecosystem. Various experimental studies have been made worldwide during the last 20 years to investigate the risks and fears associated with non-target organisms (NTOs). The NTOs include beneficial insects, natural pest controllers, rhizobacteria, growth promoting microbes, pollinators, soil dwellers, aquatic and terrestrial vertebrates, mammals and humans. To highlight all the possible risks associated with different GM events, information has been gathered from a total of 76 articles, regarding non-target plant and soil inhabiting organisms, and summarised in the form of the current review article. No significant harmful impact has been reported in any case study related to approved GM events, although critical risk assessments are still needed before commercialisation of these crops. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Bacteria live either independently as planktonic cells or in organized surface associated colonies called as biofilms. Biofilms play an important role in increased pathogenesis of bacteria and it is assumed that motility is one of the contributing factors towards biofilm initiation. This study was planned to identify the role of flagella in biofilm formation by constructing flagellated (wild type) and physically disrupted variants (non-motile). Total 10 clinical bacterial strains were isolated and characterized. Morphological and biochemical study identified these strains as Enterobacter spp., Pseudomonas spp., Yersinia spp., Escherichia spp., Salmonella spp., Proteus spp., Staphylococcus spp., Streptococcus spp., Lactobacillus spp. and Bacillus spp. Among all strains, two strains including Yersinia spp and Bacillus spp. showed higher antibiotic resistance, hence studied at molecular and physiological level. Biofilm formation capacity of strains was analyzed using three methods including Congo red assay, Test tube assay and Liquid-interface coverslip assay. Afterwards, flagellar disintegration was induced by blending and centrifugation for 5, 10 and 15 minutes. 16S rRNA sequencing showed two strains as Bacillus cereus and Yersinia enterocolitica. Both strains produced significant biofilm by all three above mentioned methods. A motility test of these blended variants showed partial/diminished motility with increased blending time. The significant loss in biofilm formation after 15 minutes blending confirmed the important flagellar contribution to the initiation of biofilm formation. This biofilm defect observed in flagella paralysed/minus variants presumably may be due to defects in attachments to surface at early stages. This study indicated that flagellar motility is crucial initially for surface attachment and subsequently for biofilm formation.

Extensive use of antibiotics results in the inhibition of susceptible organisms while selecting for the resistant ones; agricultural use is contributing substantially to the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance in the environment. Environmental contamination with antibiotic residues could also be an important factor in the selection and dissemination of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The persistence of antibiotics in the environment depends on factors like soil type and climate but also on physical-chemical characteristics of the different types of antibiotics. Monitoring studies showed that substantial concentrations of antibiotic residues can occur in soil and water, in particular at locations close to intensive animal farming. Little is known about the concentrations that will exert selective pressure on environmental microorganisms and promote persistence or even enrichment of the environmental resistance gene pool. Traditionally, it was assumed that resistance is only induced at concentrations above the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). However, recently, evidence is accumulating that selective environments may occur at concentrations down to several hundredfolds below the MIC. However, for most of the antibiotics and environmental conditions, the minimal threshold concentrations that will induce or support propagation of antibiotic resistance in environmental microbes are still undefined. Therefore, more research is needed into the relationship between the concentrations of antibiotic residues in the environment and the prevalence and persistency of environmental antibiotic resistance. Finally, transmission of antibiotic compounds between reservoirs should be studied to identify the main reservoirs of interest and define intervening measure.

Transgenic plants containing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) genes are being cultivated worldwide to express toxic insecticidal proteins. However, the commercial utilisation of Bt crops greatly highlights biosafety issues worldwide. Therefore, assessing the risks caused by genetically modified crops prior to their commercial cultivation is a critical issue to be addressed. In agricultural biotechnology, the goal of safety assessment is not just to identify the safety of a genetically modified (GM) plant, rather to demonstrate its impact on the ecosystem. Various experimental studies have been made worldwide during the last 20 years to investigate the risks and fears associated with non-target organisms (NTOs). The NTOs include beneficial insects, natural pest controllers, rhizobacteria, growth promoting microbes, pollinators, soil dwellers, aquatic and terrestrial vertebrates, mammals and humans. To highlight all the possible risks associated with different GM events, information has been gathered from a total of 76 articles, regarding non-target plant and soil inhabiting organisms, and summarised in the form of the current review article. No significant harmful impact has been reported in any case study related to approved GM events, although critical risk assessments are still needed before commercialisation of these crops. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Synthetic cry1Ab gene was developed with optimised codons and expressed in the tobacco plastome. Characterisation of the synthetic cry1Ab gene was carried out on homoplasmic transgenic shoots. To purify the homoplasmic shoots, the proliferating heteroplasmic shoots were subjected to various rounds of selection and regeneration on spectinomycin-containing regeneration medium of plant medium. The PCR-screened homoplasmic shoots were placed on MS medium for root induction and proliferation. The functionally expressed CRY protein was detected using ImmunoStrips, and the amount of toxin protein in transplastomic tobacco plants was measured by DAS-ELISA, specific for cry1Ab gene product. The accumulation of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxin protein in transgenic chloroplasts confirmed that the synthetic gene could be expressed in other crop plants using constitutive and tissue specific regulatory sequences.