The widespread use of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) results in the unintentional release into the water body. Therefore, understanding of the potentially harmful impacts of AgNPs and Ag‐salt on aquatic animals is a need of time. This study was design to analyze the oxidative stress and histopathological damages in Cyprinus carpio. The synthesis of AgNPs from Halymenia porphyraeformis and by reduction of chemical was done. Nanoparticles were characterized with UV–Visible spectroscopy, SEM, XRD, and FTIR analysis. The comparative toxicological effect of chemically synthesized silver nanoparticles (Ch‐AgNPs), green silver nanoparticles (Gr‐AgNPs), and Ag‐salt on C. carpio was analyzed. For oxidative stress analysis, different tests Lipid peroxidation (LPO), catalase, glutathione reduction (GST), and glutathione S‐transferase (GST) were performed. The highest LPO 245.168 ± 0.034 was recorded in Ch‐AgNPs‐treated gills and the lowest 56.4532 ± 0.02 was found in Gr‐AgNPs‐treated liver. Maximum GSH 56.4065 ± 0.13 was observed in Gr‐AgNPs liver and minimum 40.781 ± 0.54 was recorded in Ag‐salt gills. The maximum quantity of catalase 68.0162 ± 0.09 was noted in the Ag‐salt‐treated liver and the minimum was calculated 17.3665 ± 0.01 in the liver of Ch‐AgNPs and highest values of GST 765.829 ± 0.11 were recorded in gills of Gr‐AgNPs and lowest 633.08 ± 0.26 in the liver of Ch‐AgNPs‐treated fish. In conclusion, maximum destruction was found in the gills and liver of the fish treated with chemical and green AgNPs followed by Ag‐salt as compared to control. The adverse effects of AgNPs and Ag‐salt were probably related to the oxidative stress in the fish that lead to histopathological damage of its vital organs.

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This study hypothesized that native people have unique traditional knowledge of plant resources in the rural areas and basic objective was the documentation of this valuable inheritance. Ethnobotanical data was collected from a remote rural area of Mandi Ahmad Abad, Union council number NA-144 Tehsil Depalpur District Okara, Pakistan. A total of 94 informants were randomly interviewed to collect data about local names of plant species, mode of administration, recipes and ailments, and ethnobotanical uses through semi-structured questionnaire, interviews and group discussion methods. The collected data was statistically analyzed by calculating use value (UV), frequency of citation (FC), relative frequency of citation (RFC), factor of informant consensus (FIC), family importance value, and relative importance (RI). This study is also compared with ethnobotanical literature by using Jaccard’s index (JI) for similarity analysis. A total of 126 species belonging to 52 families were documented. The Poaceae (13spp.), Leguminosae (12spp.), Solanaceae (10spp.) and Cucurbitaceae (10spp.) were dominant families. Highest used value (UV = 0.22) was obtained for Azadirachta indica. The minimum used value (UV) was showed by Alhagi maurorum, Eclipta prostrata, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Solanum virginianum and Trianthema potulacastrum (UV = 0.01). Hepatitis, stomach ulcer, bowel disorders, urinary problems, psoriasis, cancer, and leucoderma were the most treated ailments with ICF value of 1, followed by leucorrhea (ICF: 0.89), and vomiting (ICF: 0.86). The highest Jaccard’s similarity index value (JI = 0.329) showed that plant species reported in our study was more similar with Arid regions of Northern Punjab, Pakistan. This novel ethnobotanical report concluded that traditional knowledge about use of medicinal plants is decreasing due to allopathic medicines. Immediate steps should be taken for conservation and documentation of traditional knowledge of plants especially those having medicinal properties.

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The freshwater algae grow in a wide range of aquatic habitats across the globe and are rich in secondary metabolites. The present study was designed to conduct the phytochemical screening, proximate analysis, antioxidant and antibacterial activities of water net (Hydrodictyon reticulatum), an algal weed from Pakistan. The pure and dried algal mass was crushed into a fine powder and four solvent-based extracts were used for phytochemical screening. The results of preliminary qualitative screening indicated the presence of flavonoids, phenols, quinones, steroids, resins, anthraquinones, glycosides, lignin, proteins, saponins, tannins, reducing sugars, alkaloids, terpenoids, fats, and oils, whereas the quantification results revealed the high quantities of total ash, crude proteins, crude fiber, alkaloids, carotenoids, flavonoids, and chlorophyll a. The studied methanolic extracts with maximum concentration (150 μg/ml) showed significantly (p-value ≤ 0.05) higher antioxidant and antibacterial activities. The IC50 values of the crude methanolic extract of water net were found very close to streptomycin (positive control) against both bacterial pathogenic species of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus. This study concluded that the crude extracts of water net possessed antibacterial activity at par to streptomycin drug, and requires further detailed study for the separation, identification, and testing of the pure phytochemical compound to be used by the nutraceutical and or pharmaceutical industry.