Over the past few years, considerable attention has been focused on carrageenan based bionanocomposites due to their multifaceted properties like biodegradability, biocompatibility, and nontoxicity. Moreover, these composites can be tailored according to the desired purpose by using different nanofillers. The role of ferromagnetic nanoparticles in drug delivery is also discussed here in detail. Moreover, this article also presents a short review of recent research on the different types of the carrageenan based bionanocomposites and applications.

Nitroaromatic explosives are a class of compounds that are responsible for various health hazards and terrorist outrages. Among these, sensitive detection of 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP) explosive has always been highly desirable considering public health and national security. In this regard, three fluorene-based conjugated polymers (CP 1, CP 2, and CP 3) were synthesized through the Suzuki−Miyaura coupling reaction and were found to be highly sensitive for fluorescence detection of TNP with detection limits of 3.2, 5.7, and 6.1 pM, respectively. Excellent selectivity of CPs toward TNP was attributed to their unique π-π interactions based on fluorescence studies and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The high sensitivity of CPs to TNP was attributed to the static quenching mechanism based on the photoinduced electron transfer process and was evaluated by fluorescence, UV−visible absorption, dynamic light scattering, Job's plots, the Benesi−Hildebrand plots, and DFT calculations. CPs were also used for colorimetric and real-water sample analysis for the detection of TNP explosive. Meanwhile, sensor-coated test strips were fabricated for on-site detection of TNP, which makes them convenient solid-supported sensors.

Background Taxus wallichiana is an evergreen tree species found in the Himalayan region of Pakistan. The tree possesses important secondary metabolites such as Taxol that has been implicated in treating breast, ovarian and colon cancer. Therefore keeping in view the importance of this plant species, silver nanoparticles were synthesized using Taxus wallichiana aqueous leaf extract and evaluated for their anti-bacterial and anti-cancer properties. Methods Silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) were characterized for their optical, morphological and structural features using techniques such as UV-visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and were evaluated for their antibacterial activity and anti-cancer activity using U251 cell line. Results The study showed that the UV-absorbance peak of Ag2O NPs at 450 nm shifted to 410 nm, affirming the formation of leaf extract Ag NPs. Similarly structural studies revealed the crystalline nature of the cubic structure of the Ag crystal with an average crystallite size of 29 nm. FTIR analysis exhibited the existence of different functional elements including O-H and N-H and phenolic groups. Non-spherical glomerular shaped Taxus wallichiana Ag NPs were observed from SEM studies and EDX profile showed Ag as the main element along with constituent of biological origin. The synthesized Ag NPs showed significant antibacterial activity against Salmonella typhi, and Staphylococcus aureus. The cytotoxic activity of Ag NPs on U251 brain cancer cells showed a synergistic effect with 10 ug/mL concentration after 48 and 72 h incubation based on cell viability assay indicating promising glioblastoma drug potential.

In herbalism, botanical supplements are commonly believed to be safe remedies, however, botanical supplements and dietary ingredients interact with transport and metabolic processes, affecting drug disposition. Although a large number of studies have described that botanical supplements interfere with drug metabolism, the mode of their interaction with drug transport processes is not well described. Such interactions may result in serious undesired effects and changed drug efficacy, therefore, some studies on interaction between botanical supplement ingredients and drug transporters such as P-gp and OATPs are described here, suggesting that the interaction between botanical supplements and the drug transporters is clinically significant.

This study was designed to assess the health impacts related to noninvasive carbon monoxide saturation (SPCO %) in the blood of respondents. For this purpose, 150 respondents from the labour community of Hattar Industrial Estate (testing site) and 100 respondents from Sultan Pur (control site) were selected. To achieve this objective, a Rad-57 Pulse CO-Oximeter was used for noninvasive carboxyhemoglobin measurement. Carbon monoxide saturation (SPCO%) in the blood of respondents from Hattar Industrial Estate, Haripur, Pakistan has been compared with the WHO’s standard concentration of SPCO% (5%). High saturation of carbon monoxide (carboxyhemoglobin SPCO) in the blood of respondents and disease association have been interpreted in graphs formed on the basis of statistical analysis in terms of frequencies, using statistical software (SPSS), based on demographic entries as well as exposure time of the employees in the processing, food and steel industries. The highest SPCO% measured was 17% in the steel industry and the lowest measured level was 4.2%. Frequencies and percentages of respiratory inflammation, dermatosis, asthma, breathing issues and eye inflammation among respondents were 29%, 35%, 16.7%, 23.5% and 9%, respectively. Prevalence of disease in three different groups of respondents (from three testing sites) was also analyzed on the basis of exposure time (hrs.) to carbon monoxide emissions. Prevalence of disease among the exposed and non-exposed groups was analyzed and showed comparatively lower disease prevalence in the group of respondents who were not exposed to high carbon monoxide emissions. The data of the current study was also subjected to statistical modelling to find the health risk of air pollutants (carbon monoxide) on population health by calculating attributable risk (AR) or attributable proportion (AP). Results indicated that attributable risk of carbon monoxide exposure for respiratory diseases, dermatosis and eye inflammation were 61.12%, 65.77% and 24.95% respectively. Findings of statistical modelling indicated that dermatosis and respiratory diseases were more prevalent in laborers of industrial units than those at control site.

Urea is a crucial nutrient for plant growth, but because of its substantial losses due to nitrification, ammonification, and subsurface leaching, there is currently a push to reduce these losses. Urea is frequently uploaded and trapped in gelatin. In this research, the improvement of urea uploading and encapsulation efficiency is investigated using wood ash made from plant biomass (Pinus roxburghii). The 8 g w/v of gelatin was mixed with various concentrations of wood ash (from 4 to 16 g w/w), urea (from 4 to 24 g w/w), and glutaraldehyde (from 0.5 to 3 mL g−1) to prepare various formulations of slow-release fertilizer (SRF). According to this study, adding wood ash to gelatin increases its ability to upload and encapsulate urea. The urea on its surface and the metal in wood ash both considerably contribute to the compositional alterations in gelatin in SRFs, which were demonstrated by IR spectroscopy. Visualization from photographs revealed that the homogenous dispersion of wood ash improved structural compatibility. The water content of the SRF formulation showed that wood ash can reduce water absorption by changing how hydrophobic gelatin is. Wood ash improves the gelatin’s ability to reduce the rapid release of urea over time, according to testing of cumulative urea release from SRF. The optimal combinations for achieving the maximum 53.43% of urea uploading were 2.44 g of urea, 2.47 mL of glutaraldehyde, and 1.50 g of wood ash, according to the Box–Behnken model. The gelatin-based SRF that had been amended with wood ash was applied to the Mentha spicata plant, and the plant’s healthy development and higher chlorophyll content revealed its agronomic potential. This study has a significant contribution to the development of an affordable and more effective wood ash-modified gelatin-based SRF.

Rational modification of molecular structure by incorporating electron donating groups can play a potential role for designing aggregation induced emission (AIE) active fluorescent probes.

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