This paper describes the effects of thermally oxidized tallow on the serum lipids profile and radical scavenging activity (RSA) of the lipids extracted from the different tissues of the rabbits. Tallow was thermally oxidized at 130degrees C for 9, 18, 27, 36 and 45 h respectively. Thermally oxidized tallow was fed to the local strain of Himalayan rabbits for one week. Results show that oxidation increases the formation of hydroperoxides and decrease the level of radical scavenging activity of the tallow. The rabbit serum lipids profile showed a dose dependent increase in triglyceride, total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol. However, no statistically significant increase was observed in the HDL-cholesterol with an increase of oxidation time. Serum glucose and rabbits body weight decrease significantly (p < 0.05) and was highly correlated with the serum lipids profile. The percent RSA of the lipids extracted from the liver, brain and muscles tissues showed a significant decrease with respect to 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 g/body weight as well as oxidation time. Data suggests that thermal oxidation and use of thermally oxidized beef tallow is harmful and therefore an alternative way of cooking should be used.
Body Weight ; Brain ; Cholesterol ; Cooking ; Fats ; Glucose ; Liver ; Muscles ; Rabbits ; Sprains and Strains

West Africa is facing the worst Ebola outbreak with 3 685 cases and 1 841 deaths reported from Liberia, Guinea, Senegal, Sierra Leona and Nigeria. There is no vaccine or direct treatment available to treat the patients with Ebola. World Health Organization (WHO) has approved the use of experimental drugs for Ebola patients. Health workers are at high risk. The governments and WHO are responsible to provide necessary protective equipment to health workers dealing with Ebola. There is a strong need to identify the invisible chains of virus transmission. World Bank pledges $200 million to fight against Ebola, while WHO said $430 million are needed to control the Ebola outbreak. Ebola can be contained by early detection and isolation of case, contact tracing, monitoring of contacts and adaptation of rigorous procedures for virus control.

More than 10 million people are suffering from hepatitis C virus (HCV) in Pakistan. The available treatment option is a combination of interferon and ribavirin. Treatment response is linked with several factors and also induces a number of side effects. We searched in Pubmed, Pak Medi Net and Google Scholar for the articles presenting the effect of interferon plus ribavirin therapy on HCV patients from Pakistan, their side effects and future prospects. The major prevalent HCV genotype in Pakistan is 3. Conventional interferon alpha plus ribavirin showed sustained virological response of 54%-64% while pegylated interferon alpha plus ribavirin showed sustained virological response of 58%-75%. IL-28B CC genotype is linked with better sustained virological response. Studies on patients with HCV genotype 3 infections showed no correlation between treatment response and interferon sensitivity determining region mutations. Interferon therapy is linked with a number of side effects like thyroid dysfuncton, haematological disorders, weight loss, gastrointestinal tract side effects and neuropsychiatric side effects. Unusual side effects of clubbing of fingers and seizures were also observed in a couple of patients. Interferon alpha plus ribavirin therapy showed better response rate in HCV genotype 3 patients from Pakistan with number of side effects. A couple of interferon free therapies are light of hope for the patients living with HCV.

Objective To predict immunogenic promiscuous T cell epitopes from the polyprotein of the Zika virus using a range of bioinformatics tools. To date, no epitope data are available for the Zika virus in the IEDB database. Methods We retrieved nearly 54 full length polyprotein sequences of the Zika virus from the NCBI database belonging to different outbreaks. A consensus sequence was then used to predict the promiscuous T cell epitopes that bind MHC 1 and MHC II alleles using PorPred1 and ProPred immunoinformatic algorithms respectively. The antigenicity predicted score was also calculated for each predicted epitope using the VaxiJen 2.0 tool. Results By using ProPred1, 23 antigenic epitopes for HLA class I and 48 antigenic epitopes for HLA class II were predicted from the consensus polyprotein sequence of Zika virus. The greatest number of MHC class I binding epitopes were projected within the NS5 (21%), followed by Envelope (17%). For MHC class II, greatest number of predicted epitopes were in NS5 (19%) followed by the Envelope, NS1 and NS2 (17% each). A variety of epitopes with good binding affinity, promiscuity and antigenicity were predicted for both the HLA classes. Conclusion The predicted conserved promiscuous T-cell epitopes examined in this study were reported for the first time and will contribute to the imminent design of Zika virus vaccine candidates, which will be able to induce a broad range of immune responses in a heterogeneous HLA population. However, our results can be verified and employed in future efficacious vaccine formulations only after successful experimental studies.

Aims: Thermophilic proteases are important industrial enzymes because they can be used at high temperatures in various bioprocessing schemes. The bacterial population of the Cholistan desert was explored for thermophilic proteases and their industrial applications. Methodology and results: Three bacterial isolates K1, K5 and K7 were found promising protease producers. These isolates were preliminary identified as Bacillus based on morphological characteristics and biochemical tests (positive for catalase, oxidase and citrate tests, and negative for indole and urease tests). The isolates K1, K5 and K7 were further identified as Priestia endophytica, Lysinibacillus cresolivorans and Bacillus subtilis, respectively by phylogenetic analysis. The isolates grew best at 50 °C and P. endophytica (K1), L. cresolivorans (K5) and B. subtilis (K7) produced larger zones of hydrolysis at 37 °C, 45 °C and 50 °C at pH 7, respectively. The optimum temperature where protease activity was maximum was 65 °C for P. endophytica and L. cresolivorans and 55 °C for B. subtilis, and the optimum pH was 9. Conclusion, significance and impact of study The proteases produced by these isolates were found active at high temperatures (45 °C to 85 °C) and high pH (9-12), which make them industrially important thermoalkaliphilic proteases. These proteases successfully de-haired cow’s skin and de-stained blood from cotton cloth pieces, which are rarely tested applications of these proteases.
Desert ; Proteases ; Purification ; Thermophilic bacteria