Government College Women University Faisalabad

The present study aimed to produce a monosex population of all male Nile tilapia (Oreochromis spp.) using 17α-methyl testosterone and common carp testes (as a source of natural androgen). Trial was conducted into two consecutive phases, the first was fry (4-5 days old)administration with negative control (without hormone) and positive control (with hormone) feed viz., MT1:60mg/kg, MT2:70mg/kg (17α-MT), carp testis CT1:70% and CT2:80% for 30 days to reverse the sex of male fish and the second phase was nursing the fingerlings for two months on control diet (32% Crude protein).Results revealed a significant growth rate (P<0.05) in the control group where final weight (4.8±0.34ab) and weight gained was recorded as 0.66±0.03ac. In proximate chemical composition of body meat, CT2 treatment showed maximum retention of crude protein, crude fat, and ash whereas dry matter showed maximum retention in MT2 and CT1 treatments. Morphological and histological examination revealed significant difference (p<0.05) in phenotypic males of Nile tilapia fed with the highest percent in MT-treated diet (MT2) of 95±0.58a while MT1, CT2 and CT1 had males of 85±6.0b, 70±5.0b and 65±6.5b, respectively. It was concluded that synthetic androgen (17αMT) was more effective for masculinization but natural androgen scan be an alternative method to produce male tilapia population in an environment-friendly manner as they are inexpensive, eco-friendly, and radially available. These results suggested that synthetic and natural androgen supplementation in the diet plays a significant role in improving growth performance and body composition.

Date fruit (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is a sweet fruit with high antioxidant activity due to the presence of phenolic compounds such as flavonoids. Similarly, wheat flour is a rich source of dietary fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals, and different phytochemicals, providing many health benefits. Cookies were prepared from wheat flour and date paste (as a sugar substitute) in different proportions (0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50%). Cookies were analyzed for proximate composition (moisture, crude protein, crude fiber, crude fat, mineral, and ash content), physical properties (diameter, texture, color, and spread ratio), antioxidant activity (DPPH), total flavo-noid content (TFC) and total phenolic content (TPC). The mean results from all the experiments indicated that the addition of date pulp in cookies had a highly significant (p < 0.05) effect on moisture (816%), protein (1415%), fiber (210%) and ash ABOUT THE AUTHORS Muhammad Afzaal is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Food Science, Government College University Faisalabad, Pakistan. He also serves as an in-charge for the Food Safety and Biotechnology Laboratory. With over 10 years of teaching and research experience, He has participated in numerous national and international research projects and conducted training for food handlers to build their capacity in food industries through collaborative projects. He has over 100 national and international research publications with high-impact factors, as well as 15 book chapters. He has received the Research Productivity Award 2022 and the Outstanding Researcher Award for securing a position among the top 10 researchers. His research interests include Food Science and Technology, Food Safety, Food Bioprocessing and waste valorisation, Food Microbiology and Biotechnology, functional foods, Probiotics, and prebiotics. Dr. Afzaal is optimistic about finding innovative and effective practices to develop functional foods, processing quality, and safety, with the betterment of human health in mind. Mohd Asif Shah is working as an Associate Professor at the Department of Economics, Kebridahar University, Somali, 250, Ethiopia. Moreover, he has published more than one hundred seventy-five research papers (SCI/SCIE/ SCOPUS/ WOS Indexed) with 410 plus citations and has published hundred plus patents. He has attended more than thirty-five Research Methodology Workshops and Faculty Development Programs, sponsored by the Government of India. Other than this, Dr. Asif has an excellent grasp of the subject material and has been a popular instructor. He is an experienced professional evaluator with key strengths in project management, proposal writing, monitoring and evaluation, and team leadership accomplishments in coordination. He had experience in strategic planning and performance measurement, including indicator selection, target setting, reporting database management, and developing M&E and performance monitoring plans. In addition, I have a good knowledge of major evaluation methodologies like quantitative and qualitative methods, mixed methods, impact evaluation, data collection methods, analysis performance, and report generation skills. content (15%) of cookies. The TPC, TFC and DPPH values in CFD 5 were 325 mg GAE/ 100 g, 164.2 QE/100 g and 22 mg GAE/100 g, respectively. Likewise, the physical properties of cookies produced showed that the addition of date pulp in cookies had a highly significant effect on the thickness (0.4-0.7 cm), diameter (2.20-3.37 cm), bulk density (4-6.42 g) and spread ratio (4.04-4.8) of cookies. Furthermore, the sensory evaluation of date pulp-fortified cookies presented higher scores and overall acceptability than the control treatment. Overall, incorporating date palm pulp in cookies contributed to higher antioxidant potential and improved the phy-sicochemical profile and aroma and texture properties; however, higher amounts of date palm pulp may have contributed to more color, affecting the sensory profile parameters.

Cadmium (Cd) is a non-essential highly toxic element that poses a potential health threat for plants, humans, and animals at considerably smaller concentrations. Plants can uptake Cd from soil and water due to its high mobility. In this review, the plant responses toward Cd phytotoxicity and the mechanism of Cd tolerance are summarized. Prevalent responses of Cd toxicity in plants are DNA damage, alteration in gene expression, cell division, and cell death which lead to metabolic, anatomic, and morphological modifications ranging from protein degradation to lower uptake of water and nutrients, chlorosis, inhibition of photosynthesis, and crop yield losses. Plants possess an array of mechanisms like cell wall binding, reduced transport, compartmentation in the vacuole, and chelation with metallothioneins, or phytochelatins in the detoxification and thus tolerance to Cd. Some plants develop structural and genetic adaption to achieve tolerance to Cd. Activation of plant antioxidative defence system and modulation of hormonal levels, alteration of secondary metabolites and higher mineral nutrition triggers alleviation of Cd stress. The current state of knowledge on the effect of Cd stress and possible management strategies to avert damage and develop Cd-resistant crops have also been discussed.

Effective and sustainable electrocatalytic reduction of nitrate is greatly desired to solve the problem of global water contamination and provide a promising way to generate fossil-free ammonia. In this regard, Pt-Fe3O4 nanoparticles are decorated on Ni foam (NF) using the hydrothermal method to achieve Pt-Fe3O4/NF nanocomposite electrocatalyst. Various characterization techniques investigate the structural and morphological properties of Pt-Fe3O4/NF nanocomposite. Benefiting from the small size of Pt and Fe nanoparticles, the Pt-Fe3O4/NF nanocomposite reveals excellent performance for electrocatalytic nitrate reduction with an NH4+ yield rate of 0.301 mmol h−1 cm−2 (5.418 mg h−1 mg−1cat.) and Faradaic efficiency of 80.7% at − 0.8 V vs. RHE. Pt-Fe3O4/NF nanocomposite exhibits unique metallic properties and abundant surface sites due to a synergistic effect of Pt-Fe nanostructure favorable for the electrochemical and hydrogenation reduction processes. Moreover, Pt-Fe3O4/NF nanocomposite reveals outstanding long-term stability and durability. Isotope labeling experiments are performed, and results demonstrate that ammonia originates from nitrate reduction. These favorable outcomes of Pt-Fe3O4/NF nanocomposite emphasize its potential for treating nitrate wastewater for ammonia recovery and prospects for its industrial applications. An efficient electrocatalyst was prepared by fabricating Pt-Fe3O4 on NF using hydrothermal method for electrochemical nitrate reduction to ammonia. Pt-Fe3O4/NF showed a remarkable NH4+ yield rate with high Faradaic efficiency at − 0.8 V vs. RHE. Also, the Pt-Fe3O4/NF nanocomposite exhibited outstanding stability and durability.

Hybrid Layered Double Hydroxides (HLDH) are promising adsorption materials for water treatment due to their excellent anion exchange capacities, abundance of active sites, and eco-friendliness. HLDH was synthesized utilizing the co-precipitation technique in this work to demonstrate its applicability for the removal of direct sky-blue dye via an adsorption pro-cedure. The effects of pH, dose, contact time, initial dye concentration, and temperature on the direct sky-blue dye adsorption efficiency were thoroughly investigated. The adsorbents were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spec-troscopy (FTIR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET). Under the best conditions, the maximum adsorption capacity has been achieved for Mg–Cr–Cl (42.95mg/g) >Zn–Al–CO3 (39.76mg/g) >Mg–Fe–Cl (38.08mg/g). The adsorption of dyes on Mg–Cr–Cl, Zn–Al–CO3, and Mg–Fe–Cl followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic model and exhibited Langmuir-type monolayer adsorption. The influence of temperature was studied to determine the thermodynamic parameters. The estimated results showed spontaneous and exothermic adsorption processes. Electrolyte enhances the adsorption capacity to some extent, while surfactants block the sites, thus reducing the adsorption capacity. The maximum desorption of dye was influenced by the sodium hydroxide solution. The research described here might be utilized to create novel adsorbents with improved adsorption capacities for preserving the aquatic environment.

Controlled intake of complex metal cations and anions in the human body and other biological systems is essential for the health and well-being of the environment. Anthracene and anthracene derivatives are the most widely used sensors for this purpose. Because of their convenience, better detection and results are preferred over colorimetric sensors, which offer better color detection by the naked eye. This review article will present different designs of chemosensors using fluorescence and UV–visible spectroscopy to determine different ions. Density functional theory and Austin model 1 are widely used for theoretical and computational studies of the energy levels of molecules. The Indo/Cis method is used to calculate the geometries of anthracene oligomers. A novel anthracene-based fluorescent probe containing the benzothiazole group BFA was highly sensitive and selective toward trivalent cations (Cr³⁺ and Fe³⁺). This sensor is not sensitive to other ions, including Aluminum trivalent ions. (N- ((anthracen-9-yl) methyl)-N-(pyridin-2-yl) pyridin-2-amine) has been designed to detect zinc and copper. Click chemistry using photodimerization can be used to form cellulose nanoparticles. TEMPO-mediated hypohalite oxidation converts hydroxyl groups to carboxylic groups. Amide linkage formation between amine and carboxylic acid was followed by the installation of an alkyne group. Copper (I)-catalyzed Azide‐Alkyne Cycloaddition (CuAAC) was used to produce highly photoresponsive and fluorescent cellulose nanoparticles by using coumarin, anthracene, and generated nanomaterials. The effects of naphthalene and phenanthrene on the spectra of anthracene were determined in a dilute solution. Temperature and solvent effects introduce different changes in fluorescence, emission, and absorption bands, leading to some changes in the configuration of anthracene. The solvent and temperature effects on variations of emission maxima of exciplex anthracene—diethylaniline (DEA) are also discussed. Graphical Abstract

Numerical methods in the area of nonlinear systems are extensively implemented for computing their approximate solutions because these systems are very difficult to tackle analytically. There are various numerical techniques available in the literature to find the solutions of nonlinear oscillators. Variational iteration method (VIM) is one of these approaches which is convenient to implement for these kinds of problems. In this work, our study aims to identify the numerical solution of nonlinear oscillator by making use of variational iteration method associated with Formable transformation. For the smooth utilization of this approach, we have to formulate the Lagrange multiplier through variational theory. Furthermore, we develop a new unified iterative scheme for the correction functional of VIM, considering the Formable transformation. Several new schemes of correction functional can be deduced from the newly proposed method considering the duality relation of Formable transform. In support of our primary finding, we discuss numerical example as application. A number of Physical applications of nonlinear oscillators are available in the field of vibrations and oscillations but in recent times nonlinear oscillators are used to describe complicated systems or to address mechanical, electrical, and other engineering phenomenon.

The global demand for crop production is rapidly growing due to the continued rise in world population. Crop productivity varies generally with soil nutrient profile and climate. The optimal use of fertilizers might help to attain higher crop yield in canola. To circumvent nutrient imbalance issues in soil, two separate field trials were conducted to determine (a) the best source of nitrogen (N) between ammonium sulfate (NH4)2SO4) and ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3), (b) significance of gibberellic acid (GA3) and potassium (K), in an attempt to enhance canola yield and yield attributes. Both experiments were carried out in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates. The nitrogen source in the form of NH4)2SO4 (0, 10, 20 and 30 kg/ha) and NH4NO3 (0, 50, 75 and 100 kg/ha) was applied in the rhizosphere after 3 and 7 weeks of sowing, referred to as experiment 1 (E1). In another separate experiment (E2), the canola crop was sprayed with four level of GA3 (0, 10, 15, 30 g/ha) and K (0, 2.5, 3.5, 6 g/ha) individually or in combination by using hydraulic spryer, 30 days after sowing (DAS). The data was collected at different growth stages of canola and analyzed statistically. The E1 trail showed that N fortification in the form of NH4NO3 (100 kg/ha) and (NH4)2SO4 (30 kg/ha) had a positive effect on the plant height, number of branches, fruiting zone, seed yield per plant, seed yield per hectare of canola except oil percentage. Moreover, canola plants (E2) also displayed a significant improvement on all studied features with high doses of GA3 (30 g/ha) and K (6 g/ha) individualy and in combined form. The correlation coefficient analysis of (NH4)2SO4 and NH4NO3 was highly significant to plant height, number of branches, fruiting zone, seed yield per plant, seed yield per hectare of canola In a nutshell, compared to both source of N, NH4NO3 was more efficient and readily available source of N. GA3 being a growth elicitor and potassium as a micronutrient serve as potential source to improve yield and to manage nutrient profile of canola.

Phytosterols are natural plant–based bioactive compound shaving various roles in human health that are widely used in the food, nutrition, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries. Phytosterol extraction and isolation techniques are difficult and time consuming. The growing demand for phytosterols encourages the development of easy-to-use technologies for extracting and isolating them from various plant sources. Free phytosterols extracted from plants are extensively used in fortified meals and nutritional supplements. Bioactivities of phytosterols have sparked interest in obtaining them from vegetable oils or industrial wastes. The growing demand for these bioactive compounds as a food supplement may spur additional advancements in extraction, isolation, and analytical processes that are more efficient, quick, and environmentally friendly. This review summarizes both conventional and non-conventional extraction techniques of phytosterols and their use in the food industry. Supercritical fluid extraction is the emerging technique to extract phytosterols due to its efficiency; however, further experiments are needed to create optimal working conditions and instruments. Graphical Abstract

Cerium (Ce³⁺) substitution in Cu–Cd spinel nanoferrites with the compositional formula Cu0.5Cd0.5Fe2–xCexO4 (x = 0.0, 0.0125, 0.0250, 0.0375, 0.050) was performed by the hydrothermal route. The structural, morphological, optical, electrical, and dielectric properties of Ce-substituted Cu–Cd ferrites were explored. X-ray diffraction revealed the single-phase cubic structure of all nanoferrites. The average crystallite size (72.42–11.61 nm) and lattice constant (8.419–8.449 Å) were observed for the synthesized ferrites. The surface shapes of particles were determined by scanning electron microscopy. The substitution was also verified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometry. The semiconducting behavior of ferrites was determined from their electrical properties, such as direct current (DC) electrical resistivity. The Curie temperature was observed at 523 K temperature for all nanoferrites. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss significantly indicated the reducing behavior with an increase in the cerium concentration. The sample Cu0.5Cd0.5Fe1.975Ce0.025O4 resulted in the lowest optical bandgap energy, DC resistivity, and dielectric losses. The nature of the electrical resistivity and dielectric constants indicate that the designed materials are highly appropriate for the design of microwave gadgets.

The current study was planned to compare the effects of foliar spray of glutathione and co-applied zinc (Zn) on growth, lipid peroxidation and photosynthetic pigments in relation to alterations in antioxidative potential and biochemicals under drought induced water stress (75% field capacity). Three levels of glutathione (1.5, 3.0, and 4.5 mM) were applied separately as well as in combination with 0.5% Zn as foliar spray. Water deficit imposed significant adverse effects on growth, biosynthesis of photosynthetic pigments in association with disturbed metabolic activities increased the lipid peroxidation regarding the contents of H 2 O 2 and malondialdehyde (MDA). Glutathione as alone or in combination with Zn alleviated the adverse impacts of water stress significantly of maize growth in association with positive boosting influences on biosynthe-sis of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants, photosynthetic pigments, accumulation of total soluble proteins (TSP), total soluble, reducing, and non-reducing sugars. Overall, the combined application of glutathione with Zn proved better as compared with alone. Moreover, 1.5 mM level of glutathione in combination with Zn was found the most efficient strategy to alleviate the adverse effects on plant in water deficit conditions and technology can be used to enhance the production in water stressed hit areas of the world.

In this investigation, we develop CdS-free non-toxic thin-film solar cell structure with antimony sulfide (Sb2S3) as an absorber material. Sb2S3 has found to be a promising candidate for production of renewable energy. Solar cells based on Sb2S3 have been attracted worldwide attraction due to their outstanding efficiency and low cost. To serve as an optimistic buffer layer, 3C-SiC (cubic silicon carbide) is used thanks to its suitable bandgap to replace toxic cadmium sulfide (CdS). SCAPS-1D (one-dimensional solar cell capacitance simulator) software has been employed to numerically investigate the performance of Sb2S3-based n-ZnO/n-3C-SiC/p-Sb2S3 heterostructure solar cells. The influence of absorber/buffer layer thickness, acceptor/donor densities, and defect density on device working have been investigated. Consequently, the role of defects in p-Sb2S3 along with the significance of n-3C-SiC/p-Sb2S3 interface defects has been studied to provide recommendations for achieving high efficiency. The proposed structure provides the enhanced efficiency of 17% under 1.5 G illumination spectrum. The parameters regarding solar cell performance such as Voc, Jsc, FF, QE and η have been studied graphically. This novel structure may have considerable influence on progress of improved photovoltaic devices in future.

A benzene ring and a lactone ring combine to form the chemical coumarin. Dye lasers have made significant advances in laser technology. The coumarin molecule itself is a non-fluorescent but it displays high fluorescence when electron-denoting substituents such as sulfonamide, benzopyrone, amine, benzothiazole, hydroxyl, methoxy are substituted at various positions. Substituted coumarin possesses the highest energy properties, photostability, and alteration in electron mobility, and therefore could be effectively used as dye lasers. These are considered some of the best fluorophores due to their outstanding photophysical and photochemical properties, which include high fluorescence quantum yields, great photostability, good functionality, and a wide spectrum range. Various inorganic materials are used in classic laser technology to generate the necessary emission. Inorganic lasers come in various types and can emit light in the electromagnetic spectrum’s ultraviolet, visible, or infrared parts. Inorganic lasers have certain limitations, which is why coumarin lasers are becoming increasingly popular due to their many advantages. Compared to inorganic lasers, dye lasers offer far better tunability and cover the entire visible and near-infrared range. They only emit at very few specific wavelengths and in extremely narrow bands. The property is therefore presented in this review. Graphical Abstract

Mucuna pruriens, also known as Velvet beans and Cowhage plant (English name), is a medicinal plant. It’s a twining, climbing, annual herbaceous leguminous plant originally from southern China and eastern India. Its seeds are a source of proteins, lipids, dietary fibres, carbohydrates (primary metabolites) and minerals as well as flavonoids, alkaloids, glycosides, steroids, saponins, terpenoids and tannins (secondary metabolites). (L-Dopa), a starting material of dopamine is produced in the leaves as well as in the roots of M. pruriens. Various Alkaloids like prurienidine, prurienine, prurieninine have also been reported in M. pruriens extracts. In-addition, Linoleic, palmitic, stearic, oleic, decanoic, lauric, behenic, arachidic, and vernolic acids were found in the seeds. The medicinal applications of Mucuna pruriens include antioxidant, antidiabetic, antidepressant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anti-obesity etc.

The Costus plant species are found in Africa, Asia, and America. Costus genus consists of 175 species. Costus is a medicinal plant and is commonly used to treat a variety of maladies, including diabetes and its accompanying disorders. The major secondary metabolites found in costus genus include alkaloids, glycosides, flavanoids, sterols, sesquiterpenes and phenols. Considerable levels of saponins from their seeds include dioscin, diosgenin and gracillin. The plant extracts demonstrate a number of medicinal applications that include antibacterial, antioxidant, antifungal, antidiuretic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anti-hyperglycemic, antipyretic, estrogenic, and anti-stress activities. In this work, the medicinal applications of the plant is described on the basis of literature.

Coleus is known as rapidly-growing plant with a trailing or spreading ability. It is widely present in various parts of world, such as, South Africa, Indian Subcontinent, China, Nepal, Sri Lanka etc. A number of phytochemicals are reported from Coleus extracts. The essential oils of the plant indicated the presence of α-pinene, beta-pinene, myrcene, limonene, γ-terpinene, γ-cymene, and beta-caryophylene etc. Among medicinal uses of coleus, its ability to treat congestive heart failure, lower blood pressure, promote weight loss, relieve irritable bowel syndrome, boost sexual libido and treat asthma etc. are worth mentioning. In this article, the phytochemical profile and medicinal applications of various species/extracts has been described.

Cinchona belongs to the Rubiaceae family and is a large shrub or small tree. It is located in many countries of Africa and Asia. Cinchona alkaloids have been reported as the most significant natural products from medicinal point of view. Among these alkaloids, Quinine is the most important one having antimalarial activity. Quinine acted as a lead drug for the discovery of a number of antimalarial drugs and bioactive molecules. The phytochemical studies revealed a variety of secondary metabolites, including polyphenols (phenolic acids, anthocyanins, and flavonoids), quinoline alkaloids, and indole alkaloids. In addition, various essential oils and minerals, such as triterpene, organic and phenolic acids (quinic acid, caffeic acid), flaveniods and phytosterols are present in the bark. In this article, a detailed description of phytochemicals, alkaloids and other chemical constituents present in cinchona is reported. Furthermore, the medicinal applications of the plant are also described.

Allium cepa L. (onion) is the oldest known vegetable used in cooking and fresh salads. Onion is placed in the monocot family of herbaceous plants with order Asparagales. It is mainly cultivated for edible bulb, with pungent aste and odour, its leaves above ground are also consumed. The inflorescence is compound umbel and root system is fibrous and shallow. It contains various organosulphur compounds, phenolics, saponins and polysaccharides with Quercetin as a major bioactive compound. It shows various pharmacological properties. Onion peel and bulb have therapeutic effects for treating oxidative stress, inflammation and immune dysregulation. The use of onion is inversely proportional to the glucose levels due to the presence of volatile oil allyl propyl disulfide, it lowers blood sugar level by enhancing the availability of free insulin. The use of novel methods in onion production have led to the major changes and opportunities for the onion production.