Antimicrobial Evaluation and Characterization of Copper Nanoparticles Synthesized by the Simple Chemical Method

Arshad Hussain Wazir,Qudratullah Khan,Nisar Ahmad,Faizan Ullah,Imdadullah Quereshi,Hazrat Ali 한국재료학회 2022 한국재료학회지 Vol.32 No.2

Copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) are considered of great importance due to their high catalytic and antimicrobial activities. This study focuses on the preparation and characterization of CuNPs, and on their antibacterial/antifungal activities. A copper salt (copper sulfate pentahydrate) as precursor, starch as stabilizing agent, and ascorbic acid as reducing agent were used to fabricate CuNPs. The resulting product was characterized via different techniques such as X-ray diffractrometry (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to confirm its characteristic properties. Employing the Scherrer formula, the mean crystallite sizes of copper (Cu) and cuprous oxide (Cu2O) nanocrystals were found to be 29.21 and 25.33 nm, respectively, as measured from the main X-ray diffraction peaks. The functional groups present in the resulting CuNPs were confirmed by FTIR. In addition, the engineered CuNPs showed antibacterial and antifungal activity against tested pathogenic bacterial and fungal strains.

Synthesis and Characterization of Aqueous Curcumin Polyurethane Dispersions Using Isophorone Diisocyanate: Efficiency Evaluation as Textile Finishes

Noureen Arshad,Khalid Mahmood Zia,Muhammad Tahir Hussain,Muhammad Mubeen Arshad,Mohammad Zuber 한국섬유공학회 2022 Fibers and polymers Vol.23 No.7

This research is aimed at synthesizing some novel bio-based ecofriendly finishes for textile applications. A seriesof curcumin based aqueous polyurethane (PU) dispersions (CUR-WDPU-IPDI) was prepared using polyethylene glycol(PEG), isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) and dimethylolpropanoic acid (DMPA) via conventional pre-polymer process. Thedual functionality is incorporated by hindering the polyurethane pre-polymer with isocyanate (-NCO) groups and curcuminwas utilized to extend the polymeric chain to achieve the CUR-WDPU-IPDI dispersion. Structural characteristics of thesynthesized polymer were investigated by Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectrophotometer. The performance of PUdispersions for increasing the color fastness properties (washing, rubbing and perspiration fastness) of plain weave fabrics(poly/cotton, dyed and printed) was studied. Furthermore, the mechanical strength (pilling, tearing and tensile strength) of thesaid fabric (dyed, printed and white) was also evaluated. Results clearly exhibited that the color fastness properties andmechanical strength of the dyed, printed and white fabrics were improved significantly after treating with the PU finishes. These synthesized curcumin-based water dispersible polyurethanes (CUR-WDPU-IPDI) finishing agents are greenerproducts which are particularly derivatized from bio-resources. Owing to their biocompatibility, copious availability, lessnoxious, greener methodology and ecofriendly nature, these can be utilized as attractive ecofriendly alternatives for textileapplications.

Determination of Bergenin in Different Parts of Bergenia ciliata using a Validated RP-HPLC Method

Ejaz Ali,Khalid Hussain,Nadeem Irfan Bukhari,Najma Arshad,Amjad Hussain,Nasir Abbas,Sohail Arshad,Sajida Parveen,Naureen Shehzadi,Shaista Qamar,Abida Qamar 한국생약학회 2021 Natural Product Sciences Vol.27 No.1

Bergenia ciliata (Family: Saxifragaceae) is a folklore remedy for the treatment of various ailments in Asian countries. Bergenin (1) has been isolated as an active constituent in many studies, however, the amount of bergenin has not been determined in all parts of the plant. A simple RP-HPLC method was developed to determine the amount of bergenin in methanol extracts of leaves, rhizomes and roots of the plant. Separation was achieved on an Agilent Eclipse XDB-C18 column maintained at 25 oC using isocratic solvent system (water: methanol: acetic acid; 62.5:37:0.5 v/v/v) adjusted at pH 2 0 at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. and detected at 275 nm. Correlation coefficient (0.9952) showed linearity of concentration (5-200 μg/mL) and response. The values of LOD (0.00947 μg/mL) and LOQ (0.02869 μg/mL) indicated that method was sensitive. The recovery of bergenin was 99.99-100% indicating accuracy of method. The methanol extract of rhizomes contained higher amount of bergenin (19.4%) than roots (9.2%) and leaves (6.9%). It is concluded that methanol extract of rhizomes is a better source of bergenin than other parts of the plant. The findings are useful for standardization of bergenin containing extracts and herbal preparations.

Characterization of Poly(methyl methacrylate)-tin (IV) Chloride Blend by TG-DTG-DTA, IR and Pyrolysis-GC-MS Techniques

Arshad, Muhammad,Masud, Khalid,Arif, Muhammad,Rehman, Saeed-Ur,Saeed, Aamer,Zaidi, Jamshed Hussain Korean Chemical Society 2011 Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society Vol.32 No.9

Thermal behavior of poly (methyl methacrylate) was analyzed in the presence of tin (IV) chloride. Five different proportions - polymer to additive - were selected for casting films from common solvent. TG, DTG and DTA were employed to monitor thermal degradation of the systems. IR and py-GC-MS helped identify the decomposition products. The blends start degrading at a temperature lower than that of the neat polymer and higher than that of the pure additive. Complex formation between tin of additive and carbonyl oxygen (pendent groups of MMA units) was noticed in the films soon after the mixing of the components in the blends. The samples were also heated at three different temperatures to determine the composition of residues left after the expulsion of volatiles. The polymer, blends and additive exhibited a one step, two-step and three-step degradation, respectively. $T_0$ is highest for the polymer, lowest for the additive and is either $60^{\circ}C$ or $70^{\circ}C$ for the blends. The amount of residue increases down the series [moving from blend-1 (minimum additive concentration) to blend-5 (maximum additive concentration)]. For blend-1, it is 7% of the original mass whereas it is 16% for blend-5. $T_{max}$ also goes up as the concentration of additive in the blends is elevated. The complexation appears to be the cause of observed stabilization. Some new products of degradation were noted apart from those reported earlier. These included methanol, isobutyric acid, acid chloride, etc. Molecular-level mixing of the constituents and "positioning effect" of the additive may have brought about the formation of new compounds. Routes are proposed for the appearance of these substances. Horizontal burning tests were also conducted on polymer and blends and the results are discussed. Activation energies and reaction orders were calculated. Activation energy is highest for the polymer, i.e., 138.9 Kcal/mol while the range for blends is from 51 to 39 Kcal/mol. Stability zones are highlighted for the blends. The interaction between the blended parts seems to be chemical in nature.

Drop Weight Impact and Tension-Tension Loading Fatigue Behaviour of Jute/Carbon Fibers Reinforced Epoxy-based Hybrid Composites

Zamurrad Arshad,Muhammad Ali Nasir,Yasir Baig,Muhammad Zeeshan,Rizwan Ahmed Malik,Khubab Shaker,Azhar Hussain,M. Latif,Maryam Sattar,Hussein Alrobei 한국고분자학회 2020 폴리머 Vol.44 No.5

This work focuses on the synthesis of a novel hybrid composite, fabricated by utilizing jute and carbon fibers reinforced epoxy composites through hand layup technique to replace pure carbon-epoxy fiber composites. The mechanical properties were evaluated by drop weight impact and tension-tension fatigue tests. The tension-tension fatigue test was conducted to monitor the dynamic stiffness and fatigue life degradation of hybrid composite materials by varying the layers of jute fiber. The maximum peak load during the impact test was observed as 1081.7 N in case of carbon/jute/ carbon/jute/carbon (CJCJC) stacking sequence composite materials. Finally, the surface morphology of hybrid composite materials was studied with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) after mechanical tests to check the delamination, fiber pull-out and matrix cracks. It can be concluded from the obtained mechanical results that the newly developed composite with 15% jute/carbon-epoxy hybrid materials has the potential to swap carbon-epoxy composite without much loss of fatigue life along with relatively enhanced ductility as well as impact strength.

Oncogenic Activation of Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor-3 and RAS Genes as Non-Overlapping Mutual Exclusive Events in Urinary Bladder Cancer

Pandith, Arshad A,Hussain, Aashaq,Khan, Mosin S,Shah, Zafar A,Wani, M Saleem,Siddiqi, Mushtaq A Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2016 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.17 No.6

Background: Urinary bladder cancer is a common malignancy in the West and ranks as the $7^{th}$ most common cancer in our region of Kashmir, India. FGFR3 mutations are frequent in superficial urothelial carcinoma (UC) differing from the RAS gene mutational pattern. The aim of this study was to analyze the frequency and association of FGFR3 and RAS gene mutations in UC cases. Materials and Methods: Paired tumor and adjacent normal tissue specimens of 65 consecutive UC patients were examined. DNA preparations were evaluated for the occurrence of FGFR3 and RAS gene mutations by PCR-SCCP and DNA sequencing. Results: Somatic point mutations of FGFR3 were identified in 32.3% (21 of 65). The pattern and distribution were significantly associated with low grade/stage (p<0.05). The overall mutations in exon 1 and 2 in all the forms of RAS genes aggregated to 21.5% and showed no association with any clinic-pathological parameters. In total, 53.8% (35 of 65) of the tumors studied had mutations in either a RAS or FGFR3 gene, but these were totally mutually exclusive in and none of the samples showed both the mutational events in mutually exclusive RAS and FGFR3. Conclusions: We conclude that RAS and FGFR3 mutations in UC are mutually exclusive and non-overlapping events which reflect activation of oncogenic pathways through different elements.

GSTP1 Gene Ile105Val Polymorphism Causes an Elevated Risk for Bladder Carcinogenesis in Smokers

Pandith, Arshad Ahmad,Lateef, Adil,Shahnawaz, Sheikh,Hussain, Aashaq,Malla, Tahir Mohiuddin,Azad, Niyaz,Shehjar, Fahim,Salim, Mosin,Shah, Zafar Amin Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.11

Background: The glutathione S transferase (GST) family of enzymes plays a vital role in the phase II biotransformation of environmental carcinogens, pollutants, drugs and other xenobiotics. GSTs are polymorphic and polymorphisms in GST genes have been associated with cancer susceptibility and prognosis. GSTP1 is associated with risk of various cancers including bladder cancer. A case control study was conducted to determine the genotype distribution of GSTP1 A>G SNP, to elucidate the possible role of this SNP as a risk factor in urinary bladder cancer (UBC) development and to examine its correlation with clinico-pathologic variables inUBC cases. Materials and Methods: Using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) approach, we tested the genotype distribution of 180 bladder cancer patients in comparison with 210 cancer-free controls from the same geographical region with matched frequency in age and gender. Results: We did not observe significant genotype differences between the control and bladder cancer patients overall with an odds ratio (OR)=1.23 (p>0.05). The rare allele (AG+GG) was found to be present more in cases (28.3%) than in controls (24%), though the association was not significant (p<0.05). However, a significant risk of more than 2-fold was found for the variant allele (AG+GG) with smokers in cases as compared to controls (p>0.05). Conclusions: Thus, it is evident from our study that GSTP1 SNP is not implicated overall in bladder cancer, but that the rare, valine-related allele is connected with higher susceptibility to bladder cancer in smokers and also males.

Induced Magnetic Properties of BN Nanotubes by the Adsorption of First-row Adatoms

Fayyaz Hussain,Muhammad Imran,Nimra Fatima,Anwar Manzoor Rana,R. M. Arif Khalil,Arshad Javid,Muhammad Ismail 한국자기학회 2018 Journal of Magnetics Vol.23 No.1

This work is performed to study the effect of adsorption of various first row adatoms (such as Be, C, F, Li and O) on (8, 0) zigzag boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) on their structural, electronic and magnetic properties. These calculations are based on density functional theory using pseudopotentials technique. For this purpose, five different sites namely axial, hexagonal, zigzag, on top of N and/or B (which are the most preferred available sites for adatoms on (8, 0) BNNTs) were utilized. The energetically stable sites for each of the first-row adatoms are found to be different because of their different electronic configurations caused by the charge transfer/ rearrangements between s-p or p-p orbitals. The binding energies of all adatoms on (8, 0) BNNTs have been calculated through structural optimization process after adsorbing these five adatoms at the above said sites on the BNNTs and are found to be in the energy range from -2.04 to 2.96 eV. It is further elaborated that F, Be and C adatoms on (8, 0) BNNTs show strong induced magnetization at specific localized sites depending upon the nature of adatom, whereas weak magnetization is noticed for Li and O adatoms on the BNNTs. Such localized induced magnetization could be associated with the hybridization of s-p or p-p orbitals of adatoms and B and/or N atoms.

Characterization of Poly(methyl methacrylate)-tin (IV) Chloride Blend by TG-DTG-DTA, IR and Pyrolysis-GC-MS Techniques

Muhammad Arshad,Khalid Masud,Muhammad Arif,Saeed ur Rehman,Aamer Saeed,Jamshed Hussain Zaidi 대한화학회 2011 Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society Vol.32 No.9

Thermal behavior of poly (methyl methacrylate) was analyzed in the presence of tin (IV) chloride. Five different proportions − polymer to additive − were selected for casting films from common solvent. TG, DTG and DTA were employed to monitor thermal degradation of the systems. IR and py-GC-MS helped identify the decomposition products. The blends start degrading at a temperature lower than that of the neat polymer and higher than that of the pure additive. Complex formation between tin of additive and carbonyl oxygen (pendent groups of MMA units) was noticed in the films soon after the mixing of the components in the blends. The samples were also heated at three different temperatures to determine the composition of residues left after the expulsion of volatiles. The polymer, blends and additive exhibited a one step, two-step and three-step degradation, respectively. T_0 is highest for the polymer, lowest for the additive and is either 60 ^oC or 70 ^oC for the blends. The amount of residue increases down the series [moving from blend-1 (minimum additive concentration) to blend-5 (maximum additive concentration)]. For blend-1, it is 7% of the original mass whereas it is 16% for blend-5. Tmax also goes up as the concentration of additive in the blends is elevated. The complexation appears to be the cause of observed stabilization. Some new products of degradation were noted apart from those reported earlier. These included methanol, isobutyric acid, acid chloride, etc. Molecular-level mixing of the constituents and “positioning effect” of the additive may have brought about the formation of new compounds. Routes are proposed for the appearance of these substances. Horizontal burning tests were also conducted on polymer and blends and the results are discussed. Activation energies and reaction orders were calculated. Activation energy is highest for the polymer, i.e., 138.9 Kcal/mol while the range for blends is from 51 to 39 Kcal/mol. Stability zones are highlighted for the blends. The interaction between the blended parts seems to be chemical in nature.

Diversity and habitat preferences of amphibians and reptiles in Pakistan: a review

Waqas Ali,Arshad Javid,Ali Hussain,Syed Mohsin Bukhari 국립중앙과학관 2018 Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity Vol.11 No.2

Geographical position of Pakistan is unique, and country harbors two out of six zoogeographical regions. The country can be divided into 15 habitat types in three major divisions: the mountainous region, foothills, and Indus plains. Overall, 219 species including 24 amphibians and 195 reptiles have been reported so far. Out of these, nine amphibian and 13 reptilian species are endemic to Pakistan. Despite this richness, there is paucity of knowledge regarding diversity of amphibians and reptiles as very few species have been thoroughly studied and very small area has been explored. This has led to the uncertainties regarding distribution and taxonomy of these taxa in the country. The herpetofauna is not protected by law in the country, and their conservation status is yet to be evaluated. Furthermore, distribution ranges of amphibians and reptiles have been changed and systemized survey work is required to update baseline information in the country.