The present study was carried out to investigate floristic diversity, ethnobotanical profile and conservation status of important plant species of Kaghan Valley. The Valley is situated in the Northern Pakistan. It is 161 km long scenic wonderland with its towering Himalayan peaks, peaceful lakes, majestic glaciers and splashing water falls. The people are mostly poor, illiterate and are very much dependent upon plant resources. During the study 6 species of Bryophytes (6 families), 53 species of Pteridophytes (9 families), 12 species of Gymnosperms (4 families), and 775 species of Angiosperms (108 families), were collected, preserved and presented as checklist. The people of Kaghan Valley utilize 108 plant species as medicinal plants. Majority of these medicinal plants are used for multiple purposes. These include 91 species of Dicots, 09 species of Monocots, 06 species of Gymnosperms and 02 species of Pteridophytes. Among these ethnobotanically important plants, 27.77 % were found at risk regarding their conservation status. 2.77% were found critically endangered, 12.96 % endangered, 9.25 % vulnerable and 2.77 % near threatened. Seeds of 5 medicinal plants, i.e, Colchicum luteum, Hyoscymus niger, Aconitum heterophyllum, Geranium wallichii and Paeonia emodii, were collected from the wild and deposited at Forest Nursery Besian near Balakot as an ex-situ conservation effort. Medicinal plants and edible mushrooms are produced in bulk in Kaghan Valley and are considered as a fair source of income generation for local communities. Beside these, potatoes, peas, beans, maize, walnut and apple also yields good return. The floristic diversity of Kaghan Valley is threatened by the effects of natural and human impacts. Natural causes are hailstorm, drought, snowfall, thunderstorm and earthquake. Among the human causes, fuel wood consumption, illicit cutting for timber, encroachment on forest land, lopping for fodder, grazing, grass cutting, fires and tourism are important. For indigenous people in developing countries like Pakistan where exploitation of environment is necessary for survival, help is needed in constructing alternatives for sustainable development, in order to establish biodiversity conservation much profitable. Multiple uses of forests, development of agro-forestry, silviculture and sustainable exploitation of wild species are some of the alternatives that have been suggested to be considered as future strategy for the development of Kaghan Valley. This part of Himalayan region contains immense biological resources of benefit mankind.
Background: Nephrotoxicity of ibuprofen is a growing international public health problem in the wake of excessive use of the drug for the treatment of a broad spectrum of diseases in both adults and pediatric patients. Objectives: To present an overview of the protective effect of the green tea on ibuprofen-induced changes in the biochemical markers of the adult rat kidneys. Methods: It is an experimental study conducted in the department of Anatomy, Army Medical College Rawalpindi. The investigation was led on 30 male and non-pregnant female Sprague Dawley rodents of 9-11 weeks old enough and going in weight from 200-330 gm. The animals were divided into three groups consisting of 10 animals each; group A served as control, each animal in group B was given ibuprofen at a dose of 120 mg/kg/day and each animal in group C was given both green tea at a dose of 1ml/100g/day and Ibuprofen 120mg/kg body weight for a period of 9 weeks. Ibuprofen manufactured by Abbot Laboratories (Pvt.) Limited was utilized. Green tea was obtained from local market. Data was collected at the end of experimental period and was analyzed using SPSS version 22. One Way ANOVA was exerted, afterwards by post-hoc Tukey test to find out intergroup differences for quantitative variables. The results were depicted as mean ± standard deviation (mean ± SD). A p value < 0.05 was believed significant. Results: Green tea administration had a significantly favorable effect on serum urea (mg/dl) (Group A=21.9 ± 2.8, Group B=93.2 ± 3.9, Group C=36.4± 3.0; p<0.001) and serum creatinine (mg/dl) (Group A=0.9 ± 0.22, Group B=2.4± 0.52, Group C=0.97 ± 0.3; p<0.001). Conclusions: Green tea had ameliorative effects on the ibuprofen-induced changes in the biochemical markers of the adult rat kidneys.
The purpose of this study was to explore the potential of factionalized cellulose nanofiber (f-CNF) membranes to remove dissolved ions from water. The electrospun cellulose nanofiber (CNF) membranes were of interest to achieve the goal owing to their unique surface chemistry, abundance, biocompatibility, and a high-surface-area. The CNF have been successfully fabricated via deacetylation of cellulose acetate nanofiber (CANF) membranes followed by electrospinning of cellulose acetate (CA). The CNF membranes were functionalized differently for the very purpose, i.e., water desalination. The quaternized/cationic cellulose nanofiber (c-CNF) membranes were used for the adsorptive removal of anionic entities from the water. Similarly, carboxymethylated/anionic cellulose nanofiber (aCNF) membranes were utilized for the adsorptive removal of cationic substances from the water. The experimental studies revealed an improved adsorption capacity in the result of surface functionalization of CNF membrane over native CNF. The degree of quaternization and carboxymethylation was found to be 0.134 and 1.25 mmol/g of CNF, respectively. The physicochemical features of synthesized membrane were examined using different instrumental and analytical methods. The success of reactions was confirmed through Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to analyze the surface morphology of membranes. The wide distribution in the nanofiber diameter was found as the nanofiber diameters, which were in the range between 70 to 700 nm. The BET surface area analysis revealed 15.40, 5.40, and 13.5 m2/g specific surface areas for the CNF, c-CNF, and aCNF, respectively. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was used to examine the thermal stability of membranes, which revealed that the native and functionalized CNF could endure up to 220 ℃. The mechanical stability of CNF membranes remained a challenge to-date, in this regard, the ionic cross-linking of c-CNF and a-CNF was attempted successfully. It has been achieved a 2.0, and 2.5 MPa improvements in the tensile strength in case of a-CNF and c-CNF membranes respectively.Finally, zeta-potential measurements were utilized to investigate the surface-charge densities over nanofiber surfaces at a wide range of pH values. xx This research was further extended to examine the adsorption behavior of the resultant membranes in the batch and continuous adsorption modes. In the batch study, experiments were conducted as a function of pH, adsorbent-adsorbate contact time, and initial concentration of targeted ions. On the other hand, experiments were performed as a function of bed-height (membrane layers), an initial concentration of the targeted ions, and the flowrate of the feed-solution in the continuous mode. This study exhibited that the adsorption performance of a-CNF is highly dependent on pH values. However, the pH of the solution slightly influenced the adsorption through the c-CNF membranes. The kinetic and isotherms modeling revealed that the Pseudo-second-order (PSO) kinetic and Langmuir adsorption isotherm were explaining well to the experimental data. On the other hand, adsorption in the continuous mode, Yoon-Nelson model and Thomas model were used to determine the membrane saturation time and adsorption capacity respectively. Furthermore, the experiments revealed that the Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions could be easily desorbed from the saturated aCNF, and SO42- ions could be easily desorbed from contaminated c-CNF through a washing procedure with diluted acidic and alkali solutions respectively. The quantitative values for the adsorption capacities were described as 24-mg/g for SO42-, 59-mg/g for Ca2+, and 75-mg/g for Mg2+ ions using f-CNF membranes in the batch mode. In contrast to CNF, the improved binding efficiency of cationic and anionic f-CNF membranes was linked to the grafting of ammonium and carboxymethyl groups over CNF. Furthermore, the adsorption capacities of f-CNF membranes for the synthesized ionic solution in the continuous mode were calculated as 1237-mg/g. Similarly, real-groundwater was also treated to determine the adsorption capacity, which was found to be 668-mg/g. In the continuous mode, both membranes were reused up to three adsorption-desorption cycles. The specific arrangement of functionalized nanofiber membranes was also another cutting-edge feature of this study, which can not only lead to contribute to scientific research but also has the potential to provide business opportunities.