Among different microbes, fungi have been found as an important source of various exogenous natural color metabolites and pigments of immense industrial importance in sectors of food, dyeing, pharmaceutical and cosmetic. Based upon these facts, the present study evaluated the potential of selected fungal isolates towards production of color metabolites. Besides, the color metabolites were biochemically characterized in addition to their biological activities. Colored secondary metabolites production and their bioactive potential were evaluated in three different newly isolated fungi. Two of these fungi were isolated from Kala pani soil and identified as Penicillium verruculosum SG (KC698959) and Aspergillus fumigatus SG4 (JX863917) whereas, the endophytic fungus isolated from Taxus baccata was Chaetomium strumarium. The pigment production was initially screened out on solid state fermentation conditions using five different media however, Potato dextrose agar (PDA) proved to be the best culture medium. In liquid state fermentation conditions, Potato dextrose broth (PDB) was selected as the best culture medium. After selection of the culture media, different operational parameters viz, pH, temperature, carbon source and concentration, nitrogen source and C: N ratios were optimized. Overall, the production was most efficient at pH 5.5, with 20-40g/L glucose (C source) and yeast extract (N source), C: N ratio was 4:1 for Penicillium verruculosum; 10:1 for Chaetomium strumarium and 8:1 for Aspergillus fumigatus under mesophilic temperature (25-30˚C) in PDB. Standard qualitative and quantitative screening test of the colored extracts of fungi indicated presence of important classes of compounds viz. phenols, flavonoids, anthraquinones, terpenoids, alkaloids and coumarins, showing some similarity between plant and fungal pigments whereas, tannins were absent in them. These compounds were considerably stable in a pH range of 5-8 and ≤100˚C with red pigment of Penicillium verruculosum being stable at even acidic conditions i.e., pH 3.Pigmented filtrates of the fungi revealed a significant antimicrobial activity in terms of zone of inhibition (mm) against test pathogenic bacteria (0-24) and fungi (0-30). Besides, they showed varying antioxidant (EC50 = 7-21 µg/mL) and free radical scavenging activities [EC50 (DPPH) = 10-38, (ABTS) = 95-134 µg/mL]. Howover, the pigmented filtrates of fungi showed a low level of phytotoxicity (Seed germination and shoot length) and cytotoxicity (EC50). Such potential characteristics indicated the likelihood of their utilization in food and pharmaceutical industries. Fungal isolates viz. Penicillium verruculosum SG, Aspergillus fumigatus SG4 and Chaetomium strumarium SG1 were evaluated for the production of bioactive color metabolites on optimized potato dextrose broth (25˚C). Logical fragmentation pattern following column chromatography, thin layer chromatography (TLC) and liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (LCMS) of crude culture filtrate of fungus Penicillium verruculosum SG demonstrated presence of polyketide pigments (Monascorubrin, Monascin, Glutamyl Monascorubrine and analogue of Monascorubrine) and other different bioactive compounds viz. Pyripyropene, Orevactaene, N-De methyl Calcimycin and Citrinadin.Cytotoxicity against five different cell lines i.e., KA3IT, MDCK, HSCT6, NIH3T3 and HEK293 of the selected colored fractions of fungal filtrate containing different compounds revealed IC50 (µg/mL) values ranging from 5-100. It was comparatively higher in case of Orevactaene (5+0.44) [(non-significantly differed with Monascorubrine)] followed by Pyripyropene (8+0.63) against cancer cell line KA3IT. Overall, these compounds significantly showed less toxicity towards normal cell lines. X ray crystallography of yellow crystals of a pure compound (224.21 m/z) confirmed its 3 dimensional structure and was identified as Phenazine 1 carboxylic acid (C13H8N2O2), which is previously known as a broad spectrum antibiotic, antifungal and bio-control agent. Some unknown compounds not found in libraries were also detected in the culture filtrate. In case of Chaetomium strumarium, logical fragmentation pattern following column chromatography, TLC and LCMS of crude culture filtrate revealed the presence of colored compounds i.e., Monascorubramine (purple red), Alizarin and Cochliodinol (Purple). Besides, bioactive colorless compounds Dihydromaltophytin, Nivalenol and Paxilline were also detected. Overall, cytotoxicity against all five cell lines i.e., KA3IT, MDCK, HSCT6, NIH3T3 and HEK293 of the selected colored fractions of fungal filtrate containing different compounds revealed IC50 (µg/mL) values ranging from 1-73 µg/mL. It was comparatively higher in case of Nivalenol/Paxilline (10.6±9.76) followed by crude filtrate (28± 20.4) [(Non-significantly differed with Cochliodinol, Monascorubramine and Alizarin)] > Dihydromaltopytin (45.2±24.4). Overall, these compounds significantly showed less toxicity towards normal cell lines. Whereas in case of cancer cell line KA3IT, Cochliodinol containing fraction was most effective (1IC50=0±0.44) [(Non significantly differed from crude culture filtrate)] followed by Nivalenol/Paxilline containing fraction (20±0.34) [(Non significantly different from Dihydromaltophytin and Alizarin)] >Monascorubramine (50±0.89). A pure orange compound was isolated and its proton NMR and LCMS confirmed it to be anthraquinone compound. Besides, many unknown compounds were also detected in LCMS profile of the selected fungi. In Aspergillus fumigatus, logical fragmentation pattern following column chromatography, TLC and LCMS of crude culture filtrate revealed the presence of colored compounds i.e., PPR Monascorubramine and Fusarubin. Other colorless bioactive compounds were also detected in the fungal filtrate i.e., Pyrrocidine b, Communosine g, Teritrem and Tryptoquialanine A and B. Overall, the cytotoxicity against the five cell lines viz. KA3IT, MDCK, HSCT6, NIH3T3 and HEK293 shown by these compounds ranged from 1-200 µg/ml. All the fractions of this fungus showed quite low cytotoxicity (IC50) value i.e., 1-1.5 µg/ml against cancer cell line (KA3IT) which differed significantly from crude culture filtrate (2.8±0.44). Overall, the pigmented filtrate of this fungus was more cytotoxic as compared to the other 2 fungi showing its higher anticancer potential. Fungi proved to be an important source of colored metabolites of polyketide nature. Production of these metabolites helped under mesophilic temperature, pH (5.5-7), glucose and yeast extract. Stability of the metabolites was considerably high at temperature < 100˚C though it varied a little with varying pH clearly predicting their industrial applications. Furthermore, detailed evaluation of different compounds in various fractions of fungal filtrates typically indicated their non-toxic nature and role as biomedical agent in treating cancer. The study concludes that optimized yield of aforementioned compounds by manipulating different biotechnological procedures can further help their large scale application in pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries. However, large scale production and application is still needed to be explored.
جمہوریت سے ہی پاکستان کا مستقبل ہے ہر کس و ناکس کی پیہم جد و جہد اس کے مستقبل کے نکھار کے لیے ہوتی ہے۔ گذشتہ راصلوۃ آئندہ را احتیاط کے پیشِ نظر ماضی کو کر ید نا اہلِ لب کا شیوہ نہیں ہوتا صرف واقعات سابقہ سے حصول عبرت منشاء و مراد ہوتی ہے۔ حال کوبحسن و خوبی گزارنے کے ساتھ ساتھ مستقبل کی درخشندگی و تابندگی کے لیے کوشاں رہتے ہیں۔ جو پھر گیسوئے گیتیء استقبال میں مشاطگی کا فن سیکھ لیتا ہے۔ نابغۂ روزگارگردانا جاتا ہے۔ کوئی اپنا مستقبل سنوارتا ہے، کسی کی آواز یہ انگڑائیاں لیتی ہے کہ افراد خانہ کا مستقبل روشن ہو جائے ،کسی کی تمنایہ ہوتی ہے کہ میری قوم کا مستقبل مستنیر و منور ہو جائے ،کسی کے دل و دماغ کے کونے کھدرے میں یہ بات مہیمز ثابت ہونا شروع ہوتی ہے کہ روشن مستقبل ہی حاصل حیات ہے اور وہ اسی میں اپنی حیاتِ مستعار کے عظیم لمحات صرف کردیتا ہے۔ کتنا خوش نصیب ہے وہ شخص جو انفرادی کے بجائے اجتماعی سوچ کا حامل ہوتا ہے۔ اور پورے ملک کے لیے اس کی آرزو یہ ہوتی ہے کہ وہ درخشندہ و تابندہ مستقبل کی فضاء میں سانس لے۔ پاکستان کے مستقبل کی یہ خواہش صرف اور صرف جمہوری طرزعمل سے ہی پوری ہوسکتی ہے۔ پاکستان میں بسنے والے ہرشخص کی عزت و احترام صرف اور صرف جمہوریت سے ہی وابستہ ہے۔ جمہوریت میں ہر شخص کو گفتگو کی، تحریر کی، تقریر کی آزادی ہوتی ہے، وہ قانون کے دائرے میں رہ کر اپنی آواز ایوانوں تک پہنچا سکتا ہے، اور اُس کی حق وصداقت پر مبنی آواز سے ایوان بالا کے در و دیوار لرزنے لگتے ہیں ، ایوانوں میں موجود عوامی نمائندگان کی سوچ فلاح انسانیت کے کاموں کی تکمیل کے لیے مستعدومتحرّک ہو...
This pandemic has affected family life around the world. As a result of lockdown individuals are already experiencing significant revenue and job losses. The ability to ‘Work from Home’ (WFH) can help damp down the impact of the situation, undoubtedly. Overall, the effects of WFH arrangements rely a lot on the job status of parents and presence of dependents (children & elderly), and this current situation is likely to intensify these differences. It does not necessarily mean, however, that the effect of the crisis should inevitably be gender neutral. Working women have been particularly affected. It seems to be very fascinating to work from home, while sitting on a comfortable couch, casually dressed, even sometimes in sleep suits, without stepping out in scorching heat and wasting time in traveling, but this may not be a preferred situation for everybody, especially women. The most significant impact on working women during the crisis will be trying to balance household demands, childcare needs and work demands. The group most likely to be hardest hit then would be lower income families with young children, and single mothers in particular. Generally women are in charge of planning, organizing and recalling of everything that needs to be remembered. The mental stress and load that comes with such work has risen exponentially in present circumstances. Even though many countries are relied on lockdown to control widespread of COVID-19 pandemic, the mental problems such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, suicidal thoughts and other psychological trauma are most common in case of normal individual and extensive in case of people who are psychologically ill. Females are more prone to psychological distress. The main concern is to manage and provide opportunities for regulation of stress caused due to anxiety and lack of peer contact. Another main threat is an increased risk of parents to develop mental illness, women may also suffer from domestic violence and consequently it results child maltreatment. The current scenario may be particularly challenging especially for children and adolescents with special needs or disadvantages, such as disabilities, also if someone has prior trauma experiences, undiagnosed mental health problems, background of migration and low socioeconomic status.
Commitment to change is considered to be one of most important factors for the successful implementation of change initiatives (Herscovitch & Meyer, 2002). The purpose of the present research was to identify stressors and facilitators that could potentially have a bearing on employees’ commitment to change as well as factors that could mitigate the negative effects of these stressors on commitment to change. The relationship between commitment to change and related behavior is also a focus of the present thesis. A secondary purpose of the present research was also to validate the Herscovitch-Meyer (2002) three component (affective, continuance and normative) model of commitment to change in Pakistan. Survey data were collected from four large Pakistani public sector organizations where organizational restructuring had been initiated, in order to cross validate the research model across multiple samples. The rate of response varied, depending upon the level of support and access provided to the researcher by the respective organizations for data collection. The response rate was 43%, 21%, 28% and 60% for Organization 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively. For the purpose of data analysis, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis techniques were employed for validation of the Herscovitch-Meyer (2002) three component model of commitment to change. For testing hypotheses relating to the effect of stressors and facilitators on commitment to change, and for studying the effect of commitment to change dimensions on change related behavior, hierarchical multiple regression technique was used. Moderated multiple regression was used to test the effect of moderators on the relationship between stressors and commitment to change. iHierarchical multiple regression technique was also used to determine the relationship between commitment to change and change related behavior. The results provided support for the three component model despite some issues with the normative commitment to change scale. Job insecurity and role stressors were seen to be potent stressors having a negative relationship with affective and normative commitment to change and a positive relationship with continuance commitment to change. As expected, change related communication, employability and trust found support as facilitators of affective and normative commitment to change while their relationship with continuance commitment to change was observed to be negative. These facilitators were also seen to play a moderating role-albeit with limited support in present samples- in attenuating the negative relationship between stressors and affective/normative commitment to change and the positive relationship between stressors and continuance commitment to change. The present study is important for commitment research as it is an effort towards the identification of factors which may have a bearing upon the employees’ attitude towards commitment to change. For managers, the present study has important implications in terms of creating an organizational climate which minimizes stress and uncertainties. This positive environment can be made possible by ensuring an exchange of communication between decision makers and employees, provision of opportunities for employee development and allowing trust to develop between employer and employees which will have a positive impact on employee commitment to change. The results of the present study provide support for the generalizability of the Herscovitch-Meyer (2002) three component model of commitment to change in Pakistan. iiThere were however some issues concerning the reliability of normative commitment to change items due to which the analyses were performed after the removal of two items. Future research may be conducted on the construct employing cultural based items more suited to the Pakistani context. Future research may also explore the antecedents and consequences of commitment to change, taking stock of the limitations of the present study.