Liver cirrhosis is a complication usually due to the consequence of persistent chronic liver disease. It is associated with different mechanisms, including hypoalbuminemia, impaired amino acid turnover, and micronutrient deficiencies. Consequently, cirrhotic patients can develop progressive complications like ascites, hepatic encephalopathy, and hepatocellular carcinoma. The liver is a vital organ that regulates the different metabolic pathways and transportation of trace elements. Zn is an indispensable micronutrient trace element involved in its crucial functions in cellular metabolic activity. Zn mediates its action by binding to a wide range of proteins; therefore, it imparts numerous biological effects, including cellular division, differentiation, and growth. It is also involved in critical processes for the biosynthesis of structural proteins and regulation of transcription factors and acts as a co-factor for the various enzymatic processes. As the liver is a significant regulator of Zn metabolism, its abnormalities lead to Zn deficiency, which has consequences on cellular, endocrine, immune, sensory, and skin dysfunctions. Conversely, Zn deficiency may modify the functions of hepatocytes and immune responses (acute phase protein production) in inflammatory liver diseases. This review has concisely stated the evolving indication of the critical role of Zn in biological processes and complications associated with liver cirrhosis pathogenesis due to Zn deficiency.

Every year, a huge amount of water is polluted by various sources, out of which coal fly ash (CFA) is one of the major pollutants. CFA has a large number of toxic metals, which reaches water bodies by coming in contact with water or rain. Due to heavy-metal contamination, water becomes unfit for drinking for human beings, which in long term may cause several disorders. Thus, iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) recovered from waste, such as CFA, could be the most promising material for treating wastewater, due to their low-cost, recyclable nature and magnetic property. The synthesis of IONPs from CFA involves three sequential steps. The first step involves extraction of ferrous materials from CFA, followed by acidic treatment of ferrous materials to obtain acidic leachate, and lastly the precipitation of iron oxides by an alkali. The particle size of the synthesized IONPs varied from 30–70 nm and purity was about 90–93%, as confirmed by transmission electron microscope (TEM) and electron diffraction spectroscopy (EDS). Further, the synthesized IONPs were used for the remediation of various heavy metals, especially Pb and Cr ions from 20% CFA aqueous solutions. The heavy-metal removal efficiency of IONPs varied from 40–70%. The developed method suggests heavy-metal removal from wastewater by using an economical and greener route.

Over twelve million individuals worldwide suffer from leishmaniasis, and an additional billion people are at risk in places where the disease is prevalent. This work was motivated by the lack of vaccination against leishmaniasis and the shortcomings of current anti-leishmanial treatments. Large compound libraries can be screened using computational methods, which can also be used to analyze pharmacokinetic features, explore protein–ligand interactions, and quickly, accurately, and precisely create novel pharmacological entities. Virtual docking screening was performed to assess the multi-protein targeting capability of certain diselenides using four Leishmania protein targets—2XOX, 3SPX, 5ZWY, and 6K91. Following the Lipinski filter's screening of a subset of analogues, density functional theory (DFT), molecular dynamics (MD) simulation analysis, and ADMET profiles were used to profile the lead compounds. The overall average binding affinity of ligands to target proteins is as follows: 3SPX (− 184.998 kcal/mol) > 6K91 (− 180.114 kcal/mol) > 2XOX (− 176.581 kcal/mol) > 5ZWY (− 157.198 kcal/mol). The focus is on ligands that target all investigated proteins with binding scores greater than the average binding scores for the proteins as a whole for which seven compounds were identified that also showed higher MolDock scores than both reference drugs (Miltefosine and Pentamidine). Further screening showed four compounds (4, 7, 25, and 26) passed Lipinski’s test, making them orally bioavailable with excellent ADMET properties that compared well to both reference medications. The DFT analysis and MD simulation results indicate these compounds' favorability, stability, and reactivity in binding to the studied targets, 3SPX and 6K91 with 25_3SPX and 4_6K91 showing the highest binding free energy (MM-GBSA) of − 88.35 kcal/mol and − 90.29 kcal/mol respectively. Conclusively, the chosen diselenides could be developed as prospective anti-leishmanial pharmacological compounds or as useful scaffolds for creating more potent anti-leishmanial drugs.

Malaria caused by the Plasmodium falciparum strain is more severe because of this protozoan’s ability to disrupt the physiology of host cells during the blood stages of development by initiating the production of the interleukin-10 (IL-10) family of cytokines. P. falciparum feeds on hemoglobin and causes host cells to adhere to the walls of blood vessels by remodeling their composition. IL-10 is produced by CD4+ T cells that inhibits antigen-presenting cells’ activity to prevent inflammation. This cytokine and its family members are crucial in promoting malarial infection by inhibiting the host’s protective immune response, thus initiating Plasmodium parasitemia. IL-10 is also responsible for preventing severe pathology during Plasmodium infection and initiates several signaling pathways to alter the physiology of host cells during malarial infection. This review summarizes the critical aspects of P. falciparum infection, including its role in signaling pathways for cytokine exudation, its effect on microRNA, the human immune response in malaria, and the role played by the liver hormone hepcidin. Moreover, future aspects of vaccine development and therapeutic strategies to combat P. falciparum infections are also discussed in detail.

Nutrition is an important aspect of a healthy lifestyle for all individuals, including adolescents. The objective of this cross-sectional descriptive survey study was to investigate university students’ awareness of immunity enhancing foods, food nutritive values, and eating practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 839 university students from four different universities in Pakistan participated in the study from October 2021 to January 2022, 397 of which were male and 442 were female. A total of 419 students were studying in medical disciplines while 420 were non-medical students. The students had significant knowledge (p < 0.05) about COVID-19, and nutritional habits were seen in both medical and non-medical students. Results showed that medical students (n-201) were slightly more aware of immunity-enhancing foods and the nutritive values of foods compared to engineering students (n-79). However, eating practices were generally poorly adopted by all of the university students. Male and female students were not significantly different in their mean replies to questions on the nutritive value of food or in their eating habits. Healthy eating practices will aid university students in preventing illnesses connected to nutrition as well as enhancing their immune systems and nutritional well-being both during and post-pandemic. In light of these results, suggestions and implications for nutritional advice and education were explored.

Laboratory staff is always exposed to a variety of hazards according to their work nature and so, they must be conscious at all times. This study is aimed at the assessment of safety awareness to get knowledge attitude and practice among governmental medical laboratory staff in Khartoum state. A descriptive crosssectional study performed on 210 Sudanese governmental medical laboratory staff working in 15 governmental hospitals lab. Data was collected by direct interviews using structured, pretested, closed ending questions, coded and designed by researcher questionnaire developed, and validated using universal guidelines data analyzed by using the statistical package of social science (SPSS). The study result shows that there is good awareness in some of the safety awareness domains and weakness in others, the result of the comparison of the laboratory specialist scores mean and laboratory assistant scores mean to show that there is a significant difference between them and also there is no significant difference between mean scores of BSc holder and MSc holder medical laboratory specialist, correlation and association result shows that there is a strong negative correlation between experience and scores in medical laboratory specialist and weak negative correlation between experience and scores in medical laboratory assistant. Relative weakness in medical laboratory safety awareness was revealed, which reinforce health authorities, the administration of medical laboratory, universities, and hospitals must intensify courses and training programs about medical laboratory safety and establish functional and active, and well-implemented occupational safety policy systems that will be supervised by safety officers.