Schistosomiasis is a tropical disease with socioeconomic problems. The goal of this study was to determine the influence of myco-synthesized nano-selenium (SeNPs) as a molluscicide on Biomphlaria alexandrina snails, with the goal of reducing disease spread via non-toxic routes. In this study, Penicillium chrysogenum culture filtrate metabolites were used as a reductant for selenium ions to form nano-selenium. The SeNPs were characterized via UV-Vis spectrophotometer, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Myco-synthesized SeNPs had a significant molluscicidal effect on B. alexandrina snails after 96 h of exposure at a concentration of 5.96 mg/L. SeNPs also had miracidicidal and cercaricidal properties against S. mansoni. Some alterations were observed in the hemocytes of snails exposed to SeNPs, including the formation of pseudopodia and an increasing number of granules. Furthermore, lipid peroxide, nitric oxide (NO), malondialdehyde (MDA), and glutathione s-transferase (GST) increased significantly in a dose-dependent manner, while superoxide dismutase (SOD) decreased. The comet assay revealed that myco-synthesized SeNPs could cause breaks in the DNA levels. In silico study revealed that SeNPs had promising antioxidant properties. In conclusion, myco-synthesized SeNPs have the potential to be used as molluscicides and larvicides.

The biopolymer levan has sparked a lot of interest in commercial production and various industrial applications. In this study, a bacterial isolate with promising levan-producing ability was isolated from a soil sample obtained from Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University in Saudi Arabia. The isolate has been identified and submitted to GenBank as Bacillus subtilis MZ292983.1. The bacterial levan polymer was extracted using ethyl alcohol (75%) and CaCl₂ (1%) and then characterized using several approaches, such as Fourier transform infrared spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance. The IR spectrum of the levan polymer showed characteristic peaks confirming characteristics of polysaccharides, including a broad stretching peak of OH around 3417 cm⁻¹ and aliphatic CH stretching was observed as two peaks at 2943, and 2885 cm⁻¹. In addition, the FTIR spectrum featured an absorption at 2121 cm⁻¹, indicating the fingerprint of the β-glycosidic bond. Based on ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy analysis, six unexchanged proton signals related to fructose as a forming monomer of levan were observed. Evaluation of levan’s antibacterial effect against two pathogenic bacteria, S. aureus (ATCC 33592) and E. coli (ATCC 25922), showed inhibition zones of 1 cm and 0.8 cm in diameter, respectively, with MICs of more than 256 μg mL⁻¹ for both strains. Moreover, the antibiofilm property of the levan polymer was assessed and the results showed that the inhibition rate was positively proportional to the levan concentration, as the inhibition percentages were 50%, 29.4%, 29.4%, 26.5%, and 14.7% at concentrations of 2, 1, 0.5, 0.25, and 0.125 mg mL⁻¹, respectively. Levan showed a significant role in burn healing properties since it accelerated the process of healing burn-induced areas in rats when compared with those either treated with normal saline or treated with the cream base only.

The pollution of aquatic bodies by synthetic dyes is regarded as one of the most significant environmental issues, which has prompted greater research into effective and sustainable removal techniques. Even though there have been major efforts in the previous few decades, more study is still necessary to fully examine the long-term performance and usable applicability of adsorbents and different adsorption techniques for the removal of dye. In the present study, a brown marine macroalga Sargassum muticum was used as an effective and sustainable biosorbent for the crystal violet (CV) dye removal from aqueous solutions. The biosorbent was characterized by analysis of SEM, EDX, and FTIR. In order to evaluate the optimum conditions of CV biosorption, several parameters have been examined as a function of contact time, algal dose, initial concentration of CV, and pH. The maximum CV removal was obtained at 60 min contact time, 10 g/L algal dosage, 30 mg/L initial concentration of CV, and pH 6. The isothermal models of Langmuir, Freundlich, Dubinin-Radushkevich, and Temkin are best explained the equilibrium data obtained. At the optimum conditions, the maximum biosorption capacity of the algal biomass achieved from the Langmuir model was 39.1 mg/g. The kinetic adsorption models were also better explained using the pseudo-second-order and Elovich model, and the effect of the boundary layer was indicated using the intraparticle diffusion model as well as the chemisorption-controlled biosorption process. Thermodynamically, the process of CV biosorption was shown to be random, spontaneous, and endothermic. Furthermore, the proposed mechanism of CV dye biosorption onto algal biomass is regulated by hydrogen bond formation, electrostatic interaction, and ion exchange. These findings revealed that the biomass of S. muticum is a sustainable and promising material for the biosorption of water pollutants.

Frozen yogurt is known as ice cream with some properties of yogurt. Frozen yogurts are a rich source of sucrose levels between 15% and 28% of total ingredients. Consumers suffering from lactose intolerance and metabolic syndrome are looking for sugar-free products. The current study investigates the sugar replacements by using sweeteners (stevia, sucralose and sorbitol) on physicochemical, microbiological, microstructural and sensory characteristics of probiotic-frozen yogurt. Four different treatments of probiotic-frozen yogurts were studied (control probiotic-frozen yogurt with sucrose (F1), probiotic-frozen yogurt with stevia (F2), probiotic-frozen yogurt with sucralose (F3) and probiotic-frozen yogurt with sorbitol (F4)). The chemical properties were not significantly present p > 0.05) during storage in all treatments. In the F1 treatment, sucrose value was higher (14.87%) and not detected in the F2, F3 and F4 treatments. The highest values of overrun, hardness and viscosity (p < 0.05) were detected in the F2, F3 and F3 samples, but the lowest value was detected in the F1 treatment. Total Str. thermophilus and Lb. delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus counts were gradually decreased (p < 0.05) during storage periods. At 1 day, the Bifidobacteria counts ranged from 7.56 to 7.60 log₁₀ CFU g⁻¹ in all groups and gradually decreased during storage, but these bacterial counts remained viable (>6.00 log₁₀ CFU g⁻¹) during storage periods up to 60 d. During storage periods, the highest scores of total acceptability were detected in the F3, F4 and F2 treatments. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs of all probiotic-frozen yogurt treatments illustrated that the microstructures showed a difference with a fine network, size pores and structure between the frozen yogurt with sweeteners (F2, F3 and F3) and control frozen yogurt (F1).

Salinity is a widespread abiotic stress that devastatingly impacts wheat growth and restricts its productivity worldwide. The present study is aimed at elucidating biochemical, physiological, anatomical, gene expression analysis, and agronomic responses of three diverse wheat genotypes to different salinity levels. A salinity treatment of 5000 and 7000 ppm gradually reduced photosynthetic pigments, anatomical root and leaf measurements and agronomic traits of all evaluated wheat genotypes (Ismailia line, Misr 1, and Misr 3). In addition, increasing salinity levels substantially decreased all anatomical root and leaf measurements except sclerenchyma tissue upper and lower vascular bundle thickness compared with unstressed plants. However, proline content in stressed plants was stimulated by increasing salinity levels in all evaluated wheat genotypes. Moreover, Na+ ions content and antioxidant enzyme activities in stressed leaves increased the high level of salinity in all genotypes. The evaluated wheat genotypes demonstrated substantial variations in all studied characters. The Ismailia line exhibited the uppermost performance in photosynthetic pigments under both salinity levels. Additionally, the Ismailia line was superior in the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase activity (CAT), peroxidase (POX), and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) enzymes followed by Misr 1. Moreover, the Ismailia line recorded the maximum anatomical root and leaf measurements under salinity stress, which enhanced its tolerance to salinity stress. The Ismailia line and Misr 3 presented high up-regulation of H+ATPase, NHX2 HAK, and HKT genes in the root and leaf under both salinity levels. The positive physiological, anatomical, and molecular responses of the Ismailia line under salinity stress were reflected on agronomic performance and exhibited superior values of all evaluated agronomic traits.

Astaxanthin is a xanthophyll carotenoid possessing impressive nutraceutical, antioxidant, and bioactive merits. Traditionally, astaxanthin is extracted from crustacean wastes via solvent extraction methods. However, the rigid structure of shells that comprise complex proteins and chitin challenges the extraction process. This investigation addressed an efficient microbial-assisted method to facilitate astaxanthin recovery from crab exoskeleton waste utilizing chitinolytic and proteolytic microorganisms. Herein, we evaluated the effect of pretreatment of the exoskeleton waste with a newly isolated probiotic strain, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens CPFD8, showing remarkable protease and chitinase activity and a proteolytic Saccharomyces cerevisiae 006-001 before solvent extraction, using acetone/hexane, on astaxanthin recovery. Furthermore, the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of the recovered astaxanthin were inspected. Results revealed that both strains boosted the astaxanthin yield from the crab (Callinectes sapidus) exoskeleton compared with solvent extraction using acetone/hexane. Under optimum conditions, astaxanthin yield was 217 and 91 µg/g crab exoskeleton in samples treated with B. amyloliquefaciens CPFD8 and S. cerevisiae 006-001, respectively. Interestingly, pretreatment of crab exoskeleton waste with B. amyloliquefaciens CPFD8 yielded more than 6-fold astaxanthin compared with the solvent extraction method that yielded just 35 µg/g. This increase could be attributed to the proteolytic activity of B. amyloliquefaciens CPFD8 that rendered deproteinized shell chitin accessible to chitinase, facilitating the penetration of solvents and the recovery of astaxanthin. The recovered astaxanthin exhibited excellent antioxidant activity in scavenging DPPH or ABTS free radicals with IC₅₀ values of 50.93 and 17.56 µg/mL, respectively. In addition, the recovered astaxanthin showed a remarkable anti-inflammatory impact on LPS-induced murine macrophage RAW264.7 cells and significantly inhibited the production of nitric oxide, TNF-α, and IL-6 compared with the untreated control. These findings suggest the potential use of the developed microbial-assisted method utilizing chitinolytic and proteolytic B. amyloliquefaciens CPFD8 to maximize the recovery of bioactive astaxanthin from crab (C. sapidus) exoskeleton waste.