Cell wall of various plants contains an organic polymer lignin. Lignin makes significant structural constituents that support of vascular plants tissues, some types of algae and makes plants stiff and woody. Chemically lignin composed of cross-linked phenolic polymers and Kraft lignin dissolved in the unsaturated resin system. Lignin is a vastly available and well-studied antioxidant. They work as antioxidant against the biological, chemical and mechanical stress on plants. The substance that removes potentially damaged oxidizing agents in a living organism is regarded as antioxidant. Lignin contains a huge amount of phenolic constructions that enable it to act as an effectual antioxidant. Infrared spectroscopy (IR) observed decreases in some oxidative aging products and maintained the idea that lignin play role as an effective antioxidant. It was discovered that antioxidant action of lignin varies with the molecular characteristics, isolation method and genetic origin. Capacity of lignin to scavenge the radicals that are involved in the oxidation is affected by partial dispersion into polymer matrix. Antioxidant activities of various technical lignins are determined. Chemical changes in lignin could result in products with characteristics that can be used in special industrial divisions.

The study was carried out to determine, by PCR-RFLP, the magnitude of drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The study was carried out on 221 random sputum samples collected from patients and 120 suspected cases of drug resistance. Genetic variation in drug-resistant strains was evaluated through PCR-RFLP for isoniazid, ethambutol, streptomycin, and ofloxacin. Out of 341 patients, 91.5% were confirmed as M. tuberculosis complex infected on the basis of PCR. The random samples revealed resistance in 8.2% cases, while 73.3% of those with suspected drug resistance were found resistant. Among drug-resistant isolates, 56.1% were resistant to a single drug, 33.3% to two drugs, and 10.6% to more than two drugs. Ofloxacin resistance was observed along with isoniazid, ethambutol, and streptomycin in 6.5% cases. Resistance to isoniazid was observed in 61% cases, to ethambutol in 50.4%, and to streptomycin in 43.1% cases. It was concluded that PCR-RFLP is a useful molecular technique for the rapid detection of mutations in drug-resistant tuberculosis patients and may be used to diagnose drug resistance at the earliest.

Tuberculosis (TB) caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) is a chronic bacterial infection affecting many organs of the body particularly the lungs. Another organ seriously affected by TB is the hematopoietic system. TB patients co-infected with other disorders are more prone to death than TB alone. This study was aimed to investigate the variations in hematological profile of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) patients co-infected with chronic infectious and metabolic disorders. The study population (n = 366) include PTB patients (positive control) and PTB patients co-infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, diabetes, and myocardial infarction (MI). Healthy individuals (n = 95) were also included as normal control. All the study subjects were screened for PTB, diabetes, HCV infection, MI, and HIV infection. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed to confirm MTB infection at molecular level. Among 366 Ziehl–Neelsen positive cases, 258 (70.5%) were confirmed PTB positive by PCR. Among them, 36.8% were infected with PTB only, while 24% were co-morbid with diabetes, 17.8% co-infected with HCV, 11.2% with diabetes and HCV, 4.2% with HIV, 2.3% with both HCV and HIV, and 3.4% co-morbid with MI. Significant (P < 0.01) variations were observed in hematological profile of different study groups. The study concluded that significant increase in PTB patients co-infected with HCV, HIV, diabetes, and MI suggests the investigation of co-morbidities to rule out PTB co-infection with infectious and metabolic disorders before the start of anti-TB drug therapy.

Dengue fever is the most significant arthropod-transmitted viral disease in terms of mortality and morbidity, affecting at least 50 million people around the world. It is commonly recognized as “breakbone” fever as it is mostly associated with severe muscle and joint pain. The objective of the study was to evaluate and assess the levels of selected vitamins and hormones in serum of dengue patients from Faisalabad, Pakistan. Estimation of serum levels of vitamins D₃ and K was carried out through spectrophotometer, while concentration of serum hormones, angiotensinogen and thrombopoietin, was determined through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit method. Hematological blood parameters were also investigated. Hematological parameters significantly ( P < 0.05) differ in dengue fever patients and normal control subjects. Vitamin D₃ level was found significantly ( P < 0.05) decreased in test group (dengue patients) compared to control group (healthy individual). Vitamin K level was also reduced in test group compared to control group, but this reduction was nonsignificant ( P > 0.05). Among the tested hormones, angiotensinogen level was found significantly ( P < 0.05) lower in test group, while thrombopoietin was nonsignificantly ( P > 0.05) higher compared to control group. In conclusion, the results of the current study demonstrated the significance of tested vitamins and hormones along with blood parameters in monitoring the dengue infected patients.

The present research work was planned to investigate the biochemical parameters in tuberculosis (TB) patients in comparison with healthy individual and TB patients co-infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). For the study, we determined liver enzymes, serum proteins, hemoglobin photometrically, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) by the Westergren method. The results showed a significant (P 0.05) increase in the level of aspartate aminotransferase was observed in the Test group while a non-significantly (P >0.05) reduced level was observed in the TB control group when compared with healthy controls. Alkaline phosphatase was increased significantly (P 0.05) in the TB control group compared to healthy control group. Significant (P <0.05) variation in the concentration of serum proteins among different groups in the studied population was also observed. Significant (P 0.05) variation in serum calcium level was observed among study groups. ESR was found to be lower in the healthy control group while significantly (P <0.05) increased in the Test and TB control groups. The HCV co-infected patients were investigated through HCV screening by the immunochromatographic method. We concluded that variation in biochemical and hematological parameters observed in the studied population help us to diagnose HCV co-infected TB patients.

Introduction: Lipid peroxidation is considered as an important mechanism of male infertility causing impairment in functioning of spermatozoa. The main aim of the study was to investigate the lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzymes in relation to semen quality. Materials and methods: For this study total oxidant status (TOS), total antioxidant status (TAS), paraoxonase (PON), arylesterase and malondialdehyde (MDA) were investigated in seminal plasma and serum of all study subjects by photometric method. Semen quality parameters were also examined following standard protocols. Results and discussion: We found significantly (P<0.01) reduced semen quality parameters in infertile group. The results also showed that TOS and MDA were increased significantly (P<0.01) while TAS, PON and arylesterase were found significantly (P<0.01) lower in infertile group when compared to fertile group. We also found an increased lipid peroxidation in older ages as compared to younger ages. Moreover, significant (P<0.01) correlation was also observed between the studied parameters. We concluded that lipid peroxidation plays a significant role in inducing male factor infertility by disrupting the sperm functions and semen quality.