Statement of the Problem: Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the top ten killers worldwide and remains the leading cause of death among infectious diseases. There is still a limited number of validated TB targets and it is crucial to identify novel, or re-purpose existing, molecular targets to generate new anti-tubercular drugs to fight the tuberculosis pandemic. To this end, the well-characterised DNA-minor groove might be used to develop highly-effective anti-tubercular probes with a mechanism of action, i.e., DNA-binding, different from that of current TB drugs. DNA-minor groove binding agents can recognise discrete DNA sequence, modulate the activity of transcription factors and ultimately cause cell death. Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: Libraries of distamycin analogues and pyrrolobenzodiazepine(PBD)-C8-polyamide conjugates were synthesized and screened against slow-growing, pathogenic Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv and Mycobacterium bovis BCG strains, and evaluated for DNA-binding activity using DNase I footprinting experiments. The compounds were also tested using the in vitro Wayne model of hypoxia-induced dormancy at pH 5.8 and 7.3 to reproduce environments of cellular and caseous granulomas. Findings: The PBD-conjugates possessed significant anti-tubercular properties with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values ranging from 0.04 – 5.19 μg/mL against M. tuberculosis and M. bovis, although showing some degree of cytotoxicity. H37Rv-active pyrrole(Py)-pyrrole(Py)-thiazole(Thz)-PBD (Fig.1) bound with high affinity to discrete sequences (6-8 nucleobases) of a DNA duplex and showed growth inhibitory activity at 5.1 μg/mL against hypoxic, non-replicating (NR) M. tuberculosis cultures and aerobic cells at pH 7.3. Conclusion & Significance: DNA-minor groove binding agents are remarkable chemical tools with significant anti-tubercular activity that represent promising leads against aerobic and NR, dormant M. tuberculosis.

Antibiotic resistance is rising to dangerously high levels in all parts of the world. In the US alone more than two million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to multiple drugs (Report of CDC – 2013).

Antibiotic resistance increases health care costs and lowers the quality of medical treatment. A World Health Organization (WHO) report released in April 2014 stated, "this serious threat is no longer a prediction for the future, it is happening right now in every region of the world”.

Regarding the phenotypic mechanism of development of antibiotic resistance, eminent US herbalist Stephen Harrod Buhner says “Every life on this earth is highly intelligent and unbelievably adaptable to ensure its survival”. As soon as a bacterium develops a method for countering an antibiotic, it systematically begins to pass the knowledge on to other bacteria at an extremely rapid rate. In the presence of an antibiotic, learning rate of bacteria increases by several orders of magnitude. These observations and statements have invaluable practical implications to control the development of antibiotic resistance.

Without urgent action, we are heading for a post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries can once again kill the people as it used to happen in the pre-antibiotic era. Organ transplants, chemotherapy, and surgeries become much more dangerous without effective antibiotics for the prevention and treatment of infections.

The pharmaceutical industry has little incentive to invest in antibiotics because the potential financial returns are less likely to cover the cost of development. Now time has come to discover and develop new antibiotics from natural products by “Reverse Pharmacology” approach which reduces three major bottlenecks cost, time and toxicity and being in contact with pathogenic micro-organisms since centuries together, natural products / medicinal herbs have developed complex substances with them which are highly effective to tackle with these pathogens.

Emergence of antimicrobial resistance is well recognized as a global threat to human health. Antimicrobial stewardship is a coordinated program that promotes the appropriate use of antimicrobials. There is a need for increased education and awareness about inappropriate use of antimicrobials amongst the public and healthcare professionals. Hence this study was planned to conduct a survey, to assess the knowledge and beliefs on antibiotic resistance amongst the clinicians. 100 clinicians were included in this study which included physicians, pediatricians. Surgeons and Gynecologists and obstetricians. A structured questionnaire was provided online to the participants. More than 90% of physicians followed by 81% of pediatricians strongly agree that ignorance to antibiogram while prescribing antibiotics is a crucial aspect is promoting antimicrobial resistance. Need of regular CMEs on proper antimicrobial usage was unanimously agreed upon by all 4 groups. Our study showed that 90% of the pediatricians and physicians agree to poor hand washing and poor infection control practices being the factors responsible for contributing to antimicrobial resistance. Failure to properly diagnose patient’s infective conditions for diagnosis of infectious diseases was reasons agreed upon by 60% of surgeons and gynecologists and 90%of physicians and pediatricians. 81% pediatricians and 60% of physicians felt that patient’s demand for antibiotics being contributory. However, 90% of all four groups agreed upon patients failing to adhere to treatment and discontinuing prescribed antibiotics midway the treatment being a significant cause.

Lignocellulose is a major renewable natural resource of the world and represents a major source of renewable organic matter. It is the major structural component of plant biomass such as woody and non-woody plants. The recent thrust in bioconversion of agricultural and industrial wastes to chemical feedstock has led to extensive studies on cellulolytic enzymes produced by fungi and bacteria. Cellulase is a synergistic enzyme that is used to break up cellulose into glucose or other oligosaccharide compounds. Sawdust is a byproduct produced from the wood processing industry. Generally sawdust composed of fine particles of wood. Sawdust has a variety of practical uses, such as in agriculture mulch and also in the manufacturing of the particle board. The abundance of sawdust waste is hence seen here as a good supporting factor in considering its usage as potential substrate for bioprocesses. The utilization of sawdust as a potential substrate for producing enzymes may serve a dual purpose of reducing the environmental pollution along with producing a high value commercial product. Pretreatment is necessary to reduce recalcitrance of lignocellulosic biomass for enhancing cellulose component to enzymatic hydrolysis in subsequent steps. Sawdust was investigated for their ability to support cell growth and cellulase production. This work focuses on factors relevant for improvement of enzymatic hydrolysis of saw dust.

Understanding of influence of bacterial adhesion opens a new possibility to analyze the bacterial mutual interaction as well as the interaction of bacterium with various surfaces. Contrary to their lower inertia, bacteria have the ability to stick to surfaces due to adhesive forces. This characteristic opens up the opportunity to understand adhesive ultrafine particles by numerical modeling the sticking ability. The interaction of adhesive spherical S. aureus under impact is investigated numerically by applying the discrete element method. An adhesive dissipative contact model is applied by implementing different interaction forces, such as the influence of electrostatic double layer force. Normal loading is represented by taking into account the elastic Hertz contact model as well as elastic-plastic Tomas model. Viscous damping is described by the modified nonlinear Tsuji model. Energy dissipation model related to change of influence of adhesion is given. This model is important to predict critical bacterial sticking velocity. The influence of deformation dependent adhesion forces for a bacterium is also illustrated during the deformation process. Elastic-plastic bacterium interaction model is given. This model is important to describe non-elastic deformation behavior of heterogeneous cell. The presented model also includes the ability to obtain sticking process for bacteria. Such model can be adapted for modeling of group of microorganism mutual interaction, such as biofilm formation or infection transmission. Dissipative interaction is described during bacterium interaction with a surface at a distance as well as during the deformation process.

Background: Superficial mycosis is a common feature among school-age children in developing countries, due to an unhygienic environment where they reside and play. These diseases sin and nails The economic downturn of these countries makes it very difficult purchase the necessary antimycotic drugs and remedies to compact these infections, Moreover, over crowdy and close association with their play-mate can lead to outbreak off epidermics which can result in more serious and even fatal consequences, the need to audits the types of superficial mycosis among these children of School age cannot be overemphasised.

Methods: One hundred school children from selected Primary schools in Egor Local Government Area of Edo state were randomly recruited into the study; Consent was obtained from the local Government Education Ministry before the commencement of the study. Skin swabs hairs were collected from the children and were delivered to the laboratory for processing with minimum delay. Swabs were cultured unto blood agar plates and Sabuoroid agar slopes and incubated at 37oC overnight. The direct microscopic examination was done on the scales, taken off hairs placed on microscope slides containing few drops of potassium hydroxide and observed under the microscope using X10 and X40 objectives

Results: fifty percent of the children tested had various fungal infections ranging from Trichophytonmetagogrophyytes –Aspergillus spp., Penicillum spp. Candida albicanns and Mucor spp.

Conclusion: This study presents the isolation of various fungal species from children in some primary Schools in Benin City, Nigeria.

Statement of the Problem: AIDS is a serious health burden with approximately 36.7 million people who are living with HIV infection. It is estimated that 2.1 million people are newly infected annually, while almost 2 million die from AIDS-related illnesses every year. Moreover, as HIV-1 continues to mutate with even the most efficient drugs, new chemotherapeutics will always be needed. It has been shown that an Internal Ribosome Entry Site (IRES) is utilized by various viruses to enhance viral genomic translation while the host cap-dependent translation is reduced. Analysis of HIV- 1 genome from clinical isolates revealed that HIV-1 has two identified IRESs among its transcripts. Receptor for Activated C Kinase 1 (RACK1), a ribosomal protein, is known to be essential for IRES recognition of viral mRNAs. But it is not required for 5' capped recognition in most DNA viruses as well as for host 5' capped mRNAs. Since RACK1 is important for the translation process of IRES-utilizing viral genes, it, therefore, hypothesized that inhibiting the host RACK1 protein function would potentially prevent HIV-1 induced translation. The purpose of this study is to analyze the role of RACK1 in the IRES-mediated translation of HIV-1 virus proliferation in HEp2 cells. Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: RACK1A crystal structure based in silico drug docking experiment resulted in the isolation of RACK1 functional inhibitor compounds" These compounds are utilized in the current study. The functional molecules, SD29, and its analogs were used to investigate the inhibitory potential of these compounds as anti-HIV-1 drugs. The efficacy of the inhibitor compounds on the regulation of HIV-1 IRES-based translation was assayed in a dual luciferase reporter constructs. Findings: The compounds were found to inhibit the HIV-1 IRES structural proteins in a dose-dependent manner. The compounds were found also to inhibit the single cycle competent pseudo-HIV-1 proliferation in HEp2 cells. Conclusion & Significance: These results have validated the compounds as a host-targeted anti-HIV-1 drug. It is possible that the drugs may also have broader activities as they could potentially target other IRES utilizing viral proliferation. It is postulated that such host-targeted anti-viral would circumvent the development of drug resistance that has been observed in the treatment of HIV-1 infection. ]

Fungal infections of the orbit, although not as common as bacterial etiologies, still remain important causes of orbital inflammations and proptosis. The past decade has seen a resurgence of a variety of fungal agents involving orbits due to rising trends of HIV infections and other immunosuppressive comorbidities like diabetes; however, the incidence may vary based on regional epidemiology. The modalities of orbital invasion can be contiguous from sinuses or oropharynx or through direct deposition from foreign bodies. Till now fungal orbital infections still deserve very poor prognosis. The present study would discuss the various microbial factors, specific symptomatology, clinical signs, investigative modalities, management, complications, and outcomes of fungal infections of the orbit

Talaromyces pinophilus (MG011365) fungi belongs to family Trichocomaceae. The aim of current research was to explore different fungi as Plant Growth Promoting Fungi (PGPF). The study involves the isolation of different fungi from the rhizosphere of various agriculture farms. After isolation of T. pinophilus its’ ability to produce phytohormone was carried out (Indole Acetic Acid, IAA). IAA estimation was carried out using Salkowski reagent. T. pinophilus was allowed to grow in cultivation media (Potato Dextrose Broth, PDB) in which one was supplemented with tryptophan (TRP) and one without TRP (TRP a precursor for IAA production). Phosphate solubilization was carried out by growing T. pinophilus in pikovskaya’s media and latter estimated using stannous chloride method, showing decent solubilization of phosphate. Further enzyme assay for cellulase and chitinase were carried out. For cellulase enzyme production 1% carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) and for chitin enzyme production 1% colloidal chitin was used along with 1X MM9 agar media. Statistical analysis was carried out with Trichoderma longibrachiatum (MG011366) which is one of the most explored PGPF strain. Talaromyces pinophilus showed predominant effect as compared to Trichoderma longibrachiatum

Antibiotic-resistant pattern of lactic acid bacteria obtained from poultry origin was evaluated using standard microbiology methods and integrative approaches. A total of seven isolates were obtained. Upon growing anaerobically at 37^oC for 24 hours they all showed varying level of tolerance to the bile salt, pH and NaCl, with Enterococcus sp. B51 having the highest tolerance to bile salt. Five (71.4%) of the isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacilin and erythromycin, 4 (57.1%) were resistant levofloxacin, 3 (42.9%) were resistant norfloxacin, amoxicillin, chloramphenicol and ampiclox, 2 (28.6%) were resistant to gentamycin and Streptomycin. All the isolates were susceptible to rifamycin except Enterococcus sp. B42. The isolates showed high resistance to fluoroquinolones and macrolide class of antibiotics thus posing some levels of public health concerns.