Coastal areas are famous for its diversity and abundance of marine flora and fauna. Several tonns of seaweeds grows annually and during low tide they are easily avaliable either in growing or drift form. The current investigation was focus to target these marine flora to provide an alternative to toxic colorants. The brown seaweed, Stoechospermum marginatum were collected form the coastal area of Arabian sea during low tide. Seaweed colorants can be used as sustainable and eco-friendly source to make a value added product. Extraction process were optimized by varying solvent medium (alkali, acidic and distilled water), solvent concentration and extraction time. Eco-friendly metal salt like ferrous and alumium sulphate were used to developed twenty-four soft shades on S/J 100% cotton. Dye exhaustion, color measurements and fastness properties such as wash, crock and light fastness of resultant fabric have been studied. The optimized condition of extraction process was 5g/L sodium hydroxide for 3hrs processing time. The dyed fabric having 5g/L sodium hydroxide extarcted dye and mordanted with ferrous sulphate shows maximum exhaustion percentage as well as good to very good fastness property while the Δa and Δb values of color measurements shows that the dyed fabric has reddish-yellow shade.

Salinity stress has hindered the growth and yield of crops globally. The demands for inducing salt stress tolerance by natural and biological sources with potent antioxidants and growth-promoting metabolites have been the main focus of the recent era. Therefore, the current research was conducted to extract salt stress tolerance-ameliorating metabolites and growth-promoting hormones from the marine brown macroalgae Sargassum wightii Greville ex J. Agardh with maximum antioxidant potential used as a liquid fertilizer for okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.). In the current study, the biochemical analysis showed that Sargassum aqueous extract (SAE) was rich in growth-promoting metabolites, antioxidants, and hormones. Meanwhile, overaccumulation of glycine betaine attracted the focus of the current research dealing with salt stress tolerance amelioration in A. esculentus. The plants supplemented with SAE (2% and 4%) and 0.04% ascorbic acid (AsA) alone and in combinations were subjected to sodium salt stress (NaCl; 75 mM). Results revealed that SAE efficiently promoted the vegetative and reproductive growth of plants by elevating the growth-promoting metabolites and hormones in comparison to control plants. Ionic contents (Na+, K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+) and ratios (K+/Na+, Mg2+/Na+, and Ca2+/Na+) were modulated in SAE-treated plants. SAE also increased the level of carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, carotenoids, and proline and decreased the level of hydrogen peroxide and abscisic acid in salt-treated plants compared with the control groups. Enzymatic activities of catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, and guaiacol peroxidase were also enhanced by SAE treatment upon salt stress. The SAE-mediated stress tolerance amelioration and the positive growth response of A. esculentus were further accelerated by AsA (0.04%) supplementation used in combination with SAE (2% and 4%). The current study revealed a novel report of the antioxidant and metabolite-rich algal extract (S. wightii) formulation along with AsA that induced salt stress tolerance and promoted the overall growth performance of A. esculentus by rebalancing the ionic and metabolic status.

Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) infection is a rare cause of meningoencephalitis. Brain abscess represents only 1–10% of Listeria central nervous system (CNS) manifestations. The typical finding on magnetic resonance image (MRI) of the brain is ring enhancement after contrast administration. We report a 71-year-old female patient with anal squamous cell carcinoma who developed a fever and deterioration of mental status caused from a brain abscess. L. monocytogenes is a rare pathogen of thalamic brain abscess.

Abstract:The present study investigated the morphology and taxonomy of marine centric diatom Chaetoceros lorenzianus from Karachi Harbor, Pakistan for the first time for the first time during the incident of Tasman Spirit Oil Spill (2003) in the area. Phytoplankton samples were collected from 5 different locations from the study area. Chaetoceros lorenzianus was found only at one station collected after Tasman Spirit Oil Spill. Moreover morphometric measurements of present record showed narrow range as compared to the records investigated by other workers.