The incidence of fungal infections has significantly increased in recent years due to the emergence of antifungal resistance. Biofilm formation is considered to be a major contributor to both the infectious diseases and to antimicrobial resistance. Consequently, biofilm-associated infections are often problematic to treat with existing therapeutics. Adhesion of C. albicans to the host surface or implanted materials followed by hyphal invasion and biofilm formation enhances C. albicans pathogenicity and virulence. Thus, developing a therapeutic agent that inhibits candidal adherence, biofilm development and morphological switching could improve clinical management of infections. The present investigation studied two emerging and alternatives strategies, namely antibiofilm and combinatorial approach, to attenuate biofilm formation and the expression of Candida virulence factors. Piperine and thymol are major bioactive components of pepper and thyme, respectively. These phytochemicals are known to possess numerous biological activities, including recently reported antibiofilm effects against C. albicans. The minimum biofilm inhibitory concentration (MBIC) of both phytochemicals was determined to be 32 µg/ml. The phytochemical treatment of Candida biofilms using piperine and thymol revealed synergistic effects at four different combinations of concentrations, i.e. 8 and 8, 8 and 4, 8 and 2 and 4 and 8 µg/ml. These synergistic combinations resulted in the significant reduction in adherence of Candida, hyphal extension and morphological transformation. Moreover, limited exposure of synergistic combinations controlled the hyphal elongation. Results were validated through the gene expression analysis. Results from the present investigation suggest that piperine and thymol can be synergistically employed for the treatment of biofilm-associated C. albicans infection.

Heterogeneous catalysts plays a significant role in the production of biodiesel as they have many advantages over other catalysts. Heterogeneous catalysis are noncorrosive, requires mild environmental conditions with fewer disposal problems. The easy separation of product from the liquid is mainly achieved by the reusability as the catalyst settles at faster rate. The use of this catalyst is widely used for biodiesel production due to higher activity, selectivity and longer lifetime of the catalyst. The heterogeneous catalyst reduces the overall production cost of biodiesel making it competitive with other petroleumbased diesel fuels. Recently, heterogeneous catalysts derived from nanomaterials have gained attention for biodiesel synthesis. Nanocatalyst characteristics, such as high catalytic activities and high specific surface area have helped overcome some limitations on heterogeneous catalysts for their applications in biodiesel production from biomass. This paper discusses the latest advances in research and development related with heterogeneous nanocatalysts. The use of nanocatalysts such as ferrous doped zinc oxide, copper doped zinc oxide and manganese doped zinc oxide for biodiesel production are discussed and compared.

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