Uddin, M. N. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2020

Microbiological water quality of Managed Aquifer Recharge systems in the salinity-prone southwest coastal Bangladesh

Managed aquifer recharge (MAR), a hydro-geological intervention designed to dilute groundwater salinity, pumps pond water treated through a slow sand filter into the underground aquifers. We evaluated the microbiological safety of the resulting MAR water at sites from three districts in southwest coastal Bangladesh. We collected monthly paired pond-MAR water samples from July 2016-June 2017 and enumerated fecal coliforms and E. coli using the IDEXX quanti-tray technique, by the most probable number (MPN) method. We used WHO risk categories for microbiological quality; no risk (<1 MPN), low risk (1-10 MPN) and moderate to high risk (>10 MPN per 100 mL water). We estimated the difference in mean log10 MPN in pond and MAR water using linear mixed effect models with random intercepts and cluster adjusted robust standard error. Almost all pond water samples (292/299, 98%) had moderate- to high-risk level (>10 MPN) fecal coliforms and E. coli (283/299, 95%). In contrast, 81% (242/300) of MAR water samples had no or low risk level fecal coliforms (0-10 MPN), of which 60% (179/300) had no fecal coliforms. We detected no or low risk level E. coli in 94% (283/300) of MAR water samples of these 80% (240/300) had no E. coli. MAR samples had lower mean log10 MPN fecal coliforms (-2.37; 95% CI: -2.56, -2.19) and E. coli (-2.26; 95% CI: - 2.43, -2.09) than pond water; microbial reductions remained consistent during the wet (May-October) and dry seasons. MAR-systems provided water with reduced fecal indicator bacteria compared to infiltered pond water.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2020

In silico chemical profiling and identification of neuromodulators from Curcuma amada targeting Acetylcholinesterase

Curcuma amada or Mango ginger, a member of the Zingiberaceae family, has been revealed as a beneficiary medicinal plant having diverse pharmacological activities against a wide range of diseases. Due to having neuromodulation properties of this plant, the present study characterized the secondary metabolites of Curcuma amada for their drug-likeness properties, identified potent hits by targeting Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and revealed neuromodulatory potentiality by network pharmacology approaches. Here in silico ADMET analysis was performed for chemical profiling, and molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations were used to hit selection and binding characterizations. Accordingly, ADMET prediction showed that around 87.59% of compounds processed drug-likeness activity, where four compounds have been screened out by molecular docking. Guided from induced-fit docking, molecular dynamics simulations revealed phytosterol and curcumin derivatives as the most favorable AChE inhibitors with the highest binding energy, as resulted from MM-PBSA analysis. Furthermore, all of the four hits were appeared to modulate several signaling molecules and intrinsic cellular pathways in network pharmacology analysis, which are associated with neuronal growth survival, inflammation, and immune response, supporting their capacity to revert the condition of neuro-pathobiology. Together, the present in silico based characterization and system pharmacology based findings demonstrate Curcuma amada, as a great source of neuromodulating compounds, which brings about new development for complementary and alternative medicine for the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative disorders.

bioinformatics↗