This paper aims to review the research achievements concerning sustainable sesame (Sesamum indicu... more This paper aims to review the research achievements concerning sustainable sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) production and outlook on the production constraints and future perspectives for Myanmar sesame. Sesame is an economically and nutritionally important crop, and it is prized for oil. The global sesame market demand is rising with increasing health awareness. Meanwhile, there is high competition in the market among producing countries for an international trade. Smallholder farmers in developing countries cultivate sesame as a cash crop on marginal soils. The edible oilseed sectors currently face several challenges, including ones affecting sesame crops. For sustainable production of sesame, an integrated approach is needed to overcome these challenges and the critical limiting factors should be identified. In recent years, sesame genomic resources, including molecular markers, genetic maps, genome sequences, and online functional databases, are available for sesame genetic improvem...
There is an ongoing hunt for biologically active compounds that can combat phytopathogenic fungi ... more There is an ongoing hunt for biologically active compounds that can combat phytopathogenic fungi and improve plant growth without causing any hazards to the environment. Consequently the present study aims at deciphering the plant growth promotion and antifungal capability of Lysinibacillus sphaericus ZA9. The bacterium was previously isolated and identified in our laboratory from maize rhizosphere using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The test bacterium L. sphaericus ZA9 was found to produce high quantity of IAA (697 μg/ mL); siderophores (195.79 μg/ mL), HCN and hydrolytic enzyme as compared to the reference strain Bacillus sphaericus Z2-7. The bacterium was also capable of solubilizing silicates (Si), phosphates (P), and potassium (K). The bacterium enhanced the seedling vigor and germination of seeds pretreated with it and promoted the shoot length of both cucumber and tomato seeds in greenhouse experiment. L. sphaericus ZA9 and its cell free culture supernatant showed varied antagoni...
Medicinal plants have been used by marginal communities to treat various ailments. However, the p... more Medicinal plants have been used by marginal communities to treat various ailments. However, the potential of endophytes within these bio-prospective medicinal plants remains unknown. The present study elucidates the endophytic diversity of medicinal plants (Caralluma acutangula, Rhazya stricta, and Moringa peregrina) and the endophyte role in seed growth and oxidative stress. Various organs of medicinal plants yielded ten endophytes, which were identified as Phoma sp. (6 isolates), Alternaria sp. (2), Bipolaris sp. (1), and Cladosporium sp. (1) based on 18S rDNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. The culture filtrates (CFs; 25%, 50%, and 100% concentrations) from these endophytes were tested against the growth of normal and dwarf mutant rice lines. Endophytic CF exhibited dose-dependent growth stimulation and suppression effects. CF (100%) of Phoma sp. significantly increased rice seed germination and growth compared to controls and other endophytes. This growth-promoting effect ...
Various subsequent fractions of Nepeta juncea were subjected to test against platelet aggregation... more Various subsequent fractions of Nepeta juncea were subjected to test against platelet aggregation, antiglycation, cytoxicity, phytotoxicity and antimicrobial activities. Methanolic extract inhibited arachidonic acid (AA) induced platelet aggregation (IC 50 35 ug/ml) and platelet activating factor (PAF)-induced platelet aggregation (IC 50 38 µg/ml) in a dose dependant fashion. In case of antiglycation bioassay, n-hexane fraction showed highest inhibitory activity (74.3%), followed by chloroform (72.4%) and water fractions (64.7%). The order of toxicity for brine shrimps was water > chloroform > n-hexane > N-butanol. Except n-hexane fraction (70% inhibition) at higher concentration (1000 ug/ml), n-butanol, chloroform and water fractions exhibited non-significant phytotoxic activity at even highest dose against Lemna minor. No significant inhibitory effect of these fractions could be observed against these bacteria and fungi except, n-butanol fraction against Bacillus subtilis (27.0%), Shigella flexneri (30.7%) and Staphylococcus aureus (42.3%). The chloroform fraction showed 25% antibacterial activity against Salmonella typhi only. Each fraction might have variable effects in different bioassays.
Inula falconeri, Inula koelzii, Lactuca dissecta and Anthemis nobilis were collected from Himalay... more Inula falconeri, Inula koelzii, Lactuca dissecta and Anthemis nobilis were collected from Himalaya and Hindukush ranges of Pakistan and their allelopathic effect was studied through Sandwich and Homogenated Sandwich methods. The study also aimed at analyzing whether method and concentration can affect the overall results. The results showed that method has no significant value; however, concentration of leaf leachates has highly significant value for exploring the inhibition or stimulation pattern of the plant species.
Background The objective of this study was to determine the pharmacological basis of the medicina... more Background The objective of this study was to determine the pharmacological basis of the medicinal use of psyllium husk (Ispaghula) in gastrointestinal motility disorders. Methods In-vivo studies were conducted on mice, and isolated rabbit jejunum and guinea-pig ileum were used in in-vitro experiments. Results The crude extract of Ispaghula (Po.Cr) had a laxative effect in mice at 100 and 300 mg/kg, which was partially sensitive to atropine or SB203186 (5-HT 4 antagonist). At higher doses (500 and 1,000 mg/kg), Po.Cr had antisecretory and antidiarrheal activity. In guinea-pig ileum, Po.Cr (1-10 mg/ml) had a stimulatory effect, which was partially sensitive to atropine or SB203186. In rabbit jejunum, Po.Cr had a partially atropine-sensitive stimulatory effect followed by relaxation at 10 mg/ml. The relaxation was inhibited by the presence of L-NAME, a nitric oxide (NO) synthase inhibitor, or methylene blue, a guanylyl cyclase inhibitor. Similarly, the relaxant effect of Po.Cr on K ? (80 mM)-induced contractions, was attenuated in the presence of L-NAME or methylene blue. Activity-directed fractionation of Po.Cr revealed that the gut stimulatory and inhibitory constituents were widely distributed in the aqueous and organic fractions. Conclusion This study demonstrates that Ispaghula has a gut-stimulatory effect, mediated partially by muscarinic and 5-HT 4 receptor activation, which may complement the laxative effect of its fiber content, and a gut-inhibitory activity possibly mediated by blockade of Ca 2? channels and activation of NO-cyclic guanosine monophosphate pathways. This may explain its medicinal use in diarrhea. It is, perhaps, also intended by nature to offset an excessive stimulant effect.
Inula britannica L., family Asteraceae, is used in traditional Chinese and Kampo Medicines for va... more Inula britannica L., family Asteraceae, is used in traditional Chinese and Kampo Medicines for various diseases. Flowers or the aerial parts are a rich source of secondary metabolites. These consist mainly of terpenoids (sesquiterpene lactones and dimmers, diterpenes and triterpenoids) and flavonoids. The isolated compounds have shown diverse biological activities: anticancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective and hepatoprotective activities. This review provides information on isolated bioactive phytochemicals and pharmacological potentials of I. britannica.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Jan 27, 2015
UV radiation resistance-associated gene (UVRAG) encodes a tumor suppressor with putative roles in... more UV radiation resistance-associated gene (UVRAG) encodes a tumor suppressor with putative roles in autophagy, endocytic trafficking, and DNA damage repair but its in vivo role in T cells is unknown. Because conditional homozygous deletion of Uvrag in mice results in early embryonic lethality, we generated T-cell-specific UVRAG-deficient mice that lacked UVRAG expression specifically in T cells. This loss of UVRAG led to defects in peripheral homeostasis that could not be explained by the increased sensitivity to cell death and impaired proliferation observed for other autophagy-related gene knockout mice. Instead, UVRAG-deficient T-cells exhibited normal mitochondrial clearance and activation-induced autophagy, suggesting that UVRAG has an autophagy-independent role that is critical for peripheral naive T-cell homeostatic proliferation. In vivo, T-cell-specific loss of UVRAG dampened CD8(+) T-cell responses to LCMV infection in mice, delayed viral clearance, and impaired memory T-cel...
Diet plays a key role to maintaining healthy life. Many natural products present in our diet, suc... more Diet plays a key role to maintaining healthy life. Many natural products present in our diet, such as flavonoids, can prevent the progression of cancer. Quercetin, a distinctive bioactive flavonoid, is a dietary component that has attracted the attention of dietitians and medicinal chemists due to its numerous health-promoting effects. It is an outstanding antioxidant that has a well-documented role in reducing different human cancers. Quercetin exhibits direct proapoptotic effects on tumor cells and thus can inhibit the progress of numerous human cancers. The anticancer effect of quercetin has been documented in numerous in vitro and in vivo studies that involved several cell lines and animal models. On the other hand, the high toxic effect of quercetin against cancer cells is accompanied with little or no side effects or harm to normal cells. Accordingly, this review presents an overview of recent developments on the use of quercetin against different types of cancer along with me...
2009 International Conference on Computer Engineering and Technology, 2009
MANET security has long been an issue for its infrastructure-less nature. The sort of networks gi... more MANET security has long been an issue for its infrastructure-less nature. The sort of networks gives rise to authentication and key-management problems in MANETs. The absolute TTP based schemes seem to be infeasible for being adopted in MANETs and so are the non-TTP based selforganized schemes which suffer security problems regarding key identity of nodes. A hybrid scheme can serve the purpose. One of the hybrid schemes addressed these issues effectively by pre-assigned logins on offline basis and issuing certificates being online, using 4 th generation services. However, the scheme revealed overheads in different scenarios. We have proposed a scheme where the nodes having common interests, once authenticated through external resources, form a group with a single key shared for the whole group. The overlapping nodes sharing different groups facilitate authentication of other nodes communicating from those groups. In this way the external messages for authentication among the nodes of different groups can be reduced to a great extent.
2009 International Conference on Emerging Technologies, 2009
AbstractDigital medical images are very easy to be modified for illegal purposes. For example ma... more AbstractDigital medical images are very easy to be modified for illegal purposes. For example malignant nodules on lung parenchyma in chest CT scan images is an important diagnostic clue, and it can be wiped of intentionally for insurance purposes or added intentionally ...
I. INTRODUCTION ITH the increasing use of internet and effortless copying, tempering and distribu... more I. INTRODUCTION ITH the increasing use of internet and effortless copying, tempering and distribution of digital data, copyright protection for multimedia data has become an important issue. Digital watermarking emerged as a tool for protecting the multimedia data from copyright ...
Proceedings of the SPIE-The International Society for Optical Engineering, Feb 14, 2008
Mobile phones have evolved from passive one-to-one communication device to powerful handheld comp... more Mobile phones have evolved from passive one-to-one communication device to powerful handheld computing device. Today most new mobile phones are capable of capturing images, recording video, and browsing internet and do much more. Exciting new social applications are emerging on mobile landscape, like, business card readers, sing detectors and translators. These applications help people quickly gather the information in digital format and interpret them without the need of carrying laptops or tablet PCs. ...
This paper aims to review the research achievements concerning sustainable sesame (Sesamum indicu... more This paper aims to review the research achievements concerning sustainable sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) production and outlook on the production constraints and future perspectives for Myanmar sesame. Sesame is an economically and nutritionally important crop, and it is prized for oil. The global sesame market demand is rising with increasing health awareness. Meanwhile, there is high competition in the market among producing countries for an international trade. Smallholder farmers in developing countries cultivate sesame as a cash crop on marginal soils. The edible oilseed sectors currently face several challenges, including ones affecting sesame crops. For sustainable production of sesame, an integrated approach is needed to overcome these challenges and the critical limiting factors should be identified. In recent years, sesame genomic resources, including molecular markers, genetic maps, genome sequences, and online functional databases, are available for sesame genetic improvem...
There is an ongoing hunt for biologically active compounds that can combat phytopathogenic fungi ... more There is an ongoing hunt for biologically active compounds that can combat phytopathogenic fungi and improve plant growth without causing any hazards to the environment. Consequently the present study aims at deciphering the plant growth promotion and antifungal capability of Lysinibacillus sphaericus ZA9. The bacterium was previously isolated and identified in our laboratory from maize rhizosphere using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The test bacterium L. sphaericus ZA9 was found to produce high quantity of IAA (697 μg/ mL); siderophores (195.79 μg/ mL), HCN and hydrolytic enzyme as compared to the reference strain Bacillus sphaericus Z2-7. The bacterium was also capable of solubilizing silicates (Si), phosphates (P), and potassium (K). The bacterium enhanced the seedling vigor and germination of seeds pretreated with it and promoted the shoot length of both cucumber and tomato seeds in greenhouse experiment. L. sphaericus ZA9 and its cell free culture supernatant showed varied antagoni...
Medicinal plants have been used by marginal communities to treat various ailments. However, the p... more Medicinal plants have been used by marginal communities to treat various ailments. However, the potential of endophytes within these bio-prospective medicinal plants remains unknown. The present study elucidates the endophytic diversity of medicinal plants (Caralluma acutangula, Rhazya stricta, and Moringa peregrina) and the endophyte role in seed growth and oxidative stress. Various organs of medicinal plants yielded ten endophytes, which were identified as Phoma sp. (6 isolates), Alternaria sp. (2), Bipolaris sp. (1), and Cladosporium sp. (1) based on 18S rDNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. The culture filtrates (CFs; 25%, 50%, and 100% concentrations) from these endophytes were tested against the growth of normal and dwarf mutant rice lines. Endophytic CF exhibited dose-dependent growth stimulation and suppression effects. CF (100%) of Phoma sp. significantly increased rice seed germination and growth compared to controls and other endophytes. This growth-promoting effect ...
Various subsequent fractions of Nepeta juncea were subjected to test against platelet aggregation... more Various subsequent fractions of Nepeta juncea were subjected to test against platelet aggregation, antiglycation, cytoxicity, phytotoxicity and antimicrobial activities. Methanolic extract inhibited arachidonic acid (AA) induced platelet aggregation (IC 50 35 ug/ml) and platelet activating factor (PAF)-induced platelet aggregation (IC 50 38 µg/ml) in a dose dependant fashion. In case of antiglycation bioassay, n-hexane fraction showed highest inhibitory activity (74.3%), followed by chloroform (72.4%) and water fractions (64.7%). The order of toxicity for brine shrimps was water > chloroform > n-hexane > N-butanol. Except n-hexane fraction (70% inhibition) at higher concentration (1000 ug/ml), n-butanol, chloroform and water fractions exhibited non-significant phytotoxic activity at even highest dose against Lemna minor. No significant inhibitory effect of these fractions could be observed against these bacteria and fungi except, n-butanol fraction against Bacillus subtilis (27.0%), Shigella flexneri (30.7%) and Staphylococcus aureus (42.3%). The chloroform fraction showed 25% antibacterial activity against Salmonella typhi only. Each fraction might have variable effects in different bioassays.
Inula falconeri, Inula koelzii, Lactuca dissecta and Anthemis nobilis were collected from Himalay... more Inula falconeri, Inula koelzii, Lactuca dissecta and Anthemis nobilis were collected from Himalaya and Hindukush ranges of Pakistan and their allelopathic effect was studied through Sandwich and Homogenated Sandwich methods. The study also aimed at analyzing whether method and concentration can affect the overall results. The results showed that method has no significant value; however, concentration of leaf leachates has highly significant value for exploring the inhibition or stimulation pattern of the plant species.
Background The objective of this study was to determine the pharmacological basis of the medicina... more Background The objective of this study was to determine the pharmacological basis of the medicinal use of psyllium husk (Ispaghula) in gastrointestinal motility disorders. Methods In-vivo studies were conducted on mice, and isolated rabbit jejunum and guinea-pig ileum were used in in-vitro experiments. Results The crude extract of Ispaghula (Po.Cr) had a laxative effect in mice at 100 and 300 mg/kg, which was partially sensitive to atropine or SB203186 (5-HT 4 antagonist). At higher doses (500 and 1,000 mg/kg), Po.Cr had antisecretory and antidiarrheal activity. In guinea-pig ileum, Po.Cr (1-10 mg/ml) had a stimulatory effect, which was partially sensitive to atropine or SB203186. In rabbit jejunum, Po.Cr had a partially atropine-sensitive stimulatory effect followed by relaxation at 10 mg/ml. The relaxation was inhibited by the presence of L-NAME, a nitric oxide (NO) synthase inhibitor, or methylene blue, a guanylyl cyclase inhibitor. Similarly, the relaxant effect of Po.Cr on K ? (80 mM)-induced contractions, was attenuated in the presence of L-NAME or methylene blue. Activity-directed fractionation of Po.Cr revealed that the gut stimulatory and inhibitory constituents were widely distributed in the aqueous and organic fractions. Conclusion This study demonstrates that Ispaghula has a gut-stimulatory effect, mediated partially by muscarinic and 5-HT 4 receptor activation, which may complement the laxative effect of its fiber content, and a gut-inhibitory activity possibly mediated by blockade of Ca 2? channels and activation of NO-cyclic guanosine monophosphate pathways. This may explain its medicinal use in diarrhea. It is, perhaps, also intended by nature to offset an excessive stimulant effect.
Inula britannica L., family Asteraceae, is used in traditional Chinese and Kampo Medicines for va... more Inula britannica L., family Asteraceae, is used in traditional Chinese and Kampo Medicines for various diseases. Flowers or the aerial parts are a rich source of secondary metabolites. These consist mainly of terpenoids (sesquiterpene lactones and dimmers, diterpenes and triterpenoids) and flavonoids. The isolated compounds have shown diverse biological activities: anticancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective and hepatoprotective activities. This review provides information on isolated bioactive phytochemicals and pharmacological potentials of I. britannica.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Jan 27, 2015
UV radiation resistance-associated gene (UVRAG) encodes a tumor suppressor with putative roles in... more UV radiation resistance-associated gene (UVRAG) encodes a tumor suppressor with putative roles in autophagy, endocytic trafficking, and DNA damage repair but its in vivo role in T cells is unknown. Because conditional homozygous deletion of Uvrag in mice results in early embryonic lethality, we generated T-cell-specific UVRAG-deficient mice that lacked UVRAG expression specifically in T cells. This loss of UVRAG led to defects in peripheral homeostasis that could not be explained by the increased sensitivity to cell death and impaired proliferation observed for other autophagy-related gene knockout mice. Instead, UVRAG-deficient T-cells exhibited normal mitochondrial clearance and activation-induced autophagy, suggesting that UVRAG has an autophagy-independent role that is critical for peripheral naive T-cell homeostatic proliferation. In vivo, T-cell-specific loss of UVRAG dampened CD8(+) T-cell responses to LCMV infection in mice, delayed viral clearance, and impaired memory T-cel...
Diet plays a key role to maintaining healthy life. Many natural products present in our diet, suc... more Diet plays a key role to maintaining healthy life. Many natural products present in our diet, such as flavonoids, can prevent the progression of cancer. Quercetin, a distinctive bioactive flavonoid, is a dietary component that has attracted the attention of dietitians and medicinal chemists due to its numerous health-promoting effects. It is an outstanding antioxidant that has a well-documented role in reducing different human cancers. Quercetin exhibits direct proapoptotic effects on tumor cells and thus can inhibit the progress of numerous human cancers. The anticancer effect of quercetin has been documented in numerous in vitro and in vivo studies that involved several cell lines and animal models. On the other hand, the high toxic effect of quercetin against cancer cells is accompanied with little or no side effects or harm to normal cells. Accordingly, this review presents an overview of recent developments on the use of quercetin against different types of cancer along with me...
2009 International Conference on Computer Engineering and Technology, 2009
MANET security has long been an issue for its infrastructure-less nature. The sort of networks gi... more MANET security has long been an issue for its infrastructure-less nature. The sort of networks gives rise to authentication and key-management problems in MANETs. The absolute TTP based schemes seem to be infeasible for being adopted in MANETs and so are the non-TTP based selforganized schemes which suffer security problems regarding key identity of nodes. A hybrid scheme can serve the purpose. One of the hybrid schemes addressed these issues effectively by pre-assigned logins on offline basis and issuing certificates being online, using 4 th generation services. However, the scheme revealed overheads in different scenarios. We have proposed a scheme where the nodes having common interests, once authenticated through external resources, form a group with a single key shared for the whole group. The overlapping nodes sharing different groups facilitate authentication of other nodes communicating from those groups. In this way the external messages for authentication among the nodes of different groups can be reduced to a great extent.
2009 International Conference on Emerging Technologies, 2009
AbstractDigital medical images are very easy to be modified for illegal purposes. For example ma... more AbstractDigital medical images are very easy to be modified for illegal purposes. For example malignant nodules on lung parenchyma in chest CT scan images is an important diagnostic clue, and it can be wiped of intentionally for insurance purposes or added intentionally ...
I. INTRODUCTION ITH the increasing use of internet and effortless copying, tempering and distribu... more I. INTRODUCTION ITH the increasing use of internet and effortless copying, tempering and distribution of digital data, copyright protection for multimedia data has become an important issue. Digital watermarking emerged as a tool for protecting the multimedia data from copyright ...
Proceedings of the SPIE-The International Society for Optical Engineering, Feb 14, 2008
Mobile phones have evolved from passive one-to-one communication device to powerful handheld comp... more Mobile phones have evolved from passive one-to-one communication device to powerful handheld computing device. Today most new mobile phones are capable of capturing images, recording video, and browsing internet and do much more. Exciting new social applications are emerging on mobile landscape, like, business card readers, sing detectors and translators. These applications help people quickly gather the information in digital format and interpret them without the need of carrying laptops or tablet PCs. ...
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Papers by Syed Gilani