SOUTHERN JOURNAL OF SCIENCES

Background: Ketogenic diets have a long history of therapeutic use and have recently attracted significant attention due to their promising effects on a variety of disorders. However, no definitive links have been identified. This review aims to highlight the possible impacts of ketogenic diets as well as the mechanisms involved in metabolic processes and related non-communicable metabolic diseases. Methods: For our analysis, a bibliographic review of articles about ketogenic diets and their therapeutic effect on chronic pathologies was carried out, retrieved from the scientific literature. Results and discussion: These studies found both positive and negative outcomes for the effects and implications of ketogenic diets on metabolism. Significant differences in metabolic markers such as weight, glycemia, serum lipids and lipoproteins, anthropometric measures, and hormones such as insulin, leptin, and adiponectin have been reported. In addition to changes in the microbiome that have modest to moderate concurrent effects, changes in metabolism indicate the significance of dietary changes in treating and preventing chronic non-communicable diseases. Conclusions: In this review, we present the available scientific evidence on the effects of the ketogenic diet, and thus ketone bodies, on metabolism and related chronic diseases.

Of the most fundamental fields of modern biology is transcriptomics, with a focal point on the expression pattern of plants under various conditions by assessing ribonucleic acid. So far, this approach has been a game-changer in revealing the gene structure, function, and most importantly, their cellular and biological role. Considering the criticality of pathogens for crop plants, understanding plant defense mechanisms against them is in high demand. This study aimed to review the principles of these approaches and their recent application in the plant. An Important method to address this gap is transcriptomics, which can effectively provide insight into plants against pathogens. This field has covered different aspects of plant biology besides the plant-pathogen relationship. Identifying pathogens in infected plants and the series of reactions they provoke at the gene level is crucial to finding the responsible gene (s). Finding the gene associated with resistance or vulnerability to a specific pathogen paves the way to differentiate the potential genotypes. Thus, the breeding attempts would be more successful. The advancement in biotechnology has revolutionized this field with some of the methods that have been commonly applied in studies on the plant-pathogen relationship, for instance, Northern blotting, microarray, real-time polymerase chain reaction.

Background: Industrial wastewater contains pollutants that are detrimental to human health in varied proportions. Among the pollutants are heavy metals, including Zn2+, Pb2+, and Cu2+ found in a characterized pharmaceutical wastewater. Several techniques have been proposed for the heavy metal sequester. However, they are with attendant challenges. The adsorption techniques using clay-metal oxide modified adsorbent/composite such as silver-clay adsorbent is considered suitable for an effective sequestering process. Aims: To develop and characterize Ag/clay adsorbent for pharmaceutical wastewater treatment. Methods: The Ag nanoparticles were synthesized using Parkia biglobossa aqueous leaves extract in an optimization study. The raw clay was beneficiated and doped with silver nanoparticles via the wet impregnation method. The silver-clay adsorbent was characterized using FTIR, XRD, SEM, and EDS characterization tools. The developed adsorbent was used for the batch adsorption process of the heavy metal ion removal from the wastewater. Results and Discussion: The phytochemical analysis and FTIR results of the P. biglobosa showed that the leaf contains phenol, tannin, and flavonoids which acts as reducing, capping, and stabilizing agent required for synthesizing the silver nanoparticles. The prepared silver nanoparticles modified clay adsorbent Ag/clay, have evenly distributed stacks of pseudo-hexagonal plates, are rich in silica, possess silver nanoparticles in the frameworks, and contain functional groups suitable for binding heavy metals. The adsorptions of Zn2+, Pb2+, and Cu2+ from pharmaceutical wastewater onto the silver-modified clay were studied as a function of adsorbent dosage and contact time. The percentage removal results obtained showed that the adsorbent had up to 99.96%, 99.5%, and 99.44% removal efficiency for Zn2+, Pb2+, and Cu2+, respectively, which are better compared with previous studies. The adsorption process was feasible, spontaneous, and exothermic, with Langmuir and Pseudo-second-order models as best fits for the process. Conclusions: The adsorption of selected heavy metal ions onto the green synthesized silver-modified clay adsorbent (Ag/clay) was feasible, spontaneous, and exothermic in the order Zn2+>Pb2+>Cu2+ with Langmuir and Pseudo-second-order model best fitted for the process. These show that the synthesized silver oxide nanoparticles supported on local clay can be used as a potentially low-cost adsorbent to remove heavy metal ions from industrial wastewater.