Muhammad Ajmal Shah

Food borne diseases are an increasingly recognized problem involving a wide spectrum of illnesses caused by bacterial contamination of food. Enterobacteriaceae poses potential human health problems and is mainly transmitted through consumption of contaminated foods. Karachi is one of the
biggest and thickly populated city of Pakistan where majority of the people consume cheap foods prepared in unlicensed food selling points. The objective of the present study was to determine the total Enterobacteriaceae load in various fast foods sold directly to consumers in the streets of Karachi. A total of 27 different food items were collected from street vended foods and processed for the recovery of
Enterobacteriaceae load through culturing method and biochemical characterization. Out of the 27 samples,
13 food samples did not show the growth of Enterobacteriaceae, while the remaining 14 samples were
heavily contaminated with gram negative bacteria. From the present study, it can be concluded that majority of the fast foods sold in the street restaurants of Karachi Pakistan is highly contaminated and not fit for human consumption.

Antibiotic resistance in pathogens is on the increase but in the past few decades this problem raised a deepening concern among scientific community in terms of the clinical management of infectious diseases. In this review, the common gram negative clinically significant pathogenic bacteria who have acquired resistance with passage of time like Shigella dysenteriae, Sh. Boydii, Sh. Flexneri, Listeria monocytogenes, Acinetobacter baumannii, acinetobacter, A. baumannii, Morganella morganii, Enterobacteriaceae, Citrobacter freundii, Citrobacter braakii, or Citrobacter amalonaticus, P. stuartii, Providencia rettgeri, P. alcalifaciens, P. rustigianii, E. coli, Salmonella. paratyphi, S. typhi, Salmonella enterica, have been compiled with their plausible ways of causing resistance. We conclude from our literature review that resistance in gram negative bacteria is on the rise and new and advanced antibiotics need to be designed and introduced.

"Introduction
Viral infections are one of the major public health challenges facing the world today. Infections with viruses in many cases not only weaken the immune system but also increasing the risk of opportunistic infections and various types of cancer as well. Medicinal plants play a vital role in combating various diseases of different origin. In the present study we evaluated antiviral potential of Berberis lycium root bark.

Methods
Two different crude aqueous extracts i.e. decoction and infusion of Berberis lycium root bark prepared by boiling and soaking methods have been investigated for antiviral potential. After two hours exposure of the viral infection (with New castle disease virus), the eggs were exposed to various concentrations of both decoction and infusion of Berberis lycium root bark and mortality was observed up to 96hrs.

Results
All eggs inoculated with the virus alone as well as 5 and 10 mg/ml extract/virus suspensions, died by 24 hrs post inoculation while no mortality was observed in those inoculated with 200 mg/ml extract/virus suspensions (decoction), 300 mg/ml extract/virus suspensions (infusion) and those inoculated with pure extract. 25, 50 and 100 mg/ml extract/virus suspensions in both decoction and infusion showed 40, 40 and 20% mortality due to viral activity.

Conclusion
This preliminary study showed that Berberis lycium root bark has a potential antiviral activity more in its decoction form than infusion so further research on isolation and purification of phytotherapeutic(s) responsible for antiviral activity will be a mile stone in combating various fatal viral infections.
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Berberis lycium is one of the species belong to family Berberidaceae, an evergreen shrub growing in Himalayan region. The various parts of the plant like root, bark, stem, leaves and fruits are used by the people as a medicine or food. This plant has also gained wide acceptance for its medicinal value in traditional system of medicines. In the present study root bark of Berberis lycium has been authenticated for its traditional anthelmintic and antiurolithiatic use. During this study, in vitro anthelmintic as well as antiurolithiatic effects were assessed in both aqueous Berberis lycium root bark extracts i.e. decoction and infusion. Three concentrations (25, 50 and 100 mg/ml) of each aqueous extract were studied in anthelmintic bioassay, which involved the determination of time of paralysis and time of death of the worm i.e. Pheretima posthuma. Both the extracts exhibited significant anthelmintic activity at highest concentration of 100 mg/ml; both the paralysis and death times taken by decoction are lesser than infusion indicating its better efficacy. Piperazine citrate in same concentration as that of extracts was included as reference standard and normal saline as control. Antiurolithiatic effect of Berberis lycium root bark was studied on different phases of calcium oxalate crystallization in synthetic urine. Results showed that both decoction and infusion gave 92.4% and 80.2% inhibition of calcium oxalate crystallization at the concentration of 100%.

Herbal medicinal products in Pakistan have been perceived by the public as relatively low risk curing agents, but with the advancement in technological tools, there has been recognition of the potential public health risks linked with the usage of these products. In herbal medicine, herbal tonic is a remedy which is used to restore tone and invigorate body systems or to promote general health and well-being. In Pakistan, herbal tonics are available in different dosage forms such as syrups, tablets and capsules. Quality control is crucial to ensure the safety and proper use of herbal medicines. Synthetic drugs adulteration in the Pakistani branded herbal medicines has become a common practice for economic purpose as well as for enhancing pharmacodynamics without considering their toxic and lethal effects. The misuse of steroids can cause serious side effects such as Cushing’s syndrome, osteoporosis, peptic ulcer, renal failure etc. Therefore, people should be aware of steroid adulteration in herbal medicines. We hypothesized that the herbal tonics available in markets are adulterated with an anabolic steroid i.e. Dexamethasone, therefore, the directly collected herbal tonic capsules (labeled as A, B, C, D and E) were quantitatively assessed for the possible Dexamethasone adulteration in the present study. Five different brands of herbal tonic capsules were purchased from local markets in Karachi, Pakistan and brought to the Research Laboratory, Faculty of Pharmacy, Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science & Technology Karachi, Pakistan. Reverse phase isocratic high performance liquid chromatography was used for analyzing the herbal tonic capsules for the possible suspected steroid adulteration. Results showed that the samples B, C and D were adulterated with Dexamethasone as, 0.667mg, 0.535mg and 1.16mg per capsule respectively. The present study deduced Dexamethasone adulteration in herbal tonics so there is a need of proper and well regulated system of licensing, registration and quality control of herbal drugs with ministry of health of Pakistan. Further samples from the same experiment will be processed in order to establish the clear understanding of Dexamethasone adulteration in herbal products sold in Pakistan.