Fucoidanase and alginate lyase are promising biocatalysts for several biotechnological applications. The sequentially extracted fucoidan and alginate from the brown macroalgae Sargassum latifolium were used for the optimization of a cost-effective culture medium for fucoidanase and alginate lyase production by the marine fungus Dendryphiella arenaria. Plackett–Burman statistical design was conducted for initial determination of the importance of 11 independent variables on enzyme potentiation, and the significant variables were further optimized using Box–Behnken design. The optimum conditions for fucoidanase production were fucoidan (1.5% w/v), NaCl (1.5%), urea (0.3%), and incubation period (2 days), which gives ~ 4 U mL−1 of crude fucoidanase. While, alginate (1.5% w/v), NaCl (4%), NH4Cl (0.3%), and incubation period (6 days) were the optimum conditions that enhanced alginate lyase production to ~ 24 U mL−1. Additionally, a new protocol for the enzymatic saccharification of fucoidan and alginate was optimized using Box–Behnken design with respect to substrate concentration, enzyme dosage, and temperature. The enzymatic saccharification of citric acid-extracted fucoidan gave a maximum yield of reducing sugar 365 mg g−1 fucoidan, while the alkali-extracted alginate gave 439.66 mg g−1 alginate. The results showed that the two enzymes could be exploited for the efficient production of reducing sugars from fucoidan and alginate, which are the key substrate for producing biofuels from brown macroalgal biomass.

Fucoidanase is a promising biocatalyst for several biotechnological applications. Crude fucoidanase production by Dendryphiella arenaria was optimized using a natural low-cost medium composed of Cystoseira trinodis and natural seawater. The results showed that seaweed biomass concentration and incubation period were the most significant factors affecting fucoidanase production. At the optimized conditions [seaweed biomass (4.25% w/v), seawater concentration (100% v/v), and incubation period (2 days)], the fucoidanase production was 3.43 U/mL. The crude fucoidanase exhibited a wide pH (3–9) stability with residual activity > 58%. The enzyme showed a good thermostability at 40 and 50 °C with half-lives of 239.02 and 115.52 min, respectively. Several parameters of thermal inactivation kinetics and thermodynamics were calculated, and suggested that the enzyme would be thermostable. Additionally, enzymatic extract containing fucoidanase was used for the enzymatic saccharification of the brown algal biomass in terms of seaweed particle size, solid/liquid ratio, and enzyme dosage. The maximum reducing sugars obtained was 57.11 mg/g. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report regarding fungal fucoidanase optimization mediated saccharification of a brown seaweed.

Introduction: Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is known as a carcinogenic, teratogenic, mutagenic and growth inhibitory mycotoxin. Aim: the current study aims to demonstrate the adverse morphological effects of AB1 on the developing chick embryo. Materials and methods: Fertilized eggs of the chick Gallus domesticus were divided into five groups: control group, positive control group treated with aflatoxin's solvent (10% Ethanol), and three experimental groups treated with a single doses of 5ng, 10ng or 20ng of AFB1 extract. The hatchability and mortality rates were recorded, specimens were weighed, morphologically examined, and morphometric measurements were carried out for some parameters: Crown rump, head length, head circumference, head height, fore limb and all parts of hind limb lengths of the embryos after 21 days of incubation. Results: Current data showed a decrease in hatchability rate (4.76%, 5.48%, 6.9% ) in treated groups (5ng, 10ng and 20ng) respectively compared to control (97%), weight and all morphometric parameters were significantly decreased in treated groups compared to control ones and insignificantly changed among the three treated groups. Mortality rate was increased (13%, 24%, 13%) in treated groups (5ng, 10ng and 20ng) respectively compared to control (0%). Different congenital malformations were observed in treated embryos such as: growth retardation, brain deformation, invagination of eyes, anophthalmia, beak deformities, wry and twisted neck, absence of feathers, open body cavity, limb deformities such as bud limbs or absence of limbs and poor ossification. Discussion: The present study demonstrated that AFB1 causes developmental anomalies to the embryo such as decreasing the hatchability rate, increasing mortality rate and also causes severe congenital anomalies to the embryo, according to earlier literatures, AFB1 alters DNA and RNA and causes cell death which may explain the severe malformations during the dvelopment of chick embryo.

In this work, a new quaternion-based method for color image watermarking is proposed. In this method, a novel set of quaternion radial substituted Chebyshev moments (QRSCMs) is presented for robust geometrically invariant image watermarking. An efficient computational method is proposed for highly accurate, fast, and numerically stable QRSCMs in polar coordinates. The proposed watermarking method consists of three stages. In the first stage, the Arnold transform is used to improve the security of the watermarking scheme by scrambling the binary watermark. In the second stage, the proposed accurate and stable QRSCMs of the host color image are computed. In the third stage, the encrypted binary watermark is embedded into the host image by employing the quantization technique on selected-magnitude QRSCMs where the watermarked color image is obtained by adding the original host color image to the compensation image. Then, the binary watermark can be extracted directly without using the original image from the magnitudes of QRSCMs. Numerical experiments are performed where the performance of proposed method is compared with the existing quaternion moment-based watermarking methods. The comparison clearly shows that the proposed method is very efficient in terms of the visual imperceptibility capability and the robustness under different attacks compared to the existing quaternion moment-based watermarking algorithms.

The adaptive dual synchronization of chaotic (hyperchaotic) complex systems with uncertain parameters has been investigated. The analytical control functions are derived using a theorem to synchronize the chaotic (hyperchaotic) solutions of these systems. The adaptive dual synchronization between the chaotic complex Chen and Lorenz systems is introduced as an example, and another example is used to test the validity of the technique of this paper. Other examples of chaotic or hyperchaotic complex systems can be similarly studied. Based on the up-to-date laws, the parameters of the drive systems can be identified. The image encryption technique based on the adaptive dual synchronization of chaotic complex Chen and Lorenz systems is presented for gray and color images in the same time. Meantime, in the receiver side, information can be recovered successfully by adaptive technique. The presented technique is robust with respect to different levels of white Gaussian noise. The communication channel as well as the effect of the increase of noise are big challenge which have not been considered. Numerical simulations are given to verify the feasibility of our proposed synchronization and better performance of image encryption technique in terms of histogram, robustness to noise and visual imperceptibility.

Because of the serious damaging signs induced by aphids on cereal crops, changes in the biochemical parameters of these pests in response to feeding on different varieties of cereal crops require attention. This work addressed the effects of five varieties of barley (Giza 123, Giza124, Giza125, Giza132 and Giza 2000) and four varieties of wheat (Sids 1, Giza 168, Shanduel 1 and Gemieza 11) that are cultivated in Egypt on the apterous adults of the corn aphid, Rhopalosiphum maidis. Giza 125 and Giza 132 of barley highly decreased catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the total antioxidants compared to other barley varieties. Giza123, Giza 124 and Giza 2000 caused a significant decrease in glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activity. Shanduel 1 and Giza 168 impaired the levels of CAT, SOD and the total antioxidant content in R. maidis. GST was in the lowest level in case of Sids 1 and Gemeiza 11 of wheat. Amylase was reduced by three varieties of barley (Giza 123, Giza 125 and Giza 132). The latter two varieties (Giza 125 and Giza 132) decreased the lipase activity in R. maidis. Lipase activity did not change in all varieties of wheat-fed R. maidis while a single variety (Shanduel 1) had the most negative impact on amylase activity in R. maidis. The present investigation emphasized that the cultivation of right field crops can manage aphids that attack them via targeting some metabolic pathways.

Aphids cause serious damage to cereal crops worldwide leading to great economic loss. In this work, we addressed the correlation between the infestation rate of Rhopalosiphum maidis (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and the changes in some biochemical parameters after feeding on three cultivars of both sorghum (local, drado, and sphinix) and maize (local, unique 6 and triple 310) plants cultivated at Assiut University farm in Egypt. Local variety of sorghum showed lower infestation rate by R. maidis than drado and sphinix varieties, as well as it led to significant enhancement of total antioxidant, carbohydrates, and lipids, and activity of amylase and lipase. On the other hand, local strain of maize showed higher infestation rate by R. maidis than unique 6 and triple 310 varieties. The higher infestation rate to local variety of maize was associated with significant increase in total antioxidants, carbohydrate, and lipid content, and activity of amylase and lipase. This research suggests that there was no correlation between the infestation rate of R. maidis fed on different cultivars of sorghum and maize and the total content of antioxidants, carbohydrate and lipid content, as well as their catabolic pathways.

The current investigation was carried out to record the final stages of the development of both middle and distal parts of quail ceca, Coturnix coturnix japonica to understand the role of ceca in digestion, immune system, and absorption. The cellular and subcellular structures, including epithelial cell height, microvillus surface area, the proportion of goblet cells, the thickness of muscle layer, and cecum diameter showed great variations during the development. An undeveloped smooth muscularis mucosa was observed for the first time on the ED5. Primordia of glands were observed on the ED7. On the ED15, the middle part exhibited two shapes of mucosal villi: tongue-shaped villi and U-shaped. The plicae and crypts of Lieberkühn were demonstrated on the hatching day. The lymphatic tissues appeared in the wall of both parts of the ceca at the 4 weeks of age. Scanning electron microscopy revealed a great difference in the mucosal surface between different regions. Telocytes were observed in-between the muscle fibers and formed a network during the post-hatching period. Because of fermentation and other bacterial or chemical processes that have been shown to occur in the ceca, this study supports two hypotheses: the cecal development is related to diet and the cecal epithelium act as a site for primary absorption of nutrients or for re-absorption of electrolytes or amino acids derived from the urine.

The current investigation was carried out to record the final stages of the development of both middle and distal parts of quail ceca, Coturnix coturnix japonica to understand the role of ceca in digestion, immune system, and absorption. The cellular and subcellular structures, including epithelial cell height, microvillus surface area, the proportion of goblet cells, the thickness of muscle layer, and cecum diameter showed great variations during the development. An undeveloped smooth muscularis mucosa was observed for the first time on the ED5. Primordia of glands were observed on the ED7. On the ED15, the middle part exhibited two shapes of mucosal villi: tongue-shaped villi and U-shaped. The plicae and crypts of Lieberkühn were demonstrated on the hatching day. The lymphatic tissues appeared in the wall of both parts of the ceca at the 4 weeks of age. Scanning electron microscopy revealed a great difference in the mucosal surface between different regions. Telocytes were observed in-between the muscle fibers and formed a network during the post-hatching period. Because of fermentation and other bacterial or chemical processes that have been shown to occur in the ceca, this study supports two hypotheses: the cecal development is related to diet and the cecal epithelium act as a site for primary absorption of nutrients or for re-absorption of electrolytes or amino acids derived from the urine.

In this paper, we study some unique coupled coincidence points for rational type contractions involving generalized altering distance functions in metric spaces. Our results unify and generalize various known comparable results from the current literature, Gupta et. al. [15], Nashine and Aydi [21], Rashwan and Saleh [25] and many known results. An example is also given to support our main results.