Aflatoxins are various poisonous carcinogens and mutagens that are produced by certain molds, particularly Aspergillus species mainly by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. According to the USDA, "They are probably the best known and most intensively researched mycotoxins in the world." The fungi grow in soil, decaying vegetation and various staple foodstuffs and commodities such as hay, maize, peanuts, coffee, wheat, millet, sorghum, cassava, rice, chili peppers, cottonseed, tree nuts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, and various cereal grains and oil seeds. In short, the relevant fungi grow on almost any crop or food. When such contaminated food is processed or consumed, the aflatoxins enter the general food supply. They have been found in both pet and human foods, as well as in feedstocks for agricultural animals. Animals fed contaminated food can pass aflatoxin transformation products into milk, milk products, and meat. For example, contaminated poultry feed is the suspected source of aflatoxin-contaminated chicken meat and eggs in Pakistan.
Aspergillus niger is a mold classified within the Nigri section of the Aspergillus genus. The Aspergillus genus consists of common molds found throughout the environment within soil and water, on vegetation, in fecal matter, on decomposing matter, and suspended in the air. Species within this genus often grow quickly and can sporulate within a few days of germination. A combination of characteristics unique to A. niger makes the microbe invaluable to the production of many acids, proteins and bioactive compounds. Characteristics including extensive metabolic diversity, high production yield, secretion capability, and the ability to conduct post-translational modifications are responsible for A. niger's robust production of secondary metabolites. A. niger's capability to withstand extremely acidic conditions makes it especially important to the industrial production of citric acid.
Aspergillus flavus is a saprotrophic and pathogenic fungus with a cosmopolitan distribution. It is best known for its colonization of cereal grains, legumes, and tree nuts. Postharvest rot typically develops during harvest, storage, and/or transit. Its specific name flavus derives from the Latin meaning yellow, a reference to the frequently observed colour of the spores. A. flavus infections can occur while hosts are still in the field (preharvest), but often show no symptoms (dormancy) until postharvest storage or transport.
Events from the year 1960 in Pakistan.
The Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science & Technology (PINSTECH) is a federally funded research and development laboratory in Nilore, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Muhammad Hafeez Qureshi, NI, SI, HI, known as Hafeez Qureshi, was a Pakistani nuclear scientist and a mechanical engineer, known for his role as a diagnostics engineer for his nation's nuclear capability.
Project-706, also known as Project-786 was the codename of a research and development program to develop Pakistan's first nuclear weapons. The program was initiated by Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1974 in response to the Indian nuclear tests conducted in May 1974. During the course of this program, Pakistani nuclear scientists and engineers developed the requisite nuclear infrastructure and gained expertise in the extraction, refining, processing and handling of fissile material with the ultimate goal of designing a nuclear device. These objectives were achieved by the early 1980s with the first successful cold test of a Pakistani nuclear device in 1983. The two institutions responsible for the execution of the program were the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission and the Kahuta Research Laboratories, led by Munir Ahmed Khan and Abdul Qadeer Khan respectively. In 1976 an organization called Special Development Works (SDW) was created within the Pakistan Army, directly under the Chief of the Army Staff (Pakistan) (COAS). This organization worked closely with PAEC and KRL to secretly prepare the nuclear test sites in Baluchistan and other required civil infrastructure.
Mazhar Mahmood Qurashi, best known as M. M. Qureshi was a Pakistani physicist and an Islamic scholar who was educated in Lahore and Manchester. He earned prestige and notability after authoring important publication on Islam and science and abstract theories to explain the religious phenomenon and events, explained in Koran— a Quran of Muslims.
Waheed Qureshi was a Pakistani noted linguist, literary critic, writer, researcher, educationalist and scholar of Urdu literature and oriental languages. Waheed Qureshi was one of the foremost scholars who helped shape the mood and colour of research on oriental languages and literature.
Naeem Ahmad Khan, FPAS, was a Pakistani nuclear physicist and a professor of physics who was known for his work in developing techniques using the solid-state nuclear track detector and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance. Although he worked with the Government of Pakistan for most of his career, he also taught physics at a number of Pakistani universities and was the civilian scientist of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) until his death.
Charles Thom was an American microbiologist and mycologist. Born and raised in Illinois, he received his PhD from the University of Missouri, the first such degree awarded by that institution. He studied the microbiology of dairy products and soil fungi, and in particular researched the genera Aspergillus and Penicillium. His work influenced the establishment of standards for food handling and processing in the USA. He pioneered the use of culture media to grow microorganisms, and, with food chemist James N. Currie, developed a process to mass-produce citric acid using Aspergillus. Thom played an important role in the development of penicillin in World War II.
Khalil Ahmad Qureshi, is a Pakistani physical chemist and the professor of physical chemistry at the Punjab University. He has published notable papers in nuclear physical chemistry in international scientific journals as well contributing in the advancement of the scientific applications of the civilian usage of the fuel cycle.
Iqbal Hussain Qureshi 27 September 1937 – 8 December 2012) SI, FPAS, best known as I.H. Qureshi, was a Pakistani nuclear chemist and an Emeritus professor of chemistry at the University of Karachi. Qureshi was the principal contributor of scientific understanding of various chemical elements: bismuth, cobalt, strontium, thallium, tritium, iron, rubidium, and zinc.
Sarcococca saligna, the sweet box or Christmas box, is a species of flowering plant in the family Buxaceae. This shrub is native to northern Pakistan. Its common name in Pakistan is sheha.
Muhammad Subhan Qureshi is a biologist from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, who is the founder and chief patron of Dairy Science Park. He also worked as a dean at the University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan, and as adjunct professor at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, Australia.
Tathamangalam Ananthanarayanan Venkitasubramanian (1924–2003), popularly known as TAV, was an Indian biochemist, known for his researches on tuberculosis and the biochemistry of bacillus. He was a professor and the head of the department of biochemistry at Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, Delhi. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1968, for his contributions to biological sciences.
Aspergillus awamori is the scientific name for what, until about 2013, was considered a type of black Aspergillus used to make awamori and shōchū. Due to international research in 2013, the black kōji used to make awamori and shōchū is now commonly referred to by the scientific name Aspergillus luchuensis.
Aspergillus tubingensis is a darkly pigmented species of fungus in the genus Aspergillus section Nigri. It is often confused with Aspergillus niger due to their similar morphology and habitat. A. tubingensis is often involved in food spoilage of fruits and wheat, and industrial fermentation. This species is a rare agent of opportunistic infection.
Aspergillus luchuensis is a species of fungus in the genus Aspergillus. It belongs to the group of black Aspergilli which are important industrial workhorses. The fungus has been used to make awamori, a distilled spirit in Okinawa Island, Japan, and is also used to make shōchū and sake. This species was first isolated and described by Tamaki Inui of the University of Tokyo in 1901. For more than 100 years there has been confusion between this species and Aspergillus awamori and Aspergillus niger with regard to scientific names and classification.
Aspergillus stellatus is a species of fungus in the genus Aspergillus. It is from the Nidulantes section. The species was first described in 1934. It has been isolated from soil in Panama and seeds in India. It has been reported in human infections. It has been reported to produce aflatoxin B1, ajamxanthone, shamixanthone, tajixanthone, tajixanthone hydrate, tajixanthone methanoate, 19-O-methyl-22- methoxypre-shamixanthone, pre-shamixanthone, 15- acetyltajixanthone hydrate, andibenin A, andibenin B, andibenin C, andelesin A, andelesin B, anditomin, arugosin A, arugosin B, arugosin D, asperthecin, astellatol, asteltoxin, desferritriacetylfusigen, dihydroterrein, emervaridione, varioxiranediol, epiisoshamixanthone, ophiobolin C, ophiobolin G, ophiobolin H, ophiobolin K, evariquinone, 2-Furanoic acid, islandicin, isoemericellin, kojic acid, 2-Methoxy-6-(3,4-dihydroxy-hepta-1,5-dienyl)benzyl alcohol, najamxanthone, radixanthone, shahenxanthone, penicillin G, shimalactone A, siderin, stellatic acid, stellatin, stromemycin, terrein, variecoacetal A, variecoacetal B, variecolactone, variecolin, varioxirane, varixanthone, varitriol, and varioxranol A-G.
