This Correction refers to: Shandookh FK, Mohammed MK, Jabbar AD. (2024). Bioremediation of hydrocarbon pollutants by Pseudomonas putida under optimal conditions. Advancements in Life Sciences, 11(4). https://doi.org/10.62940/als.v11i4.1963Following an internal audit conducted after post-publication quality concerns were raised, the Editorial Office identified a citation mismatch in the above article. The authors have confirmed the following correction, which does not alter the experimental dataset, numerical results, tables, figures, statistical outcomes, or the principal conclusions of the study.Citation correctionThe citation [15] supporting the statement concerning microorganism growth as evidence of biodegradation was inappropriate. Based on the authors' clarification, the citation has been corrected from [15] to [17], which refers to Kuri and Roy (2019) and provides the relevant supporting source.Correct referenceRef. [17] Kuri ML, Roy S. Biodegradation of petroleum oil by a novel Bacillus megaterium strain isolated from contaminated soil of Neemrana, Alwar, Rajasthan, India. International Journal of Biotechnology and Bioengineering Research. (2019); 10:1727.This correction does not affect the study's data, results, or conclusions.Correction Published03 October 2026: The necessary corrections have been carried out in the Version of Record.
The Editors of Advancements in Life Sciences wish to alert readers to concerns about the article “Targeting Neurotoxicity and Inflammation in the Cerebral Cortex with Curcumin-Piperine Synergy” by Mohammad Zubair Alam, Badrah Saeed Alghamdi and Athanasios Alexiou, published in Volume 12, Issue 4 (2025) (DOI: https://doi.org/10.62940/als.v12i4.3775).During a post-publication editorial quality review, the editorial office identified six references (Refs 20, 25, 26, 30, 31 and 37) that do not appear to support the statements for which they are cited. On verification against the cited sources, these publications were found to address unrelated subjects: doxorubicin-induced nephrotic syndrome in rats, a clinical case report on glucose metabolism and an insulinoma, curcumin and mitochondrial dysfunction without reference to piperine, a colorectal cancer model, acetaminophen-induced liver injury, and osteoarthritic joint remodeling. The statements concerned relate to curcumin and piperine dosage for neuroprotection, curcumin’s Nrf2 activation and antioxidant effects in the brain, piperine’s inhibition of glucuronidation, neuroinflammatory and central nervous system anti-inflammatory pathways, and nerve growth factor elevation following cuprizone-induced brain damage.The editorial office contacted the corresponding author on September 5, 2026 and asked the authors to provide appropriate citations, clarify any error, or justify or remove the references. The corresponding author declined to correct the references. The editorial office is continuing to look into the matter.Readers should take these concerns into account when relying on the statements concerned. This notice will be updated when the matter has been resolved.Expression of Concern Published: October 25, 2026
Background: Brucellosis, a global zoonotic disease, poses significant threats to both public health and economic stability, particularly in livestock industries, necessitating the development of improved diagnostic methods for early detection and control. The development of recombinant antigens offers a promising approach to improve diagnostic accuracy and standardization of test systems.Methods: Genes encoding Brucella antigens (Omp2b, BP26, and SodC) were cloned into the pET-28a(+) vector and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3). Recombinant proteins were purified using Ni-NTA chromatography and characterized for expression level, solubility, yield, and stability. Diagnostic performance was evaluated using the same complete bovine serum panel of 86 samples, comprising 56 serologically positive and 30 serologically negative sera. Each of the 86 serum samples was tested with all three individual antigens (Omp2b, BP26, and SodC) and all three combined-antigen formulations (BP26+Omp2b, BP26+SodC, and BP26+Omp2b+SodC); no separate sub-panels were used. Sensitivity and specificity were therefore calculated for every antigen format using the same reference panel, followed by comparisons with commercial ELISA kits. Paired differences in sensitivity and specificity were evaluated using Cochran’s Q test followed by Holm-adjusted pairwise McNemar tests.Results: Successful cloning and expression yielded proteins of expected molecular weights (38, 26, and 18 kDa). BP26 demonstrated the highest expression (28.4%), solubility (82.1%), and yield (14.8 mg/L), along with superior stability and reproducibility. The verified sensitivity/specificity values were 80.6%/88% for Omp2b, 91.7%/95% for BP26, 75%/90% for SodC, 94.4%/92% for BP26+Omp2b, 95.8%/93% for BP26+SodC, and 97.2%/91% for BP26+Omp2b+SodC. The new tests also showed improved stability, reduced cross-reactivity, and better detection at low antibody titre compared to commercial kits.Conclusion: Recombinant antigens, particularly BP26 and its combinations, show improved diagnostic performance in the serological diagnosis of animal brucellosis. The developed antigen systems demonstrate high sensitivity, specificity, and stability, supporting their potential application in advanced diagnostic test development.KeywordsBrucellosis, Recombinant antigens, BP26, Omp2b, SodC, Serological diagnosis, ELISA, Diagnostic sensitivity
Background: Microorganisms have developed resistance as a result of the overuse of antibiotics. Finding alternatives to restrict the proliferation of microorganisms, especially those derived from plants, that are readily available and have notably fewer negative effects is therefore imperative. The current study compared the antibacterial properties of organic acids (lactic and acetic acids), Zingiber officinale, and Allium sativum aqueous extracts against Campylobacter jejuni‘s ability to survive on chicken meat.Methods: An agar well diffusion assay was used to measure the antibacterial activity of each organic acid and aqueous extract against five Campylobacter jejuni isolates. Using the broth microdilution method, the aqueous extracts’ Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) was examined. Using a food model, the log reduction test was used to assess the extracts’ and organic acids’ antibacterial properties.Results: The highest zone of inhibition was seen against Allium sativum (22±2.00mm), followed by Zingiber officinale (20.3±1.5mm), lactic acid (15.3±0.5mm) and acetic acid (13.6±0.5mm), and Allium sativum and Zingiber officinale were found to have MICs of 3.5% and 2.5% (v/v), respectively. After 100 minutes of contact at 25°C, aqueous extract of Allium sativum showed the best results (3.31±0.39 log CFU/g) on the log reduction assay followed by Zingiber officinale (2.36±0.13 log CFU/g), lactic acid (2.22±0.02 log CFU/g) and acetic acid (1.36±0.09 log CFU/g).Conclusion: Allium sativum, Zingiber officinale, and organic acids have potent anti-Campylobacter properties and can be utilized safely to lower the Campylobacter jejuni load when processing chicken meat.KeywordsOrganic acid, Zingiber officinale, Allium sativum, Campylobacter jejuni, log reduction assay, campylobacteriosis
This Correction refers to: Abdallah EM, Ali AMH, Hashem HF, Mujawah AA, Elsharkawy ER, (2024). Chemical Profiling and Pharmaceutical and Biological Activities of Methanolic Extract of Citrullus colocynthis L. Seeds Collected from the Arid Zone of Qassim, Saudi Arabia against Aphis craccivora. Advancements in Life Sciences, 11(4). https://doi.org/10.62940/als.v11i4.3135 Following an internal audit conducted after post-publication quality concerns were raised, the Editorial Office identified citation and reference-list inconsistencies in the above article, including references cited in support of statements they do not address and in-text citations with no matching bibliography entry. The corresponding author acknowledged the errors, carried out a full citation audit of the published article, and submitted a point-by-point response together with a corrected manuscript. The corrections below, which include further items found during that audit, do not alter the experimental dataset, numerical results, tables, figures, statistical outcomes, or the principal conclusions of the study.Citation correctionsRef. [13]: Removed from the plant-pesticide statement (source concerned antioxidants, not pesticides); statement now supported by new Ref. [4], a review of plant-based biopesticides. Ref. [13] retained where it is appropriately cited for antioxidant context.Ref. [14]: Removed from the pesticide/insecticidal claim (source concerned oxidative stress); replaced by Ref. [4]. Ref. [14] retained for its correct oxidative-stress context.Ref. [15]: Medicinal-use statement rewritten and now supported by new Refs. [5] and [6], two reviews specific to C. colocynthis. Ref. [15] retained for general antioxidant background.Ref. [16]: Removed from the medicinal-use claim (source concerned insecticidal triterpenes in Meliaceae); replaced by Refs. [5,6]. Ref. [16] retained in the pest-control context, where it is relevant to plant-derived insecticidal compounds.Ref. [17]: Drought-tolerance sentence deleted, as it was not essential to the study rationale (source concerned Ginkgo antifeedant activity, not Cucurbitaceae drought tolerance). Ref. [17] retained in the natural-antifeedant context.Ref. [18]: Fruit-morphology description replaced with a concise botanical description supported by new Ref. [6]. Ref. [18] retained in Methods for the geographic (Wadi Ar-Rumah) statement.Ref. [19]: Removed from the morphology statement (source concerned Hyphaene thebaica fruit pulp); replaced by Ref. [6]. Ref. [19] retained in Methods for the extraction procedure.Ref. [20]: Seed-composition statement revised to remove an unsupported fixed percentage; it is now supported by the C. colocynthis nutritional and phytochemical reviews Refs. [5,6,7]. Ref. [20] retained in Methods for qualitative phytochemical procedures.Ref. [23]: Statement on the anti-inflammatory and anticancer activity of cucurbitacins rewritten and now supported by the dedicated cucurbitacin reviews Refs. [9,10]. Ref. [23] retained in Methods for the flavonoid method.Ref. [24]: Removed from the cucurbitacin statement (source concerned Crassocephalum crepidioides); replaced by Refs. [9,10]. Two author-name attributions in the Methods (DPPH and reducing-power assays) that wrongly linked Ref. [24] to authors who are not on that paper have also been removed, and the source is now cited without naming them.Ref. [25]: Phytochemical/biological-activity statements rewritten and now supported by C. colocynthis-specific literature, Refs. [5,6,8]. Ref. [25] retained for the antibacterial-zone interpretation.Refs. [32]–[34]: Missing bibliography entries restored and in-text citations corrected. Ref. [32] reports the antimicrobial inhibition-zone pattern discussed in the article, and Ref. [33] supports the statement that seed extract was less effective than other plant parts in that comparison. The sentence citing Ref. [34] was reworded to state more generally that C. colocynthis extracts have shown antibacterial and antifungal activity against multiple bacterial and fungal strains, so that it matches that source exactly.New/restored references[4] Khursheed A, Rather MA, Jain V, Wani AR, Rasool S, Nazir R, Malik NA, Majid SA. Plant based natural products as potential ecofriendly and safer biopesticides: A comprehensive overview of their advantages over conventional pesticides, limitations and regulatory aspects. Microbial Pathogenesis, (2022); 173(Pt A): 105854. doi: 10.1016/j.micpath.2022.105854.[5] Hussain AI, Rathore HA, Sattar MZA, Chatha SAS, Sarker SD, Gilani AH. Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad (bitter apple fruit): a review of its phytochemistry, pharmacology, traditional uses and nutritional potential. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, (2014); 155(1): 54–66. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2014.06.011.[6] Li QY, Munawar M, Saeed M, Shen JQ, Khan MS, Noreen S, Alagawany M, Naveed M, Madni A, Li CX. Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad (Bitter Apple Fruit): Promising Traditional Uses, Pharmacological Effects, Aspects, and Potential Applications. Frontiers in Pharmacology, (2022); 12: 791049. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.791049.[7] Rao V, Poonia A. Citrullus colocynthis (bitter apple): bioactive compounds, nutritional profile, nutraceutical properties and potential food applications: a review. Food Production, Processing and Nutrition, (2023); 5: 4. doi: 10.1186/s43014-022-00118-9.[9] Cai Y, Fang X, He C, Li P, Xiao F, Wang Y, Chen M. Cucurbitacins: A Systematic Review of the Phytochemistry and Anticancer Activity. American Journal of Chinese Medicine, (2015); 43(7): 1331–1350. doi: 10.1142/S0192415X15500755.[10] Silvestre GFG, de Lucena RP, Alves HS. Cucurbitacins and the Immune System: Update in Research on Anti-inflammatory, Antioxidant, and Immunomodulatory Mechanisms. Current Medicinal Chemistry, (2022); 29(21): 3774–3789. doi: 10.2174/0929867329666220107153253.[11] Antimicrobial Resistance Collaborators. Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 2019: a systematic analysis. The Lancet, (2022); 399(10325): 629–655. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02724-0.[12] Miethke M, Pieroni M, Weber T, et al. Towards the sustainable discovery and development of new antibiotics. Nature Reviews Chemistry, (2021); 5(10): 726–749. doi: 10.1038/s41570-021-00313-1.[21] Balouiri M, Sadiki M, Ibnsouda SK. Methods for in vitro evaluating antimicrobial activity: A review. Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis, (2016); 6(2): 71–79. doi: 10.1016/j.jpha.2015.11.005.[22] Blainski A, Lopes GC, de Mello JCP. Application and Analysis of the Folin Ciocalteu Method for the Determination of the Total Phenolic Content from Limonium brasiliense L. Molecules, (2013); 18(6): 6852–6865. doi: 10.3390/molecules18066852.[32] Gurudeeban S, Rajamanickam E, Ramanathan T, Satyavani K. Antimicrobial activity of Citrullus colocynthis in Gulf of Mannar. International Journal of Current Research, (2010); 2: 78–81.[33] Hameed B, Ali Q, Hafeez MM, Malik A. Antibacterial and antifungal activity of fruit, seed and root extracts of Citrullus colocynthis plant. Biological and Clinical Sciences Research Journal, (2020); 2020: 33. doi: 10.54112/bcsrj.v2020i1.33.[34] Hany O, Neelam A. Antimicrobial Activity of Citrullus colocynthis (Bitter Melon). Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research, (2020); 27(5): 21156–21158. doi: 10.26717/BJSTR.2020.27.004576.[36] Marzouk B, Marzouk Z, Decor R, Edziri H, Haloui E, Fenina N, Aouni M. Antibacterial and anticandidal screening of Tunisian Citrullus colocynthis Schrad. from Medenine. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, (2009); 125(2): 344–349. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2009.04.025.[39] Yousaf HK, Shan T, Chen X, Ma K, Shi X, Desneux N, Biondi A, Gao X. Impact of the secondary plant metabolite Cucurbitacin B on the demographical traits of the melon aphid, Aphis gossypii. Scientific Reports, (2018); 8: 16473. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-34821-w.These corrections concern citations, references and the wording of individual statements only. They do not affect the study’s data, numerical results, tables, figures, or principal experimental findings. The Editorial Office apologizes for these errors and thanks the corresponding author for his prompt cooperation in resolving them.Correction Published20 October 2026: The necessary corrections have been carried out in the Version of Record.
