According to the World Health Organization (WHO), breast cancer is among the most common cancers worldwide. Most of the anticancer agents have been showing a variety of side effects. Recently, bacterial proteins have been investigated as promising anticancer agents. Azurin is a bacterial cupredoxin protein secreted from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and has been reported as a potent multi-targeting anticancer agent, which makes it an appropriate candidate for drug delivery. Azurin may be delivered to cancer cells using different carriers like polymeric micro and nanoparticles. In the present study, azurin was extracted from the bacterial host and loaded into chitosan particles. Then its effect on MCF-7 cell line was investigated. Chitosan-azurin particles were made using the ion gelation method. Results showed that chitosan-azurin particles are about 200 nm, and the loading of the protein in particles did not affect its integrity. The MTT assay showed a significant reduction in cell viability in azurin and chitosan-azurin-treated cells. The toxicity level after 5 days was 63.78% and 82.53% for free azurin and chitosan-azurin-treated cells, respectively. It seems using an appropriate carrier system for anticancer proteins like azurin is a promising tool for developing low side effect anticancer agents.

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is one of the important vegetables in Egypt. The study was conducted in the vegetable field to study the effect of different rates of phosphorus fertilizers and foliar application of Nano-Boron, Chitosan, and Naphthalene Acidic Acid (NAA) on growth and seed productivity of Onion plant (Allium cepa L., cv. Giza 6 Mohassan). The experiments were carried out in a split-plot design with three replicates. The main plot contains 3 rates of phosphorus treatments (30, 45 and 60 kg P₂O₅/feddan), Subplot includes foliar application of Nano-Boron, Nano-Chitosan and Naphthalene Acidic Acid (NAA) at a concentration of 50 ppm for each and sprayed at three times (50, 65 and 80 days after transplanting). Increasing the phosphorus fertilizers rate to 60 kg P₂O₅/fed significantly affects the growth and seed production of the Onion plant. Foliar application of nano-boron at 50 ppm concentration gave maximum values of onion seed yield in both seasons. Results stated that the correlation between yield and yield contributing characters over two years was highly significant. It could be recommended that P application at a rate of 60 kg P₂O₅ and sprayed onion plants at 50 ppm nano-boron three times (at 50, 65, and 80 days from transplanting) gave the highest seed yield of onion plants. Moreover, the maximum increments of inflorescence diameter (94.4%) were recorded to nano-boron foliar spray (60 p × nB) compared to the other treatments in both seasons.

Modified chitosan hybrids were obtained via chemical reaction of chitosan with two pyrazole aldehyde derivatives to produce two chitosan Schiff bases, Cs-SB1, and Cs-SB2, respectively. FTIR spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy confirmed both chemical structures and morphology of these Schiff bases. Thermal gravimetric analysis showed an improvement of thermal properties of these Schiff bases. Both chitosan Schiff bases were evaluated in a batch adsorption approach for their ability to remove Cu(II) ions from aqueous solutions. Energy dispersive X-ray for the Schiff bases adsorbed metal ions in various aqueous solutions was performed to confirm the existence of adsorbed metal ions on the surface substrate and their adsorptive efficiency for Cu(II) ions. Results of the batch adsorption method showed that prepared Schiff bases have good ability to remove Cu(II) ions from aqueous solutions. The Langmuir isotherm equation showed a better fit for both adsorbents with regression coefficients (R² = 0.97 and 0.99, respectively) with maximum adsorption capacity for Cu(II) of 10.33 and 39.84 mg/g for Cs-SB1 and Cs-SB2, respectively. All prepared compounds, pyrazoles and two chitosan Schiff bases, showed good antimicrobial activity against three Gram +ve bacteria, three Gram –ve bacteria and Candida albicans, with varying degrees when compared to the standard antimicrobial agents.