Is COVID-19 impacting cancer screening in Pakistan? An observational study of cancer screening test requests during the pandemic

Background: The purpose of this study is to assess how the COVID-19 pandemic affected cancer screening at a large tertiary care setting in the city of Karachi, the third largest city in the world, and to identify if there has been any decrease in cancer screening during the ongoing pandemic.Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted at the clinical chemistry laboratory at the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), Karachi Pakistan. Data for test volumes was extracted from the Integrated Laboratory Management System (ILMS) for the following tumor markers: CA19 Carbohydrate Antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9), Calcitonin, Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA), from 2017 to 2020. Data from January 1st, 2017 till December 31st, 2019 was recorded and compared with the test volume data from January 1st, 2020 till December 31st, 2020. Number of tests performed in the prior 3 years were compared with tests performed in 2020, specifically looking at changes during the lockdown period in 2020 (1st March - 9 th April) and compared with the same period in preceding years.Results: During the four-year period, a total of 6,530 tests were performed for CA19-9, 893 for Calcitonin, and 54,769 for PSA. Year 2019 recorded the highest volume for all 3 tests with test volumes increasing continuously from 2017 to 2019. Number of tests performed decreased throughout the year 2020 for Calcitonin and PSA, whereas volume of tests for CA19-9 only reduced during the lockdown period while increased in the non-lockdown period as compared to previous years. Highest percent decline during the 2020 lockdown period was seen for Calcitonin (-62.5%), followed by PSA (-51.8%) and CA19-9 (-19%).Conclusion: In conclusion, the amount of CA19-9, Calcitonin, and PSA tests performed in Karachi, Pakistan has drastically reduced due to the lockdown that was mandated due to the COVID-19 outbreak. It is crucial that despite an imposed lockdown, regular cancer screening must continue

Immediate Procedural Success of Primary Percutaneous Intervention in Patients with Acute ST Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction

Objective: To determine the frequency of immediate procedural success of Primary PCI in patients with Acute ST segment elevation Myocardial infarction. Methodology: This observational study was conducted at Cardiology unit of P.I.M.S, Islamabad from April 2018 to October 2018. Study included 43 patients with STEMI. All of them had primary PCI. The main outcome variable was frequency of procedural success which was described as frequency distribution table. Results: Procedural success was achieved among all (100%) patients.  There were 16.3% patients who developed contrast induced nephropathy (recovered), they all were diabetics. There were 4.6% patients who developed hematoma. No other complications seen Conclusions: Immediate procedural success of primary PCI is high (almost successful in every case) and should be offered to the patients with STEMI whenever the facility is available. Keywords: ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction; primary percutaneous coronary intervention

In vitro antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant potential of the ethanol extract of Uromastyx hardwickii skin

Purpose: To evaluate the in vitro antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant potential of the ethanol extract of Uromastyx hardwickii Skin (UHSEE). Methods: The in vitro effects of UHSEE at various concentrations (10 - 250 µg/mL) on the activities of ߙ-amylase, ߙ-glucosidase and glucose uptake by yeast cells were used to evaluate its antidiabetic potential. Nitric oxide (NO), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and hydrogen peroxide inhibitory assay were employed to determine its antioxidant effects, while the anti-inflammatory effects were evaluated using human red blood cell (HRBC) membrane stabilization assay. Results: UHSEE inhibited ߙ-amylase and ߙ-glucosidase enzymes but increased glucose uptake by yeast cells in a concentration-dependent manner (p < 0.05). It also inhibited NO, DPPH, hydrogen peroxide and HRBC hemolysis in a concentration-dependent manner (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Uromastyx hardwickii skin exhibits promising good antidiabetic, antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties in vitro. However, its true potentials in this regard needs to be evaluted in vivo

Molecular characterization of Paramphistomum cervi in buffaloes

Background: Paramphistomiasis (Rumen fluke disease) in ruminants is a major health problem, characterized by coarse hair, weakness, loss of appetite, weight retardations, intestine ulcers, inter-mandibular inflammation, causing substantial economic losses, and high mortality. In tropical and subtropical regions, the disease was neglected but has recently emerged as an important cause of production losses. While documented reports on Paramphistomum cervi, Paramphistomum ichikawai and Paramphistomum are limited in Asian countries and paramphistomosis has been considered the major health and economic problem in several countries. The present study aimed to identify paramphistomoid flukes that infects buffaloes with the goal of characterization of prevalence in Pakistan and its comparison with neighbor countries. Materials, Methods & Results: In 2018, a total of 178 slaughtered buffaloes aged four to six years were examined. After an immediate postmortem examination of each buffalo, flukes were collected from their infected rumen and reticulum using sterilized forceps and placed in a saline solution. DNA was extracted from adult Paramphistome species using the standard phenol chloroform method and used for amplification of partial fragment of 18S rRNA sequences using specific pair of primer. After amplification and sequencing of 18S rRNA partial fragment, the generated sequences were assembled and trimmed to remove any primer contaminations. Twenty-three randomly selected and morphologically identified adult Paramphistomum were used in species-level identification using specific primers for partial fragment of 18S rRNA sequences. The cleaned sequences (810 bp) were used to identify similar sequences using BLAST on the NCBI website. The GenBank retrieved sequences and new Paramphistomum species isolated sequences were aligned using CLUSTAL in the BioEdit Sequence Alignment Editor. In addition, a phylogenetic tree was constructed using maximum likelihood method in MEGA X. The 18S rRNA sequence was found 100% similar with Paramphistomum cervi of China and 98% with Paramphistomum epiclitum and other Paramphistomum species of India. The parasitic Pharamphistomum species was identified molecularly as Paramphistomum cervi. Discussion: Molecular studies provide insight into the biology and phylogenetic relationship among various parasites. These studies are reliable in the genetic-based identification and description of several disease causing agents. The 18S rRNA sequence of Paramphistomum cervi generated in this study was found closely identical to the P. cervi of the neighbor countries (China and India) which may be due to the similar geographical, environmental conditions and transboundary movement of infected hosts. This is the first nature of study which provides the molecular-based evidence of P. cervi existence in Pakistan and revealed the 18S rRNA as novel molecular marker for the identification and further characterization of Paramphistomum species across Pakistan. The submitted sequence of this study will provide a baseline for further molecular characterization and to compare with other Paramphistoma species from different regions of Pakistan

Determination and Extraction of Acetamiprid Residues in Fruits and Vegetables

<p align="center"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">  <span style="font-size: medium;">Vegetables (chilies, tomato, cauliflower and cucumber) and fruits (mango and apple) samples were spiked with known quantity (0.50 mg kg-1) of acetamiprid reference standard for testing the retrieval percentage of acetamiprid residue in those vegetables and fruits. The efficiency of different extracting (ethyl acetate and dichloromethane + acetone 8:2) and eluting (ethyl acetate and dichloromethane + acetone 8:2) solvents and adsorbents (activated charcoal and florisil) for clean up purpose was calculated using HPLC. Amongst the extracting solvents ethyl-acetate was observed an effective extracting solvent alone which produced maximum 90-96%  </span><span style="font-size: medium;">recovery for acetamiprid residues while among the eluting solvents a combination of dichloromethane and acetone ( ratio 8:2) produced superior recoveries i.e. 87-95%. Similarly, between the adsorbents used for clean up purpose activated charcoal and florisil in tandem (first from charcoal and then through florisil) yielded recoveries 82-90 % whereas adsorbents used alone in form of activated florisil and charcoal recovered only 70 to 78 % and 71 to 73% acetamiprid residues, respectively in all vegetables and fruits.</span></span></p

Determination and Extraction of Acetamiprid Residues in Fruits and Vegetables

  Vegetables (chilies, tomato, cauliflower and cucumber) and fruits (mango and apple) samples were spiked with known quantity (0.50 mg kg-1) of acetamiprid reference standard for testing the retrieval percentage of acetamiprid residue in those vegetables and fruits. The efficiency of different extracting (ethyl acetate and dichloromethane + acetone 8:2) and eluting (ethyl acetate and dichloromethane + acetone 8:2) solvents and adsorbents (activated charcoal and florisil) for clean up purpose was calculated using HPLC. Amongst the extracting solvents ethyl-acetate was observed an effective extracting solvent alone which produced maximum 90-96%  recovery for acetamiprid residues while among the eluting solvents a combination of dichloromethane and acetone ( ratio 8:2) produced superior recoveries i.e. 87-95%. Similarly, between the adsorbents used for clean up purpose activated charcoal and florisil in tandem (first from charcoal and then through florisil) yielded recoveries 82-90 % whereas adsorbents used alone in form of activated florisil and charcoal recovered only 70 to 78 % and 71 to 73% acetamiprid residues, respectively in all vegetables and fruits

BORON STATUS OF SOILS AS AFFECTED BY DIFFERENT SOIL CHARACTERISTICS-pH, CaCO 3 , ORGANIC MATTER AND CLAY CONTENTS

In Pakistan, the soils are mostly developed from calcareous, alluvial and loessial deposits of late Pleistocene age located partially on old river terrace and relatively on the channel-levee-remnants, therefore micronutrients instigate from weathering of rock parent materials and their deficiencies are wide spread because of intensive cultivation and more nutrient uptake than application. This study was started to determine the authentic information about boron status of calcareous soils having alkaline pH and low organic matter (OM) contents under canal and tube well irrigated areas of Punjab. Soil samples were collected from eighty one sites of five districts of Punjab. Soil samples were analyzed for pHs, texture, ECe, total N, Extractable K, Olsen P, CaCO 3 , OM and 0.05 M HCl extractable B. The textural analysis exhibited that 28 % area had more clay contents and was classified as heavy textured, 42 % had loamy texture while 30 % had sandy or light textured. The results revealed that more B was observed in clay textured soils. In case of pH, 83 % area (68 sites) had pH ≥ 8.00 while 13 sites had pH ranged from 7.50 to 8.00 and only one site has pH &lt; 7.50. Incredibly low OM was observed in surveyed area and it was &lt;1 % in all the 81 samples (100 % area was low in OM). Similarly CaCO 3 contents were in the range of 2.14 to 9.72 % and about 92 % area surveyed had CaCO 3 contents in the range of 3-10 %. The data regarding B concentration in soil reflected an atrocious depiction of B deficiency in the surveyed soils and exhibited that out of 81 samples, 66 sites (82 %) had B concentration in the range of 0.10 to 0.45 μg g -1 and were fall in the deficient range (i.e. &lt;0.50 the critical level) while 12 sites (15 %) having B concentration in the range of 0.46 to 0.55 μg g -1 and only 3 samples had B range 0.56-0.91 μg g -1 . Correlation analysis exhibited that soil B is positively correlated with OM and clay content of soil while it had strong negative correlation with CaCO 3 content and pH

Balanced Transmissions Based Trajectories of Mobile Sink in Homogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks

Mobile Sink (MS) based routing strategies have been widely investigated to prolong the lifetime of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). In this paper, we propose two schemes for data gathering in WSNs: (i) MS moves on random paths in the network (RMS) and (ii) the trajectory of MS is defined (DMS). In both the schemes, the network field is logically divided into small squares. The center point of each partitioned area is the sojourn location of the MS. We present three linear programming based models: (i) to maximize network lifetime, (ii) to minimize path loss, and (iii) to minimize end to end delay. Moreover, a geometric model is proposed to avoid redundancy while collecting information from the network nodes. Simulation results show that our proposed schemes perform better than the selected existing schemes in terms of the selected performance metrics

SPTBN5, Encoding the βV-Spectrin Protein, Leads to a Syndrome of Intellectual Disability, Developmental Delay, and Seizures

Whole exome sequencing has provided significant opportunities to discover novel candidate genes for intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorders. Variants in the spectrin genes SPTAN1, SPTBN1, SPTBN2, and SPTBN4 have been associated with neurological disorders; however, SPTBN5 gene-variants have not been associated with any human disorder. This is the first report that associates SPTBN5 gene variants (ENSG00000137877: c.266A&gt;C; p.His89Pro, c.9784G&gt;A; p.Glu3262Lys, c.933C&gt;G; p.Tyr311Ter, and c.8809A&gt;T; p.Asn2937Tyr) causing neurodevelopmental phenotypes in four different families. The SPTBN5-associated clinical traits in our patients include intellectual disability (mild to severe), aggressive tendencies, accompanied by variable features such as craniofacial and physical dysmorphisms, autistic behavior, and gastroesophageal reflux. We also provide a review of the existing literature related to other spectrin genes, which highlights clinical features partially overlapping with SPTBN5