B-Splines Based Finite Difference Schemes For Fractional Partial Differential Equations

Fractional partial differential equations (FPDEs) are considered to be the extended formulation of classical partial differential equations (PDEs). Several physical models in certain fields of sciences and engineering are more appropriately formulated in the form of FPDEs. FPDEs in general, do not have exact analytical solutions. Thus, the need to develop new numerical methods for the solutions of space and time FPDEs. This research focuses on the development of new numerical methods. Two methods based on B-splines are developed to solve linear and non-linear FPDEs. The methods are extended cubic B-spline approximation (ExCuBS) and new extended cubic B-spline approximation (NExCuBS). Both methods have the same basis functions but for the NExCuBS, a new approximation is used for the second order space derivative

A Low-Cost CPW-Fed Multiband Frequency Reconfigurable Antenna for Wireless Applications

A novel, cedar-shaped, coplanar waveguide-fed frequency reconfigurable antenna is proposed. The presented antenna uses low-cost FR4 substrate with a thickness of 1.6 mm. Four PIN diodes are inserted on the antenna surface to variate the current distribution and alter the resonant frequencies with different combinations of switches. The proposed antenna is fabricated and measured for all states, and a good agreement is seen between measured and simulated results. This antenna resonates within the range of 2 GHz to 10 GHz, covering the major wireless applications of aviation service, wireless local area network (WLAN), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), long distance radio telecommunications, and X-band satellite communication. The proposed antenna works resourcefully with reasonable gain, significant bandwidth, directivity, and reflection coefficient. The proposed multiband reconfigurable antenna will pave the way for future wireless communications including WLAN, WiMAX, and possibly fifth-generation (5G) communication

Comparative Review on Information and Communication Technology Issues in Education Sector of Developed and Developing Countries: A Case Study About Pakistan

The use of information and communication technology is very beneficial in the education sector because it can enhance the quality of education. However, the implementation of ICT in the education sector of developed and developing countries is a challenging task. This paper explains the comparative study of ICT issues in the education sector of developed and developing countries. In particular, we compare issues between Pakistan and high-tech countries. Our study reveals the fact that the education sector is facing numerous ICT problems that are based on culture, finance, management, infrastructure, lack of training, lack of equipment, teacher’s refusal, and ethical issues. At the end of this paper, various issues faced by the implementation of ICT in the education sector of Pakistan have been categorized into various types, namely, infrastructure, lack of IT professionals, lack of high-speed internet and equipment. Our research is based on five key research questions related to ICT issues. We used a mixed approach where the results of this study can be used as a set of guidelines to help make the learning environment technology-oriented, fast, planned, and productive. Future directions are also given at the end of this paper

Sonographic Evaluation of Causes of Right Hypochondriac Pain

Background: Right hypochondriac pain or right upper abdominal quadrant (RUQ) pain is the most common type of pain, reason of 7.9% patients presenting at the OPD and ET departments of hospitals. RUQ main has multiple recorded causes with different frequencies of presentation. Ultrasound is the essential imaging methodology of decision for introductory evaluation and fills in as a practical and dynamic methodology to give a conclusive finding. Various systems of organs are incorporated at standard RUQ US, and an assortment of ultrasonographically diagnosable infection cycles can be recognized, including states of hepatic, pancreatic, adrenal, renal, gastrointestinal, vascular, and thoracic, all of which may bring about RUQ torment and pain. Most common causes, however, incorporate acute hepatitis and issues with gall bladder such as cholelithiasis as reported in existing literature The present study was thus conducted to evaluate the causes of right hypochondriac pain adopting ultrasound as the modality of choice. All the patients were scanned using SIMENS Grey scale/doppler ultrasound machine. Scanning was done in both transverse, longitudinal and any other plane deemed necessary to adequately visualize the right upper quadrant. Patients of either sex suffering from right hypochondrium pain were included in the study. They were referred from surgical OPD/ward of Chaudhary Muhammad Akram Teaching and Research Hospital. Duration of study was 4 months, during this period 154 patients were selected on the basis of  age, gender and  radiological findings,  informed, verbal consent was taken and ultrasonographic reports were collected  from radiologist office. It was found that out of 154 recorded cases, 93 were females and 61 males. Patients presented with a mixed frequencies of pain, highest being generalized abdominal pain. For the causes of RUQ pain, hepatic cyst was found to be the major cause present in 38.3% study participants followed by cholelithiasis (13.6%), hepatic hemangioma (10.4%), and right renal cyst (6.5%). Other findings included conditions like fatty liver (5.8%), gallbladder polyp (5.8%), right renal stones and hepatocellular carcinoma (3.9%). It was concluded that hepatic cysts and gall bladder stones are the major cause of RUQ pain in the present study sample. Although in some cases  non-significant causes included hepatic calcification, focal nodular hyperplasia and lipomas are causes pain. As in our cases, US seems to be an important diagnostic modelity in both the diagnosis and follow-up of Right hypochondriac pain and it may provide a faster, easier method of diagnosis. Keywords: Right Hypochondriac Region, Cholelithiasis, Acute Hepatitis, Ultrasound, Inflammation. DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/91-06 Publication date:July 31st 202

Prevalence, Symptomatology and Herbal Management of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is multi-organ syndrome that affects 6–25% of females during reproductive age. It disrupts normal hormone levels of females and affects adrenal hormone and sex hormones along with pituitary hormones including adrenocorticotropic, growth hormone and gonadotropins hormones. It results in several secondary characteristics in females such as infertility, hormonal imbalance, oligomenorrhea, amenorrhea, obesity and hirsutism. Polycystic ovarian syndrome is associated with mental and reproductive disorder and almost 4–18% mature female students are affected by polycystic ovarian syndrome. Female affected by polycystic ovarian syndrome have increased risk of infertility, ovarian cancer, skin problems and psychological problems such as anxiety, depression and changes in sleep along with mood swings. This chapter discusses the Prevalence, Symptomatology and Management of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. For the management of PCOS, the role of some medicinal plants including Asparagus racemosus, Tinospora cordifolia, Foeniculum vulgare, Ocimum tenuiflorum, Actaea racemosa, and Lepidium meyenii have also been discussed in addition to other treatment modalities. The literature data was searched out and compiled using relevant original research articles and reviews published and indexed in Google Scholar, Scientific Information Database, Elsevier, PubMed and Science Direct

Expression variation of OGG1 and HPRT gene and DNA damage in arsenic exposed industrial workers

Arsenic exposure alters redox balance, induces DNA damage, and deregulates many genes. OGG1 gene involved in base repair mechanism, for excision of 8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG) from DNA formed as a result of accumulation of ROS in cell. HPRT gene encode transferase enzymes involved in purine recycling mechanism. The main focus of the study was to evaluate the expression variation in HPRT, OGG1 gene expression, and DNA damage of industrial workers. Blood samples of 300 occupational workers were collected from welding, brick kiln, furniture, pesticide, and paint industry (n = 60/industry) to evaluate the expression variation in HPRT, OGG1 gene expression, and DNA damage in blood cells by comet assay along with age and gender matched 300 control individuals. Blood arsenic content was higher (P\u3c0.001) in an industrial group compared to the control. OGG1 and HPRT expression were (P\u3c0.05) downregulated in exposed workers compared to controls. Spearman correlation analysis showed a significant positive correlation between HPRT vs OGG1 (P\u3c 0.0001) in exposed workers compared to controls. Altered expression of both genes was observed between workers with \u3c25years and \u3e25years of age as well as between workers with \u3c10years and \u3e10year exposure. Reduced expression (P\u3c0.05) of both genes and a high extent of DNA damage was evident in exposed smokers compared to respective non-smokers. DNA fragmentation was higher (P\u3c0.05) in the furniture, welding and brick kiln group compared to control, and other industries. The present study suggests that altered expression of OGG1 and HPRT gene induce oxidative stress, showed a negative impact on the recycling of purines leading to DNA damage which increase the vulnerability of workers to carcinogenicity

Effect of Phytosynthesized Selenium and Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles on Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) against Stripe Rust Disease

In this study, selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) and cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeONPs) were synthesized by using the extract of Melia azedarach leaves, and Acorus calamusas rhizomes, respectively, and investigated for the biological and sustainable control of yellow, or stripe rust, disease in wheat. The green synthesized NPs were characterized by UV-Visible spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The SeNPs and CeONPs, with different concentrations (i.e., 10, 20, 30, and 40 mg/L), were exogenously applied to wheat infected with Puccinia striformis. SeNPs and CeONPs, at a concentration of 30 mg/L, were found to be the most suitable concentrations, which reduced the disease severity and enhanced the morphological (plant height, root length, shoot length, leaf length, and ear length), physiological (chlorophyll and membrane stability index), biochemical (proline, phenolics and flavonoids) and antioxidant (SOD and POD) parameters. The antioxidant activity of SeNPs and CeONPs was also measured. For this purpose, different concentrations (50, 100, 150, 200 and 400 ppm) of both SeNPs and CeONPs were used. The concentration of 400 ppm most promoted the DPPH, ABTS and reducing power activity of both SeNPs and CeONPs. This study is considered the first biocompatible approach to evaluate the potential of green synthesized SeNPs and CeONPs to improve the health of yellow, or stripe rust, infected wheat plants and to provide an effective management strategy to inhibit the growth of Puccinia striformis.This research was funded by projects APOGEO (Cooperation Program INTERREG-MAC 2014–2020, with European Funds for Regional Development-FEDER). “Agencia Canaria de Investigación, Innovación y Sociedad de la Información (ACIISI) del Gobierno de Canarias” (Project ProID2020010134), and Fundación CajaCanarias (Project 2019SP43).Peer reviewe

Diabetes mortality and trends before 25 years of age : an analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: Diabetes, particularly type 1 diabetes, at younger ages can be a largely preventable cause of death with the correct health care and services. We aimed to evaluate diabetes mortality and trends at ages younger than 25 years globally using data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019. Methods: We used estimates of GBD 2019 to calculate international diabetes mortality at ages younger than 25 years in 1990 and 2019. Data sources for causes of death were obtained from vital registration systems, verbal autopsies, and other surveillance systems for 1990–2019. We estimated death rates for each location using the GBD Cause of Death Ensemble model. We analysed the association of age-standardised death rates per 100 000 population with the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and a measure of universal health coverage (UHC) and described the variability within SDI quintiles. We present estimates with their 95% uncertainty intervals. Findings: In 2019, 16 300 (95% uncertainty interval 14 200 to 18 900) global deaths due to diabetes (type 1 and 2 combined) occurred in people younger than 25 years and 73·7% (68·3 to 77·4) were classified as due to type 1 diabetes. The age-standardised death rate was 0·50 (0·44 to 0·58) per 100 000 population, and 15 900 (97·5%) of these deaths occurred in low to high-middle SDI countries. The rate was 0·13 (0·12 to 0·14) per 100 000 population in the high SDI quintile, 0·60 (0·51 to 0·70) per 100 000 population in the low-middle SDI quintile, and 0·71 (0·60 to 0·86) per 100 000 population in the low SDI quintile. Within SDI quintiles, we observed large variability in rates across countries, in part explained by the extent of UHC (r2=0·62). From 1990 to 2019, age-standardised death rates decreased globally by 17·0% (−28·4 to −2·9) for all diabetes, and by 21·0% (–33·0 to −5·9) when considering only type 1 diabetes. However, the low SDI quintile had the lowest decline for both all diabetes (−13·6% [–28·4 to 3·4]) and for type 1 diabetes (−13·6% [–29·3 to 8·9]). Interpretation: Decreasing diabetes mortality at ages younger than 25 years remains an important challenge, especially in low and low-middle SDI countries. Inadequate diagnosis and treatment of diabetes is likely to be major contributor to these early deaths, highlighting the urgent need to provide better access to insulin and basic diabetes education and care. This mortality metric, derived from readily available and frequently updated GBD data, can help to monitor preventable diabetes-related deaths over time globally, aligned with the UN's Sustainable Development Targets, and serve as an indicator of the adequacy of basic diabetes care for type 1 and type 2 diabetes across nations. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.publishedVersionPeer reviewe