Indigenous Knowledge of Folk Herbal Medicines by the Women of District Chakwal, Pakistan

The present research work was designed to gather indigenous knowledge of local women about herbal medicines. Present study was confined to interview women of remote villages of district Chakwal. The study was conducted from October 2004-February 2005. Indigenous knowledge was collected by interviewing about 50 women of different age groups between 20 and 80 years. Frequent field trips were arranged to collect plant specimens. Information about the local names, parts used and medicinal uses of plants was collected from native women. Indigenous information was arranged by ethnomedicinal inventory followed by botanical name, local name, family name, flowering season, part used and folk medicinal uses. A total of 38 species belonging to 36 genera and 24 families were recorded as being used by local inhabitants for the treatment of various diseases. It is concluded from this study that the women of the area have rich indigenous knowledge about the medicinal uses of native flora. Women of the area believe that these natural products are easily available, inexpensive and permanent cure for common day ailments

Analytical Model for Assessing the Impact of MANETs' Bottleneck Nodes

Objectives: Due to few resources, the most challenging task in mobile ad hoc networks is determining a route with the highest probability of success between a source and a destination. The objectives of this assignment are as follows: The limited power provided by batteries is one of the most significant challenges in routing. A great number of routing protocols have been devised to deal with the problem of limited battery power. Reliability, low energy consumption, and preferential treatment of nodes with greater energy levels are the cornerstones of the routing path made possible by these protocols. On the other hand, these protocols result in the creation of a bottleneck intermediate node, which is a node that must forward packets from numerous sources. The loss of packets is the most significant issue that emerges with a bottleneck intermediate node. Methods and Statistical Analysis: In this study, we employ a poison random process to assess an intermediate's performance of bottleneck node within a mathematical model we developed. Findings: The model that is being proposed calculates the typical length of the queue at the input buffer, the typical amount of time spent waiting in the buffer and the lifetime of the network. Application and enhancements: This model is put to use to regulate the incoming traffic of an intermediate node and to determine whether or not that node will participate in the route

A cytogenic monitoring approach of hospital workers occuptionally exposed to ionizing radiations using micronucleus assay

Background: The objective of this study was to determine chromosomal damage in occupational workers of the radiation department from three different hospitals, Faisalabad, Pakistan exposed for a long term to ionizing radiations using micronucles (MN) assay. A comparison between exposed and non-exposed subjects (controlled) of same age exhibited a significant an increase in the number of micronuclei in occupational workers. MN frequency increases with an increase in age and duration of exposure in both sexes but higher in females.Materials and Methods: The study was conducted at the District Head Quarter Hospital (DHQ), Punjab Institute of Nuclear Medicine (PINUM) and Allied Hospital, Faisalabad, Pakistan. The total 145 subjects were selected from these hospitals. The subjects were divided into two groups. The control group (N= 40) (20 males and 20 females) of healthy subjects (no exposure) and the second group of subjects (N=105) (68 males and 37 females) subjects of occupational workers who were indirectly exposed to radiation. Blood samples (2ml) were collected in sodium heparinised vaccutainer tubes through venipuncture from both the groups. Disposable syringes were used for this purpose. For the evaluation of MN yield, slides were prepared by following the method of Jorge et al. (2004).Results: A significant difference in micro nuclear induction was observed between the occupational subjects and the control subjects and as well as in females and in males (P < 0.01). Females are more vulnerable to ionizing radiation than males. In females, MN yield was two times higher than males. MN frequency was increased with an increase in age and duration of exposure in both sexes, but higher in females and may be due to an increase in chromosomal loss in hospital workers. There is an individual response to the physical noxa, depending on sex, age and exposure. Smoking and drinking habits do not have a significant effect in increasing the number of MN in occupationally exposed workers.Conclusion: It was concluded that females are more vulnerable to ionizing radiations than males. MN test can be used as a biomarker with a predictive value for the estimation in occupationally exposed subjects.Key Words: Radiations; Hospital workers; Sex; Micronucleus assay; Chromosomal damag

Precision of Age Estimation in Goldlined Seabream Rhabdosargus sarba (Sparidae) from the Arabian Sea, Oman

Accurate age determination of commercial fish is vital to successful fisheries management. Reliable age determination is essential for almost all aspects of fishery research, especially for study of growth, production, population structure and dynamics. The validation of aging methods is an important step in estimating growth and longevity. This study presents the validation of otolith-reading method for age estimation of goldlined seabream Rhabdosargus sarba. A total of 1185 goldlined seabream otoliths collected from the Arabian Sea of which 350 specimens were read by two different readers for whole and sectioned otoliths. Age comparisons between whole and thin-sectioned otoliths showed agreement in age readings for age groups 2-5 years and the whole otoliths tended to give lower ages than those estimated by thin sections. APE ranged from 3 to 7% for the three readings. Common differences between readers were related to interpretation of the otolith edge type and to interpretation of the first annulus. Keywords: Sparidae, Rhabdosargus sarba, Otolith; age; average percent error; management

Integrating STEM Approach in Primary Education of Bangladesh: Perception and Challenges of the Teachers

Bangladesh is aspiring to develop a competitive workforce for the 21st century To reach this aspiration STEM education can be a good way as it has widely been considered to have the potential to prepare students with 21stcentury skills The potentiality of STEM can be fully utilized only when teachers apply STEM approaches effectively in their practices Since teachers prior views and perceptions influence their STEM teaching the study aims to explore the teachers perception of STEM education This study also analyzes the challenges of introducing STEM at primary education in Bangladesh A qualitative research design is adopted in this study Teachers perception of STEM education was explored through semi-structured interviews Additionally in-depth and semi-structured interviews were conducted to examine the challenges of implementing STEM education at the primary level Data were analyzed thematically following an inductive approach One of the key discoveries made in this research is that a large majority of teachers have limited knowledge about STEM education Despite this lack of familiarity it was observed that these teachers occasionally apply the STEM approach unintentionally Most teachers perceive STEM education as effective however it has several challenges to implement such as a lack of teachers knowledge about the discipline and pedagogical approach inadequate physical facilities lack of STEM-related training the mindset of stakeholders etc The findings of the study can be practical guidelines for academic institutions curriculum developers teachers trainers and policymaker

IDENTIFICATION OF SILDENAFIL CITRATE AS AN ADULTERANT IN HERBAL PRODUCTS USING HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH PHOTODIODE ARRAY DETECTOR

Objective: Investigation of sildenafil citrate as an adulterant in the traditional liquid herbal products of the local market in Bangladesh.Methods: A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method with photodiode array (PDA) detector system has been developed and validated for investigating the presence of synthetic phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE-5) enzyme inhibitor as an adulterant in the traditional herbal products. Nine of the liquid preparations (syrup), Balarista (A), Jinsant (B), Jernide (C), Bolarist (D), Sree Gopal Oil (E), Menostroge (F), Enerton (G), Ginseng (H) and Ginsin Plus (I), of six companies form local market of Bangladesh were investigated.Results: All the products (A–I) were found to contain sildenafil citrate as an adulterant. HPLC peak of the adulterant was confirmed by comparing retention time, UV spectra generated by PDA detector and peak spiking with the authentic sample of sildenafil citrate. The quantity of sildenafil citrate in A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H and I syrups were found to be 17, 22, 26, 25, 10, 24, 29, 22 and 17 mg/100 ml, respectively.Conclusion: The study indicated that all tested liquid herbal products contain sildenafil citrate as an adulterant. As PDE-5 inhibitors have severe side effects, possess drug-drug interaction and highly recommended to prescribe by registered physicians, the regulatory agency of Bangladesh should take necessary action to minimize the risk of patients

Appraisal of genetic variability in sodium azide induced rice mutants to identify selection criteria for higher yield using quantitative attributes

Induced mutation is an effective tool in generating variability of crop plants. Identification of efficient genotypes with improved yield requires knowledge of genetic variation in yield and yield contributing traits. Therefore, an investigation was conducted to develop variants through azide mutagenesis and estimation of genetic variability of the mutants to detect selection standards towards higher yield. Mature rice seeds were mutagenized with estimated LD50 concentration. A hundred mutants were grown-up accordingly and their quantitative traits were evaluated through multivariate analysis to assess genetic variability. Every assessed trait except grain length exhibited highly significant variation for all mutants. The high genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation along with high heritability and genetic advance as a % of mean was accounted for total and filled grains panicle-1. Grain yield was positively and significantly correlated with total grains panicle-1, filled grains panicle-1 and straw yield hill-1. Besides, higher variance was also associated with these traits. Ward’s Agglomerative clustering grouped the mutants into 7 major clusters. More than 36% of total variation was associated with first 2 principal components (PCs) and was mostly with total grains panicle-1 and filled grains panicle-1 whereas third and fourth PCs were mainly accounted for straw yield hill-1. Thus, these traits should receive special attention during selection of yield potential genotypes. Presence of genetic variation in mutants was ensured for most of the traits and selection based on greater tillers hill-1, grains panicle-1 and straw yield hill-1 may open a new avenue towards improved yield and other traits in rice

A review on Video Classification with Methods, Findings, Performance, Challenges, Limitations and Future Work

In recent years, there has been a rapid development in web users and sufficient bandwidth. Internet connectivity, which is so low cost, makes the sharing of information (text, audio, and videos) more common and faster. This video content needs to be analyzed for prediction it classes in different purpose for the users. Many machines learning approach has been developed for the classification of video to save people time and energy. There are a lot of existing review papers on video classification, but they have some limitations such as limitation of the analysis, badly structured, not mention research gaps or findings, not clearly describe advantages, disadvantages, and future work. But our review paper almost overcomes these limitations. This study attempts to review existing video-classification procedures and to examine the existing methods of video-classification comparatively and critically and to recommend the most effective and productive process. First of all, our analysis examines the classification of videos with taxonomical details, the latest application, process, and datasets information. Secondly, overall inconvenience, difficulties, shortcomings and potential work, data, performance measurements with the related recent relation in science, deep learning, and the model of machine learning. Study on video classification systems using their tools, benefits, drawbacks, as well as other features to compare the techniques they have used also constitutes a key task of this review. Lastly, we also present a quick summary table based on selected features. In terms of precision and independence extraction functions, the RNN (Recurrent Neural Network), CNN (Convolutional Neural Network) and combination approach performs better than the CNN dependent method

Characterizing No-shows in the Omani Primary Healthcare Setting

Objectives: Patient ‘no-shows’ (failure to keep or cancel appointments) is a global problem that impacts healthcare systems by delaying patient access to healthcare, reducing quality of care, and wasting resources. The no-show phenomenon has not yet been studied in Oman despite it having grown in importance ever since the appointments system was implemented in 2014. This study aimed to characterize the no-shows in primary healthcare facilities in Oman. Methods: We collected and analyzed administrative data during the period 2014–2017 from 14 primary healthcare institutions in Oman focusing on the ophthalmology, ear, nose, and throat, and dermatology clinics therein. Results: The overall no-show rates were > 50.0%. No-show probabilities were higher in males, younger adults, new appointments, early morning appointments, appointments during Ramadan, and appointments scheduled farther in advance. Patient experience with the appointment system reduced the no-show probability. Conclusions: Policymakers should consider these trends to optimize the number of appointments per day, and researchers should further investigate no-shows for other specialties and levels of care