Prevalence of and factors associated with anxiety and depression among women in a lower middle class semi-urban community of Karachi, Pakistan

Objective: To study the prevalence of, and factors associated with anxiety and depression among women.Design: A cross sectional survey.SETTING: A lower middle class semi-urban community of Karachi, Pakistan.PARTICIPANTS: A total of 1218 women between the ages of 18-50 years.METHODOLOGY: Systematically every third household was identified from which a woman was randomly selected. The Aga Khan University Anxiety and Depression Scale and a socio-demographic questionnaire were administered verbally by trained interviewers for assessing the prevalence of, and associated factors for anxiety and depression.Results: A prevalence of 30% was found. Increasing age, lack of education and verbal abuse were the associated factors found to have an independent relationship.CONCLUSION: Providing education and reducing domestic abuse could lead to decrease in the prevalence of anxiety and depression in women

Optimal Control Strategy to Reduce the Infection of Pandemic HIV Associated with Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS has become hazardous among communicable diseases and so as their co-infection in present era. HIV virus gradually weakens immune system in human body, and then TB infects with the assist of HIV/AIDS at any stage of the total infectious period. Today, HIV and tuberculosis (TB) are the main causes of mortality from infectious and chronic diseases. In this Study, we manifest a compartmental co-infection model including HIV and TB on the basis of their characteristics of disease transmission. The model is divided into 10 compartments, each with its own set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. Using the Pontryagin's Maximum Principle, we investigate the existence of state variables, objective functional and optimum control plans. Identifying the most effective ways for reducing infection among the individuals, the optimal control techniques like vaccination control and treatment control measures are applied. The goal of this study is to lower the rate of HIV-TB co-infection and the cost of treatment. Another objective is to find the better control strategy to prevent HIV/AIDS that invites other pathogen in human body by gradual loosing of immunity. We carried out the investigation both analytically and numerically to divulge the effectiveness of the vaccination and treatment control to lessen the HIV and TB infection among the individuals

Cu2+ and Al3+ co-substituted cobalt ferrite: structural analysis, morphology and magnetic properties

Cu-Al substituted Co ferrite nanopowders, Co1-xCux Fe2-x Alx O4 (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.8) were synthesized by the co-precipitation method. The effect of Cu-Al substitution on the structural and magnetic properties have been investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) are used for studying the effect of variation in the Cu-Al substitution and its impact on particle size, magnetic properties such as Ms and Hc. Cu-Al substitution occurs and produce a secondary phase, α-Fe2O3. The crystallite size of the powder calcined at 800°C was in the range of 19-26 nm. The lattice parameter decreases with increasing Cu-Al content. The nanostructural features were examined by FESEM images. Infrared absorption (IR) spectra shows two vibrational bands; at around 600 (v1) and 400 cm-1 (v2). They are attributed to the tetrahedral and octahedral group complexes of the spinel lattice, respectively. It was found that the physical and magnetic properties have changed with Cu-Al contents. The saturation magnetization decreases with the increase in Cu-Al substitution. The reduction of coercive force, saturation magnetization and magnetic moments are may be due to dilution of the magnetic interaction

STUDIES ON SOME BIOCHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF OVARIAN FOLLICULAR FLUID AND PERIPHERAL BLOOD IN BUFFALOES

This project was designed to study some biochemical constituents of ovarian follicular fluid (FF) and peripheral blood in buffaloes. For this purpose, ovaries were collected from adult buffaloes immediately after slaughter, FF was aspirated and stored at -4°C. Blood samples were also collected from these buffaloes before slaughter, plasma was separated and stored for further analysis. Samples were classified into two groups according to the follicle diameter i.e. small (3-10 mm) and large (11-20 mm). The FF and plasma samples were analyzed for various biochemical constituents, including glucose, cholesterol, total proteins, albumin, globulin, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, triiodothyronine and thyroxine contents, using commercial kits.The results showed that small follicles had significantly lower (P<0.05) glucose contents than large follicles, while blood plasma had significantly higher (P<0.05) glucose contents than fluid from both classes of follicles. The differences in concentrations of cholesterol, total proteins, albumin and globulin between small and large follicles were non-significant. The concentrations of these compounds were higher in the blood than in FF, except albumin, which was higher in FF than in the blood. Contents of electrolytes and trace elements did not vary between the two follicle classes. However, the plasma levels of these electrolytes and trace elements, except potassium and zinc, were significantly higher (p<0.05) than their levels in FF. The level of potassium was significantly higher (P<0.05) in FF than in the plasma, while serum zinc level did not differ from FF. The differences in concentrations of triiodothyronine and thyroxine in fluid from small and large sized follicles were non-significant. Likewise, the levels of these hormones were non-significantly higher in blood plasma than in FF. It was concluded that FF levels of glucose differed between small and large follicle groups, while blood levels of most of constituents were higher than their levels in FF

Disparities in cardiovascular research output and disease outcomes among high-, middle- and low-income countries - An analysis of global cardiovascular publications over the last decade (2008-2017)

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Health research is crucial to managing disease burden. Previous work has highlighted marked discrepancies in research output and disease burden between high-income countries (HICs) and low- and lower-middle-income countries (LI-LMICs) and there is little data to understand whether this gap has bridged in recent years. We conducted a global, country level bibliometric analysis of CVD publications with respect to trends in disease burden and county development indicators.Methods: A search filter with a precision and recall of 0.92 and 0.91 respectively was developed to extract cardiovascular publications from the Web of Science (WOS) for the years 2008-2017. Data for disease burden and country development indicators were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease and the World Bank database respectively.Results: Our search revealed 847,708 CVD publications for the period 2008-17, with a 43.4% increase over the decade. HICs contributed 81.1% of the global CVD research output and accounted for 8.1% and 8.5% of global CVD DALY losses deaths respectively. LI-LMICs contributed 2.8% of the total output and accounted for 59.5% and 57.1% global CVD DALY losses and death rates.Conclusions: A glaring disparity in research output and disease burden persists. While LI-LMICs contribute to the majority of DALYs and mortality from CVD globally, their contribution to research output remains the lowest. These data call on national health budgets and international funding support to allocate funds to strengthen research capacity and translational research to impact CVD burden in LI-LMICs

An electronic textile embedded smart cementitious composite

Abstract: Structural health monitoring (SHM) using self‐sensing cement‐based materials has been reported before, where nano‐fillers have been incorporated in cementitious matrices as functional sensing elements. A percolation threshold is always required in order for conductive nano‐fillers modified concrete to be useful for SHM. Nonetheless, the best pressure/strain sensitivity results achieved for any self‐sensing cementitious matrix are <0.01 MPa−1. In this work, we introduce for the first‐time novel partially reduced graphene oxide based electronic textile (e‐textile) embedded in plain and as well as in polymer‐binder‐modified cementitious matrix for SHM applications. These e‐textile embedded cementitious composites are independent of any percolation threshold due to the interconnected fabric inside the host matrix. The piezo‐resistive response was measured by applying direct and cyclic compressive loads (ranging from 0.10 to 3.90 MPa). A pressure sensitivity of 1.50 MPa−1 and an ultra‐high gauge factor of 2000 was obtained for the system of the self‐sensing cementitious structure with embedded e‐textiles. The sensitivity of this new system with embedded e‐textile is an order of magnitude higher than the state‐of‐the‐art nanoparticle based self‐sensing cementitious composites. The composites showed mechanical stability and functional durability over long‐term cyclic compression tests of 1000 cycles. Additionally, a two time‐constant model was used to validate the experimental results on decay response of the e‐textile embedded composites

Quinoa in Egypt - plant density effects on seed yield and nutritional quality in marginal regions

Grain quinoa is a halophyte crop with potentially increasing cultivation area. Yet, no standards exist for optimum plant density in arid-regions. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of planting density on Peruvian valley type of Chenopodium quinoa Willd. cv. CICA from the standpoint of yield and seed quality in marginal area. Two Field experiments were conducted over two consecutive seasons viz., 2015-2016 in a marginal land at El-Fayoum oasis, Egypt with one quinoa cultivar and two planting densities namely, 56.000 plant ha-1(Low) and 167.000 plant ha(High). A complete randomized block design with six replicates was used. Seed yield increased by 34.7% with increase of plant density from 56.000 plant ha-1 to 167.000 plant ha-1. The increase of plant density significantly decreased weight of 1000-seeds and weight of hectoliter. Protein and ash concentrations in seeds increased at low planting density, whereas carbohydrate concentration decreased. However, there were no significant differences between the two planting densities on the seed concentration of the crude fiber or total fat. Regarding effects of plant density on mineral content in quinoa seeds, the calcium and magnesium contents significantly increased at low density compared with high planting density. Meanwhile, no significant effects of plant density on phosphorus, potassium, iron and zinc content in quinoa seeds were detected. Thus, the present study concludes that the plant density that gives higher seed yield is associated with significant reduction in seed quality in terms of protein content. On the other hand, low plant density significantly increased weight of 1000-seeds and hectoliter, which is reflected on the grain size. The latter is considered as a very important parameter for quinoa global market preference.Fil: Eisa, Sayed S.. Faculty Of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Cairo; EgiptoFil: Abd El Samad, Emad H.. National Research Centre, Egypt; EgiptoFil: Hussin, Sayed A.. Faculty Of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Cairo; EgiptoFil: Ali, Essam A.. Desert Research Center, Egypt; EgiptoFil: Ebrahim, Mohamed. Faculty Of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Cairo; EgiptoFil: González, Juan Antonio. Fundación Miguel Lillo; ArgentinaFil: Ordano, Mariano Andrés. Fundación Miguel Lillo; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico - Tucumán. Unidad Ejecutora Lillo; ArgentinaFil: Erazzú, Luis Ernesto. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; ArgentinaFil: El Bordeny, Nasr E.. Faculty Of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Cairo; EgiptoFil: Abdel-Ati, Ahmed A.. Desert Research Center, Egypt; Egipt

Psychiatric rating scales in Urdu: a systematic review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Researchers setting out to conduct research employing questionnaires in non-English speaking populations need instruments that have been validated in the indigenous languages. In this study we have tried to review the literature on the status of cross-cultural and/or criterion validity of all the questionnaires measuring psychiatric symptoms available in Urdu language.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A search of Medline, Embase, PsycINFO and <url>http://www.pakmedinet.com</url> was conducted using the search terms; Urdu psychiatric rating scale, and Urdu and Psychiatry. References of retrieved articles were searched. Only studies describing either cross-cultural or criterion validation of a questionnaire in Urdu measuring psychiatric symptoms were included.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Thirty two studies describing validation of 19 questionnaires were identified. Six of these questionnaires were developed indigenously in Urdu while thirteen had been translated from English. Of the six indigenous questionnaires five had had their criterion validity examined. Of the thirteen translated questionnaires only four had had both their cross-cultural and criterion validity assessed.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There is a paucity of validated questionnaires assessing psychiatric symptoms in Urdu. The BSI, SRQ and AKUADS are the questionnaires that have been most thoroughly evaluated in Urdu.</p

Burden-driven feedback control of gene expression

Cells use feedback regulation to ensure robust growth despite fluctuating demands for resources and differing environmental conditions. However, the expression of foreign proteins from engineered constructs is an unnatural burden that cells are not adapted for. Here we combined RNA-seq with an in vivo assay to identify the major transcriptional changes that occur in Escherichia coli when inducible synthetic constructs are expressed. We observed that native promoters related to the heat-shock response activated expression rapidly in response to synthetic expression, regardless of the construct. Using these promoters, we built a dCas9-based feedback-regulation system that automatically adjusts the expression of a synthetic construct in response to burden. Cells equipped with this general-use controller maintained their capacity for native gene expression to ensure robust growth and thus outperformed unregulated cells in terms of protein yield in batch production. This engineered feedback is to our knowledge the first example of a universal, burden-based biomolecular control system and is modular, tunable and portable