Impact of Awareness Campaign on the Knowledge of Risk Factors of HIV & AIDS among Students of University of Gujrat, Pakistan

Background: Individuals of age 15-25 years are at highest risk of HIV/AIDS due to presence of high risk behavior. Public health professionals are of the view that educational intervention are more successful in improving knowledge attitudes and preventive practices among the young rather than abstinence only intervention. The aim of this study was to access the knowledge regarding HIV/AIDS of students of University of Gujrat, Gujrat and to find the effect of imparting education on these parameters. Methodology: pre-post quasi experimental study design conducted at University of Gujrat, Pakistan in the year 2015-2016. A sample size of 370 students was taken. A pre-structured self-administered questionnaire was used as a study tool, privacy and anonymity of the respondents were maintained. A comprehensive lecture and educational session was carried out that delivered information regarding HIV/AIDS disease nature, modes of transmission, myths associated with HIV/AIDS, and other disease facts. After an interval of three weeks the same questionnaire again got filled from the same students. The pre-intervention knowledge was compared to the post educational intervention one. Obtained data were evaluated by using SPSS version 20. Results were considered significant at p value of less than 0.05. Results: The student of UOG had fairly moderate knowledge of HIV/AIDS that was significantly modified (p≤0.01) after educational conditioning. And there was clear presence of will to disseminate HIV information, so that not only themselves but also their family member can be protected from this deadly infection. Conclusion: Educational intervention statistically significantly conditioned students knowledge of HIV/AIDS

Efficacy of Melatonin and Pentoxifylline combination therapy in treatment of endotoxin induced hepatic dysfunction in white albino mice

Introduction: Despite major expansion and elaboration in treatment protocols of septic patients, mortality rate is still very high due to multiple organ damage including hepatotoxicity. We in study evaluated the role of two strong anti-inflammatory agents, melatonin and pentoxifylline, as a combined treatment in lipopolysaccharide induced hepatic dysfunction in white albino mice. Material and Methods: Endotoxemia was reproduced in white albino mice through intraperitoneal administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of serotype E.Coli. Therapeutic potential of the both melatonin and pentoxifylline alone and as combined therapy was adjudged by administering agents 2 hours after LPS delivering. The extent of liver damage was evaluated via serum alanine aminotransferases (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) estimation along with histopathological examination of liver tissue. Results: Lipopolysaccharide administration (Group 2) resulted in marked hepatotoxicity as evident by statistically raised serum ALT ((p≤0.01) and AST (p≤0.01) at the end of experimentation. Also liver cross section examination showed marked distortion of liver parenchyma. Melatonin (Group 3) was prosperous in aversion of LPS invoked hepatotoxicity as proved by lessening of augmented ALT (p≤0.01) and AST (p≤0.01) along with restoration of pathological changes on liver sections (p≤0.05). Pentoxifylline generated similar results and serum ALT, AST and histological alteration abated considerably (p≤ 0.05).Combination therapy in animals of Group 5 also tapered LPS evoked hepatic dysfunction statistically considerably. Conclusion: Melatonin and pentoxifylline alone and as combination therapy as effective in countering LPS induced hepatotoxicity. However the combination therapy did not yield synergistic effects. Keywords: Lipopolysaccharides, Endotoxin, Hepatotoxicity, Melatonin, Pentoxifylline

Occurrence of possible drug related interactions in medical patients in out-patient departments of Pakistan

Background: Data regarding occurrence of drug-drug interactions in Pakistan is rare. In the current study, we have tried to find out the clinical adversity and frequency witnessed in prescriptions of a medical outpatient department.Methods: Patient prescriptions were analyzed for potential drug-drug interactions.  A sample of 364 patients, visited outpatient department who were being prescribed at least two drugs simultaneously using a drug interaction program website.Results: The 364 patients (72.8% male, mean age 57.9±15.2 years) were prescribed a median of six drugs (range 2-13) at OPD visit. Three hundred forty nine patients (95.8%) had at least one potentially interacting drug combination. 2636 potential interactions were seen in the visiting patients. Out of these 124 (4.7%) were of major severity, 1730 (65.6%) moderate and 515 (19.5%). Out of 124 patients with a potential DDI with major severity, no patient was re-hospitalized within 2 months after discharge due to a probable drug-related problem associated with the potential DDI.Conclusions: A large percentage of patients were detected having one or more potential drug-drug interactions, using drug interaction detection program. However, the percentage of patients having clinically adverse consequences due to drug-drug interactions appears to be very low

Optimized communication in 5G-driven vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs)

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology.Next generation Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks will be dominated by heterogeneous data and additional massive diffusion of Internet of Things (IoT) traffic. To meet these objectives, a radical rethink of current VANET architecture is essentially required by turning it into a more flexible and programmable fabric. This research endeavours to provide next generation 5G-driven VANET architecture, with solutions for efficient and optimized communication. This thesis first introduces an innovative 5G-driven VANET architecture to provide flexible network management, control and high resource utilization, leveraging the concepts of SDN, C-RAN and Fog Computing. A new Fog Computing (FC) framework (comprising of zones and clusters) is proposed at the edge of the network to support vehicles and end users with prompt responses, and to avoid frequent handovers between vehicles and RSUs. The key results are improved throughput, reduced transmission delay and minimized control overhead on the controller. Furthermore, a novel Evolutionary Game Theoretic (EGT) framework is presented to achieve stable and optimized clustering in the Fog Computing Framework. The solution of the game is presented to be an evolutionary equilibrium. The equilibrium point is also proven analytically and the existence of an evolutionary equilibrium is also verified using the Lyapunov function. The results are analysed for different number of clusters for different populations and speeds. An optimal cost is suggested that defines an optimum clustering thus reducing an overhead of frequent cluster reformation. In addition, this thesis provides a Hybrid-Fuzzy Logic guided Genetic Algorithm (H-FLGA) approach for the SDN controller, to support diversified quality of service (QoS) demands and dynamic resource requirements of mobile users in 5G-driven VANET architecture. The proposed Fuzzy Inference System (FIS) is used to optimize weights of multi-objectives, depending on the Type of Service (ToS) requirements of customers. The results proved that the proposed hybrid H-FLGA performs better than GA. The results improve spectral efficiency and optimizes connections while minimizing E2E delay and further facilitates the service providers to implement a more flexible customer-centric network infrastructure. Furthermore, an end-to-end (E2E) network slicing framework is proposed to support customized services by managing the cooperation of both the RAN and Core Network (CN), using SDN, NFV and Edge Computing technologies. A dynamic radio resource slice optimization scheme is proposed to slice the overall bandwidth resources for mission critical and non-mission critical demands. The results meet ultra reliability and E2E latency of mission-critical services

Effect of fluoxetine and paroxetine on intestinal motility

Background: Serotonin (5-HT) is a biogenic amine that functions as a neurotransmitter of sensorimotor functions in the digestive tract. Te role of 5-HT agents in the modulation of lower gastrointestinal function. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are of potential benefit in functional gastrointestinal diseases although formal evidence is lacking. Apart from central effects, they may have peripheral. The present study was carried out to find out the possible effects of fluoxetine and paroxetine on gastrointestinal smooth muscles of rabbit as they cause severe nausea and vomiting initially.Methods: Experimental study design. Power lab (USA) for recording the contractions of ileal smooth muscle of rabbit in response to serotonin, fluoxetine and paroxetine.Results: The percent responses with serotonin, fluoxetine and paroxetine were 100, 10.53, and 4.75 percent respectively.Conclusions: SSRIs (fluoxetine and paroxetine) were unable to enhance the serotonergic transmission in vitro inturn decreases the qualitative response

Comparative efficacy of melatonin in attenuation of endotoxin/LPS induced hepatotoxicity in BALB/c mice

Background: Sepsis is characterized by overwhelming surge of cytokines and oxidative stress to one of many factors, gram negative bacteria commonly implicated. Despite major expansion and elaboration of sepsis pathophysiology and therapeutic approach; death rate remains very high in septic patients due to multiple organ damage including hepatotoxicity. The present study was aimed to ascertain the adequacy of melatonin (10mg/kg i.p), and its comparability with dexamethasone (3mg/kg i.p), delivered separately and collectively in endotoxin induced hepatotoxicity.Methods: The number of animals in each group was six. Endotoxin/LPS induced hepatotoxicity was reproduced in mice by giving LPS of serotype E. coli intraperitoneally. Preventive role was questioned by giving the experimental agent half an hour prior to LPS injection whereas therapeutic potential of the experimental agent was searched out via post LPS delivering. The extent of liver damage was adjudged via serum alanine aminotransferases (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) estimation along with histopathological examination of liver tissue.Results: Melatonin was prosperous in aversion (Group 3) and curation (Group 4) of LPS invoked hepatotoxicity as evident by lessening of augmented ALT (≤0.01) and AST (≤0.01) along with restoration of pathological changes on liver sections (p≤0.05). Dexamethasone given before (Group5) and after LPS (Group 6) significantly (p≤0.05) attenuated LPS generated liver injury. Combination therapy with dexamethasone in conjunction with melatonin (Group 7) after LPS administration tapered LPS evoked hepatic dysfunction statistically considerably, however the result was comparable to single agent therapy.Conclusions: Melatonin set up promising results in endotoxin induced hepatotoxicity and can be used therapeutic adjuncts to conventional treatment strategies in sepsis induced liver failure. Combination therapies however generated no synergistic results

Comparative Analysis of Microbial Prevalence in Normal and Endometritic cows

The objective of this study was to perform a comparative analysis of microbial prevalence in normal and endometritic cows. To determine the causative microbes of endometritis, cows were divided into four groups, comprising 10 cows each. Group A: normal cows with no signs and symptoms. Group B: Young stock (fit for breeding) cows suffering from endometritis. Group C: milking cows suffering from Endometritis. Group D: dry cows suffering from Endometritis. Three sterile swabs were collected from all cows of four groups, thus making a total of 120 samples. Bacterial isolation and identification was performed according to bergey’s manual. Most common pathogen in the uterus of endometritic cows were Escherichia coli and then Trueperella pyogenes > Salmonella enterica > Klebsiella pneumonia > Bacillus subtilis > Fusobacterium necrophorum > Proteus vulgaris > Staphylococcus aureus > Streptococcus pneumoniae. In normal cows, mostly numbers of isolates were gram positive. S. aureus was found to be most abundant in normal cows followed by S. pneumoniae, B. subtilis, T. pyogenes, E. coli and K. pneumoniae. Higher numbers of bacteria were found in endometritic cows as compared to normal cows. In conclusion, E. coli was found to be abundant pathogens in the diseased cows and S. aureus was mostly found in normal cows. This study provides information about prevalence of endometritis in cows which can be used as base to treat endometritic cows

A descriptive study of double burden of malnutrition in mothers of children with severe acute malnutrition admitted in children hospital and institute of child health, Multan

Objective: To assess the nutritional status of mothers of severely malnourished children, and to evaluate the factors associated with inadequate caloric intake of children with severe acute malnutrition versus sufficient caloric intake by mothers.Methods: The cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted from January to June 2016 at Children Hospital and Institute of Child Health, Multan, Pakistan, and comprised mothers of severely malnourished children admitted for treatment. Data was collected using a questionnaire administered through interviews. Elements noted included body mass index, 24-hour recall, dietary restriction during pregnancy, lactation and complimentary feeding patterns of the children. The mothers were also examined for clinical signs of iron deficiency anaemia.Results: Of the 100 women, 20(20%) were malnourished, 42(42%) were of normal weight, and 38(38%) were either overweight, pre-obese or obese. The caloric intake of 26(26%) mothers was less than 1500 kcal per day, while 42(42%) were taking between 2000-2500 kcal per day and 32(32%) were taking \u3e2500 kcal daily. Also, 67(67%) women were suffering from anaemia and 80(80%) women had some myths related with dietary restrictions during pregnancy, lactation and complimentary feeding of children. Overall, 23(23%) women breastfed their babies