Morphological and Yield Response of Pulses Against Drought Stress: A Review

Pulses in Pakistan is used in combination with cereals to balance the diet. Its area and production is decreasing for last many years. In the barren and partly arid regions, water shortage is the major component that restricts yield. Using of drought resistance plant is one of the best ways for good cultivation under drought condition. As the pulses have great nutritional and economical values and drought stress affect their morphological features. The legume yield is mostly cultured in rain fed region of the Punjab where they bear a slighter quantity of water situation resulting in low yield of bean. To overcome these problems it is necessary to get knowledge about the performance of different lines of different pulses crops under water stress conditions. That’s why in this paper the information about the previous literature has been discussed

Problem Management Plus (PM plus ) in the management of common mental disorders in a specialized mental healthcare facility in Pakistan; study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Additional file 1. Appendix A

Evaluating effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a group psychological intervention using cognitive behavioural strategies for women with common mental disorders in conflict-affected rural Pakistan: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

The impact of humanitarian disasters upon mental health is well recognised. The evidence for psychological interventions for mental health is mounting, but few interventions have been rigorously tested in humanitarian settings. To be sustainable in humanitarian settings interventions need to be short, simple, deliverable by nonspecialists under supervision, and adopt a transdiagnostic approach where an array of mental health outcomes are addressed simultaneously. These elements have been incorporated into the newly developed WHO Problem Management Plus (PM+) Group intervention. The aim of this trial is to evaluate the locally adapted PM+ Group intervention for women in Swat, Pakistan. This PM+ Group trial is a two-arm, single-blind, cluster randomised controlled trial conducted in a community-based setting with women in rural Pakistan. PM+ is delivered in partnership with the Lady Health Worker (LHW) Programme which provides community-based health care to women in Pakistan. Thirty-four LHW clusters will be randomised in a 1:1 allocation ratio using a permuted-block randomisation method. Participants screened and found to meet the inclusion criteria will be allocated to either the PM+ intervention group (n = 306), or the control arm (n = 306). The manualised PM+ intervention involves five sessions, each lasting 3 h, and introduces four strategies applied by participants to problems that they are facing. It is delivered by local female facilitators with a minimum of 16 years of education who are provided with targeted training and supervision. The primary outcome is individual psychological distress, measured by levels of anxiety and depression on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale at 20 weeks after baseline. Secondary outcomes include major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, levels of social support, levels of functioning, and economic effectiveness. Intervention acceptability will be explored through an embedded qualitative study. The PM+ Group trial will provide important evidence on the effectiveness of an empirically supported psychological treatment delivered by nonspecialists in a humanitarian setting. If proven effective, the qualitative component will inform strategies for PM+ Group scale-up in health systems in other humanitarian settings. Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, identifier: ACTRN12616000037404. Registered on 19 January 2016; WHO Protocol ID RPC705, v.4, 2 November 2015

Effect of adding a psychological intervention to routine care of common mental disorders in a specialized mental healthcare facility in Pakistan: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract Background In many low resource settings, the provision of government mental health care services is limited to specialized psychiatry units in urban hospital care facilities, where the most common treatment for common mental disorders (CMDs) is pharmacotherapy, occasionally with adjunct nonspecific psychological support. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of adding a low intensity, psychological intervention, Problem Management Plus (PM+) for CMDs into routine care in a specialized mental health care facility in Pakistan. Methods A two arm, single-blind individual randomized controlled trial (RCT) was carried out with adults (N = 192), referred for psychological support by psychiatrists. The study participants were randomized (1:1) to PM + plus Treatment as Usual (TAU) (n = 96) or TAU only (n = 96). The primary outcomes were symptoms of anxiety and depression, measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and functional impairment as measured by WHO Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS 2.0) at 20 weeks after baseline. Results The analysis was done on intention-to-treat principle. The linear mixed model analysis showed that at 20 weeks after baseline, there was a significant reduction in symptoms of anxiety and depression (mean [SD], 16.23 [8.81] vs 19.79 [7.77]; AMD, − 3.10; 95% CI, − 0.26 to − 5.76); p = 0.03 and improvement in functioning (mean [SD], 22.94 [9.37] vs 27.37 [8.36]; AMD, − 4.35; 95% CI, − 1.45 to − 7.24); p = 0.004 in PM + plus TAU versus TAU arm. The follow-up rate was 67% at primary end-point. Conclusions Specialized care facilities in LMICs may consider adding brief, evidence-based psychological treatments for CMDs to their routine care. Trial Registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12616000381482. Registered March 23, 2016. Retrospectively registered, https://www.anzctr.org.au/Default.aspx/ ACTRN12616000381482 </jats:sec

Effectiveness of a technology-assisted, family volunteers delivered, brief, multicomponent parents' skills training intervention for children with developmental disorders in rural Pakistan: a cluster randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND Globally, there is a large documented gap between needs of families and children with developmental disorders and available services. We adapted the World Health Organization's mental health Gap-Intervention Guidelines (mhGAP-IG) developmental disorders module into a tablet-based android application to train caregivers of children with developmental disorders. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of this technology-assisted, family volunteers delivered, parents' skills training intervention to improve functioning in children with developmental disorders in a rural community of Rawalpindi, Pakistan. METHODS In a single-blinded, cluster randomized controlled trial, 30 clusters were randomised (1:1 ratio) to intervention (n = 15) or enhanced treatment as usual (ETAU) arm (n = 15). After screening, 540 children (18 participants per cluster) aged 2-12 years, with developmental disorders and their primary caregivers were recruited into the trial. Primary outcome was child's functioning, measured by Childhood Disability Assessment Schedule for Developmental Disorders (DD-CDAS) at 6-months post-intervention. Secondary outcomes were parents' health related quality of life, caregiver-child joint engagement, socio-emotional well-being of children, family empowerment and stigmatizing experiences. Intention-to-treat analyses were done using mixed-models adjusted for covariates and clusters. RESULTS At 6-months post-intervention, no statistically significant mean difference was observed on DD-CDAS between intervention and ETAU (mean [SD], 47.65 [26.94] vs. 48.72 [28.37], Adjusted Mean Difference (AMD), - 2.63; 95% CI - 6.50 to 1.24). However, parents in the intervention arm, compared to ETAU reported improved health related quality of life (mean [SD] 65.56 [23.25] vs. 62.17 [22.63], AMD 5.28; 95% CI 0.44 to 10.11). The results were non-significant for other secondary outcomes. CONCLUSIONS In the relatively short intervention period of 6 months, no improvement in child functioning was observed; but, there were significant improvements in caregivers' health related quality of life. Further trials with a longer follow-up are recommended to evaluate the impact of intervention. Trial registration Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT02792894. Registered April 4, 2016, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02792894

Post Mastectomy Seroma Formation: Scalpel V/S Ligasure Dissection in Modified Radical Mastectomy

Background: Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide and one of the leading causes of mortality among female population. Modified radical mastectomy (MRM) with Level II axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) is considered as the gold standard treatment. The most common post-operative complication of MRM with ALND is seroma formation. Objective: This study aimed to compare the efficacy of scalpel and LigaSure dissection with respect to seroma formation in the flaps. Methods: This randomized controlled trial was conducted in the department of surgery, Federal Government Polyclinic Hospital (FGPC), Islamabad from October 2020 to October 2021. A total of 60 patients were recruited in the study, divided into 2 groups of 30 patients each; Scalpel Dissection Group and LigaSure Dissection Group. Data was gathered, entered and analyzed on SPSS version 22. Results: Mean age in group I patients was 38.3 ± 11.4 years and it was 39.8 ± 9.4 years in group II patients (p=0.566). Mean duration of surgery in group I patients was 109.9 ± 7.9 minutes and it was 105.1 ± 8.3 minutes in group II patients (p=0.027). Seroma formation observed in both groups was statistically insignificant. Conclusion: Mean duration of surgery was significantly shorter in LigaSure group as compared to scalpel dissection group. Frequency of seroma formation after surgery, mean duration of flap drain, mean volume of flap drain, and mean duration of hospital stay was similar in both treatment groups

On knowledge discovery and representations of molecular structures using topological indices

The main purpose of a topological index is to encode a chemical structure by a number. A topological index is a graph invariant, which decribes the topology of the graph and remains constant under a graph automorphism. Topological indices play a wide role in the study of QSAR (quantitative structure-activity relationship) and QSPR (quantitative structure-property relationship). Topological indices are implemented to judge the bioactivity of chemical compounds. In this article, we compute the ABC (atom-bond connectivity); ABC4 (fourth version of ABC), GA(geometric arithmetic) and GA5(fifth version of GA) indices of some networks sheet. These networks include: octonano window sheet; equilateral triangular tetra sheet; rectangular sheet; and rectangular tetra sheet networks

A Comparative Systematic Literature Review on Knee Bone Reports from MRI, X-Rays and CT Scans Using Deep Learning and Machine Learning Methodologies

The purpose of this research was to provide a &ldquo;systematic literature review&rdquo; of knee bone reports that are obtained by MRI, CT scans, and X-rays by using deep learning and machine learning techniques by comparing different approaches&mdash;to perform a comprehensive study on the deep learning and machine learning methodologies to diagnose knee bone diseases by detecting symptoms from X-ray, CT scan, and MRI images. This study will help those researchers who want to conduct research in the knee bone field. A comparative systematic literature review was conducted for the accomplishment of our work. A total of 32 papers were reviewed in this research. Six papers consist of X-rays of knee bone with deep learning methodologies, five papers cover the MRI of knee bone using deep learning approaches, and another five papers cover CT scans of knee bone with deep learning techniques. Another 16 papers cover the machine learning techniques for evaluating CT scans, X-rays, and MRIs of knee bone. This research compares the deep learning methodologies for CT scan, MRI, and X-ray reports on knee bone, comparing the accuracy of each technique, which can be used for future development. In the future, this research will be enhanced by comparing X-ray, CT-scan, and MRI reports of knee bone with information retrieval and big data techniques. The results show that deep learning techniques are best for X-ray, MRI, and CT scan images of the knee bone to diagnose diseases