Frequency of Helicobacter Pylori Infections and Its Associated Risk Factors in Patients Attending Tertiary Care Hospital of Bhakkar, Pakistan

Background: Helicobacter Pylori  is a gram-negative bacteria that is the main cause of chronic gastritis and plays a significant role in peptic ulcers, gastric carcinoma, and gastric lymphoma. The prevalence of H. pylori cases is 75-90% worldwide. The objective of the study was to determine the frequency of H. pylori and its associated risk factors in the Bhakkar district.Methods: A total of 102 participants with problems in the gastrointestinal tract were taken from June 2021 to May 2022. Stool antigen was performed to confirm H. pylori infection. A complete blood count (CBC) was also performed on the blood sample. Results: The current study showed that a total of 102 samples were collected in this study. It was concluded that out of 102 participants, 63 (61.8%) were H. pylori positive and 39 (38.2%) were H. pylori-negative participants. Females were more infected with H. pylori 38 (60.3%) as compared to males 25 (39.7). The frequency of factors such as smoking (52% vs 51%), weekly consumption of junk food (52.4% vs 43.6%), fizzy drinks (33.3% vs 23.1%) and drinking of unfiltered water (54% vs 53%) was more in H. pylori-infected group compared with the uninfected group but difference was not statistically significant with odds ratio less than 1.Conclusion: The current study concluded that female genders, ethnicities, and history of stomach infection are risk factors for H. pylori. Exposure to Smoking, unfiltered drinking water, fizzy drinks, and Junk food is more in the affected group than in the unaffected group.

The Relationship between Parental Rejection and Social Skills among Children of Single Parents

This study was designed to investigate the relationship between parental rejection and social skills among children of single parents. 100 children (49 boys, 51 girls) and 100 parents (42 fathers and 58 mothers) participated in this study. For data collection, the Urdu version of the Parental Acceptance Questionnaire and the Social Skills Scale were administered. Statistical analysis was performed by using Liner regression and single sample t-test. The results showed that parental rejection is a significant predictor of low social skills, showing the beta values (β=.278, t= 5.989, p<.05). Furthermore, 7.7% variance is explained by parental rejection towards low social skills. Findings evidenced that perceived parental rejection is a significant predictor of low-level social skills in children of single parents. Results are discussed in the context of cultural factors

Investigation of 9000 hours multi-stress aging effects on High-Temperature Vulcanized Silicone Rubber with silica (nano/micro) filler hybrid composite insulator

Degradation in the polymeric insulators is caused due to the environmental stresses. The main aim of this paper is to explore the improved aging characteristics of hybrid samples by adding nano/micro silica in High Temperature Vulcanized Silicone Rubber (HTV-SiR) under long term accelerated aging conditions for 9000 hours. As HTV-SiR is unable to sustain environmental stresses for a long time, thus a long term accelerated aging behavior is an important phenomenon to be considered for field application. The aging characteristics of nano/micro filled HTV-SiR are analyzed by using techniques such as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Leakage Current (LC), Fourier Transform Infrared Microscopy (FTIR), Hydrophobicity Classification (HC), and breakdown strength for the aging time of 9000 hours. FTIR and leakage currents are measured after every cycle. All the co-filled samples revealed escalated aging characteristics as compared to the neat sample except the SN8 sample (8% nano-silica+20% micro-silica) after 9000 hours of aging. The highest loading of 6% and 8% nano-silica with 20% micro-silica do not contribute to the improved performance when compared with the neat and hybrid samples. However, from the critical experimental analysis, it is deduced that SN2 sample (2% nano-silica+20% micro-silica) is highly resistant to the long term accelerated aging conditions. SN2 has no cracks, lower loss percentages in the important FTIR absorption peaks, higher breakdown strength and superior HC after aging as compared to the unfilled and hybrid samples

Impedance Spectroscopy Analysis of PbSe Nanostructures Deposited by Aerosol Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition Approach

From MDPI via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: accepted 2021-08-21, pub-electronic 2021-10-23Publication status: PublishedFunder: Higher Education Commision, Pakistan; Grant(s): 7363This research endeavor aimed to synthesize the lead (II) diphenyldiselenophosphinate complex and its use to obtain lead selenide nanostructured depositions and further the impedance spectroscopic analysis of these obtained PbSe nanostructures, to determine their roles in the electronics industry. The aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition technique was used to provide lead selenide deposition by decomposition of the complex at different temperatures using the glass substrates. The obtained films were revealed to be a pure cubic phase PbSe, as confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis. SEM and TEM micrographs demonstrated three-dimensionally grown interlocked or aggregated nanocubes of the obtained PbSe. Characteristic dielectric measurements and the impedance spectroscopy analysis at room temperature were executed to evaluate PbSe properties over the frequency range of 100 Hz–5 MHz. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss gave similar trends, along with altering frequency, which was well explained by the Koops theory and Maxwell–Wagner theory. The effective short-range translational carrier hopping gave rise to an overdue remarkable increase in ac conductivity (σac) on the frequency increase. Fitting of a complex impedance plot was carried out with an equivalent circuit model (Rg Cg) (Rgb Qgb Cgb), which proved that grains, as well as grain boundaries, are responsible for the relaxation processes. The asymmetric depressed semicircle with the center lower to the impedance real axis provided a clear explanation of non-Debye dielectric behavior

THE INFLUENCE OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN IMPROVING WOMEN'S SOCIAL STATUS: AN EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM LAHORE, PAKISTAN

Education have great deal of importance in every aspect of life, thus, this study deals with its one foremost aspect by investigating the impact of higher education on women’s social status. The social status of working women was examined by women’s perception about their decision-making participation at the household level in Lahore. The social impact of higher education was evaluated based on positivist philosophy and implantation of survey approach. Primary data have been collected using self-administered questionnaire. A sample of 120 women respondents studying and teaching at National College of Business Administration & Economics was collected using the simple random technique. A Chi-square test of homogeneity was applied to see whether the difference in the proportion of opinion responses. The study found that highly educated women were more socially empowered than the less educated women and actively participate in familial related decision makings

Near-infrared imaging for automated tsetse pupae sex sorting in support of the sterile insect technique

Tsetse flies are the cyclical vectors of African trypanosomes and one of several methods to manage this vector is the sterile insect technique (SIT). The ability to determine the sex of tsetse pupae with the objective to separate the sexes before adult emergence has been a major goal for decades for tsetse management programmes with an SIT component. Tsetse females develop faster and pharate females inside the pupae melanise 1–2 days before males. This earlier melanisation can be detected by infrared cameras through the pupal shell, and the newly developed Near InfraRed Pupae Sex Sorter (NIRPSS) takes advantage of this. The melanisation process is not homogeneous for all fly organs and the pupa needs to be examined ventrally, dorsally and laterally to ensure accurate classification by an image analysis algorithm. When the pupae are maturing at a constant temperature of 24 °C and sorted at the appropriate age, 24 days post-larviposition for Glossina palpalis gambiensis, the sorting machine can efficiently separate the sexes. The recovered male pupae can then be sterilised for field releases of males, while the rest of the pupae can be used to maintain the laboratory colony. The sorting process with the new NIRPSS had no negative impact on adult emergence and flight ability. A mean male recovery of 62.82 ± 3.61% was enough to provide sterile males to an operational SIT programme, while mean contamination with females (4.69 ± 3.02%) was low enough to have no impact on the maintenance of a laboratory colony

Impedance Spectroscopy Analysis of PbSe Nanostructures Deposited by Aerosol Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition Approach

This research endeavor aimed to synthesize the lead (II) diphenyldiselenophosphinate complex and its use to obtain lead selenide nanostructured depositions and further the impedance spectroscopic analysis of these obtained PbSe nanostructures, to determine their roles in the electronics industry. The aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition technique was used to provide lead selenide deposition by decomposition of the complex at different temperatures using the glass substrates. The obtained films were revealed to be a pure cubic phase PbSe, as confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis. SEM and TEM micrographs demonstrated three-dimensionally grown interlocked or aggregated nanocubes of the obtained PbSe. Characteristic dielectric measurements and the impedance spectroscopy analysis at room temperature were executed to evaluate PbSe properties over the frequency range of 100 Hz–5 MHz. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss gave similar trends, along with altering frequency, which was well explained by the Koops theory and Maxwell–Wagner theory. The effective short-range translational carrier hopping gave rise to an overdue remarkable increase in ac conductivity (σac) on the frequency increase. Fitting of a complex impedance plot was carried out with an equivalent circuit model (Rg Cg) (Rgb Qgb Cgb), which proved that grains, as well as grain boundaries, are responsible for the relaxation processes. The asymmetric depressed semicircle with the center lower to the impedance real axis provided a clear explanation of non-Debye dielectric behavior