Development and Validation of Domestic Violence Scale for Intimate Partners

Objective: Development and validation of domestic violence scale for intimate partners in Urdu language. Study Design: Cross sectional survey research design and purposive sampling technique were used. Place and Duration of Study: District Head Quarter Teaching Hospitals, Sargodha and Gujrat Pakistan, from Feb 2020 to Dec 2021. Methodology: The domestic violence scale was based on 7 factors included neglect, psychological violence, spiritual violence, verbal violence, economic violence, physical violence, and sexual violence. Initially, 305 statements were developed on the bases of inductive and deductive approaches. 202 out of 305 items were selected after expert evaluation. Further, the pilot study retained 131 items. Moreover, for final administration data was collected by using a self-reported questionnaire on 654 married males and females from District Sargodha and District Gujrat Pakistan (including 320 injured women victimized by domestic violence reported in DHQ hospital Sargodha and Gujrat). Results: Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy (KMO) Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Pallant showed an acceptable value above 0.6 showing the sampling adequacy of the Domestic Violence Scale. The KMO value of the domestic violence scale was 0.955, and the CFI was 0.948 with a significant p<0.01 value. The results indicated appropriate model fit indices for a significant model fit. There was high reliability of the domestic violence scale (0.951) at a 0.01 level of significance. At the end of all analyses 25 reliable and valid items retain in the scale. Conclusion: Domestic violence scale is valid and reliable instrument to measure neglect, psychological violence, spiritual violence, verbal violence, economic violence, physical violence, and sexual violence

HPLC Determination of α-keto Acids in Human Serum and Urine after Derivatization with 4-Nitro-1,2-phenylenediamine

The determination of α-keto acids has clinical importance, because these are intermediates in a number of biochemical processes. This work reports the development of an HPLC procedure for the analysis α-keto acids in blood and urine samples after derivatization with 4-nitro-1,2-phenylenediamine (NPD). Nine α-keto acids: glyoxylic acid (GA), pyruvic acid (PYR), 2-oxobutyric acid (KB), 3-methyl-2-oxobutyric acid (MKBA), 3-methyl-2-oxovaleric acid (K3MVA), 2-oxoglutaric acid (KG), 4-methyl-2-oxovaleric acid (K4MVA), 2-oxohexanoic acid (KHA) and phenylpyruvic acid (PPY) were derivatized with (NPD) at pH 3 and separated on a Zorbax 300 SB-C18 HPLC column (4.6x150mm id) and photodiode array detection at 255 nm. The isocratic elution was performed with methanol: water: acetonitrile (42: 56:2, v/ v/ v) with a flow rate 0.9 mL/min. The keto acids separated within 14 min. The method was repeatable with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 0.1-2.9% for each of the α-keto acids. The limits of detection and quantitation were obtained within the range 0.05-0.26 µg/ mL and 0.15-0.8 µg/ mL respectively. The method was applied for determination of α-keto acids from a pharmaceutical preparation, human serum and urine samples of healthy volunteers and diabetic patients. The results were further confirmed by standard addition technique. The method is rapid and simple and is suitable for the separation and determination of α-keto acids from clinical samples

Substantial and sustained reduction in under-5 mortality, diarrhea, and pneumonia in Oshikhandass, Pakistan : Evidence from two longitudinal cohort studies 15 years apart

Funding Information: Study 1 was funded through the Applied Diarrheal Disease Research Program at Harvard Institute for International Development with a grant from USAID (Project 936–5952, Cooperative Agreement # DPE-5952-A-00-5073-00), and the Aga Khan Health Service, Northern Areas and Chitral, Pakistan. Study 2 was funded by the Pakistan US S&T Cooperative Agreement between the Pakistan Higher Education Commission (HEC) (No.4–421/PAK-US/HEC/2010/955, grant to the Karakoram International University) and US National Academies of Science (Grant Number PGA-P211012 from NAS to the Fogarty International Center). The funding bodies had no role in the design of the study, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or writing of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Author(s).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Nuclear Matter Properties and Neutron Star Phenomenology Using the Finite Range Simple Effective Interaction

The saturation properties of symmetric and asymmetric nuclear matter have been computed using the finite range simple effective interaction with Yukawa form factor. The results of higher-order derivatives of the energy per particle and the symmetry energy computed at saturation, namely, Q0, Ksym, Kτ, Qsym, are compared with the corresponding values extracted from studies involving theory, experiment and astrophysical observations. The overall uncertainty in the values of these quantities, which results from a wide spectrum of studies described in earlier literature, lies in the ranges −1200≲Q0≲400 MeV, −400≲Ksym≲100 MeV, −840≲Kτ≲−126 MeV and −200≲Qsym≲800 MeV, respectively. The ability of the equations of state computed with this simple effective interaction in predicting the threshold mass for prompt collapse in binary neutron star merger and gravitational redshift has been examined in terms of the compactness of the neutron star and the incompressibility at the central density of the maximum mass star. The correlations existing between neutron star properties and the nuclear matter saturation properties have been analyzed and compared with the predictions of other model calculations

Clinical trial of Unani herbomineral cream to evaluate its topical effects on Acne vulgaris

431-436A controlled, randomized single blind clinical trial was conducted as per GCP guidelines for the duration of 2 months on the human individuals suffering from acne vulgaris. The patients were divided into 2 groups, control group treated topically with only cream base and the test group treated topically with the UHC. The effects of the Unani herbomineral cream (UHC) were scientifically evaluated in human beings in acne vulgaris. The assessment of the severity of acne vulgaris in the control and test groups was made by the Investigators Global Acne Severity Score. The statistical analysis of the results of severity of acne vulgaris in the control and test groups was made for the total duration of treatment. Group comparisons (within and inter group) were made using ANOVA and paired t- test respectively. The effect of only cream base did not show any significant improvement in the acne vulgaris of the patients of control group. On the other hand, the within group and inter group comparisons in the test group showed significant differences at each stage of the treatment. The test drug, UHC has been proved effective in the treatment of acne vulgaris in the test group in comparison to the control group

Dolastane diterpenoids from the brown alga Dictyota indica

From the acetone extract of Dictyota indica, three new dolastane diterpenoids have been isolated together with the previously known amijiol. Their structures have been established on the basis o spectral data, in comparison with known related compounds

Determination and Evaluation of Mineral Constituents of Medicinal Plants used for the Treatment of Asthma and other Ailments by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry

Mineral contents have been determined for thirty samples from three medicinal plants (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Salvadora oleoides and Euphoria hirta). Fifteen essential trace and toxic elements were determined, using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Ten samples from each plant were collected from the vicinity of Jamshoro and Tandojam Agricultural University and drug stores. The edible parts of all three plants were digested with two known wet asking methods. It was observed that the levels of essential micronutrient Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn and Zn, in all there medicinal plants are found to be (3.491.3-3928.2), (2269.3-3617.3), (3.23-5.42), (6.13-7.33) and (4.22-6.94) mg/100g respectively on dried basis. The efficiency of digesting mineral acid mixtures was checked by certified reference sample of Spinach NBS-1570

Regional trade of medicinal plants has facilitated the retention of traditional knowledge: case study in Gilgit-Baltistan Pakistan

Abstract Background The ethnic groups in Gilgit-Baltistan have been utilizing local resources in their centuries-old traditional healing system. Most tribes within these ethnic groups still rely on traditional healing systems. We aim to understand the current status, uses, and abundance of medicinal plants, associated traditional knowledge, and trade. Materials and methods The study incorporated over 300 local community members (70% men and 30% women) in focused group discussions, semi-structured interviews, and homework assignments for 8th to 12th grade students to document traditional knowledge (TK) in six districts in Northeast Pakistan. We calculated various indices such as informant consensus factor, use value, relative frequency of citation, and CoKriging. These indices, along with repetitively used medicinal plants, were used to analyze differences in studied locations. Results Most of the community members still rely on traditional medication in the study areas. However, we found the highest number of medicinal plants used in Skardu and Gilgit compared to other districts and these two districts also represent trade centers and a highly populated area regarding medicinal plants. Results indicate connection amongst the surveyed villages signifying mixing of knowledge from different sources, with certain areas more influenced by traditional Chinese medicine and others more by Ayurveda and Unani. Conclusion TK is mostly retained with elder community members; however, those directly linked with market value chain retain rich knowledge on traditional use of the medicinal plants from the region. Major trade centers in the region also coincide with a high density of medicinal plant occurrence, knowledge, and higher utilization. Therefore, with the increasing trade in medicinal plant in the region, there is potential for rejuvenation of this knowledge and of plant use in the region