11 Years Old Female with Synergistic Presentation of Cranial and Spinal Pathologies: Myxopapillary Ependymoma with Hydrocephalus - A Rare Entity

The correlation between hydrocephalus and spinal cord tumor was first described by Kyrieleis et. al. 1% concomitant presence was documented by Mirroni et.al. Moreover, the understanding of the pathophysiological association between these two conditions is still lacking. 11 years old girl presented in the outpatient department of Jinnah hospital Lahore with complaints of difficulty in walking for the last 2 years, numbness of right leg for the last one year, and severe bilateral sciatica for 2 months. On further inquiry, she told that she is also suffering from headaches and blurred vision for the last 6 months. Her neuroimaging revealed hydrocephalus and mixed density heterogeneously enhancing intradural lesion at the conus. She underwent ventriculoperitoneal shunting for hydrocephalus and laminoplasty followed by excision of spinal tumor reported being myxopapillary ependymoma grade II. The presence of headache along with signs & symptoms of raised intracranial pressure in these patients warrant cranial imaging. CSF diversion for hydrocephalus and gross total excision of the spinal lesion is the standard acceptable treatment

Collaborative Research Team

poster abstractIn the University atmosphere, research has become the forefront for an academic facility. Most large universities have various schools that conduct continuous research throughout the academic year, such as engineering, sciences, and business. Given the size of these research departments, they are by nature independent. However, many research projects may overlap in certain aspects, and can even collaborate to pursue further research. Our team is pursuing the feasibility of adapting software platforms for use as tools to facilitate research collaborations. Implementation of such software would enhance communication, data sharing, and productivity across research departments

A study of bone mineral density among people living with HIV in India and its correlation with CD4 count

Background: Data on the prevalence of osteoporosis in HIV patients in Asian population is scarce this study was done to find out the prevalence of osteoporosis in HIV infected patients and its correlation with CD4 counts.Methods: This cross- sectional study was conducted in NACO- ART center of tertiary care hospital. Total 115 HIV patients were included in this study which were divided into ART naive (n= 69) and patients taking ART (n= 46). We analysed BMD by DEXA in 115 HIV positive patients and 78 HIV negative age and sex matched controls. Correlation of BMD with a CD4 count and ART regimen was studied.Results: BMD was found to be low in HIV positive patients. T score in HIV positive patients was significantly lower (p<0.05) as compared to the HIV negative control group. The prevalence of osteopenia and osteoporosis in HIV positive patients was 50.4% and 29.6% respectively, as compared to 23.1% and 2.6% in HIV negative controls. BMD showed relation with CD4 count. We did not find any statistical difference between any ART regimen and BMD.Conclusions: The prevalence of osteopenia and osteoporosis in HIV infected cases was higher as compared to HIV negative controls and higher in ART group as compared to ART naïve group. Low BMD levels show correlation with low CD4 count. We recommend that HIV positive patients especially with advanced stage of disease, low CD4 count should be screened for low BMD by DEXA scan for osteoporosis and managed accordingl

Electrochemical Insight into the Use of Microbial Fuel Cells for Bioelectricity Generation and Wastewater Treatment

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology is anticipated to be a practical alternative to the activated sludge technique for treating domestic and industrial effluents. The relevant literature mainly focuses on developing the systems and materials for maximum power output, whereas understanding the fundamental electrochemical characteristics is inadequate. This experimental study uses a double-chamber MFC having graphite electrodes and an anion-exchange membrane to investigate the electrochemical process limitations and the potential of bioelectricity generation and dairy effluent treatment. The results revealed an 81% reduction in the chemical oxygen demand (COD) in 10 days of cell operation, with an initial COD loading of 4520 mg/L. The third day recorded the highest open circuit voltage of 396 mV, and the maximum power density of 36.39 mW/m2 was achieved at a current density of 0.30 A/m2. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis disclosed that the activation polarization of the aerated cathode was the primary factor causing the cell’s resistance, followed by the ohmic and anodic activation overpotentials

COVID-19 and liver injury: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background and Aims: The prevalence and extent of liver damage in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients remain poorly understood, primarily due to small-sized epidemiological studies with varying definitions of “liver injury”. We conducted a meta-analysis to derive generalizable, well-powered estimates of liver injury prevalence in COVID-19 patients. We also aimed to assess whether liver injury prevalence is significantly greater than the baseline prevalence of chronic liver disease (CLD). Our secondary aim was to study whether the degree of liver injury was associated with the severity of COVID-19.Materials and Methods: Electronic databases (PubMed and Scopus) were systematically searched in June 2020 for studies reporting the prevalence of baseline CLD and current liver injury in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Liver injury was defined as an elevation in transaminases \u3e3 times above the upper limit of normal. For the secondary analysis, all studies reporting mean liver enzyme levels in severe versus non-severe COVID-19 patients were included. A random-effects model was used for meta-analysis. Proportions were subjected to arcsine transformation and pooled to derive pooled proportions and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Subgroup differences were tested for using the chi-square test and associated p-value. Means and their standard errors were pooled to derive weighted mean differences (WMDs) and corresponding 95% CIs.Results: Electronic search yielded a total of 521 articles. After removal of duplicates and reviewing the full-texts of potential studies, a total of 27 studies met the inclusion criteria. Among a cohort of 8,817 patients, the prevalence of current liver injury was 15.7% (9.5%-23.0%), and this was significantly higher than the proportion of patients with a history of CLD (4.9% [2.2%-8.6%]; p \u3c 0.001). A total of 2,900 patients in our population had severe COVID-19, and 7,184 patients had non-severe COVID-19. Serum ALT (WMD: 7.19 [4.90, 9.48]; p \u3c 0.001; I2 = 69%), AST (WMD: 9.02 [6.89, 11.15]; p \u3c 0.001; I2 = 73%) and bilirubin levels (WMD: 1.78 [0.86, 2.70]; p \u3c 0.001; I2 = 82%) were significantly higher in patients with severe COVID-19 when compared to patients with non-severe disease. Albumin levels were significantly lower in patients with severe COVID-19 (WMD: -4.16 [-5.97, -2.35]; p \u3c 0.001; I2 = 95%).Conclusions: Patients with COVID-19 have a higher than expected prevalence of liver injury, and the extent of the injury is associated with the severity of the disease. Further studies are required to assess whether hepatic damage is caused by the virus, medications, or both

Optical emission spectroscopy of carbon arc discharge plasma

The arc discharge plasma is one of the efficient technique to fabricate nano-structures such as nanotubes, nanoparticles and thin films, which have variety of technological applications. In this study, plasma dynamics such as the electron density and temperature for arc discharge carbon plasma in methane ambient environment is presented to investigate the impact and contribution of physical parameter as arc current and ambient pressure on the plasma dynamics. The electron temperature and density is estimated applying in situ optical emission spectroscopy. The optical spectra are recorded for applied arc current 50A, 60A, 70A, 80A and 90A for ambient pressures 100torr, 300torr and 500torr. A rise in electron temperature and electron density is detected with increase in applied arc current and ambient pressure. The obtained results reveal that in arc discharge process, the arc current and ambient pressure have significant contribution towards the kinetics of the plasma species

Genetic transformation of sugarcane variety HSF-240 with marker gene GUS

In the current research an efficient transformation system for sugarcane was established. Shoot tip of variety HSF-240, excised from a six months old field grown plants were used as explant. For transformation, Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain EHA101 with vector pIG121 Hm, harboring GUS, HPTII and NPTII genes were used. HPTII is a hygromycin resistant while NPTII is a kanamycin resistant gene. Effects of Acetosyringone, duration of co-cultivation and pre-selection, concentration of cefotaxime and hygromycin in medium on transformation efficiency were studied. High transformation efficiency and 60% GUS expression was observed when 50 μM acetosyringone was added in the co-cultivation medium. Among different durations of co-cultivation, 48 h produced high (40%) transient GUS positives with an absolute control of bacterial growth. For pre-selection, seven days gave a high transformation efficiency of 10%. Cefotaxime concentration of 1000 mg/L proved optimal for pre-selection of the explants with efficient control of bacterial growth. A high regeneration (31%; P < 0.01) of the transformants was observed at 50 mg/L hygromycin. Presence of GUS gene was confirmed by PCR analysis and only the transgenic plants contained the 430 bp fragment of GUS gene. The new protocol developed in this study could be used for the efficient transformation of sugarcane with desired gene to produce insect/pest resistant, drought tolerant and high yielding sugarcane varieties in future

Analysis of Ketamine, a Rave Drug in Pakistan, using Gas Chromatography Coupled with Mass Spectrometer and Flame Ionization Detector: A Case Study

Ketamine is an arylcycloalkylamine, classified as cyclidine and chemically related to phencyclidine (PCP). Ketamine can be identified using modified Scott’s Test and Alkaline Gold Bromide test. This case study involved the analysis of a Ketamine sample. The sample was analyzed qualitatively by chemical spot tests, FT-IR and GC-MS without derivatization. Furthermore, a developed and validated method was used for the quantitative analysis of Ketamine using Gas Chromatography with a Flame Ionization Detector (FID). The certified reference standard of Ketamine in the range of 10- 100μg/mL was used for developing linear correlation with regression coefficient (R2 = 0.9997) for the method. The method produced percentage of sample as 90.27%. The above mentioned techniques and methods provide comparable qualitative and quantitative analytical results helping law enforcement agencies and the forensic community in screening and quantification of ketamine using GCMS coupled with FID

Impact of natural killer cells on outcomes after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Natural killer (NK) cells play a vital role in early immune reconstitution following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Methods: A literature search was performed on PubMed, Cochrane, and Clinical trials.gov through April 20, 2022. We included 21 studies reporting data on the impact of NK cells on outcomes after HSCT. Data was extracted following the PRISMA guidelines. Pooled analysis was done using the meta-package (Schwarzer et al.). Proportions with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were computed. Results: We included 1785 patients from 21 studies investigating the impact of NK cell reconstitution post-HSCT (8 studies/1455 patients), stem cell graft NK cell content (4 studies/185 patients), therapeutic NK cell infusions post-HSCT (5 studies/74 patients), and pre-emptive/prophylactic NK cell infusions post-HSCT (4 studies/77 patients). Higher NK cell reconstitution was associated with a better 2-year overall survival (OS) (high: 77%, 95%CI 0.73-0.82 vs low: 55%, 95%CI 0.37-0.72; n=899), however, pooled analysis for relapse rate (RR) or graft versus host disease (GVHD) could not be performed due to insufficient data. Higher graft NK cell content demonstrated a trend towards a better pooled OS (high: 65.2%, 95%CI 0.47-0.81 vs low: 46.5%, 95%CI 0.24-0.70; n=157), lower RR (high: 16.9%, 95%CI 0.10-0.25 vs low: 33%, 95%CI 0.04-0.72; n=157), and lower acute GVHD incidence (high: 27.6%, 95%CI 0.20-0.36 vs low: 49.7%, 95%CI 0.26-0.74; n=157). Therapeutic NK or cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cell infusions for hematologic relapse post-HSCT reported an overall response rate (ORR) and complete response (CR) of 48.9% and 11% with CIK cell infusions and 82.8% and 44.8% with NK cell infusions, respectively. RR, acute GVHD, and chronic GVHD were observed in 55.6% and 51.7%, 34.5% and 20%, and 20.7% and 11.1% of patients with CIK and NK cell infusions, respectively. Pre-emptive donor-derived NK cell infusions to prevent relapse post-HSCT had promising outcomes with 1-year OS of 69%, CR rate of 42%, ORR of 77%, RR of 28%, and acute and chronic GVHD rates of 24.9% and 3.7%, respectively. Conclusion: NK cells have a favorable impact on outcomes after HSCT. The optimal use of NK cell infusions post-HSCT may be in a pre-emptive fashion to prevent disease relapse

Antifungal activity of Zinc nitrate derived nano Zno fungicide synthesized from Trachyspermum ammi to control fruit rot disease of grapefruit

Grapefruit (Citrus paradisi) is a widely grown citrus and its fruit is affected by a variety of biotic and abiotic stress. Keeping in view the hazardous effects of synthetic fungicides, the recent trend is shifting towards safer and eco-friendly control of fruit diseases. The present study was aimed to diagnose the fruit rot disease of grapefruit and its control by using zinc oxide green nanoparticles (ZnO NPs). Fruit rot symptoms were observed in various grapefruit growing sites of Pakistan. Diseased samples were collected, and the disease-causing pathogen was isolated. Following Koch’s postulates, the isolated pathogen was identified as Rhizoctonia solani. For eco-friendly control of this disease, ZnO NPs were prepared in the seed extract of Trachyspermum ammi and characterized. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) of these NPs described the presence of stabilizing and reducing compounds such as phenols, aldehyde and vinyl ether, especially thymol (phenol). X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed their crystalline nature and size (48.52 nm). Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis elaborated the presence of major elements in the samples, while scanning electron microscopy (SEM) confirmed the morphology of bio fabricated NPs. ZnO NPs exhibited very good anti-fungal activity and the most significant fungal growth inhibition was observed at 1.0 mg/ml concentration of green NPs, in vitro and in vivo. These findings described that the bioactive constituents of T. ammi seed extract can effectively reduce and stabilize ZnO NPs. It is a cost-effective method to successfully control the fruit rot disease of grapefruit.The publication of the present work is supported by the Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi Province (grant no. 2018JQ5218) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51809224), Top Young Talents of Shaanxi Special Support Program. The authors would like to express their deepest gratitude to University of Tabuk, for the technical support for this study