The decline of the Saljuqid Empire.

After a critical examination of the available sources and a chronological survey of the period, the thesis sets out to analyse the institutions of the Saljuqid State, so far as they can be identified. Among them are the royal family and Court including relations of princes and activities of wives, constitution of the armed forces, relations with amirs and Turkmen and Arab tribes, civil administration, relations with the caliphate, religious opposition, and economic factors. The bearing of each upon the fortunes of the dynasty and the conditions in the Middle East is examined as fully as possible. Finally, the political history of the period is surveyed in the light of the factors analysed above. The thesis thus aims at presenting for the first time a critical history of a period hitherto known only in general outline, and at isolating the features which marked the political life of the Eastern Islamic world during this period

Antibacterial, antifungal and insecticidal activities of some selected medicinal plants of polygonaceae

The antibacterial, antifungal and insecticidal activities of the crude extract of Polygonum persicaria, Rumex hastatus, Rumex dentatus, Rumex nepalensis, Polygonum plebejum and Rheum australe have been studied. Six bacterial species were used, of which Citrobacter frundii, Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes and Staphylococcus aureus were the most susceptible bacterial species to crude extract with MICs 16, 5.0, 25 and 0.156 mg/ml, respectively. Among the tested fungal species Fusarium solani, Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus niger were more susceptible to crude extracts with MICs 0.75, 2.15, and 1.75 μg/ml, respectively. The crude extracts of R. dentatus and R. nepalensis show significant insecticidal activity against Sitophilus oryzae; P. persicaria and P. plebejum show significant insecticidal activities against Tribolium castaneum, respectively. The above selected plants were shown by in vitro assays to be a potential source for natural antifungal, antibacterial and insecticidal agents.Key words: Polygonum persicaria, Rumex hastatus, Rumex dentatus, Rumex nepalensis, Polygonum plebejum, Rheum australe, antibacterial, antifungal, insecticidal

Examining folic acid intake: a cross-sectional study of pregnancy-related practices

Background: Folic acid supplementation during the periconceptional period is critical in preventing neural tube defects (NTDs) in the developing fetus. In Pakistan, a profound lack of awareness is seen regarding preventable pregnancy-related illnesses and the consequential high maternal and fetal mortality and morbidity rates. However, data from the surveys in the region of Sindh lacks inquiries regarding the baseline characteristics of the surveyed participants. Therefore, this study endeavoured to address this gap. Methods: Between October 2022 and April 2023, a cross-sectional study was conducted at two major tertiary care hospitals in Hyderabad and Jamshoro, Pakistan. A total of 374 participants, chosen by non-probability consecutive sampling, comprised the sample size. The association of demographic variables and knowledge, attitude, and practice of consumption of folic acid during pregnancy was determined using the χ2 test. A p value of less than 0.5 was considered statistically significant. Results: The mean age of the participants was 26.4±5.7 years. A total of 199 (53.20%) participants were literate, compared to 175 (46.79%) participants who were illiterate. Literate women fared better than illiterate women in all the metrics with a p-value of <0.001 and a Pearson correlation coefficient (r) of >0.7. Moreover, folic acid was consumed by only 38% of pregnant women during the periconceptional period. Conclusions: A substantial lack of knowledge regarding folic acid was found in the surveyed sample, significantly more marked in the illiterate faction. Additionally, the practice was rather unsatisfactory. However, the attitude remained encouraging

Photocatalytic treatment technology for palm oil mill effluent (POME) – A review

This review provides insight into various techniques utilized for the treatments of palm oil mill effluents (POME). Generally, POME treatment is achieved in two ways, these are (1) pre-treatment stages, involving majorly the reduction of oil and grease and suspended matter and (2) an advanced treatment stage, in which wastewater contaminants (e.g. BOD5, COD) are reduced to standard discharge limits. Different methods utilized in the treatment of POME such as coagulation-flocculation, anaerobic, aerobic and membrane technology are explained fully and recent trends in their advancement and improvement are outlined. Though, various pilot or industrial scale treatment plants have been reported in scientific literature for POME treatments methods such as anaerobic, aerobic and membrane technology, the literature is still scarce for application of photocatalytic degradation technology to POME treatment as the technology is still in development stage and has not been fully utilized on an industrial scale in palm oil mill industries. This is mainly as a result of inadequate investigation involving POME degradation. The review presented here is focused on photocatalytic degradation technology and reflects published outcomes with the aim of offering the technique as an attractive and sustainable process units. Also the potential of the process to replace some of the well-known separation and degradation technologies has been highlighted at advanced treatment stage for POME

Numerical and experimental estimation of void fraction of supersonic steam jet in sub-cooled water: a comparative study

Gas-liquid two-phase flows occur in a range of chemical, process, petroleum, metallurgical and power industries. Void fraction is a principal parameter. An effort has been made here to perform a comparative study in which the approximate void fraction of the supersonic steam jet into the sub-cooled water has been measured both numerically as well as experimentally. On a numerical basis, Direct Contact Condensation (DCC) model and on an experimental basis, Electrical Resistance Tomography (ERT) has been used for computing the void fraction. On an experimental basis, the overestimation is nearly 45% when the surrounding water temperature is 30°C with a steam inlet pressure of 1.5 bars and the over-estimation goes up to 83% at 60°C and 3.0 bars. The void fraction computed by the use of the DCC model at 1.5 bars and 300C is 17.66% whereas the computed void fraction at 3.0 bars of inlet pressure and 600C of water temperature is 31.1%

Design-time formal verification for smart environments: an exploratory perspective

Smart environments (SmE) are richly integrated with multiple heterogeneous devices; they perform the operations in intelligent manner by considering the context and actions/behaviors of the users. Their major objective is to enable the environment to provide ease and comfort to the users. The reliance on these systems demands consistent behavior. The versatility of devices, user behavior and intricacy of communication complicate the modeling and verification of SmE's reliable behavior. Of the many available modeling and verification techniques, formal methods appear to be the most promising. Due to a large variety of implementation scenarios and support for conditional behavior/processing, the concept of SmE is applicable to diverse areas which calls for focused research. As a result, a number of modeling and verification techniques have been made available for designers. This paper explores and puts into perspective the modeling and verification techniques based on an extended literature survey. These techniques mainly focus on some specific aspects, with a few overlapping scenarios (such as user interaction, devices interaction and control, context awareness, etc.), which were of the interest to the researchers based on their specialized competencies. The techniques are categorized on the basis of various factors and formalisms considered for the modeling and verification and later analyzed. The results show that no surveyed technique maintains a holistic perspective; each technique is used for the modeling and verification of specific SmE aspects. The results further help the designers select appropriate modeling and verification techniques under given requirements and stress for more R&D effort into SmE modeling and verification researc

Rising burden of Hepatitis C Virus in hemodialysis patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Aim</p> <p>High prevalence of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has been reported among the dialysis patients throughout the world. No serious efforts were taken to investigate HCV in patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD) treatment who are at great increased risk to HCV. HCV genotypes are important in the study of epidemiology, pathogenesis and reaction to antiviral therapy. This study was performed to investigate the prevalence of active HCV infection, HCV genotypes and to assess risk factors associated with HCV genotype infection in HD patients of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as comparing this prevalence data with past studies in Pakistan.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Polymerase chain reaction was performed for HCV RNA detection and genotyping in 384 HD patients. The data obtained was compared with available past studies from Pakistan.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Anti HCV antibodies were observed in 112 (29.2%), of whom 90 (80.4%) were HCV RNA positive. In rest of the anti HCV negative patients, HCV RNA was detected in 16 (5.9%) patients. The dominant HCV genotypes in HCV infected HD patients were found to be 3a (n = 36), 3b (n = 20), 1a (n = 16), 2a (n = 10), 2b (n = 2), 1b (n = 4), 4a (n = 2), untypeable (n = 10) and mixed (n = 12) genotype.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study suggesting that i) the prevalence of HCV does not differentiate between past and present infection and continued to be elevated ii) HD patients may be a risk for HCV due to the involvement of multiple routes of infections especially poor blood screening of transfused blood and low standard of dialysis procedures in Pakistan and iii) need to apply infection control practice.</p

Brief intervention to reduce risky drinking in pregnancy: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Risky drinking in pregnancy by UK women is likely to result in many alcohol-exposed pregnancies. Studies from the USA suggest that brief intervention has promise for alcohol risk reduction in antenatal care. However, further research is needed to establish whether this evidence from the USA is applicable to the UK. This pilot study aims to investigate whether pregnant women can be recruited and retained in a randomized controlled trial of brief intervention aimed at reducing risky drinking in women receiving antenatal care.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The trial will rehearse the parallel-group, non-blinded design and procedures of a subsequent definitive trial. Over 8 months, women aged 18 years and over (target number 2,742) attending their booking appointment with a community midwife (n = 31) in north-east England will be screened for alcohol consumption using the consumption questions of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT-C). Those screening positive, without a history of substance use or alcohol dependence, with no pregnancy complication, and able to give informed consent, will be invited to participate in the trial (target number 120). Midwives will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to deliver either treatment as usual (control) or structured brief advice and referral for a 20-minute motivational interviewing session with an alcohol health worker (intervention). As well as demographic and health information, baseline measures will include two 7-day time line follow-back questionnaires and the EuroQoL EQ-5D-3 L questionnaire. Measures will be repeated in telephone follow-ups in the third trimester and at 6 months post-partum, when a questionnaire on use of National Health Service and social care resources will also be completed. Information on pregnancy outcomes and stillbirths will be accessed from central health service records before the follow-ups. Primary outcomes will be rates of eligibility, recruitment, intervention delivery, and retention in the study population, to inform power calculations for a definitive trial. The health-economics component will establish how cost-effectiveness will be assessed, and examine which data on health service resource use should be collected in a main trial. Participants’ views on instruments and procedures will be sought to confirm their acceptability.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The study will produce a full trial protocol with robust sample-size calculations to extend evidence on effectiveness of screening and brief intervention.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN43218782</p