Fungi - an Amalgam of Toxins and Antibiotics: a Mini- Review

Fungi are eukaryotes with many functions. Earlier, fungi were classified in the plant kingdom but were later classified as a separate kingdom due to their unique cell walls. Fungi are heterotrophs like animals and are more closely related to animals. The perception of fungi is inconspicuous due to their small sizes and their ability to grow symbiotically in plants, animals, other fungi, and parasites. Fungi are used for their nutrition, fermentation potential, and bactericidal potential. However, fungi are also toxic due to certain bioactive compounds known as mycotoxins. Candida and Aspergillus are invasive species that contribute to a high percentage of mycoses in oncological and haematological patients. The mortality rate due to invasive aspergillosis and candidiasis is high, at 4% and 2%, respectively. In the agriculture sector, a significant contributor to damage to crops globally is the invasion of filamentous fungi. Fungi invasion destroys over 125 million tons of wheat, rice, soybeans, potatoes, and maize annually. If prevented, 600 million people may be fed. Therefore, it is vital to consider the dual role of fungi, therapeutic, and pathogenic

DIAMOnDS - DIstributed Agents for MObile & Dynamic Services

Distributed Services Architecture with support for mobile agents between services, offer significantly improved communication and computational flexibility. The uses of agents allow execution of complex operations that involve large amounts of data to be processed effectively using distributed resources. The prototype system Distributed Agents for Mobile and Dynamic Services (DIAMOnDS), allows a service to send agents on its behalf, to other services, to perform data manipulation and processing. Agents have been implemented as mobile services that are discovered using the Jini Lookup mechanism and used by other services for task management and communication. Agents provide proxies for interaction with other services as well as specific GUI to monitor and control the agent activity. Thus agents acting on behalf of one service cooperate with other services to carry out a job, providing inter-operation of loosely coupled services in a semi-autonomous way. Remote file system access functionality has been incorporated by the agent framework and allows services to dynamically share and browse the file system resources of hosts, running the services. Generic database access functionality has been implemented in the mobile agent framework that allows performing complex data mining and processing operations efficiently in distributed system. A basic data searching agent is also implemented that performs a query based search in a file system. The testing of the framework was carried out on WAN by moving Connectivity Test agents between AgentStations in CERN, Switzerland and NUST, Pakistan.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, CHEP03, La Jolla, California, March 24-28, 200

Impact of Self-Compassion on Existential Anxiety in Young Adults of Pakistan

It’s not much about the existential isolation but about our existential uniqueness, the feeling that no matter how deeply connected we are with someone, there is still an unbridgeable gap between every individual and all the elements of our perceived world which can’t be covered in any way possible. Young adulthood is an age where the self-creation process starts hence, the initiation of process of understanding life experiences, experimentation and exploration of meaning in life. All these processes comes with the consequences of overwhelming experiences of existential questioning, concern, and anxiety, leading to various other negative or positive psychological outcomes, depending upon the subjective experiences. Hence the current research was aimed to study the impact of self-compassion on existential anxiety in adolescents and young adults. The population consisted of both male and females (N=280). Current study is based on a quantitative correlation survey research design and the statistical analyses was done through SPSS (version 22). Neff’s Compassion Scale-Short Form (SCS-SF), and Existential anxiety questionnaire (EAQ) and Existential concern questionnaire (ECQ) scales were used. The statistical analysis involved Pearson product moment correlation, and Stepwise Regression. The finding of the study revealed that there was a significant weak negative relationship between Self-compassion and Existential Anxiety and a significant positive relationship between self-criticism and existential anxiety. Moreover, the isolation (subdomain of self-compassion) predicted 20.4% variance in level of Existential anxiety scale and 29.7% variance in Existential concern questionnaire. Following findings are significantly important regarding generating appropriate clinical interventions and provides beneficial insight into developing awareness programs on a community level

Comparison of undergraduate educational environment in medical and nursing program using the DREEM tool

Introduction: Educational environment (EE) in a health educational institute can bring about an enduring impact on the students\u27 motivation, knowledge, critical thinking along with their social life. Therefore, identifying strengths and the need for change in the education environment is vital for the enhancement of the students\u27 learning.Objective: This study aimed to compare the perceptions of nursing and medical students about their EE in a private university, Karachi Pakistan.Methodology: Data from two cross-sectional studies of 884 students from both medical and nursing schools of Aga Khan University was acquired and analyzed. EE was measured by a well-known inventory i.e. \u27Dundee\u27 Reading Educational Environment Measure (DREEM). The scores were constructed using standardized guidelines. Mann-Whitney U test and two way ANOVA were used in statistical analysis.Results: With 84.1% average response rate, the mean + SD DREEM score was measured as 126 ± 20.3. Nursing students regarded more positive perception about their EE (127.3 ± 19.3) as compared to medical students (124.6 ± 21.3) and was found to be statistically significant (P = 0.027). Medical students scored higher in the domain of Perception of Atmosphere (PoA); whereas, nursing students scored higher in Academic Self Perception (ASP). Both of the groups have rated lower scores on the domain of Perception of Teaching (PoT).Conclusion: Both medical and nursing students appreciated the EE pertaining to Perception of Learning (PoA), Academic Self- Perception (ASP), Perception of learning (PoL) and Social Self-perception (SSP). The study showed that nursing students\u27 perception on their EE was relatively more satisfactory than medical students. However, both medical and nursing students identified areas of improvement in the domain of Perception of Teaching (PoT). This finding indicates dire need to devise innovative teaching strategies both for medical & nursing education

Perceptions of nursing students of educational environment at a private undergraduate School of Nursing in Karachi

Ojective: To assess educational environment at a nursing school..Methods: The cross-sectional survey was carried out from May to October 2016 at Aga Khan University School of Nursing and Midwifery, Karachi, using the Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure tool. The scores were obtained by merging five sub-scales of the inventory. The average scores of the scale and sub-scales were compared in terms of age, year of study, and living status using Mann-Whitney U test, and among years of study by Kruskal Wallis test..Results: Of the 442 students, 228(51.6%) had age below 20 years. Overall, 131(29.1%) subjects were in the first year, 152(33.8%) second year, 91(20.2%) third year and 76(16.9%) fourth year. The average Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure score was 129.92±19.97 with reliability of 88.9%. Students aged 20 years and less had more positive perceptions than students over 20 years (pConclusions: Scores reveal better perception from younger nursing students, as well as those living in the hostel and those who were in their initial years of nursing education

A ética na administração pública: o caso de uma organização escolar

A Administração Pública continua a atravessar um grande processo de transformação na área da gestão, por influência dos princípios defendidos pela Nova Gestão Pública. As questões relacionadas com a ética e com a transparência fazem parte do discurso formal e informal na Administração Pública e são vários os regulamentos e procedimentos formais que pretendem pautar o comportamento dos agentes. Ao nível da Administração Pública, entende-se que, a ética é orientada para o serviço público, e deve ser suportada por comportamentos congruentes com o interesse geral. Este trabalho tem como objetivo principal compreender se existe uma relação entre as práticas profissionais dos funcionários públicos e os códigos de ética pelos quais devem pautar as suas condutas. Recorreu-se a uma pesquisa de natureza exploratória e qualitativa com recurso à metodologia do Estudo de Caso, tendo como técnicas de recolha de informação a entrevista semiestruturada e o inquérito por questionário, aplicados à comunidade docente e não docente de um Agrupamento Escolar. Recorreu-se também à pesquisa bibliográfica e documental. A análise dos resultados obtidos através das entrevistas realizou-se com base na análise de conteúdo categorial temática. A análise dos resultados a partir dos inquéritos por questionário realizou-se com recurso a uma análise estatística descritiva. Concluímos que, globalmente, os profissionais referem desconhecer a generalidade dos conteúdos e dos regulamentos existentes no agrupamento para orientar as práticas de natureza ética. As práticas profissionais dos agentes educativos são mais reguladas pelas redes de relações formais e informais e pelas interações, que se consubstanciam em procedimentos frequentemente rotinizados.The Public Administration continues to go through a great process of transformation in the area of management, influenced by the principles defended by the New Public Management. Issues related to ethics and transparency are part of the formal and informal discourse in public administration and there are several formal regulations and procedures that aim to guide the behavior of agents. At the level of public administration, it is understood that ethics is oriented to the public service and should be supported by behaviors congruent with the general interest. This work has as main objective, to identify and understand if there is a relationship between the professional practices of public employees and the codes of ethics by which they should guide their conduct. We used an exploratory and qualitative research using the methodology of the Case Study, using as information collection techniques the semi-structured interview, the Questionnaire Survey, applied to the teaching community and non-teaching of a School Grouping. Bibliographic and documentary research were also used. The analysis of the results obtained through the interviews was based on the analysis of thematic category content. The analysis of the results from the questionnaire surveys was carried out using a descriptive statistical analysis. We conclude that, overall, professionals report not knowing the generality of the contents and regulations existing in the grouping to guide ethical practices. The professional practices of educational agents are more regulated by networks of formal and formal relationships and by interactions, which are embodied in often routine procedures. We used an exploratory and qualitative research using the methodology of the Case Study, using as information collection techniques the semi-structured interview, the Questionnaire Survey, applied to the teaching community and non-teaching of a School Grouping

Frequency, Etiology and Leading Causes of Pre-Senile Cataract: A Descriptive Study

Background: Cataract is generally caused due to physical aging, but in some cases, there are chances that it may develop in early ages (Pre-senile cataract). Pre-senile cataract is believed not to be primary in nature and some underlying ocular/systemic/environmental factor is causing the lens opacification at an early age. This study aim was to determine frequency and risk factors of pre-senile cataract in our populationMethods: this observational study at Outdoor Patient - Eye in Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Rawalpindi (BBH), for the period from December 2017 to June 2018. Cataract was diagnosed on slit lamp examination. Detail history, Ocular and systemic examination was done for all pre-senile cataract cases. Laboratory/radiological investigations were performed when and where required. Using the Excel spreadsheet, Statistical analysis of descriptive data was carried out.Results: A total of 11448 patients were examined, whereby cataract was found in 849 (7.41%) patients. Out of these 849, 165 (19.43%) cases were pre-senile cataract. Pre-senile cataract was most seen in age group 30-49 86 (52.13%) and among women 93 (56.36%). The identified causes were idiopathic 55 (33.3%), diabetes 45(27.3%) and Steroids and other drugs related 33 (20.0%). posterior sub-capsular cataract is 60(36.36%) was most identified type in the study among pre-senile cataract