Alterations in human reaction time upon Consumption of taurine-caffeine based energy Drink. a gender based study.

Energy drinks contains several potentially psychoactive ingredients including taurine, glucoronolactone, and caffeine that increases the human performances, reaction time and mood with relative differences to visual and auditory stimuli between both the genders

Minimally invasive technique of placing a dual chamber permanent pacemaker in children

Objective: To share the experience of a minimally invasive technique in the implantation of a dual chamber permanent pacemaker in paediatric population. Methods: The retrospective study was conducted at Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, and comprised data of patients aged up to1 6 years who underwent epicardial dual chamber permanent pacemaker insertion via xiphisternal incision between April 2011 and August 2016. Demographic data included age, weight and gender of the patient. Indications for pacemaker insertion, electrocardiography findings, concomitant cardiac procedures and procedural complications were reviewed. Pacemaker thresholds and impedance at the time of implantation and throughout the course of follow-up were extracted from the clinical data. Results: Of the 10 patients, 5(50% were males and 5(50%) were females. The overall mean age was 3.43.8 years range:1 month - 13 years. The mean weight at the time of operation was 11.4 6.8 kg range: 4.3 27 kg. Indications for permanent pacemaker insertion included postoperative advanced or complete atrioventricular block in 7(70% and complete congenital heart block in 3(30% There was no reported morbidity. Conclusion: Dual chamber permanent pacemaker insertion via xiphisternal incision was found to be of benefit to the patients and the surgeons alike

FREQUENCY OF FUNGAL MYCOFLORA ON RICE

Introduction: Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the second best essential cereal crop of the world as well as of Pakistan. There are various fungal pathogens that attack on rice and cause various rice diseases. Methods: Therefore, the present experiments were done to isolated different fungi associated with seeds, stems, and leaves of commercially grown rice varieties and of mainly isolated species. Results: Several fungi, namely, Magnaporthe oryzae, Curvularia lunata, Helminthosporium oryzae, Fusarium moniliforme, Alternaria alternata, Nigrospora oryzae, and Aspergillus niger were isolated from seeds, stems, and affected leaves of rice. Conclusion: In our research, the frequency of fungal mycoflora on rice has been calculated and the maximum isolates of Fusarium spp. have been found

Burden of Depression Among Survivors of Ischemic Stroke of Southern Punjab

Background; Depression is one of the most frequent neuropsychiatric disturbances after ischemic stroke. The frequency of depression in stroke patients has varied widely in different populations. Post stroke depression is an important factor limiting recovery and rehabilitation in acute stroke patients. This study was done to ascertain frequency of depression among patients with ischemic stroke in our local population. Objective; To assess the frequency of depression in patients with ischemic stroke in Pakistan. Material and Methods; Consecutive 150 patients fulfilling inclusion criteria was enrolled and this descriptive study was conducted at department of Psychiatry and Neurology OPD, Nishtar Hospital, Multan using non – probability convenient sampling technique. All patients were assessed by single psychiatrist on PHQ-9 scale, for Depression. Results; Of these 150 study cases, 94 (62.7 %) were male patients while 56 (37.3 %) were female patients. Mean age of our study cases was 54.69 ± 7.18 years (with minimum age of our study cases was 44 years while maximum age was 71 years). Of these 150 study cases, 71 (47.3 %) belonged to rural areas and 79 (52.7 %) belonged to urban areas. Monthly family income up to Rs. 50000 was noted in 89 (59.3%) while more than Rs. 50000 was noted in 61 (40.7%). Of these 150 study cases, 83 (55.3%) were illiterate and 67 (44.7%) were literate. Of these 150 study cases, site of lesion in basal ganglia was 61 (40.7%), subcortical in 56 (37.3%) and cortical in 33 (22.0%) and Depression was noted in 77 (51.3%). Conclusion; Very high frequency of depression was observed in our study among patients having ischemic stroke. Depression was significantly associated with gender, occupation, educational level, prolonged duration of illness and site of lesion. Clinicians treating stroke patients should anticipate depressive symptoms and diagnose them to treat them in early stages. Keywords; Ischemic stroke, depression, frequency. DOI: 10.7176/JMPB/69-01 Publication date:March 31st 202

Pain Perception and Rate of Canine Retraction Through Self- Ligating Brackets and Conventional Elastomeric Ligation System: A Split Mouth Study

Objective: To evaluate the rate of tooth movement and the pain perception via self-ligating (SL) and conventional elastomeric ligation brackets (CB) system. Material and Methods: This study has been conducted at the Orthodontic Department of Baqai Dental College, Baqai Medical University. The sample size of this study comprised 40 patients, falling between the age of 12-30 years without any sex discrimination. Shapiro-Wilk was used to check the distribution of data. Non-parametric Mann Whitney U test was applied to evaluate the pain associated with SL and CB brackets system. To analysis the canine retraction Wilcoxon test was applied for the comparison of CB and SL brackets system. For all statistical analyses, the p-value of <0.05 was considered significant. Results: Pain level associated with retraction via CB and SL shows significant differences. However, the rate of canine retraction via CB and SL shows no significant differences at stages T0-T1 and T1-T2. However, stage T2-T3 shows a significant difference. Conclusion: As pain during orthodontic treatment is mostly associated with the level of compression of the periodontal ligament, it may be hypothesized that lower frictional forces generate less compression of the periodontal ligament and blood vessels, and so alter the type of pain experienced

Dynamic performance evaluation of ultrasonic composite horn for machining soft and brittle composites

Ultrasonic horn (USH) is a key component in high intensity power ultrasonic systems to enhance vibration amplitude at tool end (VATE). Due to high intensity ultrasonic operating frequency of at least , horn may be exposed to high stress levels leading to failure. The primary objective of USH design is to achieve high vibration amplification with good strength. In present research, the effect of fillet radius / roundness on ultrasonic composite horn (USCH) performance was investigated for various materials: stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, and steel, respectively, using finite element analysis (FEA). USCH was developed for ultrasonic machining of soft and brittle composites, especially Nomex honeycomb composite. The important performance parameters considered were longitudinal modal frequency (LMF), Von Mises (VM) stresses, magnification factor (MF), VATE and factor of safety (FS). LMF was found to increase, with decrease in VATE and VM stresses by increasing the roundness at the transition section. Titanium was observed to be highly appropriate material for USCH, because it delivered at least 81.6 % to 142.62 % more vibration amplification and up to 4 times higher factor of safety, consequently, operating life in comparison to other USCH materials

Elucidating the structural basis for differing enzyme inhibitor potency by cryo-EM

Histidine biosynthesis is an essential process in plants and microorganisms, making it an attractive target for the development of herbicides and antibacterial agents. Imidazoleglycerol-phosphate dehydratase (IGPD), a key enzyme within this pathway, has been biochemically characterized in both Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Sc_IGPD) and Arabidopsis thaliana (At_IGPD). The plant enzyme, having been the focus of in-depth structural analysis as part of an inhibitor development program, has revealed details about the reaction mechanism of IGPD, whereas the yeast enzyme has proven intractable to crystallography studies. The structure–activity relationship of potent triazole-phosphonate inhibitors of IGPD has been determined in both homologs, revealing that the lead inhibitor (C348) is an order of magnitude more potent against Sc_IGPD than At_IGPD; however, the molecular basis of this difference has not been established. Here we have used single-particle electron microscopy (EM) to study structural differences between the At and Sc_IGPD homologs, which could influence the difference in inhibitor potency. The resulting EM maps at ∼3 Å are sufficient to de novo build the protein structure and identify the inhibitor binding site, which has been validated against the crystal structure of the At_IGPD/C348 complex. The structure of Sc_IGPD reveals that a 24-amino acid insertion forms an extended loop region on the enzyme surface that lies adjacent to the active site, forming interactions with the substrate/inhibitor binding loop that may influence inhibitor potency. Overall, this study provides insights into the IGPD family and demonstrates the power of using an EM approach to study inhibitor binding