Comparative Study of Two Pear (Pyrus communis L.) Cultivars in Terms of Nutritional Composition

Nutritional composition of two pear cultivars (Pyrus communis) was analyzed for sugar composition, amino acid and fatty acid profile by using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) equipped with RI and ultra violet detectors and GC equipped with FID detector. Proximate composition was determined by using the standard methods of AOAC (2000). The results revealed that the Shughri contain 83.1% moisture content, 13.58% TSS, 3.94% ash content, 11.72% crude protein, 9.47% crude fiber, 3.39% lipids and 96.46% carbohydrates, while Physhu contains less amounts of moisture, TSS, ash, protein, fiber, lipids and carbohydrates (54.51, 13.71, 1.86, 8.81, 7.83, 2.14 and 87.67% respectively). The results further revealed that the fructose was the major sugar in both pear cultivars, followed by glucose and sucrose. Linoleic acid (C18:2), palmatic acid (C16:0) oleic acid (C18:1) and ?-linoleic acid (C18:3) were most abundant fatty acids found in both cultivars. Among essential amino acids leucine, lysine and isoleucine are most prominent in both cultivars while among non-essential amino acids aspartic acid and glutamine are abundant. Anti-nutritional content analysis revealed that hydrocyanic, nitrate, oxalate and phytate were in lower amounts than the reference toxic standards. Thus, both pear cultivars have potential nutraceutical uses. The findings of this investigation provide important information on how to make the best use of pear cultivars studied for different uses, which is meaningful for both processing practices and technological research. Keywords: Comparative study, Nutritional composition, Pyrus communis, Anti-nutritive compound

Pathogenicity of two seed-borne fungi commonly involved in maize seeds of eight districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan

This study was aimed to evaluate the pathogenicity of two mostly prevailing fungal species on maize (Zea maize L.) from different localities of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Pakistan. Pathogenic fungi deteriorate food grains by producing mycotoxins and aflotoxins during storage consequently shedding menace on its nutritive quality. There were 12 species of mycoflora associated with maize seeds in the analyzed samples. Fusaium and Aspergillus species were the largest group of seed-borne fungal species present in all localities (87.25% and 82.50%, respectively). Fusarium moniliforme causes ear rot, kernel rot, stalk rot, seedling blight, seed rot, wilt and stunt and Aspergillus niger is responsible for rot of stored grain. These species were tested to determine their pathogenicity to maize seed germination and seedlings. Pathogenicity findings depicted that maize variety under cultivation in the area was highly susceptible to these fungal pathogens as Bhimber (61.5%) and Mirpur (60.25%) zones had more prevalence than other areas of AJK (23.5%). Results show that Fusarium moniliforme had 50.2% pathogenicity on seeds and 6.55% on seedlings, whilst Aspergillus niger had 62.87% on seeds and 11.24% on seedlings. These depicts that mycoflora had significant detrimental impacts on seeds and seedling’s life of maize.Keywords: Pathogenicity, seed-borne, mycoflora, maize, germination, Azad KashmirAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(12), pp. 1363-137

Dietary fiber from underutilized plant resources—a positive approach for valorization of fruit and vegetable wastes

Agri-food industries generate enormous amounts of fruit and vegetable processing wastes, which opens up an important research area aimed towards minimizing and managing them effciently to support zero wastes and/or circular economy concept. These wastes remain underutilized owing to a lack of appropriate processing technologies vital for their effcient valorization, especially for recovery of health beneficial bioactives like dietary fibers. Dietary fiber finds wide applications in food and pharmaceutical industries and holds high promise as a potential food additive and/or as a functional food ingredient to meet the techno-functional purposes important for developing health-promoting value-added products. Based on this, the present review has been designed to support ‘zero waste’ and ‘waste to wealth’ concepts. In addition, the focus revolves around providing updated information on various sustainability challenges incurred towards valorization of fruit and vegetable wastes for extraction of health promoting dietary fibers

Term Back / Detention Policy Revision Measures in Academic Medical and Allied Institutions of Pakistan in the COVID-19 Epidemic for the Session 2019-2020

The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC) is the body concerned for the medical and dental education in Pakistan.1 The council was dissolved by an order of the President of Pakistan in October 2019, 2 but the order was revoked by the decision of the High Court of Pakistan.3 According to the PM&DC return/detention policy, a medical student has two chances of exam for his promotion in the next academic class and if one of the students could not pass the two chances provided in at least one of his subjects, the student must pass the exam in 3rd attempt with loss of his / her academic year and must pursue medical studies with the junior class. If one of these students could not pass this or these subjects by exceeding the 3rd chance, the conceded institution offers the 4th and last opportunity to the student.1 If the student still cannot pass the subject in 4th and last opportunity, he is expelled from the establishment with the cancellation of his admission, and the dreams of such a student to become a doctor are fulfilled until he will only be readmitted upon reappearing in the PM&DC competitive entrance test. But due to the sudden and unexpected outbreak of Covid-19, the medical community was the most affected. In some countries, more death rates have been reported among physicians who performed Covid-19 patient care tasks.4 Due to the lockdown policy of Govt. of Pakistan across the country, academic medical institutions were closed as a result of academic months of medical and dental students have also been wasted like other academic fields. The lockdown has been continued and we expect further academic waste from these students. The Pakistan Higher Education Commission has asked for conducting online courses for these students, but the clinical subjects of medical students cannot be taught online as they require direct clinical exposure to patients for the transmission of learning. required. Therefore, as a result of Covid-19, there is expected to be a waste of courses from almost all students across the country. However, in such circumstances, detained / term-back students will suffer a greater and irreparable waste of time as there may be many other technical difficulties regarding the continuation of medical education and the examinations of these students due to the Covid-19 disaster. Therefore, it may be good to revise the Term-Back / Detain policy for these medical, dental, and related students. The authors made the following suggestions for the PM&DC and the institutions to consider this review.         1) To Revise once the Term-Back / detention policy for the period 2019-2020 by allowing students to continue academic promotion during the next academic year with a unique relaxation in the policy.   2) Students who have not passed four chances and who are expelled from the establishment can be relaxed to have an additional chance to continue their medical studies, applicable for the year 2019-2020.   3) Relaxations are similar to those mentioned in the serial number. 1 and 2 for other courses such as Pharm-D, Bachelor of Nursing, etc.   Health workers are the main force in the fight against Covid-19 in the exercise of their functions to manage the patients of Covid-19. Mortality rates among healthcare providers have also been reported due to high viral load. There may be a shortage of health care providers around the world. Therefore, facilitation attempts are necessary to help the bona fide medical profession maintain their numbers and needs in the health sectors and to meet the future needs of the world for these health workers. Consequently, in implementing the suggestions of the authors, hundreds to thousands of health professionals and paramedical services will be able to save and secure their future in the service of the sacred mission of saving and serving the sick community

COVID-19 and Prophylactic Measures for HIV Children of Ratodero, Larkana

Ratodero is Taluka of population 224,000 in the district Larkana of Sindh, Pakistan. In the HIV outbreak (2019), 1132 HIV patients were reported in the Ratodero, amongst them, 901 (80%) were children, and the majority (735) below the age of 5 years.1 Larkana district is included among the cities where eight (8) COVID-19 carrier pilgrims from Iran were first confirmed as virus positive.2 Followed by community transmission in the area with the confirmation of the virus in the two individuals.3 There was reported shortage of the personnel protection equipment (PPEs) for the Medical Professional engaged in the tests of the COVID-19 as well as the shortage of Kits, so less number of COVID-19 tests were conducted, therefore the actual number of COVID-19 positive can abruptly raise with the availability of Kits and PPEs.4 There is a complete lockdown in the area since last week of March 2020. There is one medical University with an affiliated hospital. Collaborative efforts of the University teaching hospital and the district administration have constituted a team of experts for necessary actions to combat with expected Corona-19 outbreak. In such circumstances of the existence of HIV in Ratodero as an alarm of threats for another health risk for the poor HIV children of Ratodero Larkana. Dated 09 April 2020. there was a random selection of 20 such HIV children of Ratodero below the age 5,  to have look on their physical health and to confirm the quantity/availability of ART (antiretroviral treatment) at their home. It was found that 30% of children were found physically weak. The confirmed average availability of remaining ART drugs was found available for use in the next 14 days. Generally, the children are the population of developing immunity (vulnerable age group) hence there can be increased risk if Co-Infection of COVID-19 if hits the Ratodero Taluika. Therefore the District of Larkana in general but the Taluka Ratodero, in particular, need special attention from the health administration. Following preventive measures can be useful to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among the HIV children of Ratodero, Larkana. Better compliance of prophylactic SOPs verses COVID-19 through proper surveillance at the rural level in Ratodero. Availability of Rashan on priority for the families of registered HIV children of Ratodero, taking into account the inclusion of all requirements of good nutrients in the daily intake. COVID-19 screening of registered HIV children. HIV Screening of any COVID-19 career of Ratodero if the individual is not amongst already registered HIV patients. Establishment of a dedicated isolation ward in case of Co-Infection in these children along with the provision of special care to prevent the onset of COVID-19 symptoms in these patients. Advance Supply of 03 to 06 month ART at home as per instructions of the World Health Organization (WHO) for such HIV patients.

Inhibition of Ascorbic Acid on Lotus Rhizome Polyphenol Oxidase: Inhibition Kinetics and Computational Simulation

Polyphenol oxidase(PPO) is widely known to be involved in enzymatic browning reaction in many fruits and vegetables including lotus rhizome with different catalytic mechanisms. In this study, the inhibitory effect and mechanisms of action of ascorbic acid (AA) on the lotus rhizome PPO were investigated using inhibition kinetics and computational simulation. The lotus rhizome PPO was extracted with PBS (pH 7.0), fractionated with ammonium sulphate, concentrated, and purified with DEAE-52(2.6×30 cm) and Sephadex G-75(2.6×60 cm) chromatography. The active fractions were pooled and the PPO activity was determined to be 2627.36Units/mg. AA exhibited inhibition on lotus rhizome PPO with residual activity of 13.79% at concentration of 0.08mM and IC50 of 0.045mM. Kinetic analyses determined by Lineweaver-Burk plots showed that ascorbic acid was reversible and competitive inhibitor to the enzyme. The 3D structure of the lotus rhizome PPO was simulated by SWISS-MODEL program and molecular docking was performed between PPO and its ligands (catehol and AA) by SYBYL-X 2.0. Simulation results showed that AA and catechol compete with the binding site of the PPO active center for its stronger affinity with the enzyme. In conclusion, the AA was established as a competitive inhibitor of lotus rhizome PPO, which provides a theoretical basis for it as an anti-browning agent in storage and preservation of lotus rhizome. Keywords: Lotus rhizome, Polyphenol oxidase, Computational simulation, Inhibition mechanis

Influence of Packaging Material and Ethylene Scavenger on Biochemical Composition and Enzyme Activity of Apricot Cv. Habi at Ambient Storage

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the influence of different packaging materials and ethylene absorbent on biochemical composition, antioxidant and enzyme activity of apricot cv. Habi during ambient storage. Perforated (0.25%) polyethylene films of low, medium and high densities and wrapping paper were used along with KMnO4 dipped sponge cubes. Biochemical characteristics (pH, ascorbic acid, phenolics and carotenoids), antioxidants and enzyme activity were determined at 2 day intervals during storage. The results demonstrated that low density polyethylene retained maximum chemical and bioactive compounds, higher antioxidant activity and lower enzyme activities during storage, while the maximum loss of quality was observed in control and paper wrapped sets followed by high and medium density packaging films. It was concluded that apricot harvested at commercial maturity stage and packed with low density polyethylene films along with ethylene scavenger (KMnO4) can be successfully stored at ambient conditions up to two weeks. Keywords: Apricot, biochemical composition, packaging material; ethylene absorbent, ambient storag

Nutritional Improvement of Whole Wheat Flour Chapatti by Supplementation of Tartarty Buckwheat Flour

Four treatments (T0, T1, T2, T3 and T4) of supplemented flours along with control (T0) were prepared by supplementing tartary buckwheat flour in whole wheal flour @ 5, 10, 15 and 20% to improve the nutritional quality of chapattis. Supplemented flours and chapattis prepared from them were analyzed for chemical composition such as moisture content, ash content, crude fiber, crude protein, crude fat, phytic acid content, minerals (Fe, Zn, P and K) and nitrogen free extract. Supplementation significantly increased the all parameters except NFE and Zn content. Sensory evaluation of chapatti samples showed that chapattis prepared from 5 and 10% supplemented flours were accepted by the judges. Keywords: Wheat flour, Chapatti, Supplementation, Tartary buckwhea

Compliance with Standard Precautions and Associated Factors among Critical Care Nurses in Peshawar, Pakistan and Kunming, China: Comparative Cross-Sectional Study

OBJECTIVES To find the level of compliance and the associated factors of compliance with standard precautions among registered nurses. METHODOLOGY Cross-sectional study was conducted during March and August 2020 in four hospitals, two from each country; Pakistan and China. Data was gathered through a modified version of the adopted questionnaire from 424 registered nurses, selected by a simple random sampling technique. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 26. RESULTSThe overall compliance with SPs among registered nurses in Pakistan was 57.1%, and among the respondents from China was 75.2%. Gender, age and working area were associated with the compliance of SPs. Female nurses from China are 1.72 times less compliant, while the increasing age of Pakistani nurses increases the risk for non-compliance with SPs by 1.7 times. Participants working in Emergency Department in Pakistan were 2.07 times less compliant than those working in Intensive Care Unit/Coronary Care Unit (ICU/CCU). Lack of training increases the risk of being 2.9 times more non-compliant. For Chinese Nurses, less knowledge and a lack of resources were associated with non-compliance in both countries nurses. CONCLUSION Noteworthy numbers of nurses were found non-compliant with standard precaution practices in both study populations. Therefore, strategies like regular training on standard precautions, availability of Personal Protective Equipment and policymaking may improve compliance with SPs practice