Extraction and quantification of antimicrobial peptides from medicinal plants through TrisNaCl and PBS buffer

Nature has provided plants with their own specific defence system that protect the plant from several traumatic conditions. These include environmental conditions like drought, harsh climate changes, wounding, pathogen attack and other biological as well as a biological stresses. In order to deal with all these harmful occurrences, plants synthesize a wide range of defence factors that include both primary as well as secondary metabolites. Out of these the most popular are the defence proteins which are known as antimicrobial peptides (AMP). These AMPs are actually the pathogenesis-related (PR) defence proteins.  These proteins are activated under the control of defence system of plant whenever triggered by the alarming situation. In the current study Crude protein extraction of four medicinally important plants named as Cassia fistula, Albizia lebbeck, Saccharum officinarum & Cymbopogon citratus was performen. Extraction was done in TrisNaCl and PBS buffer. Quantification of the protein content in the extract was done by Bradford assay. Concentration of protein from TrisNaCl buffer extracts was high as compared to the extracts from PBS buffer. As these proteins play their protective role in defence of the plants against pathogen attack so these extracts can better be used to check the antimicrobial activity of these plants in future to treat several infectious diseases in humans

Effect of different stabilizers on the antibacterial activity of "ginger garlic paste"

The effect of five stabilizers i.e. citric acid, sodium metabisulfite, sodium benzoate, olive oil and ascorbic acid mixed in the ginger - garlic paste were evaluated against five pathogens (E.coli, Staphylococcus aureus , Salmonella typhi , Proteus mirabilis and Enterobacter aerogenes ). Activity of the control paste decreased during storage. Antimicrobial activity of the paste was stabilized by various stabilizers when incorporated. Sodium metabisulfite, olive oil and ascorbic acid were found to be effective to stabilize the antibacterial activity of the paste considerably. E.coli and Salmonella typhi showed more resistance in case of citric acid and sodium benzoate provided in the paste. @ JASE

Indirect effects of the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic on the coverage of essential maternal and newborn health services in a rural subdistrict in Bangladesh: results from a cross-sectional household survey

Objective: This paper presents the effect of the early phase of COVID-19 on the coverage of essential maternal and newborn health (MNH) services in a rural subdistrict of Bangladesh. Design: Cross-sectional household survey with random sampling. Setting: Baliakandi subdistrict, Rajbari district, Bangladesh. Participants: Data were collected from women who were on the third trimester of pregnancy during the early phase of the pandemic (111) and pre-pandemic periods (115) to measure antenatal care (ANC) service coverage. To measure birth, postnatal care (PNC) and essential newborn care (ENC), data were collected from women who had a history of delivery during the early phase of the pandemic (163) and pre-pandemic periods (166). Exposure: Early phase of the pandemic included a strict national lockdown between April and June 2020, and pre-pandemic was defined as August–October 2019. Outcome of interest: Changes in the coverage of selected MNH services (ANC, birth, PNC, ENC) during the early phase of COVID-19 pandemic compared with the pre-pandemic period, estimated by two-sample proportion tests. Findings: Among women who were on the third trimester of pregnancy during the early phase of the pandemic period, 77% (95% CI: 70% to 85%) received at least one ANC from a medically trained provider (MTP) during the third trimester, compared with 83% (95% CI: 76% to 90%) during the pre-pandemic period (p=0.33). Among women who gave birth during the early phase of the pandemic period, 72% (95% CI: 66% to 79%) were attended by an MTP, compared with 63% (95% CI: 56% to 71%) during the pre-pandemic period (p=0.08). Early initiation of breast feeding was practised among 38% (95% CI: 31% to 46%) of the babies born during the early phase of the pandemic period. It was 37% (95% CI: 29% to 44%) during the pre-pandemic period (p=0.81). The coverage of ANC, birth, PNC and ENC did not differ by months of pandemic and pre-pandemic periods; only the coverage of at least one ANC from an MTP significantly differed among the women who were 7 months pregnant during the early phase of the pandemic (35%, 95% CI: 26% to 44%) and pre-pandemic (49%, 95% CI: 39% to 58%) (p=0.04). Conclusion: The effect of the early phase of the pandemic including lockdown on the selected MNH service coverage was null in the study area. The nature of the lockdown, the availability and accessibility of private sector health services in that area, and the combating strategies at the rural level made it possible for the women to avail the required MNH services

Substantial and sustained reduction in under-5 mortality, diarrhea, and pneumonia in Oshikhandass, Pakistan : Evidence from two longitudinal cohort studies 15 years apart

Funding Information: Study 1 was funded through the Applied Diarrheal Disease Research Program at Harvard Institute for International Development with a grant from USAID (Project 936–5952, Cooperative Agreement # DPE-5952-A-00-5073-00), and the Aga Khan Health Service, Northern Areas and Chitral, Pakistan. Study 2 was funded by the Pakistan US S&T Cooperative Agreement between the Pakistan Higher Education Commission (HEC) (No.4–421/PAK-US/HEC/2010/955, grant to the Karakoram International University) and US National Academies of Science (Grant Number PGA-P211012 from NAS to the Fogarty International Center). The funding bodies had no role in the design of the study, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or writing of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Author(s).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

میر کی نظمیہ شاعری اور انسان دوستی

Mir Taqi Mir was a renowned poet of the 18th Century of Mughal Era. He was one of the pioneer who transformed and gave a comprehensive shape to the Urdu Language itself. He earned fame as the Urdu Ghazal Poet at Dehli School. His Complete works (Kulliaat), Consists of Six Diwans containing 13,585 Couplets comprising a variety of poetic forms ghazal, masnavi, qasida, rubai, mustezaad, Satire etc. He has emerged as a great poet who touched his pen on tyranny brutality and cruelty. He discussed regarding humanity, equality, liberty, freedom and sympathy in his poetry

Characterization of Mutations Conferring Extensive Drug Resistance to Mycobacterium tuberculosis Isolates in Pakistan ▿

The increasing incidence of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Mycobacterium tuberculosis in high-tuberculosis-burden countries further highlights the need for improved rapid diagnostic assays. An increasing incidence of XDR M. tuberculosis strains in Pakistan has been reported, but drug resistance-associated mutations in these strains have not been evaluated previously. We sequenced the “hot-spot” regions of rpoB, katG, inhA, ahpC, gyrA, gyrB, and rrs genes in 50 XDR M. tuberculosis strains. It was observed that 2% of rifampin, 6% of isoniazid, 24% of fluoroquinolone, and 32% of aminoglycoside/capreomycin resistance in XDR M. tuberculosis strains would be undetected if only these common hot-spot regions were tested. The frequencies of resistance-conferring mutations were found to be comparable among all XDR M. tuberculosis strain families present, including the Central Asian Strain, Beijing, and East African Indian genogroups and the Unique isolates. Additional genetic loci need to be tested for detection of mutations conferring fluoroquinolone, aminoglycoside, and capreomycin resistance in order to improve molecular diagnosis of regional XDR M. tuberculosis strains

Morphometric analysis of dry human lumbar vertebrae

Background & Aims:  With change of posture from quadrupeds to bipeds, a shift of body weight from appendicular skeleton to the axial skeleton (spine) occurs. As a result, various changes in the spine took place and the human spine became more prone to diseases such as scoliosis, spondylolisthesis, osteoporosis of vertebrae and many more. Over the past decade, a number of corrective surgeries have been designed but trans-pedicular screw fixation in spondylosyndesis remains the gold standard for the correcting spinal deformities. Hence, the current study was designed to frame out the morphometric measurements of the pedicle of lumbar vertebrae so that guidelines can be delineated for the manufacturers of lumbar screw implants. Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 100 lumbar vertebrae of unknown age and sex obtained from the Department of Anatomy Govt. Medical College (GMC) Jammu. All the measurements were taken twice on both right and left side with the help of sliding vernier calipers, averaged out and then tabulated in Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Results: The dimensions of the pedicle height of the lumbar vertebrae on the right side were recorded to be from 20.05 to 10.32mm with mean of 13.83±2.08mm. However, mean of the pedicle height on left side was 13.71± 2.09mm with the range of 20.01 to 10.22mm with statistically significant p- value of 0.025. Further, the range of pedicular width of lumbar vertebrae on the right side was 17.71 to 5.38mm with a mean of 10.8±2.73mm and on left side was from 17.69 to 5.37 mm with mean of 9.77±2.57 mm with statistically significant p value of 0.037. The mean inter-pedicular distance of lumbar vertebrae was 21.73±2.62mm with a range of 11-28mm. Conclusions: The results of the present study concluded that mean pedicular width and mean pedicular height are more on right side and mean inter- pedicular distance was 21.73±2.62mm. Hence, it was concluded that measurements should be taken before designing the lumbar screws for North Indian population