Present Environmental Condition and Its Impact on Livelihood – A Case Study of Two Villages around the University of Barisal

The study was focused mainly on the level of knowledge and current situation on environmental pollution and degradation in the male, female and school going children living in Char Aicha and West Karnakathi villages in Barisal district. Data were collected randomly from 200 families (most of them consist of 6/7 members) by personal observation, focal group discussion and personal interviews during the period from January to June, 2016. The study revealed that majority of the people knew the basics of environmental pollution and degradation through television but they do not apply this in their way of living. On the other hand, about 30% of the people do not know what it is. The data showed that most of the women were not conscious about the devastation of pollution. As household wastes were not managed properly, the open area especially the ponds filled with waste. Pond is one of the prime sources of water for cooking and washing. Tree plantation program, hand washing program, school based awareness program, introduction of cheap water filtration process and discussion program on sustainable agricultural production revealed a positive attitude to manage environment. After these awareness programs, results showed that almost 90% of people follow the prescribed methods. In addition, primary school going children showed keen interest about the program and they play an important role in controlling pollution in the study area by sharing with their parents about the harmful effect of pollution in their regular life. The study will provide baseline information for controlling environmental pollution and degradation in the area. Key Words: Environmental Pollution, Degradation, Awareness program, Kirtonkhola River

3-Chloro­benzohydrazide

In the title compound, C7H7ClN2O, the hydrazide group is inclined at a dihedral angle of 32.30 (11)° with respect to the benzene ring. The amino H atoms form inter­molecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds with the O atoms of two adjacent mol­ecules, resulting in 10-membered rings of graph-set motif R 2 2(10). The imino H atom is also involved in an inter­molecular hydrogen bond with an amino N atom of a symmetry-related mol­ecule, resulting in a zigzag chain along the b axis. The structure is further consolidated by an intra­molecular N—H⋯O inter­action, which results in a five-membered ring

3,4,5-Trihy­droxy­benzohydrazide

In the title compound, C7H8N2O4, the dihedral angle between the aromatic ring and the hydrazide grouping is 21.34 (7)°. In the crystal, the mol­ecules are linked into a three-dimensional network by O—H⋯O, O—H⋯N and N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds

4-Methoxy­benzohydrazide

The title compound, C8H10N2O2, is stabilized by three inter­molecular hydrogen bonds of the N—H⋯O and N—H⋯N types. Two intra­molecular inter­actions of the N—H⋯O and C—H⋯O types are also observed

Knowledge, apptitude and practice: smoking and gutka habits in a lower socio-economic cohort

Background: Smoking and smokeless tobacco use is the major cause of death and disease in South Asia, the use of gutka has surpassed that of smoking in this region thus, acting as a major contributor to oral and esophageal cancer especially in the younger population. Authors have designed this study to explore the knowledge, apptitude and practice regarding smoking and gutka use in a lower socio-economic cohort and observe the impact of education, income and type of profession on the users.Methods: This cross sectional descriptive survey is conducted in Creek General Hospital, Korangi, Karachi. The study design is non-probability convenience. A questionnaire is used to quantify the frequency of smoking-related knowledge-attitude-practice, knowledge and attitude about tobacco-related disease and, smoking cessation-related thoughts and practice. Data is analysed in SPSS 16.Results: A total of 250 subjects participated in this descriptive study, 133 subjects (22% females and 62.6% males) were found addicted to smoking or smokeless tobacco product with stress, seeking pleasure and peer pressure being the most convincing factor to initiate their habit.90% of the users want to stop using the substance of abuse and 80 have at least once tried to quit the habit.Conclusions: This study shows a direct relationship between level of education and socioeconomic status with use of addictive substance. It also resulted in identifying the desire to quit in our cohort and need for formulating a plan specifically for the target population to focus not only to remove the cause, but also to empower them to take responsibility for their own well being.

4-Hydroxy­benzohydrazide

In the title compound, C7H8N2O2, the mean planes of the benzene ring and the planar hydrazide group are inclined at 25.75 (6)° with respect to each other. The structure is stabilized by inter­molecular N—H⋯O and O—H⋯N hydrogen bonds

3-Amino-N′-(2-oxoindolin-3-yl­idene)benzohydrazide

The title compound, C15H12N4O2, contains two substituted benzohydrazide and indole rings linked via a C=N double bond. The dihedral angle between the benzene ring and the indole ring system is 11.38 (10)°. The mol­ecular structure is stabilized by an intra­molecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bond, forming a six-membered ring. The crystal structure is consolidated by inter­molecular N—H⋯O and C—H⋯O inter­actions, which result in sheets

Factors associated with perceived stress in students appearing for medical university entrance test: A cross-sectional study

Objective: To evaluate the factors or stressors associated with perceived stress in students appearing for university entrance test-cross sectional study.Materials and Methods: It is a descriptive cross-sectional study, duration was two months from August to September 2021. The Ethical & scientific review committee of KMDC of Karachi, have given written permission. The non-probability convenience sampling technique was used. The Rao soft calculator was used for Sample size and 377 (5% margin of error and 95% confidence level) were calculated. Students were enrolled from four Entrance test/ aptitude training centers of Karachi with written informed consent. The students were having past history of antipsychiatric illness or having history of taking drugs like antidepressants or anxiolytics were excluded. The Cohen’s scale was used for evaluation of perceived stress in students with degree of perceived stress. The statistical Analysis was done by using IBM-SPSS version 23.0, Counts with percentages, Pearson Chi Square test and Binary Logistic Regression Analysis for identification of Risk Factors of Stress. P-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: The association of perceived stress was significantly associated with Mothers job/ working Mother (p<0.05) in our study participants. Anyone from family or friend was suffering from Stress showed significant (p<0.05) association with perceived stress (moderate / high level) in our study.Conclusion: In our study results, factors associated with perceived stress in students, showed working mothers are responsible for development of stress in students

Alpha-glucosidase and carbonic anhydrase inhibition studies of Pd(II)-hydrazide complexes

This study focused on the synthesis and characterization of hydrazide ligands and their respective Pd(II) complexes and used high throughput screening to determine their α-glucosidase and carbonic anhydrase II enzyme inhibition activities. The physical, analytical (elemental analyses for C, H, N and Pd) and spectral (FT-IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, EI-mass) techniques utilized during characterization revealed the formation of square planar, neutral and 1:2 Pd(II)-hydrazide complexes with the general formula [PdL2Cl2]. In these Pd(II) complexes, the hydrazide ligands are monodentate; the terminal nitrogen is the donor atom. The uncoordinated hydrazide ligands were inactive against both α-glucosidase and carbonic anhydrase II enzymes; however, the respective Pd(II)-hydrazide complexes were approximately 300 times more potent α-glucosidase inhibitors than the standard compound, 1-deoxynojirimycin (DNJ). Some of the Pd(II) complexes also demonstrated potential carbonic anhydrase (CA) inhibition properties comparable to the standard compound, acetazolamide (ACZ).Higher Education Commission of Pakistan for financial support (‘The National Research Grants Program for Universities’, grant No.1862/R&D/10) and MMT acknowledges the support from Fulbright Scholar Award from The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Open Access funded by King Saud University