Terrace Soil Suitability for Highway Construction: Case Study in Lesser Himalaya (CPEC Project E-35), North Pakistan

In this study, terrace soil investigation was carried out in project E-35 (phase-I) China-Pak Economic Corridor, Lesser Himalayas, North Pakistan. The methodology in current research is based on tests that include sieve analysis, plastic index, proctor, California Bearing Ratio, Los Angeles, sand equivalent and specific gravity. The results of these tests for different layers were compared with AASHTO and NHA specifications. The results show that the embankment, subgrade and subbase layers were composed of silt, sand and gravel, respectively while the aggregate base coarse was composed of sand, aggregate and less amount of fine clay material. The sieve analysis test shows that soil and aggregate base coarse has less clay with high silt, sandy material and index plastic to low plastic, which is appropriate for the construction. The California Bearing Ratio shows that the soil and aggregate base coarse have high load-bearing capacity. The Los Angeles abrasion reveal that the sub base and aggregate base coarse are resistive. The sand equivalent shows that aggregate base coarse has high sand material. The specific gravity illustrates that aggregate base coarse material is denser. The current study shows that terrace soil is suitable for the construction of the road in project E-35 (phase-I) China-Pak Economic Corridor

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

Adaptation of the Recent Life Changes Questionnaire (RLCQ) to measure stressful life events in adults residing in an urban megapolis in Pakistan

Background: Contextually relevant stressful life events are integral to the quantification of stress. None such measures have been adapted for the Pakistani population. Methods: The RLCQ developed by Richard Rahe measures stress of an individual through recording the experience of life changing events. We used qualitative methodology in order to identify contextually relevant stressors in an open ended format, using serial in-depth interviews until thematic saturation of reported stressful life events was achieved. In our next phase of adaptation, our objective was to scale each item on the questionnaire, so as to weigh each of these identified events, in terms of severity of stress. This scaling exercise was performed on 200 random participants residing in the four communities of Karachi namely Kharadar, Dhorajee, Gulshan and Garden. For analysis of the scaled tool, exploratory factor analysis was used to inform structuring. Finally, to complete the process of adaption, content and face validity exercises were performed. Content validity by subject expert review and face validity was performed by translation and back translation of the adapted RLCQ. This yielded our final adapted tool. Results: Stressful life events emerging from the qualitative phase of the study reflect daily life stressors arising from the unstable socio-political environment. Some such events were public harassment, robbery/theft, missed life opportunities due to nepotism, extortion and threats, being a victim of state sponsored brutality, lack of electricity, water, sanitation, fuel, destruction due to natural disasters and direct or media based exposure to suicide bombing in the city. Personal or societal based relevant stressors included male child preference, having an unmarried middle aged daughter, lack of empowerment and respect reported by females. The finally adapted RLCQ incorporated Environmental Stress as a new category. Conclusion: The processes of qualitative methodology, in depth interview, community based scaling and face and content validity yielded an adapted RLCQ that represents contextually relevant life stress for adults residing in urban Pakistan

Genetic effects of Calotropis procera CpTIP1 gene on fiber quality in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum)

Background: The importance of cotton crop (Gossypium hirsutum) in textile industry is based on its fiber quality. A number of fiber-specific genes play important role in the development of cotton fiber. Previous studies have demonstrated the importance of genes that are responsible for metabolic functions and their involvement in cotton fiber development.Methods: This study was focused at successful Agrobacterium mediated stable transformation of the fiber gene CpTIP1, isolated from the wild plant Calotropis procera, into cotton variety NIAB-846 for one generation. Results: Transformation efficiency was calculated to be 1.01% for the target gene. Different molecular techniques such as PCR were used for confirmation and Real-Time PCR was used to check the level of quantitative expression of fiber expansin gene in putative transgenic cotton plants. On the base of molecular analysis, results showed higher expression level of fiber gene (CpTIP1) in transgenic plants as compared to the control plants.Conclusion: The results of this study support the idea of improved cotton fiber through genetic modification especially the cotton fiber strength

Cloning and chloroplast-targeted expression studies of insect-resistant gene with ricin fusion-gene under chloroplast transit peptide in cotton

Background: Transgenic plants inhabiting single Bt gene are prone to develop insect resistance and this resistance has been reported in case of some important yield-devastating insect larvae of commercial crops, such as cotton and rice. Therefore, it has become essential to adapt new strategies to overcome the problem of insect resistance and these new strategies should be sophisticated enough to target such resistant larvae in broad spectrum. Among these, plants may be transformed with Bt gene tagged with some fusion-protein gene that possesses lectin-binding capability to boost the binding sites for crystal protein gene within insect mid-gut in order to overcome any chances of insect tolerance against Bt toxin. Enhanced chloroplast-targeted Bt gene expression can also help in the reduction of insect resistance. Results: In the present investigation, a combined effect of both these strategies was successfully used in cotton ( G. hirsutum ). For this purpose, plant expression vector pKian-1 was created, after a series of cloning steps, carrying Cry1Ac gene ligated with chloroplast transit peptide towards N-terminal and Ricin B-Chain towards C-terminal, generating TP-Cry1Ac-RB construct. Conclusions: Efficacy of pKian-1 plasmid vector was confirmed by in-planta Agrobacterium -mediated leaf GUS assay in tobacco. Cotton (G. hirsutum) local variety MNH-786 was transformed with pKian-1 and the stable integration of TP-Cry1Ac-RB construct in putative transgenic plants was confirmed by PCR; while fusion-protein expression in cytosol as well as chloroplast was substantiated by Western blot analysis. Whereas, confocal microscopy of leaf-sections of transgenic plants exposed that hybrid-Bt protein was expressing inside chloroplasts

Genetic diversity and multiplicity of infection in Fasciola gigantica isolates of Pakistani livestock

Fasciola spp. are responsible for over 3 billion US dollars of production loss annually in livestock and cause widespread zoonotic disease. Nevertheless, understating of the emergence and spread of the trematode species is poor. The multiplicity of F. gigantica infection and its spread is potentially influenced by multiple factors, including the abundance of suitable intermediate hosts, climatic conditions favouring the completion of the parasite's lifecycle, and translocation of infected animals, or free-living parasite stages between regions. Here we describe the development of a ‘tremabiome’ metabarcoding sequencing method to explore the numbers of F. gigantica genotypes per infection and patterns of parasite spread, based on genetic characteristics of the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase 1 (mt-ND-1) locus. We collected F. gigantica from three abattoirs in the Punjab and Balochistan provinces of Pakistan, and our results show a high level of genetic diversity in 20 F. gigantica populations derived from small and large ruminants consigned to slaughter in both provinces. This implies that F. gigantica can reproduce in its definitive hosts through meiosis involving cross- and self-breeding, as described in the closely related species, Fasciola hepatica. The genetic diversity between the 20 populations derived from different locations also illustrates the impact of animal movements on gene flow. Our results demonstrate the predominance of single haplotypes, consistent with a single introduction of F. gigantica infection in 85% of the hosts from which the parasite populations were derived. This is consistent with clonal reproduction in the intermediate snail hosts.[Display omitted]•To confirm the species identity of recovered Fasciola spp.•To identify the presence of single or multiple genotypes per infection (multiplicity of infection)•Demonstrate the spread of F. gigantica mt-ND-1 haplotype

Assessment of nematodes in Punjab Urial (Ovis vignei punjabiensis) population in Kalabagh game reserve: development of a DNA barcode approach

Punjab urial (Ovis vignei punjabiensis) is a wild sheep of Pakistan, considered a vulnerable species by IUCN. Major threats to urial populations include habitat loss and poaching, causing severe declines in its population. Nematode infections may also compromise urial survival, but little is known about Punjab urial gastrointestinal nematodes. In this study, a novel DNA barcoding approach was developed using ITS-I as a target region, with a primer pair designed to amplify frequently reported nematode species for small ruminants. The novel primer pair was validated in silico and in vitro and subsequently used to determine the presence of nematodes in Punjab urial samples from Kala Bagh Game Reserve, District Mianwali (Pakistan). DNA barcoding revealed a higher prevalence of Haemonchus contortus (73.91%), Trichuris ovis (16.30%) and Trichostrongylus axei (3.26%) in Punjab urial. This study demonstrates that the novel DNA barcoding approach is a robust tool to detect nematode parasites from faecal samples of Punjab urial. This method can be used to detect nematode infections in wild and domestic hosts for surveillance and population conservation

The Pakistan risk of myocardial infarction study: A resource for the study of genetic, lifestyle and other determinants of myocardial infarction in south Asia

The burden of coronary heart disease (CHD) is increasing at a greater rate in South Asia than in any other region globally, but there is little direct evidence about its determinants. The Pakistan Risk of Myocardial Infarction Study (PROMIS) is an epidemiological resource to enable reliable study of genetic, lifestyle and other determinants of CHD in South Asia. By March 2009, PROMIS had recruited over 5,000 cases of first-ever confirmed acute myocardial infarction (MI) and over 5,000 matched controls aged 30-80 years. For each participant, information has been recorded on demographic factors, lifestyle, medical and family history, anthropometry, and a 12-lead electrocardiogram. A range of biological samples has been collected and stored, including DNA, plasma, serum and whole blood. During its next stage, the study aims to expand recruitment to achieve a total of about 20,000 cases and about 20,000 controls, and, in subsets of participants, to enrich the resource by collection of monocytes, establishment of lymphoblastoid cell lines, and by resurveying participants. Measurements in progress include profiling of candidate biochemical factors, assay of 45,000 variants in 2,100 candidate genes, and a genomewide association scan of over 650,000 genetic markers. We have established a large epidemiological resource for CHD in South Asia. In parallel with its further expansion and enrichment, the PROMIS resource will be systematically harvested to help identify and evaluate genetic and other determinants of MI in South Asia. Findings from this study should advance scientific understanding and inform regionally appropriate disease prevention and control strategies