Internet Gaming Disorder: An Emerging Addiction among Pakistani University Students

Internet gaming is increasing day by day with technology development. Today occurrence of IGD and its relationship with certain demographic variable will be viewed. Through the convenient sampling technique the study consisted of a sample of 315 university students of graduation level of education. The 20 item IGDT-20 was used to measure IGD. The analysis plan included correlation, t-test and ANOVA for hypothesis testing. The results indicated that males scored higher on Internet Gaming Disorder scale than females; young students spend more time on internet than others and are at high risk of developing Internet Gaming Disorder. These findings are helpful in developing a policy for the effective use of internet

Rosenthal Effect and Productivity in Corporate Sector: Rosenthal Effect and Leadership Styles as the Predictors of High Productivity among Banking Recruits

In the banking sector, high productivity is a huge challenge for leaders and subordinates. A psychological approach is therefore required to vigilantly boost the productivity of the employee. Hence, the Rosenthal effect is studies as an important phenomenon to energize subordinates performance and increase their productivity in any organization. This study will be helpful in understanding this concept in Pakistan. There are many types of research on leadership styles with different variables but, empirical work on the relationship between leadership style and the Pygmalion effect is under development. Productivity, job outcomes, organizational performance can be increased if leaders understand and apply the phenomenon of the Pygmalion effect

Internet Gaming Disorder: An Emerging Addiction among Pakistani University Students

Internet gaming is increasing day by day with technology development. Today occurrence of IGD and its relationship with certain demographic variable will be viewed. Through the convenient sampling technique the study consisted of a sample of 315 university students of graduation level of education. The 20 item IGDT-20 was used to measure IGD. The analysis plan included correlation, t-test and ANOVA for hypothesis testing. The results indicated that males scored higher on Internet Gaming Disorder scale than females; young students spend more time on internet than others and are at high risk of developing Internet Gaming Disorder. These findings are helpful in developing a policy for the effective use of internet

Recognition and Implementation of Contact Simple Map Germs from (ℂ², 0) → (ℂ², 0)

The classification of contact simple map germs from (C2,0)→(C2,0) was given by Dimca and Gibson. In this article, we give a useful criteria to recognize this classification of contact simple map germs of holomorphic mappings with finite codimension. The recognition is based on the computation of explicit numerical invariants. By using this characterization, we implement an algorithm to compute the type of the contact simple map germs without computing the normal form and also give its implementation in the computer algebra system Singular

IDENTIFICATION OF RESISTANT SOURCE IN LENTIL GERMPLASM AGAINST FUSARIUM WILT IN RELATION TO ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

Lentil is a valuable human food and one of the oldest known protein rich food legumes which is also known as poor men's meat. Owing to biotic and abiotic stresses, the crop yield is below attainable levels which are mainly attributed to pathological factors especially lentil wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lentis. It is a potential threat to lentil production not only in Pakistan but worldwide as well that can cause complete crop failure. Current studies were designed to screen the available lentil germplasm against the lentil wilt disease in relation to environmental factors. Twenty eight lentil lines were sown in a previously developed wilt sick bed in the research area of Pulses Research institute, Faisalabad using augmented design. Natural inoculum was also relied upon. Disease severity data were recorded and area under disease progress curve was calculated. Results revealed that sixteen lines were found highly susceptible, seven remained susceptible, and three lines were moderately resistant whereas two demonstrated resistance responses against the disease. Furthermore, disease severity data along with weekly environmental conditions were subjected to correlation and stepwise regression analysis to screen environmental variables not having a significant influence on lentil wilt development. All the environmental factors were positively correlated with disease development and best explained using linear regression. Maximum disease severity was recorded at 17-18 o C and 7-10 o C air temperature (Max. and Min.), 60-78% relative humidity and 2 mm rainfall respectively. Stepwise regression employed to predict lentil wilt incidence, the model developed significantly fit to the data and their predicted values of lentil wilt incidence were in close conformity with the observed values

Novel antiacanthamoebic compounds belonging to quinazolinones

We report one-pot synthesis of a series of new 3-aryl-8-methylquinazolin-4(3H)-ones (QNZ) and their antimicrobial activity against Acanthamoeba castellanii belonging to T4 genotype. A library of fifteen synthetic derivatives of QNZs was synthesized, and their structural elucidation was performed by using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and electron impact mass spectrometry (EI-MS). Elemental analyses and high-resolution mass spectrometry data of all derivatives were found to be in agreeable range. Amoebicidal assays performed at concentrations ranging from 50 to 100 μg/mL revealed that all derivatives of QNZ significantly decreased the viability of A. castellanii and QNZ 2, 5, 8, and 13 were found to have efficient antiamoebic effects. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) imaging of amoeba treated with compounds 5 and 15 showed that these compounds cause structural alterations on the walls of A. castellanii. Furthermore, several QNZs inhibited the encystation and excystationas as well as abolished A. castellanii-mediated host cells cytopathogenicity in human cells. Whereas, these QNZs showed negligible cytotoxicity when tested against human cells in vitro. Hence, this study identified potential lead molecules having promising properties for drug development against A. castellanii. A brief structure-activity relationship is also developed to optimize the hit of most potent compounds from the library. To the best of our knowledge, it is first of its kind medicinal chemistry approach on a single class of compounds i.e., quinazolinone against keratitis and brain infection causing free-living amoeba, A. castellanii

Antiamoebic activity of 3-aryl-6,7-dimethoxyquinazolin-4(3H)-one library against Acanthamoeba castellanii

Acanthamoeba castellanii is a free-living amoeba which can cause a blinding keratitis and fatal granulomatous amoebic encephalitis. The treatment of Acanthamoeba infections is challenging due to formation of cyst. Quinazolinones are medicinally important scaffold against parasitic diseases. A library of nineteen new 3-aryl-6,7-dimethoxyquinazolin-4(3H)-one derivatives was synthesized to evaluate their antiamoebic activity against Acanthamoeba castellanii. One-pot synthesis of 3-aryl-6,7-dimethoxyquinazolin-4(3H)-ones (1–19) was achieved by reaction of 2-amino-4,5-dimethoxybenzoic acid, trimethoxymethane, and different substituted anilines. These compounds were purified and characterized by standard chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques. Antiacanthamoebic activity of these compounds was determined by amoebicidal, encystation, excystation and host cell cytopathogenicity in vitro assays at concentrations of 50 and 100 μg/mL. The IC50 was found to be between 100 and 50 μg/mL for all the compounds except compound 5 which did not exhibit amoebicidal effects at these concentrations. Furthermore, lactate dehydrogenase assay was also performed to evaluate the in vitro cytotoxicity of these compounds against human keratinocyte (HaCaT) cells. The results revealed that eighteen out of nineteen derivatives of quinazolinones significantly decreased the viability of A. castellanii. Furthermore, eighteen out of nineteen tested compounds inhibited the encystation and excystation, as well as significantly reduced the A. castellanii–mediated cytopathogenicity against human cells. Interestingly, while tested against human normal cell line HaCaT keratinocytes, all compounds did not exhibit any overt cytotoxicity. Furthermore, a detailed structure-activity relationship is also studied to optimize the most potent hit from these synthetic compounds. This report presents several potential lead compounds belonging to 3-aryl-6,7-dimethoxyquinazolin-4(3H)-one derivatives for drug discovery against infections caused by Acanthamoeba castellanii

Antiamoebic activity of 3-aryl-6,7-dimethoxyquinazolin-4(3H)-one library against Acanthamoeba castellanii

Acanthamoeba castellanii is a free-living amoeba which can cause a blinding keratitis and fatal granulomatous amoebic encephalitis. The treatment of Acanthamoeba infections is challenging due to formation of cyst. Quinazolinones are medicinally important scaffold against parasitic diseases. A library of nineteen new 3-aryl-6,7-dimethoxyquinazolin-4(3H)-one derivatives was synthesized to evaluate their antiamoebic activity against Acanthamoeba castellanii. One-pot synthesis of 3-aryl-6,7-dimethoxyquinazolin-4(3H)-ones (1–19) was achieved by reaction of 2-amino-4,5-dimethoxybenzoic acid, trimethoxymethane, and different substituted anilines. These compounds were purified and characterized by standard chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques. Antiacanthamoebic activity of these compounds was determined by amoebicidal, encystation, excystation and host cell cytopathogenicity in vitro assays at concentrations of 50 and 100 μg/mL. The IC50 was found to be between 100 and 50 μg/mL for all the compounds except compound 5 which did not exhibit amoebicidal effects at these concentrations. Furthermore, lactate dehydrogenase assay was also performed to evaluate the in vitro cytotoxicity of these compounds against human keratinocyte (HaCaT) cells. The results revealed that eighteen out of nineteen derivatives of quinazolinones significantly decreased the viability of A. castellanii. Furthermore, eighteen out of nineteen tested compounds inhibited the encystation and excystation, as well as significantly reduced the A. castellanii–mediated cytopathogenicity against human cells. Interestingly, while tested against human normal cell line HaCaT keratinocytes, all compounds did not exhibit any overt cytotoxicity. Furthermore, a detailed structure-activity relationship is also studied to optimize the most potent hit from these synthetic compounds. This report presents several potential lead compounds belonging to 3-aryl-6,7-dimethoxyquinazolin-4(3H)-one derivatives for drug discovery against infections caused by Acanthamoeba castellanii

Chemical composition of Gastrocotyle hispida (Forssk.) bunge and Heliotropium crispum Desf. and evaluation of their multiple in vitro biological potentials

Medicinal plants largely serve as a source of bioactive compounds in traditional medicines to cure various diseases. The present study was aimed at chemical composition, antioxidant, antimicrobial, cytotoxic and antihemolytic potential of five different extracts of G. hispida and H. crispum (Boraginaceae). G. hispida methanolic extract displayed highest number (eleven) of polyphenolic compounds by using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Functional groups were identified by Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and elements (Si, Fe, Ba, Mg, Ti, Ca, Mg and Cr) were observed by using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) which were also highly expressed in G. hispida as compared to H. crispum. Antioxidant activity was determined via six assays and antibacterial activity was observed in decreasing order of methanol > ethanol > chloroform > ethyl acetate > n-Hexane in both species. Cytotoxic potential was investigated against brine shrimps and then liver (HepG2) and skin (HT144) cancer cell lines which was detected highest in the G. hispida ethanolic extract (50.76 % and 72.95 %). However, H. crispum chloroform extract revealed highest (31.869 μg/mL) antihemolytic activity and its methanolic extract indicated highest (13.5 %) alpha-amylase inhibitory potential. Altogether, results suggested that both species could be used effectively in food and drug industries owing to the presence of vital bioactive compounds and elements. In future, we recommend to isolate active compounds and to perform in vivo biological assays to further validate their potential biological applications