Attenuation of Chemically Induced Diabetes in Rabbits with Herbal Mixture (Citrullus colocynthis and Cicer arietinum)

The present study was carried out to investigate the hypoglycemic potential of herbal mixture (Citrullus Colocynthis and Cicer arietinum) in normal and alloxan induced diabetic rabbits. Hypoglycemic potential was evaluated through curative and preventive modes of treatments. Blood glucose and lipid level was measured in serum of experimental rabbits. Significant (P<0.05) increase was observed in glucose level (466.33+9.07 mg/dl) in diabetic control group after the injection of alloxan (120 mg/kg) as compared to normal group (103.67±4.51 mg/dl). Treatment of diabetic rabbits with herbal mixtures at the dose of 150 mg/kg for three weeks significantly decreased (126±9.17 mg/dl) glucose level of the alloxan induced. The oral administration of herbal mixture in curative and preventive groups showed significant reduction in plasma glucose, and low density lipoprotein (LDL), total cholesterol levels, and significant (P<0.05) increased was observed in the level of high density lipoprotein (HDL). The phytochemical studies revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins and steroids in herbal mixture. The results of this study indicated that antidiabetic potential of herbal mixture (Citrullus Colocynthis and Cicer arietinum) may be due to presence of bioactive phytochemical constituents. It can be concluded that herbal mixture has strong hypoglycemic and antilipidemic potential which is comparable with standard drug

Credit risk management: A comparative study of Islamic banks and conventional banks in Pakistan

Purpose - This study aims to examine and compare the credit risk management (CRM) scenario of Islamic banks (IBs) and conventional banks (CBs) in Pakistan, keeping in view the phenomenal growth of Islamic banking and its future implications. Design/methodology/approach - A sample of five CBs and four IBs was chosen out of the whole banking industry for the study. Secondary data obtained from the banks’ annual financial reports for 13 years, starting from 2004 to 2016, were analyzed. Multiple regression, correlation and descriptive analysis were used in the examination of the data. Findings - The results show that loan quality (LQ) has a positive and significant impact on CRM for both IBs and CBs. Asset quality (AQ), on the other hand, has a negative impact on CRM in the case of IBs, but has a significantly positive relation with CRM in the case of CBs. The impact of 16 ratios measuring LQ and AQ have also been individually checked on CRM, by making use of a regression model using a dummy variable of financial crises for robust comparison among CBs and IBs. The model proved significant, and CRM performance of IBs was observed to be better than that of CBs. Moreover, the mean average value of financial ratios used as a measuring tool for these variables shows that the CRM performance of IBs operating in Pakistan was better than that of CBs over the period of the study. Practical implications - The research findings are expected to facilitate bankers, investors, academics and policy makers to build a better understanding of CRM practices as adopted by CBs and IBs. The findings would be useful in formulating policy measures for the progress of the banking industry in Pakistan. Originality/value - This research is unique in terms of its approach toward analyzing and comparing CRM performance of CBs and IBs. Such work has not been carried out before in the Pakistani banking industry

Optimization of process parameters by response surface methodology to develop a more bioefficacious nanosuspension of Silybum marianum seed extract

Purpose: To develop a nanosuspension drug delivery system to enhance the dissolution rate of Silybum marianum seeds extract. Methods: Central composite design was used to study the effect of the input variables (stabilizer to plant extract ratio, antisolvent to solvent ratio, stirring time) on the dependent variables (mean particle size, polydispersity index (PDI) and zeta potential). The optimized formulation was characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Fourier Transformed Infrared Microscopy (FT-IR) and in vitro dissolution testing. Results: The optimized nanosuspension with mean particle size of 137 nm, PDI of 0.327 and zeta potential of -37 mV was obtained. SEM studies revealed irregular shaped particles. AFM studies showed nanosized particles with good surface characteristics. The optimized formulation showed faster dissolution rate than coarse suspension. Conclusion: Results suggested that nanosuspension has remarkable potential for enhancement of the dissolution properties of poorly soluble S. marianum seed extract. Keywords: Silybum marianum; Nanosuspension; Optimization; Dissolution rat

Response of Apple Cultivars to Graft Take Success on Apple Rootstock

An experiment entitled "Response of apple cultivars to graft take success on apple rootstocks" was conducted at Agricultural Research Station (North), Mingora Swat, Pakistan in 2012. Scion wood of five apple cultivars (Royal gala, Mondial gala, Treco gala, Gala must and Spartan) were bench grafted on rootstocks MM-111, 106, M-9,26 and Crabapple. Increase in graft take success (91.10%), plant height (107.97 cm), scion diameter (9.38 mm), number of leaves plant-1 (116.57) were noted in cultivar Gala must with rootstock Crab apple. Since Crab apple rootstock and cultivar Gala must interaction showed significant result among most of the parameters observed hence for increased graft take success and resultant growth Cultivar Gala must with rootstock Crab apple recommended. Keywords: Graft success, Rootstocks, Scion diameter, Rootstock

Sensitivity Study on Availability of I&C Components Using Bayesian Network

The objective of this study is to find out the impact of instrumentation and control (I&C) components on the availability of I&C systems in terms of sensitivity analysis using Bayesian network. The analysis has been performed on I&C architecture of reactor protection system. The analysis results would be applied to develop I&C architecture which will meet the desire reliability features and save cost. RPS architecture unavailability P(x=0) and availability P(x=1) were estimated to 6.1276E-05 and 9.9994E-01 for failure (0) and perfect (1) states, respectively. The impact of I&C components on overall system risk has been studied in terms of risk achievement worth (RAW) and risk reduction worth (RRW). It is found that circuit breaker failure (TCB), bi-stable processor (BP), sensor transmitter (TR), and pressure transmitter (PT) have high impact on risk. The study concludes and recommends that circuit breaker bi-stable processor should be given more consideration while designing I&C architecture

On heat transfer in Carreau fluid flow with thermal slip : An artificial intelligence (AI) based decisions integrated with lie symmetry

It is well accepted that non-Newtonian fluid flow narrating differential systems with thermal slip conditions at the surface plays an important role in instabilities subject to polymer extrusion like stick–slip and gross-melt-fracture instabilities. Therefore, the present article contains the artificial neural networking evaluation of the friction at magnetized porous surface having thermal and velocity slip boundary conditions. The Carrea fluid flow is mathematically formulated at a porous surface. The novelty is enhanced by considering velocity slip boundary condition, thermal slip boundary condition, chemical reaction, magnetic field, and heat generation effects. The flow differential equations are reduced by using Lie symmetry analysis. The reduced equations are solved by using the shooting method. The neural networking model is constructed by engaging 132 values of SFC. 92 (70%) is marked for training, and 20 (15%) each is marked for validation and testing. 10 number of neurons are chosen in the hidden layer. Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm is carried out to train the network. The performance of the constructed neural networking model is evaluated by MSE and R. The developed ANN is the best to predict the friction values at the magnetized porous plate. Owning to predicted values of ANN, SFC shows inciting values towards the magnetic field parameter

Factors Affecting Performance of Primary Schools Teachers in Terrorism Affected Areas: A Case of District Swat

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors that affect the performance of primary school teachers in terrorism affected areas. The main objective of the study was to measure and summarize the perceptions of teachers themselves about the factors that affect teachers&rsquo; performance in terrorism affected areas. The study was descriptive in nature. All the primary school teachers in district Swat constituted the population of the study. Hundred teachers, fifty male and fifty female were randomly selected. In this study five factors were identified. The first factor focuses on the financial position of teachers in terrorism affected areas. The second factor focuses on the environment of schools. The third factor discusses the parents&rsquo; cooperation during the terrorism. The fourth factor focuses on the security of schools and teachers and the fifth factor focuses on the psychological effect of terrorism on the performance of teachers. A self-developed closed ended questionnaire on five point rating scale was developed, and collected data regarding the five factors, financial resources of teachers, physical environment of school, security, parents involvement in teaching and learning process, psychological effects of terrorism on teachers. The collected data were tabulated, analyzed and interpreted by using statistical techniques as percentage of the responses .The main findings of the study were that mostly teachers faced the economic challenges in terrorism affected areas. Financial resources of teachers were destroyed. Salaries were delaed. Side businesses were destroyed. Continuous attacks on school affected the learning ability of students that affected the performance of teachers. Mostly parents became IDPs and the remaining did not take interest in the education of children. Teachers were not safe in school neither security was provided to teachers. Due to fear of attacks on school the teachers gave less time to teaching. Anxiety and emotional complained of teachers increased. There was no significant differences in the opinion of male and female teachers. It was recommended that the government should provide security to teachers, parents and schools. So that to reduce the depression and anxiety of teachers. The government should support the teachers financially.&nbsp

Deep hybrid model for maternal health risk classification in pregnancy: synergy of ANN and random forest

IntroductionMaternal health is a critical aspect of public health that affects the wellbeing of both mothers and infants. Despite medical advancements, maternal mortality rates remain high, particularly in developing countries. AI-based models provide new ways to analyze and interpret medical data, which can ultimately improve maternal and fetal health outcomes.MethodsThis study proposes a deep hybrid model for maternal health risk classification in pregnancy, which utilizes the strengths of artificial neural networks (ANN) and random forest (RF) algorithms. The proposed model combines the two algorithms to improve the accuracy and efficiency of risk classification in pregnant women. The dataset used in this study consists of features such as age, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, blood sugar, body temperature, and heart rate. The dataset is divided into training and testing sets, with 75% of the data used for training and 25% used for testing. The output of the ANN and RF classifier is considered, and a maximum probability voting system selects the output with the highest probability as the most correct.ResultsPerformance is evaluated using various metrics, such as accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score. Results showed that the proposed model achieves 95% accuracy, 97% precision, 97% recall, and an F1 score of 0.97 on the testing dataset.DiscussionThe deep hybrid model proposed in this study has the potential to improve the accuracy and efficiency of maternal health risk classification in pregnancy, leading to better health outcomes for pregnant women and their babies. Future research could explore the generalizability of this model to other populations, incorporate unstructured medical data, and evaluate its feasibility for clinical use

Cardioprotective Potential of Polyphenolic Rich Green Combination in Catecholamine Induced Myocardial Necrosis in Rabbits

The present study was designed to develop safer, effective, and viable cardioprotective herbal combination to control oxidative stress related cardiac ailments as new alternatives to synthetic drugs. The synergetic cardioprotective potential of herbal combination of four plants T. arjuna (T.A.), P. nigrum (P.N), C. grandiflorus (C), and C. oxyacantha (Cr) was assessed through curative and preventive mode of treatment. In preventive mode of treatment, the cardiac injury was induced with synthetic catecholamine (salbutamol) to pretreated rabbits with the proposed herbal combination for three weeks. In curative mode of treatment, cardiotoxicity/oxidative stress was induced in rabbits with salbutamol prior to treating them with plant mixture. Cardiac marker enzymes, lipids profile, and antioxidant enzymes as biomarker of cardiotoxicity were determined in experimental animals. Rabbits administrated with mere salbutamol showed a significant increase in cardiac marker enzymes and lipid profile and decrease in antioxidant enzymes as compared to normal control indicating cardiotoxicity and myocardial cell necrosis. However, pre-and postadministration of plant mixture appreciably restored the levels of all biomarkers. Histopathological examination confirmed that the said combination was safer cardioprotective product