Modeling the Role of Maternal Care in the Educational and Health Development of the Children

Mothers play different roles in their family which has an effect on  health and well being of all members of the family specially on children. Almost in all different societies around the world, they have been assigned to be primary care-givers to infants and children. The present study investigates the relationship of maternal care and its effects on the educational performance and health of children in Pakistan from a statistical perspective. The modeling and significance has been established by measures of association and automated linear regression

Serum Anti-Nuclear Antibodies and their patterns on immunofluorescence in patients with joint pain from Lahore, Pakistan

Background: Autoimmunity is the deviation of the immune system from its natural course and evoking a potent inflammatory response against organs or systems of its own body. Anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA) are an important marker for the diagnosis of autoimmune. The incidence of autoimmune diseases is increasing globally due to advancements in civilization, so it becomes crucial to monitor its trends. The current study aimed to determine the prevalence of ANA and its specific pattern in individuals with joint pain.Methods: The duration of this cross-sectional study was 6 months, from December 2018 to May 2019. ANA profiles of 155 subjects were evaluated using the indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) technique.Results: Amongst 155 enrolled subjects 101(65.2%) were females and 54(34.8%) were males. Rheumatoid factor was positive in 61 (39.3%) patients. ANA was found positive in 35 (22.5%) individuals, 5(14.3%) males, and 30(85.7%) females. Homogenous pattern was positive in 25(71.4%), 5(14.3%) fine speckled, 5(14.3%) centromere, and 1(2.8%) presented nuclear dots. The most frequent titer observed was 1/320 in 14(40%) individuals.Conclusion: The homogenous pattern was frequently observed patterns ANA positive subjects. There was also a significant relationship between age group and their patterns. The homogenous pattern was most frequent among the 60-69-year age group

Utilization of indigenously isolated single strain starter cultures for the production of sourdough bread

Sourdoughs were prepared with Saccharomyces cerevisiae (T0) and indigenously isolated starter cultures i.e Lactobacillus brevis (T1), Lactobacillus fermentum (T2) and Lactobacillus plantarum (T3). Breads were prepared from all sourdoughs samples in triplicate and analyzed for pH, Total Titratable Acidity (TTA), loaf volume, microbial characteristics (total plate count and fungal count) and sensory profile (internal and external) in triplicate. The breads prepared from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (T0) exhibited the highest pH with the lowest TTA while T1 showed the lowest pH with the highest TTA. The T0 breads got the highest values for loaf volume followed by T1. The breads produced with the addition of hetero-fermentative starter cultures (T1 and T2) showed resistance against the growth of the contaminating microorganisms. In the sensory evaluation, the breads produced with T1 ranked the best for color (crust and crumb), taste, aroma, texture and overall acceptability by the panelists.Â

Rational Use of Antibiotics and Requisition of Pharmacist

ABSTRACT Background: Direct consequence of microbes developing resistance against antibiotics is prolonged hospitalization, increased treatment cost and duration. Increased duration of hospitalization causes prolonged use antibiotics which results towards side effects. Primary Study Objective: The purpose of antibiotics use is either to kill the microbes (bactericidal) or slows down their growth (bacteriostatic). Irrational use of antibiotics makes them do their exact opposite. Instead of killing microbes or slowing down their growth, it allows microbes to develop resistance against antibiotics. Methods/Design: An observational concurrent study was performed in which data was collected. Individuals were interviewed using structured questionnaire. Percentage of rationality and irrationality of antibiotics use was observed. Additionally percentage of prescribed class of antibiotics was also observed in patients. Setting: Health care system includes: Quaid e Azam International Hospital Islamabad, Benazir Hospital Rawalpindi, CMH Rawalakot AJK, Amna Hospital Rawalakot AJK, DHQ Kotli AJK Pakistan. Participants: This study was conducted on 100 patients of different health care systems, to whom antibiotics were prescribed. Most patients interviewed were female with UTI aged above 30 and adults male with RTI or chest infection. Intervention: Different patients were interviewed in different hospital settings to evaluate the rational use of antibiotics Primary Outcome Measures: Rational use of antibiotics is using antibiotics according to the guidelines provided by WHO. Major guidelines include:  patient receives medication according to their clinical needs, dosage appropriate to the individual requirements and for specific duration of time with low cost. Results: 47 percent of these patients were using antibiotics rationally and 53 percent were taking antibiotics medication irrationally. The most prevalent form of irrational use was patients without counseling about the antibiotics use. Patients with poor knowledge about the use of antibiotics were 84 among the 100. Irrational use of antibiotics in the form of pre-mature discontinuation was reported 56 patients among the 100. Patient who irrationally use antibiotics as OTC or Self medications were 38 among the 100. Conclusion: Major form of irrationality found in the study was no proper counseling provided to the patients by specialist physician or Pharmacists. The reason we critically observed for this is the burden of patients on physicians due to which they are not able to properly guide patients. The community on which this study was conducted has a major absence of pharmacist. Dispensers and pharmacy technicians are performing pharmacist’s tasks. Absence of pharmacist leads to dosage dispensing errors, lack of professional medical counseling, and no drug utilization revie

Enhanced Fractional Adaptive Processing Paradigm for Power Signal Estimation

Fractional calculus tools have been exploited to effectively model variety of engineering, physics and applied sciences problems. The concept of fractional derivative has been incorporated in the optimization process of least mean square (LMS) iterative adaptive method. This study exploits the recently introduced enhanced fractional derivative based LMS (EFDLMS) for parameter estimation of power signal formed by the combination of different sinusoids. The EFDLMS addresses the issue of fractional extreme points and provides faster convergence speed. The performance of EFDLMS is evaluated in detail by taking different levels of noise in the composite sinusoidal signal as well as considering various fractional orders in the EFDLMS. Simulation results reveal that the EDFLMS is faster in convergence speed than the conventional LMS (i.e., EFDLMS for unity fractional order)

Clinical evaluation of patients suffering from breast cancer and determination of evolving treatment therapies and better strategies related to breast cancer

Abstract: Breast cancer is basically the lesion of female breast that may create from the connective tissue or epithelial cells of breast.Primary objective: The objective of study was to conduct a survey about the prevailing of rate of breast cancer in community of Rawalakot, Islamabad and local community and to find out strategies used for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of breast cancer. Methods/Design: A well structure questionnaire including 35 questions about the history, sociodemograhic characteristics, diagnostic tools, treatment plans and prevention methods has been prepared and circulated among the patients of breast cancer through survey. Setting: Study was conducted in Rawalakot and Islamabad Pakistan Participants: 50 participants were involved Intervention: The study was also conducted to communicate with larger community of breast cancer patients and to give them awareness related to initial diagnosis of this harmful disease. Primary Outcome Measures: This study was very very helpful in educated and non-educated community of the specific cities . Results: While conducting the research based on studies, it was found that about 68.84% patients has been report with the reoccurrence of breast cancer after surgery, 70% patients have been diagnosed with invasive type and 30% non-invasive type and 50% have been treated with hormonal therapy as continued treatment after surgery. Conclusion : Breast cancer variation among population or regional differences in the types have been attribute to the prevalence of major risk factors, availability and use of medical practices such as cancer screening, availability and quality of treatment, completeness of reporting and age structure.

Histomorphological changes in gonads of Clupisoma naziri during spring and summer season

Present study was conducted to analyse the effect of breeding and non-breeding seasons on histomorphological changes in gonads of Clupisoma naziri. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and northern Punjab, Pakistan, 43 mature fish of both sexes were gathered from the Indus River and its tributaries. In the non-breeding season (spring), both testis and ovaries went through a preparatory phase, with thick tunica albuginea and fast spermatogenesis in testes and the formation of cortical alveoli or yolk vesicles in the cortex of the cytoplasm in ovaries. The testicular lobules were loaded with spermatozoa and some spermatogenic cells during breeding season (summer), while the ovaries were filled with mature ovarian follicles. The breeding season is marked by spermatozoa leaking freely from testes and ovaries brimming with completely mature eggs. The gonadosomatic (GSI) results are consistent with the histomorphological results of gonads, as their values peak during breeding season and drop during non-breeding season. C. naziri breeds once a year during the summer season, according to the current study, and this information will aid aqua breeders in the culturing of this commercially significant catfish in Pakistan

Extrusion of the Peritoneal Catheter of Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt Through the Rectum

A ventriculoperitoneal shunt is a common procedure for hydrocephalus. It is a life-saving procedure but is not risk-free. Some of the most common complications are shunt blockage and infection but they can also present with uncommon presentations. We report A child who presented with extrusion of a shunt catheter through the rectum. It was treated as an infected shunt. Externalization of the shunt was done through the abdominal site and the exposed shunt was removed through the rectum by gentle traction. Once CSF was clear a new shunt was placed on the opposite side. Keywords:  VP shunt, shunt infection, anal extrusion. Key Message:  Exposure to a shunt catheter through the rectum is an uncommon presentation. It should be treated as an infected shunt. Most of these cases do not cause peritonitis or meningitis. The exposed shunt catheter should be removed through the rectum by gentle traction. Abbreviations:  VP-Ventriculoperitoneal, CSF: Cerebrospinal fluid. ETV -Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy

Climate Smart Crops for Food Security

After ensuring the food security for over 50 years, the green revolution is eventually reaching its biological limits which are very much reflected by the ongoing stagnancy in yield increased over the past few decades. Meeting the increasing food demands due to increasing population is the greatest challenge for today’s plant scientists. Changing climatic conditions are posing additional threats to crop growth, productivity and yield. After successfully deploying gene editing to modify simple traits, scientists are now embarked on more ambitious adventures in genomics to combat challenges of food security in the wake of increasing population and climate change adversaries. The chapter outlines use of new technologies in tailoring crops beyond simple traits aiming to harvest the desired diversity lost during domestication and manipulating complex traits, which evolved over evolutionary timescale with special emphasis on the development of climate smart crops

Effect of slow-release nitrogenous fertilizers on dry matter accumulation, grain nutritional quality, water productivity and wheat yield under an arid environment

Slow release nitrogenous fertilizers can improve crops production and reduce the environmental challenges in agro-ecosystem. There is a need to test the efficiency and performance under arid climatic conditions. The study investigates the effect of slow-release fertilizers (urea, neem coated urea (NCU), sulfur coated urea (SCU) and bioactive sulfur coated urea (BSCU)) on the growth, productivity and grain nutritional qualities of wheat crop. Slow-release fertilizers (SRF) with nitrogen levels (130,117,104 and 94 kg ha−1) were applied with equal splits at sowing, 20 and 60 days after sowing (DAS). Research showed that the BSCU with 130 kg ha−1 increased dry matter accumulation (1989 kg ha−1) after anthesis and grain yield 4463 kg ha−1. The higher plant height (102 cm) was attained by 130 kg N ha−1 SCU while the minimum (77.67 cm) recorded for 94 kg N ha−1 as urea source. Maximum grain NPK concentrations (3.54, 0.66 and 1.07%) were recorded by BSCU 130 kg N ha−1 application. While, the minimum NPK (0.77, 0.19 and 0.35%) were observed by Urea 94 kg N ha−1. The high irrigation water use efficiency (WUE) recorded (20.92 kg ha−1 mm−1) and a crop index of 25.52% by BSCU 130 kg N ha−1 application. Research findings show that generally all SRF but particularly BSCU proved effective and can be recommended for wheat crop under arid environmen