Anticipated Intergroup Anxiety & Misattribution of Arousal

The current research attempted to link misattribution of arousal with intergroup anxiety. Specifically, we linked the presence of (i.e., or lack thereof) of sound– a clear misattribute participants can blame their intergroup anxiety on– to anticipating intergroup contact by manipulating the randomly assigned interaction partner and misattribution of arousal sound condition participants were in. Participants viewed a confederate’s name and picture on a screen and anticipated an interaction. Participants’ intercultural interaction comfort was measured as well as their anxiety levels and Stroop task performance. A two-way ANOVA revealed that there was not a statistically significant interaction between the effects of interaction partner and misattribution condition for Stroop scores, although there was a statistically significant interaction between the effects of interaction partner and misattribution condition for state anxiety. Our findings suggest that anticipating intercultural interactions may not deplete attention span and executive control loss as actual intercultural interactions might, particularly for those with moderate to high intercultural interaction comfort

EVALUATION OF ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF ANAEROBIC DIGESTATE AND ITS EFFECT ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF MAIZE

Pakistan is an agricultural country. The increased population leads to increasing demand for food. Unfortunately, crops are infected by different microbes and nutrient deficiency of soil adversely affects the yield of the crop. Furthermore, the use of chemical fertilizers like Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium (NPK), Urea, Diammonium phosphate (DAP) and pesticides have environmental consequences. Therefore, so there is need to find alternative renewable and sustainable biofertilizers

Biosynthesis of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate by Rhodococcus pyridinivorans using unrelated carbon sources

Background: Polyhydroxyalkanoates are intracellular polymers comparable to synthetic plastic in their thermostable and elastomeric properties. PHAs are produced by bacteria under various nutrient – nitrogen – stress conditions.Methods: Bacteria were isolated from hot water springs of Tatta Pani Kashmir and Karachi Mangrove forest Pakistan. Polyhydroxyalkanoate detection agar was used to isolates PHA producing bacteria and several carbon sources such as glucose, glycerol and palmitic acid were used for relative biomass and biopolymer productions. PHA was extracted by solvent extraction method using sodium hypochlorite and chloroform. Extracted polymer was characterized by Fourier transfer infrared spectroscopy (FTIR).Results: Rhodococcus pyridinivorans NK19 (KY703220) produced up to 60% PHA with glucose, 40% with palmitic acid and 58% with glycerol as carbon sources. FTIR spectrum confirmed the polymer produced as poly -3, hydroxybutyrate. A peak at 1720 cm -1 of FTIR confirmed the presence of PHB monomers in the polymer extracted.Conclusion: Rhodococcus pyridinivorans NK19 produced short chain length PHA interchangeably known as P3HB while utilizing unrelated carbon sources up to 60%.   Keywords: Glycerol; Fatty acids degrading bacteria; FTIR; Palmitic aci

Actinomycosis osteomyelitis of the mandible in a 71-year-old patient: A Case Report

We herein present the treatment of an actinomycosis osteomyelitis case. A 71-year-old female with a dental history of multiple tooth extractions two years prior who subsequently developed chronic osteomyelitis. Previous treatment included 10 sessions of hyperbaric oxygen and pentoxifylline tocopherol protocol as well as debridement of the lesion that had resulted in a subsequent midline pathological fracture of the mandible. The fracture was treated by intra-bony wiring. The clinical extra-oral presentation was that of severe pain, recurrent swelling of the submandibular areas bilaterally and draining fistulae. Our treatment included antibiotic therapy: guided by Microscopy Culture and Sensitivity and a segmental mandibulectomy with the placement of a reconstruction plate. The outcome of the therapeutic management was successful. Histopathology results confirmed chronic osteomyelitis with bacterial colonies in keeping with actinomycosis. At the six-week post-operative appointment, the patient was healing well

Limits to tolerance: Tribal social order versus human rights

In a globalized world, there are clear differences in ideologies that are usually not spelled out. The paper follows the approach prescribed by Ben David’s “Victim’s Victimology” (2000) and applies a classical approach to ideologies in social sciences by W.B. Miller (1973). The main subject of this paper is the difference between local order ideology and human rights ideology. The aim is to show that formal social control is determined or influenced by these different ideologies. The authors analyze four cases of victimization of women in different social settings , in Sudan (2012), Canada (2012), India (1985) and in Pakistan (2002). In all these cases the local order ideology clashes with a human rights ideology. Limits to tolerance must be clear

Back Pain: A Spectral Clustering Approach

We used a spectral clustering algorithm to find clusters among medical patients with lower back pain symptoms, and then we assessed the health outcomes within each cluster. First, we mapped all of the variables onto [0,1] intervals. This allowed us to compute a similarity score between every pair of patients, using an adaptation of Pearson correlation. We then calculated the spectral (eigen) decomposition of this similarity matrix, and we used the first few eigenvectors to create a low-dimensional subspace. Finally, we performed k–means clustering in this new subspace to find four clusters. We compared the cluster means and variances for each recovery assessment variable to differentiate the health outcomes for each cluster. Lastly, we highlighted the identifying symptoms of each patient cluster by inspecting any variable whose within–cluster average is extraordinarily low or high, relative to the other clusters

vitro effects of protienaceous alpha amylase inhibitors on red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum

ABSTRACT This paper presents evidence for the occurrence of proteinaceous inhibitors isolated from Chick pea (Cicer arietinum), Kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), Maize seeds (Zea mays), Wheat (Triticum aestivum) and Millet (Pennisetum typhoides). These seeds inhibitors exhibited inhibitory activity against alpha amylase from red flour beetle, T. castaneum. Out of five tested seed samples Wheat, Maize and Kidney bean inhibitors exhibited much inhibitory activity against α amylase from T. castaneum. It is of clinical significance that these seeds did not inhibit human saliva α amylase activity

Using item analysis on essay types questions given in summative examination of medical college students: facility value, discrimination index

Background:The most common tool used for assessment of knowledge is the essay questions. Their evaluations depend upon test and item analysis which is consisting of analysis of individual questions and analysis of the whole test. The objective of our study was to calculate the Item analysis (Facility value, FV and discrimination index, DI) of questions given in terminal examination of MBBS students and observes the adequacy of questions framing in examination.Methods:Study contains 150 medical students undergone terminal examination consist of  questions of essay type, structured essay type and short answer questions were given to the students. We divide them into high ability group and low ability group. Mark range was decided for essay type, structured essay type and short answer type questions and FV & DI was calculated.Results:Studies described that facility values of 62.5 percentage questions were come under recommended & acceptable range and 50 percentage questions were come under acceptable range. Discrimination value of 100 percentage questions were come under recommended & acceptable range where 75 percentage questions were come under acceptable range.Conclusion:The importance of item analysis is highlighted from our results. For improvement of examination items with average difficulty and high discrimination should be implemented into future examinations to improve test scores and properly discriminate among the students.

Fishery Status and Taxonomy of the Carangids (Pisces) in the Northern Arabian Sea Coast of Pakistan

The objectives of this study were i) to evaluate number of existing members of the family Carangidae in the area ii) to establish a distinguishable and lucid key based on the taxonomic characteristics, meristic count and otolith description. In this study, thirty-six species were collected from the main fish landing facilities between 2012~2015. Fish body colour, taxonomic characteristics, fin rays and otolith shape description were used to identify each species. Otolith description comprises of shape of ostium, sulcus and margins of anterior and posterior surface along with distinct definite shape possess by each species make it easier for identification