Short communication: Dieback of rose caused by Acremonium sclerotigenum as a new causal agent of rose dieback in Iran

Severe dieback of rose has been recently observed in several rose greenhouses in Fars province of Iran. During 2014 and 2015, stems of rose plants showing yellow to brown discoloration and dieback were collected from rose greenhouses. Coniothyrium fuckelii, Botrytis cinerea and Acremonium were subsequently isolated from the margin between healthy and symptomatic tissue. B. cinerea and C. fuckelii isolates were similar to those previously reported for dieback of rose worldwide. Morphological and cultural characters along with molecular analysis based on partial sequences of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the ribosomal RNA genome allowed confirming the affiliation of the Acremonium isolates, corresponding to A. sclerotigenum as a new causal agent of rose dieback. To determine its pathogenicity on rose, Koch's postulates were fulfilled by stem inoculation of nine rose cultivars under greenhouse conditions. While A. sclerotigenum is considered as a soil-born pathogen, and produces sclerotia that are resistant to adverse conditions enables the fungus to survive extended period in soil, propagule trapping in our study revealed that conidia can become airborn, imply that an aerial phase, forms an important component of the disease cycle

The Relationship Between QT Interval and Intra-Hospital Mortality in patients with Spontaneous Intracranial Hemorrhage

Introduction: Repolarization abnormalities such as prolongation of QT interval and changes in ST segment and T wave are the most usual electrocardiogram (ECG) changes in patients with intracranial hemorrhage (ICH). It has recently been recommended that prolonged QTc interval raises the risk of death due to malignant ventricular arrhythmias or sudden cardiac death. Objective: The goal of this study was to evaluate the relationship between QT interval and death in patients with ICH. Method: This cross-sectional study was performed on patients with ICH who referred during 2015-2017 to Poursina Hospital, Rasht, Iran. The QT interval was manually measured based on the BAZETT formula. Max QT and Max QTc and QT dispersion were the variables evaluated by the ECG of the patients. The outcome under the study was the death or survival of patients during hospitalization. Results: Finally, 466 cases with the mean age of 69±12 years were studied of whom 68.7% were male. The average QT-Max interval was 350.4±56.5 milliseconds, and the average QTc-Max was 583.6±57.6 msec. Totally, 22.7% of the patients died. There was a significant statistical relationship between QTc-MAX and death (p=0.001). However, there was no statistically significant relationship between QT-MAX and the outcome (p=0.593). Conclusion: It is likely that, prolonged QT interval is correlated with in-hospital mortality of patients with ICH. Therefore, it can be expected that assessing ECG abnormalities, especially prolonged QTc could be valuable in these patients

Towards effective management protocols: A transnational review of the state-of-the-art of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has proliferated rapidly in Pakistan, adversely affecting every province. The grave repercussions that the pandemic has elicited in Pakistan have evoked a dire need for drastic measures to be employed at both the governmental and provincial levels. Due to the inequitable appropriation of healthcare resources with respect to the various provinces, however, a stark contrast in terms of morbidity and mortality persists. Furthermore, considering that Pakistani citizens constitute a noteworthy proportion of expatriates residing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the close proximity of the two countries, due consideration of the situation in the UAE is also warranted. We present a transnational review to delineate the current state-of-the-art in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates and evaluate pragmatic management protocols that remain at the epicenter of a national healthcare conundrum

Electrochemical determination of amaranth in food samples by using modified electrode

In this paper, a new electrochemical sensor was reported for the determination of amaranth in drink soft. In this sensor, activated carbon-Co3O4 nanocomposite (AC-Co3O4) was employ­ed as electrode modifying material. High pores of the activated carbon favour an access of aramanth nolecules within the pores of the working electrode surface, and allow fast electron transfer that is beneficial for the electrochemical detecion process. Thus, the electrochemical signal is obviously enhanced at AC-Co3O4 modified electrode compared to bare carbon paste electrode, and exhibited a wide linear response ranging from 0.1-215 mM with a low detection limit of 10.0 nM (based on 3Sb/m). This work offers a new route in developing new electro­chemical sensors for the determination of collorant additives and other hazard components in drink soft

Electrochemical detection of folic acid using a modified screen printed electrode

In this work, an electrochemical sensor was established for the detection of folic acid based on Ni-BTC (BTC = benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylic acid) metal-organic framework (MOF) modified screen-printed electrode (SPE). Electrochemical techniques (cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and chrono­ampere­metry (CHA) were used for the detection of folic acid at Ni-BTC MOF modified SPE. The results indicate that the as-prepared sensor has a good electrocatalytic effect on the detection of folic acid. This electrochemical sensor showed a dynamic linear response range from 0.08 to 635.0 µM and the detection limit was estimated to be 0.03±0.001 µM. Moreover, the feasibility of Ni-BTC MOF/SPE sensor to detect folic acid in real samples was also evaluated by the standard addition method

Continuous Education of Basic Life Support (BLS) through Social Media; a Quasi-Experimental Study

Introduction: It is imperative, if not fundamental, for medical students to receive continuing education in Basic life support (BLS). This present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of continuing education using social media in this regard. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, a questionnaire containing 20 items about BLS awareness was completed by the interns who were trained monthly in the emergency medicine training course. Then half of the interns received distant education through Telegram software up to three months, and the other did not receive any further education. Again, both groups completed the questionnaire at the end of the third month. Results: 100 medical interns with the mean age of 25.05 ± 1.26 years were allocated to two groups of 50 subjects (65.0% female). Two groups were similar regarding the mean age (p = 0.304), gender (p = 0.529), mean awareness score at the beginning of the study (p = 0.916), and average pre-internship exam score (p = 0.080). The mean awareness score of medical interns increased significantly in intervention (11.44 ± 2.37 to 14.88 ± 1.97, p < 0.0001) and control (11.38 ± 3.22 to 12.54 ± 3.04, p < 0.0001) groups at second examination. But mean difference of awareness score, before and after the education, was significantly higher in intervention group (3.44 ± 1.48 versus 1.16 ± 1.51; p < 0.0001). Conclusion: The increase in the BLS awareness score was significantly higher in medical interns who were continuously educated using Telegram social media software. Â

The Effect of Energy Drink on Histomorphological Changes in Skeletal Muscles of Wistar Albino Rats

Objective: To observe the histomorphological alterations induced by consumption of energy drinks on skeletal muscles of Albino rats. Study Design:An experimental study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted by the Department of Anatomy in collaboration with the animal house of Liaquat national hospital and medical college (LNH&MC), Karachi from November 2 to December 1 2020. Materials and Methods: For the study, 30 adult male Wistar Albino rats weighing between 140 and 200 grammes were allocated evenly into 3 groups. Group A served as control, kept on a regular laboratory diet. Group B served as a low dose treated group receiving energy drink at a dose of 7.5ml/day while group C received a high dose of drink i-e 15ml/day via gastric tube. All the animals were sacrificed following completion of the experimental period and were subjected to microscopic examination for histo-morphological study. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 25. Results: The Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) stained sections revealed significant structural and parenchymal damage in skeletal muscle tissue. The regular parallel arrangement of skeletal muscle fibers was lost with the disappearance of nuclei. Dilated and congested blood vessels were observed in the treated tissues. Infiltration of mononuclear cells was also observed suggesting the inflammatory changes in the tissues of animals treated with caffeinated beverages in the present study. Conclusion: The consumption of energy drinks produces a significant histo-morphological alteration in the skeletal muscles of Wistar Albino rat

THERAPEUTIC DRUG MONITORING OF BROAD SPECTRUM ANTIFUNGAL, VORICONAZOLE- A REVIEW

Voriconazole is a broad-spectrum antifungal drug. It belongs to triazole group, and is available in market as oral as well as intravenous (IV) forms. It is highly effective against a number of clinically important fungi causing invasive infections. Its pharmacokinetic profile is non-linear with extensive inter-individual and intra-individual variability. Various factors contribute towards this variability including age, race, gender, genotype, hepatic functions, administration with or without food, and concomitant administration of other drugs causing drug interactions. Variability in plasma concentrations of the drug, arising from these factors, may result in variations in efficacy of the drug or may contribute towards potential toxicity. Voriconazole therapeutic drug monitoring is mandatory considering bad prognosis of patients suffering from invasive fungal infections, especially ones who are immunosuppressed, and prolonged period of treatment needed, in order to optimize antifungal treatment and to prevent the adverse events.&nbsp

A genetic toolbox for metabolic engineering of Issatchenkia orientalis

The nonconventional yeast Issatchenkia orientalis can grow under highly acidic conditions and has been explored for production of various organic acids. However, its broader application is hampered by the lack of efficient genetic tools to enable sophisticated metabolic manipulations. We recently constructed an episomal plasmid based on the autonomously replicating sequence (ARS) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (ScARS) in I. orientalis and developed a CRISPR/Cas9 system for multiplex gene deletions. Here we report three additional genetic tools including: (1) identification of a 0.8 kb centromere-like (CEN-L) sequence from the I. orientalis genome by using bioinformatics and functional screening; (2) discovery and characterization of a set of constitutive promoters and terminators under different culture conditions by using RNA-Seq analysis and a fluorescent reporter; and (3) development of a rapid and efficient in vivo DNA assembly method in I. orientalis, which exhibited ∼100% fidelity when assembling a 7 kb-plasmid from seven DNA fragments ranging from 0.7 kb to 1.7 kb. As proof of concept, we used these genetic tools to rapidly construct a functional xylose utilization pathway in I. orientalis