Biosafety risk assessment approaches for insect-resistant genetically modified crops

Background: Environmental risk assessment (ERA) is imperative for commercial release of insect resistant, genetically modified crops (IR-GMCs).An insect specific, spider venom peptideω-HXTX-Hv1a (Hvt) was successfully expressed in cotton plants. The cotton plants producing Hvt protein have demonstrated resistance against economically important insect pest species. The study was performed to assess the effects of Hvt producing cotton plants on Honey bees (Apis mellifera).Methods: Three approaches were used to evaluate the effects of Hvt protein on adults of honeybees; whole plant assays in flight cages, in vitro assays with pollen of Hvt-cotton, and assays with elevated levels of purified Hvt protein. Pollens of Bt cotton or purified Bt proteins were used as control.Results: The field experiments did not yield any meaningful data due to high rate of mortality in all treatments including the control. However, the laboratory experiments provided conclusive results in which Hvt, purified or in pollens, did not affect the survival or longevity of the bees compared to the control. During the course of study we were able to compare the quality, effectiveness and economics of different experiments. Conclusions: We conclude that Hvt either purified or produced in cotton plants do not affect the survival or longevity of honey bees. We are also of the view that starting at laboratory level assays not only gives meaningful data but also saves a lot of time and money that can be spent on other important questions regarding safety of a particular transgenic crop. Hence, a purpose-based, tiered approach could be the best choice for pre-release ERA of IR-GMCs.

THYROIDISM EFFECT ON ALOPECIA PATIENTS IN PAKISTAN

TSH is a hormone that is secreted by the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland and stimulates the secretions of the thyroid gland. Its secretions are controlled by the TSH-R on the epithelial cells of the thyroid gland. It controls the production of the thyroxin hormone from the thyroid gland that is involved in the production of heat and energy. But the excessive amount of this hormone leads to the hair fall in some of the peoples. Hyperthyroidism correlates with the human skin and hair structure and its function. In the case of hyperthyroidism hair bulb cell proliferation increases and hence hair fall rate also increases. While in the case of hypothyroidism the bulb cell proliferation reduces and so, hair fall increases. Samples from different regions of the south Punjab were taken that were analyzed by the special chemistry analyzer (minividas). The concentrations of the T4, T3, and TSH were measured. Some of the alopecia patients were recorded high-level TSH. The patients were treated with thyroxin tablets that reduce TSH level. After that, the patients are also treated with hair fin tab, folli one shampoo, wistin tab, and multivitamins. Now the patients were observed with a microscope. The growth of hair follicles and hairs was recorded. Hence, the thyroxin tab uses to decrease the TSH level in the body for 1 month. Hair fin tab, folli one shampoo, wistin tab, and multivitamins are the best treatment methods for the growth of hairs in alopecia patients

CORELATION OF HIV WITH PROSTITUTION IN PUNJAB

Introduction: HIV belongs to the genus lentivirus within the family of retroviridae and subfamily orthoretrovirinae.  In 2017, 1.8 million people were infected with AIDSand 940,000 died due to this serious disease. HIV found in semen, blood, vaginal and anal fluids, breast milk. It is mainly passes on through unprotected sex, sharing needles or syringes and pregnancy during birth and also passed from one person to other person through this route. Methodology: The HIV patient’s blood sample collected in vial, serological test and HIV Elisa test performed on Elisa plate Reader. Results: The results shows that 35 (70.00%) out of 50 patients were HIV Elisa positive while15 individuals were HIV Elisa negative. The maximum no of patients were observed in age 45 and 55, minimum no. of patients were found in both age 63 and 25. Conclusion: These positive tests suggests that the spread of the HIV is due to the unsafe sex or oral sex. Sex may be randomly with HIV effected patients or they do sex without the use of condom. Other main reasons that are responsible for the transmission of HIV includes common use of syringes either by the doctors or by the drug addicted patients that usually share common syringes

Convective Heat Transfer Study of ZnO Nanofluids and a Comparison with the Conventional Coolant Water

In this era, the utilization of automobiles is increasing rapidly. So, it is a task for the automobile industries to yield well-ordered cooling system, which is actually responsible to carry waste heat of engine to atmosphere for effective working of an internal combustion engines. In this research, car radiator was tested by the water based Nano fluids to increase its heat transfer capacity and new experimental results were reported. Zinc Oxide nanofluids were prepared and tested by adding their nanoparticles in water with different volume fractions (0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4)%. Experimentally, effect of these concentrations were observed by varying a fluid flow rate from 4 liter per minute to 1 liter per minute and inlet temperature of fluid entering in radiator was kept constant at 80oC and enhancement in heat transfer was observed  from 46% to 70% by using ZnO Nano Fluid having volumetric concentration 0.2%. Increase in volumetric concentration had shown the enhancement of heat transfer but up to 0.2% and it was seen that further increase in concentration was been reduced the heat transfer capacity.

Factors Associated with Catch‐Up Growth in Early Infancy in Rural Pakistan: A Longitudinal Analysis of the Women's Work and Nutrition Study

The adverse health impacts of early infant stunting can be partially ameliorated by early catch‐up growth. Few studies have examined predictors of and barriers to catch‐up growth to identify intervention points for improving linear growth during infancy. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of, and factors associated with, catch‐up growth among infants in Pakistan. A longitudinal study of mother–infant dyads (n = 1,161) was conducted in rural Sindh province, with enrolment between December 2015 and February 2016 (infants aged 0.5–3 months), and follow‐up (n = 1035) between November 2016 and January 2017 (infants aged 9–15 months). The outcome was catch‐up growth (change in conditional length‐for‐age z‐scores >0.67 between baseline and endline). Associated factors were examined using multivariable logistic regression analyses. The prevalence of stunting was 45.3% at baseline and 60.7% at follow‐up. 22.8% of infants exhibited catch‐up growth over this period. Factors positively associated with catch‐up growth included maternal height (odds ratio (OR) = 1.08 [1.05–1.11]), household wealth (OR = 3.61 [1.90–6.84]), maternal (OR = 2.43 [1.30–4.56]) or paternal (OR = 1.46 [1.05–2.03]) education, and households with two or more adult females (OR = 1.91 [1.26–2.88]). Factors negatively associated with catch‐up growth were two (OR = 0.64 [0.45–0.89]) or three or more (OR = 0.44 [0.29–0.66]) preschool children in the household and the infant being currently breastfed (OR = 0.59 [0.41–0.88]). Catch‐up growth was exhibited among approximately a quarter of infants despite living in challenging environments associated with extremely high rates of early infant stunting. Several modifiable factors were identified that might represent suitable programme intervention points to off‐set early infant stunting in rural Pakistan

The Potential Impact of Climate Extremes on Cotton and Wheat Crops in Southern Punjab, Pakistan

The assessment of climate extremes’ impact on crop yield is essential to improve our understanding of agricultural resilience. In the present study, we analyzed the potential impact of climate extremes on wheat and cotton production in Southern Punjab, Pakistan using 30-year observed data from the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) and the fifth-generation reanalysis data (ERA-5) from the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Cotton is a Kharif season crop that is sown in May and harvested in October, and wheat is a Rabi season crop that is planted in November and harvested in April. The agricultural data (1985–2015) that contained the crop area and crop yield were obtained from the Bureau of Statistics, Punjab for six selected districts in Southern Punjab. Three precipitation indices, namely consecutive dry days (CDD), consecutive wet days (CWD) and total precipitation of wet days (PRCPTOT), and four temperature indices, namely warm days (TX90p), warm nights (TN90p), cool days (TX10p) and cool nights (TN10p), were selected to analyze the potential impacts of climate extremes on crop production. (1) We found a potential association of TX10p, TN10p, TX90p and TN90p with crop yield in those years for which the production area remained the same. (2) In a few districts of the study area, the wheat yield losses in the Rabi season were associated with an increase in warmer days and warmer nights. (3) The grain size was suppressed due to an increase in the frequency of TX90p and TN90p, which ultimately reduced the net crop production. (4) In some districts, we found strong positive correlations between extreme temperature indices and crop yield; however, other potential factors such as the use of advanced technology, fertilizer, seeds, etc., may lead to improved net production. This study can help in adaptation planning for resilient agricultural production under the stress of climate extreme events in Southern Punjab

Introduction of channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus (Rafinesque) in Pakistan and its performance during acclimatization and pond culture.

Abstract.-Two thousand fingerlings of channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus were imported from Thailand in a bid to introduce this fish in Pakistan. Five percent mortality occurred during transportation. Experiments were designed to observe catfish acclimatization in tanks or raceways for which five hundred fingerlings (average weight 10.86±1.20g) were placed in five tanks of 2000-liter water capacity and another 500 fingerlings (average weight, 10.56±0.68g) were kept in five raceways of 5000-liter water capacity each. The fish were fed on imported diet for a period of 75 days. Mean weight gain of 27.22±1.75 g and 31.5±1.04 g and surv~7.5% and 95.9% were recorded in tanks and raceways, respectively. For studying growth of fish two stocking densities (3,000 and 3,500/ha) were maintained in ponds (0.04 ha) from December 2003 -November 2004. The weight gain was significantly higher in low stocking density (1,263.3 ± 60.9 g) compared with high stocking density (1,184.9±57.1 g). Fish production and survival between two stocking densities was not different (P>0.05)

Maternal BMI mediates the impact of crop-related agricultural work during pregnancy on infant length in rural Pakistan: a mediation analysis of cross-sectional data.

BACKGROUND: Stunted growth in early infancy is a public health problem in low-and-middle income countries. Evidence suggests heavy agricultural work during pregnancy is inversely associated with maternal body mass index (BMI) and infant birth weight in low- and middle-income countries; but pathways linking agricultural work to length-for-age Z-scores (LAZ) in early infancy have not been examined. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between agricultural work during pregnancy, post-natal maternal BMI and LAZ among young infants in rural Pakistan; and explored whether maternal BMI mediated the relationship between agricultural work and infant LAZ. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from December 2015 to January 2016 in rural Sindh, Pakistan. Mother-infant dyads were recruited via systematic random cluster sampling at 2-12 weeks' post-partum (n = 1161). Anthropometric measurements (maternal and infant height/length and weight) and questionnaire data were collected. Multivariable linear regression and structural-equation based mediation analyses were used to examine associations of agricultural work during pregnancy with maternal BMI and infant LAZ. RESULTS: During pregnancy, women reported engaging in livestock-related work (57.0%), crop-related work (42.7%), and cotton harvesting (28.4%). All three forms of agricultural work were negatively associated with maternal BMI (β = - 0.67 [- 1.06; - 0.28], β = - 0.97 [- 1.51; - 0.48]; and β = - 0.87 [- 1.33; - 0.45], respectively). Maternal engagement in cotton harvesting alone was negatively associated with infant LAZ after controlling for confounding factors. The total negative effect of cotton harvesting on infant LAZ was - 0.35 [- 0.53; - 0.16]. The indirect effect of maternal BMI on infant LAZ was - 0.06 [- 0.08; - 0.03], revealing that 16% (- 0.06/- 0.35) of the relationship between cotton harvesting and infant LAZ, after adjustment, was mediated via maternal BMI. CONCLUSION: These results underscore a need to reduce labour-intensive agricultural workload demands during pregnancy, especially in cotton harvesting, to reduce risks of negative maternal energy balance and poor growth outcomes in early infancy

Maternal BMI mediates the impact of crop-related agricultural work during pregnancy on infant length in rural Pakistan: a mediation analysis of cross-sectional data

Background: Stunted growth in early infancy is a public health problem in low-and-middle income countries. Evidence suggests heavy agricultural work during pregnancy is inversely associated with maternal body mass index (BMI) and infant birth weight in low- and middle-income countries; but pathways linking agricultural work to length-for-age Z-scores (LAZ) in early infancy have not been examined. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between agricultural work during pregnancy, post-natal maternal BMI and LAZ among young infants in rural Pakistan; and explored whether maternal BMI mediated the relationship between agricultural work and infant LAZ.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from December 2015 to January 2016 in rural Sindh, Pakistan. Mother-infant dyads were recruited via systematic random cluster sampling at 2–12 weeks’ post-partum (n = 1161). Anthropometric measurements (maternal and infant height/length and weight) and questionnaire data were collected. Multivariable linear regression and structural-equation based mediation analyses were used to examineassociations of agricultural work during pregnancy with maternal BMI and infant LAZ.Results: During pregnancy, women reported engaging in livestock-related work (57.0%), crop-related work (42.7%), and cotton harvesting (28.4%). All three forms of agricultural work were negatively associated with maternal BMI (β = − 0.67 [− 1.06; − 0.28], β = − 0.97 [− 1.51; − 0.48]; and β = − 0.87 [− 1.33; − 0.45], respectively). Maternal engagement in cotton harvesting alone was negatively associated with infant LAZ after controlling for confounding factors. The total negative effect of cotton harvesting on infant LAZ was − 0.35 [− 0.53; − 0.16]. The indirect effect ofmaternal BMI on infant LAZ was − 0.06 [− 0.08; − 0.03], revealing that 16% (− 0.06/− 0.35) of the relationship between cotton harvesting and infant LAZ, after adjustment, was mediated via maternal BMI.Conclusion: These results underscore a need to reduce labour-intensive agricultural workload demands during pregnancy, especially in cotton harvesting, to reduce risks of negative maternal energy balance and poor growth outcomes in early infancy.</div