Evaluation of Introgressed Lines of Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) under Contrasting Water Treatments

Drought stress is a major production constraint in crops globally. Crop wild relatives are important sources of resistance and tolerance for both biotic and abiotic stresses, respectively. A breeding program was initiated to introgress drought tolerance in sunflowers through hybridization between the wild species Helianthus argophyllus and the cultivated pool of H. annuus. Selection was carried out from the F2 to F5 segregating populations for the silver canopy, high cuticular wax, small leaf area, single heading and high oil content. Cuticular wax ranged between 8.72 µg g−1 and 17.19 µg g−1 in the F5 offspring. The selected F5 breeding lines were self-pollinated to obtain the F6 generation. Thereafter, this F6 was compared with the non-adapted elite sunflower germplasm in a factorial complete randomized design with different water treatments; i.e., comparing fully irrigated (100%, T0) versus 75% (T1), 50% (T2) and 25% (T3) of total irrigation. The comparison between the two types of the germplasm showed that drought-tolerant breeding lines had a comparatively lesser decrease in leaf area (0, 11, 22%) and shoot length (4, 21, 28%) than the elite germplasm, which experienced a decrease in leaf area (21%, 33% and 40%) and shoot length (17, 27 and 34%) under the various drought treatments. Moreover, drought-tolerant breeding lines had 100% more root shoot ratios than the elite germplasm (20%) in T3 when compared with control. Several drought-tolerant promising lines (D-2, D-5 and D-27) were selected due to their high leaf area, great root length and increased root to shoot ratio under T3. Some of the lines could be directly used for the development of drought-tolerant hybrids. Combining ability testing indicated that D-27 (F7) was a good general combiner for seed yield plant−1 and oil content after mating with male-line RSIN.82. Resulting hybrids could help to minimize seed yield loss due to water stress and to achieve profitable cultivation of sunflowers in arid regions of Pakistan

Phytoremediation of arsenic contaminated soild by Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Terminalia arjuna and Salix tetrasperma

Rising levels of arsenic in ground water posing threats to millions of people residing in Indus plains whereas the magnitude of the risk is alarming need to control arsenic from leaching down into ground water becomes essential. The study was designed to assess the potential of three native tree seedlings to reclaim the arsenic affected soils in Pakistan.  The study aimed at determining the impact of arsenic application on growth parameters of tree seedlings and accumulation of arsenic in plant parts. The laboratory experiment conducted at the Botanical Garden, University of the Punjab, Lahore revealed that E. camaldulensis, T. arjuna and S. tetrasperma have demonstrated varying adaptability to survive under the arsenic stress environment, establishing them as strong candidates to be exploited for arsenic remediation process.  Arsenic treated plants showed reduced growth in terms of stem height, stem diameter, number of branches, number of leaves, root length, total plant length and biomass production as compared to plants grown without arsenic treatment. Arsenic accumulated in all vegetative parts of the plants, however, maximum arsenic accumulation was recorded in roots of E. camaldulensis (37.25 µg kg-1) followed by S. tetrasperma (35.76 µg kg-1) and T. arjuna (24.13 µg kg-1) when arsenic was applied @ 4.0 mg L-1. The study has shown that these trees can be grown on arsenic contaminated fields to reclaim the soil from arsenic content resulting in its substantial reduction leaching in groundwater

Evaluation of Silkworm Lines against Variations in Temperature and RH for Various Parameters of Commercial Cocoon Production

Eleven inbred silkworm lines (M-101, M-103, M-104, M-107, Pak-1, Pak-3, Pak-2, Pak-4, PFI-1, PFI-2, and S-1) were evaluated for various parameters of cocoon production under different temperature and relative humidity conditions (25±1, 30±1, and 35±1 °C in combination with 55, 65, and 75% RH for three hrs during 4th and 5th instar. The experiment was laid out in factorial design with three replications. Significant variations in the performance of silkworm lines were noticed due to influence of temperature and RH treatment on 4th and 5th instar larvae. The silkworm lines performed significantly better when the larvae were reared at 25±1 °C with 70–80% RH while almost all the silkworm lines showed poor performance at higher temperature exposures for 3 hrs. Exposures to lower humidity (55%) during larval rearing in 4th and 5th instar at different temperatures (25±1, 30±1, and 35±1 °C) resulted in lowering the cocoon production. The cumulative evaluation index values for different traits showed that Pak-4 (61.42) was the best line followed by M-101 (59.15), Pak-2 (56.37), Pak-3 (52.83) PFI-I (52.62), and M-107(50.03). The study clearly underlines the importance of optimization of environmental conditions during larval rearing in relation to commercial cocoon production. The investigations strongly recommend that temperature and relative humidity in the range of 25-26 °C and 70–80%, respectively, are mandatory for excellent results of cocoon production and Pak-4, M-101, Pak-2, Pak-3, PFI-I, and M-107 were suitable for commercial rearing

Multitraits evaluation of Pakistani ecotypes of berseem clover (<i>Trifolium alexandrinum</i> L.) under full-irrigation and water restriction conditions

Summary Berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) is an important forage crop in Pakistan and many ecotypes are grown across the country. Its yield is however frequently affected by insufficient irrigation due to unavailability of water. In the present study, twenty Pakistani ecotypes of berseem clover have been evaluated in lysimeters under full irrigation and water restriction conditions. In the full irrigation treatment soil humidity was maintained at field capacity, while in the water restriction treatment water was only supplied after severe wilting and to maintain humidity in the deep profile of the soil. Assessed traits included forage yield, calculated as the sum of the biomass harvested at 70 and 110 DA days after emergence, and morpho-physiological traits. Significant effects of water restriction were noted on yield, leaf gas exchange parameters, canopy temperature and osmotic adjustment. Most morpho-physiological traits had higher broad sense heritability than forage yield, both under full irrigation and water restriction conditions. Water restriction increased genetic and phenotypic variability and heritability of most traits under study. Under these conditions forage yield was positively associated to leaf temperature and recovery rate index and, under full irrigation, to net photosynthetic rate, canopy depression temperature and leaf area. The possible use of these traits as indirect selection criteria in berseem clover breeding programs is discussed. Some ecotypes with favorable traits such as high forage yield potential, good adaptation to water restriction and aptitude to multiple harvesting have also been identified.

Heat transport investigation of engine oil based rotating nanomaterial liquid flow in the existence of partial slip effect

In this study, rotational nano liquid movement above a linearly stretching surface has been formulated. A two-phase model is used for this analysis. Base fluid engine oil and two distinct types of nanoparticles are used as nanoparticles, i.e. copper and aluminum oxide (Cu & Al2O3). This study is aimed to describe the changed possessions on velocity and temperature for rotational nanofluid flow above a linear enlarging surface in the existence of the slip effect. The leading structure of PDEs is converted into ODEs with a similarity transformation. Numerical findings are gained utilizing a sophisticated numerical approach. For both nanofluids, the results for rotational flow and heat transmission characteristics are emphasized with the help of graphs. At the linear extending surface, the influence of physical concentrations like heat flow rates and skin friction coefficients is investigated and visually clarified. Cunanoparticles proved to be better heat carriers than Al2O3 nanoparticles

Public exposure from I-131 hospitalized isolated patients in NIMRA Jamshoro Pakistan

Purpose/ Background: To treat the cancerous tissues the unsealed radioisotopes are being in clinical practice since 7 decades. From these unsealed sources, I-131 is the choice of treatment for the treating thyroid cancers. Orally administered I-131 patients are to be kept isolated in hospital for some period until captured activity in the body reaches to national and international limits for the avoidance of unacceptably high radiation exposures to patients' family members and the general public to keep ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) principal in mind. The main rationale of this study was to calculate the exposure/dose of the general public. Material and Methods: This work presents the exposure rate and dose to the general public in the corridor and the non-radioactive patients admitted in adjacent room from I-131 administered isolated patients treated at NIMRA (Nuclear Institute of Medicine and Radiotherapy) Jamshoro Pakistan. In this study exposure from 23 thyroid cancer patients treated with different activities of I-131 (50 to 200 mCi) from January 2011 to December 2012 were included. Results: The average exposure rate in the corridor was about 5.17 µSv/hr (2.14 µSv/hr to 8.15 µSv/hr) and the cumulative dose to nonradioactive patients residing in an adjacent room was 0.647 mSv (0.192 mSv to 1.664 mSv). Conclusion: This study concludes that the exposure rate to the general public especially the admitted non-radioactive patient in the adjacent room is almost within the limits of 1 mSv as specified in national and international standards.-----------------------------------------Cite this article as: Memon SA, Laghari NA, Qureshi ST, Ahmad A, Khan AA, Hussain MM. Public exposure from I-131 hospitalized isolated patients in NIMRA Jamshoro Pakistan. Int J Cancer Ther Oncol 2014; 2(2):020214. DOI: 10.14319/ijcto.0202.1

Global overview of the management of acute cholecystitis during the COVID-19 pandemic (CHOLECOVID study)

Background: This study provides a global overview of the management of patients with acute cholecystitis during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: CHOLECOVID is an international, multicentre, observational comparative study of patients admitted to hospital with acute cholecystitis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data on management were collected for a 2-month study interval coincident with the WHO declaration of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and compared with an equivalent pre-pandemic time interval. Mediation analysis examined the influence of SARS-COV-2 infection on 30-day mortality. Results: This study collected data on 9783 patients with acute cholecystitis admitted to 247 hospitals across the world. The pandemic was associated with reduced availability of surgical workforce and operating facilities globally, a significant shift to worse severity of disease, and increased use of conservative management. There was a reduction (both absolute and proportionate) in the number of patients undergoing cholecystectomy from 3095 patients (56.2 per cent) pre-pandemic to 1998 patients (46.2 per cent) during the pandemic but there was no difference in 30-day all-cause mortality after cholecystectomy comparing the pre-pandemic interval with the pandemic (13 patients (0.4 per cent) pre-pandemic to 13 patients (0.6 per cent) pandemic; P = 0.355). In mediation analysis, an admission with acute cholecystitis during the pandemic was associated with a non-significant increased risk of death (OR 1.29, 95 per cent c.i. 0.93 to 1.79, P = 0.121). Conclusion: CHOLECOVID provides a unique overview of the treatment of patients with cholecystitis across the globe during the first months of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The study highlights the need for system resilience in retention of elective surgical activity. Cholecystectomy was associated with a low risk of mortality and deferral of treatment results in an increase in avoidable morbidity that represents the non-COVID cost of this pandemic

قائد اعظم کی شخصیت و کردار پر ایک نظر

Quaid e Azam's unique determination, incredible religious tolerance, unusual political insight, and many other qualities made his personality such a glamorous, hearty and intelligent, not only in India but in global politics. The quality of leadership is a great idea, if there is a practical demonstration of all these values in one human form, then it is Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who meets the quality of greatness. Quaid was not only political leader but also was Mir Karwan and the father of nation. Every aspect of Quaid e Azam's personality and character is so charming, generous and worthy of appreciation that his opponents could not live without acknowledging his virtues and capabilities

Genome Based Research in Aquaculture

Genome -based technologies are being instigated to manipulate the structure and function of the genome and to identify the genes of interest for genetic modification of economically important species. Genome editing technologies have also been designed for genetic manipulation of aquaculture species to increase production and quality with minimum investment costs. DNA marker technologies are the most widely used genome technologies. DNA fingerprints are used to construct physical maps while genetic maps are based upon meiotic recombination. BAC fingerprinting is the commonly used method for physical mapping. Next- generation sequencers revolutionized science and allowed the de-novo whole genome sequencing. QTL mapping has made it possible to identify the genes responsible for a particular trait. Government involvement and better training of aqualturists are direly needed to reinforce the practical implications of genome- based technologies