Chronic low back pain and fear avoidance model : role of sociocultural factors in development of disability

The paramount aim of this thesis was to provide supporting evidence for the role of psychosocial and cultural factors in development of disability in people with CLBP through two high quality studies. The novel studies will impact the CLBP management by drawing attention towards different socioeconomic and cultural factors influencing the outcomes. This thesis found that work related fear, anxiety, depression, catastrophizing and functional self-efficacy mediate pain and disability’s relationship in people from a low-income society. Furthermore, effect of pain on fear, catastrophizing and depression was conditional upon spiritual practices, the more a person’s spiritual practices the less pain’s impact will be on these psychological factors. Moreover, the findings suggest that the integration of pain resilience in the fear avoidance model would help in understanding the mechanisms underlie the development of disability from CLBP and designing targeted interventions. Although, this research is a significant step forward towards understanding the global burden of CLBP, the findings of this thesis are only a piece of the puzzle in the direction of the solution

Assessment of Heavy Metal Content of Branded Pakistani Herbal Products

Purpose: To investigate the heavy metals present in branded Pakistani herbal medicines used in the management of various human ailments.Method: The herbal dosage forms assessed were tablets, capsules and syrups. The samples were prepared for analysis by wet digestion method using nitric acid and perchloric acid treatment and then analyzed using a flame atomic absorption spectrometer.Results: Most of the products exceeded the permissible limits for lead (100 %), cadmium (68 %), chromium (96 %) and nickel (100 %). However, the contents of copper, manganese, zinc and iron were below toxic limits in several of the products. Some of the products, including Arq-e-badian, Bazori, Banafsha and Arq-Mako, exhibited toxic concentration of almost all the metals assessed.Conclusion: There is need to design suitable quality control parameters for the validation of herbal products and/or implement already existing rules and regulations for the safety of end-users.Keywords: Heavy metals, Branded herbal products, Validation, Toxicit

A Short Review on the Development of Salt Tolerant Cultivars in Rice

Rice is staple food for half of the world. With a population of almost 9.6 billion by the year 2050, there is a dire need of developing techniques to improve the crop plants, not only in terms of better yield but also to withstand harsh environmental conditions and stresses like drought, temperature, flood and salinity. Salinity is second to drought stress and hence it is very important to develop crops tolerant to salinity stress. This review discusses the mechanisms of salt tolerance and the recent developments in understanding the complex tolerance phenomena. One way to address the salinity issue is to develop tolerant rice varieties using conventional and modern breeding techniques for which screening the rice germplasm for the varieties with desired traits is critical. Conventional methods to develop tolerant rice varieties are discussed along with modern biotechnology techniques are also discussed. Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) and Marker Assisted Selection (MAS) are promising techniques. In addition to these modern techniques, some recent developments in the fields of transgenic plants, haploid breeding and Somaclonal variations have also been discussed. The limited knowledge about molecular and genetic mechanisms to tolerate abiotic stresses, however is a barrier to efficiently develop tolerant cultivars. A combination of conventional and modern biotechnology techniques could possibly open up the new ways

Phytotoxic, insecticidal and leishmanicidal activities of aerial parts of Polygonatum verticillatum

The aim of the present study was to explore the aerial parts of the Polygonatum verticillatum for variousbiological activities such as phytotoxic, insecticidal and leishmanicidal properties. Outstandingphytotoxicity was observed for the crude extract and its subsequent solvent fractions against Lemnaacquinoctialis Welv at tested doses of 5, 50 and 500 ìg/ml. Complete growth inhibition (100%) wasdemonstrated by the crude extract and aqueous fraction at maximum tested dose (500 ìg/ml). Amongthe tested insects, moderate insecticidal activity was recorded against Rhyzopertha dominica. However,neither crude extract nor its solvent fraction registered any significant (> 100 ìg/ml) leishmanicidalactivity against Leishmania major. Based on the phytotoxicity, the aerial parts of the plant could be asignificant source of natural herbicidal for sustainable weed control

Ginger facilitates cholinergic activity possibly due to blockade of muscarinic autoreceptors in rat stomach fundus

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is a universally known food plant reputed for its medicinal use in gastrointestinal disorders as a prokinetic and laxative. We recently showed that 70% aqueous-methanolic extract of ginger (Zo.Cr) exhibits prokinetic activity in rats via activation of post-synaptic muscarinic M3 receptor in rat stomach fundus. In view of the physiological significance of pre-synaptic muscarinic M1 and M2 autoreceptors, this study was undertaken to further look into the possible mode of action of the prokinetic effect of ginger through inhibition of pre-synaptic muscarinic receptors. Isolated tissue bath experiments were performed with Sprague-Dawley rat stomach fundus strip preparations immersed in Kreb\u27s solution at 37 degrees C. Carbachol (CCh) maximum responses (1 microM) were obtained in rat stomach fundus. Zo.Cr, given in multiple increasing bolus concentrations (0.01-0.1 mg/ml) 10 min prior to administration of CCh, potentiated the CCh peak responses showing that it is possibly inhibiting the pre-synaptic muscarinic receptors. Like wise, increasing bolus concentrations of pirenzepine (0.03-0.3 microM) and himbacine (0.01-0.03 microM), standard muscarinic M1 and M2 antagonists respectively, also potentiated the CCh responses. These results show that ginger, in addition to having a direct cholinergic agonistic effect on the post-synaptic M3 receptors, also has a possible inhibitory effect on pre-synaptic muscarinic autoreceptors, similar to standard muscarinic antagonists, thus reiterating the gastric stimulant effect of this age-old plant

Axial compressive behaviour of circular CFFT: Experimental database and design-oriented model

Concrete Filled Fibre Reinforced Polymer Tube (CFFT) for new columns construction has attracted significant research attention in recent years. The CFFT acts as a formwork for new columns and a barrier to corrosion accelerating agents. It significantly increases both the strength capacity (Strength enhancement ratio) and the ductility (Strain enhancement ratio) of reinforced concrete columns. In this study, based on predefined selection criteria, experimental investigation results of 134 circular CFFT columns under axial compression have been compiled and analysed from 599 CFFT specimens available in the literature. It has been observed that actual confinement ratio (expressed as a function of material properties of fibres, diameter of CFFT and compressive strength of concrete) has significant influence on the strength and ductility of circular CFFT columns. Design oriented models have been proposed to compute the strength and strain enhancement ratios of circular CFFT columns. The proposed strength and strain enhancement ratio models have significantly reduced Average Absolute Error (AAE), Mean Square Error (MSE), Relative Standard Error of Estimate (RSEE) and Standard Deviation (SD) as compared to other available strength and strain enhancement ratios of circular CFFT column models. The predictions of the proposed strength and strain enhancement ratio models match well with the experimental strength and strain enhancement ratios investigation results in the compiled database