Energy assessment of some nuts and dried fruits grown in Pakistan’s climate and their role for weight control management

The aim of the present study is to assess the energy contents of different dry fruits consumed in Pakistan.  Six samples of tree nuts (walnut, almond, pine nut, pistachio, cashew nut, and coconut), one sample of the ground nut (peanut), and four samples of dried fruits (figs, apricot, dates, and raisins) were selected for this purpose. The energy contents of nuts and dried fruits were estimated using oxygen bomb calorimeter. Peanut was identified as the energy rich fruit (875.86 Cal/100g), followed by walnut (818.84 Cal/100g), coconut (787.36 Cal/100g), almond (785.61 Cal/100g), pine nut (772.31 Cal/100g), Pistachio (624.72 Cal/100g), and the cashew nut (616.46 Cal/100g). The energy values of the dry fruits were found higher in nuts (875.86-616.46 Cal/100g), compare to dried fruits (352.04–505.31 Cal/100g). Protein and fats contribute to the energy values of nuts; while carbohydrates make a valuable contribution to the energy content of dried fruits. The recommended serving of dry fruits was found to fulfill 20.26−4.40 % of the minimum estimated energy requirement (EER) of persons of different life styles. On the basis of the caloric content of the studied dry fruits, one can easily calculate the required amount of a particular dry fruit per day in accordance to gender, age and PAL life style. Therefore, the study would be helpful to plan weight balance strategies for individuals interested in energy dense food. 

Urbanization growth dynamic model of metropolitan city Karachi

The city Karachi has grown from a small fishing village to the enormous metropolis and now becomes the biggest and most industrialized city of Pakistan due to its multi-ethnic character. It population now exceeds 12 million (approximately) and its current growing rate is about 5% per year. This phenomenal, growth of the metropolitan city affects nomads as well as high class society and covers almost all aspect of life such as social, economical, political, sociological, psychological etc. This unchecked increase becomes the origin of the problems of slums, katchi abaadis, and encroachment. It has been estimated that one-third of the total population resides in squatter settlements and slums which results in chronic shortage of dwelling units, water supply, public transport, and civic amenities such as schools, hospitals , parks and playgrounds. This rapid growth of population is a burning issue for developing and governmental agencies. In this study attempts has been made to provide a systematic analysis of the population growth in the metropolitan city Karachi and model have been constructed by using the available demographic data. Finding of this model will serve as a basis for making planning to control rate of population growth in both Urban and Rural areas and develop a strategy to attain higher level of structural change of urbanization

Kinetics, mechanistic and synergistic studies of Alpha lipoic acid with hydrogen peroxide

Alpha lipoic acid (ALA) holds redox behavior that was observed in the presence of different metals utilizing hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as a strong oxidizing agent. The effects of different parameters like temperature, pH and concentrations were also monitored. ALA in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) showed oxidation as well as degradation processes. To monitor the oxidation kinetics of ALA in the presence of different essential metals to find its reaction pathway using salt affect parameters. The redox behavior of Alpha lipoic acid (ALA) was found to be significant at pH ranging from 4 to 10, at 29 °C in a given pseudo first order reaction conditions. The values of the rate constant in the presence of different essential metals such as Mo, Se, Co, Cr, Fe, and Zn were also obtained. Furthermore, synergistic effects were observed in the presence of Mo6+ and Fe2+ at all applied conditions. Activation energy of ALA oxidation is 36.7 kJ whereas in the presence of Fe2+ its activation energy went up to 48 kJ; however, in the presence of Mo6+ the activation energy drops to 18.3 kJ. In the presence of Fe2+ and Mo6+ the synergistic effect works and its activation energy became 36.5 kJ. The reaction mechanism was also proposed

MATHEMATICAL MODEL FOR SEEEKING OF AN OPTIMAL PATH

Nazimabad Chest Hospital (0Jha) is the well known Hospital for the best treatment of T.B patients among other three Hospitals in Karachi. This hospital is Located within the premises of Abbasi Shaheed Hospital Nazimabad No. 3 Karachi, and has modern equipment and qualified stay for treatment of TB patients. The patients have to visit the Hospital periodically in between one to four or snore weeks, from their homes/ residence. They uses different routes to reach the destination, since the hospital has different approaches therefore the patients living Malir Cantt, North Karachi, Gulshan-e-iqbal etc areas need a path/ route which is to be shortest and take less time and subsequently reduce the transportation charges. In order to facilitate and to address their difficulties an effort is being made to find out the shortest path. A mathematical model with the help of Fl yd's algorithm is being developed to achieve the desired objective.Keywords: Floyd algorithm, Node 1 -Malir Cantt, Node 5- Nazimabad Chest Hospital Karachi (OHJA) (at Abbasi Shaheed hospital) Permanent label, Backtrackin

Use of Ionic Liquid Pretreated and Fermented Sugarcane Bagasse as an Adsorbent for Congo Red Removal

A large amount of industrial wastewater containing pollutants including toxic dyes needs to be processed prior to its discharge into the environment. Biological materials such as sugarcane bagasse (SB) have been reported for their role as adsorbents to remove the dyes from water. In this study, the residue SB after fermentation was utilized for the dye removal. A combined pretreatment of NaOH and methyltrioctylammonium chloride was given to SB for lignin removal, and the pretreated SB was utilized for cellulase production from Bacillus aestuarii UE25. The strain produced 118 IU mL−1 of endoglucanse and 70 IU mL−1 of β-glucosidase. Scanning electron microscopy and FTIR spectra showed lignin and cellulose removal in fermented SB. This residue was utilized for the adsorption of an azo dye, congo red (CR). The thermodynamic, isotherm and kinetics studies for the adsorption of CR revealed distinct adsorption features of SB. Untreated SB followed Langmuir isotherm, whereas pretreated SB and fermented SB obeyed the Freundlich isotherm model. The pseudo-second-order model fitted well for the studied adsorbents. The results of thermodynamic studies revealed spontaneous adsorption with negative standard free energy values. Untreated SB showed a 90.36% removal tendency at 303.15 K temperature, whereas the adsorbents comprised of pretreated and fermented SB removed about 98.35% and 97.70%, respectively. The study provided a strategy to utilize SB for cellulase production and its use as an adsorbent for toxic dyes removal