Presentation with Personality changes and Tinnitus to a Vascular Intervention: Rare case of Carotid Body Paraganglioma

Background: Carotid body paragangliomas are rare neuroendocrine neoplasms of chromaffin negative glomus cells. This case report explains an atypical case with unusual presentation and treatment. Case Report: A healthy smoker technician by profession was brought to the emergency room (ER) with coprolalia. The general physical exam did not reveal any information. His history revealed unilateral tinnitus and odynophagia leading to a consultation by the neurologist with head imaging. Acoustic neuroma was ruled out and the caregiver was asked to elaborate the events mentioned in the history and a psychiatric examination was done. The personality changes were evaluated by the psychiatrist that showed overlapping of delirium and depression. The patient was further examined by a vascular surgeon. After careful revisiting of the history, examination and indication of tender mass in the neck by the patient's vascular surgeon, the diagnosis of carotid body paraganglioma was made which was followed by surgical resection for treatment. Conclusion: Carotid Body Paragangliomas are very vascular structures and their manipulation in a surgery setting requires expertise. This case presented with personality changes and tinnitus, a very less likely event to occur in a carotid body tumor. The present care report, thus adds on to the literature of carotid body tumors and its presenting symptoms

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on perceived stress levels of employees working in private organizations during lockdown

Background: Worldwide, office employees have experienced two novel phenomena during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown: working from home and reductions in their salaries. These phenomena have majorly impacted the lives of individuals as well as their families. The present study aims to measure the perceived stress levels among employees during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in Pakistan.Methodology: A cross-sectional approach was used to collect data from a sample of 385 employees working in three different IT-oriented private organizations. A semi-structured, Likert-scale questionnaire was used, containing the 10-item inventory from the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). A sociodemographic profile, working parameters, and frequency of PSS inventory were presented in the descriptive analysis. Binary logistic regression analysis was made to compare the stress levels of the two groups resulting from their workloads and reductions in salary.Results: An elevated perceived stress level (50.9%) was observed among the employees, showing a significant relationship with salary reduction and home work engagement (p<0.005). A strong negative correlation was observed (-0.860) for the salary reduction with PSS.Conclusion: Working from home and reductions in salary caused increased perceived stress levels of the employees working in private organizations. Salary reductions proved to be a strong stressor, causing economic disruption and inability to cope with financial burdens during the COVID-19 pandemic

Underutilized Grasses Production: New Evolving Perspectives

Globally, over-reliance on major food crops (wheat, rice and maize) has led to food basket’s shrinking, while climate change, environmental pollution and deteriorating soil fertility demand the cultivation of less exhaustive but nutritious grasses. Unlike neglected grasses (grass species restricted to their centres of origin and only grown at the subsistence level), many underutilized grasses (grass species whose yield or usability potential remains unrealized) are resistant and resilient to abiotic stresses and have multiple uses including food (Coix lacryma-jobi), feed (Eragrostis amabilis and Cynodon dactylon), esthetic value (Miscanthus sinensis and Imperata cylindrica), renewable energy production (Spartina pectinata and Andropogon gerardii Vitman) and contribution to ecosystem services (Saccharum spontaneum). Lack of agricultural market globalization, urbanization and prevalence of large commercial enterprises that favor major grasses trade, improved communication means that promoted specialization in favor of established crops, scant planting material of underutilized grasses and fewer research on their production technology and products development are the prime challenges posed to underutilized grasses promotion. Integration of agronomic research with novel plant protection measures and plant breeding and molecular genetics approaches for developing biotic and abiotic stresses tolerant cultivars along with the development of commercially attractive food products hold the future key for promoting underutilized grasses for supplanting food security and sustainably multiplying economic outcomes

Fuzzy-based maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control system for photovoltaic power generation system

The ability of the Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) technology to prevent losses by stabilizing power fluctuations during severe weather conditions is critical in improving photovoltaic power generation systems. Overall system stability is improved by carefully tracing the maximum power point (MPP). This research focuses on improving MPPT performance in solar systems by employing the ''Fuzzy Logic'' control method. The simulation, which is run in MATLAB/Simulink, includes a detailed model of the entire system. The primary circuit is designed with a DC-DC Boost architecture and a single MOSFET transistor. The Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) unit in MATLAB/Simulink generates an output variable led by two input variables via the Fuzzy Logic Controller unit. The Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) unit generates an output variable led by two input variables in MATLAB/Simulink. The simulation model, called ''Fuzzy Disturbance,'' combines Perturb & Observe with Fuzzy Logic and runs for 3 s. The results show an essential increase in system efficiency to 97%. The simulation results show that the suggested approach tracks MPP, reduces output power fluctuations, and improves system efficiency

Effect of slope position on physico-chemical properties of eroded soil

The research work was conducted on eroded soil (Missa Series) in Samarbagh, District Lower Dir to determine the effect of slope position on soil physico-chemical properties. Soil samples were collected from top-slope, mid-slope and bottom slope positions at horizon-A, B and C. Results showed a significant difference among the physico-chemical properties of top, mid and bottom slope soils. Bulk density of the top-slope (1.51 g cm-3) was the highest followed by mid (1.39 g cm-3) and bottom slopes (1.32 g cm-3). Conversely, electrical conductivity EC-2.47 dS m-1), phosphorus (3.40 mg kg-1), Potassium (118.8 mg kg-1), Organic matter content (1.52 %), clay content (20.39 %) and silt content (49.17%) were the highest at bottom slope followed by mid and top-slopes, respectively. Soil A, B and C horizons were also significantly (p<0.05) different in their physico-chemical properties. Mean values showed that horizon Ap had the highest bulk density (1.43 g cm-3) and lower electrical conductivity (1.74 dS m-1), phosphorus (2.29 mg kg-1), potassium (84.86 mg kg-1), organic matter (1.08%), clay (12.83%) and silt content (40.49%) than both the B and C horizons. The deterioration in physico-chemical properties of top slope as compared to mid and bottom slopes and that of Ap horizon as compared to B and C horizons were presumed to be due to past soil erosion effect that removed the finer soil particles including soil organic matter and other plant nutrients. This study concluded that increasing extent of erosion due to slope effect can further deteriorate soil properties. The control of such damaging effects would require soil conservation strategies such as proper land levelling, afforestation, terracing and inclusion of restorative crops in cropping systems on these lands

Enhanced concept-level sentiment analysis system with expanded ontological relations for efficient classification of user reviews

Background/introduction: Concept-level sentiment analysis deals with the extraction and classification of concepts and features from user reviews expressed online about products and other entities like political leaders, government policies, and others. The prior studies on concept-level sentiment analysis have used a limited set of linguistic rules for extracting concepts and their associated features. Furthermore, the ontological relations used in the early works for performing concept-level sentiment analysis need enhancement in terms of the extended set of features concepts and ontological relations. Methods: This work aims at addressing the aforementioned issues and tries to bridge the literature gap by proposing an extended set of linguistic rules for concept-feature pair extraction along with enhanced set ontological relations. Additionally, a supervised a machine learning technique is implemented for performing concept-level sentiment analysis. Results and conclusions: Experimental results depict the effectiveness of the proposed system in terms of improved efficiency (P: 88%, R: 88%, F-score: 88%, and A: 87.5%)

LC–ESI–MS/MS-based molecular networking, antioxidant, anti-glioma activity and molecular docking studies of Clematis graveolens

Abstract Clematis graveolens Lindl., an indigenous climbing plant found in the Himalayan areas, is used by local communities for the treatment of neck tumors. The objective of this work is to examine the comprehensive metabolomic profile, antioxidant capability, in vitro and in silico anti-glioma effects on U-87 human glioma cell lines of the crude extract and fractions from C. graveolens. Liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectroscopy (LC–MS/MS) was used to establish detailed metabolite profiling of C. graveolens. The assessment of cell cytotoxicity was conducted using MTT cell viability assay on U-87 and BHK-21. Through molecular docking studies, the mode of inhibition and binding interaction between identified compounds and target proteins were also determined to evaluate the in vitro results. The use of LC–MS/MS-based global natural products social (GNPS) molecular networking analysis resulted in the identification of 27 compounds. The crude extract, ethyl acetate fraction, and chloroform fraction exhibited significant inhibitory activity against the U-87 cell lines, with IC50 values of 112.0, 138.1, and 142.7 µg/mL, respectively. The ethyl acetate fraction exhibited significant inhibitory concentration for 2,2’-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) activity, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) activity and the metal chelation activity with IC50 value of 39.50 µg/mL, 32.27 µg/mL, and 53.46 µg/mL, respectively. The crude extract showed maximum total phenolic, and total flavonoid concentration measuring 338.7 µg GAE/mg, and 177.04 µg QE/mg, respectively. The findings of this study indicate that C. graveolens consists of a diverse range of active phytoconstituents that possess antioxidant and anti-glioma properties

Pathogenic variants of AIPL1, MERTK, GUCY2D, and FOXE3 in Pakistani families with clinically heterogeneous eye diseases.

Significant number out of 2.2 billion vision impairments in the world can be attributed to genetics. The current study is aimed to decipher the genetic basis of Leber congenital Amaurosis (LCA), Anterior Segment dysgenesis (ASD), and Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), segregating in four large consanguineous Pakistani families. The exome sequencing followed by segregation analysis via Sanger sequencing revealed the LCA phenotypes segregating in families GCUF01 and GCUF04 can be attributed to c.465G>T (p.(Gln155His)) missense and novel c.139_140delinsA p.(Pro47Trhfster38) frameshift variant of AIPL1 and GUCY2D, respectively. The c.1843A>T (p.(Lys615*) truncating allele of MERTK is homozygous in all the affected individuals, presumably suffering with RP, of the GCUF02 family. Meanwhile, co-segregation of the ASD phenotype and the c.289A>G (p.(Ile97Val)) variant of FOXE3 was found in the GCUF06 family. All the identified variants were either absent or present in very low frequencies in the control databases. Our in-silico analyses and 3D molecular modeling support the deleterious impact of these variants on the encoded proteins. Variants identified in MERTK, GUCY2D, and FOXE3 were categorized as "pathogenic" or "likely pathogenic", while the missense variant found in AIPL1 was deemed to have "uncertain significance" based upon the variant pathogenicity guidelines from the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG). This paper highlights the genetic diversity of vision disorders in the Pakistani population and reports the identification of four novel mutations in families who segregate clinically heterogeneous eye diseases. Our results give insight into the genotype-phenotype correlations of AIPL1, FOXE3, MERTK, and GUCY2D variants

Foliar Application of Gibberellin Alleviates Adverse Impacts of Drought Stress and Improves Growth, Physiological and Biochemical Attributes of Canola (Brassica napus L.)

Under the current climate change scenario, water stress is one of the key factors that reduce the production of crops. Gibberellic acid (GA3) is an efficient endogenous plant hormone that shows a vital role in plant growth and development. Production of canola (Brassica napus L.) and its oil contents are severely affected under drought stress. The present study was conducted to investigate the potential of GA3 in alleviating drought stress in canola. Three levels of GA3 (G0 = 0 mg L&minus;1, G1 = 100 mg L&minus;1, and G2 = 150 mg L&minus;1) as foliar applications were applied under two drought-stress conditions (D1 for three days of drought stress and D2 for six days of drought stress) on two canola varieties (Punjab canola and Faisal canola). Irrigation was applied after 3 weeks of germination, while foliar application of GA3 was done at intervals of 4 and 5 weeks after germination. When comparing the output of all the GA3 treatments, it was noticed that in G0 = 0 mg L&minus;1 (control plants), water-stress conditions markedly reduced plant production and seed oil contents but increased protein and linoleic acid. With the application of G2 = 150 mg L&minus;1, the maximum values of plant height (90.83 cm), no. of siliqua plant&minus;1 (15.50), seed siliqua&minus;1 (15.55), siliqua length (5.08 cm), relative water contents (77.60%), yield plant&minus;1 (0.46 g), chlorophyll a (0.62), carotenoid contents (39.52), and oleic acid contents (60.20) were recorded under drought stress. Based on these results, it is concluded that the adverse effect of drought stress on different yield parameters of canola could be ameliorated by the exogenous application of GA3 through foliar application at a dose of 150 mg L&ndash;1. Moreover, the same treatment improves the quality parameters, i.e., the oleic acid contents of the oil, obtained from the canola