Detection of phytoplasma in citrus orchards of Pakistan

Citrus fruits are one of the major export commodities of Pakistan. However, being such an important crop citrus is affected by a number of destructive diseases and phytoplasmal disease is one of them. In Pakistan no significant research has been conducted on phytoplasmal diseases of citrus. Therefore, present study was conducted to confirm the presence of phytoplasmal particles in diseased samples of citrus from Sahiwal, Pakpattan, Multan and Khaenwal districts the most important citrus growing areas of Pakistan. For this purpose DNA was extracted from leaf samples collected from the three districts and single (O-MLO) and nested PCR were applied to detect phytoplasmal particles. With O-MLO primers a 558bp fragment was amplified from 16S rRNA phytoplasmal gene and 1.2kb phytoplasmal DNA fragment was amplified with nested PCR. The results revealed the presence of citrus phytoplasma in Southern Punjab region of Pakistan. In order to confirm the alternate hosts of citrus phytoplasma as well as the insect vectors involved in the transmission of the disease, weeds as well as insects were collected from citrus orchards for molecular detection of phytoplasma and their analysis are is in progress

Efficacy and pitfalls of digital technologies in healthcare services:A systematic review of two decades

The use of technology in the healthcare sector and its medical practices, from patient record maintenance to diagnostics, has significantly improved the health care emergency management system. At that backdrop, it is crucial to explore the role and challenges of these technologies in the healthcare sector. Therefore, this study provides a systematic review of the literature on technological developments in the healthcare sector and deduces its pros and cons. We curate the published studies from the Web of Science and Scopus databases by using PRISMA 2015 guidelines. After mining the data, we selected only 55 studies for the systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis. The study explores four significant classifications of technological development in healthcare: (a) digital technologies, (b) artificial intelligence, (c) blockchain, and (d) the Internet of Things. The novel contribution of current study indicate that digital technologies have significantly influenced the healthcare services such as the beginning of electronic health record, a new era of digital healthcare, while robotic surgeries and machine learning algorithms may replace practitioners as future technologies. However, a considerable number of studies have criticized these technologies in the health sector based on trust, security, privacy, and accuracy. The study suggests that future studies, on technological development in healthcare services, may take into account these issues for sustainable development of the healthcare sector

Institutional Quality and Economic Growth: Panel ARDL Analysis for Selected Developing Economies of Asia

The role of institutions in economic growth has received much attention of the researchers and policy makers in the last two decades. The literature available on this issue is not clear. The literature reveals that there is a growing dissatisfaction over the neo-classical and endogenous growth models. In recent literature institutional economics has emerged for determining the economic growth. In view of this fact, the present study is an attempt to explain the impact of institutional quality on economic growth in developing economies of Asia. The study uses panel data for the period 1990-2013 for 13 developing economies of Asia. Institutional quality index has been constructed by using principal component analysis. The results of Panel ARDL show that institutional quality has positive impact on economic growth. The results of panel causality test show that causality runs from institutional quality to economic growth. The study stresses that for increasing economic growth there is a need to improve institutional quality in selected Asian developing countries

Effect of Growth Media, pH and Temperature on Yeast to Hyphal Transition in Candida albicans

The transition of C. albicans from unicellular yeast form to filamentous form i.e., pseudohyphae and hyphae is referred to as morphogenesis. C. albicans has the ability to respond to environmental conditions and accordingly changing its cell morphology. Three main morphological forms of C. albicans are unicellular yeast, pseudohyphae and hyphae. The effect of different growth media (Horse serum medium, RPMI-1640, MSGB), incubation temperatures (34˚C, 37˚C, 40˚C) and pH values (5.4, 6.4, 7.4) on germ tube production by C. albicans was evaluated. Horse serum medium noticeably promotes filamentation while RPMI-1640 medium shows moderate filamentation and MSGB media shows moderately low filamentation. The germ tube of C. albicans developed early in 1.5 hr at high temperature i.e., 40˚C. Incubation temperature of 37˚C was associated with highest germ tube formation while 34˚C shows low filamentation. A pH of 5.4 also induces low filamentation, pH 6.4 gives moderately lower than pH 7.4. A pH of 7.4 was best suited for germ tube induction. The peak of mycelium production appears between 1.5 and 6 hr after inoculation of C. albicans culture. These results suggested that environmental factors are important in selectively favoring yeast or hyphal form, most important being the growth medium, incubation temperature and external pH value

Antimicrobial Activity of Aloe Vera against Pathogenic Bacteria

Present study was conducted to determine the antimicrobial activity of Aloe Vera with ethanol against gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and gram negative (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). The Agar well diffusion method was used to test the antimicrobial activity. The result shows that maximum inhibition observed against Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae (1mm---4mm), minimum inhibition was observed against Pseudomonas aeruginosa while negligible activity observed against Escherichia coli. This is important to used Aloe Vera for cosmetic and food purpose

Effect of Burn Injury on the Dissemination of Candida albicans from the Skin of Mouse

Burn injury is associated with the greatly increased susceptibility of thermally injured patients to infection from a variety of pathogens. Candida albicans is a commensal of skin and has been reported as a severe pathogen in thermally injured patients. Systemic candidiasis has emerged as a major cause of death in burn patients. In this study, the ability of Candida albicans to infect thermally injured host and the host response to systemic infections with Candida albicans was studied by using burned mice. The C. albicans suspension was spreaded over the burn surface. Mice were sacrificed ten days after burn to check the presence of yeasts in the kidneys, lung, liver and spleen or burn wounds. After 48 hr. of incubation of culture plates yeasts were recovered from the kidneys, lung, liver, spleen of burned mice. This study describes the enhanced susceptibility of burned mice to systemic candidiasis and shows that a systemic infection with Candida can lead organisms to contaminate the wound

Bioethics Education, Awareness of Ethics and Dissemination of Knowledge among Teachers and Students

The main goal of this study was to determine the awareness regarding bioethics education, knowledge and dissemination of knowledge among university teachers and students. This study's primary objective was to learn how educators cope with ethical disagreement inside the classroom and to clarify the factors that influence the way they cope. A total of 17 teachers and 26 students were selected for the study. A Questionnaire were designed and circulated among students and teachers of Jinnah University for Women. The data was collected and subjected to SPSS Software for statistical analysis. In total 43 teachers and students were surveyed out of which about 60% were aware of the importance of bioethics and were in opinion to add as a separate course in the syllabus. The results of the present study give us impression about the level of awareness to bioethics education and knowledge among teachers and students. The knowledge should be applied to conduct such study in larger population which will result in facilitation of services in both public and private sectors. The study revealed out the necessity of a comprehensive education programs related to bioethical issues and its awareness for the students as well as teachers

Effect of Cadmium Levels on the Growth Curve of Candida albicans

Environmental pollution by toxic heavy metals is one of the most pressing problems. Metals are released in the environment in industrial effluent. Cadmium is one of the heavy metal toxic to microorganisms; however, there are yeast strains resistant to this metal. One of yeast species Candida albicans is a diploid fungus (a form of yeast) that is a causal agent of opportunistic oral and genital infections in humans. In the present study, effect of Cadmium on the growth curve of Candida albicans was demonstrated. Candida albicans was grown both in the presence and absence of Cadmium in YEPD media. Growth curves of the Candida albicans were plotted to study the growth pattern of the yeast isolate. It was found that Candida albicans grow well at 50 µg/ml concentration of cadmium. The organism was found to be resistant to the used heavy metal. Growing metal resistant cells is very important as it can ensure better removal through the process of biosorption. Such approaches may help in the removal of toxic metals from the environmental thus reducing environmental pollution

Bacteriostatic Activity of Lemon Juice against Staphylococcal Skin Infections

Antimicrobial herbs are center of attraction from a very long time back. These herbs can cure variety of the infections including GIT, liver and skin infections. In this conducted study we have analyzed lemon as an antibacterial herb against skin infections. A total of 25 skin lesion samples were collected out of which 14 were Staphylococcus epidermidis and 06 were Staphylococcus aureus were isolated. By pure culture study method all the species of Staphylococci gives bacteriostatic growth by the activity of lemon juice which was analyzed by Agar well diffusion method. Some other antimicrobial herb are also efficient against skin infections like aloe vera, neem etc. Because of the presence of Vitamin C lemon juices aids some more health effects to the skin and have less side effects than antibiotics

Optimal variational iteration method for parametric boundary value problem

Mathematical applications in engineering have a long history. One of the most well-known analytical techniques, the optimal variational iteration method (OVIM), is utilized to construct a quick and accurate algorithm for a special fourth-order ordinary initial value problem. Many researchers have discussed the problem involving a parameter c. We solve the parametric boundary value problem that can't be addressed using conventional analytical methods for greater values of c using a new method and a convergence control parameter h. We achieve a convergent solution no matter how huge c is. For the approximation of the convergence control parameter h, two strategies have been discussed. The advantages of one technique over another have been demonstrated. Optimal variational iteration method can be seen as an effective technique to solve parametric boundary value problem