A Study of Mughal and Local Chronicles on Mughal Kashmir

Historians of the Medieval India have long recognized the significance and importance of regional history because all the areas had their distinct and unique characteristics, that had a bearing on the administrative measures required for the effective control of the region. No two areas under the Mughals were identical in-terms of their historical past, culture, geographical location and economic potential or limitations. The valley of Kashmir, with well-defined geographical boundaries was one such region that got a fairly reasonable attention of the historians. Mughal period, that lasted from 1586-1753, marks one important phase in the history of Kashmir. The fair and exuberant beauty of Kashmir valley had been a great source of attraction for all the Mughal emperors including Babar and Humayun. However, they could not make any serious attempt to conquer Kashmir, as they remained busy in their wars against their rivals in other parts of India. As a result Kashmir remained outside their domain. But it was during the period of Akbar that Kashmir became the part of Mughal Empire. Following the use of full military might and ruthless massacre of forces of resistance, Mughals took over the charge of Kashmir into their own hands in 1586AD. Though for some time it remained a 2 part of the province of Kabul1, Kashmir assumed the status of full-fledged province under the emperor Jehangir (Suba)2

Role of S180L polymorphism in etiology of malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum in a small group of Pakistani population

The aim of our study was to investigate the role of S180L polymorphism in modulation of acquisition of malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum in a small group of Pakistani population. A total of 133 individuals including 60 controls and 73 patients of malaria, caused by Plasmodium falciparum, were genotyped using allele-specific PCR. Ninety-two samples successfully demonstrated the PCR amplification results, while forty-one samples could not be genotyped due to failure in PCR amplification.  The allele frequency for S180L polymorphism was deviant from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) of the population under observation. Association was found between the observed polymorphism and the occurrence of malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum (p = 0.01). Chances of malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum were low in CC genotype carriers in comparison to other genotypes (Odds ratio: 0.3016; 95% CI: 0.124-0.729). The present findings suggest that S180L polymorphism is important in modulating the probability of acquisition of malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum in Pakistani population. The CC genotype plays a protective role in local population against this type of malaria

Insight on the Properties of Pumice Mineral for the Combined Adsorption Distillation of Membrane Reject Water

The current study evaluated the use of pumice, a volcanic mineral and common sand, in treating reverse osmosis membrane reject water (ROR) using a novel combined adsorption distillation (CAD) method. The CAD method is developed to separate the dissolved solids through adsorption distillation, i.e., leaving the vaporized distillate as freshwater and concentrated brine. The adsorption potential of pumice and sand was investigated at different adsorbent doses, i.e., 2, 5, and 10 g, and consecutive CAD adsorbent backwashing cycles. The improved results were achieved at a 10 g pumice dose. However, its adsorption efficiency declined in longer CAD cycles, i.e., due to the separated deposition of solids. After backwashing, the adsorbed and accumulated salts were slightly removed, and pumice adsorption capacity was maintained for up to 20 cycles of CAD. The properties of the pumice, i.e., before and after five CAD cycles and after backwashing, were characterized with scanning electron microscopic (SEM), elemental disruptive spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD), which revealed that the porous structure of the pumice was completely accumulated with deposits of ionic salts, which were slightly washed away after backwashing, but accumulation remained continued in post-CAD cycles. The explored method revealed a high potential of pumice in water filtration