Molecular genetic analysis of leucine tRNA in relevance to type 2 diabetes mellitus

Background. Several point mutations in the mitochondrial DNA cause maternally inherited metabolic disorders. The most common type of mutation A3243G in the gene of transfer RNA leucine (tRNALeu(UUR)) is thought to be responsible for the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus. This study was designed to analyze the tRNALeu(UUR) gene of mtDNA of the diabetic individuals with familial history of diabetes to identify the point mutations A3243G. Material and methods. Saliva samples were preferred as a source of DNA to minimize the risk of infection. DNA was successfully extracted from their saliva. Samples of high-quality DNA was amplified with PCR and sequenced in Macrogen Inc. Korea. Results. The m.3243A>G mutation in mitochondrial tRNALeu(UUR) gene was not observed. Conclusion. The result shows that the m.3243A>G mutation in mitochondrial tRNALeu(UUR) gene is not frequent cause of type 2 and some other factors may be possible i.e. genetic, behavioral or environmental. It is recommended that the sample size for diabetic individuals need to be increased for a future study and screened for the mitochondrial as well as other mutations of nuclear origin

Phenotypic Analysis, Molecular Characterization, and Antibiogram of Caries-Causing Bacteria Isolated From Dental Patients

Dental caries is a biofilm-mediated, sugar-driven, multifactorial, dynamic disease that results in the phasic demineralization and remineralization of dental hard tissues. Despite scientific advances in cariology, dental caries remains a severe global concern. The aim of this study was to determine the optimization of microbial and molecular techniques for the detection of cariogenic pathogens in dental caries patients, the prevalence of cariogenic bacteria on the basis of socioeconomic, climatological, and hygienic factors, and in vitro evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of selected synthetic antibiotics and herbal extracts. In this study, oral samples were collected from 900 patients for bacterial strain screening on a biochemical and molecular basis. Plant extracts, such as ginger, garlic, neem, tulsi, amla, and aloe vera, were used to check the antimicrobial activity against the isolated strains. Synthetic antimicrobial agents, such as penicillin, amoxicillin, erythromycin, clindamycin, metronidazole, doxycycline, ceftazidime, levofloxacin, and ciprofloxacin, were also used to access the antimicrobial activity. Among 900 patients, 63% were males and 37% were females, patients aged between 36 and 58 (45.7%) years were prone to disease, and the most common symptom was toothache (61%). For oral diseases, 21% used herbs, 36% used antibiotics, and 48% were self-medicated, owing to sweets consumption (60.66%) and fizzy drinks and fast food (51.56%). Staphylococcus mutans (29.11%) and Streptococcus sobrinus (28.11%) were found as the most abundant strains. Seven bacterial strains were successfully screened and predicted to be closely related to genera S. sobrinus, S. mutans, Actinomyces naeslundii, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Eubacterium nodatum, Propionibacterium acidifaciens, and Treponema Pallidum. Among plant extracts, the maximum zone of inhibition was recorded by ginger (22.36 mm) and amla (20.01 mm), while among synthetic antibiotics, ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin were most effective against all microbes. This study concluded that phyto extracts of ginger and amla were considered suitable alternatives to synthetic antibiotics to treat dental diseases

Explorando a degradação fotocatalítica do corante laranja de metila usando nanopartículas de óxido de Bismuto dopadas com Estrôncio

Low dimensional metal oxide Nps have garnered significant attention due to their distinctive characteristics and diverse application domains. This investigation can provide further elucidation regarding the synthesis of Strontium doped-Bi2O3 efficacious photocatalysts operating under visible light, thereby potentially addressing environmental quandaries. The photoactivity of Strontium doped-Bi2O3 Nps exhibits a significantly greater magnitude when compared to that of Bi2O3 nanoparticles lacking Strontium doping. The hydrothermal method shall be employed for the synthesis of Strontium-doped Bismuth oxide in the course of preparation. A solution of NH4OH will be introduced to Bismuth nitrate and Strontium chloride. The resulting mixtures shall be subjected to vigorous stirring for a duration of 1 hour, after which they will be transferred into 100 mL autoclaves made of stainless steel and equipped with Teflon liners. These autoclaves shall then be heated to a temperature of 180 °C for a period of 6 h. The prepared samples shall subsequently undergo collection and undergo multiple washes utilising de-ionized water. In order to synthesise Strontium doped-Bi2O3 is imperative to subject the resulting compound to a subsequent calcination process at a temperature of 450° C. Infra-Red spectroscopy (FT-IR), UV-Visible, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), techniques shall be employed for the investigation of the crystalline structures and morphologies of the powder. The resultant specimen shall subsequently serve as a catalyst for the photolytic degradation of organic dye methyl orange under diverse illumination circumstances. UV-Visible spectroscopy shall subsequently be employed to monitor the extent of photocatalytic efficacy.Os Nps de óxido metálico de baixa dimensão têm atraído atenção significativa devido às suas características distintas e diversos domínios de aplicação. Esta investigação pode fornecer mais esclarecimentos sobre a síntese de fotocatalisadores eficazes dopados com estrôncio-Bi2O3 operando sob luz visível, abordando assim potencialmente dilemas ambientais. A fotoatividade do Bi2O3 Nps dopado com estrôncio exibe uma magnitude significativamente maior quando comparada à das nanopartículas de Bi2O3 sem dopagem com estrôncio. O método hidrotérmico será utilizado para a síntese de óxido de bismuto dopado com estrôncio durante a preparação. Uma solução de NH4OH será introduzida ao nitrato de bismuto e cloreto de estrôncio. As misturas resultantes serão submetidas a agitação vigorosa por 1 h, após o que serão transferidas para autoclaves de 100 mL fabricadas em aço inoxidável e equipadas com liners de Teflon. Estas autoclaves serão então aquecidas a uma temperatura de 180 °C por um período de 6 horas. As amostras preparadas serão posteriormente coletadas e submetidas a múltiplas lavagens utilizando água deionizada. Para sintetizar Bi2O3 dopado com estrôncio é imperativo submeter o composto resultante a um processo de calcinação subsequente a uma temperatura de 450° C. Espectroscopia no infravermelho (FT-IR), UV-Visível, microscopia eletrônica de varredura (SEM), X - difração de raios (DRX), técnicas serão empregadas para a investigação das estruturas cristalinas e morfologias do pó. A amostra resultante servirá posteriormente como um catalisador para a degradação fotolítica do corante orgânico laranja de metila sob diversas circunstâncias de iluminação. A espectroscopia UV-Visível será posteriormente empregada para monitorar a extensão da eficácia fotocatalítica

Khilafah : dan pemerintahan dalam islam/ Raziq

xxiii, 178 hal.; 18 cm

Khilafah : dan pemerintahan dalam islam/ Raziq

xxiii, 178 hal.; 18 cm

Multi-Temporal Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 Data for Orchards Discrimination in Khairpur District, Pakistan Using Spectral Separability Analysis and Machine Learning Classification

Generating orchards spatial distribution maps within a heterogeneous landscape is challenging and requires fine spatial and temporal resolution images. This study examines the effectiveness of Sentinel-1 (S1) and Sentinel-2 (S2) satellite data of relatively high spatial and temporal resolutions for discriminating major orchards in the Khairpur district of the Sindh province, Pakistan using machine learning methods such as random forest (RF) and a support vector machine. A Multicollinearity test (MCT) was performed among the multi-temporal S1 and S2 variables to remove those with high correlations. Six different feature combination schemes were tested, with the fusion of multi-temporal S1 and S2 (scheme-6) outperforming all other combination schemes. The spectral separability between orchards pairs was assessed using Jeffries-Matusita (JM) distance, revealing that orchard pairs were completely separable in the multi-temporal fusion of both sensors, especially the indistinguishable pair of dates-mango. The performance difference between RF and SVM was not significant, SVM showed a slightly higher accuracy, except for scheme-4 where RF performed better. This study concludes that multi-temporal fusion of S1 and S2 data, coupled with robust ML methods, offers a reliable approach for orchard classification. Prospectively, these findings will be helpful for orchard monitoring, improvement of yield estimation and precision based agricultural practices

Analiza genetyczno-molekularna genu tRNA leucyny w odniesieniu do cukrzycy typu 2

Wstęp. Kilka mutacji punktowych w mitochondrialnym DNA wywołuje choroby metaboliczne o dziedziczeniu matczynym. Najczęstszą mutację w genie transportującego RNA leucyny (tRNALeu(UUR)) — mutację A3243G — uważa się za odpowiedzialną za występowanie cukrzycy typu 2. Niniejsze badanie zaprojektowano w celu analizy genu tRNALeu(UUR) w mitochondrialnym DNA u osób z cukrzycą i z wywiadami rodzinnymi cukrzycy w poszukiwaniu mutacji punktowej A3243G. Materiał i metody. Aby zminimalizować ryzyko zakażenia, jako źródło DNA preferowano próbki śliny. Wysokiej jakości próbki DNA uzyskane ze śliny namnażano metodą PCR i sekwencjonowano za pomocą sekwenatora Macrogen Inc. (Korea). Wyniki. Nie wykryto mutacji m.3243A > G w mitochondrialnym genie tRNALeu(UUR). Wnioski. Uzyskane wyniki wskazują, że mutacja m.3243A > G w mitochondrialnym genie tRNALeu(UUR) nie stanowi częstej przyczyny cukrzycy typu 2 i możliwy jest udział innych czynników, tj. genetycznych, behawioralnych lub środowiskowych. Zaleca się, aby w przyszłych badaniach zwiększyć liczebność ocenianej grupy osób z cukrzycą i przesiewowo oceniać zarówno mutacje mitochondrialne, jak i inne mutacje pochodzenia jądrowego

Identifying Potential Sites for Rainwater Harvesting Structures in Ghazi Tehsil, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, Using Geospatial Approach

Rainwater harvesting is an important step towards maximizing the water availability and land productivity in arid and semi-arid areas. The present study shows that the area of Ghazi Tehsil within Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan, has great potential for rainwater harvesting due to its feasible climatic and topographic conditions. This area of 348 km2 normally receives high rainfall annually, but, due to hilly terrain, the bulk of rainwater is lost in the runoff process. In order to enhance agricultural output for such a large area, the practice of rainwater harvesting is a sustainable and decisive approach. However, the selection of appropriate sites for rainwater harvesting on a large scale presents a critical challenge. In such areas, geospatial technology has proved very decisive in the identification of potential sites. In this study, we have used the HEC-GeoHMS tool (ArcGIS 9.3) to compute a curve number to represent the effects of rainfall against the hydrological soil group and landcover. Subsequently, the curve number was used as an input parameter in the soil conservation service runoff-curve number (SCS-CN) method to estimate surface runoff potential for different combinations of landcover and hydrological soil groups. It was observed that runoff was higher in mountainous areas and relatively low in plain areas. Finally, to identify the potential sites for rainwater harvesting, weighted overlay analysis-based related thematic map layers were further reclassified, and weights were assigned according to the technical guidelines of suggested international standards and under consideration of the study area’s topographic, hydrological, and climatic factors. As a result, about 20% of the area was found suitable, 52% less suitable, and 29% as not suitable. Furthermore, relative suitability was assigned to the results of suitable sites as an input for the identification of potential sites for different rainwater harvesting storage structures. These results show that 10% of the area was suitable for farm ponds, 5.74% for check dams, 21.5% for Nigarims, and 8.9% was found to be suitable for gully plugs. The comparison of our GIS-derived and field-based results spatially affirms that the analyzed results were agreeably overlaid in the context of spatial results for check dams, gully plugs, and Nigarims

Identification of Potential Natural Aquifer Recharge Sites in Islamabad, Pakistan, by Integrating GIS and RS Techniques

Islamabad is essentially the only well-planned city in Pakistan, but groundwater depletion has become a serious issue there because of the rapid increase in population, poor water management, and deforestation. The current water demand of the city is about 220 million gallons per day, with the Capital Development Authority (CDA) providing up to 70 million gallons per day. The need for water is mostly fulfilled through groundwater sources, such as water bores and commercial tube wells. Hence, identifying recharge sites for natural aquifers is a significant component of groundwater required to overcome the water crisis. Therefore, this study aims to identify potential sites for natural aquifer recharge by using analytical hierarchy process (AHP), weighted linear combination (WLC), and fuzzy logic methods. To achieve the stated objective, seven local influencing factors including soil, slope, water table, population density, land use land cover (LULC), drainage density, and elevation have been utilized in this study. AHP was utilized for the evaluation of the relative importance of the above-mentioned factors, while fuzzy logic was applied for the standardization of these factors. Finally, the AHP-WLC and fuzzy logic approaches were used to merge factor maps in order to identify suitable sites for natural aquifer recharge in Islamabad City. Two different suitability maps were constructed from both techniques, and on each of the resulting maps, the subregions were categorized into five classes: not suitable, less suitable, moderate, suitable, and most suitable. Based on the AHP-WLC results, 5% of the whole study area is deemed most suitable for natural aquifer recharge (NAR), whereas from the fuzzy logic results, 10% of the study area is marked as most suitable. In contrast, 37% and 32% of the whole study area were identified as suitable by the AHP-WLC and fuzzy logic methods, respectively. While both techniques can obtain satisfactory outcomes, the suitability map from fuzzy logic has produced more precise results. Hence, we propose to CDA-Islamabad here different sites for recharge wells based on the results of fuzzy logic. As recommended by this study, to date CDA has constructed twelve recharge wells

Applications of Various Types of Nanomaterials for the Treatment of Neurological Disorders

Neurological disorders (NDs) are recognized as one of the major health concerns globally. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), neurological disorders are one of the main causes of mortality worldwide. Neurological disorders include Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson′s disease, Huntington′s disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Frontotemporal dementia, Prion disease, Brain tumor, Spinal cord injury, and Stroke. These diseases are considered incurable diseases because no specific therapies are available to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and reach the brain in a significant amount for the pharmacological effect in the brain. There is a need for the development of strategies that can improve the efficacy of drugs and circumvent BBB. One of the promising approaches is the use of different types of nano-scale materials. These nano-based drugs have the ability to increase the therapeutic effect, reduce toxicity, exhibit good stability, targeted delivery, and drug loading capacity. Different types and shapes of nanomaterials have been widely used for the treatment of neurological disorders, including quantum dots, dendrimers, metallic nanoparticles, polymeric nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, liposomes, and micelles. These nanoparticles have unique characteristics, including sensitivity, selectivity, and the ability to cross the BBB when used in nano-sized particles, and are widely used for imaging studies and treatment of NDs. In this review, we briefly summarized the recent literature on the use of various nanomaterials and their mechanism of action for the treatment of various types of neurological disorders