Prevalence of smokers among air-conditioned coaches, Pakistan

Objective: To estimate the proportion of smokers among passengers of air-conditioned (A/C) coaches running between Karachi and Hyderabad. Pakistan.METHOD: A cross-sectional survey was done on passengers and staff members of 20 air-conditioned coaches.Results: Of 847 passengers interviewed, 17.3% were smokers and 11.7% passengers smoked during travel while rest of them remained passive smokers. Out of 147 smokers 91.2% were literate persons. Among staff members 59.3% were smokers. Approximately 56% of smokers among passengers were in the age range of 14-40 years. In 95% of A/C coaches there were no anti-smoking warning signs or written words present.CONCLUSION: In this study majority of smokers were literate, so inter-personal communication and counseling may change the smoking behavior. Ministry of Health should disseminate educational messages regarding hazards of passive smoking among commuters of AC coaches and above all proper implementation of legislation for smoking at public places especially in transport

Fusarium Oxysporum Infection of Cultivated Coneflowers (Echninacea Angustifolia

The narrow-leaf purple coneflower Echinacea angustifolia D.C. is a perennial composite native to the Central Great Plains. Because of its potential ornamental and pharmacological value, Echinacea is currently being brought into commercial production in South Dakota. A blight or wilt was observed in a field research plot on 1-to 3-year-old plants in the summers of 1993 and 1994. Up to 5% of plants growing in the wetter portion of the field showed symptoms. Affected plants became necrotic along leaf margins, followed by wilting and eventual death. Diseased plants were harvested and brought to the lab for analysis. Examination of roots and stems revealed darkening of the vascular and ground tissues. The pathogen was consistently isolated by plating 0.5 cm surface sterilized stem segments on lactic acid PDA for 3 to 5 days at room temperature. To complete Koch’s postulates, a single hyphal tip of the pathogen was transferred to carnation leaf agar. Micro and macro conidia formed abundantly within 10 days and matched the description of Fusarium oxysporum Schlect. Two to three month old coneflower seedlings were inoculated with the isolated pathogen by placing six mycelial plugs directly on the roots of each plant, just below the soil surface. Infected seedlings showed typical diagnostic symptoms (30% of inoculated seedlings) within three weeks. Non-inoculated plants remained symptomless. Fusarium oxysporum was reisolated from the seedlings as above. This is the first report of F. oxysporum as a pathogen on E. angustifolia

Maternal risk factors associated with low birth weight in Karachi: A case-control study

To evaluate maternal risk factors associated with low birth weight (LBW) among women aged 15-35 years, we carried out a hospital-based, case-control study on 262 cases (mothers of neonates weighing \u3c or = 2.5 kg) and 262 controls (mothers of neonates weighing \u3e 2.5 kg). Odds of delivering a low-birth-weight baby decreased with increase in maternal haemoglobin [odds ratio (OR): 0.701; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.62-0.79]. Odds were greater among mothers not using iron supplements during pregnancy (OR: 2.88; 95% CI: 1.83-4.54). Mothers of LBW babies had lower haemoglobin levels before delivery

Gestational diabetes in a developing country, experience of screening at the Aga Khan University Medical Centre, Karachi

In order to determine the prevalence of glucose intolerance in pregnancy, 1267 consecutive women attending the antenatal clinic of the Aga Khan University Medical Centre were subjected to a 75 g glucose challenge followed 2 hr later by plasma glucose determination irrespective of gestation on the first antenatal visit. The test was repeated at 28-32 weeks of gestation if the patients had an abnormal initial screen at less than 28 weeks gestation and a normal glucose tolerance test on diagnostic follow-up and for those who had a risk factor for gestational diabetes and a normal initial screen at less than 28 weeks gestation. The glucose challenge test was abnormal (2 hr plasma glucose greater than 140 mg%) in 8.6% of the screened population. Follow-up oral glucose tolerance test on these patients revealed a prevalence of 3.2% of gestational diabetes and 1.9% of impaired glucose tolerance test based on the modified O\u27Sullivan criteria. Improvement in cost effectiveness of screening programmes was adjudged possible by avoiding glucose tolerance tests in patients with 2 hr plasma glucose value of greater than 170 mg% after a 75 g oral glucose challenge for screening

Estimation of mortality rates, exploitation rates and ratios of Lepturacanthus savala (Cuvier) and Eupleurogrammus muticus (Gray)

The contribution of ribonfish to the total fish catch in the world has gone up from 1.1% in 1990 to 1.8% in 1998. However, ever since the pressure has increased in the coastal waters, the catches have started showing signs of decline. The same is also reflected in two species, Lepturacanthus savala and Eupleurogrammus muticus recorded from the dol net in Mumbai waters. In the present investigation the mortality rates and ratios of two species of ribbonfish are recorded. The pooled total, natural and fishing mortality of the former species is 4.15, 1.30, and 2.86 respectively whereas that of the latter species is 4.31, 1.15 and 3.16 respectively. The pooled exploitation ratio (E) and exploitation rate (U) of L. savala and E. muticus were 0.68 & 0.66 and 0.73 & 0.72 respectively. Though for both the species the E is well beyond the optimum E of 0.5, for E.muticus it is very much on the higher side. Thus, a reduction in the fishing effort is required to prevent future damage to the stock

Assimilation of IRS-P4 (MSMR) meteorological data in the NCMRWF global data assimilation system

Oceansat-1 was successfully launched by India in 1999, with two payloads, namely Multi-frequency Scanning Microwave Radiometer (MSMR) and Ocean Color Monitor (OCM) to study the biological and physical parameters of the ocean. The MSMR sensor is configured as an eight-channel radiometer using four frequencies with dual polarization. The MSMR data at 75 km resolution from the Oceansat-I have been assimilated in the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) data assimilation forecast system. The operational analysis and forecast system at NCMRWF is based on a T80L18 global spectral model and Spectral Statistical Interpolation (SSI) scheme for data analysis. The impact of the MSMR data is seen globally, however it is significant over the oceanic region where conventional data are rare. The dry-nature of the control analyses have been removed by utilizing the MSMR data. Therefore, the total precipitable water data from MSMR has been identified as a very crucial parameter in this study. The impact of surface wind speed from MSMR is to increase easterlies over the tropical Indian Ocean. Shifting of the positions of westerly troughs and ridges in the south Indian Ocean has contributed to reduction of temperature to around 30‡S

Large-scale shell-model calculations near mass region 100-130

308-313In this work, we have presented a microscopic shell-model description of the structure and collective behavior of intermediate-mass nuclei around doubly magic 100Sn and 132Sn nuclei. The Sn-isotopes lie between the two doubly magic nuclei and cover a range from exotic proton-rich N=Z nuclei to exotic neutron-rich nuclei with N/Z > 1.6. The results obtained using BIGSTICK code for the low-level excitation states and transition probabilities for the studied Sn and Ba isotopic chains have been discussed in the radiance of available experimental data. We have used 100Sn as a core for all the studied isotopes with the same valence space (i.e. 1d5/2, 2s1/2, 1d3/2, 0g7/2, 0h11/2 or ‘sdgh’) for both protons (Z) and neutrons (N) between 50 and 82. These calculations are performed by means of globally optimized monopole effective interaction for the sdgh-shell

Changes in bacterial profile during amebiasis: demonstration of anaerobic bacteria in ALA pus samples

Little is known about the changes in gut resident flora during amebic colitis and amebic liver abscess (ALA) caused by Entamoeba histolytica infection. Fecal samples from ALA patients, from healthy E. histolytica negative and positive (asymptomatic) individuals, and from pre- and post-metronidazole-treated healthy volunteers and pus samples from ALA patients were tested for the presence of various bacterial genera using 16S rRNA-based primers. Statistically significant reduction in lactobacillus due to E. histolytica infection was observed in asymptomatic individuals and ALA patients. On the other hand, reduction in bacteroides, bifidobacterium, and clostridium in the same samples was due to metronidazole treatment. Two anaerobic genera, viz. bacteroides and peptostreptococcus, were detected in ALA pus samples, and this observation is unprecedented. In addition, PCR revealed metronidazole resistance genes in fecal and pus samples of metronidazole-treated individuals. Re-examination of the ameba-bacterium relationship in amebiasis is suggested

Biological activities of Rumex dentatus L: Evaluation of methanol and hexane extracts

Rumex dentatus L. (Plygonaceae) extracts were evaluated for antibacterial, antifungal, cytotoxic, antitumor and allopathic potential. The leaf, stem and root extracts were prepared in methanol and hexane by simple maceration. The methanol extracts of root and shoot were found effective against all the bacterial strains tested. Zone of inhibition ranged between 9.7 to 12.1 mm. While the hexane extracts inhibited fungal growth (up to 80%) more efficiently than the methanol extracts. Concentration of different the extracts of R. dentatus effectively inhibited tumor induction on the potato discs produced by wild type Agrobacterium strains At10 and At6. The root extracts either in methanol or hexane showed LD50 values below 1000 ppm in brine shrimp mortality assay. The methanol extracts of leaf and stem inhibited radish seed germination (70 and 61% respectively) and root length more than the hexane extracts. The R. dentatus methanol extract showed presence of alkaloids, saponins, anthraquinones and tannins while flavonoids were also found in both methanol as well as hexane extract