Factors That Motivates Fake News Sharing Among Social Media Users: A Case of an Emerging Economy

False news is not new but it is becoming more common, it has become a serious issue as a result of social media's expansion, which has permitted individuals to engage and share thoughts. The primary aim of the research is to investigate those factors that influence fake news sharing on social media in an emerging economy. It is necessary to target emerging economy as fake news create a massive panic in such challenging economies that ultimately affect various sectors. For this purpose, Uses and Gratification theory (U&G) is used. In this research, the independent variable is False information and dependent variables are Altruism, Information sharing, Socialization, Entertainment and Pass time. In this research, quantitative method is used to investigate concepts to find relationships between variables and forecast results. In this research, the correlation research approach is used. A survey was conducted with local students via questionnaire (n=150). For data analysis, SPSS and smart PLS-SEM is used in this research. According to the findings of the study, altruism is the foremost imperative indicator of fake news distribution among Pakistanis. We have come to the conclusion that Altruism, Entertainment and Pass the Time foresee the spread of bogus news positively while Sharing of Information and Socialization impacts negatively. We recommend that online platforms users must verify the veracity of the information they have encounter and then post on social media websites

Synthesis, Characterization, Biological Activities and Ab-initio Study of Transition Metal Complexes of [Methyl 2-((4-chlorophenyl)(hydroxy)methyle) Acrylate]

Taking cognizance of the medicinal significance and diverse functions of synthetic Morita-Baylis-Hillman adducts (MBHA), the title ligand was synthesized and purified through column chromatography. Cr+3, Mn+2, Co+3, Ni+2, Cu+2 complexes of the ligand were synthesized under basic conditions, subjected to characterization through spectral analyses and verified with the IR spectrum that was generated computationally by the DFT B3LYP method, with 6-311++ G (d,p) basis set and Hartree Fock (HF) B3LYP method in conjunction with 3-21G(d,p) basis set. Powder XRD helped to testify crystals of the complexes. Moreover, the antibacterial, and antioxidant characteristics of MBHA and its complexes were also established. All of them were found to be active antioxidants. The antibacterial activities, examined against S. aureus, E. coli, B. pumilis and S. typhi have revealed that its Cobalt complex has an excellent potential to act against all of them. Hence, these compounds maybe having potentialities for the discovery of new, cheaper and efficient drugs against various infectious diseases. The study also uncovers the first example of utilization of MBHA towards metal complex formation

Painless Aortic Dissection—Diagnostic Dilemma With Fatal Outcomes: What Do We Learn?

Aortic dissection is the most catastrophic clinical condition that involves the aorta. It has a high mortality as well as high rate of misdiagnosis due to frequent unusual presentation. Typically, it presents with acute chest, back, and tearing abdominal pain. However, it can present atypically with minimal or no pain, making diagnosis difficult. Physicians should always suspect acute aortic dissection in patients with certain clinical conditions like difficult-to-control hypertension, giant cell arteritis, bicuspid aortic valve, intracranial aneurysms, simple renal cysts, family history of aortic disease, and Marfan syndrome, especially when a patient presents with ischemic symptoms involving multiple organ without an obvious cause

New Developments of Hermite–Hadamard Type Inequalities via s-Convexity and Fractional Integrals

In this paper, we present an identity for differentiable functions that has played an important role in proving Hermite–Hadamard type inequalities for functions whose absolute values of first derivatives are s-convex functions. Meanwhile, some Hermite–Hadamard type inequalities for the functions whose absolute values of second derivatives are s-convex are also established with the help of an existing identity in literature. Many limiting results are deduced from the main results which are stated in remarks. Some applications of proved results are also discussed in the present study

Association of polymorphism c.-124G\u3eA and c.-16 C\u3eT in the promoter region of human INHA gene with altered sperm parameters; a pilot study

Objective: To demonstrate the association of Inhibin α (INHα) c.-124G\u3eA and INHα-c.-16 C\u3eT polymorphisms with altered sperm parameters in a selected male population of Karachi, Pakistan.Study design & settings: In this pilot study, male subjects were stratified on the basis of WHO criteria for altered sperm parameters; 83 (cases-altered sperm parameters) and 30 (controls-normal sperm parameters) subjects were included for analysis of INHα-c.124G\u3eA polymorphism and 88 (cases) and 38 (controls) were analyzed for INHα -c-16 C\u3eT polymorphism. Genotyping of INHα-c.-124G\u3eA and INHα-c.-16 C\u3eT was performed by PCR-RFLP, genotype distribution in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was evaluated by binary logistic regression model.Results: For the c.-124G\u3eA polymorphism in INHα gene, frequency of the three major genotypes in controls was: GG: 80.0%, GA: 20.0%, and AA: 0% and in cases was: GG: 59.0%, GA: 30.2%, and AA: 10.8%. The GG genotype was significantly associated with male infertility (p\u3c 0.045, OR =2.776, 95% CI = 1.025 -7.513) while, the GA genotype was not significantly associated with infertility (p\u3c 0.290 OR =0.580 95% CI=0.211-1.593). Frequency of mutant AA genotype was (10.8%) in cases (altered sperm parameters) and absent (0%), in normal sperm parameter (controls). The frequencies of three major genotypes CC; CT; and TT did not show any significant difference between cases and controls (p \u3e 0.05).Conclusion: The results from our study exhibited a significant association of c.-124G\u3eA polymorphism in the INHα gene promoter region with male infertility in the Pakistani population. A significant association of c.-16 C\u3eT polymorphism with male infertility however was not observed. Further large-scale studies should be conducted to confirm this association

MTHFR-c 677C\u3eT polymorphism and male infertility: An analysis in a cohort of Pakistani men

Objective: To analyze existence of an association between methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T polymorphism with male infertility.Materials and methods: A case-control study was conducted from June 2017 to August 2018 in which 88 infertile and 40 fertile were recruited. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) - restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) assay was carried out to study the allelic frequency of C677T polymorphism. The differences in allelic and genotypic frequencies of C677T locus between fertile and infertile groups were evaluated by the Pearson chisquare test. A logistic regression model was used to calculate Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals, p value\u3c0.05 was considered significant. The Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was tested using HWE software.Results: In infertile subjects, frequency distribution of CC allele was (60.2%), the CT allele was (30.7%) the TT allele was (9.1%) and in the fertile controls the frequency was CC allele (75%), CT allele (20%) and TT allele (5%) respectively. Analysis revealed MTHFR 677 CC genotype associated significantly with male infertility (p\u3c.046, OR=2.385; 95% CI=1.014-5.608); Frequency of CT (30.7%) and TT (9.1) genotypes were higher in infertile men as compared to CT (20%) TT (5%) in fertile controls but statistically these were not significantly different (p=0.097; OR=0.455; CI=0.179-1.153 and p=0.431; OR=0.526; CI=0.107-2.599 respectively). Significant association of age and BMI with MTHFR genotypes and infertility was observed.Conclusion: Our results showed that MTHFR C677T polymorphism is not a risk factor for male infertility in our Pakistani population

Screening of drug candidates against Endothelin-1 to treat hypertension using computational based approaches: Molecular docking and dynamics simulation.

Hypertension (HTN) is a major risk factor for cardiovascular and renal diseases, cerebrovascular accidents (CVA) and a prime underlying cause of worldwide morbidity and mortality. Hypertension is a complex condition and a strong interplay of multiple genetic, epigenetic and environmental factors is involved in its etiology. Previous studies showed an association of overexpression of genes with hypertension. Satisfactory control of Blood Pressure (BP) levels is not achieved in a major portion of hypertensive patients who take antihypertensive drugs. Since existing antihypertensive drugs have many severe or irreversible side effects and give rise to further complications like frequent micturition and headaches, dizziness, dry irritating cough, hypoglycemia, GI hemorrhage, impaired left ventricular function, hyperkalemia, Anemia, angioedema and azotemia. There is a need to identify new antihypertensive agents that can inhibit the expression of these overexpressed genes contributing to hypertension. The study was designed to identify drug-able targets against overexpressed genes involved in hypertension to intervene the disease. The structure of the protein encoded by an overexpressed gene Endothelin-1 was retrieved from Protein Database (PDB). A library of five thousand phytochemicals was docked against Endothelin-1. The top four hits against Endothelin-1 protein were selected based on S score and Root Mean Square Deviation (RMSD). S score is a molecular docking score which is used to determine the preferred orientation, binding mode, site of the ligand and binding affinity. RMSD refines value for drug target identification. Absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity profiling (ADMET) was done. The study provides novel insights into HTN etiology and improves our understanding of BP pathophysiology. These findings help to understand the impact of gene expression on BP regulation. This study might be helpful to develop an antihypertensive drug with a better therapeutic profile and least side effects

The Optimization of Gelatin Extraction from Chicken Feet and the Development of Gelatin Based Active Packaging for the Shelf-Life Extension of Fresh Grapes

Synthetic plastics are causing serious environmental and health problems due to which the concept of developing biodegradable food packaging has gained considerable attention. In this study, extraction of gelatin from chicken feet was optimized followed by characterization of gelatin. Chicken feet gelatin was used to develop biodegradable nanocomposite films by the incorporation of chitosan (CS) and zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs). Gelatin nanocomposite films were used to increase the shelf-life of fresh grapes by determining the browning index, weight loss, and microbial profile of fresh grapes. A high yield (7.5%) of gelatin and Bloom strength (186 g) were obtained at optimized extraction conditions (pretreatment with 4.2% acetic acid and extraction at 66 °C for 4.2 h). Electrophoretic analysis of gelatin revealed the presence of α (130–140 kDa) and β chains (195–200 kDa), whereas a Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectrometer confirmed the presence of amide A and B and amide I, II, and III. Incorporation of ZnO NPs in a gelatin–CS matrix improved the barrier and the mechanical and the thermal properties of films. Gelatin nanocomposite films with 0.3% ZnO NPs significantly reduced the weight loss (23.88%) and the browning index (53.33%) of grapes in comparison to control treatments. The microbial count in artificially inoculated grapes wrapped in gelatin nanocomposite films remained below 4 log CFU/mL until the fifth storage day in comparison to control treatments. The gelatin from poultry byproducts such as chicken feet can serve as an efficient biopolymer to develop biodegradable food packaging to enhance the shelf-life of perishable food products