Quality of life in patients with thalassemia major in a developing country.

Objective: To determine the problems faced by thalassemic patients in their personal, psychological and social life. Study Design: A cross-sectional multi-centre survey. Place and Duration of Study: Karachi, Lahore and Quetta Centres of Fatimid Foundation, from October 2009 to October 2010. Methodology: An indigenously developed Qualifty of Life (QoL) questionnaire modified from SF-36 questionnaire was administered to 101 transfusion dependent subjects suffering from thalassemia major. Variables were analyzed using SPSS version 15 for descriptive statistics. Results: The mean age of the subjects was 10.5 years ranging from 6 - 21 years. Less than one third of the patients felt that their health was slightly worse as compared to last year. Forty five (44%) of the patients felt loneliness due to their disease. Parents of 36 (35.6%) of the children at times did not allow their children to play because of their disease. Twenty eight (27.7%) stated difficulty in mingling with children of their age. Seventy one (70.3%) of the patients reported that at some or all times they were worried about their future life and career while 70 (69.3%) admitted being taken extra care of by their friends and 56 (55.4%) by their teachers. Conclusion: The quality of life of surveyed thalassemic patients was immensely affected. Having physical impairments,social stresses, financial burdens and problems with their education and career make them very much vulnerable to psychological trauma very early in their life. All of this creates a hindrance in their way of developing into autonomous functioning adults

Risk Factors for Bronchiolitis in Infants of Hazara Division - A Cross Sectional Study

OBJECTIVES Bronchiolitis is one of the major causes of hospitalization in the infants. Higher rate of hospitalization and mortality can be reduced by recognizing and control of risk factors for bronchiolitis. The objective of this study is to ascertain risk factors of bronchiolitis in infants, in local population of Hazara Division. METHODOLOGY This cross-sectional study was done in Ayub teaching hospital form January, 2020 till June 2020. Infants of both gender from age of 3 months to 12 months were included with diagnosis of bronchiolitis. Patients with croup, pneumonia, cystic fibrosis and bronchomalasia are excluded. Demographic variables, clinical characteristics and risk factors of bronchiolitis related to infant, mother and family were documented on specific proforma. The data was analyzed by SPSS 21. RESULTS There were 101 infants. Mean age was 5±3.5 months. Male to female ratio was 2.8. 77.2% infant had de livery through surgical procedure and 82% are term. 45% infants were exclusively breast fed. 34% patients room were carpeted, 35% exposed to molds and 81% had history of contact with infected person.28% infants are exposed to passive smoke, 49% had history of allergies and 60% mothers uses perfume to their child’s. 31% infants have more than 10 family members and are living in 2 rooms (p=0.000). Infant weaned at 6month have late onset of bronchiolitis as compare to infants weaned before 6 months (p=0.000). CONCLUSION Perfume/powder use, family history of allergies, history of contact with respiratory infection, delivery with surgical procedure as major new risk factors. Carpets, mold, passive smoking, overcrowding, are also contributing risk factors

Machine Learning: The Backbone of Intelligent Trade Credit-Based Systems

Technology has turned into a significant differentiator in the money and traditional recordkeeping systems for the financial industry. To depict two customers as potential investors, it is mandatory to give the complex innovation that they anticipate and urge to purchase. In any case, it is difficult to keep on top of and be a specialist in each of the new advancements that are accessible. By reappropriating IT administrations, monetary administrations firms can acquire prompt admittance to the most recent ability and direction. Financial systems, along with machine learning (ML) algorithms, are vital for critical concerns like secure financial transactions and automated trading. These are the key to the provision of financial decisions for investors and stakeholders for the firms which are working with the trade credit (TC) approach, in Small and Medium Industries (SMEs). Huge and very sensitive data is processed in a limited time. The trade credit is a reason for more financial gains. The impact of TC with predictive machine learning algorithms is the reason why intelligent and safe revenue generation is the main target of the proposed study. That is, the combination of financial data and technology (FinTech) domains is a potential reason for sales growth and ultimately more profit.publishedVersio

Simultaneous Determination of Dimethomorph and Chlorothalonil in Pesticide Formulation: HPLC Method Development and Validation

The identification and accurate quantification of pesticides is important to verify the recommendedconcentration of active content of each pesticide in formulated products to avoid adverse effects on human life due toover dosage. In this study, method of quantitative determination of Dimethomorph and Chlorothalonil in pesticideformulation was developed and validated by using ICH guidelines. Chromatographic separations with good resolutionwere performed on Beckman C-18 column (5 µm x 150 mm x 4.6 mm), using 80:20, v/v – (CH3CN:H2O) as mobilephase in isocratic mode at 230 nm. The retention time for Dimethomorph and Chlorothalonil at flow rate 1.2 mL/minwas 6.21 and 9.63 minutes, respectively. Calibration curves of both studied fungicides (Chlorothalonil andDimethomorph) were linear showing coefficient of determination greater than 0.996. %RSD value of inter-dayprecision was found to be less than 3 for both pesticides and for intra-day precision these values were less than 2. Interlaboratory comparison (ILC) method was applied to evaluate the accuracy of the proposed method and Z-score valueswere found to be less than 2. The proposed method is therefore efficient, accurate, and cost-effective and can suitablybe used for simultaneous quantitative determination of Dimethomorph and Chlorothalonil in pesticide formulatedproducts

Enhancement of the fruit quality and postharvest life expectancy of mango fruit (Mangifera indica L.) applying ecofriendly bio-coatings

The higher losses of fruits and vegetables during post-harvest handling are a serious matter for any country whose economy is based on agriculture. The products of this plant are a significant source of horticultural produce storage used for the control of different post-harvest losses, which include diseases as well as microorganisms. Bio-coatings may be used as a better alternative to the synthetic chemicals. The impact of edible coating on the quality and storage life of mango (cv. ‘Anwar Rataul’) fruit was investigated by harvesting the fruits at a firm green stage of physiological maturity and coating them with corn oil, peanut oil, sunflower oil, soya bean oil, and animal fat. The uncoated and coated fruits were stored at 25 °C and the relative humidity (RH) was 75%. The fruits were analyzed for physicochemical quality attributes during storage at 0 (harvest time), 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 days. The data showed that most of the parameters were affected significantly by the materials of coating and storage intervals (P ≤ 0.05). The fruits coated with animal fat had significantly superior fruit color, taste, aroma, firmness, total sugar content, and acidity of fruit juice, total soluble solids, and ascorbic acid content, as well as delayed ripening. Animal fat-coated fruits retained titratable acidity, ascorbic acid content (mg.100g-1) and fruit firmness (kg.cm-2) with minimal disease incidence, and weight loss (%), whereas uncoated fruits did not retain all quality attributes and deteriorated after 20 days of storage. In conclusion, mango fruits could be coated with animal fat and stored for up to 25 days without deterioration in quality

Relationship between Remittance, Export, Foreign Direct Investment and Growth in South Asia: A Panel Cointegration and Causality Analysis

The relationship among remittances, Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), exports and economic growth is known to have important role in economic literature for countries suffering from technological distress and unemployment problems. This paper explores the long and short run relationship between remittances, exports, foreign direct investment and economic growth using data of South Asian countries. The study covers the period from 1988 to 2011. Stationarity of the variables have been examined through both first and second generation panel unit root tests to cater for cross-section dependence. After confirmation of panel cointegration, long term coefficients have been estimated by Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS) and Dynamic Ordinary Least Square (DOLS) models. Pooled Mean Group (PMG) methodology is applied to examine the cause and effect relation among the associated variables. Results suggest presence of cointegration among the tested variables. FMOLS and DOLS estimation analysis reveal positive impact of capital, remittances, exports, and FDI on economic growth whereas a negative impact of labor on growth is observed. The causality analysis confirms the presence of long term equilibrium relation among economic growth, labor, capital, remittances, exports, and FDI. In short run, exports Granger cause growth and FDI Granger cause exports. Feedback causality is also confirmed between remittances and capital in the South Asian countries

Relationship between Remittance, Export, Foreign Direct Investment and Growth in South Asia: A Panel Cointegration and Causality Analysis

The relationship among remittances, Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), exports and economic growth is known to have important role in economic literature for countries suffering from technological distress and unemployment problems. This paper explores the long and short run relationship between remittances, exports, foreign direct investment and economic growth using data of South Asian countries. The study covers the period from 1988 to 2011. Stationarity of the variables have been examined through both first and second generation panel unit root tests to cater for cross-section dependence. After confirmation of panel cointegration, long term coefficients have been estimated by Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS) and Dynamic Ordinary Least Square (DOLS) models. Pooled Mean Group (PMG) methodology is applied to examine the cause and effect relation among the associated variables. Results suggest presence of cointegration among the tested variables. FMOLS and DOLS estimation analysis reveal positive impact of capital, remittances, exports, and FDI on economic growth whereas a negative impact of labor on growth is observed. The causality analysis confirms the presence of long term equilibrium relation among economic growth, labor, capital, remittances, exports, and FDI. In short run, exports Granger cause growth and FDI Granger cause exports. Feedback causality is also confirmed between remittances and capital in the South Asian countries

Efficient removal of norfloxacin using nano zerovalent cerium composite biochar-catalyzed peroxydisulfate

Norfloxacin (NOR), an important antibiotic used for the treatment of different infections which is reportedly causing huge quantity of water pollution and severe environmental issues. In this study, biochar prepared from Phoenix dactylifera roots biomass (PB) and composited with mesoporous nano-zerovalent cerium (nZVCe) was used for treatment of NOR solutions. The various characterization and treatment studies showed successful formation of the nZVCe and PB composite. The nZVCe was found to improve physiological characteristics and catalytic efficiency of PB. The nZVCe/PB composite caused 52% removal of NOR as compared to 23% by the individual PB. The use of peroxydisulfate (PDS) with PB and nZVCe/PB showed further improvement in the removal of NOR and caused 58 and 84% removal efficiencies of NOR by PB/PDS and nZVCe/PB/PDS, respectively. The use of PDS with PB and nZVCe/PB was found to yield ●OH and SO4 ●– which improved degradation of NOR, however, addition of ●OH and SO4 ●– scavengers impeded NOR degradation. The PB was found to have several oxygen functional groups which decomposed PDS into ●OH and SO4 ●–. The nZVCe/PB showed high recovery, reusability, and stability and caused high removal of NOR even at fifth cycle of treatment both in the absence and presence of PDS. The treatment of NOR by nZVCe/PB-catalyzed PDS showed encouraging results under different pH, and varying concentrations of PDS, nZVCe/PB, and NOR as well as in real water samples which suggest potential practical applications of NOR contaminated water. Degradation of NOR resulted into several products and the resulting final product proved to be non-toxic

Bismuth-Doped Nano Zerovalent Iron: A Novel Catalyst for Chloramphenicol Degradation and Hydrogen Production

© In this study, we showed that doping bismuth (Bi) at the surface of Fe0 (Bi/Fe0, bimetallic iron system) - synthesized by a simple borohydride reduction method - can considerably accelerate the reductive degradation of chloramphenicol (CHP). At a reaction time of 12 min, 62, 68, 74, 95, and 82% degradation of CHP was achieved with Fe0, Bi/Fe0-1 [1% (w/w) of Bi], Bi/Fe0-3 [3% (w/w) of Bi], Bi/Fe0-5 [5% (w/w) of Bi], and Bi/Fe0-8 [8% (w/w) of Bi], respectively. Further improvements in the degradation efficiency of CHP were observed by combining the peroxymonosulfate (HSO5-) with Bi/Fe0-5 (i.e., 81% by Bi/Fe0-5 and 98% by the Bi/Fe0-5/HSO5- system at 8 min of treatment). Interestingly, both Fe0 and Bi/Fe0-5 showed effective H2 production under dark conditions that reached 544 and 712 μM by Fe0 and Bi/Fe0-5, respectively, in 70 mL of aqueous solution containing 0.07 g (i.e., at 1 g L-1 concentration) of the catalyst at ambient temperature

Enhancement of the fruit quality and postharvest life expectancy of mango fruit (Mangifera indica L.) applying ecofriendly bio-coatings

The higher losses of fruits and vegetables during post-harvest handling are a serious matter for any country whose economy is based on agriculture. The products of this plant are a significant source of horticultural produce storage used for the control of different post-harvest losses, which include diseases as well as microorganisms. Bio-coatings may be used as a better alternative to the synthetic chemicals. The impact of edible coating on the quality and storage life of mango (cv. ‘Anwar Rataul’) fruit was investigated by harvesting the fruits at a firm green stage of physiological maturity and coating them with corn oil, peanut oil, sunflower oil, soya bean oil, and animal fat. The uncoated and coated fruits were stored at 25 °C and the relative humidity (RH) was 75%. The fruits were analyzed for physicochemical quality attributes during storage at 0 (harvest time), 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 days. The data showed that most of the parameters were affected significantly by the materials of coating and storage intervals (P ≤ 0.05). The fruits coated with animal fat had significantly superior fruit color, taste, aroma, firmness, total sugar content, and acidity of fruit juice, total soluble solids, and ascorbic acid content, as well as delayed ripening. Animal fat-coated fruits retained titratable acidity, ascorbic acid content (mg.100g-1) and fruit firmness (kg.cm-2) with minimal disease incidence, and weight loss (%), whereas uncoated fruits did not retain all quality attributes and deteriorated after 20 days of storage. In conclusion, mango fruits could be coated with animal fat and stored for up to 25 days without deterioration in quality