\u3cem\u3eSalvadora persica, Tamarix aphylla\u3c/em\u3e and \u3cem\u3eZizyphus mauritiana\u3c/em\u3e: Three Woody Plant Species Mentioned in Holy Quran and Ahadith, and their Ethnobotanical Uses in North Western Part (D. I. Khan) of Pakistan

The present research work is based on three woody plant species: Salvadora persica, L. Tamarix aphylla (L.) Karst. and Zizyphus mauritiana Lam. mentioned in the 16th Ayat of Sura Saba in Holy Quran and Ahadith. These plants were collected from Dera Ismail Khan District, NWFP, Pakistan, during 2007. This is a part of check list of medicinal flora and their uses enlisted in Holy Quran, Ahadith and Islamic literature. The main aim of this study is to document the knowledge of ethnobotanical importance of these plants in the light of Islam. In view of the importance of this study related comprehensive and detailed data was collected. Complete macro and microscopic detailed morphological features of these species were discussed. Results were systematically arranged by alphabetic order of botanical names, family followed by Quranic name, Arabic name, English name, Local / Vernicular name, habit and distribution, parts used, medicinal uses and references cited from Holy Quran, Ahadith. It is concluded that herbal medicines are being widely used in the world because of better cultural acceptability, least injurious with none or much reduced side effects

Ethnomedicinal Study of Vegetables Mentioned in the Holy Qura’n and Ahadith

The present research work is based on nine herbaceous plant species: Agaricus campestris L., Allium cepa L., Allium sativum L., Beta vulgaris L., Citrulus lennatus, Cucumis sativus L., Lagenaria siceraria, Trigonella foenum- graceum L. and Zingiber officinale Rroscoe. mentioned in Holy Quran and Ahadith. These plants were collected from Dera Ismail Khan District, NWFP, Pakistan, during 2007. This is a part of check list of medicinal flora and their uses enlisted in Holy Quran, Ahadith and Islamic literature. The main aim of this study is to document the knowledge of ethnobotanical importance of vegetables in the light of Islam. In view of the importance of this study related comprehensive and detailed data was collected. Complete macro & microscopic detailed morphological features of these species were discussed. Results were systematically arranged by alphabetic order of botanical names, family followed by Quranic name, Arabic name, English name, Local / vernicular name, habit and distribution, parts used, medicinal uses and references cited from Holy Quran, Ahadith. It is concluded that herbal medicines are being widely used in the world because of better cultural acceptability, least injurious with none or much reduced side effects

Pathophysiology of COVID-19 and its potential therapeutics

A series of acute and atypical serious respiratory illnesses were reported in December 2019 from Wuhan, a city of China. It spread to other places and became a global pandemic involving more than 200 countries of the world. Soon, it was discovered that this atypical respiratory illness was caused by a novel corona virus. It was named as the severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the disease caused by it as corona virus disease-19 (COVID-19). Since COVID-19 is a new viral disease, world is still struggling to find out a permanent remedy to control this serious health problem. It seems prudent to study or have a look on the pathophysiology of SARS CoV-2 in the light of available research. Further, a review on pathophysiology may give an insight on the potential therapeutic options. Being a new virus and having potential to cause significant morbidity and mortality in short span of time various approved drugs are being repurposed for the treatment of COVID-19

A basic insight into COVID-19 vaccines: an overview

Atypical serious respiratory illnesses were reported in December 2019 from Wuhan, a city of China, which later spread to other places rapidly and became a global pandemic. Soon it was discovered to be caused by a novel corona virus, named as the severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the disease caused by it as corona virus disease-19 (COVID-19). Since COVID-19 is a new viral disease, world is still struggling to find out a permanent remedy to overcome this serious health problem. Developing safe and effective vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 has become the only way forward to tackle it. Various vaccines have been developed and are approved for mass vaccination on emergency basis. Both classical and next generation vaccine platforms are being used to develop COVID-19 vaccine. It seems interesting to have a look on the various types of vaccines and get an insight into them so that we can get familiarize with the COVID-19 vaccination

Job engagement as the mediator on the relationship between leadership styles, organizational structure, and organizational performance

The aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between leadership styles (i.e. transformational, transactional, and passive avoidant), organizational structure and organizational performance through the mediating role of job engagement in government-owned mobile phone company in Bangladesh. The study adopted the survey method for data collection and a total of 213 questionnaires were analyzed giving a response rate of 38.31 percent. This study used convenience sampling for sample selection. The respondents of the study were from the mid-level position e.g. senior executive, assistant manager, deputy manager, manager, and deputy general manager of Teletalk mobile phone company. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 20, and Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the study hypotheses. With regard to leadership styles, the study revealed that the relationship between transformational leadership style and organizational performance is statistically significant; whereas, the relationship between transactional and passive-avoidant leadership style with organizational performance is not significant. Similarly, the relationship between transformational leadership style and job engagement is significant; but the relationship between transactional and passive-avoidant leadership style with job engagement is not significant. Relating to organizational structure, the relationship between organizational structure with organizational performance and job engagement is found statistically significant. Job engagement is also significant with organizational performance. In terms of mediation effects, job engagement mediates the relationship between transformational, passive-avoidant leadership style and organizational structure with organizational performance partially, while the relationship between transactional leadership style and organizational performance is fully mediated by job engagement. Finally, the study implications, limitations as well suggestions are discussed accordingly

Aquatic Plants of District Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan

In this taxonomic account 18 aquatic plants, which are reported for the first time from Dera Ismail Khan District are presented. The species were Alternanthera sessilis (Linn.) DC., Azolla pinnata R. Br., Bacopa moneiri (Linn.) Pennell., Ceratophyllum demersum Linn., Eleocharis palustris (Linn.) R. Brown., Hydrilla verticillata Royle., Marselia quadrifolia Linn., Nelumbium nelumbo (Linn.) Druce., Nymphoide cristata Roxb.) O.Ketze., Phragmites karka (Retz.) Trin., Pistia stratiotes Linn., Polygonum barbatum Linn; Polygonum flaccidum Meissn., Potammogeton crispus Linn., Potamogeton nodosus Poiret, Spirodela polyrrhiza (Linn.) Schield, Typha domenginsis Pers., Typha elephantia Roxb

Credit for Rural Poor in Pakistan

Farmers, large and small, and the non-farm population in rural areas all suffer from the liquidity constraint. Credit is needed to acquire command over the use of working capital, fixed capital, and consumption goods. The Green Revolution technologies have increased the credit requirement for modern inputs and farm investment. A new expanded role of rural credit institutions has emerged in the wake of the technology revolution in rural areas. Two distinct approaches have been used to provide the financial services to the rural poor. The most widely favoured approach in the past was the use of subsidised interest rates with a portion of credit reserved for the poor. The low interest policy was based on the premise that it would induce farmers, large and small, to use modern inputs on a larger scale. One of the adverse side-effect of this policy was the introduction of an element of financial unsustainability in the loan portfolios of the credit institutions. The recent view about the delivery of rural credit consists of using market interest rates and using a mixture of 'bottom-up initiatives' at the local level, using non-government groups and 'top-down initiatives' by the formal credit institutions in terms of the simplification of the procedures and decentralisation of the credit operation for credit supply to the rural poor. In this paper, an attempt is made to evaluate the efficacy of these two approaches in the case of Pakistan for delivering credit to the rural poor.

Determinants of Rice Productivity: An Analysis of Jaffarabad District –Balochistan (Pakistan)

This study examines the determinants of rice production in the district of Jaffarabad in Balochistan using primary data. The data is collected with the help of well-developed questionnaire based on random sampling from the different tehsils of Jaffarabad district. In this study, we estimated the parameters of the Neo-classical and Cobb-Douglas production function with the help of ordinary least square (OLS) method. The results of this empirical work show that with the exception of experience of farmers and high cost of the inputs, all explanatory variables i.e. capital, labor, education of the farmers, availability of credit and farm size have a positive effect on rice output. Therefore, government is recommended to encourage farmers to use fertilizers and new methods in agricultural production and watering, and provide them with convenient loans at low interest rate

Endophytic Potential of Entomopathogenic Fungi for the Remediation of Wastewater

Phytoremediation has the potential to significantly reduce water contamination caused by excessive harmful chemicals. The degradative properties of fungi are used in fungal phytoremediation to eliminate or neutralise the hazardous pollutants present in water. The goal of the current study was to endophytize water lettuce with the two entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopilae and Trichoderma harazium. The plant is inoculated with the fungus using the root-dipping procedure. There were two main treatments and a control all with five replications. The analysis of plant and wastewater were analyzed initially like frequency of fungus remained in plant weight, root length and for water that was Biological oxygen demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen demand (COD), and heavy metals (Copper, Nickle, Zinc and Cadmium). The data were taken for 3rd 5th and 7th day of the experiment. The results exhibit that T. harazium exhibited the 82.67 % followed by the M. anisopilae with 65.33 % as compared to control with 1.33 % mean frequency the 10th day of inoculation. Maximum weight 295.98 and 265.13 g and root length were maximum recorded 15.18 and 18.12 cm respectively at the end of the experiment. Performance of T. harazium endophytic plant found to be 90.7 % for BOD, 73.82 % for COD. The removal % of Cu, Zn, Ni, Cd exhibited 75.13, 96.58, 87.14, 61.17 % after 7d of treatment. In case of M. anisopilae, 85.2 % for BOD, 69.38 % for COD. The removal % of Cu, Zn, Ni, Cd exhibited 66.48, 89.43, 77.42, 52.4 % after 7d of treatment. The treatments exhibited the remarkable reduction in pollutants and increase in plant weight and root length