Mapping Change in Spatial Extent and Density of Mangrove Forest at Karachi Coast Using Object Based Image Analysis

Karachi shoreline is more than 135 Km long significant for marine fishery breeding and spawning. During 2005 to 2018 the mangrove forest areas in Karachi increased in extent but declined in density. The main cause of mangrove cover change in this region are coastal region development (port building, industrial area and waterfront project). This study aims to monitor both extent and density changes of mangrove forest at Karachi coast. For this purpose, the Landsat imagery was used of the years 2005 and 2018 covering a span of 14 years. The imageries were processed through Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) analysis. Simultaneously, random sample locations were identified for mapping and validation of mangrove forest extent and density during 2005 to 2018. The sample locations were categorized as dense, normal and sparse classes. In the next step, sample locations were plotted on NDVI images to determine mean, minimum and maximum values for each class of mangrove forest. In the final step, the accuracy assessment was done using Kappa statistics. Results show that overall accuracy of 2018 imagery is better than 2005 Landsat imagery. The overall extent of mangrove forest increased in the past years

Variations in Pulmonary Function in Relation with the Menstrual Cycle in Healthy Adult Female

Objective: To compare the respiratory parameters during different menstrual versus luteal phases of the menstrual cycle in healthy adult female. Methodology: This comparative study was conducted in research lab physiology department of Liaquat University of medical and health sciences Jamshoro, from January 2018 July 2018.  Adult healthy non-pregnant females aged between 18 and 24 years were Included. Each participant was advised to visit the Physiology Lab on a particular date for pulmonary function test during menstrual (1-5th day) and luteal (19-22th day) phases, based on their menstrual history. Using the Power lab AD tools 15:HT Computerized Spirometer and parameters recorded on Labtutor software, the participants were made to undertake pulmonary function testing in distinct menstrual cycle stages. All the data was collected via study proforma. Results: Mean age of the cases was 20.03+6.30 years and mean duration of menstrual cycle was 28.62±1.35 days. Mean FVC value was significantly higher in luteal phase (2.57) as compared to menstrual phase (2.50) (p-0.016).  Average FEV1 value was significantly higher in luteal phase (2.61) compared to menstrual phase (2.53) (p-0.009). Average values of PEF and FEV1/FVC were also significantly higher in luteal phase as compared to menstrual phase (p-<0.05). Conclusion: Pulmonary functions as well as respiratory efficiency were significantly improved in luteal phase compared to menstrual phase of menstrual cycle, which were enumerated in this study thus suggesting a possible beneficial role of progesterone in improvement of respiratory parameters. The reason could be the bronchodilator effect of progesterone, its level remains higher during this phase

Demographic Factors Associated with Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccination: An Online Survey-Based Study from Hyderabad Sindh

Background: COVID19 is a major threat to global health. World health organization has proposed use of vaccines against COVID19 to end the pandemic. Due to low literacy rate in many developing countries and disinformation, the population is reluctant for COVID19 vaccination. To explore the demographic factors associated with acceptance of COVID19 vaccination, we set up an online cross-sectional study. Methods: The online survey-based cross-sectional study was conducted to understand the demographic factors of residents of Hyderabad city associated with vaccine acceptance. The questionnaire was divided into sections to get sociodemographic characters and other information related with willingness of vaccination. This questionnaire was sent to 300 people from which 205 people participated. Results: The result showed that 28.8% of the participants were not sure to get vaccination of COVID-19, while 41.5% participants were willing to get vaccine if available; rest of the people (29.8%) were not willing be vaccinated at all. The main reason behind this denial was due to belief on conspiracies against COVID-19 vaccine. Many participants either denied (42%) for any disinformation or were not sure (12%) on this account. Conclusion: The study was based on demographic factors of residents of Hyderabad associated with acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine. Among the studied population only 41.5% showed willingness to get vaccinated which indicate the necessity to effectively educate the population about COVID-19 vaccines

Mapping Turbidity Levels in the Lake’s Water using Satellite Remote Sensing Technique

Haleji lake, Thatta, Sindh, has been affected by water pollution in the past decades. This study focuses on mapping water pollution at Haleji lake using turbidity as the pollution indicator. In this study, an algorithm was developed by correlating satellite reflectance data and in-situ turbidity measurements using regression analysis. The determination coefficient R2 of the developed algorithm showed a value of 0.83 that is evidence of a good correlation between field-based and mapped turbidity. Moreover, a temporal analysis was carried out using the same algorithm for the years 1999 and 2011. Results of temporal analysis confirmed that the turbidity levels in Haleji lake have increased from below 5 NTU to around 15 – 30 NTU. This is a clear sign of lake pollution in the interim of the past twelve years

Celiac Disease and its Association with Socio-Demographic Parameters in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus Type-1

Objective: To determine the frequency of Celiac disease in patients with Type-1 Diabetes Mellitus (DM) and its association with socio-demographic parameters. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration: Medical Departments of Dr Ruth K. M. Pfau, Civil Hospital, Karachi Pakistan, from Apr to Sep 2019. Methodology: Patients diagnosed with type-1 DM were enrolled in the study. Patients underwent blood testing for Celiac Serology. IgA level greater than 10U/m1 was taken as positive for celiac disease. If IgA levels were low, then Anti-tTG IgG was tested. Results: One hundred seventy-seven patients diagnosed with type-1 diabetes mellitus were included in this study. The average age of patients was 36.39±6.81 years. There were 109(61.58%) males and 68(38.2%) females. The frequency of celiac disease in patients with type-1 DM was observed at 8.47%. The frequency of celiac disease was not statistically significant among different age groups (p=0.644), gender and disease duration (p>0.05). However, celiac disease was more frequent in patients with a family history, but it was not statistically significant (25% vs 7.7%; p=0.086). Conclusion: This study showed a higher frequency of celiac disease in patients with T1DM than in the general population in our country, and the data lend support to recommend regular screening for Celiac disease in all patients with Type-1 DM

Discrimination of Seasonal Snow Cover in Astore Basin, Western Himalaya using Fuzzy Membership Function of Object-Based Classification

The temporal mapping of seasonal snow cover is generally being delineated through low resolution MODIS data (250-500m resolution) due to daily frequency of image acquisition; however, it sometimes compromises the mapping accuracies. In this study, the time-series of high resolution satellite imagery was used to evaluate the spatio-temporal changes in the snow covered area of Astore basin during summer and winter seasons from 1990 to 2017. The Object Based Image Analysis (OBIA) technique was applied on multi-spectral images of Landsat (TM and OLI sensors) of respective years (1990, 2000, 2010 and 2017) in order to discriminate the snow covered area in both seasons. Although OBIA is a strong technique that has been successfully applied in numerous research problems of remote sensing regarding cryosphere, but due to hindrances (i.e. Clouds and haze), it is sometimes not highly efficient to detect the snow accurately, therefore, Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) has been calculated to distinguish snow covered area from snow free areas. The range of 0.4-1.0 was used as a threshold value for fuzzy membership function in OBIA to delineate the snow cover more precisely. The study suggested that the snow covered area is gradually increasing in winters during past few decades in the basin; however, in summer season as compared to winters, no specific trend has been observed

Sustainable flame retardant treatment for cotton fabric using non formaldehyde cross linking agent

Most flame-retardant finishing agents have been found to have an adverse effect on our environment and human skin because of the carcinogenic chemicals in their structure. Pyrovatex CP New is an Organophosphorus based flame retardant (FR) agent widely used in FR treatment of combustible. However, the main problem related to it is the release of high formaldehyde content (a known carcinogen). When used with methylated melamine (MM) an effective cross-linker. The objective of this research was to use citric acid (CA) and its integration with sodium hypophosphite (NaH2PO2) and two different co-catalyst Titanium dioxide (TiO2) and phosphoric acid (PA) as a flame‐retardant finishing for cotton fabrics. The flammability of cotton fabric was assessed by a manual vertical flammability test, it is found that the combination of co-catalysts in FR formulation lowers the flammability of cotton. The pyrolysis characteristics and char residue yield of the treated cotton shows that the flame retardancy improves as the amount of catalyst is increased. The whiteness index, crease recovery and tensile strength of the treated cotton fabric was also significantly improved with our suggested recipe formulation. The finished cotton has significant variations in terms of its tensile strength, crease recovery, and whiteness index

Security lies in obedience - Voices of young women of a slum in Pakistan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Existing literature shows that young people, especially women, have poor knowledge about sexuality and reproductive health. Many of the difficulties young women experience are related to beliefs and expectations in society making them more vulnerable to reproductive ill health. The objective of this study was to explore how young women living in a slum in Islamabad are prepared for marriage and how they understand and perceive their transition to marriage and the start of sexual and childbearing activity.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Twenty qualitative interviews and three focus group discussions were conducted with young women residing in a slum of Islamabad. Content analysis was used to explore how the participants represented and explained their situation and how decisions about their marriage were made.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The main theme identified was <it>security lies in obedience</it>. The two sub-themes contributing to the main theme were <it>socialization into submissiveness </it>and <it>transition into adulthood in silence</it>. The theme and the sub-themes illustrate the situation of young women in a poor setting in Pakistan.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The study demonstrates how, in a culture of silence around sexuality, young women's socialization into submissiveness lays the foundation for the lack of control over the future reproductive health that they experience.</p

"Who am I? Where am I?" Experiences of married young women in a slum in Islamabad, Pakistan

Background: According to the cultural tradition in Pakistan, young women belonging to poor families should marry shortly after menarche. However, existing data show that young people, especially women, are not prepared for sexual life and have poor knowledge about sexuality and reproductive health. Many of the difficulties young women experience are related to beliefs and expectations in the society related to their reproductive roles making them more vulnerable to reproductive ill health. Aim: The study explores the preparedness of young women for married life (communicating with spouse, initiation of sexual activity and child bearing) and ability to negotiate in marriage with spouse on number of children to have and on contraceptive use. Methods: In order to obtain an in-depth understanding of young women’s lives qualitative and quantitative approaches were used. Three qualitative studies using narrative and content analysis were carried out in a slum setting in the outskirts of Islamabad city in Pakistan. Married young women (I), unmarried young women (II) and parents (III) were selected with the help of a community worker. Young married women were interviewed three times at different occasions. Narrative structuring was used to explore how the participants represented their situation. In addition twenty qualitative interviews and three focus group discussions were conducted with young unmarried women (II). Twenty-five parents participated in four gender specific focus group discussions (III). Content analysis was used for analysis of study II and III. For the quantitative study (IV), a subset of 1803 married young women aged 15-24 years was drawn from a nationally representative adolescent and youth survey conducted in Pakistan in 2001-2002 by the Population Council. Regression models were used for analysing the following outcomes: reported agreement with spouse on the number of children to have, current use of contraceptives, intention to use contraceptives in the future and the time elapsed between marriage and the first contraceptive use. Key co-variates of interest were variables that measure the involvement of young women in their marriage as having a say in selection of spouse, mobility outside the household, social role and decision making in their homes. Results: The main theme in all the qualitative studies was ‘socialisation of young women into submissiveness’. For the married young women two themes were identified a) submissive-accepting and b) submissive-victims. The married young women who belonged to the accepting group lived under compromised conditions but described themselves as satisfied with their situation. Women belonging to the victimized group experienced physical and verbal abuse for their inability to cope with the duties of a wife, caretaker of the home and bearer of children. Their situation was compounded by the power dynamics within the household (I). For the unmarried young women the main theme identified was security lies in obedience. The two sub-themes contributing to the main theme were socialisation into submissiveness and transition into adulthood in silence (II). The theme and the sub-themes illustrate the situation of young women in a poor setting in Pakistan. The main theme identified in the study with the parents was ‘Good parents’ strive to raise ‘innocent daughters’. The three sub-themes contributing to the main theme were: a daughter - a responsibility and a burden, social and sexual innocence and parents’ roles in the preparation for marriage. The theme and the sub-themes illustrate how the parents saw themselves as responsible for raising ‘innocent daughters’ and arranging good marriages (III). The quantitative study on the married young women showed that having a say in the selection of spouse at the time of marriage was significantly associated with agreeing with spouse over the number of children to have, intention to use contraceptives and the time between marriage and first contraceptive use. These relationships existed after controlling for education, socioeconomic status, mobility outside of house and decision making in the home (IV). Conclusions: In a culture of silence around sexuality, young women’s socialisation into submissiveness lays the foundation for the lack of control over their future reproductive health (I and II). The parents realised, though, that bringing up daughters for marriage requires not only obedience, but also building confidence and knowledge during their childhood (III). Women who had decision making freedom in their parental home carried this ability with them into marriage in their new home and were better able to negotiate about their fertility (IV). Knowledge about reproductive life could prepare young women better for the future life and give them more control of their fertility. Innovative interventions targeting women need to challenge current societal norms of womanhood to promote the upbringing of confident and knowledgeable young women

A2ML1 and otitis media : novel variants, differential expression, and relevant pathways

A genetic basis for otitis media is established, however, the role of rare variants in disease etiology is largely unknown. Previously a duplication variant within A2ML1 was identified as a significant risk factor for otitis media in an indigenous Filipino population and in US children. In this report exome and Sanger sequencing was performed using DNA samples from the indigenous Filipino population, Filipino cochlear implantees, US probands, Finnish, and Pakistani families with otitis media. Sixteen novel, damaging A2ML1 variants identified in otitis media patients were rare or low-frequency in population-matched controls. In the indigenous population, both gingivitis and A2ML1 variants including the known duplication variant and the novel splice variant c.4061 + 1 G>C were independently associated with otitis media. Sequencing of salivary RNA samples from indigenous Filipinos demonstrated lower A2ML1 expression according to the carriage of A2ML1 variants. Sequencing of additional salivary RNA samples from US patients with otitis media revealed differentially expressed genes that are highly correlated with A2ML1 expression levels. In particular, RND3 is upregulated in both A2ML1 variant carriers and high-A2ML1 expressors. These findings support a role for A2ML1 in keratinocyte differentiation within the middle ear as part of otitis media pathology and the potential application of ROCK inhibition in otitis media.Peer reviewe