The lived experiences of radiotherapists treating paediatric patients : Gauteng, South Africa

Abstract: Radiotherapy has an important role in the treatment of paediatric cancers. Paediatric radiotherapy, however, requires absolute precision and accuracy in delivering the prescribed dose. For radiotherapists, the complexity of performing paediatric radiotherapy treatment is augmented by time, pressure constraints and the patient's lack of cooperation due to fear and anxiety. Continually confronting uncooperative paediatric patients and emotional parents enhances radiotherapists’ anxiety and emotional challenges. Additionally, paediatric cancers are rare; as a result, radiotherapists' experiences in treating paediatric cancers are limited. Although there is evidence that radiotherapists treating paediatric patients face challenges, there is a paucity of literature in this regard. The multiple challenges that radiotherapists face could have an impact on the quality of patient care provided to paediatric patients if they are not recognised and reduced. Therefore, it becomes imperative to explore their experiences. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore and describe the lived experiences of radiotherapists treating paediatric patients and to develop guidelines to support radiotherapists. The research population included all qualified radiotherapists in Gauteng registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa. Data was collected through individual, in-depth, telephonic interviews, and a total of 17 participants were interviewed. Data saturation was reached. The researcher utilised the thematic analysis process to conduct a qualitative analysis of data. The research process required inductive reasoning to identify themes and deductive reasoning to relate the themes to established knowledge to develop guidelines. The current study identified the importance of radiotherapists gaining familiarity in paediatric radiotherapy to become competent radiotherapists. Furthermore, the study confirmed that radiotherapists treating paediatric patients work within a highly intense emotional context. Their closeness of contact with the paediatric patient, parents and family dimension has both positive and negative implications for their experiences. The necessity to advance the practical infrastructural areas and strive for enhanced professionalism to improve paediatric radiotherapy was emphasised. Guidelines were developed and recommendations made to address the issues identified in the current study to enhance radiotherapists' experiences of treating paediatric patients.M.Tech. (Radiography

Impact of Self-Compassion on Existential Anxiety in Young Adults of Pakistan

It’s not much about the existential isolation but about our existential uniqueness, the feeling that no matter how deeply connected we are with someone, there is still an unbridgeable gap between every individual and all the elements of our perceived world which can’t be covered in any way possible. Young adulthood is an age where the self-creation process starts hence, the initiation of process of understanding life experiences, experimentation and exploration of meaning in life. All these processes comes with the consequences of overwhelming experiences of existential questioning, concern, and anxiety, leading to various other negative or positive psychological outcomes, depending upon the subjective experiences. Hence the current research was aimed to study the impact of self-compassion on existential anxiety in adolescents and young adults. The population consisted of both male and females (N=280). Current study is based on a quantitative correlation survey research design and the statistical analyses was done through SPSS (version 22). Neff’s Compassion Scale-Short Form (SCS-SF), and Existential anxiety questionnaire (EAQ) and Existential concern questionnaire (ECQ) scales were used. The statistical analysis involved Pearson product moment correlation, and Stepwise Regression. The finding of the study revealed that there was a significant weak negative relationship between Self-compassion and Existential Anxiety and a significant positive relationship between self-criticism and existential anxiety. Moreover, the isolation (subdomain of self-compassion) predicted 20.4% variance in level of Existential anxiety scale and 29.7% variance in Existential concern questionnaire. Following findings are significantly important regarding generating appropriate clinical interventions and provides beneficial insight into developing awareness programs on a community level

Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus (FMDV) and Its Treatment with Plant Extracts

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a contagious viral infection which is caused by foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). The disease appears in cloven-footed animals. Symptoms of the disease are abrupt manifestation of sores on the mouth, nose, feet, etc. Nowadays the control and treatment of FMDVare becoming a worldwide economic problem and challenge for the society. Currently, there is no particular treatment available for FMDV, as well as the limitations and disadvantages in the use of vaccines divert the focus of researchers toward natural sources like plant extracts which possess potential antiviral activity. Various researches documented in the literature demonstrated various plant extracts with antiviral potency against FMDV. In the current chapter, we discussed about FMDV and its possible treatment with plant extracts

Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern among Patients Presenting with Acute Exacerbation of COPD

Background: The irrational use of antibiotics in outpatient as well as indoor patients without studying the culture and sensitivity patterns may have led to resistance in common organisms causing acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The objective of this study was to determine the culture and sensitivity patterns of bacteria in the sputum of patients presenting with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in our population.Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Medicine Department, Jinnah Hospital Lahore from 1st January 2018 to 25th June 2018. A total of 215 patients with acute exacerbation of COPD were collected through non-probability consecutive sampling technique. COPD was diagnosed on the basis of history, examination, chest X-ray and spirometry. Acute exacerbation was taken as an acute rise in one or more of the following; sputum volume and/or purulence, frequency and severity of cough and dyspnea. Two sputum samples were collected from each patient. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was done as per CLSI guidelines. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 21.0. with p-value ≤ 0.05 considered as statistically significant.Results: Among 215 selected cases, 118 (54.88%) were males and 97 (45.12%) were females. A total of 110 (51.16%) cultures were positive and 105 (48.84%) were negative for bacterial growth. Klebsiella pneumoniae (n=69; 62.72%) was the most frequent microorganism in patient’s sputum followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n=21; 19.1%) and Staphylococcus aureus (n=20; 18.2%). Regarding sensitivity pattern, amikacin was found to be the most sensitive antibiotic against these organisms followed by gentamicin and ciprofloxacin.Conclusions: Klebsiella pneumoniae was the most common microorganism in the sputum of patients presenting with acute exacerbation of COPD, while amikacin was reported to be most sensitive antibiotic against the microorganism.Key words: Acute exacerbation, Antimicrobial susceptibility pattern, COP

Concentration of Metals in Frozen and Canned Fish in Pakistan

Abstract.-Fish being at the top of the aquatic food chain has the capacity to accumulate significant amount of metals in muscles that may cause health risk for consumers. Therefore, toxic and essential metals concentrations in muscles of frozen (local and imported species of fish and shrimp), canned fish (imported) samples were analyzed by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. Among all frozen fish and shrimp samples analyzed, highest Cu (5.23 µg/g) concentrations were found in fish imported from Malaysia, similarly highest levels (µg/g) of Ni (3.03), Pb (2.95) and Mn (2.10) were detected in fish imported from Thailand. In canned fish samples, highest levels (µg/g) of Pb (2.50), Cu (2.18), Mn (1.62) and Ni (1.33) were detected in sardine skin imported from Thailand. Pb and Ni concentrations in majority of frozen and canned samples were greater than EC and USEPA limits

Comparison of Self-Efficacy Levels of the Teachers of Agricultural Universities at Faisalabad and Rawalpindi

ABSTRAC

Functional outcomes of poor ergonomic posture in university workers

Background and Objectives: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are increasing due to poor posture adaptation. Increasing the use of technologies in the office settings is one of the main reasons behind muscle and soft tissue strains. The objective of the study was to determine the pattern of posture-related musculoskeletal pain in office workers.Methods: This observational study was conducted from 15th May, to 25th June, 2021. Data were collected by convenient sampling. The Nordic Musculoskeletal questionnaire on body postural habits was filled by 150 office workers from different universities of Lahore. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software version 25 was used for statistical analysis.Results: There were 79 (52.7%) male and 71 (43.7%) female participants, with a mean age of 35.7 &plusmn; 5.14 years. Majority (51.3%) of the subjects reported sitting tilted forward, while a few used backrests and footrests for support. Prolonged crossed legs and twisted spine posture were also adopted by many subjects. Neck, lower back, and shoulder were the most affected regions, with increased musculoskeletal pain reported over the last 12 months. Due to recurrent pain in the neck, shoulder, and upper back, difficulty in carrying out routine jobs, housework, and hobbies was reported by 38.7%, 34.7%, and 30% of the subjects, respectively.Conclusion: Failure to adopt a good ergonomic approach leads to frequent musculoskeletal pain and difficulty in carrying out routine office and household work.</p

Ecological risk assessment of an open dumping site at Mehmood Booti Lahore, Pakistan

A robust risk assessment of Mehmood Booting Open Dumping (MBOD) site has been carried out by developing holistic risk assessment framework. Framework mainly comprises on baseline study, hazard identification, and risk quantification and evaluation. Physico-chemical analysis of groundwater and leachate, health risk assessment, and estimation of gas emissions from the site were carried out for risk evaluation. LandGEM 3.02 modelling software was used to measure the gas emissions. Analysis of leachate showed that all parameters were exceeding the WHO standard limit. Water samples were found polluted with heavy metals and total coliform contamination. Health survey inferred that problems which were faced by the majority of respondents were respiratory problems (80%). LandGEM model estimated that total landfill gas (TLG) emitted from the site for the year 2014 was 1.760E+05 Mg/year, CH4 emission was 5.445E+06 Mg/year, CO2 emission was 1.290E+05 Mg/year and for non-methane organic compound emission was 2.021E+03 Mg/year. It can be concluded that in the near future, almost all the water locations are possibly threatened with leachate contamination due to the continued accumulation of solid waste at MBOD site. The study recommends that new sanitary landfill sites should be designed to minimize the adverse effects associated with solid waste disposal and to preclude further pollution to surface water, groundwater, soil, and air

Nano‐enabled stress‐smart agriculture: Can nanotechnology deliver drought and salinity‐smart crops?

Abstract Salinity and drought stress substantially decrease crop yield and superiority, directly threatening the food supply needed to meet the rising food needs of the growing total population. Nanotechnology is a step towards improving agricultural output and stress tolerance by improving the efficacy of inputs in agriculture via targeted delivery, controlled release, and enhanced solubility and adhesion while also reducing significant damage. The direct application of nanoparticles (NPs)/nanomaterials can boost the performance and effectiveness of physio‐biochemical and molecular mechanisms in plants under stress conditions, leading to advanced stress tolerance. Therefore, we presented the effects and plant responses to stress conditions, and also explored the potential of nanomaterials for improving agricultural systems, and discussed the advantages of applying NPs at various developmental stages to alleviate the negative effects of salinity and drought stress. Moreover, we feature the recent innovations in state‐of‐the‐art nanobiotechnology, specifically NP‐mediated genome editing via CRISPR/Cas system, to develop stress‐smart crops. However, further investigations are needed to unravel the role of nanobiotechnology in addressing climate change challenges in modern agricultural systems. We propose that combining nanobiotechnology, genome editing and speed breeding techniques could enable the designing of climate‐smart cultivars (particularly bred or genetically modified plant varieties) to meet the food security needs of the rising world population

Monitoring and spatiotemporal variations of pyrethroid insecticides in surface water, sediment, and fish of the river Chenab Pakistan

There is a serious concern regarding freshwater resources of Pakistan which have been mismanaged and now are depleting extensively due to other reasons like intensive application of agricultural pesticides and insecticides. The present study was conducted to determine the concentrations of cypermethrin, deltamethrin, permethrin, and bifenthrin in the samples of water, sediments, and fish collected from various locations of River Chenab, Pakistan, during summer and winter seasons. These locations include namely Marala, Khanki, Qadirabad, and Trimu Headworks. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was deployed for analysis and determination of pyrethroid concentrations in these samples. The analytics show the order of pyrethroid concentrations in river as fish &gt; sediment &gt; water. Whereas maximum concentrations of 0.472 mu g g(-1) found in fish and minimum concentrations were determined in water, i.e., 0.087 mu g L-1 at the sampling locations of Trimu and Marala headworks, respectively. Moreover, highest mean concentrations of pyrethroid, i.e., 1.248 mu g g(-1) in fish were detected in winter season as compared to summers, i.e., 0.087 mu g L-1. However, all the values of pyrethroid were found to be lower than the maximum permissible levels specified by EU and WHO-FAO. Whereas the levels of deltamethrin and permethrin in water were found much higher than the specific limits set by EU