The influence of sociodemographic factors on parental health‐seeking behavior for illnesses among the pediatric age group in Karachi: A cross‐sectional study

Abstract Background Health‐seeking behavior (HSB) is an individual's reaction to sickness, for which they seek medical attention, regardless of the form such care may take. Poor HSB is frequently associated with lower health outcomes and greater mortality and disease rates in a nation. Sociodemographic factors, including age, gender, family structure, occupation, ethnicity, and rates of literacy and poverty, can influence a person's HSB. This study would benefit Pakistani parents of the paediatric population to make more informed health choices for their children. Aim This study aims to determine the influence of sociodemographic factors on parental HSB for illnesses among the pediatric age group in Karachi. Materials and Methods A cross‐sectional study was conducted in which 214 parents were interviewed about their choices for health‐seeking healthcare for their pediatric children of the pediatric age group (birth–18 years), who were attending the pediatric OPD and wards at Dr. Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital, Karachi in May 2023. Only parents or guardians with sick children were included. Their sociodemographic characteristics and health‐seeking choices were asked. Informed consent was obtained, and all data were recorded. SPSS version 25 was used for analysis. Results For the first choice, the majority of parents (82.7%) preferred to seek healthcare for their children from medical doctors, followed by spiritual healers (10.7%), traditional healers (5.6%), and homoeopathic doctors (0.9%). For the second choice, the highest percentage was for a doctor (76.2%), followed by a spiritual healer (18.7%), a homoeopathic doctor (3.3%), and a traditional healer (1.9%). A significant correlation was found between the first visit and the decision makers (p = 0.019), the father's education level of the father (p = 0.001), the mother's occupation of the mother (p = 0.019), and the mother's education level of the mother (p = 0.001). Conclusion Sociodemographic characteristics greatly influence parents' HSBs of parents for their children. Despite having low‐paying jobs and being uneducated, most people choose to refer to a doctor for their child due to awareness

Screening, purification and characterization of thermostable, protease resistant Bacteriocin active against methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

Abstract Background The emergence of serious issues of multidrug resistance in the past few years have enforced the use of bacteriocins for combating infections. Threat posed to public health by various multidrug resistant (MDR) organisms can be resolved by discovering new antimicrobial proteins with broad spectrum of inhibition. Results In the current study, Bacteriocin (BAC-IB17) produced by Bacillus subtilis KIBGE-IB17 is found to be effective against different strains of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The approximate molecular mass of BAC-IB17 is 10.7 kDa. This unique bacteriocin is found to be highly thermostable and pH stable in nature. It also showed its stability against various heavy metals, organic solvents, surfactants and proteolytic enzymes. Amino acid profile of BAC-IB17 clearly showed that this protein mainly consists of non-polar and basic amino acids whereas; some acidic amino acids were also detected. Sequence of first 15 amino acid residues obtained from N-terminal sequencing of BAC-IB17 were NKPEALVDYTGVXNS. Conclusions The anti-MRSA property of purified bacteriocin may be used to prevent the spread of MRSA infections. Remarkable features of BAC-IB17 suggests its applications in various pharmaceutical and food industries as it can function under a variety of harsh environmental conditions

Evaluations of crude protein and amino acid contents from the scales of four mullet species (Mugilidae) collected from Karachi fish harbour, Pakistan

724-731<span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family: " times="" new="" roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"ms="" mincho";mso-font-kerning:="" 0pt;mso-ansi-language:en-us;mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="" lang="EN-US">The present study was aimed to determine the crude protein and amino acid contents in the scales of four mullet species namely Liza macrolepis, Liza melinoptera, Mugil cephalus and <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">Valamugil speigleri found in the Pakistan coast. <span style="font-size:9.0pt; font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"ms="" mincho";="" mso-font-kerning:0pt;mso-ansi-language:en-gb;mso-fareast-language:en-us;="" mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="" lang="EN-GB">The moisture content of scales ranged from 42.8% in L. macrolepis to 58.3% in M. cephalus. The values of crude protein content in dry matter of the scales were found to be in order of 78.07% in Liza melinoptera, 76.45% in Mugil cephalus, <span style="font-size:9.0pt; font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"ms="" mincho";="" mso-font-kerning:0pt;mso-ansi-language:en-us;mso-fareast-language:ja;="" mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="" lang="EN-US">70.36 Liza macrolepis<span style="font-size: 9.0pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"ms="" mincho";="" mso-font-kerning:0pt;mso-ansi-language:en-us;mso-fareast-language:en-us;="" mso-bidi-language:ar-sa;mso-bidi-font-style:italic"="" lang="EN-US">, 62.28% in Valamugil speigleri, respectively. Both glycine and proline contents were found to be high as compare to the remaining amino acids, however, cysteine, methionine and tryptophan were not detected. Hence, the result of the present study revealed that like other materials obtained from the fish, scales could also be considered as a rich source of protein and various essential amino acids, thence, they could also be used to produce various materials including skin moisturizing creams, anti-aging creams, wrinkles removers creams etc. and biomedical materials in <span style="font-size: 9.0pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"ms="" mincho";="" mso-font-kerning:0pt;mso-ansi-language:en-us;mso-fareast-language:en-us;="" mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="" lang="EN-US">pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries.</span

Separation of polyhydroxyalkanoates-producing bacterial strains using PHA synthase gene and their evaluation for PHA deposition

In this study, a variety of samples were screened for the presence of PHA synthase gene. Results showed that 16 out of 102 isolated were positive for PHA respective genes. The highest prevalence was observed in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The capability of PHA production was also shown by growing these strains on the defined medium and subsequent analysis using intracellular granules staining and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The microscopic analysis showed that the positive strains accumulated PHA in the cell. The FT-IR analysis showed the presence of PHA peaks in the dried cells as well as in extraction product. P aeruginosa strain P7 showed higher concentration of PHA compared to the others as demonstrated by the highest respective peaks in FT-IR