A Short Commentary on Non-specialist-mediated Interventions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a lifelong neurodevelopmental disability delineated by social and communication impairments, restricted interests and repetitive behaviors, and sensory hypo- or hyper reactivity to sensory inputs. Early recognition and timely intervention are essential for individuals with ASD and the long-term prognosis for these individuals. The specialist-mediated interventions can be expensive for patients, their families, and the healthcare system. It is important to provide a naturalistic intervention, especially in the context of cost issues, the impact of early intervention of prognosis, limited resources in developing countries, lack of healthcare providers, and healthcare disparities. The current article reviews non-specialist-mediated interventions of children and adolescents with ASD

Association of bullying experiences with depressive symptoms and psychosocial functioning among school going children and adolescents.

ObjectivesWe examined the association of bullying experiences with depressive symptoms and psychosocial functioning among children and adolescents in rural Pakistan. A total of 452 school-going children in Nawabshah, Pakistan were conveniently interviewed to assess rates of bullying experiences and severity of depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire for Adolescents.ResultsExperience of victimization was reported by 130 (28.8%) and perpetration by (146, 32.3%). A total of 162 (35.80%) reported mild depressive symptoms, 88 (19.50%) moderate, 33 (7.30%) moderately severe and 19 (4.20%) severe depressive symptoms. Age was not associated with patterns of bullying other than pure bully perpetration (.12, P = .024). Both victims and perpetrators of bullying experienced adverse emotional and social consequences. Bully-perpetrators exhibited the greater severity of depressive symptoms due to distress in psychosocial functioning

Prevalence, Symptomatology and Herbal Management of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is multi-organ syndrome that affects 6–25% of females during reproductive age. It disrupts normal hormone levels of females and affects adrenal hormone and sex hormones along with pituitary hormones including adrenocorticotropic, growth hormone and gonadotropins hormones. It results in several secondary characteristics in females such as infertility, hormonal imbalance, oligomenorrhea, amenorrhea, obesity and hirsutism. Polycystic ovarian syndrome is associated with mental and reproductive disorder and almost 4–18% mature female students are affected by polycystic ovarian syndrome. Female affected by polycystic ovarian syndrome have increased risk of infertility, ovarian cancer, skin problems and psychological problems such as anxiety, depression and changes in sleep along with mood swings. This chapter discusses the Prevalence, Symptomatology and Management of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. For the management of PCOS, the role of some medicinal plants including Asparagus racemosus, Tinospora cordifolia, Foeniculum vulgare, Ocimum tenuiflorum, Actaea racemosa, and Lepidium meyenii have also been discussed in addition to other treatment modalities. The literature data was searched out and compiled using relevant original research articles and reviews published and indexed in Google Scholar, Scientific Information Database, Elsevier, PubMed and Science Direct

Effect of Phytosynthesized Selenium and Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles on Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) against Stripe Rust Disease

In this study, selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) and cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeONPs) were synthesized by using the extract of Melia azedarach leaves, and Acorus calamusas rhizomes, respectively, and investigated for the biological and sustainable control of yellow, or stripe rust, disease in wheat. The green synthesized NPs were characterized by UV-Visible spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The SeNPs and CeONPs, with different concentrations (i.e., 10, 20, 30, and 40 mg/L), were exogenously applied to wheat infected with Puccinia striformis. SeNPs and CeONPs, at a concentration of 30 mg/L, were found to be the most suitable concentrations, which reduced the disease severity and enhanced the morphological (plant height, root length, shoot length, leaf length, and ear length), physiological (chlorophyll and membrane stability index), biochemical (proline, phenolics and flavonoids) and antioxidant (SOD and POD) parameters. The antioxidant activity of SeNPs and CeONPs was also measured. For this purpose, different concentrations (50, 100, 150, 200 and 400 ppm) of both SeNPs and CeONPs were used. The concentration of 400 ppm most promoted the DPPH, ABTS and reducing power activity of both SeNPs and CeONPs. This study is considered the first biocompatible approach to evaluate the potential of green synthesized SeNPs and CeONPs to improve the health of yellow, or stripe rust, infected wheat plants and to provide an effective management strategy to inhibit the growth of Puccinia striformis.This research was funded by projects APOGEO (Cooperation Program INTERREG-MAC 2014–2020, with European Funds for Regional Development-FEDER). “Agencia Canaria de Investigación, Innovación y Sociedad de la Información (ACIISI) del Gobierno de Canarias” (Project ProID2020010134), and Fundación CajaCanarias (Project 2019SP43).Peer reviewe

Global, regional, and national sex-specific burden and control of the HIV epidemic, 1990-2019, for 204 countries and territories: the Global Burden of Diseases Study 2019

Background: The sustainable development goals (SDGs) aim to end HIV/AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. Understanding the current state of the HIV epidemic and its change over time is essential to this effort. This study assesses the current sex-specific HIV burden in 204 countries and territories and measures progress in the control of the epidemic. Methods: To estimate age-specific and sex-specific trends in 48 of 204 countries, we extended the Estimation and Projection Package Age-Sex Model to also implement the spectrum paediatric model. We used this model in cases where age and sex specific HIV-seroprevalence surveys and antenatal care-clinic sentinel surveillance data were available. For the remaining 156 of 204 locations, we developed a cohort-incidence bias adjustment to derive incidence as a function of cause-of-death data from vital registration systems. The incidence was input to a custom Spectrum model. To assess progress, we measured the percentage change in incident cases and deaths between 2010 and 2019 (threshold >75% decline), the ratio of incident cases to number of people living with HIV (incidence-to-prevalence ratio threshold <0·03), and the ratio of incident cases to deaths (incidence-to-mortality ratio threshold <1·0). Findings: In 2019, there were 36·8 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 35·1–38·9) people living with HIV worldwide. There were 0·84 males (95% UI 0·78–0·91) per female living with HIV in 2019, 0·99 male infections (0·91–1·10) for every female infection, and 1·02 male deaths (0·95–1·10) per female death. Global progress in incident cases and deaths between 2010 and 2019 was driven by sub-Saharan Africa (with a 28·52% decrease in incident cases, 95% UI 19·58–35·43, and a 39·66% decrease in deaths, 36·49–42·36). Elsewhere, the incidence remained stable or increased, whereas deaths generally decreased. In 2019, the global incidence-to-prevalence ratio was 0·05 (95% UI 0·05–0·06) and the global incidence-to-mortality ratio was 1·94 (1·76–2·12). No regions met suggested thresholds for progress. Interpretation: Sub-Saharan Africa had both the highest HIV burden and the greatest progress between 1990 and 2019. The number of incident cases and deaths in males and females approached parity in 2019, although there remained more females with HIV than males with HIV. Globally, the HIV epidemic is far from the UNAIDS benchmarks on progress metrics. Funding: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Institute on Aging of the NIH

Determinants of Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty in Pakistan: A Case Study

The present study examines the determinants of Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty in Pakistan. For this, primary data from 301 respondents has been collected from urban and rural areas of Muzaffargarh&nbsp;district using simple random sampling technique. Logistic Regression method is applied to see the relationship between the variables. The results of Logistic Regression show that there is no Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty due to urban area residence, experience, education, value of assets, married marital status and joint family system in Pakistan. There is Intergenerational transmission of Poverty due to large household size and high dependency ratio in Pakistan. On the basis of results, it may be suggested that there should be promotion of free education throughout the Pakistan especially in rural areas

Human Capital and Endogenous Growth: Incorporating the Role of Unemployment in Determining Returns

This study reported the returns to Human Capital in Pakistan. The main purpose of this study is to estimate the returns to human capital. In Pakistan, the level of output is dependent on manpower. Human Capital is a significant contributor in the way to betterment in the economic condition. In this study, time series data is used, and co-integration is applied for the empirical estimation. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), education, mortality, enrolment, unemployment, and age are the core variables of the research. Education has a positive impact on productivity. An increase in education level raises the female labor force participation in Pakistan. The presence of children decreases the early age participation in the labor market. The result shows that when the education level is increased, it boosts the economic activity, and the female labor force participation is the main reason that is increasing its likelihood. It is recommended that government should provide better facilities of education to enhance the female force participation in the labor market in the case of developing countries, by providing the best grades and tasks to the human beings both male and female, thus the level of returns by human capital utilization may increase

Sectoral Investment and Trade in Pakistan: An Empirical Analysis

Purpose: This study is conducted to examine the effectiveness of Investment in various sectors of the economy on exports of Pakistan over the period from 1972 to 2018. Methodology: For this purpose, World Development Indicators and Handbook of Statistics on Pakistan Economy have been utilized to collect time-series data on the related variables. Moreover, the econometric results have been calculated using the ARDL approach and diagnostics statistics are based on Normality Test, Ramsey RESET test and stability tests. Findings: The long-run results explore that Investments in the Agriculture &amp; Manufacturing sectors, Terms of Trade and Human Capital are increasing exports of Pakistan while investments in Services &amp; Transportation sectors are reducing exports of Pakistan. Implications: Based on econometric results, it is suggested that investments in manufacturing and agriculture sectors should be enhanced through low interest rates or by providing opportunities to the private sector so that it may lead to higher growth and exports

Exploring clusters of defense styles, psychiatric symptoms and academic achievements among medical students: a cross-sectional study in Pakistan.

ObjectiveThe clusters of participants with a homogeneous psychological make-up can be identified using sophisticated machine learning techniques such as the two-step clustering algorithm. It can also help us to identify the synergistic and additive effects of a range of psychometric variables. The identification of synergistic effect of this clustering of defense mechanism has significant practical implications as they share a certain variance. This study aims to identify the clusters of ego defenses and their relationship with academic performance and mental health outcome in medical students.ResultsThe high achievers scored higher on mature and neurotic defense styles and lower on immature than their counter parts. A higher proportion of medical students in high achievers group had normal scores on depressive symptoms than low achievers. While a majority among low achievers suffered from severe anxiety levels than high achievers group. High achievers scored higher on sublimation, humor, anticipation, suppression, pseudo-altruism, idealization, reaction formation, autistic fantasy, denial, and rationalization