Frequency of non-motor symptoms in parkinson disease: experience from Pakistan

The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of non-motor symptoms (NMS) in patients with Parkinson\u27s disease (PD) and to compare frequency in mild and severe disease. Materials and methods: This descriptive observational study was done from January 2015 to June 2015 at Department of Neurology, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad. We used Non-Motor Symptom Questionnaire (NMS-Q); a validated scale using 30 questions related to 9 different domains of symptoms. Results: 62 patients were enrolled in the final data set of study (male 46, Female 16) with average age of 62.4 years (range=33-80). Non-motor symptoms were reported very commonly in all stages of PD including urinary urgency (74%), dizziness (71%), memory problems (71%), sexual difficulty (69%), constipation (67%) and depression (62%). Only non-motor symptom that was statistically significantly higher in the severe stages was “reported falls” (Mild 39%, severe 61%, p \u3c 0.01). Some were more common (lightheadedness, falls, sexual difficulty) while others were less (hyposmia). Conclusion: Non-motor symptoms are very common in Pakistani population of PD and are seen equally in mild and severe PD with exception of “reported falls”. The high prevalence of non-motor symptoms (especially in mild stages) should be kept in mind while managing PD. Furthermore, there may be the likely need for a culturally appropriate screening scale for our population

Salvia reflexa (Lamiaceae): a new record for Pakistan

Salvia reflexa Hornem., a member of the New World subgenus Calosphace, ranges from North America to southern South America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Afghanistan in Asia, and still continues to expand its range. Here we report further range expansion for S. reflexa into the tribal areas of Pakistan and hypothesize that it has been introduced from Afghanistan. This represents a new record for the flora of Pakistan

Towards Smart Education through the Internet of Things : A Survey

IoT is a fundamental enabling technology for creating smart spaces, which can assist the effective face-to-face and online education systems. The transition to smart education (integrating IoT and AI into the education system) is appealing, which has a concrete impact on learners’ engagement, motivation, attendance, and deep learning. Traditional education faces many challenges, including administration, pedagogy, assessment, and classroom supervision. Recent developments in ICT (e.g., IoT, AI, and 5G) have yielded lots of smart solutions for various aspects of life; however, smart solutions are not well integrated into the education system. In particular, the COVID-19 pandemic situation had further emphasized the adoption of new smart solutions in education. This study reviews the related studies and addresses the (i) problems in the traditional education system with possible solutions, (ii) the transition towards smart education, and (iii) research challenges in the transition to smart education (i.e., computational and social resistance). Considering these studies, smart solutions (e.g., smart pedagogy, smart assessment, smart classroom, smart administration) are introduced to the problems of the traditional system. This exploratory study opens new trends for scholars and the market to integrate ICT, IoT, and AI into smart education

Service Level Agreement monitoring as a service: an independent monitoring service for Service Level Agreements in clouds

Cloud network is rapidly growing due to massive increase in interconnected devices and the emergence of different technologies such as the Internet of things, fog computing and artificial intelligence. In response, cloud computing needs reliable dealings among the service providers, brokers and consumers. The existing cloud monitoring frameworks such as Amazon Cloud Watch, Paraleap Azure Watch, and Rack Space Cloud Kick work under the control of service providers. They work fine, however, this may create dissatisfaction among customers over Service Level Agreement (SLA) violations. Customers dissatisfaction may drastically drop the businesses of service providers. To cope with the above mentioned issue and get in line with cloud philosophy, Monitoring as a Service, completely independent in nature, is needed for observing and regulating the cloud businesses. However, the existing MaaS frameworks do not address the comprehensive SLA for customer satisfaction and penalties management. This paper proposes a reliable framework by adopting third party monitoring services with clearcut SLA and penalties management. Since, this framework monitors SLA as a cloud monitoring service, it is named as Service Level Agreement Monitoring as a Service (SLA-MaaS). On violations, it penalizes those who are found in breach of terms and condition enlisted in SLA. Simulation results confirmed that the proposed framework adequately satisfy the customers (as well as service providers). This helps in developing a trust worthy relationship among cloud partners and increase customer attention and retention

Characterization of PTFE Film on 316L Stainless Steel Deposited through Spin Coating and Its Anticorrosion Performance in Multi Acidic Mediums

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) was coated on 316L stainless steel (SS) substrate through a spin coating technique to enhance its corrosion resistance properties in hydrochloric acid (HCl) and nitric acid (HNO3) medium. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed the morphology of the coated and uncoated substrates and showed a uniform and crack-free PTFE coating on 316L SS substrate, while a damaged surface with thick corrosive layers was observed after the electrochemical test on the uncoated sample. However, an increased concentration of HCl and HNO3 slightly affected the surface morphology by covering the corrosive pits. An atomic force microscope (AFM) showed that the average surface roughness on 316L SS and PTFE coating was 26.3 nm and 24.1 nm, respectively. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) was used for the compositional analysis, which confirmed the presence of PTFE coating. The micro Vickers hardness test was used to estimate the hardness of 316L SS and PTFE-coated substrate, while the scratch test was used to study the adhesion properties of PTFE coating on 316L SS. The anticorrosion measurements of 316L SS and PTFE-coated substrates were made in various HCl and HNO3 solutions by using the electrochemical corrosion test. A comparison of the corrosion performance of PTFE-coated substrate with that of bare 316L SS substrate in HCl medium showed a protection efficiency (PE) of 96.7%, and in the case of HNO3 medium, the PE was 99.02%, by slightly shifting the corrosion potential of the coated sample towards the anodic direction