Impact of today\u27s media on university student\u27s body image in Pakistan: a conservative, developing country\u27s perspective

Background: Living in a world greatly controlled by mass media makes it impossible to escape its pervading influence. As media in Pakistan has been free in the true sense of the word for only a few years, its impact on individuals is yet to be assessed. Our study aims to be the first to look at the effect media has on the body image of university students in a conservative, developing country like Pakistan. Also, we introduced the novel concept of body image dissatisfaction as being both negative and positive. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 7 private universities over a period of two weeks in the city of Karachi, Pakistan\u27s largest and most populous city. Convenience sampling was used to select both male and female undergraduate students aged between 18 and 25 and a sample size of 783 was calculated. Results: Of the 784 final respondents, 376 (48%) were males and 408 (52%) females. The mean age of males was 20.77 (+/-1.85) years and females was 20.38 (+/-1.63) years. Out of these, 358 (45.6%) respondents had a positive BID (body image dissatisfaction) score while 426 (54.4%) had a negative BID score. Of the respondents who had positive BID scores, 93 (24.7%) were male and 265 (65.0%) were female. Of the respondents with a negative BID score, 283 (75.3%) were male and 143 (35.0%) were female. The results for BID vs. media exposure were similar in both high and low peer pressure groups. Low media exposure meant positive BID scores and vice versa in both groups (p \u3c 0.0001) showing a statistically significant association between high media exposure and negative body image dissatisfaction. Finally, we looked at the association between gender and image dissatisfaction. Again a statistically significant association was found between positive body image dissatisfaction and female gender and negative body image dissatisfaction and male gender (p \u3c 0.0001). Conclusions: Our study confirmed the tendency of the media to have an overall negative effect on individuals\u27 body image. A striking feature of our study, however, was the finding that negative body image dissatisfaction was found to be more prevalent in males as compared to females. Likewise, positive BID scores were more prevalent amongst females

Blockchain-based DDoS attack mitigation protocol for device-to-device interaction in smart homes

Smart home devices are vulnerable to a variety of attacks. The matter gets more complicated when a number of devices collaborate to launch a colluding attack (e.g. Distributed-Denial-of-Service (DDoS)) in a network (e.g., Smart home). To handle these attacks, most studies have hitherto proposed authentication protocols that cannot necessarily be implemented in devices, especially during Device-to-Device (D2D) interactions. Tapping into the potential of Ethereum blockchain and smart contracts, this work proposes a lightweight authentication mechanism that enables safe D2D interactions in a smart home. The Ethereum blockchain enables the implementation of a decentralized prototype as well as a peer-to-peer distributed ledger system. The work also uses a single server queuing system model and the authentication mechanism to curtail DDoS attacks by controlling the number of service requests in the system. The simulation was conducted twenty times, each with varying number of devices chosen at random (ranging from 1 to 30). Each requester device sends an arbitrary request with a unique resource requirement at a time. This is done to measure the system’s consistency across a variety of device capabilities. The experimental results show that the proposed protocol not only prevents colluding attacks, but also outperforms the benchmark protocols in terms of computational cost, message processing, and response time

3D QSAR and pharmacophore studies on inhibitors of insuline like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) and insulin receptor (IR) as potential anti-cancer agents

Insulin like growth factor receptor (IGF-1R) and Insulin receptor (IR) are widely accepted to play a prominent role in cancer drug discovery due to their well-established involvement in various stages of tumorigenesis. Previously, neutralization of IGF-1R via monoclonal antibodies was in focus, which failed because of compensatory activation of IR-A upon inhibition of IGF-1R. Recent studies have demonstrated high homology between IGF-IR and IR particularly in tyrosine kinase domain and targeting both receptors have produced efficient therapeutic approaches such as inhibition of cancer cell cycle proliferation. Herein, we have made an attempt to analyze the unique data set from different chemical classes, containing potent ATP competitors against tyrosine kinase domain. We performed the 2D, 3D quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) studies on inhibitors of these receptors to predict useful pharmacophoric features. We have optimized virtual screening of structurally diverse data set of dual inhibitors of IGF-1R and IR. Based on QSAR studies, we predict potential novel clinical candidates with a demonstrated absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination, and toxicology (ADMETox) track. We also demonstrated comprehensive analysis of co–crystal complexes along with their inhibitors and built 3D- GRid INdependent Descriptors (GRIND) model to obtain insightful features such as H-bond donors and acceptors, overall topology and Vander Waal volume (vdw_vol) which are found to be responsible for dual inhibition of receptors. These findings lead to further description that Tirofiban, Practolol, Edoxaban, Novobiocin have potential to perform dual inhibition of both targets

Mixotrophic cultivation of Scenedesmus dimorphus in sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate

Overuse of the fossil fuels to fulfill existing energy requirements has generated various environmental problems like global warming. Emergence of environmental issues due to burning of the fossil fuel resources has provoked researchers to explore alternative sources of fuel. In this scenario, microalgal biofuels could present a promising alternative fuel if produced cost-effectively without competing for freshwater resources and arable land. Aim of the present study was to grow microalgae by employing lignocellulosic waste for production of lipids. Scenedesmus dimorphus NT8c was chosen based on its ability to tolerate heat, rapid growth, and ease of harvesting by overnight settling. Biochemical composition and growth parameters of microalgae were analyzed when cultivated mixotrophically on sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate, a low-value agricultural by-product, that is, currently underutilized. Despite a slight increase in turbidity in the medium, S. dimorphus NT8c cultures raised mixotrophically in 5 g/L sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate displayed significantly higher growth rates compared to photoautotrophic cultivation with an overall biomass productivity of 119.5 mg L d, protein contents of 34.82% and fatty acid contents of 15.41%. Thus, microalgae cultivated mixotrophically are capable of photosynthesizing while metabolizing and assimilating organic carbon, significant increases of biomass and lipid productivity can be achieved. However, high supplementation with organic carbon can result in unfavorable levels of turbidity and bacterial growth, reducing microalgal biomass productivity

Lipid A-Ara4N as an alternate pathway for (colistin) resistance in Klebsiella pneumonia isolates in Pakistan

Objectives: This study aimed to explore mechanism of colistin resistance amongst Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates through plasmid mediated mcr-1 gene in Pakistan. Carbapenem and Colistin resistant K. pneumoniae isolates (n = 34) stored at - 80 °C as part of the Aga Khan University Clinical Laboratory strain bank were randomly selected and subjected to mcr-1 gene PCR. To investigate mechanisms of resistance, other than plasmid mediated mcr-1 gene, whole genome sequencing was performed on 8 clinical isolates, including 6 with colistin resistance (MIC \u3e 4 μg/ml) and 2 with intermediate resistance to colistin (MIC \u3e 2 μg/ml).Results: RT-PCR conducted revealed absence of mcr-1 gene in all isolates tested. Whole genome sequencing results revealed modifications in Lipid A-Ara4N pathway. Modifications in Lipid A-Ara4N pathway were detected in ArnA_ DH/FT, UgdH, ArnC and ArnT genes. Mutation in ArnA_ DH/FT gene were detected in S3, S5, S6 and S7 isolates. UgdH gene modifications were found in all isolates except S3, mutations in ArnC were present in all except S1, S2 and S8 and ArnT were detected in all except S4 and S7. In the absence of known mutations linked with colistin resistance, lipid pathway modifications may possibly explain the phenotype resistance to colistin, but this needs further exploration

Wetting of Ga on SiOx and Its Impact on GaAs Nanowire Growth

Ga-assisted growth of GaAs nanowires on silicon provides a path for integrating high-purity III-Vs on silicon. The nature of the oxide on the silicon surface has been shown to impact the overall possibility of nanowire growth and their orientation with the substrate. In this work, we show that not only the exact thickness, but also the nature of the native oxide determines the feasibility of nanowire growth. During the course of formation of the native oxide, the surface energy varies and results in a different contact angle of Ga droplets. We find that, only for a contact angle around 90 degrees (i.e., oxide thickness similar to 0.9 nm), nanowires grow perpendicularly to the silicon substrate. This native oxide engineering is the first step toward controlling the self-assembly process, determining mainly the nanowire density and orientation

Experiència escolar dels estudiants procedents de famílies immigrants

Des dels últims anys, s'ha donat a Espanya un augment considerable dels estudiants immigrants en els centres educatius. La integració d'aquests nouvinguts és un dels reptes més importants per a la cohesió de la societat i l'escola apareix com un dels principals àmbits que permet als joves integrar-se a la societat. Per això, aquesta investigació té per objectiu analitzar la situació i l'experiència d'aquests estudiants en el sistema educatiu a Catalunya. A partir de la revisió teòrica de la literatura existent sobre el fenomen i una metodologia quantitativa s'han analitzat els resultats de les proves de PISA 2015 (Programa d'Avaluació Internacional dels Estudiants). Els resultats indiquen que, els estudiants autòctons tenen molt millor rendiment educatiu que els estudiants immigrants de segona i de primera generació. El factor que més influeix en el rendiment educatiu dels estudiants és el nivell socioeconòmic i sociocultural. Relacionat amb això, és la segregació dels estudiants en tipus de centres educatius, la qual cosa també explica la desigualtat acadèmica entre els estudiants.Desde los últimos años, se ha dado en España un aumento considerable de los estudiantes inmigrantes en los centros educativos. La integración de estos recién llegados es uno de los retos más importantes para la cohesión de la sociedad y la escuela aparece como uno de los principales ámbitos que permite a los jóvenes integrarse a la sociedad. Por ello, esta investigación tiene por objetivo analizar la situación y la experiencia de estos estudiantes en el sistema educativo en Cataluña. A partir de la revisión teórica de la literatura existente sobre el fenómeno y una metodología cuantitativa se han analizado los resultados de las pruebas de PISA 2015 (Programa de Evaluación Internacional de los Estudiantes). Los resultados indican que, los estudiantes autóctonos tienen mucho mejor rendimiento educativo que los estudiantes inmigrantes de segunda y de primera generación. El factor que más influye en el rendimiento educativo de los estudiantes es el nivel socioeconómico y sociocultural. Relacionado con esto, es la segregación de los estudiantes en tipos de centros educativos, lo que también explica la desigualdad académica entre los estudiantes.In recent years, there has been a considerable increase in immigrant students in schools in Spain. The integration of these newcomers is one of the most important challenges for the cohesion of society and the school appears as one of the main areas that allows young people to integrate into society. Therefore, this research aims to analyze the situation and experience of these students in the education system in Catalonia. Based on the theoretical review of the existing literature on the phenomenon and a quantitative methodology, the results of the PISA 2015 (International Student Assessment Program) tests have been analyzed. The results indicate that, native students perform much better in educational performance than second- and first-generation immigrant students. The factor that most influences in students 'educational performance is socioeconomic and sociocultural level. Related to this is the segregation of students into types of schools, which also explains the academic inequality among students