Four bioactive compounds isolated from the stem of Anethum sowa L. and their bioactivities

Anethum sowa L., (a well-known herb in folk medicine, has a greater medicinal significance due to its diversified activities such as antioxidant, antimicrobial and antispasmodic activity. Very few bioactive compounds have been reported from this species. Our study focused on the isolation, structure elucidation and bioactivity assay of the compounds. In the present work, 6-hydroxy-1, 3-dimethoxy-7-methyl-xanthen-9-one (AS-1) from dichloromethane extract and scopoletin (AS-2), 1, 3, 4-trimethoxy-xanthen-9-one (AS-3), graveolone (AS-4) from ethyl acetate extract of stem of A. sowa were isolated from the stem as well as the plant for the first time. All the characterizations and chemical structures of the compounds were determined by extensive modern spectroscopic techniques such as ultraviolet (UV), infrared (IR), mass, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectrophotometer. Moreover, the cytotoxic, antimicrobial and antioxidant activity of AS-2, AS-3 and AS-4 were assessed. AS-2 exhibited significant activity against Salmonella typhi while mild antifungal activity against Aspergillus niger. Furthermore AS-3 revealed significant antifungal activity against Sacharomyces cerevacae as well as antibacterial activity against Salmonella typhi. Besides AS-4 exhibited moderate antibacterial activity against Bacillus megaterium. In addition AS-2, AS-3 and AS-4 presented mild cytotoxic with respect to positive control (Vincristine sulphate) while AS-3 exhibited moderate antioxidant activity as compared to positive control (Ascorbic acid)

Zero-Power Defense Done Right: Shielding IMDs from Battery-Depletion Attacks

The wireless capabilities of modern Implantable Medical Devices (IMDs) make them vulnerable to security attacks. One prominent attack, which has disastrous consequences for the patient’s wellbeing, is the battery Denial-of-Service attack whereby the IMD is occupied with continuous authentication requests from an adversary with the aim of depleting its battery. Zero-Power Defense (ZPD), based on energy harvesting, is known to be an excellent protection against these attacks. This paper raises essential design considerations for employing ZPD techniques in commercial IMDs, offers a critical review of ZPD techniques found in literature and, subsequently, gives crucial recommendations for developing comprehensive ZPD solutions

Performance of the TIMI risk score in predicting mortality after primary percutaneous coronary intervention in elderly women: Results from a developing country

Background: Despite women undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) having a higher rate of adverse outcomes than men, data evaluating prognostic risk scores, especially in elderly women, remains scarce. This study was conducted to validate the predictive value of Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) risk score in elderly female patients. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of elderly (\u3e65 years) female patients who underwent PPCI for ST-elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI) from October 2016 to September 2018. Patients\u27 demographic details and elements of TIMI risk score including age, co-morbidities, Killip classification; weight, anterior MI and total ischemic time were extracted from hospital records. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality and post-discharge mortality reported on telephonic follow-up. Results: A total of 404 elderly women with a median age of 70 years were included. The mean TIMI score was 5.25±1.45 with 40.3% (163) patients of TIMI score \u3e 5. In-hospital mortality rate was 6.4% (26) and was found to be associated with TIMI score (p\u3c0.001). The in-hospital mortality rate increased from 3.1% at TIMI score of 0-4 to 34.6% at the score of 8. On follow-up (16.43±7.40 months) of 211 (55.8%) patients, the overall mortality rate was 20.3%, and this was also associated with TIMI score (p\u3c0.001). The mortality rate increased from 5.6% at the score of 0-4 to 54.5% at the score of 8. The predictive values (area under the curve) of TIMI risk score for in-hospital and post-discharge mortality were 0.709 (95% CI 0.591-0.827; p \u3c0.001) and 0.689 (95% CI 0.608-0.770; p \u3c0.001), respectively. Conclusion: Increased adverse outcomes were observed with higher TIMI risk score for in hospital and post-discharge follow-up. Therefore, the prognostic TIMI risk score is a robust tool in predicting both in-hospital as well as post-discharge mortality in elderly females

Overhead Based Cluster Scheduling of Mixed Criticality Systems on Multicore Platform

The cluster-based technique is gaining focus for scheduling tasks of mixed-criticality (MC) real-time multicore systems. In this technique, the cores of the MC system are distributed in groups known as clusters. When all cores are distributed in clusters, the tasks are partitioned into clusters, which are scheduled on the cores within each cluster using a global approach. In this study, a cluster-based technique is adopted for scheduling tasks of real-time mixed-criticality systems (MCS). The Decreasing Criticality Decreasing Utilization with the worst-fit (DCDU-WF) technique is used for partitioning of tasks to clusters, whereas a novel mixed-criticality cluster-based boundary fair (MC-Bfair) scheduling approach is used for scheduling tasks on cores within clusters. The MC-Bfair scheduling algorithm reduces the number context switches and migration of tasks, which minimizes the overhead of mixed-criticality tasks. The migration and context switch overhead time is added at the time of each migration and context switch respectively for a task. In low critical mode, the low mode context switch and migration overhead time is added to task execution time, while the high mode overhead time of migration and context switch is added to the execution time of a task in high critical mode. The results obtained from experiments show the better schedulablity performance of proposed cluster-based technique as compared to cluster-based fixed priority (CB-FP), MC-EKG-VD-1, global and partitioned scheduling techniques e.g., for target utilization U=0.6, the proposed technique schedule 66.7% task sets while MC-EKG-VD-1, CB-FP, partitioned and global techniques schedule 50%, 33.3%, 16.7% and 0% task sets respectively

Almond protects the liver in coronary artery disease: A randomized controlled clinical trial

Objective: To compare the effect of Pakistani and American almonds on serum concentration of liver enzymes in coronary artery disease patients.Methods: The randomised controlled trial was conducted at the Cardiology Clinics of Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, from February to July, 2012, and comprised patients who were randomised into intervention PA and AA groups and the control NI groups. Subjects in the intervention groups were provided Pakistani and American varieties of almonds 10g/day respectively with instructions to soak them overnight, remove the skin and eat them before breakfast for 12 weeks. The control group underwent no intervention. Serum concentrations of aspartate transaminase, Alanine transaminase and gamma-glutamyl transferase were analysed and compared.Results: Of the 150 subjects, 110(73.3%) completed the study. Of them, there were 38(34.5%) in PA group, 41(37.3%) in AA, and 31(28.2%) in the NI group. Dietary almonds significantly reduced serum concentrations of aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase and gamma-glutamyl transferase in the two intervention groups compared to the controls group (pConclusions: A low dose of almonds was found to be an effective strategy to protect the liver

Patients\u27 satisfaction and opinions of their experiences during admission in a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan - a cross sectional study

Background: It is often felt that developing countries need to improve their quality of healthcare provision. This study hopes to generate data that can help managers and doctors to improve the standard of care they provide in line with the wishes of the patients.Methods: It was a cross sectional study carried out at a major tertiary care hospital of Karachi. Patients between the ages of 18 and 80 years admitted to the hospital for at least one day were included. Patients in the maternity, psychiatry and chemotherapy wards and those in the ICU/CCU were excluded. A pretested, peer reviewed translation of a validated patient satisfaction scale developed by the Picker Institute of Europe was administered.Results: A total of 173 patients (response rate: 78.6 %) filled the questionnaire. Patient satisfaction was at levels comparable to European surveys for most aspects of hospital care. However, nearly half the patients (48%) felt they had to wait too long to get a bed in the hospital after presenting to the ER. 68.6% of the patients said that they were never asked for views on the quality of care provided. 20% of the patients did not find anyone in the staff to talk to about their worries and fears while 27.6% felt that they were given emotional support to only some extent. Up to one third of the patients said they were not provided enough information regarding their operative procedures beforehand.CONCLUSION: Although several components of patient care equal the quality levels of the west, many sections require considerable improvement in order to improve health care provision. The healthcare team needs to get more involved with the patients, providing them greater support and keeping them informed and involved with their medical treatment. Efforts should be made to get regular feedback from the patients

The impact of disease control measures on the spread of COVID-19 in the province of Sindh, Pakistan

The province of Sindh reported the first COVID-19 case in Pakistan on 26(th) February 2020. The Government of Sindh has employed numerous control measures to limit its spread. However, for low-and middle-income countries such as Pakistan, the management protocols for controlling a pandemic are not always as definitive as they would be in other developed nations. Given the dire socio-economic conditions of Sindh, continuation of province-wise lockdowns may inadvertently cause a potential economic breakdown. By using a data driven SEIR modelling framework, this paper describes the evolution of the epidemic projections because of government control measures. The data from reported COVID-19 prevalence and google mobility is used to parameterize the model at different time points. These time points correspond to the government’s call for advice on the prerequisite actions required to curtail the spread of COVID-19 in Sindh. Our model predicted the epidemic peak to occur by 18(th) June 2020 with approximately 3500 reported cases at that peak, this projection correlated with the actual recorded peak during the first wave of the disease in Sindh. The impact of the governmental control actions and religious ceremonies on the epidemic profile during this first wave of COVID-19 are clearly reflected in the model outcomes through variations in the epidemic peaks. We also report these variations by displaying the trajectory of the epidemics had the control measures been guided differently; the epidemic peak may have occurred as early as the end of May 2020 with approximately 5000 reported cases per day had there been no control measures and as late as August 2020 with only around 2000 cases at the peak had the lockdown continued, nearly flattening the epidemic curve

Development and Comparative Analysis of Electrochemically Etched Tungsten Tips for Quartz Tuning Fork Sensor

Quartz Tuning Fork (QTF) based sensors are used for Scanning Probe Microscopes (SPM), in particular for near-field scanning optical microscopy. Highly sharp Tungsten (W) tips with larger cone angles and less tip diameter are critical for SPM instead of platinum and iridium (Pt/Ir) tips due to their high-quality factor, conductivity, mechanical stability, durability and production at low cost. Tungsten is chosen for its ease of electrochemical etching, yielding high-aspect ratio, sharp tips with tens of nanometer end diameters, while using simple etching circuits and basic electrolyte chemistry. Moreover, the resolution of the SPM images is observed to be associated with the cone angle of the SPM tip, therefore Atomic-Resolution Imaging is obtained with greater cone angles. Here, the goal is to chemically etch W to the smallest possible tip apex diameters. Tips with greater cone angles are produced by the custom etching procedures, which have proved superior in producing high quality tips. Though various methods are developed for the electrochemical etching of W wire, with a range of applications from scanning tunneling microscopy (SPM) to electron sources of scanning electron microscopes, but the basic chemical etching methods need to be optimized for reproducibility, controlling cone angle and tip sharpness that causes problems for the end users. In this research work, comprehensive experiments are carried out for the production of tips from 0.4 mm tungsten wire by three different electrochemical etching techniques, that is, Alternating Current (AC) etching, Meniscus etching and Direct Current (DC) etching. Consequently, sharp and high cone angle tips are obtained with required properties where the results of the W etching are analyzed, with optical microscope, and then with field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). Similarly, effects of varying applied voltages and concentration of NaOH solution with comparison among the produced tips are investigated by measuring their cone angle and tip diameter. Moreover, oxidation and impurities, that is, removal of contamination and etching parameters are also studied in this research work. A method has been tested to minimize the oxidation on the surface and the tips were characterized with scanning electron microscope (SEM)

Groundwater study of the Pingrup townsite

A groundwater study was carried out in the townsite of Pingrup. It aimed to accelerate the implementation of effective salinity risk management. The study consisted of a drilling investigation and expansion of a piezometer network, a pumping test, groundwater flow modelling and a flood risk analysis