Risk Factors of Diarrhoea in Malnourished Children Under Age of 5 Years

Background: Acute infectious enteritis remains one of the commonest causes of death among infants and children in developing countries. Acute enteritis is defined as a loss of stool consistency with pasty or liquid stools, and/or an increase in stool frequency to more than three stools in 24 hours with or without fever or vomiting. Human survival depends on the secretion and reabsorption of fluid and electrolytes in the intestinal tract. The objective of the study is to evaluate the risk factors of diarrhoea in children under age of 5 years. Methodology: It was an observational study. Study was completed in about six months. Non-probability purposive sampling technique was used. In this study, 270 samples were taken from Diarrheal ward of The Children Hospital Lahore, Pakistan. Results: In this study, out of 270 patients, 58.52% were males and 41.48% were females. 90.37% patients were vaccinated. 54.81% had weaning history. 91.85% patients had feeding history. 29.26% had blood in stool. 96.67% patients were dehydrated. 95.56% patients had loose watery diarrhoea. 62.96% patients used boiled water. 58.52% patients consumed less than half litre of water, 30.00% patients consumed 1 litre of water and 11.48% patients consumed > 1 litre of water. 49.18% patients had proper hygiene. 38.15% mothers of patients were well educated. 40.37% patients had model household condition. 57.41% patients lived in rural area and 42.59% patients lived in urban area. Conclusion: The variation in the level of diarrheal morbidity was well explained by maternal education, income, personal hygiene, refuse disposal system and the effect of health extension programme

DNA amplified fingerprinting, a useful tool for determination of genetic origin and diversity analysis in Citrus

We used three short repetitive nucleotide sequences [(GTG)5, (TAC)5, and (GACA)4] either as radiolabeled probes for hybridization with restricted Citrus DNA or as single primers in polymerase chain reaction amplification experiments with total genomic DNA. We tested the ability of the sequences to discriminate between seedlings of zygotic or nuclear origin in the progeny of a Volkamer lemon #Citrus volkameriana# Ten. & Pasq.) tree. The genetic variability within two species [#Citrus sinensis# (L.) Osbeck (sweet oranges) and #Citrus reticulata# Blanco and relatives (mandarins)] was evaluated. DNA amplified figerprinting with single primers was the more successful technique for discriminating between nucellular and zygotic seedlings. Although we were not able to distinguish among 10 cultivars of #C. sinensis#, all 10 #C. reticulata# cultivars tested were distinguishable. However, it still is difficult to identify the putative parents of a hybrid plant when the two parental genomes are closely related. (Résumé d'auteur

Effects of Polyhydroxybutyrate Production on Cell Division

Synthetic biological engineering can be utilized to aide the advancement of improved long-term space flight. The potential to use synthetic biology as a platform to biomanufacture desired equipment on demand using the three dimensional (3D) printer on the International Space Station (ISS) gives long-term NASA missions the flexibility to produce materials as needed on site. Polyhydroxybutyrates (PHBs) are biodegradable, have properties similar to plastics, and can be produced in Escherichia coli using genetic engineering. Using PHBs during space flight could assist mission success by providing a valuable source of biomaterials that can have many potential applications, particularly through 3D printing. It is well documented that during PHB production E. coli cells can become significantly elongated. The elongation of cells reduces the ability of the cells to divide and thus to produce PHB. I aim to better understand cell division during PHB production, through the design, building, and testing of synthetic biological circuits, and identify how to potentially increase yields of PHB with FtsZ overexpression, the gene responsible for cell division. Ultimately, an increase in the yield will allow more products to be created using the 3D printer on the ISS and beyond, thus aiding astronauts in their missions

Frequency of Clinical Symptoms of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease in Asthmatic Patients

Background: Gastroesophageal reflex is known as an acid reflex, is long term condition where stomach contents back into the oesophagus resulting in either symptoms or complications. GERD disease is caused by weakness or failure of the lower oesophageal sphincter. Symptoms include the acidic taste behind the mouth, heart burn, chest pain, difficult breathing and vomiting. Complication includes esophagitis, oesophageal strictures and barrettes oesophagus. Objective: The aim of this research was to introduce the symptoms of GERD disease in asthmatic patients and how these symptoms worsen the symptoms of asthma disease and what clinical pictures present with the asthmatic disease. Methodology: A designed performa was used to collect the data and after filling the performa, results were drawn and conclusion through the facts and the information given by patients. Results: In the present study among all 164 asthmatic patients, 70 (42.7%) patients showed dyspepsia, 58 (35.4%) were with chest burning, 23 (14%) were asking about chest pain, with acidic mouth taste were 39 (23.8%), 22 (13.4%) were feeling sore throat and 44 (26.8%) showed regurgitation reflex. Among these 164 patients 16 (9.8%) were smokers and 148 (90.2 %) were non-smokers. 47 (28.7%) were males and 117 (71.3%) were females. Conclusion: It is concluded that gastroesophageal reflux disease in asthmatic patients present symptoms of acidic mouth taste, chest burning, chest pain, dyspepsia, regurgitation reflex and sore throat

Frequency of Predisposing Factor of Nausea and Vomiting After Chest Surgery Under General Anaesthesia

Background: Postoperative nausea and vomiting are common and distressing postsurgical symptoms. These symptoms are of particular concern in outpatient surgery because they may require additional direct resources, such as supplies and antiemetic drugs, and may delay discharge. The objective of this study was to measure the frequency of factors which can cause nausea and vomiting under general anaesthesia after chest surgery. Methodology: This descriptive case series evaluated frequency of predisposing factor of nausea and vomiting in patients of anaesthesia department of Gulab Devi Hospital Lahore. Questionnaire is made and patients were asked about their age, fever, previous surgery, NPO status, smoking history and hospital stay. This study included 140 patients with post-operative nausea and vomiting. Results: In this study, 140 patients were taken in which  65 (46.43%) were female and 75 (53.57%) were male. In 140 patient 134 (95.7%) were NPO and 6 (4.3%) were not  NPO, 25 (17.9%) were obese and 115 (82.1%) were not obese, 88 (62.9%) patients were suffering fever and 52 (37.1%) were not suffering fever, 80 (57.1%) were infected and 59 (42.1%) were not infected, 53 (37.9%) patients had previous surgery and 87 (62.1%) had no previous surgery, 94 (67.1%) patients had received nitrous oxide and 46 (32.9%) didn\u27t, 97 (69.3%) received volatile gases and 43 (30.7%) not received, 29 (20.7%) received ketamine and 111 (79.3%) not received, 87 (62.1%) received suxamethonium and 53 (37.9%) not received, 119 (85.0%) received propofol and 21 (15.0%) not received, 110 (78.6%) received naluphine and 28 (20.0%) not received. Out of 140 patients, there were 122 (87.1%) who were suffering from pain and 18 (12.9%) were not. 91 (65.0%) patients had gastric distention and 49 (35.0%) patients didn\u27t. Opioids were given to 34 (24.3%) patients and not given to 106 (75.7%) patient. Conclusion: It is concluded that the nausea and vomiting after surgey under genral anesthesia is due to patient related factors in which most frequent is NPO. Drug related factors include propofol and nalbupin administration. Post operative factors include pain. In whole study of 140 patients, the  most frequent is patient related factor (NPO) other than drug related factors and post-operative factors

Enhanced Polyhydroxybutyrate Production for Long-Term Spaceflight Applications

Synthetic biology holds the promise of advancing long term space fight by the production of medicine, food, materials, and energy. One such application of synthetic biology is the production of biomaterials, specifically polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), using purposed organisms such as Escherichia coli. PHAs are a group of biodegradable bioplastics that are produced by a wide variety of naturally occurring microorganisms, mainly as an energy storage intermediate. PHAs have similar melting point to polypropylene and a Youngs modulus close to polystyrene. Due to limited resources and cost of transportation, large-scale extraction of biologically produced products in situ is extremely cumbersome during space flight. To that end, we are developing a secretion systems for exporting PHA from the cell in order to reduce unit operations. PHAs granules deposited inside bacteria are typically associated with proteins bound to the granule surface. Phasin, a granule bound protein, was targeted for type I secretion by fusion with HlyA signal peptide for indirect secretion of PHAs. In order to validate our secretion strategy, a green fluorescent protein (GFP) was tagged to the PHA polymerase enzyme (phaC), this three part gene cassette consists of phaA and phaB and are required for PHA production. Producing PHAs in situ during space flight or planet colonization will enable mission success by providing a valuable source of biomaterials that can have many potential applications thereby reducing resupply requirements. Biologically produced PHAs can be used in additive manufacturing such as three dimensional (3D) printing to create products that can be made on demand during space flight. After exceeding their lifetime, the PHAs could be melted and recycled back to 3D print other products. We will discuss some of our long term goals of this approach

Instant dynamic response measurements for crack monitoring in metallic beams

This paper investigates the interdependencies of the modal behaviour of a cantilever beam, its dynamic response and crack growth. A methodology is proposed that can predict crack growth in a metallic beam using only its dynamic response. Analytical and numerical relationships are formulated between the fundamental mode and crack growth using the existing literature and finite element analysis (FEA) software, respectively. A relationship between the dynamic response and the modal behaviour is formulated empirically. All three relationships are used to predict crack growth and propagation. The load conditions are considered the same in all of the experiments for both model development and model validation. The predicted crack growth is compared with the visual observations. The overall error is within acceptable limits in all comparisons. The results obtained demonstrate the possibility of diagnosing crack growth in metallic beams at any instant within the operational conditions and environment

Phalaris minor control, resistance development and strategies for integrated management of resistance to fenoxaprop-ethyl

Phalaris minor (Littleseed canary grass) is a very important and annual weed of winter cereal crops. It is a very competitive weed of wheat, oat and barley crops in Pakistan. Usually, three aryloxyphenoxypropionate herbicides, fenoxaprop-P-ethyl, diclofop-methyl and clodinafop-propargyl are used as chemical weed control against different grassy weeds like P. minor, Avena sativa and Cyperus rotundus L. This review describes fenoxaprop-ethyl, a selective chemical herbicide used to control P. minor in wheat crop. High production of wheat is associated with its continuous use. But this practice enhances the development of resistant biotypes of P. minor. Different management approaches like preference of mechanical weeding over chemical weed control, integration of competitive varietal selection, crop rotation and herbicide rotation can be long duration strategies of resistance management in P. minor. However, tillage method, planting time, method of herbicide application, optimum dose, higher seed rate, early sowing, bed planting, stale seed bed and zero tillage are short duration resistance management strategies. Use of water extracts of herbicidal potential (allelopathic) plants can be effective integrated management of herbicide resistant against P. minor in wheat and for eco-friendly and sustainable weed management.Key words: Control, fenoxaprop-ethyl, management, Phalaris minor, resistance, wheat