Search

In the context of a global water crisis, enhancing water productivity is becoming increasingly crucial. While previous research has predominantly addressed technical and policy aspects of water management, the role of fintech in improving water productivity has not been sufficiently explored. This research investigates the impact of fintech on water productivity, considering the moderating effect of education level. Using panel data from new BRICS countries spanning 2011 to 2021, we employ a partially linear functional model to analyze how fintech influences water productivity and assess how education levels moderate this relationship. Our findings reveal that: (i) Fintech holds significant potential for improving water productivity; (ii) The effect of fintech on water production varies with the education level; (iii) There is considerable spatial variation in how education level affects the impact of fintech, with a more pronounced effect observed in countries with higher education levels. Specifically, the impact of fintech on water productivity becomes substantially more significant when the education level index exceeds 2.3. These results remain robust across various tests. Based on these insights, the paper proposes policy recommendations to enhance water productivity through the integration of fintech and education improvements., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: The COVID-19 comorbid population is at higher risk of developing severe health issues like acute respiratory distress syndrome, coagulation syndrome, metabolic acidosis, and septic shock, potentially leading to patient death. Patients' knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) significantly influence their response to the pandemic and aid in enhancing health policy implementation., Objective: To identify and evaluate the pattern and associated factors to COVID-19 knowledge, attitude, and practice among individuals with comorbidities., Methodology: The systematic review followed the PRISMA guidelines. Relevant studies assessing the KAP of comorbid patients were retrieved by carefully searching the PubMed and Google Scholar databases. The appraisal tool for cross-sectional studies was used to determine the quality of the included studies and the risk of biases., Results: Eighteen studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. The pooled sample size of the included studies was 9,104. Different comorbidities reported in the studies include hypertension, diabetes, psychological disorders, and cancer. Pooled analysis showed that 65% of patients showed good knowledge, 57% of patients showed a positive attitude and 51% of patients followed good practices to manage the COVID-19 in presence of their comorbid condition. Significant factors impacting knowledge, attitude and practice in COVID-19 comorbid patients were ethnicity OR 1.78 [95% CI 1.35-2.32]; educational status 3.2 [2.79-3.58]; urban residence 2.43 [1.65-3.02]; employment Status 1.67[1.34-2.12]; financial Status 4.02[3.66-4.38]; occupation 3.65[3.31-4.25]; information Source 2.64[2.19-3.26]; comorbidity 3.28[2.78-3.61]; and duration of chronic illness 1.59[1.31-2.04]., Conclusion: Comorbid COVID-19 patients showed good knowledge, positive attitude and good practice towards the management of the disease., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Rehman, Tasleem, Muhammad, Rasool, Shah, Jabeen, Arif, Omar Babkair, Kadumi, Alghamdi, Almarzoky Abuhussain, Khayyat, Alharthi, Hossain, Abbas, Elrggal and Haseeb.)

Acetochlor is frequently applied to various food crops in agriculture sector, and long-term exposure can cause significant endocrine-disrupting effects in exposed animals including impacts on human health. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of acetochlor on the growth, hematology, serum biochemistry, and histopathological alterations in Japanese quail. Eighty male quail were obtained and divided into four groups (A-D) and given acetochlor orally for the period of 45 days. Group A was served as the control, while groups B, C, and D received 20mg/kg, 30mg/kg, and 40mg/kg acetochlor, respectively. The study found that Japanese quail administered higher doses of acetochlor exhibited reduced frequency of crowing and foam production. The results showed that increased concentrations of acetochlor led to adverse effects on the growth parameters of Japanese quail. Hematology analysis indicated that birds exposed to higher concentrations of acetochlor experienced a significant decrease in red blood cell count, hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit (HCT), mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), along with a significant increase in white blood cell count compared to the control group. Additionally, higher concentrations of acetochlor led to a significant increase in various serological indices including urea, creatinine, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST), while the values of total proteins, albumin, and plasma proteins declined. The histopathology results of treated Japanese quail exposed to higher concentrations of acetochlor showed a range of pathological lesions in the testes, heart, and brain. The study concluded that even low concentrations of acetochlor can cause slight to significant changes in Japanese quail, affecting their physical, hematological, histopathological and serum biochemical parameters., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Arshad et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Urinary tract infection caused by Klebsiella, Proteus and Streptococcus is a urease dependent process, hence treatment of these infections by antibacterial compounds lies in inhibition of their virulence factors. The crude methanolic extracts derived from sumac fruit, pomegranate peel and Indian almond leaves were separated into anthocyanin and non-anthocyanin fractions using solid phase cartridges. The inhibitory effect of these fractions was determined on the growth of urease producing species and jack bean urease activity. Known compounds in the fractions were also docked with ureases of different biological origins viz. K. pneumoniae (PDB ID: 8HCN), K. aerogenes (PDB ID: 2KAU), Helicobacter pylori (PDB ID:8HC1)and Canavalia ensiformis (jack bean) (PDB ID: 3LA4) to determine their binding affinities and interaction with the enzyme. All the fractions showed significant inhibition growth for P. mirabilis, S. epidermidis and K.pneumoniae. Among the samples, sumac showed greatest inhibition against all (MIC 6-25 mg.mL -1 ) while among the fractions, anthocyanin was found to be most active (MIC 6-12 mg/mL). Likewise, all fractions inhibited urease with lowest ICs 50 shown by sumac fractions (21-116 μg.mL -1 ). Out of 39 compounds docked, 27 showed interaction with movable flaps and/or active site of ureases which explains their mode of inhibition., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest This is to be certified that there is no conflict of interest in the submission of research paper entitled “Inhibitory Effect of Polyphenols from Sumac, Pomegranate and Indian Almond on Urease Producing Bacteria and Jack Bean Urease Activity.”, (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Industrial effluents reaching to the aquatic ecosystem is one of the major causes of environmental pollution and exposure to industrial effluents containing harmful substances may be a serious threat to human health. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the sub-lethal (1/5th of predetermined LC 50 ) impact of industrial effluents from Sundar Industrial Estate on Oreochromis niloticus with proper negative control. The physicochemical analysis of industrial effluents showed enormous loads of inorganic pollutants and exhibited high mean levels of heavy metals, Mn, Fe, Pb, Ni, Cr, Hg, As, Zn and Fe with statistically significant differences at p < 0.05. Highest level of Mn and Fe was detected in effluent's samples as 147.36 ± 80.91 mg/L and 90.52 ± 32.08 mg/L, respectively. Exposure led to increase in serum biochemical parameters alanine aminotransferase + 25%, aspartate aminotransferase + 20% and alkaline phosphatase + 7% over control although superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase and reduced glutathione significantly increased as 3.42, 2.44, 4.8 and 8 folds, respectively in metabolically active tissue brain which indicated stress caused by industrial effluents. The results concluded that industrial effluent has potent oxidative stress inducers on one hand whereas histoarchitectural and physiological toxicity causing contaminants on the other. This condition may adversely affect the health of aquatic organisms, the fish and ultimately the human beings., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Aquatic pollution mainly by industrial effluents has been a major concern since a few decades. The current study evaluated cyto-genotoxicity of industrial effluents on Oreochromis niloticus exposed to sublethal levels by hematotoxicity, blood biochemistry analysis, micronucleus assay, antioxidants and cerebral toxicity. The significant elevation in differential leukocytes of exposed fish was indicative of infections and compromised immune system. The acute and chronic industrial effluent exposure caused significant decline in aspartame transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) and renal function enzymes. Necrosis, hyperplastic growth, hypertrophy and toxicant accumulation exhibited cerebral toxicity potential of industrial toxicants. A significant decrease in antioxidants, GSH, SOD and catalase (0.14, 0.66 and 1549 unit/mg protein) in chronic exposure group in comparison to 0.18, 2.83, 7680 and 6200.8 values of GSH, SOD, GPx and CAT, respectively. Results showed that acute and chronic industrial effluent exposure caused genotoxicity with higher frequencies of formation of micronuclei and cytokaryotic fusion., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest I and my co-authors confirm that this work is original and has not been published elsewhere, nor is it currently under consideration for publication elsewhere., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

While economic development-driven anthropogenic emissions pose challenges to ecological sustainability, the international travel and tourism sector has appeared as a hot contestant to bring sustainability to the ecological systems across varying development levels. This work investigates the diversified effects of the international travel and tourism sector and economic development on ecological deterioration, in the presence of urban agglomeration and energy use efficiency, across the development levels of China's 30 provincial units from 2002 to 2019. It contributes in two ways. (i) The stochastic estimation of environmental impacts by regression on population, affluence, and technology (STIRPAT) is modified to integrate the variables like international travel and tourism sector, urban agglomeration, and energy use efficiency. (ii) We measured an international travel and tourism sector index (ITTI) and made use of a continuously updated bias correction strategy (CUBCS) and a continuously updated fully modified strategy (CUFMS) for the long-term estimations. Besides, we used the bootstrapping-based causality technique for determining causality directions. The core results are as follows: Firstly, ITTI and economic development produced an inverse U-type association with ecological deterioration for the aggregate panels. Secondly, provinces exhibited a diverse range of links in that ITTI mitigated (boosted) the ecological deterioration in eleven (fourteen) provinces presenting diversified shapes of linkages. Economic development established the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) theory with ecological deterioration in merely four provinces; however, the non-EKC theory is verified in twenty-four divisions. Thirdly, in China's east zone (high development scale), the ITTI revealed the ecological deterioration reduction (promotion) impact in eight (two) provinces. China's central zone (moderate development scale) exhibited ecological deterioration promotion in half of the provinces, and the other half showed a reduction impact. In China's west zone (low development scale), it promoted ecological deterioration in eight provinces. Economic development promoted (reduced) ecological deterioration in a single (nine) province(s). In China's central zone, it boosted (mitigated) the ecological deterioration in five (three) provinces. In China's west zone, it promoted (reduced) ecological deterioration in eight (two) provinces. Fourthly, urban agglomeration and energy use efficiency deteriorated and improved the environmental quality in aggregated panels, respectively; however, a diverse range of effects are observed for provinces. Finally, a unilateral bootstrap causality, from ITTI (economic development) to ecological deterioration, is revealed in twenty-four (fifteen) provinces. A bilateral causality is established in a single (thirteen) province(s). Based on empirical findings, policies are suggested., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Candidiasis is a significant fungal infection with high mortality and morbidity rates worldwide. Candida albicans is the most dominant species responsible for causing different manifestations of candidiasis. Certain virulence traits as well as its resistance to antifungal drugs contribute to the pathogenesis of this yeast. This study was designed to determine the production of some virulence factors, such as biofilm formation and extracellular hydrolytic enzymes (esterase, coagulase, gelatinase, and catalase) by this fungus, as well as its antifungal resistance profile. A total of 304 clinical C. albicans isolates obtained from different clinical specimens were identified by a conventional diagnostic protocol. The antifungal susceptibility of C. albicans strains was determined by disk diffusion technique against commercially available antifungal disks, such as nystatin 50 μg, amphotericin B 100 unit, fluconazole 25 μg, itraconazole 10 μg, ketoconazole 10 μg, and voriconazole 1 μg. The assessment of biofilm formation was determined by the tube staining assay and spectrophotometry. Gelatinase, coagulase, catalase, and esterase enzyme production was also detected using standard techniques. A total of 66.1% (201/304) and 28.9% (88/304) of C. albicans strains were susceptible-dose dependent (SDD) to nystatin and itraconazole, respectively. Among the antifungal drugs, C. albicans strains showed high resistance to ketoconazole 24.7% (75/304); however, no statistically significant relationship between the clinical origin of C. albicans isolates and antifungal drug resistance pattern was detected. For virulence factors, the majority of the C. albicans strains actively produced biofilm and all hydrolytic enzymes. Biofilm formation was demonstrated by 88% (267/304) of the strains with a quantitative mean value 0.1762 (SD ± 0.08293). However, 100% (304/304) of isolates produced catalase enzyme, 69% (211/304) produced coagulase, 66% (197/304) produced gelatinase, and 52% (157/304) produced esterase enzyme. A significant relationship between the source of specimens and biofilm formation by C. albicans was observed; nevertheless, there was no significant relationship between different sources of C. albicans strains and the production of different enzymatic virulence factors. The study found that C. albicans strains have excellent potential to produce virulence markers and resistance to antifungals, which necessitates surveillance of these opportunistic pathogens to minimize the chances of severe invasive infections., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 British Mycological Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Environmental sustainability investigation has been a hotly debated topic of the modern literature; however, past studies have primarily overlooked its transmissibility or spillover outreach across economies. Herein, we investigate the novel aspect of whether transportation-based environmental taxation spatially induces spillover impacts across Italy, Germany, and France over the 1994-2020 period by employing a simultaneous spatial equation with multi-country dynamic stochastic general equilibrium modeling (DSGEM) framework. Transportation-based environmental taxation of the domestic economy negatively impacts its own investment and consumption, while it impacts the economy of neighboring economies positively. Change in output and investment in the domestic economy can be well explained by the environmental volatility of the domestic economy, whereas the environmental volatility of neighboring economies does not contribute much to explain the change in investment and output of the domestic economy. Volatility in pollution discharge occurs more by environmental volatility in the neighboring economy than in the domestic economy, and validating that environmental sustainability is transmissible across regions and economies. It urgently calls for environmental protection policies integrated and coordinated across the countries and regions to spread and capitalize on environmentally and economically favorable and sustainable effects globally. Achieving the spatially transmitted positive environmental and economic outcomes would help strengthen the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), with a particular focus on Climate Action (SDG13), Sustainable Production and Consumption (SDG12), and Affordable and Sustainable Energy for All (SDG7)., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Probiotics play a significant role in aquaculture by improving the growth, health, and survival rate of fish against pathogenic organisms. In the present study, we have evaluated the effects of a Lactobacillus rhamnosus ( L. rhamnosus ) probiotic on growth performance and disease resistance in Oreochromis niloticus ( O. niloticus ) fingerlings. Four different concentrations of L. rhamnosus (T1: 0.5 × 10 10 , T2: 1 × 10 10 , T3: 1.5 × 10 10 , and T4: 2 × 10 10 CFU/kg feed) were administered to fish over a period of three months. L. rhamnosus treated fish revealed a high growth increment as compared to the control, and the values of macromolecules (amino acids, fatty acids, and carbohydrates) varied significantly among the treated and control groups. Levels of thyroid hormones were noted to be high in the probiotic-treated groups. A challenge assay was performed with Aeromonas hydrophila ( A. hydrophila ). The optimum calculated concentration of probiotics from the growth assay (1.5 × 10 10 CFU/kg feed) was used for the challenge assay. Fish were divided into four groups as follows: control (Con), probiotic-treated (PL), infected (I), and infected + probiotic-treated (I + PL) groups. Significant variations in hematological parameters were observed among control and treated groups. Histopathological changes were recorded in infected fish, while the infected + probiotic-treated group showed less deformations indicating the positive effect of the probiotic supplementation. The survival rate of fish was also better in the probiotic-treated group. Based on these findings, we conclude that probiotic supplementation enhances the growth and improves immunity of O. niloticus . Therefore, we propose that probiotics can be used as promising feed supplements for promoting fish production and disease resistance in aquaculture.

China seems ambitious to achieve a "carbon emissions peak" before 2030 and "carbon neutrality" before 2060. To deal with this emissions mitigation plan, technology innovations are regarded as a crucial factor. However, considering its rebound effect (CO 2 emissions driving effect) through economic growth, technology innovations might not prove a promising contributor to CO 2 reduction. Therefore, there is a need to investigate further the nexus between technology innovations and CO 2 emissions for conclusive debate. Based on the data of 215 cities in China, this paper uses mediating effects model to investigate the direct and indirect impacts (through economic growth and industrial structure transformation) of technology innovations on CO 2 emissions from a microeconomic perspective. The main results suggest that technology innovations generally increase CO 2 emissions in China both directly and indirectly. The impact of technology innovations and economic growth on CO 2 emissions indicated the EKC characteristics. Furthermore, the contributions of technology innovations to CO 2 emissions are distinguished in different regions. Thus, there is an urgent need for China to promote innovations in "clean technology" and to transform industrial structure to the tertiary industry to achieve the targets of carbon neutrality and emissions peaking., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Energy security, job development, and minimal environmental damage are just a few of the reasons why green energy technologies have gained popularity. Still, developing these technologies in underdeveloped countries is sluggish due to several bottlenecks. To find and prioritize the bottlenecks to development of green energy technologies (GETs), this study has used the case of South Africa. In this study, technical, financial, social, regulatory, geographical, and institutional bottlenecks are six headings under which 22 bottlenecks are further subdivided. For prioritizing these bottlenecks, a Multi-Objective Optimization based on Ratio Analysis (MOORA) strategy combined with an Evaluation based on Distance from Average Solution (EDAS) method was used. The top three bottlenecks impacting the GETs' development involved social, institutional, and regulatory, whereas in sub-headings, corrupt political systems, knowledge of the public, and fixed investments were revealed to be the most significant hurdles. In addition to that, a framework is also developed for assessing how each bottleneck hinders the development of green energy technologies. The results of this study recommend that formulation of policy using the bottom-up approach is important. Notably, politicians at the highest levels should work together to bolster government agencies so that they can monitor and carry out the policies designed to advance GETs. Building the institutional capacity of government offices is crucial for eliminating corruption in political offices and progressing GETs in South Africa., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

UV induced DNA damage can lead to the development of skin cancer, skin aging and cell death. In this study, we fabricated a fluorescence-based biosensor that can be applied to the detection of DNA damage caused by UV radiation with the help of nitrogen doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) as the probe material. In this paper, N-GQDs with good fluorescence efficiency have been synthesized by the hydrothermal method and were used as a fluorescent probe for the detection of UV damaged DNA. The fluorescence intensity of N-GQDs was quenched by the static quenching of UV damaged DNA through the formation of a N-GQD/UV damaged DNA complex. Moreover, the effects of different values of pH, NaCl and glucose on analytical performances of the sensor were also studied. Thus, using a fluorescence based approach, we demonstrated a quite simple, rapid, and inexpensive biosensor for the detection of DNA damage caused by UV radiation., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Heat shock proteins (HSP) are highly conserved in their structure and released in case of stress. Increased metallothionein (MT) synthesis is associated with increased capacity for binding heavy metals. Healthy juveniles of grass carp were exposed to sublethal dose (1.495 mg L -1 ) of cadmium for 28 days. Simultaneously, a control group was also run to compare difference of total RNA expression levels in cadmium-treated and control groups. The cadmium levels in the tissues of treated fish recorded were 1.78 ± 0.10 mg L -1 , 1.60 ± 0.04 mg L -1 , and 2.00 ± 0.05 mg L -1 , respectively. Several histological alterations including edema, hemorrhage, dilated sinusoids, hypertrophy, hyperplasia, congestion of central vein, and nuclear alterations were observed in cadmium-exposed fish. Stress gene (metallothionein and heat shock proteins) mRNA transcription levels were studied by mRNA extraction and cDNA preparation by using PCR. The expression level of heat shock protein gene was higher as compared to metallothionein and beta-2-microglobulin gene after cadmium exposure. This study reports various stress-related immune-responsive changes of immune proteins, heat shock proteins, metallothionein, and histopathological changes in fish due to cadmium toxicity that make the fish immunocompromised which may be considered as the biomarkers of cadmium toxicity in other experimental species., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Ghazala Jabeen et al.)

From the past few decades, attention towards the biological evaluation of nanoparticles (NPs) has increased due to the persistent and extensive application of NPs in various fields, including biomedical science, modern industry, magnetic resonance imaging, and the construction of sensors. Therefore, in the current study, magnetic nickel ferrite (NiFe 2 O 4 ) nanoparticles (NFNPs) were synthesized and evaluated for their possible adverse effects in rabbits. The crystallinity of the synthesized NFNPs was confirmed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. The saturation magnetization (46.7 emug -1 ) was measured using vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and 0.35-tesla magnetron by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The adverse effects of NFNPs on blood biochemistry and histoarchitecture of the liver, kidneys, spleen, brain, and heart of the rabbits were determined. A total of sixteen adult rabbits, healthy and free from any apparent infection, were blindly placed in two groups. The rabbits in group A served as control, while the rabbits in group B received a single dose (via ear vein) of NFNPs for ten days. The blood and visceral tissues were collected from each rabbit at days 5 and 10 of posttreatment. The results on blood and serum biochemistry profile indicated significant variation in hematological and serum biomarkers in NFNP-treated rabbits. The results showed an increased quantity of oxidative stress and depletion of antioxidant enzymes in treated rabbits. Various serum biochemical tests exhibited significantly higher concentrations of different liver function tests, kidney function tests, and cardiac biomarkers. Histopathologically, the liver showed congestion, edema, atrophy, and degeneration of hepatocytes. The kidneys exhibited hemorrhages, atrophy of renal tubule, degeneration, and necrosis of renal tubules, whereas coagulative necrosis, neutrophilic infiltration, and severe myocarditis were seen in different sections of the heart. The brain of the treated rabbits revealed necrosis of neurons, neuron atrophy, and microgliosis. In conclusion, the current study results indicated that the highest concentration of NPs induced adverse effects on multiple tissues of the rabbits., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Muhammad Shahid Khan et al.)

Triangle meshes are used in many important shape-related applications including geometric modeling, animation production, system simulation, and visualization. However, these meshes are typically generated in raw form with several defects and poor-quality elements, obstructing them from practical application. Over the past decades, different surface remeshing techniques have been presented to improve these poor-quality meshes prior to the downstream utilization. A typical surface remeshing algorithm converts an input mesh into a higher quality mesh with consideration of given quality requirements as well as an acceptable approximation to the input mesh. In recent years, surface remeshing has gained significant attention from researchers and engineers, and several remeshing algorithms have been proposed. However, there has been no survey article on remeshing methods in general with a defined search strategy and article selection mechanism covering the recent approaches in surface remeshing domain with a good connection to classical approaches. In this article, we present a survey on surface remeshing techniques, classifying all collected articles in different categories and analyzing specific methods with their advantages, disadvantages, and possible future improvements. Following the systematic literature review methodology, we define step-by-step guidelines throughout the review process, including search strategy, literature inclusion/exclusion criteria, article quality assessment, and data extraction. With the aim of literature collection and classification based on data extraction, we summarized collected articles, considering the key remeshing objectives, the way the mesh quality is defined and improved, and the way their techniques are compared with other previous methods. Remeshing objectives are described by angle range control, feature preservation, error control, valence optimization, and remeshing compatibility. The metrics used in the literature for the evaluation of surface remeshing algorithms are discussed. Meshing techniques are compared with other related methods via a comprehensive table with indices of the method name, the remeshing challenge met and solved, the category the method belongs to, and the year of publication. We expect this survey to be a practical reference for surface remeshing in terms of literature classification, method analysis, and future prospects.

Since renewable energy has the paramount importance of achieving environmental sustainability, developing countries like Pakistan have been facing numerous renewable energy generation (REG) development challenges. Thus, the REG development in any country can be attributed to its crucial drivers as well as crucial barriers. This work aims to identify crucial influence factors of REG development by conducting multi-facet content analysis as well as partial least square-based structural equation modeling analysis on data collected through a questionnaire survey. It has been conducted based on academicians from four Pakistani universities as well as professionals from Islamabad Electric Supply Company. The key outcomes are as follows: First, through multi-facet content analysis, ten crucial influence factors are identified. Among those factors, lack of good governance, renewable energy adaptation, and governmental energy policies are revealed to be the crucial barriers to REG development, whereas endowed resources, power production approach, renewable energy demand, investment environment for renewable energy projects, economic returns of renewable energy projects, environmental effects, and public acceptance are found to be the crucial drivers of REG development. Based on relative significance, the lack of good governance is unveiled to be the most significant factor, while environmental effects is found to be the least significant one. Moreover, among the drivers of REG development, public acceptance is found to be the prime contributor. At the same time, among crucial barriers, lack of good governance has shown the largest contribution to REG development., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Since preceding several decades, the carbon emissions based standard Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) has been tested and supported by a plethora of studies in countries around the globe. The current study estimated the inward foreign direct investment (IFDI)-augmented EKCs for China's 27 provincial divisions employing the advanced econometric methodologies involving cross-sectional dependence, slope heterogeneity, and second generation-based estimation procedures. The study has further contributed through a modification to "Stochastic Influence by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology" (STIRPAT) in terms of including IFDI to the standard model. Accordingly, this work estimated the standard EKC (involving economic development-carbon emissions linkage) as well as IFDI-carbon emissions linkage within the STIRPAT framework, by employing a panel vector error-correction-based estimation procedure. The findings revealed that (1) the conventional EKC estimates for national and regional samples (i.e., aggregate samples) presented linkages differing from the EKC links for the provincial divisions. It suggested that the EKC at the aggregated levels is likely the consequence of aggregation bias problem. (2) The links between IFDI (in power and non-power sector) and carbon emissions provided inverse U shape for the aggregate samples, while the provincial divisions presented heterogeneous results. This is perhaps because of the aggregation bias. Hence, the aggregation bias puzzle is unriddled. (3) Also, heterogeneous patterns are found in terms of turning points, degree of impact, and nature of the association of income and IFDI with carbon emissions. The meaningful policies can be extracted for the large countries encompassing varied economic development levels, such as China, if the EKC is evaluated at the disaggregate scales., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE part of Springer Nature.)

Since human beings have a long tradition of coexistence with pandemics, which may profoundly impact them, adopting preventive measures is crucial for humankind's survival. This study explores the intention-based critical factors affecting the willingness of individuals to adopt pandemic prevention. To this end, a representative sample of 931 Pakistanis filled in an online questionnaire. However, only 828 questionnaires were found to be complete and valid for path modeling analysis. The core findings are as follows: Firstly, peer groups' beliefs, self-efficacy, perceived risk, pandemic knowledge, ease of pandemic prevention adoption, and risk-averse behavior are revealed as driving forces of the individuals' willingness to adopt pandemic prevention. Contrastingly, a lack of trust in political will and mythical attitude towards pandemics are uncovered as inhibitors. Nevertheless, moral values depict a neutral role. Secondly, the peer groups' beliefs are highest ranked, followed by the lack of trust in political will and a mythical attitude towards pandemic prevention. Finally, moral values are determined as the lowest-ranked critical factor. Based on these results, the government should promote awareness campaigns on lethality and fatality of the pandemic at both centralized and decentralized levels to win people's trust at the grass-roots level and overcome the mythical attitude of individuals at all societal levels. Besides, access to personal protective gears should be made feasible since an easier pandemic prevention adoption would increase the individuals' willingness to adopt such preventative measures.

This study examined the long-run and short-run heterogeneous links among urban concentration, non-renewable energy use intensity, economic development, and environmental emissions index across the regional development levels of 31 Chinese provinces. By employing the augmented mean group method and Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality, the following results are drawn: Firstly, a bidirectional positive linkage was existent between the economic development and urban concentration in both the long-run and short-run across regional development levels. Secondly, a unidirectional positive linkage emerged from non-renewable energy use intensity to environmental emissions index, with the most influential effect in EER China (highest development level). Thirdly, bidirectional mixed linkages prevailed between economic development and non-renewable energy use intensity. Economic development mitigated the non-renewable energy use intensity (inverted U-shaped curve) in the national data set and EER China (highest development level); nevertheless, the linear linkage was observed in IER China (medium development level) and WER China (lowest development level). Fourthly, unidirectional mixed linkages were found from urban concentration to non-renewable energy use intensity and environmental emissions index. Urban concentration demonstrated a U-shaped linkage with non-renewable energy use intensity and environmental emissions index in the national data set and EER China. But it unveiled a linear linkage with both variables in IER China and WER China. Fifthly, economic development showed an environmental Kuznets curve with environmental emissions index in the national data set and EER China. Conversely, it showed a linear linkage with the environmental emissions index in IER China and WER China. In turn, the environmental emissions index linearly hampered the economic development in the national data set as well as regional samples. Finally, the long-run and short-run effects showed homogeneity of the linkages' nature; yet, the degree of effects in the long-run surpassed those in the short-run for all development levels., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This research examines the heterogeneous dynamic links among healthcare expenditures, land urbanization, and CO 2 emissions across the development levels of China. To this end, data of 27 Chinese provinces are considered from 1999 to 2018. Theoretically, this research developed a healthcare expenditures-augmented Stochastic Impacts of Regression by Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) model to incorporate healthcare expenditures as a determinant of affluence. Empirically, this research established a system of simultaneous equations based on the healthcare expenditures-augmented STIRPAT model to estimate the links among the variables. As a pre-analysis, second-generation Westerlund cointegration is applied and found the long-term equilibrium association among the variables. The long-run estimations and short-run causality are done by employing dynamic common correlated effects mean group method (DCCEMGM) and Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality. A heterogeneous long-run equilibrium linkage is confirmed to exist among the variables of interest. Concerning the long-run estimates, firstly, the healthcare expenditures growth and land urbanization exhibited a bilateral positive link. Secondly, CO 2 emissions and healthcare expenditures growth manifested the existence of a bilateral positive link. And thirdly, a unilateral positive (negative) link is revealed to exist from a linear term (squared term) of land urbanization to CO 2 emissions. Concerning the short-run results, firstly, a bilateral causal bond exists between the land urbanization and healthcare expenditures growth. Secondly, a bilateral causal bond prevails between CO 2 emissions growth and healthcare expenditures growth. Finally, a unilateral causal bond is operational from land urbanization to CO 2 emissions growth. In terms of the nature of the link, the long-run findings are consistent across the data samples. However, considering the degree of influence, heterogeneity is confirmed across the development levels for both long- and short-run. It infers that relatively more (less) developed regions showed relatively strong (weak) influence. Based on empirical findings, relevant policies are recommended., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This research investigates the dynamic interactive associations among sustainable investment in the energy sector, air pollution, and sustainable development. To this end, it employs a "one-step" system-generalized method of moments (GMM) and "one-step" differential-GMM estimators, covering the period between 1996 and 2017. In this context, it utilizes the simultaneous equations of the dynamic panel data model for panel data of 27 Chinese provinces and municipalities. We have developed a new model of sustainable development, which incorporates sustainable investment in the energy sector and air pollution to offer a robust theoretical foundation for considering the underlying relations. The system-GMM estimator is used for the full data set; however, differential-GMM is utilized for the subsets of data, in order to tackle the small sample bias problem. The empirical outcomes provide several vital insights in that they yield mixed findings for the aggregated sample and subsets of data. For example, a two-way causal relationship occurs for all the panels, except the central part (medium development regions), between sustainable investment in the energy sector and sustainable development. Contrary to this, causality runs from air pollution to sustainable investment in the energy sector in a full data set and the central part (medium dev.). Nevertheless, the opposite is true in the case of the eastern part (most developed regions) of China. Still, the same relationship runs in either direction in the case of the western part (least developed regions). On the other way around, the feedback hypothesis of causality is confirmed, across all the samples, between air pollution and sustainable development. Hence, sustainable development and air pollution are overwhelmingly interdependent, in the country as well as the province and municipality level of the Chinese economy.

This study investigates the heterogeneous causal linkages between urbanization, the intensity of electric power consumption, water-based pollutant emissions, and GRP in regional China by developing an urbanization-augmented "Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology" (STIRPAT) model. A whole country panel of 29 provinces as well as region sub-panels of China, for the period 1999 to 2018, are estimated employing common correlated effects mean group approach (CCEMGA), which offers robustness against heterogeneous characteristics and cross-sectionally dependent series. From the theoretic modeling aspect, the intensity of electric power consumption and urbanization have been introduced as the determinants of water-based pollutant emissions in the STIRPAT modeling framework. Based on empirical results, first, GRP growth has shown appealing behavior in the form of its heterogeneous impacts on water-based pollutant emissions growth in the case of different regions. For instance, its impact is noted to be positive and statistically significant for the western region, which turned positive but statistically insignificant for the intermediate region. And it further turned significantly negative in the case of the eastern region. We call this phenomenon as "development level-based emission mitigation effect." Second, in terms of the impact of GRP growth on urbanization, the "development-based urbanization ladder effect" has been found. Based on heterogeneous causal links, firstly, the existence of a positive bilateral causal link between the intensity of electric power consumption and GRP growth and urbanization and GRP growth has been validated. Secondly, a positive unidirectional causal link emerged from urbanization to the intensity of electric power consumption and water-based pollutant emissions growth. Thirdly, the causal connection between GRP growth and water-based pollutant emissions growth remained very interesting and of mixed nature. Based on empirical findings, useful policies are extended. Graphical abstract.

Background: The researches investigating the influence factors of epidemic prevention are not only scarce, but also provide a gap in the domain of perception-based influence factors of intention to adopt COVID-19 epidemic prevention., Objective: This work has attempted to examine the perception-based influence factors of individuals' intention to adopt COVID-19 epidemic prevention in a modified behavioral framework., Theoretical Framework: A behavioral framework composed of the theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behavior is developed to incorporate some additional perception-based influence factors., Methods: A partial least square-based path analysis has been employed to estimate the path coefficients of those factors in terms of drivers, barriers, and neutral factors based on questionnaire data of 302 respondents from six universities and two hospitals in China., Results: Among the perception-based influence factors, governments' guidelines on epidemic prevention is found to be the most important and influential factor, which was followed by risk perception. Finally, attitude towards epidemic prevention exhibited the least degree of impact on individuals' intention to adopt epidemic prevention. Moral norms did not show any contribution to individuals' intention to adopt epidemic prevention., Conclusion: Concerning importance ranking, the governments' guidelines on epidemic prevention, risk perception, and epidemic knowledge are revealed as the top three drivers of individuals' intention to adopt epidemic prevention, while the perceived feasibility to adopt epidemic prevention is found to be a barrier. Moreover, moral norms is identified to have an insignificant influence on individuals' intention to adopt epidemic prevention. Given the empirical results, dissemination of Governments' guidelines on epidemic prevention, proper risk perception, and knowledge about epidemic would help prevent the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak within China and worldwide., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Diagnosis of lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) depends on the presence of clinical, radiological and microbiological findings. Endotracheal suction aspirate (ETSA) is the commonest respiratory sample sent for culture from intubated patients. Very few studies have compared quantitative and semi-quantitative processing of ETSA cultures for LRTI diagnosis. We determined the diagnostic accuracy of quantitative and semi-quantitative ETSA culture for LRTI diagnosis, agreement between the quantitative and semi quantitative culture techniques and the yield of respiratory pathogens with both methods., Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted at the Aga Khan University clinical laboratory, Karachi, Pakistan. One hundred and seventy-eight ETSA samples sent for routine bacteriological cultures were processed quantitatively as part of regular specimen processing method and semi-quantitatively. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and diagnostic accuracy was calculated for both methods using clinical diagnosis of pneumonia as reference standard. Agreement between the quantitative and semi quantitative methods was assessed via the kappa statistic test. Pathogen yield between the two methods was compared using Pearson's chi-square test., Results: The quantitative and semi-quantitative methods yielded pathogens in 81 (45.5%) and 85 (47.8%) cases respectively. There was complete concordance of both techniques in 155 (87.1%) ETSA samples. No growth was observed in 45 (25.3%) ETSA specimens with quantitative culture and 37 (20.8%) cases by semi-quantitative culture. The diagnostic accuracy of both techniques were comparable; 64.6% for quantitative and 64.0% for semi-quantitative culture. The kappa agreement was found to be 0.84 (95% CI, 0.77-0.91) representing almost perfect agreement between the two methods. Although semi-quantitative cultures yielded more pathogens (47.8%) as compared to quantitative ETSA cultures (45.5%), the difference was only 2.3%. However, this difference achieved statistical (chi-square p-value < 0.001) favoring semi-quantitative culture methods over quantitative culture techniques for processing ETSA., Conclusion: In conclusion, there is a strong agreement between the performances of both methods of processing ETSA cultures in terms of accuracy of LRTI diagnosis. Semi-quantitative cultures of ETSA yielded more pathogens as compared to quantitative cultures. Although both techniques were comparable, we recommend processing of ETSA using semi-quantitative technique due to its ease and reduced processing time.

The current study aimed to evaluate lipid profile parameters in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). This case-control study was conducted at the Zoology Department of Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, Pakistan, from September 2016 to June 2017 and analysed lipid profiles of patients with CKD attending different hospitals of Lahore. Of the randomly collected 100 blood samples, 50 were healthy, while the remaining 50 were patients with CKD. Lipid profile parameters were analysed using Hitachi 704 Analyser. For data analysis Chi-square test was used by means of SSPS 17. Results showed that all the parameters, including high density lipoprotein, triglycerides and low density lipoprotein were considerably altered in patients with CKD as compared to the control group. The values of triglycerides and LDL parameters were higher, while HDL cholesterol was lower in patients with CKD as compared to controls.

This work investigates the dynamic heterogeneous causal links among financial development, construction industry, energy use, and environmental quality across the development levels, for 30 Chinese provinces during the period 2001-2016. For this purpose, a model of environmental quality has been constructed introducing the financial development and construction industry as endogenous factors. A Pedroni's cointegration is employed and found the long-run cointegrating mechanism among the variables of interest. The dynamic common correlated effects mean group approach (DCCEMGA) is adopted to estimate the impact elasticities. Moreover, for robustness check, a sensitivity analysis is conducted employing common correlated effects mean group approach (CCEMGA). The main results are first, a two-way positive causal bridge is existent between gross domestic product (GDP) and energy use, construction industry and GDP, and financial development and GDP. In terms of the contribution of the construction industry to economic performance, construction industry-driven growth acceleration impact is observed. Second, a one-way positive causal link is identified running from financial development (both the banking sector and stock market) to the construction industry and is termed as finance-driven construction promotion effect. Also, a one-sided positive causal connection is operating from financial development and construction industry to energy use and carbon dioxide emissions. Finally, a standard environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), financial development-augmented EKC, and construction industry-augmented EKC hypotheses are found valid in the whole country and eastern region of China. Based on empirics, a regional heterogeneity has been observed in terms of the degree of impact and statistical significance while comparing the regional panels. The sensitivity analysis proved the empirical results to be robust and reliable. Moreover, based on the findings, policy recommendations are documented. Graphical abstract.

Massive investments in energy industry may either promote or mitigate the air pollution which is likely to influence the economic performance. In light of this, the current work is an empirical examination of heterogeneous dynamic causal interactions among energy investment, sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ) emissions and economic growth in regional China. A modified STIRPAT model is developed to introduce energy investment as a determinant of technology. Based on a modified model, a simultaneous equations system has been established to examine the three-way causal interactions among the variables of interest. As a first step, an error-correction-based second generation Westerlund (Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 69: 0305-9049, (2007). cointegration has been employed and found the long-run relationship. The simultaneous equations have been estimated by employing second generation dynamic common correlated effects mean group estimator (DCCEMGE) for 30 Chinese provinces and cities from 2001 to 2017. The empirical analysis has revealed that the energy investment induces emissions promotion effect while economic growth introduces emissions curtailment effect. However, the emissions curtailment effect remained slightly stronger than emissions promotion effect both at country and regional levels. Further, the energy investment growth uncovered economic performance enhancement effect. Furthermore, the SO 2 emissions growth induced economic performance deterioration effect. In this regard, the economic performance deterioration effect exceeded the economic performance enhancement effect. Besides, there is a bidirectional causality operative between SO 2 emissions and gross regional product (GRP) growth for the country as well as regional samples. On the contrary, a positive bilateral causal relationship between energy investment and GRP growth is found for the country as well as regional samples. Similarly, it has been found that there exists a positive bilateral causal association between SO 2 emissions and energy investment. Graphical abstract.

This paper is a maiden empirical attempt to analyze the dynamic causal linkages among urban agglomeration, electricity consumption, construction industry, and economic performance, making use of simultaneous structural equations. A national panel of 30 provinces and three sub-national panels of China, for time span 2000 to 2016, have been estimated employing system and difference generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator. A construction industry-augmented model of economic growth has been proposed, incorporating construction industry and urban agglomeration as exogenous shocks to the aggregate production and electricity consumption as the input of production function. The core empirical results are first, the urban agglomeration and construction industry positively cause electricity consumption but are not caused by the same. It revealed the critical role played by urban agglomeration along with construction industry in boosting electricity consumption. Second, the economic performance positively causes electricity consumption, urban agglomeration, and construction industry and is also caused by the same. Third, urban agglomeration causes the construction industry and is caused by the same. It exposed the mutual role of urban agglomeration and urban industry in reinforcing each other in the times of high economic performance. Finally, among the three regions, the eastern zone is found to be strongest in terms of linkages among urban agglomeration, construction industry, electricity consumption, and economic performance. The intermediate zone is moderately strong, while the western zone is found to have the least strong linkages as compared with the two regions. These results are in line with the sub-national level of economic development of China. These findings, in terms of statistical significance, are highly robust across all the panels. Furthermore, depending upon empirical results, the related strategies are proposed.

Objective: To identify the microbial profile and susceptibility pattern of pathogens responsible for culture-proven postoperative endophthalmitis, and to investigate possible trends in both pathogens and antibiotic sensitivities., Methods: The retrospective study was conducted at Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, and comprised record of ophthalmology patients from January 1, 2005, to December 31, 2016. Culture and sensitivity reports of vitreous and aqueous humor samples from all the patients were retrieved from the medical record section of the hospital. SPSS 19 was used for data analysis., Results: Of the samples of 202 patients with a mean age of 58.2±15.8 years, 106(52.5%) were culturepositive. Of them, 55(51.8%) had gram-negative bacteria, 41(38.6%) had gram-positive bacteria, and 10(9.4%) had fungi. Among gram-positive bacteria, coagulase-negative staphylococcus was the principal isolate 18(17%) and among gram-negative bacteria, it was pseudomonas species 20(18.8%). Spectrum of gram-positive sensitivities included vancomycin 100%, gentamicin 91.5%, amikacin 100%, ciprofloxacin 68%, chloramphenicol 100%, and tetracycline 84.6%. Among gram-negative organisms, the sensitivities were ciprofloxacin 52.9%, ofloxacin 66.6%, ceftazidime 91.8%, amikacin 100%, tobramycin 100% imipenem 91.6%, gentamicin 81.2% and tetracycline 75%., Conclusions: Vancomycin and ceftazidime were the best empirical antibiotic selection to treat postoperative endophthalmitis.

Candida albicans was considered as the principal cause of opportunistic candidiasis but nowadays, neglected non-albicans Candida (NAC) species are evolving as more virulent and drug resistant strains. This research was intended to assess pervasiveness of candidiasis mainly caused by NAC species in Karachi city. A total of 562 clinical isolates of Candida spp. collected during the period of one year were identified by microscopic as well as morphological (germ tube formation, characteristics on CHROM agar and Corn meal agar) and Biochemical (sugar assimilation and fermentation) characteristics. Doubtful species were further identified by using Remel RapID TM yeast plus kit. The results were statistically analyzed by SPSS 16.0 version software. Isolated strains of candida revealed slight predominance of C. albicans (54.5%) over non- albicans Candida species (45.5%). Among NAC species, C. tropicalis and C. glabrata were isolated as the predominant species. These clinical species were procured mainly from urine samples of females (73.7%) of age group 20-30 years. No significant correlations exist between Candida species and their months of isolation as well as their isolation from different districts of Karachi. Emergence of NAC species may predict an upcoming threat in health care facilities and hence, require prompt management and accurate identification to suggest empirical antifungal therapy.

Aim: Chromosome analysis of prenatal samples and products of conception (POC) has conventionally been done by karyotyping (KT). Shortcomings of KT like high turnaround time and culture failure led to technology innovations, such as the bacterial artificial chromosomes (BAC)s-on-Beads (BoBs)-based tests, Prenatal BoBs (prenatal samples) and KaryoLite BoBs (POC samples). In the present study, we validated and evaluated the utility of each test on prenatal, POC and blood samples., Methods: Study A (n = 305; 259 prenatal + 46 blood/POC) and Study B (n = 176; 146 POC/chorionic vill + 30 blood/amniotic fluid) samples were analyzed using Prenatal and KaryoLite BoBs kits, respectively. KT, array-based Comparative Genomic Hybridization (arrayCGH) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) were used for comparison of results. Ability of KaryoLite BoBs to identify ring chromosomes was tested., Results: Prenatal BoBs had zero test failure rate and results of all samples were concordant with KT results. Totally four microdeletions were identified by Prenatal BoBs but not by KT. In Study B, all but two POC samples (one triploid and one tetraploid) were concordant with KT and arrayCGH. Partial chromosomal imbalance detection rate was ~64% and KaryoLite BoBs indicated the presence of a ring chromosome in all four cases. The failure rate of KaryoLite BoBs was 3%., Conclusion: We conclude that Prenatal BoBs (common aneuploidies and nine microdeletions) together with KT constitutes more comprehensive prenatal testing compared to FISH and KT. KaryoLite BoBs for aneuploidies of all chromosomes is highly successful in POC analysis and the ability to indicate presence of ring chromosomes improves its clinical sensitivity. Both tests are robust and could also be used for different specimens., (© 2019 Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology.)

In the present in vivo study, we provide a comparison of toxicological consequences induced by four different types of spherical nanoparticles (NPs)-silver nanoparticles (AgNPs, 40 ± 6 nm), nickel (NiNPs, 43 ± 6 nm), cobalt oxide (Co₃O₄NPs, 60 ± 6 nm), and chromium oxide (Cr₃O₄NPs, 50 ± 5 nm)-on freshwater fish Labeo rohita . Fish were exposed to NPs (25 mg/L) for 21 days. We observed a NPs type-dependent toxicity in fish. An altered behavior showing signs of stress and a substantial reduction in total leukocyte count was noticed in all NP-treated groups. A low total erythrocyte count in all NP-treated fish except for Co₃O₄NPs was discerned while a low survival rate in the case of Cr₃O₄NP-treated fish was observed. A significant decrease in growth and hemoglobin were noticed in NiNP- and Cr₃O₄NP-treated fish. A considerable total protein elevation was detected in NiNP-, Co₃O₄NP-, and Cr₃O₄NP-treated groups. An upgrading in albumin level was witnessed in Co₃O₄NP- and Cr₃O₄NP-treated groups while a high level of globulin was noted in NiNP- and Co₃O₄NP-exposed groups. In all NP-treated groups, a depleted activity of antioxidative enzymes and pathological lesions in liver and kidney were noticed.

Background Intestinal parasites cause significant morbidity and impact human development with an enormous global burden. Diagnosis of intestinal parasites by conventional methods has several limitations. The gauze filtration technique is a relatively simple method that has been shown to identify intestinal parasites with a high sensitivity and specificity. The aim of this study was to determine the diagnostic value of this technique as compared to more conventional methods in a large acclaimed laboratory within Pakistan. Methods A total of 50 stool samples collected for routine diagnostic workup from patients age between 2-70 years were collected from the parasitology section of the Aga Khan University Hospital Clinical Laboratory. A direct wet mount, sedimentation technique, and gauze filtration technique were performed on all of the stool samples, and the sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value, and positive predictive value were analyzed. Results It was observed that the number of organisms observed by gauze filtration as compared to direct wet mount and sedimentation technique was higher for B. hominis , G. lamblia cysts and trophozoites, and I. bütschlii . Also, the detection rate was significantly higher for B. hominis and G. lamblia cysts using the gauze filtration technique. The sensitivity and specificity of the gauze filtration technique were found to be 95.8% and 100%, respectively. Conclusion There is a significantly better stool sample parasite detection rate using the gauze filtration technique as compared to the conventional sedimentation techniques. The utility of the gauze filtration technique seems economically and technically feasible for diagnostic laboratories in resource-limited settings., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Health status of freshwater fish, Cirrhina mrigala was studied by qualitative and quantitative histopathological analysis, alterations in frequency/prevalence percentages (%) and histological alteration indices (HAI) in response to metal contaminated sediments of the River Ravi aquatic ecosystem. Histo-structures of gill and liver samples of fish were analyzed and comparison between the degree of damage of the alterations in fish organs was performed after exposure to metal contaminated sediments for 7, 14 and 28 days under semi-static water renewal bioassays. Histopathological studies revealed marked histological alterations in the gills and liver of exposed fish as compared to normal tissue structure observed in control fish. The frequency and prevalence percentages observed in 28-day exposed fish were significantly higher as compared to 7- and 14-day exposed fish. The order of frequency and prevalence percentage for gills and liver of exposed fish was as: 28-day > 14-day > 7-day. The highest prevalence percentages recorded were 83 and 80% as focal area of necrosis in gill and liver, respectively, after 28-day exposure. The lowest prevalence percentage observed in 7-day exposed Cirrhina mrigala was dilation of sinusoids (17%).

Bio-electrochemical synthesis (BES) is a technique in which electro-autotrophic bacteria such as Clostridium ljungdahlii utilize electric currents as an electron source from the cathode to reduce CO2 to extracellular, multicarbon, exquisite products through autotrophic conversion. The BES of volatile fatty acids and alcohols directly from CO2 is a sustainable alternative for non-renewable, petroleum-based polymer production. This conversion of CO2 implies reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The synthesis of heptanoic acid, heptanol, hexanoic acid and hexanol, for the first time, by Clostridium ljungdahlii was a remarkable achievement of BES. In our study, these microorganisms were cultivated on the cathode of a bio-electrochemical cell at -400 mV by a DC power supply at 37 degree Centrigrade, pH 6.8, and was studied for both batch and continuous systems. Pre-enrichment of bio-cathode enhanced the electroactivity of cells and resulted in maximizing extracellular products in less time. The main aim of the research was to investigate the impact of low-cost substrate CO2, and the longer cathode recovery range was due to bacterial reduction of CO2 to multicarbon chemical commodities with electrons driven from the cathode. Reactor design was simplified for cost-effectiveness and to enhance energy efficiencies. The Columbic recovery of ethanoic acid, ethanol, ethyl butyrate, hexanoic acid, heptanoic acid and hexanol being in excess of 80 percent proved that BES was a remarkable technology.

Triple X syndrome is a rare numerical chromosomal anomaly, occurring as a result of non dysjunction in meiosis I. Most cases have neurodevelopmental defects and functional problems. We report two cases diagnosed in our centre. The first was a fetus with cleft lip and palate, 47, XXX was identified by Fetal Blood Sampling. The second was a child with multisystem anomaly including cleft lip and palate, whose karyotype also revealed 47, XXX. Though isolated cases of associated abnormalities have been reported there have not been consistent phenotypic changes reported with this condition.

Partial trisomy of chromosome 10q is a very rare condition with only four cases having been reported int he literature. This report describes a neonate with symmetric growth retardation and multiple dysmorphic features, in whom G-banded chromosomal analysis revealed a partial trisomy of chromosome 10q (q2.4-q ter). The father was diagnosed as a carrier of a balanced translocation with a karyotype of 46, XY t(10.3) (q2.4L : pter). In patients with a bad obstetric history, genetic counselling prior to a new conception cna aid in early prenatal diagnosis of fetuses with recurrent chromosomal abnormalities by means of fetal tissue sampling.