Search

Abstract As the number of passengers at border entry points such as airports and rail stations increases, so does the demand for seamless, secure, and fast biometric technologies for verification purposes. Although fingerprints are currently useful biometric technologies, they are intrusive and slow down the end-to-end verification process, increasing the chances of tampering. Emerging as an alternative technology, soft biometrics have proven successful for non-intrusive and rapid verification. Soft biometrics consists of a large set of features from three different modalities of the human body, including the face, body, and essential & auxiliary attachments. This paper proposes a multi-channel soft biometrics framework that leverages soft biometrics technology over traditional biometrics. The framework encapsulates four distinct components: ApparelNet, which verifies essential and auxiliary attachments; A-Net, which measures anthropometric soft biometrics; OneDetect, which predicts global soft biometrics; and RSFS, which develops a set of highly relevant and supportive soft biometrics for verification. The proposed framework addresses several critical limitations of existing biometrics technologies during the verification process at border entry points, such as intrusive behavior, response time, biometric tampering, and privacy issues. The proposed multi-channel soft biometrics framework has been evaluated using several benchmark datasets in the field, such as Front-view Gait (FVG), Pedestrian Attribute Recognition At Far Distance (PETA), and Multimedia and Vision (MMV) Pedestrian. Using heterogeneous datasets enables the testing of each framework component or channel against numerous constrained and unconstrained scenarios. The outcome of the envisioned multi-channel soft biometrics framework is presented based on distinct outcomes from each channel, but it remains focused on determining a single cumulative verification score for verification at border control. In addition, this multi-channel soft biometrics framework has extended applications in several fields, including crowd surveillance, the fashion industry, and e-learning.

Microalgae cultivation has received much interest in foods and biofuel production and provides a significant potential option for cleaning the soil, water, and environment from several contaminants. Accordingly, microalgae harvesting becomes essential to separate the solid–liquid microalgae suspension for other green technologies and sustainable processes. Although several physical, chemical, and physiochemical methods have been widely used for microalgae harvesting, their cost, non-environmental residues, and harvesting efficiencies are still questionable. This review summarized and evaluated the performance of different natural coagulants used for harvesting cultivated microalgae. The operational factors and their effect on harvesting efficiency were discussed. Moreover, the current challenges in utilizing several natural coagulants in microalgae harvesting were considered. HIGHLIGHTS Microalgae harvesting is a major key to microalgae-based biofuel production.; Microalgae can be used to separate solid-liquid microalgae suspensrion.; The optimal removal for microalgae can be obtained at pH ranging between 5 and 9.;

The long-term sustainability of the global water supply, with a paramount emphasis on cleanliness and safety, stands as a formidable challenge in our modern era. In response to this pressing issue, adsorption techniques have emerged as pivotal and widely recognized solutions for the removal of hazardous pollutants, with a particular emphasis on lead adsorption from wastewater. This comprehensive review explores the relentless advancements made in the adsorption domain, highlighting innovations using separation and purification techniques that surpass traditional metal oxide-based adsorbents. Of particular note is the growing exploration of alternative materials, such as starch, chitosan, nanoscale structures like zeolites and metal-organic frameworks, magnetic materials, and carbon-based substances for the development of inorganic adsorbents. These materials, with their remarkable capacity for nanoscale structural adjustment, possess extraordinary capabilities for effective contaminant removal, facilitating swift water purification. The literature survey for this review was conducted using the Google Scholar engine, with “adsorbents for lead remediation” as the starting keywords, resulting in approximately 6000 papers. The search was refined to focus on the last three years and specifically targeted review papers which are most relevant to lead remediation. More than 100 papers were analysed to investigate various techniques, surface modifications, and adsorbent materials for managing inorganic pollutants in water. This review also illuminates research limitations, with a specific focus on starch-based adsorbents in lead remediation. As we progress towards practical commercial applications, this review identifies challenges associated with the development of inorganic adsorbents and provides invaluable insights into future prospects. Surface modification emerges as a promising path, with the potential to substantially enhance adsorption capacity, potentially doubling or even quadrupling it. Moreover, the adsorbents demonstrate impressive regenerative capabilities, maintaining up to 90% regeneration efficiency after multiple cycles. In conclusion, starch-based adsorbents show considerable potential as effective agents for lead purification from aquatic environments. Nevertheless, the need for further research persists, emphasizing the optimization of the adsorption process and exploring the long-term stability of starch-based adsorbents in real-world scenarios.

Coumarin (2H-1-benzopyran-2-one) is a plant-derived natural product known for its pharmacological properties, such as anti-inflammatory, anticoagulant, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, anticancer, antihypertensive, antitubercular, anticonvulsant, antiadipogenic, antihyperglycemic, antioxidant, and neuroprotective. Two coumarin-based products were identified in the seeds of two apple phenotypes commonly known as Granny Smith and Red Delicious. This study aimed to evaluate the chemical manipulation of these coumarin-based products to more lipophilic semisynthetic compounds and trace the role of the phenolic hydroxyl group in the bioactivity of the parent natural products. The bioactivity evaluation included studying the potentials of the natural- and semisynthetic-coumarins as antioxidant, antineoplastic, antifungal, and antibacterial agents. At the first step, the antiradical potential of these products was evaluated versus the free radicals of hydroxyl and DPPH. The second potential was investigated utilizing an MTT-based photo assay versus several cancer-line cells,including SK-OV-3, MCF-7, KYSE-30, LC540, HeLa, AR42J, AB12, and AMN3. The third and fourth potentials were recognized by conducting a disc-diffusion method against six infective bacterial strains and three fungal strains. The test bacteria were Shigella dysenteriae, Klebsiella pneumonia, Escherichia coli, Haemophilus influenzae, Salmonella typhi, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. On the other hand, the test fungi included Aspergillus flavus, Candida albicans, and Aspergillus niger. The results arising from these biopotentials revealed that the investigated functional group exerted a positive impact on the antiradical and antineoplastic potentials of the natural derivatives; however, they had a negative consequence on their antimicrobial potentials.

Municipal solid waste management (SWM) is one of the most useful applications of renewable energy, supporting the market for renewable energy and assisting in environmental protection by reducing emissions. Sustainability is one of the key issues with solid waste management systems in developing countries, including Palestine. Waste-to-energy (WTE) technology is one of the greatest strategies for effectively managing solid waste. This study focuses mostly on waste management in Palestine’s Tulkarm area. We conducted an evaluation of the potential of energy recovery from municipal solid waste through a number of approaches, such as incineration, gasification, anaerobic digestion, and landfilling. Additionally, the implications on the environment, human health, and economics were investigated. The results showed that anaerobic digestion recovered around 5156.15 kWh per day; whereas, incineration and gasification recovered about 40,986.60 and 14,663.88 kWh per day, respectively. The least recovered energy amount was roughly 3563.87 kWh per day, which was generated by landfilling technology. Additionally, the environmental analysis showed that anaerobic digestion could save around 48,362 tons of CO2 annually; meanwhile, incineration and gasification could save about 384,424 and 137,538 tons of CO2, respectively. The lowest quantity of emissions could be saved by landfilling, with about 33,427 tons saved yearly. The energy cost savings associated with each technology were also estimated. The results of the energy savings estimation showed that incineration had the highest saving of USD 4918.12; gasification and anaerobic digestion saved USD 1759.67 and USD 618.74, respectively. Whereas, landfilling had the lowest saving of about USD 427.66. A careful analysis of all aspects related to each technology, in comparison to the available waste treatment techniques, was carried out to propose a solution to cover the energy deficit in Tulkarm as a primary goal. Anaerobic digestion was found to be more environmentally advantageous and economically feasible and thus can be recommended to decision-makers and investors.

Recovery of wastewater is essential for better management of water resources and can aid in reducing regional or seasonal water shortages. When algae were used to clean wastewater, amazing benefits were guaranteed, such as a decrease in the formation of dangerous solid sludge and the creation of valuable algal biomass through recycling of the nutrients in the wastewater. The trace elements nitrogen, phosphorus, and others that microalgae need for cell development are frequently present in contaminated wastewater. Hence, microalgal bioremediation is used in this study as an effective technique for the simultaneous treatment of COD, NH3-N, and orthophosphate from domestic wastewater and biomass production. Different concentrations of wastewaters were used. The maximum removals attained were: 84% of COD on the fifth day using the lowest mixing ratio of 50%, 95% of ammoniacal nitrogen, and 97% of phosphorus. The highest biomass production was achieved at day 12, except for the mixing ratio of 80% where the growth rate increased until day 14 at 400 mg/L.

Emerging contaminants (ECs) usually refer to pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), dioxins, personal care products, cosmetics, and medications. Due to the strong demand and quick growth of these businesses, the ECs have continuously been found in alarming amounts in groundwater, surface water, and wastewater. These ECs provide a significant non-esthetic threat to the ecosystem as a whole and can cause significant non-esthetic contamination when released into the aquatic environment. The conventional wastewater treatment techniques such as activated sludge, membrane filtration, coagulation, adsorption, and ozonation showed ECs removal performance to a certain extent. In turn, numerous emerging advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), especially activated persulfate oxidation, have garnered a huge amount attention due to their outstanding performance in the remediation of ECs. This article presents a systematic and critical review of electro, sono and thermal activation of persulfate for the treatment of ECs. The effect of key parameters such as electrode materials, solution pH, persulfate concentration, current density, and temperature on electro, sono- and thermal-activated degradation of ECs was discussed. The possible reaction mechanism of ECs degradation was also elucidated in detail. It was closed with a note on the situation now and the future course of electro, sono and thermal activation in ECs degradation applications. Experiments performed in recent studies show that with the aid of persulfate in electro activation, the removal efficiency of chemical oxygen demand can be achieved up to 72.8%. Persulfate activated by sono shows 100% removal efficiency of 1,1,1-trichloroethane and sulfamethoxazole. While for thermal activation of persulfate, 100% removal efficiency of carbamazepine, atrazine and sulfamethazine was achieved. All these vital shreds of evidence are substantial enough to picture the negative impact of ECs on the environment.

The process of looking for alternative energy sources is driven by the increasing demand for energy and environmental contamination caused by using fossil fuels. Recent investigations reported the efficiency of microalgae for biofuel production due to its low cost of production, high speed of growth, and ability to grow in harsh environments. In addition, many microalgae are photosynthetic, consuming CO2 and solar light to grow in biomass and providing a promising bioenergy source. This review presents the recent advances in the application of microalgae for biofuel production. In addition, cultivation and harvesting systems and environmental factors that affect microalgae cultivation for biofuel production have also been discussed. Moreover, lipid extraction and conversion technologies to biofuel are presented. The mixotrophic cultivation strategy is promising as it combines the advantages of heterotrophy and autotrophy. Green harvesting methods such as using bio-coagulants and flocculants are promising technologies to reduce the cost of microalgal biomass production. In the future, more investigations into co-cultivation systems, new green harvesting methods, high lipids extraction methods, and the optimization of lipid extraction and converting processes should be implemented to increase the sustainability of microalgae application for biofuel production.

Restaurant wastewater contains a high concentration of O&G, up to 3434 mg/L. This study aims to (a) assess the efficiency of EC combined with US methods for O&G removal in restaurant wastewater, (b) identify the optimum condition for COD degradation using EC treatment via response surface methodology (RSM), and (c) determine the morphological surface of the aluminium (Al) electrode before and after EC treatment. The wastewater samples were collected from the Lembaran cafeteria at the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). The efficiency of EC, US, and US-EC, combined methods for O&G removal, was investigated using a batch reactor (pH 7). The interelectrode distance (ID, 2–6 cm), electrolysis time (T, 15–35 min), and current density (CD, 40–80 A/m2) were analysed, followed by RSM. The response variables were O&G (1000 mg/L) and chemical oxygen demand (COD low range, 1000 mg/L). The central composite design (CCD) with a quadratic model was used to appraise the effects and interactions of these parameters. The morphological surface of the electrode used was observed via scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The optimum removal efficiencies obtained were 95.4% (O&G) and 75.9% (COD) (ID: 2.4 cm, T: 30.5 min, and CD: 53.2 A/m2). The regression line fitted the data (R2 O&G: 0.9838, and R2 COD: 0.9558). The SEM images revealed that the use of US was useful in minimising cavitation on the electrode surface, which could lower the EC treatment efficacy. The US-EC combined technique is highly recommended for O&G removal from the food industry’s wastewater.

Algae have the potential to be used as a feedstock for the synthesis of valuable compounds and biofuels. In addition, algal waste can be further transformed into biofuel, biogas, and biochar using different thermochemical processes such as microwave pyrolysis, pyrolysis, torrefaction, and hydrothermal conversion. Due to its high specific surface area, rapid electron transport, and graphitic carbon structure, algal biochar carbonized at high temperatures has shown outstanding performance for applications as CO2 adsorbents, supercapacitors, and persulfate activation. Due to the combination of various functional groups and porous structures, the algae biomass pyrolysis at a moderate temperature produced high-quality biochar that shows high performance in terms of pollutant removal, while low-temperature pyrolysis produces coal fuel from algae via torrefaction. Over time, there have been exponentially more petroleum-based polymers created that have harmful impacts on both humans and the environment. As a result, researchers are becoming more interested in algae-based biopolymers as a potential alternative strategy for establishing a sustainable circular economy globally. The advantages of microalgal biopolymer over other feedstocks are its capacity to compost, which provides greenhouse gas credits, its quick growth ability with flexibility in a variety of settings, and its ability to minimize greenhouse gas emissions.

The most fundamental need, which all people must have to maintain their life, is access to clean water [...]

Advanced treatment of biologically processed palm oil mill effluent (BIOTPOME), which possesses a potential danger to the water sources is required to meet the Malaysian discharge standard, as BIOTPOME contains high level of chemical oxygen demand (COD), suspended solids and oil and grease even after going through conventional treatment process. The significant but insufficient treatment efficiency of ponding system in Malaysia urged an alternative method to treat the recalcitrant organic compounds. Thus, post-treatment of BIOTPOME using oxidation by thermally activated persulfate process was proposed to solve this issue. In order to maximize the removal of COD and color, the central composite design (CCD) module of the response surface approach was used to optimize the interactions of the process variables temperature, S2O82−/COD ratio, and reaction time. In order to identify the significant terms of interacting process factors, CCD performed a batch study from which statistical models of responses were created. All models were confirmed by analysis of variance (ANOVA) showing significances with Prob > F less than 0.1. The optimal performance was obtained at the temperature of 67.4 °C, S2O82−/COD ratio of 9.8 and reaction time of 120 min, rendering COD removal of 85.65% and color removal of 85.74%. The total cost for the treatment process was RM0.94 per liter.

Hydraulic fracturing drilling technology can cause a high risk of surface spill accidents and thus water contamination. Climate change together with the high water demand and rapid increase in industrial and agricultural activities are valued reasons why we should all care about the availability of water resources and protect them from contamination. Hence, the purpose of this study is to estimate the risk associated with a site contaminated with benzene from oil spillage and its potential impact on groundwater. This study focused on investigating the impact of soil variability and water table depth on groundwater contamination. Temperature-dependent parameters, such as soil water content and the diffusion of pollutants, were considered as key input factors for the HYDRUS 1D numerical model to simulate benzene migration through three types of soil (loamy, sandy clay loam, and silt loam) and evaluate its concentration in the water aquifer. The results indicated that an anticipated increase in earth’s average surface temperature by 4 °C due to climate change could lead to a rise in the level of groundwater pollution in the study area by 0.017 mg/L in loamy soil, 0.00046 mg/L in sandy clay loam soil, and 0.00023 mg/L in silt loam soil. It was found that climate change can reduce the amount of benzene absorbed from 10 to 0.07% in loamy soil, 14 to 0.07% in sandy clay loam soil, and 60 to 53% in silt loam soil. The results showed that the soil properties and solute characteristics that depend on the temperature have a major and important role in determining the level of groundwater pollutants.

With the rapid growth in urbanization and industrialization, environmental contamination has worsened due to the incessant discharge of toxic substances into water bodies, which has become a worldwide problem [...]

Pharmaceutical contamination threatens both humans and the environment, and several technologies have been adapted for the removal of pharmaceuticals. The coagulation-flocculation process demonstrates a feasible solution for pharmaceutical removal. However, the chemical coagulation process has its drawbacks, such as excessive and toxic sludge production and high production cost. To overcome these shortcomings, the feasibility of natural-based coagulants, due to their biodegradability, safety, and availability, has been investigated by several researchers. This review presented the recent advances of using natural coagulants for pharmaceutical compound removal from aqueous solutions. The main mechanisms of natural coagulants for pharmaceutical removal from water and wastewater are charge neutralization and polymer bridges. Natural coagulants extracted from plants are more commonly investigated than those extracted from animals due to their affordability. Natural coagulants are competitive in terms of their performance and environmental sustainability. Developing a reliable extraction method is required, and therefore further investigation is essential to obtain a complete insight regarding the performance and the effect of environmental factors during pharmaceutical removal by natural coagulants. Finally, the indirect application of natural coagulants is an essential step for implementing green water and wastewater treatment technologies.

Nanotechnology has been widely used in many fields including in soil and groundwater remediation. Nanoremediation has emerged as an effective, rapid, and efficient technology for soil and groundwater contaminated with petroleum pollutants and heavy metals. This review provides an overview of the application of nanomaterials for environmental cleanup, such as soil and groundwater remediation. Four types of nanomaterials, namely nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI), carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and metallic and magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), are presented and discussed. In addition, the potential environmental risks of the nanomaterial application in soil remediation are highlighted. Moreover, this review provides insight into the combination of nanoremediation with other remediation technologies. The study demonstrates that nZVI had been widely studied for high-efficiency environmental remediation due to its high reactivity and excellent contaminant immobilization capability. CNTs have received more attention for remediation of organic and inorganic contaminants because of their unique adsorption characteristics. Environmental remediations using metal and MNPs are also favorable due to their facile magnetic separation and unique metal-ion adsorption. The modified nZVI showed less toxicity towards soil bacteria than bare nZVI; thus, modifying or coating nZVI could reduce its ecotoxicity. The combination of nanoremediation with other remediation technology is shown to be a valuable soil remediation technique as the synergetic effects may increase the sustainability of the applied process towards green technology for soil remediation.

Stabilized landfill leachate contains a wide variety of highly concentrated non-biodegradable organics, which are extremely toxic to the environment. Though numerous techniques have been developed for leachate treatment, advanced membrane filtration is one of the most environmentally friendly methods to purify wastewater effectively. In the current study, a novel polymeric membrane was produced by integrating powdered activated carbon (PAC) on polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) to synthesize a thin membrane using the phase inversion method. The membrane design was optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). The fabricated membrane was effectively applied for the filtration of stabilized leachate using a cross-flow ring (CFR) test. The findings suggested that the filtration properties of fabricated membrane were effectively enhanced through the incorporation of PAC. The optimum removal efficiencies by the fabricated membrane (14.9 wt.% PVDF, 1.0 wt.% PAC) were 35.34, 48.71, and 22.00% for COD, colour and NH3-N, respectively. Water flux and transmembrane pressure were also enhanced by the incorporated PAC and recorded 61.0 L/m2·h and 0.67 bar, respectively, under the conditions of the optimum removal efficiency. Moreover, the performance of fabricated membranes in terms of pollutant removal, pure water permeation, and different morphological characteristics were systematically analyzed. Despite the limited achievement, which might be improved by the addition of a hydrophilic additive, the study offers an efficient way to fabricate PVDF-PAC membrane and to optimize its treatability through the RSM tool.

In this work, SiO2 nanoparticles were prepared by the sol-gel method after sodium silicate was extracted from rice husk ash (RHA) under various experimental conditions such as types of acids, NaOH concentration, dissolved time, and temperature and used for removal of Fe2+ ions from aqueous solutions. The extracted SiO2 was morphologically and chemically characterized and showed a surface area of 78 m2/g and uniform pores of 2.71 nm, offering high adsorption capacity for Fe2+ ions. The influence of pH, contact time, and amount of adsorbent was studied in order to establish the best conditions for the Fe2+ adsorption and removal. Furthermore, the adsorption data were fitted with an exponential shape curve for all the three variable parameters that affect the adsorption process. The best results were obtained for pH 5, 20 min contact time, and 0.5 g adsorbent dose. The loading adsorption capacity was 9 mg of Fe2+ ions/g SiO2 in the concentration range 0.1–1.0 mgL−1. In addition, the synthesized SiO2 with the size of around 50 nm can be used for specific heavy metal removal and drug delivery, after modification of the SiO2 surface with various functional groups.

The current article reviews the state of art of the perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) compounds and provides an overview of PFASs occurrence in the environment, wildlife, and humans. This study reviews the issues concerning PFASs exposure and potential risks generated with a focus on PFAS occurrence and transformation in various media, discusses their physicochemical characterization and treatment technologies, before discussing the potential human exposure routes. The various toxicological impacts to human health are also discussed. The article pays particular attention to the complexity and challenging issue of regulating PFAS compounds due to the arising uncertainty and lack of epidemiological evidence encountered. The variation in PFAS regulatory values across the globe can be easily addressed due to the influence of multiple scientific, technical, and social factors. The varied toxicology and the insufficient definition of PFAS exposure rate are among the main factors contributing to this discrepancy. The lack of proven standard approaches for examining PFAS in surface water, groundwater, wastewater, or solids adds more technical complexity. Although it is agreed that PFASs pose potential health risks in various media, the link between the extent of PFAS exposure and the significance of PFAS risk remain among the evolving research areas. There is a growing need to address the correlation between the frequency and the likelihood of human exposure to PFAS and the possible health risks encountered. Although USEPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency) recommends the 70 ng/L lifetime health advisory in drinking water for both perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFO) perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which is similar to the Australian regulations, the German Ministry of Health proposed a health-based guidance of maximum of 300 ng/L for the combination of PFOA and PFOS. Moreover, there are significant discrepancies among the US states where the water guideline levels for the different states ranged from 13 to 1000 ng L−1 for PFOA and/or PFOS. The current review highlighted the significance of the future research required to fill in the knowledge gap in PFAS toxicology and to better understand this through real field data and long-term monitoring programs.

This review presents the extractions, characterisations, applications and economic analyses of natural coagulant in separating pollutants and microalgae from water medium, known as microalgae harvesting. The promising future of microalgae as a next-generation energy source is reviewed and the significant drawbacks of conventional microalgae harvesting using alum are evaluated. The performances of natural coagulant in microalgae harvesting are studied and proven to exceed the alum. In addition, the details of each processing stage in the extraction of natural coagulant (plant, microbial and animal) are comprehensively discussed with justifications. This information could contribute to future exploration of novel natural coagulants by providing description of optimised extraction steps for a number of natural coagulants. Besides, the characterisations of natural coagulants have garnered a great deal of attention, and the strategies to enhance the flocculating activity based on their characteristics are discussed. Several important characterisations have been tabulated in this review such as physical aspects, including surface morphology and surface charges; chemical aspects, including molecular weight, functional group and elemental properties; and thermal stability parameters including thermogravimetry analysis and differential scanning calorimetry. Furthermore, various applications of natural coagulant in the industries other than microalgae harvesting are revealed. The cost analysis of natural coagulant application in mass harvesting of microalgae is allowed to evaluate its feasibility towards commercialisation in the industrial. Last, the potentially new natural coagulants, which are yet to be exploited and applied, are listed as the additional information for future study.

This study examines the suitability of natural silica sand as a low-cost adsorbent for the removal of ammoniacal nitrogen and heavy metals, particularly iron and zinc, from semi-aerobic stabilized landfill leachate. Leachate samples were collected from the Pulau Burung landfill site (PBLS) in Penang, Malaysia. The above-mentioned contaminants are highlighted in this study because of their unsafe concentrations at PBLS. The effects of shaking time, settling time, and silica sand dosage on the study parameter removal efficiencies were investigated to predict the performance of the process. The adsorptions of ammoniacal nitrogen, iron, and zinc were judiciously described by Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. The optimum removal efficiencies of ammoniacal nitrogen, iron, and zinc obtained were 51%, 44.4%, and 39.2%, respectively, with a shaking time of 90 min, a settling time of 60 min, and with a dosage of 60 g (0.5 kg/L) of silica sand. Based on the coefficient of determination (R2) values obtained from Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models, ammoniacal nitrogen, iron, and zinc adsorption were better fitted to the Freundlich model.

The data on 575 records of 270 Holstein Friesian and 818 records of 326 Jersey cows maintained in Punjab, Pakistan were analyzed. The cows were grouped into imported Holstein Friesian, imported Jersey, Farm born Holstein Friesian and farm born Jersey cows. Lactation milk yield of farm born Holstein Friesian and Jersey cows was significantly (P

The visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of Bisphenol A (BPA) was investigated using the binary composite of alkaline treated g-C3N4 (HT-g-C3N4) deposited over commercial TiO2 (Evonik Degussa GmbH, Essen, Germany). The existence and contribution of both TiO2 and g-C3N4/HT-g-C3N4 in the composite was confirmed through various analytical techniques including powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-vis-DRS), and photoluminescence (PL) analysis. The results showed that the titania in the binary composite exhibited both pure rutile and anatase phases. The morphological analysis indicated that the spongy “morel-like” structure of g-C3N4 turned to nanotube form after alkaline hydrothermal treatment and thereby decreased the specific surface area of HT-g-C3N4. The low surface area of HT-g-C3N4 dominates its promising optical property and effective charge transfer, resulting in a deprived degradation efficiency of BPA two times lower than pure g-C3N4. The binary composite of HT-g-C3N4/TiO2 exhibited excellent degradation efficiency of BPA with 2.16 times higher than the pure HT-g-C3N4. The enhanced photocatalytic activity was mainly due to the promising optical band gap structure with heterojunction interface, favorable specific surface area, and good charge separation.

The strongly basic alkaloidal fraction of the traditional medicinal plant Rhazya stricta (RS) was given orally to mice, in a single dose of 10 mg/kg (group 1) or, twice daily for 3 days at the same dose (group 2). A third group (control) received normal saline. Liver homogenates from all animals were used to assess the microsomal activity of cytochrome P450 and its isoforms as well as its catalytic activity (using theophylline as a substrate). RS alkaloidal fraction had no significant effect on the total amount of microsomal cytochrome P450, but it caused a significant increase in the cytochrome P450 isoforms CYPs 1A1 and 1A2. It also significantly increased the concentrations of some metabolites of theophylline. These results suggest that RS has the potential to interact with other drugs that are biotransformed by cytochrome P450, when given concomitantly with it. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant biomass can significantly contribute to alternative energy sources. Sorghum bicolor is a promising plant for producing energy, but is susceptible to iron deficiency, which inhibits its cultivation in iron-limiting calcareous soils. The molecular basis for the susceptibility of sorghum to iron deficiency remains unclear. Here, we explored the sorghum genome to identify genes involved in iron uptake and translocation. Iron deficiency-responsive gene expression was comparable to that in other graminaceous plants. A nicotianamine synthase gene, SbNAS1, was induced in response to iron deficiency, and SbNAS1 showed enzyme activity. Sorghum secreted 2'-deoxymugineic acid and other phytosiderophores under iron deficiency, but their levels were relatively low. Intercropping of sorghum with barley or rice rescued iron deficiency symptoms of sorghum. To produce bioengineered sorghum with enhanced tolerance to iron deficiency, we introduced four cassettes into sorghum: 35S promoter-OsIRO2 for activation of iron acquisition-related gene expression, SbIRT1 promoter-Refre1/372 for enhanced ferric-chelate reductase activity, and barley IDS3, and HvNAS1 genomic fragments for enhanced production of phytosiderophores and nicotianamine. The resultant single sorghum line exhibited enhanced secretion of phytosiderophores, increased ferric-chelate reductase activity, and improved iron uptake and leaf greenness compared with non-transformants under iron-limiting conditions. Similar traits were also conferred to rice by introducing the four cassettes. Moreover, these rice lines showed similar or better tolerance in calcareous soils and increased grain iron accumulation compared with previous rice lines carrying two or three comparable cassettes. These results provide a molecular basis for the bioengineering of sorghum tolerant of low iron availability in calcareous soils., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Background: Student-led clinic is an educational-professional training environment where students are leading the care of patients under the supervision of licensed health care professionals. This study aims to explore medical students' experiences in leading family medicine clinics in Qatar., Methods: The study used a qualitative descriptive method. To collect the data, the researchers have used semi-structured interviews. To recruit students, a convenience sampling strategy was used by sending a call to participate to all students who completed the rotation and met the inclusion criteria. An inductive thematic analysis was employed to data analysis., Results: Ten students participated in the study. Data analysis revealed six themes. These are: Student led clinic as transitional and transformative stage, Challenges faced by students, coping strategies, protective factors, implications of the experience and students' reflections for future rotations. The study revealed that students experienced a mixture of anxiety and excitement during the transition to leading clinics. Challenges included patient-related challenges such as language barriers, challenges related to personal skills such as time and knowledge, and institutional challenges that included limited supervisor availability and balancing academic responsibilities with clinic duties. Coping strategies included continuous knowledge revision, seeking advice from colleagues, and employing creative tools to overcome language barriers., Conclusion: Leading family medicine clinics has an impact on students such as enhancing their time management, diagnostic abilities, communication skills, and confidence. Support from supervisors, team members, patients, and colleagues play a crucial role in students' experiences. This transitional experience supports the shift from self-perception as students perceiving themselves as physicians., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Delivery of consistent patient-centred care at end-of-life care continues to challenge healthcare providers and research continues to suggest that peoples' needs are not being reliably met. Consequently, healthcare services are looking to innovate how support is provided, such as commissioning doulas to support dying people and those close to them., Objective: Within the United Kingdom, there is little existing research about peoples' experience of receiving end-of-life doula support. This paper outlines the design of a survey for the family or friends of a person who received end-of-life doula support., Design: To evaluate the role of an end-of-life doula in supporting the dying person and those who care for them, we designed a post-bereavement survey as part of a wider evaluation strategy of doula services. Following multiple literature reviews and an iterative process of consulting with the professional organisation and previous service users, a questionnaire was developed to collect this data. This survey is hosted online, with paper copies available to widen accessibility., Conclusion: End-of-life doula support is a relatively new area of provision for dying people and those important to them, such as family and friends. It is even more innovative to have doula support commissioned as part of a locality's healthcare service. There is a dire need for empirical research to understand the impact of this further. The process of researching the area and designing the evaluation survey for this service revealed the complexity of the role and the difficulty of capturing what was found to be helpful for the dying person and those around them., Competing Interests: Emma Clare is a Director of End of Life Doula UK but the remaining authors declare that they have no potential conflicts of interest in relation to this research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s), 2024.)

Background: There is no clear consensus on whether total elbow arthroplasty (TEA) or hemiarthroplasty (HA) is superior for treating distal humerus fractures in the elderly. This study analysed the functional outcomes and re-operation rates following TEA and HA for intra-articular distal humerus fractures in patients aged ≥65 years., Methods: 19 patients (TEA = 12, HA = 7) treated between 2016 and 2022 were retrospectively reviewed. Mean age was 73 years and mean follow-up was 46 months. Functional outcomes and quality of life were assessed using the Mayo Elbow Performance Score (MEPS), Quick-DASH (Q-DASH), Oxford Elbow Score (OES), SF-12 Physical Component Score (PCS) and Mental Component Score (MCS), and EQ-5D. Complications requiring re-operation were recorded., Results: HA showed superior outcomes in MEPS (93.6 vs 75.0, p = 0.0339), Q-DASH (13.3 vs 31.3, p = 0.0182), OES (41.7 vs 33.2, p = 0.0346), SF-12 PCS (55.5 vs 36.9, p = 0.0008) and EQ-5D (83 vs 67, p = 0.0023). One HA patient required revision to TEA for prosthetic joint infection. One TEA patient required revision for a periprosthetic ulna fracture., Conclusion: HA provides better functional outcomes compared to TEA in the treatment of distal humerus fractures in the elderly. Data is limited by selection bias and low patient numbers with a multicentre randomised controlled trial warranted., 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.)

In the present research, physicochemical, functional, and antioxidant properties of Gracilaria corticata (GC) powder were evaluated. The seaweed was found rich in protein (21%) carbohydrate (53.03%) and fat (7.8%). The inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry showed among the mineral's calcium (13.987 mg/g) and magnesium (7.48 mg/g) were found to be in higher percent. Three transition peaks were observed as the samples were subjected to DSC (-5.27°C for fat, 82.25°C for carbohydrates, and 98.79°C for proteins). The CHNS analysis demonstrated sulfur content (2.23%) depicts presence of sulfate polysaccharide confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy spectra band at 1235 cm -1 . A significant increase in the swelling capacity (14.26-21 mL/g) and water holding capacity (8.21-9.09 g/g) was observed as the temperature was increased from 25 to 80°C. On the contrary, oil holding capacity decreased significantly from 3.98 to 2.11 g/g with an increase in temperature. Nowadays, the sedentary lifestyle leads to chronic disease; however, the antioxidants derived from plants provide the biochemical defense from free radical formation. The marine-derived algal are good sources of nutrition and antioxidants, being natural sources of GC, the antioxidant activity exhibited by total phenolic content and α-diphenyl-β-picrylhydrazyl were found to be (11 mg GAE/g and 18%) inhibition, respectively. The principal phytochemicals profile was quantified by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry as catechin, coumaric acid, phloroglucinol, and luteolin., (© 2024 Institute of Food Technologists.)

Clematis graveolens Lindl., an indigenous climbing plant found in the Himalayan areas, is used by local communities for the treatment of neck tumors. The objective of this work is to examine the comprehensive metabolomic profile, antioxidant capability, in vitro and in silico anti-glioma effects on U-87 human glioma cell lines of the crude extract and fractions from C. graveolens. Liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectroscopy (LC-MS/MS) was used to establish detailed metabolite profiling of C. graveolens. The assessment of cell cytotoxicity was conducted using MTT cell viability assay on U-87 and BHK-21. Through molecular docking studies, the mode of inhibition and binding interaction between identified compounds and target proteins were also determined to evaluate the in vitro results. The use of LC-MS/MS-based global natural products social (GNPS) molecular networking analysis resulted in the identification of 27 compounds. The crude extract, ethyl acetate fraction, and chloroform fraction exhibited significant inhibitory activity against the U-87 cell lines, with IC 50 values of 112.0, 138.1, and 142.7 µg/mL, respectively. The ethyl acetate fraction exhibited significant inhibitory concentration for 2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) activity, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) activity and the metal chelation activity with IC 50 value of 39.50 µg/mL, 32.27 µg/mL, and 53.46 µg/mL, respectively. The crude extract showed maximum total phenolic, and total flavonoid concentration measuring 338.7 µg GAE/mg, and 177.04 µg QE/mg, respectively. The findings of this study indicate that C. graveolens consists of a diverse range of active phytoconstituents that possess antioxidant and anti-glioma properties., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Extensive research has been conducted treating burnout as an independent variable and performance as a dependent variable to proffer possible solutions to burnout and job performance among academics. Despite this, the burnout crises persist and are exacerbated by the ongoing global proliferation of higher education. Acknowledging this, the current study explored whether performance may contribute to the emergence of burnout., Methods: The study's sample population comprised 689 academics from Jiangsu province, China. Key Performance Indicator (KPI) results served to measure performance. Psychological counselling and Burnout were calculated using mental health results garnered from the universities. Data was collected on respondents' demographic characteristics and work situations. The mean scores were 0.517 (SD = 0.5) for gender and 1.586 (SD = 1.103) for age. The relationship among performance, job burnout, and psychological counselling was analysed via a cross-sectional survey deploying grouped regression., Results: Academics' job performance was found to regulate their burnout (β = -0.058, P < 0.01). Higher performance of academics was significantly associated with lower job burnout and psychological counselling. Furthermore, psychological counselling significantly moderated job burnout (β = -0.012, P < 0.05) among academics without regulating their job performance., Conclusion: The paper supplements the discourse on job burnout and academic performance by suggesting a pre-counselling measure as a strategy to address the crises of burnout. The paper argued that the continued competence of employees should prevent burnout in Higher education and ensure better job performance., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Treating burnout as an independent variable while performance is the dependent variable, earlier studies revealed that job burnout experienced by academics adversely affects how well they perform. Whether performance may contribute to the emergence of burnout is yet to be analyzed-it is an issue investigated in this paper. Readjusting the nature of the variables, this quantitative study adopted group regression and it discovered that the performance of academics instead regulates their burnout without making performance a consequence of burnout-a new dynamic that challenges the earlier assumption. Following this earlier belief, counselling strategy to boost the employees' psyche was deemed to be the main post-measurement tool to deal with the burnout crisis. With respect to both tenets (current and earlier), psychological counselling was treated as a moderating variable to check whether it is important enough in removing the burnout felt by employees so that they subsequently could function better. It is further discovered that although psychological counselling removes employees' burnout to some extent, it failed to transform them into better-functioning people. This study suggests a pre-measurement counselling strategy will ensure academics are competently engaged since ensuring competency is a fundamental aspect of eliminating a job burnout crisis. The sustained competency of employees will eventually prevent burnout and may halt the transmission of a burnout crisis at large-it adds to this study's theoretical contribution to the topic., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Lei 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.)

Genes are an important factor for the initiation of any disease. Many genes are associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) other than environmental factors. The main objective of the study was to evaluate the association of genes PADI4 (peptidylarginine deiminases 14) (rs2240340, rs1748033) and Human leukocyte antigen class II histocompatibility, D-related beta chain (HLA-DRB1) (rs2395175) polymorphisms in RA patients from Punjab, Pakistan. Blood samples of RA patients were collected from different hospitals of Sargodha. DNA was extracted, followed by PCR. Polymorphic analysis was performed in 300 rheumatoid arthritis patients and 300 healthy controls on PADI4 (rs2240340, rs1748033) and HLA-DRB1 (rs2395175). In PADI4 gene, both homozygous mutant genotype (TT) and heterozygous (CT) of SNP rs2240340 showed significant association by increasing the risk of RA up to two fold (OR 2.55; 95% CI 1.57-4.15; p = 0.0002). In case of rs1748033 polymorphism, homozygous mutant genotype (TT) showed significant association with RA by increasing the risk of disease up to three fold (OR 3.46; 95% CI 1.97-6.07; p = 0.0001), while heterozygous genotype (CT) of the same SNP showed significant association with RA by playing a protective role (OR 0.57; 95% CI 0.36-0.91; p = 0.0197). In HLA-DRB1 gene, homozygous mutant genotype (GG) of SNP rs2395175 showed no significant association with RA, while heterozygous genotype (AG) of the same SNP showed significant association with RA by playing a protective role (OR 0.44; 95% CI 0.27-0.71; p = 0.0009). Highly significance association of genes PADI4 (rs2240340, rs1748033) and HLA-DRB1 (rs2395175) polymorphisms with RA was observed in Pakistani population., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Pharmaceutical companies continuously pursue healthcare professionals, starting from the medical college level, which can ultimately lead to irrational prescribing of drugs and antibiotics. Therefore, our main aim was to evaluate the opinions and attitudes of medical students toward pharmaceutical promotion., Methods: This study utilized a cross-sectional online survey that applied the snowball sampling technique. Data were collected from three public and three private sector medical colleges in Punjab, Pakistan using snowball sampling. A modified version of a pre-structured questionnaire was used to collect data between October 2020 and January 2021. Medical students from the third year onward were captivated. The tool was made available on Google Forms and students could access it by clicking the link shared. The effect of promotion on prescribing pattern and future prescribing of antibiotics were measured. Descriptive statistics, chi-square, and t -test were used to analyze the data., Results: A total of 1,301 students filled out the survey, but only 1,227 responses were acceptable. The average age was found to be 23.4 ± 1.59 years. Slightly more than half of the respondents were male participants (57.7%), and a significant proportion (84.1%) reported being aware of pharmaceutical promotion. A smaller number (27.7%) felt that physicians who meet medical representatives more frequently tend to prescribe more antibiotics and 46.3% indicated they would be willing to prescribe antibiotics under the promotional influence. Medical students who were male, in senior college years, attended government institutions, and had lower parental income showed significantly higher perception and attitude scores ( p  < 0.05) which, in turn, may show their inclination to promotional activities. Many students agreed with the view that pharmaceutical promotion (PP) activities may alter prescribing practices and also believed that they contribute to the increased irrational prescribing of drugs and antibiotics., Conclusion: The study revealed that only a small number of students are willing to engage in promotional activities and accept rewards, which influences their choice toward selection of drugs and antibiotics. This study highlighted the necessity of giving proper educational instructions regarding the promotion of drugs to medical students. This study also focused on the educational prerequisites of the students., 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 Gillani, Arshad, Umer, Arshed, Khan, Bashir, Xu, Mujtaba, Mohamed Ibrahim and Fang.)

Background: Parkinson's Disease (PD) is the second most common progressive neurodegenerative disorder, mostly affecting balance and motor function caused mainly by a lack of dopamine in the brain. The use of virtual reality (VR) and motor imagery (MI) is emerging as an effective method of rehabilitation for people with Parkinson's disease. Motor imagery and virtual reality have not been compared in patients with Parkinson's disease. This randomized clinical trial is unique to compare the effects of virtual reality with routine physical therapy, motor imagery with routine physical therapy, and routine physical therapy alone on balance, motor function, and activities of daily living in patients with Parkinson's disease., Methods: A total of sixty patients with Parkinson's disease were randomized into three groups using lottery method; twenty with virtual reality therapy in addition to physical therapy (group A = VR + RPT), twenty with imagery therapy in addition to physical therapy (group B = MI + RPT), and twenty were treated with only routine physical therapy (group C = RPT). All patients were evaluated using the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) for motor function and activities of daily living, the Berg balance scale (BBS) for balance, and the Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABCs) for balance confidence at baseline, six and twelve weeks, and one month after treatment discontinuation. The one-way ANOVA was used to compare the outcomes between three groups, and the repeated measures ANOVA was used to compare the outcomes within each of the three groups at a significance level of p-value = 0.05., Results: According to UPDRS III, the VR + RPT group showed significant improvement in motor function, compared to the MI + RPT and RPT groups, as the Mean ± SD at baseline was 33.95 ± 3.501 and at the 12-week assessment was 17.20 ± 9.451 with a p-value = 0.001. In the VR + RPT group, the BBS score at baseline was 37.15 ± 3.437 and at 12th week was 50.10 ± 4.897 with a p-value = 0.019. Among the VR + RPT group, the ABCS score showed significant improvement as the M ± SD at baseline was 57.95 ± 4.629, and at the 12th week was 78.59 ± 6.386 with a p-value = 0.010. At baseline, the UPDRS II for activities of daily living in the VR + RPT group was 25.20 ± 3.036 and at 12th week it was 15.30 ± 2.364 with p-value of 0.000., Conclusion: The current study found that the combination of VR and RPT proved to be the most effective treatment method for improving balance, motor function, and activities of daily living in patients with Parkinson's disease when compared to MI + RPT or RPT alone., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Seera, is a traditional Indian fermented food, has high carbohydrate and reducing sugar content, however, lacks functional components like antioxidant properties. The present study aims to optimize and evaluate the multigrain seera with added values. The optimization of seera was made using mixture design, with green gram (X 1 , 15-30%), sorghum (X 2 , 15-25%) and finger millet (X 3, 5-10%) as independent variables. The responses checked were total phenolic content (Y 1 ), protein content (Y 2 ) and overall acceptability (Y 3 ). The optimum run with green gram (25.58%), sorghum (15%) and finger millet (9.41%) resulted in TPC (1.2 ± 0.12 mg GAE/g), protein content (11.40 ± 0.10 g) with overall acceptability (8.32 ± 0.30). The optimized multigrain seera depicted higher fibre (4.23 ± 0.08%), ash (1.90 ± 1.1%) and protein (11.40 ± 0.10%) than the control seera. The rheological properties of seera depicted shear thinning and elastic behaviour. Texture profile analysis showed that cohesiveness (0.415 ± 0.01) increased significantly (along with decreased springiness (0.251). Morphology of seera showed broken and deformed starch granules with few cracks due to fermentation phenomena that leads to superficial corrosion., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13197-023-05854-5., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestNA., (© Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India) 2023. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

Introduction: Iodine deficiency is the leading cause of preventable brain damage, with 30% of the world's population suffering from iodine deficiency disorders (IDDs). The objectives of the study are to estimate the prevalence of goitre among schoolchildren in the age group of 6-12 years, to find out the proportion of households with adequately iodised salt, and to assess the dietary iodine intake by measuring urinary iodine levels in the urine samples of school-going children., Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in four pre-selected districts of the Kashmir division of Jammu and Kashmir in school-going children aged 6 to 12 years. Multi-stage 30 cluster sampling was used to select the study sample. For the selection of 30 clusters in each district, probability proportional to size (PPS) was employed. From each cluster, 90 children were selected. From a sub-sample of children in each district, 540 salt samples and 270 urine samples were also collected., Results: A total of 10,800 children aged 6-12 years were examined. Grade I goitre was present in 1382 (12.8%) and 116 (1.07%) which were having Grade II goitre. The weighted prevalence of goitre for four districts was 12.6%, lowest for district Ganderbal and highest for district Shopian. Half of the population in all the districts consumed salt with iodine levels of <15 ppm. Urinary iodine levels <99.9 mg/L were present in 15.7% indicating mild to moderate iodine deficiency., Conclusion: Though the present survey showed some decline in the total goitre rate (TGR) from a prevalence of 14.8% in 2017 to 12.6% in 2022, it continues to be a public health problem of mild to moderate intensity in Kashmir. The salt consumed at the household level was inadequately iodised. Hence, efforts in IDD elimination activities need to be scaled up further with emphasis on iodised salt quality control and intensive education at the community level., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2024 Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism.)

Individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) have limited mobility and are unable to actively participate in tasks that are part of their daily living. Thus, continuous therapeutic sessions are required to keep such individuals active and engaged in the environment. Due to the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) lockdowns, rehabilitation for children with CP was inhibited which consequently put them at risk of losing their functional gains which were obtained through previous in-person therapies. In order to avoid this, an alternate to conventional therapy was required and this rendered it necessary to review the role of telerehabilitation (TR) and its various modes for the rehabilitation of children with CP. This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of TR for children with CP during COVID-19 through the present literature and to determine if TR is an alternate to conventional physical therapy in children with CP during the coronavirus outbreak. This scoping review was conducted by searching different databases such as PubMed, Cochrane Collaboration, Medline, and Google Scholar on the basis of inclusion criteria. Screening was performed from January 2019 to June 2022 and the initial screening attempt returned 469 studies. After applying the aforementioned criteria, all impertinent studies were excluded which resulted in 28 studies being included for this review as they contained information about the effectiveness of TR on children with CP during COVID-19. These 28 articles included randomised controlled trials, surveys, reviews, clinical trials, case reports, prospective studies, editorials, and longitudinal studies. Three out of the 7 randomised controlled trial studies revealed that action observation treatment can be a useful approach for TR in child with CP during similar pandemics. The other 3 studies supported the use of computer-based games, robots, nonimmersive virtual reality, and wearable haptic devices as a significant means of TR in child with CP as an alternate to routine therapy during COVID-19. TR is an affable mode of rehabilitation specifically for the pediatric population. In the future, it can be an alternate to routine therapy for those who are unlikely to get daily access to in-person therapeutic sessions due to various reasons or circumstances., Competing Interests: The authors have no funding and conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Here, we present an interesting, previously unreported method for fractionating a particular class of cannabinoids from the crude leaf extract of Cannabis sativa using HP-20 resins. In this study, we report a novel method of divergent synthesis of fractionated Cannabis sativa extract, which allows the generation of multiple cannabinoids C- and O-glycosides which react with the glycosyl donor 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-d-mannosyl trichloroacetimidate (TAMTA) to create eight C- and O-β-d-cannabinoids glycosides (COCG), which are separated by HPLC and whose structures are characterized by 1D, 2D NMR, and mass spectrometry. These glycosides exhibit improved anti-proliferative and anti-metastatic effects against numerous cancer cell lines in vitro and are more water-soluble and stable than their parent cannabinoids. The in vitro testing of the pure cannabinoids (1-4) and their C- & O-glycosides (1a-4a) and 1b-4b exhibited anti-proliferative and anti-metastatic activities against a panel of eight human cancer cell lines in contrast to their respective parent molecules. Different cancer cell lines' IC 50 values varied significantly when their cell viability was compared. In addition to the others, compounds 2a, 3a, 4a, and 2b, 3b were highly potent, with IC 50 values ranging from 0.74 µM (3a) to 51.40 µM (4a).Although2a(1.42 µM) and3a(0.74 µM) exhibited lower IC50values in the MiaPaca-2 cell line than4a(2.58 µM). But, in addition to the comparable anti-clonogenic activity of4ain MiaPaca-2 and Panc-1 cells, it manifested remarkable anti-invasive activity than either 2a or 3a.In contrast to 2a, 2b, 3a, and 3b and their respective parent compounds,4ahad substantial anti-invasive/anti-metastatic capabilities and possessed anti-proliferative activity.The effects of 4a treatment on MiaPaca-2 and Panc-1 cells include a dose-dependent increase in the expression of E-cadherin and a significant decrease in the expression of Zeb-1, Vimentin, and Snail1. Our results demonstrate that divergent synthesis of fractionated Cannabis sativa extract is a feasible and efficient strategy to produce a library of novel cannabinoid glycosides with improved pharmacological properties and potential anticancer benefits., 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 © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Differentiating sepsis from non-infectious systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) is challenging. Biomarkers like procalcitonin (PCT) aid early risk assessment and guide antibiotic use. This study aims to ascertain PCT's accuracy as a sepsis biomarker among adult emergency department admissions., Method: The PRISMA guidelines were followed to search for relevant articles in five electronic databases between April 14th and August 4th, 2023: PubMed, Cochrane Library, ProQuest, EMBASEs, and ScienceDirect. Studies had to be published in English to avoid directly translating scientific terms. Besides, the inclusion criteria were based on the diagnosis of sepsis in adult patients admitted to an emergency department. QUADAS-2 tool provided by the Review Manager version 5.4.1 was utilized to assess the risk of bias in included studies. STATA (v. 16) software was used to perform the meta-analysis., Results: Ten of 2457 studies were included. We sampled 2980 adult sepsis patients for the under-investigated role of PCT in ED sepsis diagnosis. PCT emerged as the primary early diagnostic biomarker with high levels (29.3 ± 85.3 ng/mL) in sepsis patients. Heterogeneity in outcomes, possibly due to bias in cohort and observational studies, was observed., Conclusion: PCT tests offer moderate accuracy in diagnosing sepsis and stand out for rapidly and precisely distinguishing between viral and bacterial inflammations., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Pakistan is among top countries for antibiotic consumption around the globe and patients often receive antibiotics directly from community pharmacies. Thus, our aim was to assess the drug dispensing practices of pharmacies for presumed and confirmed tuberculosis by using standardized patients' method in Pakistan., Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we adopted two standardized patient cases in pharmacies of three cities of Punjab. The first case involved a presumed tuberculosis patient presenting with 2-3 weeks of cough and fever (Case-1), and the second case involved a confirmed tuberculosis patient carrying microbiologically confirmed tuberculosis results (Case-2). The ideal management for Cases-1 and Case-2 is referral of standardized patients to a healthcare provider without dispensing antibiotics or steroids, or both. The differences in antibiotic use, steroid use, and the number of medicines dispensed in referred and non-referred patients between Case-1 and Case-2 were analyzed using descriptive statistics., Results: Between April 1, 2020, and July 31, 2020, standardized patients completed 575 out of 598 interactions among community pharmacies in Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Sialkot. We recorded ideal management in 115 (37.7%) of the 305 Case-1 interactions and 130 (48.1%) of the 270 Case-2 interactions. Antibiotic dispensing was higher in Case-1, with 71 out of 305 instances (23.3%), than in Case-2 interactions, with 27 out of 270 instances (10.0%). Anti-tuberculosis drugs were dispensed to 1 patient in Case-1 (0.3%) and to 19 patients (7.0%) in Case-2., Conclusion: Slightly more than one-third of pharmacies in Punjab, Pakistan, ideally managed patients with presumed tuberculosis, but almost half of them ideally managed cases of confirmed tuberculosis. The presence of confirmed diagnosis slightly changes the behavior in the correct management of patients., 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 Gillani, Arshad, Mujtaba, Umer, Xu, Ji, Bashir, Chang, Yang and Fang.)

Rib fractures, common among trauma victims, lead to significant morbidity and mortality. Managing the associated pain is challenging, with IV opioids and thoracic epidural analgesia (TEA) being utilized. While epidural analgesia is often preferred for fractured rib pain, existing data encompasses both lumbar and thoracic approaches. This review aimed to compare TEA and IV opioids for persistent rib fracture pain. A comprehensive search across five databases yielded 987 articles, of which seven met the eligibility criteria. Outcomes were categorized into primary (pain reduction) and secondary (mortality, hospital/ICU stays, analgesia-related complications) endpoints. Analyzed with Review Manager (RevMan) Version 5.4.1 (2020; The Cochrane Collaboration, London, United Kingdom), the pooled data from two sources showed TEA significantly more effective in reducing pain than IV opioids (standardized mean difference ( SMD): 2.23; 95%CI: 1.65-2.82; p < 0.00001). Similarly, TEA was associated with shorter ICU stays (SMD: 0.73; 95%CI: 0.33-1.13; p = 0.0004), while hospitalization duration showed no substantial difference (SMD: 0.82; 95%CI: -0.34-1.98). Mortality rates also did not significantly differ between TEA and IV opioids (risk ratio (RR): 1.20; 95%CI: 0.36-4.01; p = 0.77). Subgroup analysis revealed fewer pneumonia cases with TEA (RR: 2.06; 95%CI: 1.07-3.96; P = 0.03), with no notable disparities in other complications. While TEA's superiority in pain relief for rib fractures suggests it is the preferred analgesic, the recommendation's strength is tempered by the low methodological quality of supporting articles., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2024, Mohamed et al.)

Significance Statement: To combat both untoward effects of nephrotoxicity and ototoxicity in cisplatin-treated patients, two potential therapeutic oral anticancer drugs AZD5438 and dabrafenib, a phase-2 clinical trial protein kinase CDK2 inhibitor and an US Food and Drug Administration-approved drug BRAF inhibitor, respectively, were tested in an established mouse AKI model. Both drugs have previously been shown to protect significantly against cisplatin-induced hearing loss in mice. Each drug ameliorated cisplatin-induced increases in the serum biomarkers BUN, creatinine, and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin. Drugs also improved renal histopathology and inflammation, mitigated cell death by pyroptosis and necroptosis, and significantly enhanced overall survival of cisplatin-treated mice., Background: Cisplatin is an effective chemotherapy agent for a wide variety of solid tumors, but its use is dose-limited by serious side effects, including AKI and hearing loss. There are no US Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs to treat both side effects. Recently, two anticancer oral drugs, AZD5438 and dabrafenib, were identified as protective against cisplatin-induced hearing loss in mice. We hypothesize that similar cell stress and death pathways are activated in kidney and inner ear cells when exposed to cisplatin and tested whether these drugs alleviate cisplatin-induced AKI., Methods: The HK-2 cell line and adult FVB mice were used to measure the protection from cisplatin-induced cell death and AKI by these drugs. Serum markers of kidney injury, BUN, creatinine, and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin as well as histology of kidneys were analyzed. The levels of markers of kidney cell death, including necroptosis and pyroptosis, pERK, and proliferating cell nuclear antigen, were also examined by Western blotting and immunofluorescence. In addition, CDK2 knockout (KO) mice were used to confirm AZD5438 protective effect is through CDK2 inhibition., Results: The drugs reduced cisplatin-induced cell death in the HK-2 cell line and attenuated cisplatin-induced AKI in mice. The drugs reduced serum kidney injury markers, inhibited cell death, and reduced the levels of pERK and proliferating cell nuclear antigen, all of which correlated with prolonged animal survival. CDK2 KO mice were resistant to cisplatin-induced AKI, and AZD5438 conferred no additional protection in the KO mice., Conclusions: Cisplatin-induced damage to the inner ear and kidneys shares similar cellular beneficial responses to AZD5438 and dabrafenib, highlighting the potential therapeutic use of these agents to treat both cisplatin-mediated kidney damage and hearing loss., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American Society of Nephrology.)