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One of the main issues confronting humanity in the twenty-first century is the lack of potable water availability. Around half of the world's consumers face drinking water scarcity. Industrially rich areas have a high population and high-water contamination risk factors. Modern technologies that are quite effective for water purification, present economical limitations that impede their usefulness in developing countries. Conventional methods involving low energy, low chemical demand, and prevention of water-borne disease are therefore significant for water purification in developing countries like Pakistan. These limitations have led to improvising the conventional method for facile water purification. Herein we report the water purification assembly based on allow sand filtration; involving the raw materials grass, clay, sand, silt, pebbles, gravel and coal/fly ash carbon to obtain clean and quality-controlled water treatment. Ground water samples collected from various areas of Sargodha city were subjected to the developed design Hybrid Multi-Layer Slow Sand Filter (HMLSSF). Based on pre- and post-treatment water analysis, it was determined that the filtration assembly was quite effective at reducing pH, turbidity, dissolved and suspended solids, hardness, and heavy metals percent removal by 87%, 77.7%, 91.3%, 95.4%, 84.4%, and to promising levels, respectively. Moreover, 99 % biological contamination such as total coliform was also removed by this method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death, causes pulmonary and extra-pulmonary symptoms, and also impacts the quality of life. Rigorous evidence on manual and mechanical chest physiotherapy is still scarce. Therefore, this review aims to evaluate the effects of different exercise therapies on obstruction, dyspnea, and quality of life in COPD patients. Materials and Methods: We performed a systematic review of randomized controlled trials published from 2011 to 2020 to evaluate the effects of exercise therapies on obstruction, dyspnea, and quality of life in obstructive patients. Databases such as Medline, BioMed Central, CINHAL, and Cochrane were reviewed. Methodological quality and risk of bias were assessed using the Cochrane tool. Results: Most of the trials supported the effectiveness of mechanical chest physiotherapy in improving obstruction, dyspnea, and quality of life. Conclusion: High-to-moderate evidence shows that mechanical chest physiotherapy is useful in the improvement of obstruction, dyspnea, and quality of life in COPD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Stroke is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Despite the glowing advancement of Virtual Reality Therapy (VRT), clear evidence about its effectiveness in stroke is still scarce. Hence it is essential to review the current information to provide up-to-date insight. Therefore the aim of this review is to evaluate the effects of VRT on the balance and Health-related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in patients with stroke. Data Sources: A literature search was done in Google Scholar, PEDro, Cochrane Library, Medline, Web of Science, and PubMed databases. Eligibility Criteria: We performed a systematic review of randomized controlled trials published from June 2014 to January 2020, evaluating the effects of VRT on the balance and/ or HRQoL in stroke. Fourteen eligible trials were analyzed, of which, 7 studies focused on balance and 7 on HRQoL. Quality Appraisal: Methodological quality and risk of bias were assessed using the Cochrane tool. Results: Most of the trials supported the effectiveness of VRT in improving balance and HRQoL. However, few trials reported similar improvements in HRQoL using VRT via Nintendo WiiTM games and conventional physiotherapy. Conclusions: High to moderate evidence supports the effectiveness of VRT use in improving balance and HRQoL in stroke survivors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the level of self-efficacy and disability in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to examine the relationship of patient self-efficacy and disability with age and disease duration. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted at the department of rheumatology in JPMC, Karachi from June to November 2017. Patients who had RA as main disease, age above fifteen years, disease duration of three months or above and cognitively able to answer the questionnaires were consecutively included. Self-efficacy was measured by Arthritis Self- Efficacy Scale (ASES) and disability assessed by Health Assessment Questionnaire. The relationship between ASES and disability, age and disease duration were examined using Spearman's rho test. Statistical analysis was undertaken using SPSS for Windows, version 22. Results: Of 100 RA patients, 32% had average self-efficacy. Whereas moderate to severe disability existed in 59% of the patients. A spearman's correlation showed that arthritis self-efficacy was strongly correlated with disability (r= -0.751, p= <.0001), moderately with disease duration (r= -0.359, p= <0.0001) and weakly with age (r= -0.284, p= 0.004) whereas disability had direct moderate correlation with age and disease duration (r= 0.396, p= <0.0001 and r= 0.423, p= <0.0001, respectively). Conclusion: This cross-sectional survey concluded that average self-efficacy and moderate to severe disability exist in RA patients. Enhancing the patient's self-efficacy should be an essential part of a total treatment program of RA so that disability, treatment cost and visits to health care system could be reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, innovative technologies have gained prominence in stroke patient rehabilitation worldwide, with virtual reality-based mirror therapy (VRBMT) emerging as a notable example. Hence, the present study aims to determine the efficacy of VRBMT on upper extremity motor function, manual performance, and gross manual dexterity among stroke patients. The systematic search utilized Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, and Design (PICOD) paradigm, and the study searched was based on 2012-2023, utilizing different databases. The meta-analysis data was evaluated using MedCalc version 18.11.3. The Pooled effect size mean was statistically examined using a fixed and random effect model. Among the 6 studies selected, 4 studies involving upper-limb stroke patients were identified between the VRBMT. Pooled analysis of VRBMT revealed no significant effect on motor function [standardized mean difference (SMD) 0.815; 95% CI 0.00 to 81.37; P = 0.5562]. The remaining 2 of 6 studies participated in the study of the manual performance stroke patients (SMD 0.869; 95% CI 0.00 to 93.22; P = 0.0684). The pooled analysis of VRBMT revealed no significant effect. The last 2 of 6 included studies on gross manual dexterity in stroke. The pooled analysis also showed no significant effects on VRBMT (SMD 0.198; 95% CI 0.00 to 0.00; P = 0.6951). The present study concluded although VRBMT exhibits potential as a novel method for stroke rehabilitation, its effects on gross manual dexterity, manual performance, and upper extremity motor function are not statistically significant may be due to a limited number of studies on VRBMT in stroke patients.