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Introduction: Medicinal plants are found throughout the world but most are considered weeds. They are – directly or indirectly – the major source of medicines in pharmaceutical and herbal industries. Formulations used to prepare medicines or the method of use for these plants are mainly based on folk or traditional knowledge. This folk knowledge is not documented in many areas and needs to be explored.

Introduction: Medicinal plants are the natural source of medicines used in treatment of many diseases among local communities of various countries. It is also the raw material for the pharmaceutical industry. Pakistan is a country with a variety of medicinal plants, comprehensively studied in some areas, while others still need more studies of their flora.

Proximate and nutritional eoneentrations of some vegetables irrigated with different types of water were determined in present study. Allium fistulosum showed highest eoneentrations of N and P at site3 and site1, respeetively. Highest ash eoneentration in Trigonellafoenum-graecum demonstrated high mineral eoneentration of this vegetable. The erude protein eontents ranged from 15.38% to 26.19% and erude fiber eontents ranged from 12.81% to 16.73% in all vegetables. The tannins and saponins eontents showed signifieant (P<0.05) result among all vegetables at all sites. Proximate and nutrient analysis of eultivated vegetables ean help us to determine the health benefits aehieved from their use in marginal eommunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Fenugreek is an important winter leafy vegetable in Pakistan with high nutritional values. Its seeds are used as spices and whole plant is used in many home remedies and medicine throughout the world. Its foliage and seed productivity is much low in the region. Plant growth regulators (PGRs) and vitamins (riboflavin) can be useful for the enhancement of plant productivity. Methods: Treatments of indole acetic acid (IAA), gibberellic acid (GA3) and riboflavin (50 mmol L-1 each) were applied as foliar spray after 14 days of sowing on fenugreek variety Kasuri Methi. Experiment was arranged in a completely randomized design (CRD) with six replicates. Result: Result showed that GA3 and IAA has significantly enhanced the root and shoot development, foliage growth and ions concentrations, peroxidase (POD) and catalases (CAT) activities. PGRs also increased the pod and seed yield of fenugreek. Riboflavin did not show any significant effect on fenugreek except increased the antioxidant activities at seedling stage. GA3 was more effective as compared to IAA for the enhancement biomass production, yield and biochemical attributes of fenugreek. It was determined that IAA and GA3 can be used to enhance the foliage biomass production and yield but GA3 is superior over IAA in fenugreek. These outcomes can be useful for economic benefits with high production of this leafy vegetable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pea is the most important crop and vegetable in the world but it has low yield. There is a need to find the ways for the improvement of crop productivity. Plant growth regulators (PGRs) are extensively used in many crops for enhancement of yield and quality. This study was designed to find the influence of PGRs on growth, yield and quality of pea cultivars grown in Pakistan. Methods: Pot experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of various plant growth regulators (IAA, NAA and GA3) on pea during 2018-19. Four cultivars of pea i.e. Meteor, Green cross, Sultan and Dollar were used in these experiments. There were 0, 100 and 200 mmolL-1 levels for each hormone that were applied as foliar spray after 14 days of germination. Experiment was laid down in completely randomized design (CRD) with three replicates. Result: Morphological, biochemical and yield attributes significantly increased in four cultivars of pea except variety Sultan for few parameters. Cultivar Meteor showed highly positive increasing effects on growth and yield attributes as compared to other treatments. Catalases (CAT) activities were increased and peroxidase dismutase (POD) activities were reduced. It can be concluded that reduction in POD activities helped to increase the defense mechanism of plants and high CAT activities caused better balance in plant metabolism as a result growth, yield and quality of pea were increased. All the variables including shoot length, shoot biomass, number of fruits, total seed yield, carbohydrates and protein had positive correlation with phytohormones. These outcomes might be good indicators to predict the best pea cultivars that can have positive promising response for growth, yield and quality traits under plant growth regulators (PGR). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Seasonal variability in mortality has been studied in various regions globally. Proper evaluation of seasonally fluctuating mortality is important to establish effective public health measures. We investigated the overall, age-specific, and cause-specific seasonality of deaths in Chitral District in Pakistan. Method: Data on 2577 deaths were provided by the Agha Khan Health Support Program. Seasonal mortality patterns concerning age and causes were examined using the X-12 ARIMA pseudo-additive decomposition method. Results: Of the total deceased, 59.6% were males. The proportion of deceased males was significantly higher than the female (40.4%, p< 0.001). The average age at death was 57.7 years (SD = 28.7). On average, approximately 43 deaths occurred each month. More than 10% of the deaths occurred in children less than 5-years-of-age. Among all the causes of death, the most frequent was cardiovascular disease (n = 666, 25.8%) followed by respiratory disease (n = 482, 18.7%). Significant seasonality in the overall deaths was evident, with a peak in winter. Deaths in people ≥ 55-years-of-age were significantly seasonal and peaked in winter. Deaths due to cardiovascular, respiratory, and kidney related diseases were also significantly seasonal with winter peaks. Further, deaths due to external causes were significantly seasonal with summer peak. Conclusion: In the winter season, all-cause, except external, and age-specific mortality peaks in Chitral District, Pakistan. Deaths due to external causes and cardiovascular, respiratory, and kidney related diseases were significant seasonal effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present research was to determine the trace metal accumulations in Brassica campestris irrigated with three different water regimes (groundwater, canal water, and sugar mill water). The analysis was conducted by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer to evaluate the concentration of minerals in the soil and in vegetables. The heavy metals investigated in this study were Cd, Cu, Cr, Fe, Zn, Ni, and Mn. Trace metal concentrations in soil samples ranged from 0.30 to 0.39, 0.14 to 0.30, 0.25 to 0.39, 1.47 to 3.98, 0.37 to 0.41, 0.8 to 8.78 and 0.36 to 0.36 mg/kg for Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Zn and Mn, respectively. Among the three treatments, the mean concentrations of Fe and Zn were higher than other metal accumulations for all treatments. The contents of Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Zn and Mn in Brassica campestris ranged from 0.35 to 0.44, 0.32 to 0.89, 0.09 to 0.73, 1.93 to 3.02, 1.11 to 1.82, 0.36 to 0.43 and 0.37 to 0.40 mg/kg, respectively. Statistical analyses showed that the treatments have a non-significant effect (p>0.05) on concentrations of metals in Brassica campestris collected from three sites for Cd, Cr, Cu and Mn and significant effect on Fe, Zn, and Ni. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wastewater irrigation causes possible contamination of soil and crops and is responsible for health hazards to consumers. Current research was undertaken to observe the extent of contamination in wheat irrigated with wastewater and its possible consequences on humans. A pot experiment was performed in this regard to assess the concentration of metals in soil, water and grain samples. The level of heavy metals (mg kg-1) in wheat grains ranged from 1.18 to 1.64 for Cd, 0.07 to 0.20 for Pb, 0.74 to 1.28 for Cu, 0.44 to 0.60 for Cr, and 0.02 to 0.22 for Co. The values of all heavy metals were within the permissible limit of 0.3 mg kg-1 for Pb, 73.3 mg kg-1 for Cu, 2.3 mg kg-1 for Cr, and 50 mg kg-1for Co, while the Cd content in wheat surpassed the tolerable limit of 0.2 mg kg-1 indicating its mobility. A significant and positive correlation was obtained for Cd, Pb Cu, and Co (0.90, 0.85, 0.79, 0.89; p<0.01) while Cr showed non-significant correlation (0.52; p>0.05) between soil and wheat grains. The values of health risk index for all heavy metals were below 1 except for Cd. Regular monitoring of wheat crop is suggested in light of these findings to minimize the health risks in humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims Cancer patients are at a higher risk for any cardiac event during and post surgery, due to an altered coagulation state and anaemia, and can have additive effect if the patient had previous history of any cardiac event or risk factor for coronary artery disease such as hypertension and diabetes. The objective of this study was evaluate the usefulness of gated myocardial perfusion scintigraphy with pharmacological stress in determining the frequency of cardiac events associated with non-cardiac surgery in cancer patients. Methods 100 consecutive patients, who were being planned for the oncological surgery, were enrolled in this study for preoperative gated myocardial perfusion scintigraphy using 99mTc-sestamibi with adenosine stress. After acquiring the data, perfusion images were reconstructed and analysed using visual assessment as well as QPS program and summed stress score (SSS) was obtained. Based on visual assessment and SSS, we divided patients into low- and high-risk groups. Postoperative follow-up of the patients was done through internal medicine clinics. Results Out of 100 patients, 57 were female and 43 male with a mean age 61.25 years. Sixty-three (63%) had a history of diabetes, 73% hypertension, 34% were known smokers while 42% had a family history of coronary artery disease and 15 patients has CAD. 61% fell into the low-risk group and thirty-nine (39%) in the high-risk group. In the low-risk 1 patient (1.63%) needed inotropic support postoperatively. In the high-risk group, 6 (15.38%) patients had cardiac events postoperatively. Subset-analysis of these showed; 3 (7.69%) had an episode of angina prior to discharge, 2 (5.12%) died with cardiac-arrest due to myocardial infraction (MI) and 1 (2.56%) needed inotropic support postoperatively and surgery was deferred in 4 patients due to their very low LVEF and high SSS. These 4 patients were further evaluated by cardiologist for future management. Conclusion In low-risk group patients, stress myocardial perfusion scintigraphy has a high negative predictive value for peri- and postoperative cardiac events in cancer patients. While patients with cancer and labelled as high-risk on myocardial perfusion imaging, whether demonstrating scar or ischaemia, should prompt appropriate peri- and post-operative management to minimize major cardiac events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wastewater sources contain enormous amounts of nutrients for plant growth. This study aimed to define the metal accumulation in the goosefoot plant (Chenopodium album L.) of wastewater use in agricultural irrigation and to evaluate the risks of this accumulation to human health. The present research was performed in field conditions in Khushab, Pakistan. The Cd, Cu, Cr, Fe, Zn, Ni, and Mn concentrations were determined with the analysis performed using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer-AAS. Heavy metal concentrations in goosefoot samples irrigated with groundwater (GWI), canal water (CWI) and sugar mill water (MWI) ranged from 0.84 to 1.08, 0.55 to 0.78, 0.23 to 0.70, 2.09 to 5.56, 2.84 to 13.53, 0.53 to 1.13 and 0.32 to 0.39 mg/kg for Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Zn, and Mn, respectively. According to the statistical analyses, wastewater applications had a non-significant effect on Cr, Cu, and Zn concentrations in C. album samples collected from three sites, and a significant effect on Cd, Fe, Mn, and Ni concentrations (p>0.05). The results also showed that the health risk index value of cadmium was higher than 1. According to these results, long-term consumption of C. album samples grown in the study area may cause an accumulation of Cd in the human body and diseases in many tissues and organs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphite flakes were divided into two equal parts Part A and Part B. Part A was thermally shocked at 800oC under inert atmosphere of argon for two min before exfoliation under sonic tip while Part B was exfoliated as such using acetonitrile (ACN) as exfoliating media in both cases at 15-20oC. The concentration of the graphene as a result of exfoliation and centrifugation at 500 rpm for 45 min in both cases were determined. After ten hours of sonication the concentration of graphene in Part A is >12mg/ml with few layered thickness while that of Part B was <5mg/ml consisting of more layers than Part A. UV spectroscopy, Raman, Transmission Electron Microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) were used for the study of these nanoflakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, excellent improvement in mechanical properties was observed by incorporating graphene nanofillers in polyvinyl chloride via solution blending. About 63% increase in modulus and 19% increase in ultimate tensile strength were measured at 1.5 wt% nanofiller content while almost no drop in elongation at break was observed. POLYM. COMPOS., 37:1572-1576, 2016. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large area graphene oxide sheets were synthesized, dispersed in water and used as nanofiller for mechanical improvement in terms of Young's modulus and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) at low loading. The molecular level dispersion and interfacial interactions between the graphene oxides and polymeric matrix PVA were the real challenges. An excellent improvement in mechanical properties at 0.35 wt% loading was observed. Modulus improved from 1.58 GPa to 2.72 GPa (~71% improvement), UTS improved from 120 MPa to 197 MPa (~65% improvement), and in spite of these improvements, interestingly, there was no fall in elongation at break at this loading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphite was exfoliated to graphene by tip sonic using sodium cholate as a surfactant in the presence of Millipore water as a medium. The use of water as a solvent for exfoliation purposes is very important due to its environmentally friendly nature and almost no cost, contrary to organic media. Two different concentration ratios of surfactants are used in the present work. As a result, graphene dispersions with two different concentrations of 5 mg/ml and about 7 mg/ml respectively were obtained in aqueous media. It was observed that the optimum concentration of surfactant has an effective role in the exfoliation of graphite to graphene. Concentrations of graphene dispersions were studied through UV spectroscopy, while Raman spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) were used to study the quality of the exfoliated graphene flakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective The study details our work in managing radiation doses to our workers and comforters when dealing with 18F-FDG under the ALARA principle. Methods Pakistan's first PET-CT suite with on-site cyclotron was designed under the guidelines of AAPM Task Group Report #108 in 2009. Concrete, Perspex and lead were used as shielding materials to justify cost and space availability. The controlled areas were designed for permissible dose limit of = 2 µSv/ hr. The staff members who have direct contact with 18F-FDG are given thermolumiscence dosimeters to record their monthly wholebody and extremities doses. Results Once operational, the maximum prevailing exposure is = 10 µSv/ hr in FDG Synthesis unit at 5 Ci. The prevailing exposure in the PET-CT Console and injection room is = 2 µSv/ hr, Prescanning room = 5 µSv/ hr, post scanning room = 0.2 µSv/ hr; cyclotron vault surrounding is = 0.1 µSv/ hr. Nursing staff, injecting and dispensing 18F-FDG are rotated once in a week to inject ten patients per day/week using lead shielding to cover syringe, lead bricks and movable trolley. A short interaction between the patients are the technologists reduces the technologist's dose to =0.6 mSv/ month (=17 mSv/month). Three radio-chemists produce up to 5 Ci radioactive 18F-FDG on a daily basis in an automated shielded synthesis unit. The average radiation dose for each radiochemist is =0.7 mSv/month (=27 mSv/month). Medical Physicists and cyclotron engineers receive =0.5 mSv/month (= 10 mSv/month). The comforters receive =1.5 mSv/scan recorded by the electronic pocket dosimeter (EPD). Each patient is released when the radiation exposure is reduced to =20 µSv/hr at 1 meter. Conclusion In the last five years (2009 to 2013), 10,000 patients were scanned with an average of 330 MBq injected dose. The maximum average dose received was 4 mSv/year for some members of nursing staff and radiochemists, whereas the least average dose of 1 mSv/year was received by technologists and the rest of the staff received doses =1 mSv/ year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We have covalently functionalized graphene oxide (GO) with octadecylamine (ODA) to form GO–ODA. This material can be dispersed in tetrahydrofuran (THF) and subsequently formed into composites with polymers such as thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). We have characterized the mechanical properties of composites of GO–ODA in TPU. No increase in stiffness was observed at loading levels below 2.5vol%. Reinforcement appeared to start sharply at this volume fraction and subsequently increased as a power law with increasing volume fraction. This behavior is typical of percolation and shows that the low-strain stress is not increased until the functionalized graphene flakes form a percolating network. Slightly different behavior is observed for properties related to material failure. The ultimate tensile strength increased linearly with graphene content up to the percolation threshold before subsequently falling off. Similarly the strain at break was constant below the percolation threshold but fell off dramatically above it. This work shows the importance of network formation in the reinforcement of elastomeric materials. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Intravenously injected Tc-DTPA was evaluated in 64 patients for its efficiency in detecting and localizing sites of acute upper and lower gastrointestinal (G.I.) bleeding. These studies were correlated with endoscopic and surgical findings. There were 34 bleeders and 30 non bleeders giving a sensitivity of 90%, specificity of 82% and accuracy of 86%. Of these, 49 were upper G.I. studies (stomach 21 and duodenum 28) and 15 were lower G.I. studies (small intestine 8, large bowel 7). Of the 49 upper G.I. studies, 27 showed active bleeding while 22 showed no bleeding at the time of the study resulting in a sensitivity of 87.5%, specificity of 76% and accuracy of 82%. Of the 15 lower G.I. studies, 7 were bleeders while 8 were non bleeders. All the lower G.I. bleeding sites were accurately localized with the Tc-DTPA. An incidental finding of these studies was the localization of Tc-DTPA in the site of inflammatory and malignant lesions of the G.I. tract. Of the 64 studies, 18 inflammatory and malignant lesions were detected with the IV injected Tc-DTPA; 10 were bleeders while 8 were non bleeders. Image subtraction of early from delayed images was helpful to differentiate bleeding from non bleeding cases in this last group of studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]