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Abstract: Stratospheric ozone has an essential role in terrestrial life particularly in climatic variability and protects earth biosphere from the harmful UV radiations. The present study investigates the variation of the stratospheric ozone layer over Pakistan and China for the period from 1984 to 2010. For this purpose a probability distribution approach is applied. In this regard the adequacy of Normal, Gamma and Log-Normal distributions are tested with the help of Kolmogorov–Smirnov D-test. It is found that most of the months, Pakistan region follow Log-normal while China region exhibits Normal probaility distribution. In addition, mean and standard deviations of monthly ozone are also calculated. It gives more eminence to stratospheric ozone variability behavior. Furthermore, trend models are used to compute the ozone variations for the above mentioned regions.Most of the months show increasing trend except the decreasing trend in Februery and May for Pakistan and Januray and September for China. Trend analysis contributes the economic development and hydrological planning. This research is a part of a larger research project which compares the climatic variability of Pakistan with the climatic variability of neighboring countries and the other countries of the region which are considered important in this regard. Such comparisons will appear in other communications. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Bovine theileriosis, caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Theileria, presents with various clinical symptoms. In cattle, clinical presentations and outcomes of bovine theileriosis are closely correlated with the causative Theileria spp. Thus, accurate detection and discrimination of Theileria spp. are essential for epidemiological studies and for provision of clinical management strategies. High-resolution melting (HRM) analyses of two amplicons targeting the 18S rRNA indicated that T. annulata, T. orientalis, and T. sinensis isolated from China can be accurately detected and discriminated with the lowest detection limit of 1-10 copy numbers of plasmid bearing the 18S rRNA sequence. The approach was verified with DNA samples from experimentally infected cattle and field samples. Thus, this assay is useful for diagnosis of bovine theileriosis in field samples and experimentally infected animals, and could also be applicable for the survey of parasite dynamics, epidemiological studies., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Background: Bovine babesiosis is caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Babesia and presents a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations. Disease severity depends on the type of Babesia species infection. Generally, B. bovis and B. bigemina are considered as the causative agents of bovine babesiosis; in addition, Babesia ovata and B. major are a group of benign bovine piroplasms. Therefore, species identification is important for diagnosis, epidemiological investigations and follow-up management., Methods: Real-time PCR combined with high resolution melting (RT-PCR-HRM) analysis was used to detect and discriminate four Babesia species infective to cattle, including Babesia bovis, B. bigemina, B. major and B. ovata. The melting profiles and melting temperatures (Tm) of the amplicon targeting 18S rRNA revealed differences that can discriminate the four Babesia spp. Sensitivity and specificity of the analytical method were evaluated using 50 blood samples collected from experimentally infected cattle and 240 blood samples from areas where bovine babesiosis is an issue., Results: RT-PCR-HRM analysis allowed to detect and discriminate four Babesia spp. (B. bovis, B. bigemina, B. major and B. ovata), which were responsible for bovine babesiosis in China. The protocol was validated with DNA samples from experimentally infected cattle and field infection in cattle., Conclusions: Our results indicate that RT-PCR-HRM is a fast and robust tool for the simultaneous detection and discrimination of four Babesia species that are responsible for bovine babesiosis in China. This approach is applicable for both field and experimental samples, thus it could be useful in epidemiological investigations and diagnoses of bovine babesiosis.