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Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a vital cereal crop for food security in Pakistan. In Zn-deficient soils, its productivity and quality suffer, affecting grain yield, Zn bioavailability, and nutrition, which can lead to malnutrition. Field experiments were conducted using factorial randomized block design at the Agricultural Research Institute (ARI) Tarnab, Peshawar, Pakistan to evaluate the impact of wheat genotypes (G1-TRB-72-311 synthetic hexaploid, G2-TRB-89-348 advanced line, and G3-Pirsabak-19-approved variety), Zn application methods (AM1: no Zn application, AM2: seed priming with 0.5% Zn, AM3: soil application of 10 kg ha−1 Zn, and AM4: foliar application of 0.5% Zn), and the experiment also explored the use of ZSB (BF1: with bacteria, BF0: without bacteria) to cope with Zn deficiency. The study revealed significant impacts on wheat's Zn content, uptake, and nutrient efficiency, arising from genotypes variance, Zn application approaches, and ZSB. TRB-72-311 synthetic hexaploid genotype with 0.5% foliar Zn and ZSB excelled, enhancing grain (17.8%) and straw Zn (23.1%), increasing total Zn uptake (55.0%), reducing grain phytic acid (11.7%), and boosting Zn-related efficiencies in wheat. These results prompt further discussion regarding the potential implications for agricultural practices. In conclusion, utilizing the TRB-72-311 genotype with 0.5% foliar Zn application and ZSB enhances wheat's Zn content, uptake, grain quality, and addresses malnutrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Salmonella meningitis is a rare but serious complication of Salmonella infection, primarily affecting infants, children, and immunocompromised individuals. Case presentation: We present a case of a two-and-a-half-year-old Asian boy who developed Salmonella meningitis along with pneumonia and respiratory failure. Initially, he experienced symptoms of loose motions, fever, and irritability, which progressed to neck stiffness and brisk reflexes. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis confirmed Salmonella typhi in the CSF. Due to the worsening condition, the patient was admitted to the intensive care unit, intubated, and switched to meropenem as the antibiotic of choice after an initial empiric therapy with ceftriaxone and vancomycin. With appropriate treatment, the patient showed significant improvement, including resolution of fever and respiratory symptoms. Conclusion: Management of Salmonella meningitis is often challenging primarily because of the fact that the empiric therapy for meningitis may not always provide coverage to the multi-drug resistant Salmonella species found in South Asia. Prompt administration of appropriate antibiotics based on sensitivity testing is crucial for successful management. This case emphasizes the importance of early recognition and effective management of this uncommon yet severe complication of Salmonella infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Child mortality is a major challenge to public health in Pakistan and other developing countries. Reduction of the child mortality rate would improve public health and enhance human well-being and prosperity. This study recognizes the spatial clusters of child mortality across districts of Pakistan and identifies the direct and spatial spillover effects of determinants on the Child Mortality Rate (CMR). Method: Data of the multiple indicators cluster survey (MICS) conducted by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was used to study the CMR. We used spatial univariate autocorrelation to test the spatial dependence between contiguous districts concerning CMR. We also applied the Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) to measure the spatial spillover effects of factors on CMR. Results: The study results showed 31% significant spatial association across the districts and identified a cluster of hot spots characterized by the high-high CMR in the districts of Punjab province. The empirical analysis of the SDM confirmed that the direct and spatial spillover effect of the poorest wealth quintile and MPI vulnerability on CMR is positive whereas access to postnatal care to the newly born child and improved drinking water has negatively (directly and indirectly) determined the CMR in Pakistan. Conclusion: The instant results concluded that spatial dependence and significant spatial spillover effects concerning CMR exist across districts. Prioritization of the hot spot districts characterized by higher CMR can significantly reduce the CMR with improvement in financial statuses of households from the poorest quintile and MPI vulnerability as well as improvement in accessibility to postnatal care services and safe drinking water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eradication of multidimensional poverty remains a significant issue for a number of low-income countries. It has significantly influenced economic development worldwide, and its abolition would improve human well-being and prosperity. In this study, a multidimensional poverty (MDP) index has been constructed by adopting the Alkire-Foster methodology and Geographic Information System application to (i) measure the multidimensional poverty in all districts of Pakistan, (ii) recognize the spatial patterns concerning MDP in Pakistan, (iii) examine the impact of per-capita income on MDP in Pakistan and, (iv) assess the spatial impact of neighbors' poverty scores on MDP. The findings of the study indicated that the magnitude of both headcount and MDP varies across provinces and was found to be higher and lower in Balochistan and Punjab, respectively. The spatial results revealed that in terms of both MDP and headcount poverty, the majority of Punjab districts were significantly clustered in low and very low quantiles (low-low quadrants) whereas districts from Balochistan were concentrated in high and very high quantiles (high-high quadrants). Furthermore, the spatial regression showed that per capita income had substantially reduced the incidence of poverty both directly and indirectly. Most importantly, the poverty score of neighboring districts has significantly influenced the incidence of district own MDP. Based on the instant spatial results, Balochistan is considered the highly poverty-stricken province of Pakistan that needs government intervention and policy makers' prioritization towards the study indicators to eradicate the incidence of multidimensional poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores how specific ideologies and power are being practised through language in a Pakistani drama ‘Ou rangreza’ which aired on Hum TV channel. Forty dialogues are randomly taken from various episodes. The analysis was done particularly from the feminist perspective (FCDA). The researcher used the method of Qualitative discourse analysis. To reach the feminist ideology four categories (Self-reliance, male chauvinism, concept of patriarchy, and underestimating women) have been constructed. The results show that the drama is based on two ideologies one is, liberal feminist ideology second is patriarchal structured ideologies. The findings discover the distribution of power and creation of ideologies, the dominance of male characters, and the subjugation of female characters are being practised through language (dialogues). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural crop cover identification is a major issue and time-consuming effort to verify the crop type through surveys of the individual field or using prehistoric methods. To establish the scenario of crop identification, the stage of crop provides diverse spatial information about the variety of crops due to its spectral changes. The main aim of this study was to the identify the crop types and their behavior using remote sensing and geographical information system-based approach. Moreover, two main methods were applied to the Sentinel-2 satellite data in which one is random forest based supervised classification and another was Normalize Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) density estimation method through the google earth engine to procure the data in time-efficient way. This study also established the comparison between classified and vegetation index based seasonal compositional datasets for wheat, cotton, maize, and fodder crops. Study discussed the best fit technique for crops identification in the light of observed methods. Furthermore, the vegetation index ranges by the zonal statistics of the field samples were established according to crop precision. Results showed that -22.94, -43.72, 20.61, and 32.49 % dissimilarities existed in wheat, fodder, cotton, and maize results respectively, after comparison of both techniques. Although, the accuracy assessment was performed on the classified dataset for validation of results by confusion matrix accuracy assessment process using field sample data. Moreover, the vegetation index was used to evaluate crop land surface temperature to estimate the crop growth stage valuation that revealed noticeably enthralling outcomes. The results determined that the classified accuracies of wheat, cotton, maize and fodder were 84, 80, 81 and 71 % respectively. This study also revealed that the random forest classifier has used more features and information potentially during the classifier trainings but vegetation index just implies the limited number of features such as crop growing status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities have been growing rapidly over the past 30 years. This urban growth requires proper planning for sustainable development. Considering the possible future urban planning problems to Sialkot city, Pakistan, it is taken as a study area because of its significance as an industrial and economically emerging city. This study applied Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographical Information Systems (GISs) to recognize, compute, analyze, and plot urban sprawl susceptibility. A multicriteria evaluation method was used, employing factors such as land cover, Digital Elevation Model (DEM), population density, and road proximity as inputs. The weights of all input factors were estimated according to urban sprawl dynamics between the years 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used for Sialkot city to assess the susceptibility of urban sprawl and pattern. The outcomes showed that 118 km2 (45%) of the area was not susceptible, 62 km2 (24%) was slightly susceptible, while 42 km2 (16%) was restrained susceptible, and 38 km2 (15%) was extremely susceptible to urban sprawl. We found a linear scattered and leapfrog sprawl pattern in the study area. The substantial variations in the field of study for 30 years showed threats for fertile farming land and other natural resources, consequently threatening the production and security of food. The findings of this research would aid the government in monitoring and estimating susceptible sprawl to prevent agricultural land and ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant species represent the hierarchical expression of vegetation as it is affected by various environmental gradients. We explored the plant species composition, distribution pattern, communities formation and their respective indicators under the influence of various environmental factors in the Dhirkot region, Azad Jammu and Kashmir. It was hypothesized that different environmental factors were responsible for the formation of various plant communities each with a distinct indicator. Quantitative ecological techniques were used for the sampling of vegetation. A total of 114 quadrats were established in 13 selected sampling sites. Phytosociological attributes were calculated for each plant species at each quadrat. Soil samples were collected and analyzed using different standard protocols. All the collected data were analyzed using Cluster Analysis, Indicator Species Analysis and Canonical Correspondence Analysis of PCORD and CANOCO software, respectively. A total of 145 plant species were recorded belong to 62 different families. Asteraceae and Lamiaceae were the dominant families, represented by 12 species each (8.27%). Cluster Analysis classify all the stations and plants into four major plant communities as 1) Olea-Desmodium-Prunilla community. 2) Abies-Zanthoxylum-Pteracanthus community 3) Cedrus-Elaeagnus-Hypericum community 4) Alnus-Myrsine–Ranunculus community. Soil pH, electrical conductivity, soil saturation, organic matter and altitude were the significant environmental factors that play its essential role in the plant species distribution, composition, formation of major plant communities and their respective indicators in the region. It is recommended that the identified indicator and rare plant species of the investigated area can further be grown for conservation and management purposes in in-situ environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Khowar is an Indo-Aryan language spokenin the northern part of Pakistan which carries uniquesounds relativelyto the major languages of Pakistan. It has lateral phoneme in contrast to English, which possess two allophonic variant such as clear/l/and dark/ɫ/. Looking into nature of existing literature, it is deciphered that English dark/ɫ/is not understood in Pakistan; therefore, this paper presents the production of English lateral allophones with two groups of Khowar L1 adult speakers: each group comprises of 15 participantsand thus it makes total30 participants. One group of participants is selected from Pakistan and the second group is taken from UK to be able to see whether Khowar L1 speakers can realize the difference of English clear/l/and dark ɫ/. Lexical items carry target sounds are 'oil' and 'later' with other distracting items recorded from bothgroups. Acoustical study is carried out through the measurement of F1, F2 and F3 frequencies of English lateral allophones. And the study found that both groupsremained poor and nonsignificantin acquisition of Englishdark/ɫ/and it is related with clear/l/of L1 which is assumed in the Speech Learning Model by Flege (2020). The foreign group despite native intake could not perform well. However, the study recommends thattraditional way of teaching does not help to acquire native-like accuracy;therefore, English teachers need to betrainedabout phonetic realization of English consonants which can befurtherhelpful for the learners of second language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of conducting this study was to explore the socio-economic determinants of child educational attainment in Pakistan. Data on selected variables is extracted from nationally representative survey of Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) 2013-14. The study considers the children of age 5-18 years who ever attended any or currently attending any educational institution. Censored Ordered Probit model is employed. The results at aggregate level reveal that child's gender, child's age, age of household's head, parental education, household assets and availability of private schools positively affect child educational attainment in Pakistan. Children belong to Baluchistan province and urban region of Pakistan also get more education as compare to reference categories. Gender of household head and distance to school has negative effect on child educational attainment. To explore the inconsistency in effect of these factors across region and across gender, separate analysis is conducted for urban, rural, male and female sample. The results of gender specific analysis indicate that income of the household, region of residence (urban) and annual school fee are the main factors causing gender disparity whereas estimates at regional level analysis show that parental education, agricultural land ownership and, distance to school are the factors responsible for regional disparity in child educational attainment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Insurance and Takaful companies, both, are business organizations existing for the motive of profit. Large capital is required by the shareholders to establish a company; therefore, the company is expected to earn sufficient profit to meet the expectations of the shareholders. Moreover, a company also has its responsibilities towards its customers in terms of quality service. Shareholders are more concerned with their profit and customers regarding the services. Companies pay claims when the covered persons suffer a loss which can be the death of the family's only bread earner, factory on fire, theft of business goods etc. Therefore, efficient financial performance of insurance and Takaful companies is important to fulfil the requirements of both: shareholders and clients. This study investigates financial efficiency of insurance and Takaful companies via Data Envelopment Analysis during the period 2011 to 2015. We have taken six general (non - life) insurance & Takaful companies operating in Pakistan with input factors labor cost, assets and output factors premium / contribution received and percentage of claims paid. Results show that insurance and takaful companies are more than 80% efficient in their operations. For further increasing their efficiencies, they need to reduce their input by less than 20% to have same level of output. Comparing efficiencies of insurance and takaful companies, insurance companies are more efficient in terms of pure technical & super efficiency while takaful companies have higher scale efficiency than insurance companies, though the difference in most of the cases is less than 2%. Both types of companies need to improve their efficiencies by decreasing their assets input and labor cost while retaining the same output level of premiums and claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People of Asia and Africa have been facing floods while carrying out their agricultural activities because their permanent settlements are built along the rivers. Floods affect people and other living organisms by crop nutrient reduction, desertification, salinization, organic substance wastage, and soil structure degradation. Most importantly, floods can destroy vegetation and plants, which are nutrition resources for human and animals. Because of seasonal lows in the Arabian Sea and known westerly waves, northern regions of Pakistan experienced heavy rainfall at the start of September 2014, which caused overflow and flash floods by the rivers Jhelum, Ravi, and Chenab. Many cities in Punjab, along riversides, suffered because of floods that inundated large areas of rural and urban areas in 16 districts. The present work aimed to assess and quantify the change in the vegetation cover in the Hafizabad district due to the 2014 flood and its recovery in 2015 by adopting the geographic information system and remote sensing approach. Remote sensing and satellite images enable us to analyze the current state and the past state over a large geographical area. Supervised classification methodology was applied to three Landsat satellite images, such as pre-flood 2014 land cover classification, for post-flood land cover classification, and land cover classification of the year 2015 to assess the current state of recovery. It was found that 52.7 km" of the vegetation area has expanded to the flood-affected area of 541 km" in a time span of 1 year only. Moreover, the barren land has decreased by 19 percent, which resulted in an increase in the built-up area (9.5 percent) and fish farms (59 percent). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Since longtime griseofulvin has been in use to treat tinea capitis. However due to its decreasing efficacy, higher doses and side effects a search is going on to find out a better treatment alternative. Terbinafine is one such therapeutic option. Objectives To compare the efficacy and safety of terbinafine and griseofulvin in tinea capitis in Northern Areas of Pakistan. Patients and methods Children 3 to 12 year-old who were clinically diagnosed for tinea capitis and confirmed by potassium hydroxide microscopy were included in the study. One group was treated with terbinafine at a dose of 62.5mg for children weighing less than 20kg and 125mg for those weighing 20-40kg and other group with griseofulvin at a dose of 15mg/kg body weight. Both groups were treated for a period of 4 weeks. Visits were scheduled at baseline and week 2, 4 and 6 for evaluation of efficacy and safety monitoring. Efficacy was evaluated on the basis of clinical improvement and mycological cure. Results Terbinafine showed comparatively higher clinical cure in our patients as compared to griseofulvin at week 2 (35% vs. 22%), week 4 (50% vs. 38%) and week 6 (70% vs. 55%) [p<0.05]. Similarly, mycologic cure with terbinafine was better than griseofulvin at week 2 (30% vs. 20%), week 4 (45% vs. 35%) and week 6 (60% vs. 50%) [p<0.05]. Trichophyton tonsurans was the most common organism isolated. There were no major side effects except nausea and abdominal pain in either group. Conclusion Terbinafine is more effective than griseofulvin in treating tinea capitis in our part of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weeds pose a great threat to crop production subsequently distressing the equilibrium of agro-ecological systems globally. Instead of relying on chemical weed control, there is a dire need to explore alternative eco-friendly agricultural practices for weed suppression and sustainable wheat production. Mulching being eco-friendly could potentially serve the purpose towards weed suppression organically. To check the usefulness of mulching, two-year studies were conducted under field conditions in Haripur, Pakistan, during 2014 and 2015 to elucidate the response of various mulching materials for weed control in wheat. Six mulch material treatments were used along with Buctril super (used as check) at the rate of 1.235 L ha−1 to control the most problematic weed species of wheat in Pakistan. Experiments were designed under randomized complete block design with four repeats. The analysis of data revealed a significant decrease in weed density, relative weed density, fresh and dry plant biomass at 25, 50 and 75 days after sowing (DAS) where Buctril super at 1.235 L ha−1 and mulch of black plastic were used followed by sugarcane bagasse and dry leaves of mulberry, as compared with control (untreated). Higher density of weed, relative weed density, fresh and dry plant biomass were observed in test weed species of wheat where lentil was applied with wheat and dry leaves of mulberry were incorporated. Net economic benefits in the form of benefit cost ratio (2.55) were higher where grass clippings were applied followed by sugarcane bagasse (2.43), mulberry leaves (2.49), while the lowest net economic benefits (1.72) were obtained when lentil (grown as live mulch crop) with wheat was intercropped. It was concluded from the study that sugarcane bagasse and grass clippings could be a source to control weeds in the wheat with a minimum cost of production at Haripur, Pakistan, and similar agro-climatic environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shigella infection (shigellosis) is an intestinal disease caused by a shigella isolates belongs to a family Enterobacteriacea. Watery diarrhea, abdominal pain and tenesmus are the prominent symptoms of shigella infection. The present study was designed to determine period prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility of Shigella species recovered from stool specimens obtained from diarrheal paediatric patients under 5 years of age. This cross-sectional study was carried out for a period of six months (Jan to June, 2016). All Shigella isolates were identified based on colony morphology, microscopic characteristics, and biochemical characteristics. After applying Kirby Baur disc diffusion method only 22 (18.96%) stool specimens were found positive for Shigella isolates among the 116 stool specimens. The isolates were also found susceptible to Levofloxacin (72.72%), Azithromycin (59.09%), and Cefotaxime (40.90%). However, the said isolates were resistant to Lincomycin (100%) and Penicillin-G (100%), followed by Amoxicillin (95.45%) and Oxacillin (95.45%). The chi-square test was used to check the close association among antimicrobial agents used and as highly significant (p-value < 2.2e-16). Based on antimicrobial susceptibility findings, Levofloxacin, Azithromycin and Cefotoxime were found effective for the control of shigellosis.

Background: In developing countries, Pakistan is one of the countries where access to health and health-related indicators is a major concern. Their improvement would reduce inequalities among various Communities/Districts or groups of Communities. A Community health index (CHI) in this regard is estimated to explore inequality ratio, inequality slope, and spatial analysis of inequalities among all Communities at regional and geographical levels., Methods: Data from Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement (PSLM) survey, Round-VI, 2014-15 were used to construct CHI. The index was constructed in two steps. In the first step, the study indicators were standardized while in the second step, the standardized indicators were aggregated into a single metric by applying non-linear Geometric Mean formula., Results: The inequality ratio of 16.59 estimated for Pakistan was found to be higher than the ratio of Atlanta city, GA (5.92), whereas, a lower slope coefficient was estimated for Pakistan than Atlanta city, GA (0.38 < 0.54). This ratio of disparity was also found to be lower for urban regions as compared to rural (7.78 < 17.54). While the slope coefficient was slightly higher for urban regions (0.45 > 0.43). The results of the spatial analysis revealed different patterns of inequalities. A cluster of healthy districts was found in Punjab province, whereas districts from Baluchistan had made a bunch of deprived/unhealthy districts in terms of CHI scores. Besides, separate maps for all provinces showed that capital districts of all provinces were relatively well-off/developed., Conclusion: The instant results concluded that inequalities in access to health and health-related indicators exist across countries as well as across geographical regions. To reduce or eradicate these inequalities, government and public health workers are recommended to set priorities based on access to composite index.

Glutathione is a thiol compound that plays an important role in the antioxidant defense system of the cell and its deficiency leads to an increased susceptibility to oxidative stress and, thus, progression of many disease states including head and neck cancer. In the present study, alterations of glutathione levels were investigated in study cohort of 500 samples (cohort 1 containing 200 head and neck cancer blood samples along with 200 healthy controls and cohort II with 50 head and neck squamous cell carcinoma tissue samples along with 50 control tissues) by high performance liquid chromatography. The results indicated that mean blood glutathione levels were significantly reduced in head and neck cancer patients (p<0.001) compared to respective controls. In contrast, the levels of glutathione total (p<0.05) and glutathione reduced (p<0.05) were significantly elevated in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma tissues compared to the adjacent cancer-free control tissues. In addition to this, pearson correlation performed to correlate different tissue glutathione levels (GSH) with clinical/ pathological parameters demonstrated a significant negative correlation between pT-stage and GSH level (r=- 0.263**; p<0.01), C-stage and GSH level (r=-0.335**; p<0.01), grade and GSH (r=-0.329**; p<0.01) and grade versus redox index (r=-0.213**; p<0.01) in HNSCC tissues. Our study suggests that dysregulation of glutathione levels in head and neck cancer has the potential to predict metastasis, and may serve as a prognostic marker.