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The method of identifying related images in an image database is known as image retrieval. Text-based and content-based data processing are the two main forms of image retrieval processes. The visual characteristics of an image, such as color, texture, shape, and spatial design, are used in the content-based approach of image retrieval. In unsupervised mode, the images are retrieved using a cluster-based graph partitioning algorithm. The efficiency of different content based image retrieval systems is contrasted in this paper by fusing multiple image characteristics. The creation of four versions resulted from the integration of several features. Compute the union of all four models by normalizing the value between 0 and 1. The data comes from the COREL image database, which includes 1000 images of the same resolution. According to this article, images can be best recovered using three model-based features rather than two features. The accuracy of the union is thought to be superior.

Inoculation effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on phosphorus (P) transfer from composted dung of cattle with a diet supplemented with powdered rock phosphate (RP) and their successive upt...

This article describes a plagiarism detection system for the Arabic language that combines different similarity-measure techniques to uncover plagiarism in Arabic documents. The proposed system consists of two main components, one document-retrieval and the other detailed similarity analysis. The document-retrieval component generates queries from a given suspicious document and makes use of Google search API to retrieve candidate source documents from the Web. The similarity analysis component takes each source document in turn and attempts to identify the plagiarized parts in the suspicious document. The proposed system is thoroughly evaluated using an indigenous corpus. At the document-retrieval level, the system achieved above 75% accuracy in terms of f-score, whereas at the detailed similarity-computation level, the f-score is above 70%.

Climate change is a phenomenon that is unequivocally altering the natural systems in all parts of the world but the alteration in climate extremes may pose more severe and unexpected impacts on Pakistan. The current study provides a comprehensive outlook of observation (1976–2005) and changes in climate extremes between the reference (1976–2005) and future periods (2020s: 2006–2035, 2050s: 2036–2065 and 2080s: 2066–2095). The analysis was conducted across six sub-regions of Pakistan including North Pakistan (NP), Monsoon Region (MR), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Southern Punjab (SP), Balochistan and Sindh for which Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) 14 General Circulation Models (GCMs) under Representative Concentration Pathways 4.5 (RCP4.5) and RCP8.5 were downscaled and bias corrected by three statistical downscaling methods. The spatial disaggregation and quantile delta mapping (SDQDM) method was used for future projections in this study. Changes in climate extremes were detected by Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI). In case of temperature, the results indicate a projected increase in frequencies and magnitudes for warm extremes, while it is decreasing for cold extremes in the 21st century. The corresponding trends of maximum and minimum temperature extremes are greater than the mean temperature trend; where the frequency and magnitude of minimum temperature extremes is higher than maximum temperature extremes over Pakistan particularly over North in last half of the 21st century for both RCPs. Also, the average of temperature extremes (TXx, TXn, TNx and TNn) are severe in the order of NP (+4.8 °C), KP (+4.6 °C) and MR (+4.5 °C). In the case of precipitation extremes, most of the sub-regions across Pakistan show a higher increase in total annual precipitation and intense precipitation events with the highest increase in MR, KP and NP and the least increase in Sindh. Despite the increase in total precipitation, numbers of consecutive dry days (CDD) are increasing while consecutive wet days (CWD) are decreasing which can give rise to drought conditions particularly in Sindh. The study provides complementary and consistent climate extremes information over Pakistan for local decision makers to incorporate into policy-making, disaster management, and infrastructure planning.

Controlling Asphodelus tenuifolius in chickpea crop is a big challenge for the grower in the southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-Pakistan. Keeping in view the yield losses due to weeds a research was conducted at Ahmadwala Research Station “District Karak” to control to A. tenuifolius. Herbicides, mulches and allelopathic weed extracts were evaluated during the experiment. The experiment was repeated thrice using Randomized Complete Block design with Chattan cultivar. The weed control treatments Viz. Stomp 330 EC (Pre) @ 2.5 L ha−1, Fenoxaprop-p-ethyl, Bromoxynil +MCPA (Tank mixture of herbicides), Starane-M, Eucalyptus leaves as mulch, wheat straw as mulch, allelopathic extract (Asphodelus tenuifolius) + Stomp, allelopathic Cyperus rotundus extract, allelopathic Sorghum halepense extract were tested and compare with the control treatment during the experiment. The data was recorded on A. tenuifolius density m−2 before and after treatment application, plant height, crude protein, crude fats, biological yield, and seed yield. The level of significance of all the treatments was (0.05). The results indicated that the minimum A. tenuifolius density was recorded in the plots treated with Stomp 330 EC (4.74 m−2) followed by herbicide Fenoxaprop-p-ethyl 6.9 EC (10.87 m−2). The maximum A. tenuifolius density was found in the control plots (81.64 m−2) which were left undisturbed. Among the chickpea yield components, the maximum plant height at maturity (48.98 cm) was recorded for Stomp 330 EC the lowest plant height was recorded for control plot. The maximum crude protein (17.68), crude fat (2.93) and oil content was (5.92%) was recorded in the plots treated with Stomp 330 EC and the minimum was found in the control plots. Similarly, the maximum biological yield (4058.7 kg ha−1) and seed yield (1282 kg ha−1) were recorded in Stomp 330 EC treated plots as biological and grain yield was observed for control plot. Therefore, it is recommended that using herbicides Stomp 330 EC and Fenoxaprop-p-ethyl is one of the effective weed control strategies for control of A. tenuifolius in chickpea growing areas.

Environmental variations resulting in biotic and abiotic stresses demand adaptive changes in the photosynthetic machinery. To cope with these challenges, plant scientists are constantly striving to enhance photosynthetic activity. The photorespiration pathway, which fixes O2 and releases CO2 in C3 plants, competes with photosynthesis. One method to increase yield would be to enhance photosynthesis by engineering the photorespiratory pathway. To date, three engineered photorespiratory pathways have been produced, of which two have been proven experimentally in the model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana. These approaches might be helpful in enhancing crop resilience to future environmental challenges. In partially photorespiratory suppressed plants, it is hypothesized that a gene cluster may have formed between bacterial glycolate dehydrogenase (GDH), glyoxylate carboligase (GCL), and tartronic semi aldehyde (TSR) genes with Arabidopsis allantoin degradation genes like Arabidopsis allantoinase (AtALN) to utilize S-allantoin as a source of nitrogen. Observations of the use of allantoin as an exclusive source of nitrogen or energy by Arabidopsis and Escherichia coli led us to propose a genetic switch control model between nitrogen assimilation and energy producing pathways in partially photorespiratory suppressed plants.

Somaclonal variations present an excellent approach to introduce genetic diversity in sugarcane. Somaclones of NIA-2010, a high yielding variety with moderate sugar recovery, were developed through callus culture. After initial selection, fifteen somaclones were transplanted in field along with the parent, for two consecutive years. Some of the somaclones illustrated improved quantitative traits viz. height, girth, internodes length, and tillers per plant; whereas, cane quality related characters including CCS, sugar recovery and purity were enhanced in most of the tissue culture derived plants. However, none of the somaclones could surpass the parent in terms of sugar yield per ha. Pearson’s correlation analysis indicated a strong positive correlation of the cane quality related traits among each other. Analysis of genetic parameters depicted considerably greater genotypic variance than the environmental variance, and high heritability for all the characters studied. Two somaclones i.e. 1026-P24 and 1026-P12 showed exceptionally high cane quality traits as compared to other somaclones and the parent. Hence, they can serve as potential candidates for cultivation and adoptability in Pakistan.

This research work focuses on the human working flexibility in a computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) environment. For experimental investigations, younger male operators from age group 19–24 years were interfaced with a component of CIM, the automated guided vehicle (AGV). A novel concept of load cell–based human performance recording system is introduced through this work. This is an almost first study in the field of CIM system interface utilizing the integration of load cell with LabVIEW program to determine cognition and motor actions based human performances. The concerned measurement system designed through this research can be utilized in other areas of control panel systems and also for recording and monitoring of human beings with symptoms of Alzheimer disease. For the purpose of investigations, search, select, and motor action times and the applied force were selected as parameters to determine human performance in AGV system environment. For operator performance data gathering, a full-factorial design containing 27 (33) experiments was applied. The Gray relational analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the gathered data. Design-Expert software was used to conduct ANOVA. Also, the experimental investigations were validated through a confirmation test. This work generates the ergonomic database for working flexibility in CIM and explored that the younger male operator’s (19–24 years) performance significantly affected with varying AGV height, an operator working distance and AGV panel angle.

The goal of this study was to prepare a robust anti-wetting and anti-fouling polyethersulfone (PES) membrane for the rejection of a highly saline (NaCl and CaCl2·2H2O) feed solution containing humic acid (HA) in direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD). Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to determine the optimum formulation of the used materials. The variable factors selected were polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS) and silica (SiO2); liquid entry pressure (LEP) and contact angle (CA) were selected as responses. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis confirmed the SiO2 deposition and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) test evidenced the new functional groups i.e., Si–OH, siloxane, and C–F bond vibrations at 3446, 1099 cm−1, and 1150–1240 cm−1 respectively on the membrane surface. The average roughness (Ra) was increased four times for the coated membranes (0.202–0.242 µm) as compared to that for pristine PES membrane (0.053 µm). The optimum PES-13 membrane exhibited consistent flux of 12 LMH and salt rejection (> 99%) with anti-fouling characteristic in DCMD using the feed solution of 3.5 wt% NaCl + 10 mM CaCl2·2H2O + 10 mg L−1 HA. The PES-13 membrane may therefore be a key membrane for application in DCMD against CaCl2·2H2O-containing salty solutions with HA.

Advancement of consensus protocols in recent years has enabled distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) to find its application and value in sectors beyond cryptocurrencies. Here we reviewed 66 known consensus protocols and classified them into philosophical and architectural categories, also providing a visual representation. As a case study, we focus on the public sector and highlighted potential protocols. We have also listed these protocols against basic features and sector preference in a tabular format to facilitate selection. We argue that no protocol is a silver bullet, therefore should be selected carefully, considering the sector requirements and environment.

Twitter sentiment analysis is a challenging task that involves various preprocessing steps including dimensionality reduction. Dimensionality reduction helps ensure low computational complexity and performance improvement during the classification process. In Twitter data, each tweet has feature values which may or may not reflect a person's response. Therefore, a large number of sparse data points are generated when tweets are represented as feature matrix, eventually increasing computational overheads and error rates in Twitter sentiment analysis. This study proposes a novel preprocessing technique called class association and attribute relevancy based imputation algorithm (CAARIA) to reduce the Twitter data size. CAARIA achieves the dimensionality reduction goal by imputing those tweets that belong to the same class and also share useful information. The performance of two classifiers (Naïve Bayes and support vector machines) is evaluated on three Twitter datasets in terms of classification accuracy, measured as area under curve, and time efficiency. CAARIA is also compared against two widely used feature selection (dimensionality reduction) techniques, information gain (IG) and Pearson's correlation (PC). The findings reveal that CAARIA outperforms IG and PC in terms of classification accuracy and time efficiency. These results suggest that CAARIA is a robust data preprocessing technique for the classification task.

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite that can cause severe complications in the newborn and immunocompromised individuals. The parasite evokes a strong innate immune response in the infected hosts which is followed by a robust adaptive immunity. In the last few years, importance of innate immune mechanisms dependent on the role of MyD-88 independent pathways, inflammatory monocytes and innate lymphocyte have been identified. However, notwithstanding the strong immune response to the parasite, the chronic infection persists in the host. The inability to prevent chronic infection can be attributed to aberration in the memory CD8 T cell response caused by an increased expression of inhibitory receptors that leads to their dysfunctionality.

Psychosis is a common disorder that leads to an imbalance in social functioning, perception, and thought....

With the significant growth of internet usage, people increasingly share their personal information online. As a result, an enormous amount of personal information and financial transactions become vulnerable to cybercriminals. Phishing is an example of a highly effective form of cybercrime that enables criminals to deceive users and steal important data. Since the first reported phishing attack in 1990, it has been evolved into a more sophisticated attack vector. At present, phishing is considered one of the most frequent examples of fraud activity on the Internet. Phishing attacks can lead to severe losses for their victims including sensitive information, identity theft, companies, and government secrets. This article aims to evaluate these attacks by identifying the current state of phishing and reviewing existing phishing techniques. Studies have classified phishing attacks according to fundamental phishing mechanisms and countermeasures discarding the importance of the end-to-end lifecycle of phishing. This article proposes a new detailed anatomy of phishing which involves attack phases, attacker’s types, vulnerabilities, threats, targets, attack mediums, and attacking techniques. Moreover, the proposed anatomy will help readers understand the process lifecycle of a phishing attack which in turn will increase the awareness of these phishing attacks and the techniques being used; also, it helps in developing a holistic anti-phishing system. Furthermore, some precautionary countermeasures are investigated, and new strategies are suggested.

In the past few decades, there has been a sharp rise of research irreproducibility and retraction, to a point that now is deemed as a crisis. Addressing this crisis, we present a peer-to-peer (P2P) publication model that utilizes blockchain and smart contract technologies. Focusing primarily on researchers and reviewers, the conceptual P2P publication model addresses the sociocultural and incentivization aspects of the irreproducibility crisis. In the P2P publication model, instead of a complete publication, a preapproved experimental design will be published on an incremental basis (unit-by-unit) and authorship will be shared with reviewers. The concept of the P2P publication model was inspired by the transformational journey the music publishing industry has undertaken as it traverses through vinyl age (complete albums) to the Spotify age (single-by-single), where there is a growing inclination among artists toward building an incremental album, taking account of feedback from fans and utilizing automated revenue collection and sharing systems. The ability to publish incrementally through the P2P publication model will relieve researchers from the burden of publishing complete and “good results” while simultaneously incentivizing reviewers to undertake rigorous review work to gain authorship credit in the research. The proposed P2P publication model aims to transform the century-old publication model and incentivization structure in alignment with open access publication ethos of the 21st century.

Commercial membranes typically suffer from fouling and wetting during membrane distillation (MD). In contrast, reverse osmosis (RO) can be subject to the fouling issue if applied for highly saline feed solutions containing foulants (e.g., organics, oils, and surfactants). Among the diverse treatment options, the nanomaterial-based membranes have recently gained great interest due to their advantageous properties (e.g., enhanced flux and roughness, better pore size distribution, and higher conductivity). This review focuses on recent advances in the mechanical properties, anti-fouling capabilities, salt rejection, and economic viability of metal oxide (SiO2, TiO2, and ZnO) and carbon nanomaterial (graphene oxide/carbon nanotube)–based membranes. Current challenges in applying nanomaterial-based membranes are also discussed. The study further describes the preparation methods, mechanisms, commercial applications, and economical feasibility of metal oxide– and carbon nanomaterial–based membrane technologies.

Ergonomics as the growing discipline is vital for improving productivity, with increasing application it is helping both end users and designers to create a better workplace. CNC machines are among the most widely used cutting machines, the program to perform an operation on CNC is inserted through a panel. This paper attempts to ergonomically evaluate a CNC machine panel. CNC programs are alphanumeric codes, most of the time these codes are inserted through typing on the panel, since the panel is fixed, the typing had to be done while standing. The purpose of this study is to compare typing performance on CNC panel with a conventional keyboard and a touchscreen keyboard. Selection of optimal keyboard type can reduce the typing time thus improving the productivity. To simulate the environment, the other two keyboards were fixed at the same height and position as the CNC panel, and the experiment was performed in the same room with same lighting conditions. The performance was compared to find the most optimal setting. Typing speed and number of errors were taken as the two performance parameter, ANOVA analysis was used to find the significant effect. Participant was also asked about their discomfort level among the three keyboard types. It was found that keyboard type was significantly affecting the typing time.

A physical map of Thinopyrum intermedium chromosome 7J was constructed using translocation mapping, and a new seedling purple coleoptile gene was mapped to the bin of FL 0.35–0.63 of 7JS. Thinopyrum intermedium (2n = 6x = 42, JJJsJsStSt), a wild relative of common wheat, harbors numerous beneficial genes for wheat improvement. Previous studies showed that wheat–Th. intermedium partial amphiploid TAF46 and its derived addition line L1 had a purple coleoptile, which was derived from Th. intermedium chromosome 7J. To identify and physically map the purple coleoptile gene, 12 wheat–Th. intermedium 7J translocation lines were analyzed by sequential multicolor fluorescence in situ hybridization (mc-FISH), PCR-based landmark unique gene (PLUG) and intron targeting (IT) markers. A physical map of the 7J chromosome was constructed, consisting of eight chromosomal bins with 89 markers. Seedling evaluation of the coleoptile colors of all tested materials indicated that the purple coleoptile gene was located to the bin with a fraction length (FL) of 0.35–0.63 on chromosome 7JS. Furthermore, based on the syntenic relationships between Th. intermedium and wheat chromosomes, we developed a new chromosome 7J-specific EST-PCR marker from the chromosomal region corresponding to the purple coleoptile gene through the Triticeae multi-omics database. The approach of designing chromosome-specific markers has facilitated fine mapping of the Thinopyrum-specific purple coleoptile gene, and these translocation lines will be valuable for studying the function of the purple coleoptile gene in anthocyanin biosynthesis.

The aim of the study was to explore the effect of age, shoulder height and feed force on the muscle activity, productivity and heart rate for a simulated drilling task. Five healthy, right-handed male subjects were selected from the age group 20–30 years and five from the age group 30–40 years. The experiment was carried out at two levels of shoulder posture namely at shoulder level (shoulder flexion angle 90°, H1), and, 15 cm above shoulder level (i.e., approximately equal to shoulder flexion angle 120°, H2), two feed force conditions namely 4.5 kg (44 N), 7.5 kg (73 N), and a drilling speed of 2800 rpm. Muscle activity, productivity and an increase in heart rate were taken as dependent measures. ANOVA showed that age had statistically significant effect on muscle activity of flexor pollicis brevis and productivity. Feed force had statistically significant effect on productivity and increase in heart rate. The interaction of feed force and age had statistically significant effect on productivity. Grey relation analysis suggested that 30–40 age group, H2 shoulder height and 4.5 kg feed force gave optimum results. The knowledge of muscle activation pattern in response to age, shoulder posture and hand feed force will help us in, better designing of workplaces, enhancing worker’s productivity, endurance time and reducing the risk of musculoskeletal disorder development.

Metal casting is one of the old and important processes in manufacturing industry. To some extent, the automation has replaced manual work in foundry shops in big industries, but manual work in these shops cannot be ignored. The working process in a foundry shop involves awkward and repetitive body postures, manual material handling, etc., which involves high energy expenditure rates. In this study, the ergonomic evaluation of operations in foundry shop is performed determining the energy expenditure rate of the workers by using energy expenditure prediction program software. In this study, the energy expenditure was determined by observing and recording the activities and time taken during the foundry operations in foundry shop. Then, this recorded data was input to the software. These values of the energy expenditure rates for the different operations were then compared with standard permissible values of energy expenditure rates for different tasks and postures involved. The method used in this work is more accurate and feasible and less costly than laboratory techniques such as measurement of oxygen consumption and EMG. The technique used in this work provides an objective rate to gauge worker’s fatigue. In this study, we identified the operations and the postures which are less efficient and are hazardous for the health of the worker; hence, we are in position to suggest the modifications in the posture, process and system to make the values of rate of energy expenditure further reduced

The goal of this study was to evaluate the biodegradation of 1,4–dioxane using a mixed biological culture grown in textile wastewater sludge with 1,4–dioxane as the sole carbon source. The conditions for the long-term evaluation of 1,4–dioxane degradation were determined and optimized by batch scale analysis. Moreover, Monod’s model was used to determine the biomass decay rate and unknown parameters. The soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD) was used to determine the concentration of 1,4–dioxane in the batch test, and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) was used to measure the concentrations via long-term wastewater analysis. Two types of reactors (continuous stirred reactor (CSTR) and plug flow reactor (PFR)) for the treatment of 1,4–dioxane from textile wastewater were operated for more than 120 days under optimized conditions. These used the mixed microbial culture grown in textile wastewater sludge and 1,4–dioxane as the sole carbon source. The results indicated efficient degradation of 1,4–dioxane by the mixed culture in the presence of a competitive inhibitor, with an increase in degradation time from 13.37 h to 55 h. A specific substrate utilization rate of 0.0096 mg 1,4–dioxane/mg MLVSS/h was observed at a hydraulic retention time of 20 h for 20 days of operation in a biomass concentration of 3000 mg/L produced by the mixed microbial culturing process. In the long-term analysis, effluent concentrations of 3 mg/L and

Liver infections due to amphistomes in buffaloes cause significant economic losses in livestock sector. The present study investigated the classical morphological features of adult amphistomes combined with histopathology and molecular identity in slaughtered buffaloes from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Adult amphistome were collected and morphologically characterized as Gigantocotyle explanatum. Morphometric measurement (n=50) were obtained with 12.05±1.68 mm in length and 5.77±0.81 mm in width, and the values of sagittal section was 6.35±1.03 x 2.98±0.50 mm in size. Severe bile duct pathology was observed with fibrosis of the duct wall with an irregular epithelial border, hyperplasia and inflammatory response with numerous neutrophils and eosinophils. The molecular identity of G. explanatum within Paramphistomidae was confirmed by ITS-2 rDNA sequences phylogenetic analysis based on maximum likelihood method. The genetic data based on ITS-2 secondary structure of G. explanatum consisted of four helix, Helix I, II and IV were conserved as compared with other closely related reference taxa of family Paramphistomidae and Gastrothylacidae. Helix III expressed some variations. The study concluded that rDNA ITS-2 and secondary structure information provides a guide for other researchers to determine the molecular taxonomic position of Paramphistomidae trematodes, data will support future clinical studies and control measures to reduce the amphistomiasis in buffaloes.

Addition of chlorine dioxide (ClO2) or sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) as a disinfectant in municipal water distribution systems is a common practice to deactivate micropollutants, but their impact on the pipe material with long-term exposure has not been discussed in detail. In this study, accelerated aging experiments were conducted for evaluating the oxidation of high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), unplasticized polyvinylidene chloride (UPVC), and high-impact polyvinylidene chloride (Hi-PVC) pipes. The pipes were immersed in deionized (DI) water, ClO2, and NaOCl (2 mg/L, 5 mg/L, and 10 mg/L doses) for 1200 h of aging at 40 °C. The variations in the pipes structural, thermal, and mechanical characteristics were systematically investigated by attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared radiation (ATR-FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and a universal testing machine (UTM). The formation of carbonyl groups due to methylene groups (C–C/C–H) oxidation resulted in an increased carbonyl index (CI) of the material exposed to accelerated aging conditions. Moreover, the XPS and ATR-FTIR results elucidated that the oxidation patterns under the exposure conditions followed from ketone/aldehyde formation to carboxylate groups (carboxylic acid/ester). The pipes were more vulnerable to the ClO2 compared to the DI water and NaOCl solution exposure. The increase in crystallinity and the decrease in oxidation induction time (OIT) of the pipe materials confirmed that the loss of stabilizer and changes in the chain alignment resulted in chain secession, loss of ductility, and lower percent elongation at break. Furthermore, results also elucidated that oxidative stability of the HDPE/UPVC was greater than that of the LDPE/Hi-PVC under disinfectant exposure regardless of the concentration and duration.

Selecting a route is the first step in building a new electrical transmission line. The most common practice of selecting a route involves ranking possible route options, which is a complex process that demands many decision considerations to be taken into account. The ranking process is mainly done manually by humans using printed maps and field surveys that makes it time-consuming and prone to errors. In this paper, we propose a methodology to automate the process of ranking routes for an electrical transmission line using Geographic Information System (GIS) and Fuzzy Inference System (FIS). We evaluate the effectiveness of the methodology by comparing the FIS based results with industrial results of an actual project in Saskatoon, Canada. The preliminary results are very promising. Out of five route options, our methodology ranks the top three options correctly, and it successfully identifies the least preferred route options.

In 2001, roughly 15 lac American ladies were utilizing estradiol treatment, either in the presence or absence of progestins. Women's Health Initiative (WHI) description(2002) of more noteworthy mischief than advantage of consolidated CEE in addition to a progesterone brought about an abrupt diminishing in estradiol and progesterone exploit and a genuine reexamination of stoppage of periodic cycle chemical treatment, just as expanded enthusiasm for elective ways to deal with overseeing menopausal side effects, counting utilization of "bio-identical" hormones. FDA rules with respect to treatment signs for vasomotor side effects, vaginal decay, and osteoporosis avoidance have brought about endorsement of a few estrogen (and progestin) plans, portions, and courses of organization, subsequently giving numerous alternatives to ladies who look for customary treatment. In 1941 promotion of The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was made and conjugated equine estrogens (CEE) in 1942 for management of indications of menopause. Estradiol deals multiplied what's more significantly increased in the middle of 1960 to the end of 1970s, until 1975, while information of expanded internal malignancy in estradiol clients brought about a sensational decay. Estradiol utilize expanded once more, with proof of defensive impacts of progestin on estradiol-prompted internal alterations, joined by means of a 1982 description to facilitate Premarin (associated estradiol pills; Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Philadelphia, PA) held fillet accumulation and a 1984 National Institutes of Health (NIH) agreement meeting on bone weakness explanation that estradiol were the best methods for forestalling fillet misfortune. In spite of clashing reports in 1985 with respect to the connection among estradiol and coronary illness (CHD), numerous distributed perceptions of decreased CHD hazard in estradiol clients—fortified by medical preliminary discoveries in 1995 of positive lipoprotein alterations in ladies doled out to CEE through a progesterone—advanced expanded exploit throughout the 1990s. KEYWORDS: Menopausal symptoms, Osteoporosis prevention; Progestin Estrogens;Hormone therapy

Introduction: Hypertension rules suggest that home blood pressure (HBP) should be observed by attending the office circulatory strain (OBP) for its more remarkable reproducibility also prognostic usefulness in the fight against the disease Cardiovascular results, particularly stroke. To date, link among BPH, the subjective capacity remains unknown. Methods: Our current research was conducted at Mayo Hospital, Lahore from May 2018 to April 2019. We analyzed PAR as the subjective indicator in the multi-ethnic gathering of networked stays Adults reached 60 years of age and older (N = 138) by means of neuropsychological measures and dissected information using various relapse tests. In addition, we used measures of "daily cognition". whose prognostic usefulness for certifiable work is higher than that of traditional methods psychological commitments. Results: High consistency in monitoring the PCR over one week was attained by 89.8% through an unshakeable predominant quality in desktop reading. Rising systolic blood pressure at home. In addition, the pressure of the beats anticipated a more terrible speed of preparation, official capacity and regularity. psychological capacity, while the drop in diastolic blood pressure at home anticipated a more terrible regular acquaintance. Desktop readings were related in a comparable way to ordinary subjective ability, but to not any other intellectual measures. Conclusion: Our results are first to approve PAR as an indicator of neuropsychological capacity in more established young ones, beyond intellectual screening. Different connections between the pulses and explicit intellectual spaces were monitored. With appropriate standardization and in preparing, we have shown that PAR can be achieved in a multi-ethnic network by remaining a more established adult partner. Our findings underscore the importance of using circulatory strains and intellectual estimates sensitive enough to recognize vascular-related psychological impedance in a moderately strong population. Suggestions for appropriate estimation of PAR for hypertension, we're talking about management, psychological well-being and regular capacity. Keywords: Home Blood Pressure, Predictor.

This study investigates five different fouling models and contributing factors in membrane-filtration blocking mechanisms in a constant-pressure mode. A polyvinylidene fluoride membrane was used to study the fouling effects of a complex mixture of foulants (a latex-bed suspension, soybean oil, and inorganics) on pristine and chemically cleaned membranes in the presence of humic acid. A significance ratio in linear regression results (p-value) was used to assess the contribution of fouling mechanism in each model. The results indicate that Hermia and Bowen’s models correspond closely with the experiment results and confirms that complete blocking is dominant fouling model. We also verify that each developed model is dependent on its experimental conditions. Moreover, the role of complex mixtures, including inorganic foulants, in the fouling process needs to be modified as modified for ceramic membranes and natural organic matter removal in the Wiesner and Kilduff models, respectively.

Banana is an important crop of Pakistan, grown on large scale in Sindh province of the country. This study was conducted to introduce genetic variability in banana variety basrai and to optimize the micropropagation protocol for the same genotype. Murashige and Skoog (MS) media supplemented with various concentrations of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), N6-benzyl aminopurine (BAP), indole-3-butyric-acid (IBA) and naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) were used. The genotypes were also radiated via. three different doses of gamma radiation i.e. 10, 20 and 30 Gy. Excellent shoot growth and elongation parameters viz. number of shoots developed bottle-1 (25.77) and shoot length (17.44 cm) were recorded in plantlets cultured on MS media supplemented with 4.00 mg l-1 IAA + 6.00 mg l-1 IBA + 4.00 mg l-1 NAA and 40 g l-1 sucrose; and radiated using 20 Gy dose of gamma radiation. The same combination of culture media and gamma rays’ treatment also showed least days to shoot initiation. Minimum observations for the growth parameters were observed in plantlets radiated with 30 Gy of gamma radiation and grown in MS media containing 2.00 mg l-1 IAA + 2.00 mg l-1 BAP + 2.00 mg l-1 NAA and 40 g l-1 sucrose. Regarding treatments of gamma radiation used in the study, lower doses like 10 and 20 Gy showed stimulatory effects on plantlets’ growth and development while 30 Gy was lethal. This study is significant for banana breeding as apposite induction of genetic variation through mutagenesis and optimal maintenance in the tissue culture will help in developing elite genotypes having near-commercial attributes. Keywords: Banana; Gamma Radiation; Micropropagation; Musa spp.; Tissue culture http://dx.doi.org/10.19045/bspab.2020.90003

This study was conducted to investigate the influence of gamma rays on stomatal parameters and the interaction of these traits with agronomy of the sugarcane crop. Three genotypes of sugarcane (NIA-0819, NIA-98, and BL4) were exposed to four doses of gamma radiation (10, 20, 30, and 40 Gy) and then subjected to field trials. Stomatal length, width, and density were observed using scanning electron microscopy. Moreover, agronomic and sugar-related characteristics of the crop were determined at maturity. The stomatal parameters augmented at two lower doses of gamma radiation (10 and 20 Gy) and declined under higher doses (30 and 40 Gy). The maximum stomatal length was observed in NIA-0819 at 10 Gy (63.71 µm), whereas NIA-98 and BL4 demonstrated highest stomatal length under 20 Gy (54.11 and 57.40 µm, respectively), indicating a role of genetic factors in varietal response. Similar trend was noticed for stomatal width and density as well. The lowermost treatment (10 Gy) of NIA-0819 produced maximum stomatal density (115.31 stomata mm-2 on the abaxial surface). Adaxial stomatal density was significantly lower than the abaxial one. Sugar quality attributes revealed a different tendency. Sucrose contents of BL4 increased gradually from 12.33% at control to 14.54% at 40 Gy. Yield and yield-contributing traits of genotypes indicated a strong positive correlation with the stomatal parameters. The present study suggested that gamma radiations cause variations in stomatal characteristics of sugarcane. These changes further influence the photosynthetic activity and instigate a direct impact on the agronomic performance of the crop.

This study investigated the potential for reducing scaling during chemical cleaning of polyvinylidene fluoride membranes by optimizing preoxidation dose and pH. Membranes were fouled by a solution containing inorganic foulants (aluminum, iron, and manganese), humic acid, and kaolin at a Ca+2 strength of 0.5 mM and varying the preoxidation dose. Energy-dispersive spectroscopy was used to verify the presence of inorganic foulants after cleaning. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy revealed changes in CCl and C-F functional groups, with bond vibrations at 542 cm-1 and 1199 cm-1, respectively. Minimum irreversible fouling of 5.4% and maximum flux recovery of 88.8% of the initial value were associated with a preoxidation dose of 1.5 mg/L and pH 8.5. A decrease in amount of aluminum from 5.79 ± 0.021 mg to 3.85 ± 0.054 mg in the presence of humic acid with a removal efficiency greater than 60% was due to alteration of the feed solution, as revealed by mass-balance analysis. Membrane characterization and fouling reversibility analysis confirmed that preoxidation of the feed solution produced less scaling during chemical cleaning. The cake layer fouling contribution was determined by fitting results of Hermia's fouling model analysis, with 1.34-1.85 times lower total fouling indices and 3-5.5 times lower chemically irreversible fouling indices at pH 8.5 and a preoxidation dose of 1.5 mg/L.

The higher consumption of fruit, herbs, spices, and vegetables is well known and practical strategy to cure human cancers owing to their presence of bioactive compounds. Among these, Nigella sativa is a promising source of bioactive compounds including thymoquinone, monoterpenes, p-cymene and α-piene etc. Thymoquinone has been found effective to inhibit the different cancer stages such as proliferation, migration and invasion. It also acts as anticancer agent against different human cancers such as breast, pancreatic, prostate, blood, oral, bone, head and neck, cervical, liver and lung. It significantly mediated miR-34a up-regulation, enhanced the levels of miR-34a through p53, and down controlled Rac1 expression. Thymoquinone induces apoptosis, regulates the levels of pro- and anti- apoptotic genes. It also has been known to lower the phosphorylation of NF-κB and IKKα/β and reduces the metastasis as well as also lowered the ERK1/2 and PI3K activities. Thymoquinone inhibits the metastasis through activation of JNK and p38. The present review article highlights the anticancer perspectives of thymoquinone in human by various pathways and use of this compound as diet based therapy has proven new pharmacological agent against several types of cancers.

Diet plays a key role to maintaining healthy life. Many natural products present in our diet, such as flavonoids, can prevent the progression of cancer. Quercetin, a distinctive bioactive flavonoid, is a dietary component that has attracted the attention of dietitians and medicinal chemists due to its numerous health-promoting effects. It is an outstanding antioxidant that has a well-documented role in reducing different human cancers. Quercetin exhibits direct proapoptotic effects on tumor cells and thus can inhibit the progress of numerous human cancers. The anticancer effect of quercetin has been documented in numerous in vitro and in vivo studies that involved several cell lines and animal models. On the other hand, the high toxic effect of quercetin against cancer cells is accompanied with little or no side effects or harm to normal cells. Accordingly, this review presents an overview of recent developments on the use of quercetin against different types of cancer along with mechanisms of action. In addition, the present review summarizes the literature pertaining to quercetin as an anticancer agent and provides an assessment of the potential utilization of this natural compound as a complimentary or alternative medicine for preventing and treating cancer.

The enhancement in both frequency and intensity of high temperature, besides its large variability will result in up to 40% yield reduction in rice by the end of 21st century. Vegetative growth in ...

As PCR methods have improved over the last 15 years, there has been an upsurge in the number of new DNA marker tools, which has allowed the generation of high-density molecular maps for all the key Brassica crop types. Biotechnology and molecular plant breeding have emerged as a significant tool for molecular understanding that led to a significant crop improvement in the Brassica napus species. Brassica napus possess a very complicated polyploidy-based genomics. The quantitative trait locus (QTL) is not sufficient to develop effective markers for trait introgression. In the coming years, the molecular marker techniques will be more effective to determine the whole genome impairing desired traits. Available genetic markers using the single-nucleotide sequence (SNP) technique and high-throughput sequencing are effective in determining the maps and genome polymorphisms amongst candidate genes and allele interactions. High-throughput sequencing and gene mapping techniques are involved in discovering new alleles and gene pairs, serving as a bridge between the gene map and genome evaluation. The decreasing cost for DNA sequencing will help in discovering full genome sequences with less resources and time. This review describes (1) the current use of integrated approaches, such as molecular marker technologies, to determine genome arrangements and interspecific outcomes combined with cost-effective genomes to increase the efficiency in prognostic breeding efforts. (2) It also focused on functional genomics, proteomics and field-based breeding practices to achieve insight into the genetics underlying both simple and complex traits in canola.

Aim: To assess the magnitude of worm infections, their type and to correlate the impact of worm infections in children with their body mass index. Method: The study was carried out on school going children for 5-10 years of age in Tehsil Narowal, District Narowal, and Pakistan. They were of different age groups with lower socio economic status. 406 children randomly selected from various government and private schools from the various union councils for both genders (male and female). Early morning fresh stool samples were collected in sealed labeled plastic containers with lid and analyzed microscopy for the presence of eggs/ova/larvae or worm infections in laboratory. Anthropometric measurements were taken at the spot by using measuring scale for weight and height along with their mid arm circumferences. Body Mass Index was calculated and compared with standard percentile charts for age and gender. Results: 145 (35.71%) children found with various types of worm infection. 56 (35.67%) and 89 (35.74%) children were positive with helminthes male and female respectively in the studied population. Sixth and seventh year of age in both male and female were more susceptible for the infestation. Taenia saginata was the more common found organism in gastrointestinal tract of male population and Giardia lamblia in female among the children of studied area. 137 (94.48%) children were infected with the single intestinal worm while only 8 (5.52%) children with more than one intestinal worm. 57.24% had lower, 41.4% had normal and only 1.4% had above normal BMI among infected children. Majority (65.9%) had normal, 27.2% had lower than normal, and 6.9% had above normal BMI found among non-infected children. Conclusion: From the results of present study it can be concluded that intestinal worms play significant role in reducing anthropometric measurement of school going children. The factors including personal hygiene, dietary habits, type of drinking water, animals and pets keeping, overcrowded and congested living environment, large family members, toilet facility, toilet trainings, personal hygiene awareness, PICA habits and lack of de-worming contributes largely towards the worm burden in the children. A single cause is not only the attributing factor to reduce the anthropometric measurements.

Environmental stresses may alter the nutritional profile and economic value of crops. Chemical fertilizers and phytohormones are major sources which can enhance the canola production under stressful conditions. Physio-biochemical responses of canola altered remarkably with the use of nitrogen/phosphorus/potassium (N/P/K) fertilizers and plant growth regulators (PGRs) under drought stress. The major aim of current study was to evaluate nutritional quality and physio-biochemical modulation in canola (Brassica napus L.) from early growth to seed stage with NPK and PGRs in different water regimes. To monitor biochemical and physiological processes in canola, two season field experiment was conducted as spilt plot under randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four treatments (Control, Chemical fertilizers [N (90 kg/ha), P and K (45 kg ha-1)], PGRs; indole acetic acid (IAA) 15g ha-1, gibberellic acid (GA3) 15g ha-1 and the combination of NPK and PGRs] under different irrigations regimes (60, 100, 120, 150 mm evaporations). Water stress enhanced peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), polyphenol oxidase (PPO), soluble sugar, malondialdehyde (MDA), proline contents as well as leaf temperature while substantially reduced leaf water contents (21%), stomatal conductance (50%), chlorophyll contents (10–67%), membrane stability index (24%) and grain yield (30%) of canola. However, the combined application of NPK and PGR further increased the enzymatic antioxidant pool, soluble sugars, along with recovery of leaf water contents, chlorophyll contents, stomatal conductance and membrane stability index but decreased the proline contents and leaf temperature at different rate of evaporation. There is positive interaction of applied elicitors to the water stress in canola except leaf area. The outcomes depicted that the combination of NPK with PGRs improved the various morpho-physiological as well as biochemical parameters and reduced the pressure of chemical fertilizers cost about 60%. It had also reduced the deleterious effect of water limitation on the physiology and grain yield and oil contents of canola in field experiments.

The image retrieving system is used to retrieve images from the image database. Two types of Image retrieval techniques are commonly used: content-based and text-based techniques. One of the well-known image retrieval techniques that extract the images in an unsupervised way, known as the cluster-based image retrieval technique. In this cluster-based image retrieval, all visual features of an image are combined to find a better retrieval rate and precisions. The objectives of the study were to develop a new model by combining the three traits i.e., color, shape, and texture of an image. The color-shape and color-texture models were compared to a threshold value with various precision levels. A union was formed of a newly developed model with a color-shape, and color-texture model to find the retrieval rate in terms of precisions of the image retrieval system. The results were experimented on on the COREL standard database and it was found that the union of three models gives better results than the image retrieval from the individual models. The newly developed model and the union of the given models also gives better results than the existing system named cluster-based retrieval of images by unsupervised learning (CLUE).

Generalmente, los herbicidas (pesticidas) tienen el potencial de contaminar el medio ambiente. Agua subterránea, estanques, lagos y ríos se ven fuertemente afectados por la contaminación de éstos. Los herbicidas que encuentran su camino en los ríos, arroyos y lagos acabar envenenando la vida marina y tener un efecto adverso en la industria pesquera. Así que, en los estudios de campo, los efectos fitotóxicos de extractos orgánicos de malezas se determinaron en las malezas y cosecha de trigo. El etanol CHCl3 (triclorometano o cloroformo) o extractos de algas palillo de dientes (Ammi visnaga L.) y la enredadera de campo (Convolvulus arvensis L.) se aplicaron en 1 000 y 500 ppm. Un mes después de la siembra de trigo, el extracto de CHCl3 de correhuela a 1 000 ppm y malezas palillo de dientes a 500 ppm, reducido drásticamente la población de malezas (33,67 malezas m-2 cada uno de 101 m-2 en el control sin tratar), pero aumentó el rendimiento de grano de trigo. El extracto CHCl3 de enredadera, aplicada a 500 ppm, dio un rendimiento del trigo máximo (1.2 t ha-1), mientras que el extracto de malezas palillo de dientes en el mismo disolvente y se aplica a 1 000 ppm dio el rendimiento de trigo de 1,1 t ha-1. Se recomiendan medidas de control juiciosas para malas hierbas nocivas de extractos alelopáticos que se adopte para la cosecha de mejor calidad y cantidad de trigo y también evitar la contaminación del aire.

Phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) reduce the negative effects of soil calcification on soil phosphorus (P) nutrition. In this incubation study, we explored the ability of PSB (control and inoculated) to release P from different P sources [single super phosphate (SSP), rock phosphate (RP), poultry manure (PM) and farm yard manure (FYM)] with various soil lime contents (4.78, 10, 15 and 20%) in alkaline soil. PSB inoculation progressively enriched Olsen extractable P from all sources compared to the control over the course of 56 days; however, this increase was greater from organic sources (PM and FYM) than from mineral P sources (SSP and RP). Lime addition to the soil decreased bioavailable P, but this effect was largely neutralized by PSB inoculation. PSB were the most viable in soil inoculated with PSB and amended with organic sources, while lime addition decreased PSB survival. Our findings imply that PSB inoculation can counteract the antagonistic effect of soil calcification on bioavailable P when it is applied using both mineral and organic sources, although organic sources support this process more efficiently than do mineral P sources. Therefore, PSB inoculation combined with organic manure application is one of the best options for improving soil P nutrition.