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This study evaluated the spatial distribution of groundwater potential zones in Kabul Province, Afghanistan using the geospatial multi-influencing factor approach. The influencing parameters employed for the assessment of groundwater potential zones were land slope, geology, soil type, land use/land cover, lineament density, rainfall, and drainage density. The subclasses within each influencing parameter were subdivided based on their influence on groundwater potential as major, minor, and no effect, and were subsequently assigned a score value. The combined score value of these parameters was used for calculating their relative weights. The delineated groundwater potential zones were classified in four groups, i.e., poor, moderate, good, and very good. The study results revealed that zones with a very good groundwater potential covered an area of 355 km2 (2% of the total area), good 1524 km2 (20%), moderate 2251 km2 (73%), and poor 477 km2 (5%). The study concluded that the geospatial-assisted multi-influencing factor approach was very useful and efficient technique for the assessment of groundwater potential zones and can be effectively employed to enhance the conceptual understanding of groundwater resources of Kabul Basin, Afghanistan.

The objective was to determine the growth performance of Friesian calves given milk or milk replacer (MR) at varying levels. Forty-eight male Friesian calves were divided into four groups of 12 animals each. Calves were offered either milk or MR at either 10 or 15% of body weight (BW), with upper limits of 5 and 6 L/d, respectively until week 8. The calves were weaned at 10 weeks of age by gradually reducing the offered liquid to zero. In addition, from the second week, calves were offered calf starter ration (CS) until each calf reached 120 kg. The calves raised on milk had better growth rates (610 ± 25 vs. 487 ± 25 g/d; P0.05), displayed higher weaning weights (71 ± 1.5 vs. 55.9 ± 1.5 kg; P0.05) and reached the target weight of 120 kg earlier (20.9 ± 0.8 vs. 24.1 ± 0.8 weeks; P0.05) than those on MR. However, growth rate was not affected (535 ± 25 vs. 568 ± 25; P0.05) by liquid feeding level. Cost per kg live weight gain was not affected (325 ± 8 vs. 319 ± 8; P0.05) by feeding source or feeding levels (317 ± 8 vs. 328 ± 8). Thus, feeding milk at 10% of body weight saves time and labour required to achieve target weight in veal calves.

This study was an attempt to evaluate the groundwater potentiality in Kabul province, Afghanistan using geospatial multi influencing factor (MIF) approach. The influencing parameters employed for the assessment of groundwater potential zones (GWPZ) includes slope, geology, soil, land use/land cover, lineament density, rainfall and drainage density. The sub-classes within each influencing parameter were sub-divided, based on their effectiveness in groundwater potentiality as major, minor and no effect, and subsequently assigned a score value. The combined score value of these parameters was used for calculating the relative weight. The delineated GWPZ were classified in four groups, i.e. poor, moderate, good and very good GWPZ. The study results revealed that very good GWPZ covered an area of 354.87km2 (2% of the total area), good 1523.86 km2 (20%), moderate 2250.99 km2 (73%) and poor 477.19 km2 (5%). The study concluded that geospatial assisted MIF approach was very useful and efficient techniques for the assessment of GWPZ and can be effectively employed to enhance the conceptual understanding of groundwater resources of Kabul Basin, Afghanistan.

Background Species domestication is generally characterized by the exploitation of high-impact mutations through processes that involve complex shifting demographics of domesticated species. These include not only inbreeding and artificial selection that may lead to the emergence of evolutionary bottlenecks, but also post-divergence gene flow and introgression. Although domestication potentially affects the occurrence of both desired and undesired mutations, the way wild relatives of domesticated species evolve and how expensive the genetic cost underlying domestication is remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated the demographic history and genetic load of chicken domestication. Results We analyzed a dataset comprising over 800 whole genomes from both indigenous chickens and wild jungle fowls. We show that despite having a higher genetic diversity than their wild counterparts (average π, 0.00326 vs. 0.00316), the red jungle fowls, the present-day domestic chickens experienced a dramatic population size decline during their early domestication. Our analyses suggest that the concomitant bottleneck induced 2.95% more deleterious mutations across chicken genomes compared with red jungle fowls, supporting the “cost of domestication” hypothesis. Particularly, we find that 62.4% of deleterious SNPs in domestic chickens are maintained in heterozygous states and masked as recessive alleles, challenging the power of modern breeding programs to effectively eliminate these genetic loads. Finally, we suggest that positive selection decreases the incidence but increases the frequency of deleterious SNPs in domestic chicken genomes. Conclusion This study reveals a new landscape of demographic history and genomic changes associated with chicken domestication and provides insight into the evolutionary genomic profiles of domesticated animals managed under modern human selection.

Pakistan has 35 goat breeds. Moreover, the province of Punjab has highest goat population constituting 37% of country's total population with seven goat breeds including Beetal, Daira Deen Panah, Nachi, Barbari, Teddi, Pahari, and Pothwari. The diversity study of breeds warrants the documentation of breeds particularly using genome wide panel of markers, i.e., SNP chip. The objective of the current study was to fill this gap of information. Therefore, in current study we collected total of 879 unrelated goat blood samples along with data on body weight measurements; genomic DNA was extracted, and genotyping was carried out using 50 K SNP bead chip. Quality control measures were performed in Plink 1.07. Genetic diversity was observed among studied populations using heterozygosity and pairwise F

Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) is a common manifestation of COVID-19 and several cases have been reported in the setting of the high-risk APOL1 genotype (common genetic variants). This increases the likelihood that African American people with the high-risk genotype APOL1 are at increased risk for kidney disease in the COVID-19 environment. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are found in various microRNAs (miRNAs) and target genes change the miRNA activity that leads to different diseases. Evidence has shown that SNPs increase/decrease the effectiveness of the interaction between miRNAs and disease-related target genes. The aim of this study is not only to identify miRSNPs on the APOL1 gene and SNPs in miRNA genes targeting 3'UTR but also to evaluate the effect of these gene variations in kidney patients and their association with SARS-COV-2 infection. In 3'UTR of the APOL1 gene, we detected 96 miRNA binding sites and 35 different SNPs with 10 different online software in the binding sites of the miRNA (in silico). Also we studied gene expression of patients and control samples by using qRT-PCR (in vitro). In silico study, the binding site of miR-6741-3p on APOL1 has two SNPs (rs1288875001, G > C; rs1452517383, A > C) on APOL1 3'UTR, and its genomic sequence is the same nucleotide as rs1288875001. Similarly, two other SNPs (rs1142591, T > A; rs376326225, G > A) were identified in the binding sites of miR-6741-3p at the first position. Here, the miRSNP (rs1288875001) in APOL1 3'UTR and SNP (rs376326225) in the miR-6741-3p genomic sequence are cross-matched in the same binding region. In vitro study, the relative expression levels were calculated by the 2-ΔΔCt method & Mann-Whitney U test. The expression of APOL1 gene was different in chronic kidney patients along with COVID-19. By these results, APOL1 expression was found lower in patients than healthy (p < 0.05) in kidney patients along with COVID-19. In addition, miR-6741-3p targets many APOL1-related genes (TLR7, SLC6A19, IL-6,10,18, chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 5, SWT1, NFYB, BRF1, HES2, NFYB, MED12L, MAFG, GTF2H5, TRAF3, angiotensin II receptor-associated protein, PRSS23) by evaluating online software in the binding sites of the miR-6741-3p. miR-6741-3p has not previously shown any association with kidney diseases and SARS-COV-2 infection. It assures that APOL1 can have a significant consequence in kidney-associated diseases by different pathways. Henceforth, this study represents and demonstrates an effective association between miR-6741-3p and kidney diseases, i.e., collapsing glomerulopathy, chronic kidney disease (CKD), acute kidney injury (AKI), and tubulointerstitial lesions susceptibility to SARS-COV-2 infection via in silico and in vitro exploration and recommended to have better insight.

In cognitive radio network (CRN) secondary users (Sus) opportunistically utilized primary user (PU) channel with minimum interference. The fading and shadowing effects lead to poor sensing performance for individual SU. Cooperative spectrum sensing (CSS) is the best mechanism for SUs to collect accurate information of the PU. In addition, CSS overcome fading, shadowing, and hidden terminal effects that lead to a high reduction in sensing performance. However, the existence of malicious users (MUs) in CSS severely reduced system performance by sending falsified data to the fusion center (FC). The proposed work focuses on particle swarm optimization (PSO) to safeguard the CSS from the bad effect of the MUs. The work in this paper is evaluated for various types of MU attacks. Simulation outcomes show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

Ruminants inhabit the consortia of gut microbes that play a critical functional role in their maintenance and nourishment by enabling them to use cellulosic and non-cellulosic feed material. These gut microbes perform major physiological activities, including digestion and metabolism of dietary components, to derive energy to meet major protein (65-85%) and energy (ca 80%) requirements of the host. Owing to their contribution to digestive physiology, rumen microbes are considered one of the crucial factors affecting feed conversion efficiency in ruminants. Any change in the rumen microbiome has an imperative effect on animal physiology. Ruminal microbes are fundamentally anaerobic and produce various compounds during rumen fermentation, which are directly used by the host or other microbes. Methane (CH4) is produced by methanogens through utilizing metabolic hydrogen during rumen fermentation. Maximizing the flow of metabolic hydrogen in the rumen away from CH4 and toward volatile fatty acids (VFA) would increase the efficiency of ruminant production and decrease its environmental impact. Understanding of microbial diversity and rumen dynamics is not only crucial for the optimization of host efficiency but also required to mediate emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from ruminants. There are various strategies to modulate the rumen microbiome, mainly including dietary interventions and the use of different feed additives. Phytogenic feed additives, mainly plant secondary compounds, have been shown to modulate rumen microflora and change rumen fermentation dynamics leading to enhanced animal performance. Many in vitro and in vivo studies aimed to evaluate the use of plant secondary metabolites in ruminants have been conducted using different plants or their extract or essential oils. This review specifically aims to provide insights into dietary interactions of rumen microbes and their subsequent consequences on rumen fermentation. Moreover, a comprehensive overview of the modulation of rumen microbiome by using phytogenic compounds (essential oils, saponins, and tannins) for manipulating rumen dynamics to mediate CH4 emanation from livestock is presented. We have also discussed the pros and cons of each strategy along with future prospective of dietary modulation of rumen microbiome to improve the performance of ruminants while decreasing GHG emissions.

In this paper, we propose an energy efficient user selection scheme by estimating the throughput and energy consumption of the system for each slot and selecting a secondary user (SU) pair (Tx-Rx) for sensing and transmission, which maximizes the system performance in terms of throughput and consumes the least energy. We also propose a new frame structure in which the sensing is done for variable amount of time by the selected SU only, until it meets the target probability of detection. We validate the performance of the proposed scheme through simulations and compare with existing schemes. The results show that the proposed scheme maximizes the network throughput as compared with the existing schemes.

The movement to digitally transform Saudi Arabia in all sectors has already begun under the &ldquo, Vision 2030&rdquo, program. Consequently, renovating and standardizing production and manufacturing industries to compete with global challenges is essential. The fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) triggered by the development of information and communications technologies (ICT) provides a baseline for smart automation, using decentralized control and smart connectivity (e.g., Internet of Things). Industrial engineering graduates need to have acquaintance with this industrial digital revolution. Several industries where the spirit of Industry 4.0 has been embraced and have already implemented these ideas yielded gains. In this paper, a roadmap containing an academic term course based on the concept of Industry 4.0, which our engineering graduates passed through, is presented. At first, an orientation program to students elaborating on the Industry 4.0 concept, its main pillars, the importance of event-driven execution, and smart product manufacturing techniques. Then, various tasks in developing a learning factory were split and assigned among student groups. Finally, the evaluation of student potential in incorporating the Industry 4.0 concept was analyzed. This methodology led to their professional skill development and promoted students&rsquo, innovative ideas for the manufacturing sector.

The purpose of this study was to enhance the anti-leishmanial efficacy of miltefosine (MTF) and reduce its toxic effects by loading it into nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs). Micro-emulsion technique was used to prepare MTF-loaded NLCs. The optimized NLCs were characterized in terms of various physicochemical parameters including particle size, poly dispersity index (PDI), zeta potential, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) technique. In vitro and in vivo assays were performed to evaluate the potential of NLCs as an effective nanocarrier system for oral delivery of MTF in Cutaneous Leishmaniasis. The optimized MTF-loaded NLCs exhibited mean particle size of 160.8 ± 5.3 nm with narrow PDI and high incorporation efficiency (IE%) of 96.17 ± 1.3%. MTF-loaded NLCs demonstrated slow release of the incorporated drug as compared to the drug solution. The optimized formulation showed significant decrease in hemolytic potential, 2.5~folds increase in anti-leishmanial efficacy and 6~fold decrease in macrophage cytotoxicity as compared to MTF solution, in vitro. Macrophage uptake study confirmed passive targeting ability of MTF-loaded NLCs. In-vivo analysis demonstrated enhanced anti-leishmanial effect of the MTF-loaded NLCs and better pharmacokinetic profiles with no gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity. NLCs are potential nanocarriers for the oral delivery of MTF with enhanced anti-leishmanial activity, better safety profile and reduced hemolytic potential.

In recent decades, production in high-volume/low-variety batches is replaced with low-volume/high-variety production type. This type of production demands excessive flows of both material and information. Recent advances in information and communication technologies (ICT), together with the concept of cyber-psychical system (CPS) enable the concept of Industry 4.0 (I4.0). In this paper, the performance of I4.0 related equipment implementation is presented in iterative assembly line balancing (ALB) process of a gearbox assembly line. Largest candidate rule method through spreadsheet simulation was used for tasks reallocations, with the objective to minimize the cycle time when the number of stations is fixed. Utilization of human analysts using snap back method for manual data gathering process still shown advantage over I4.0 equipment utilization in manual ALB. The assembly process is performed in the learning factory environment, and it is considered as very close to real industry process. The major conclusion is that I4.0 is excellent in process data monitoring and product tracking, but activities to be performed to effectively exploit I4.0 is demanding for task reallocations during the balancing procedure. Nevertheless, future enhancements of I4.0 system are listed to bridge this gap and to increase I4.0 system usefulness in the manual assembly line balancing process

Despite the substantial role that chickens have played in human societies across the world, both the geographic and temporal origins of their domestication remain controversial. To address this issue, we analyzed 863 genomes from a worldwide sampling of chickens and representatives of all four species of wild jungle fowl and each of the five subspecies of red jungle fowl (RJF). Our study suggests that domestic chickens were initially derived from the RJF subspecies Gallus gallus spadiceus whose present-day distribution is predominantly in southwestern China, northern Thailand and Myanmar. Following their domestication, chickens were translocated across Southeast and South Asia where they interbred locally with both RJF subspecies and other jungle fowl species. In addition, our results show that the White Leghorn chicken breed possesses a mosaic of divergent ancestries inherited from other subspecies of RJF. Despite the strong episodic gene flow from geographically divergent lineages of jungle fowls, our analyses show that domestic chickens undergo genetic adaptations that underlie their unique behavioral, morphological and reproductive traits. Our study provides novel insights into the evolutionary history of domestic chickens and a valuable resource to facilitate ongoing genetic and functional investigations of the world’s most numerous domestic animal.

The pervasiveness of obesity has been increasing drastically in Malaysia, and proved to be a serious health issue along with its effect on the economic growth of the country. Obesity pervasiveness is found to be higher in Malay community as compared to other ethnics or communities. Hence, the aim of this study is to investigate the role of social elements toward obesity in Malay community. A quantitative (cross-sectional) survey was conducted by using questionnaire. A total of 150 obese people from Malay community (age: 20-59 years) were included in the study through purposive sampling. Body mass index of all participants was measured under given guidelines for Asian people. Inferential statistics (Spearman Correlation) was used to obtain the objective of the study. Social elements such as feelings (low self-esteem), body image dissatisfaction, eating habits, physical activity, physical activity barriers and media influence were correlated with obesity. However, dieting behavior, health knowledge and religiosity were found insignificant. This pioneer study has explored the mechanism and role of social elements toward obesity, and providing a baseline data for future researches. It is hoped that the state and federal government could take proactive actions against obesity ratio to secure the health of Malay community, and to decrease financial cost which will also be beneficial for economic growth of the country.

Healthy hair is vital to identity. Understanding the intricate anatomy and physiology of hair provides insight into the aging process and the eventual loss of either hair pigmentation or hair shafts. Several biologics are available that have enabled altering or slowing the aging process of hair, but, unfortunately, no agent exists that can reverse the natural course. The commonly used biologics are discussed.

The Siwalik sediments are widely distributed in foreland areas of Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bhutan. In Pakistan they are composed of four formations (Chinji Formation, Nagri Formation, Dhok Pathan Formation, Soan Formation) These post tectonic deposits contain vast phylogenetic trends of modern vertebrate species especially dating back to Miocene-Pliocene. Our study encompasses the Miocene-Pliocene Nagri Formation exposed at Kanati Section, District Khushab. The purpose of the study is to establish depositional modal based of Lithofacies and Petrographical studies. The Nagri Formation in the Kanati Section is 47 m thick and predominantly contains sandstone, silt and clay with sub-ordinate conglomerates. Four Lithofacies were established. These are Conglomerate Facies (N1) interpreted as channel floor deposits, Sandstone Facies with cross beds and extraclasts (N2), where extraclasts were deposited by the lateral movement of channel, Siltstone and Claystone/Mudstone Facies (N3) which were interpreted as crevasse splay deposits, and Clay Facies (N4) interpreted as flood channel deposits. The clay exposed here was mostly brick red in color showing oxidizing conditions due to subaerial exposure. Spheroidal weathering was quite common in sandstone. Petrographic analysis for sandstone thin sections revealed mostly moderate amount of quartz (59.53%), lithic fragments (39.9%) with minimal amount of feldspar (0.55%). The petrographic results for Nagri sandstone were plotted on a QFL diagram from where it was interpreted as belonging to Lithic Arenites. The provenance of this sandstone was established to be of Recycled Orogen based on the studies.

The aim of this study was to develop levosulpiride-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) with enhanced solubilisation and bioavailability. The levosulpiride loaded-SLNs were composed of levosulpiride, stearic acid, and tween 80 in their respective weight ratios of (1, 5, and 1.5 mg) dissolved in 1 ml distilled water. Physicochemical properties of the SLNs such as particle size, shape, crystallinity, and chemical interaction were evaluated. Further, the

Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) is a fibrous crop, grown in tropical climate having huge biomass and can be a good candidate for the phytoremediation of different heavy metals. Consequently, the present study was conducted to explore morpho-physiological traits, photosynthetic pigments, gaseous exchange attributes, antioxidative response and phytoextraction of copper (Cu) in H. cannabinus grown under different levels of Cu i.e. 0 (control), 60, 120 and 180 µmol L−1 in Hoagland nutrient solution (pH 6.2). The results from the present study revealed that Cu toxicity reduced plant height, plant diameter, plant fresh weight, plant dry weight, photosynthetic pigments and gaseous exchange attributes compared to control. Moreover, excess Cu in the nutrient solution ameliorates contents of malondialdehyde (MDA), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and electrolyte leakage (EL) which showed that Cu induced oxidative damage in the roots and leaves of H. cannabinus. The oxidative stress which was induced by a high concentration of Cu in the nutrient solution is overcome by enzymatic activities of antioxidants which increased with the increase in Cu concentration, i.e. 60 and 120 µmol L−1, while the addition of Cu (180 µmol L−1) caused a reduction in the activities of superoxidase dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) in the roots and leaves of H. cannabinus. The results also demonstrated that an increase in Cu concentration in the nutrient solution causes an increase in Cu accumulation through roots, leaves and stems of H. cannabinus, although the highest Cu concentration was accumulated in roots while only a little transported to the above ground parts (leaves and stems) of the plants. All the values of bioaccumulation factor (BAF) and translocation factor (TF) were less than 1, which also indicated that a small quantity of Cu concentration is transported to the aboveground part of the plants. These findings suggested that phytotoxicity of Cu affected plant growth and biomass and increased ROS production while accumulation of Cu in different parts of plant proved that H. cannabinus is an ideal specie for phytoremediation of Cu when grown under Cu contaminated sites.

This article presents raw data from a survey conducted to identify the selection criteria of breeders raising either of four strains of Beetal goats, namely Beetal Faisalabadi, Beetal Makhi-Cheeni, Beetal Nuqri, and Beetal Rahim Yar Khan. After a pre-survey, a questionnaire was developed and a survey was conducted at four sites of the Punjab province of Pakistan: Faisalabad/Sahiwal, Bahawalpur/Bahawalnagar, Rajanpur, and Rahim Yar Khan. Each of these sites was the home tract of one strain. During the survey breeders (n = 162) were asked to rank the traits of their selection criteria based on the relative importance of those traits. Furthermore, the prevailing production system was also characterized by the breeders. For the interpretation of the results of this survey the readers are referred to Ref. [1]. The raw data set provided in this article can be extended in the future to include more strains of Beetal goats as well as other goat breeds. The selection criteria of breeders can change over time. This data set can also be used in future studies to investigate the temporal changes in the relative importance of different traits for the breeders. The factors potentially influencing those changes can also be investigated. This data set can further be utilized to design community based breeding plans tailored to the needs of the goat farming community. Open-Access-Publikationsfonds 2020 peerReviewed

Internet of Things-based environments pose various challenges due to their anytime/anywhere computing, and the efficient cryptographic based key management is one of the major challenges in Internet of Things. The key management life cycle consists of initialization, key generation, key registration, key backup, key update, key recovery, and key revocation. Our contribution in this paper is to summarize the state-of-the-art key management schemes and techniques in different scenarios, such as mobile ad hoc networks, wireless sensor networks, and the Internet of Things environments. Further different issues related specifically to the Internet of Things environment are discussed and the causes and effects pertaining to the security breach for Internet of Things are identified. Furthermore, in this research work, we develop a novel permutation of threshold and identity-based key management schemes for the Internet of Things environment and have proposed future directions to counteract the attacks on confidentiality, integrity, authentication, and availability of security services in the Internet of Things environment and identified the two key management schemes, that is, identity and threshold schemes for Internet of Things, to resolve Internet of Things key management issues and maximum possible security services effective implementation. We evaluate our scheme with the help of mathematical and statistical techniques.

In wireless sensor network (WSN), the localization scheme is vital for efficiently utilizing the acquired sensing data from sensor nodes. The received signal strength (RSS) based localization is among one of the most preferable schemes for various applications, due to its ease of implementation without any additional hardware cost. In RSS-based localization scheme, the anchor nodes need to acquire RSS measures of unknown/target nodes and send them to base station where localization of unknown/target node is performed. As the number of unknown/target nodes increases, the control traffic for localization increases, due to RSS measures for each unknown/target node are gathered and send to the base station (BS), which can cause more energy consumption and reduce life time of sensor networks. In this paper, we propose a localization scheme for multiple unknown/target nodes based on Bayesian Compressive Sensing (BCS). The RSS values received from multiple unknown/target nodes are superposed in each anchor node, and further can be constituted as a form of compressed data. In the proposed scheme, each anchor node sends only a compressed RSS measure from multiple unknown/target nodes to the BS and the BS estimates the location of unknown/target nodes using Bayesian Compressive Sensing. The proposed scheme is evaluated through simulation to authenticate its effectiveness in term of accuracy of localization, and reduction of traffic overhead.

The spectrum scarcity problem is rectified in cognitive radio network by allowing opportunistic secondary users (SUs) to utilize primary user spectrum with minimum disturbance. However, multipath effects degrade the sensing capability of an individual user. Therefore, more precise sensing is obtained by collaborating multiple sensing users. In the centralized Cooperative Spectrum Sensing (CSS), fusion center (FC) collects sensing information of all individual users for a global decision. The problem in CSS is the presence of inaccurate sensing information received by the FC from the multipath affected SUs and malicious users. A Genetic algorithm-based scheme proposed in this paper is able to determine optimum weighting coefficient vector against the SUs sensing. The vector is further utilized in the soft decision schemes that assign appropriate weight to the reports of cooperative users to take a global decision. Low weights are assigned to the sensing information of compromised users with false spectrum sensing data as compared to the normal cooperative users. Simulation results illustrate the minimum error probabilities for the proposed GA based technique at different levels of signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) against the Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence, count decision scheme and maximum gain combination (MGC) schemes.

Cooperative spectrum sensing plays vital role to detect existence of licensed user and avoid harmful interference. However, with the rise in spectrum sensing users' results, rise in reporting time, bandwidth utilization and communication overhead. To realize spectrum sensing, how to collect the sensing information from users, to decrease reporting time is problem of major concern. In this paper, we propose ordered-sequential reporting mechanism to reduce reporting time and communication overhead by collecting reports of the secondary users based on their reliability to meet the global decision requirement. The secondary users with high reliability transmit sensing information to the fusion center, which ultimately reduces reporting time and communication overhead. In the numerical results, we show that proposed ordered-sequential reporting has better performance than the order-less sequential reporting scheme.

Pakistan is one of the countries where practice of forensic odontology and its record keeping is poor due to which we face difficulty in identification of individuals in disasters and other medicolegal problems. The objectives of this study were to know the status of forensic odontology and to determine the dental status of adult patients attending dental outpatient department of Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad.A cross-sectional Study was carried out from 1st September to 30th September 2018 in the Department of Dentistry, Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad. A questionnaire was designed including preliminary record, standard dental chart, notation chart and other variables. A sample of 96 patients having all permanent teeth were included and examined. Non-probability convenience sampling was used. Data was collected and analyzed on SPSS.The sample consisted of 59.4% males and 40.6% females. Mean number of present teeth with sound status was 24±5. Faulty development was found in 14.6% of the patients. Faulty alignment, black/brown stains and attrition were observed in 38.5%, 86.5% and 25% of the patients respectively. No statistically significant association was found (p0.05) between gender and faulty development, faulty alignment, staining or attrition. Forensic odontological practice and its record are not maintained in the hospital..High proportion the patients have black/brown stains. Faulty alignment is more as compared to faulty development. In our study we observed that no odonatological record is maintained in our hospital.

Cooperative spectrum sensing (CSS) is a vital part of cognitive radio networks, which ensures the existence of the primary user (PU) in the network. However, the presence of malicious users (MUs) highly degrades the performance of the system. In the proposed scheme, each secondary user (SU) reports to the fusion center (FC) with a hard decision of the sensing energy to indicate the existence of the PU. The main contribution of this work deals with MU attacks, specifically spectrum sensing data falsification (SSDF) attacks. In this paper, we propose a correlation-based approach to differentiate between the SUs and the outliers by determining the sensing of each SU, and the average value of sensing information with other SUs, to predict the SSDF attack in the system. The FC determines the abnormality of a SU by determining the similarity for each SU with the remaining SUs by following the proposed scheme and declares the SU as an outlier using the box-whisker plot. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme was demonstrated through simulations.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the growth performance of early or late weaned Nili-Ravi buffalo calves offered feeding regimes of low or high milk volumes. For this purpose, 48-day-old buffalo calves were randomly allocated to four treatments of twelve calves each. Calves were weaned either at day 56 (early weaned) or 84 (late weaned). Within each weaning age calves were offered milk at either 10% (low milk) or 15% (high milk) of their body weight. Early weaned calves were offered milk adjusted weekly until day 35; the calculated milk intake at day 35 was reduced by one-third in each of the last two weeks leading to the weaning of the calves at day 56. Late weaned calves were offered milk, adjusted weekly, until day 63 and weaned at day 84 by decreasing milk by one-third each week for the last two weeks. At week sixteen, late weaned calves had higher body weight and average daily gain than early weaned calves (p

Whilst causes of hepatic artery thrombosis (HAT) after liver transplantation (LT) are multifactorial, early HAT (E-HAT) remains pertinent complication impacting on graft and patient survival. Currently there is no screening tool that would identify patients with increased risk of developing E-HAT.We analyzed the native procoagulant state of LT recipients, identified through pretransplant thromboelastographic (TEG) data among other known risk factors, to identify risk factors for E-HAT.The outcomes of 828 adult patients undergoing LT between 2008 and 2013 were analyzed. Overall, 79 (9.5%) patients experienced HAT, E-HAT was diagnosed in 23, and in the remainder this was "late" HAT. The maximum amplitude (MA) on preoperative TEG was significantly higher in patients diagnosed with E-HAT compared with those who did not (71.2 mm vs 57.9 mm; P0.0001). Receiver operating characteristic analysis with the cutoff value for MA of 65 mm or greater returned area under the curve of 0.750 (P0.001) predicting E-HAT with a sensitivity of 70%. A total of 7% of patients with an MA of 65 mm or greater went on to develop E-HAT (hazard ratio, 5.28; 95% confidence interval, 2.10-12.29; P0.001), whereas only 1.2% patients with an MA less than 65 mm experienced E-HAT.Preoperative TEG may reliably identify group of recipients at greater risk of developing E-HAT, and intense surveillance and anticoagulation prophylaxis may avoid this serious complication after LT.

To review all reported methods of preoperative computed tomography (CT) in one patient cohort and to identify which were the strongest to predict postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) after pancreatoduodenectomy.Consecutive patients undergoing pancreatoduodenectomy were included if they had unenhanced CT images for review. Eighteen variables and two scores were tested. Receiver operator characteristics (ROC) were explored.POPF affected 26 of 107 patients (24.3%). Nine variables were significantly related to POPF with pancreatic duct width having the largest area under the ROC curve (AUROC; 0.808, p0.001). An obese body habitus was associated with POPF with six of nine related variables using data from CT images associated with POPF; of these intra-abdominal wall thickness yielded the largest AUROC (0.713, p=0.001). This corresponded to the finding that body mass index (BMI) was related to POPF (AUROC 0.705, p=0.002). The largest AUROC of all was associated with one of the predictive scores (0.828, p0.001). Substituting BMI for intra-abdominal wall thickness in this score yielded a non-significant increase to predict POPF (AUROC 0.840, p=0.676). None of the assessments of organ density (in Hounsfield Units) were associated with POPF.Data from preoperative CT imaging provides valuable information regarding a patient's risk of POPF. Obesity as assessed by CT images strongly relates to POPF, but the largest single risk factor for POPF is a narrow pancreatic duct.

The traits of economic importance in farm animals are mostly controlled by many gene pairs and hence show correlations. The knowledge of such correlations is very much needed while making multiple traits selection in farm animals. The present study was planned with the objectives to find out genetic and phenotypic correlations between linear type traits and milk yield in Sahiwal cows. Freshly calved 310 cows were scaled and scored for traits on a linear scale of 1-9 following the guide lines of International Committee on Animal Recording. The variance and covariance components were estimated using residuals or restricted maximum likelihood (REML) procedures. The linear mixed model was fitted for estimation of variance. Bivariate animal model analysis was performed for estimation of genetic and phenotypic correlations. Stature, angularity, rear udder height, fore teat length, dewlap width, foot angle, udder depth and rear udder width were significant sources of variation for score-day milk yield (P

Buccal films were prepared from aqueous and ethanolic Metolose gels using the solvent casting approach (40 °C). The hydration (PBS and simulated saliva), mucoadhesion, physical stability (20 °C, 40 °C), in vitro drug (omeprazole) dissolution (PBS and simulated saliva), ex vivo permeation (pig buccal mucosa) in the presence of simulated saliva, ex vivo bioadhesion and cell viability using MTT of films were investigated. Hydration and mucoadhesion results showed that swelling capacity and adhesion was higher in the presence of PBS than simulated saliva (SS) due to differences in ionic strength. Omeprazole was more stable at 20 °C than 40 °C whilst omeprazole release reached a plateau within 1 h and faster in PBS than in SS. Fitting release data to kinetic models showed that Korsmeyer–Peppas equation best fit the dissolution data. Drug release in PBS was best described by zero order via non-Fickian diffusion but followed super case II transport in SS attributed to drug diffusion and polymer erosion. The amount of omeprazole permeating over 2 h was 275 ug/cm2 whilst the formulations and starting materials showed cell viability values greater than 95%, confirming their safety for potential use in paediatric buccal delivery.

Pakistan is among the largest goat producing countries in the world exhibiting rich diversity between and within goat breeds. The implementation of any genetic improvement intervention for such a diverse goat population requires a clear definition of breeding objectives and selection criteria, tailored to the needs of goat farming community. Appreciating the importance and diversity of the Beetal goats, this study was designed to identify the selection criteria and consequently, to define the breeding objectives of the four strains of Beetal goats, namely Beetal Faisalabadi, Beetal Makhi-Cheeni, Beetal Nuqri, and Beetal Rahim Yar Khan. A participatory approach was used for this purpose. A questionnaire was developed, and a survey was conducted at four sites of the Punjab province of Pakistan: Faisalabad/Sahiwal, Bahawalpur/Bahawalnagar, Rajanpur, and Rahim Yar Khan. The Beetal goat breeders (n = 162) were asked to rank the traits of their selection criteria and breeding objectives were then inferred based on the relative importance of the selected traits. The prevailing production system was also characterized by the breeders. Data obtained from the survey were subjected to statistical analysis using the R programming language. Although the results showed diversity in the selection criteria opted by the breeders of the different strains, the convergence of the criteria was possible. Overall, the preference of morphological traits was highlighted. Nose shape, body length, udder size, ear size and body color emerged as the most preferred selection traits. Adaptation of subjective rather than objective selection criteria was evident. The production of animals with certain morphological attributes along with improved meat and milk production constituted the breeding objectives of the breeders.

This is a case of a female patient presented with a mild headache associated with recurrent episodes of nausea and vomiting, confusion and right-sided hemiparesis, diagnosed of haemorrhagic venous infarction from the thrombosis of left transverse and sigmoid sinus and probably the left vein of Labbe. She had severe microcytic hypochromic anaemia due to iron deficiency, without any other risk factors for cerebral venous thrombosis such as trauma history, infections, coagulation disorders or autoimmune diseases. She had a good prognosis after iron supplementation and anticoagulation therapy.

Curcumin (a polyphenolic compound in turmeric) is famous for its potent anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and anti-cancer properties, and has a great potential to act as an epigenetic modulator. The epigenetic regulatory roles of curcumin include the inhibition of DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs), regulation of histone modifications via the regulation of histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs), regulation of microRNAs (miRNA), action as a DNA binding agent and interaction with transcription factors. These mechanisms are interconnected and play a vital role in tumor progression. The recent research has demonstrated the role of epigenetic inactivation of pivotal genes that regulate human pathologies such as cancers. Epigenetics helps to understand the mechanism of chemoprevention of cancer through different therapeutic agents. In this regard, dietary phytochemicals, such as curcumin, have emerged as a potential source to reverse epigenetic modifications and efficiently regulate the expression of genes and molecular targets that are involved in the promotion of tumorigenesis. The curcumin may also act as an epigenetic regulator in neurological disorders, inflammation, and diabetes. Moreover, curcumin can induce the modifications of histones (acetylation/deacetylation), which are among the most important epigenetic changes responsible for altered expression of genes leading to modulating the risks of cancers. Curcumin is an effective medicinal agent, as it regulates several important molecular signaling pathways that modulate survival, govern anti-oxidative properties like nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and inflammation pathways, e.g., nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB). Curcumin is a potent proteasome inhibitor that increases p-53 level and induces apoptosis through caspase activation. Moreover, the disruption of 26S proteasome activity induced by curcumin through inhibiting DYRK2 in different cancerous cells resulting in the inhibition of cell proliferation opens up a new horizon for using curcumin as a potential preventive and treatment approach in proteasome-linked cancers. This review presents a brief summary of knowledge about the mechanism of epigenetic changes induced by curcumin and the potential effects of curcumin such as anti-oxidant activity, enhancement of wound healing, modulation of angiogenesis and its interaction with inflammatory cytokines. The development of curcumin as a clinical molecule for successful chemo-prevention and alternate therapeutic approach needs further mechanistic insights.

Background & Objective: Large spectrum of pathogenic BRCA mutations is known as a major cause of hereditary breast ovarian cancer in human all over the world. The objective of present study was to find out the association of mutations185-del-AG and 185Ins.A at BRCA1 exon-2 with age of onset and family history of gynecological cancer among the selected cohort of breast cancer patients in Pakistani population and to provide guidelines for treatment strategies. Methods: For the present study 115 subjects were recruited from different hospitals of Punjab, Pakistan, during May, 2017 to February, 2018. The inclusion criteria were age ≥30, without any previous BRCA testing and willingness to participate in present study. Subjects were interviewed for various demographic factors. Out of 115 subjects, 46 were selected on the basis of findings of previous studies and approximately 3 ml of blood was collected in EDTA coated vials for analysis of BRCA1 exon-2. Column based DNA extraction was performed by using commercial kit and exon specific primers were used to amplify BRCA1 exon 2 and PCR products were sent for sequencing to Eurofins Genomics. Sequences were analyzed through the BLAST program at National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) and Bio Edit software. Accession numbers were obtained on submission of sequences in GenBank. Results: BRCA1-185-del AG mutation was found in one of the breast cancer patient who was 33 years of age at diagnosis. None of the samples revealed positive results for BRCA1-185 Ins. A. Conclusion: BRCA1-185 Del AG mutation has association with early age onset of breast cancer. The direct sequencing is very useful approach for BRCA analysis and exon specific selected cohort from Pakistani population.

Healthy hair is vital to identity. Understanding the intricate anatomy and physiology of hair provides insight into the aging process and the eventual loss of either hair pigmentation or hair shafts. Several biologics are available that have enabled altering or slowing the aging process of hair, but, unfortunately, no agent exists that can reverse the natural course. The commonly used biologics are discussed.

Background & Objective Large spectrum of pathogenic BRCA mutations is known as a major cause of hereditary breast ovarian cancer in human all over the world. The objective of present study was to find out the association of mutations185-del-AG and 185Ins.A at BRCA1 exon-2 with age of onset and family history of gynecological cancer among the selected cohort of breast cancer patients in Pakistani population and to provide guidelines for treatment strategies. Methods For the present study 115 subjects were recruited from different hospitals of Punjab, Pakistan, during May, 2017 to February, 2018. The inclusion criteria were age ≥30, without any previous BRCA testing and willingness to participate in present study. Subjects were interviewed for various demographic factors. Out of 115 subjects, 46 were selected on the basis of findings of previous studies and approximately 3 ml of blood was collected in EDTA coated vials for analysis of BRCA1 exon-2. Column based DNA extraction was performed by using commercial kit and exon specific primers were used to amplify BRCA1 exon 2 and PCR products were sent for sequencing to Eurofins Genomics. Sequences were analyzed through the BLAST program at National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) and Bio Edit software. Accession numbers were obtained on submission of sequences in GenBank. Results BRCA1-185-del AG mutation was found in one of the breast cancer patient who was 33 years of age at diagnosis. None of the samples revealed positive results for BRCA1-185 Ins. A. Conclusion BRCA1-185 Del AG mutation has association with early age onset of breast cancer. The direct sequencing is very useful approach for BRCA analysis and exon specific selected cohort from Pakistani population.

Poultry is one of the important segments of the livestock sector in Pakistan. Currently, the country holds the 11th position in the world's broiler meat production while the layer sector is producing around 16 billion eggs annually. The current growth of poultry sector is 8–10% annually and the demand for meat and eggs is on the rise not only in this region but also globally. However, with the present system of production and due to poor planning for the forthcoming future challenges, that is, out breaks of contagious diseases, market competition, intellectual property rights/patents/copy of genetic resource, quality control, cost effective production, and issue of increased competition between human, poultry and other livestock for available resources of land, water, and raw feed ingredients, it does not appear that the poultry sector in Pakistan will sustain this pace and will be able to coop with the production demands. To survive well, the industry in support with government and professionals will have to overcome those issues which are jeopardizing the growth of industry, that is, poor production standards, lacking of processing/further processing/value addition facilities with less interest to compete globally for the finished poultry products, poor marketing channels, limited investment/research on continuous supply of feed ingredients, limited research and investment in disease diagnostic and control, disaster management, lacking of high productive heat tolerant and disease resistant commercial/rural chicken breeds, lacking of “other than chicken” poultry species in commercial production chain, and consumer awareness about poultry products. The government's role should be to devise industry friendly policies/rules and regulations, develop suitable price control mechanisms, work towards disaster management, make action plans for careful utilization of natural resources, focus on development of commercial and improvement/conservation of rural poultry breeds, and more importantly strengthen educational, research and development institutions. Therefore, it is the need of the time that a policy framework should be devised for sustainable growth of the poultry sector in Pakistan. This chapter is an effort to provide necessary guidelines for that purpose.