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Abstract Background CDC’s (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) National Center for Health statistics recent reports have shown that an upsurge has occurred in the use of dietary supplements among age of 20 years since 1994 and this use shown regular increase. The purpose of our study was to investigate the effect of supplements on the reproductive health on male athletes in Pakistan. Methods A total of 150 adult male with mean age of 25.78 ± 0.56 years were included in this study and divided into four groups: Non-athlete control (n = 57), Non supplemental athlete control (n = 40), Supplemental athlete group I (n = 28) and supplemental athlete group II (n = 25). Blood (10 ml) was taken from each subject. Complete blood count was performed and 5 ml of blood was centrifuged to separate plasma and then analyzed for antioxidant enzyme (CAT, POD, GR and GSH) activities, Lipid peroxidation (TBARS), electrolyte, metal (sodium, potassium and zinc) and Luteinizing hormone (LH) concentration. Results Complete blood count results showed normal RBC, WBC, Platelets, Hemoglobin, Hematocrit, Mean corpuscular hemoglobin and Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration. Antioxidant enzymes (CAT, POD, GR, GSH) increased significantly in supplemental athletes as compared to control groups. Sodium and potassium showed significant increase (p

Abstract Background New approaches for the prevention of colon cancer perseveres an essential necessity. Though, resistance to existing chemo-preventive drugs is moderately predominant in colon carcinogenesis. Taxifolin (dihydroquercetin) is a flavononol, have shown virile biological activities against few cancers. The current study was designed to investigate and equate antitumor activity of Taxifolin (TAX) in colorectal cancer cell lines and in HCT116 xenograft model in a comprehensive approach. Methods Two human colorectal cancer cell lines HCT116 and HT29, were used. 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazoliumbromide (MMT) protocol was performed to elucidate the impact of TAX and β- catenin inhibitor (FH535) on the viability of HCT116 and HT29 cell lines. Apoptosis /cell cycle assay was performed. Data interpretation was done with a FACScan (Becton Dickinson, NJ). About 1 × 104 cells per sample were harvested. Histograms of DNA were analyzed with ModiFitLT software (verity Software House, ME, USA). Western blotting and RT-PCR were performed for protein and gene expression respectively in in vitro and in vivo. Results We found that TAX induced cytotoxicity in colorectal cells in a dose-dependent manner and time dependent approach. Further, our data validated that administration of TAX to human colorectal cancer HCT116 and HT29 cells resulted in cell growth arrest, variation in molecules controlling cell cycle operative in the G2 phase of the cell cycle and apoptosis in a concentration dependent approach. Further our results concluded that TAX administration decreases expression of β-catenin gene, AKT gene and Survivin gene and protein expression in in vitro and in vivo. Conclusion Our findings proposed that targeting β-catenin gene may encourage the alterations of cell cycle and cell cycle regulators. Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway possibly takes part in the genesis and progression of colorectal cancer cells through regulating cell cycle and the expression of cell cycle regulators.

Among the trace elements, selenium (Se) has great demand as a health supplement. Compared to its other forms, selenium nanoparticles have minor toxicity, superior reactivity, and excellent bioavailability. The present study was conducted to produce selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) via a biosynthetic approach using probiotic Bacillus subtilis BSN313 in an economical and easy manner. The BSN313 exhibited a gradual increase in Se reduction and production of SeNPs up to 5–200 µg/mL of its environmental Se. However, the capability was decreased beyond that concentration. The capacity for extracellular SeNP production was evidenced by the emergence of red color, then confirmed by a microscopic approach. Produced SeNPs were purified, freeze-dried, and subsequently characterized systematically using UV–Vis spectroscopy, FTIR, Zetasizer, SEM–EDS, and TEM techniques. SEM–EDS analysis proved the presence of selenium as the foremost constituent of SeNPs. With an average particle size of 530 nm, SeNPs were shown to have a −26.9 (mV) zeta potential and −2.11 µm cm/Vs electrophoretic mobility in water. SeNPs produced during both the 24 and 48 h incubation periods showed good antioxidant activity in terms of DPPH and ABST scavenging action at a concentration of 150 µg/mL with no significant differences (p > 0.05). Moreover, 200 µg/mL of SeNPs showed antibacterial reactivity against Escherichia coli ATCC 8739, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 9027, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 25923. In the future, this work will be helpful to produce biogenic SeNPs using probiotic Bacillus subtilis BSN313 as biofactories, with the potential for safe use in biomedical and nutritional applications.

This study is related to the heat energy transfer during 3D nanofluid (water-based) motion over a rotating surface by incorporating the combined impacts of thermal radiations and couple stress. The flow is modeled by a set of non-linear coupled PDEs, which is converted to a set of coupled non-linear ODEs by using suitable similarity transformations. The transformed equations are solved with the built-in NDSolve command. The effects of relevant interesting parameters on the nanofluid velocity components and temperature distribution are explained through various graphs. It is found that the velocity component f(η) is increased with higher values of γ and A0 while it drops with an increasing rotation parameter and nanoparticle volume fraction. The fluid temperature increases with higher αnf, Rd, ϵ2, ϵ3, A1 and drops with increasing Pr, ϵ1 and couple stress parameter (A0). The Nusselt number remains constant at a fixed Pr and Rd, whereas it increases with increasing Pr and is reduced with rising Rd. A comparison between the achieved results is carried out with the analytical results through different tables. An excellent agreement is observed between these results.

Abstract Background PCOs is a heterogeneous disorder with anovulation/oligo ovulation usually taken as oligo menorrhoea or amenorrhoea, hyperandrogenemia, hirsutism, acne, androgen alopecia and polycystic ovaries as the key diagnostic feathers. The study was undertaken to investigate the possible protective and ameliorating effects of GABA in Letrozole induced PCOS model in rats by targeting insulin resistance. Methods PCOs in Adult female rat was induced by the daily gastric administration of letrozole (1 mg/kg/day) in CMC (0.5%) for 36 days. Rats were given metformin (2 mg/kg), GABA (100 mg/kg/day) and GABA (500 mg/kg/day) along with letrozole. One group severed as vehicle control. On the 37 day, the animals were euthanized, and anthropometrical, biochemical (glucose, insulin, lipids, testosterone, Estradiol, Progesterone, oral glucose tolerance test, total protein content in ovary, cholesterol level, triglyceride, HDL, LDL), Antioxidants (CAT, POD, GSR, ROS, GSH, TBARS), and histopathological evaluation of ovaries were carried out. Daily colpocytological examination was also carried out until the termination. Results Both the doses of GABA significantly reduced body weight, body mass index and testosterone. While the levels of CAT, SOD, POD and Estradiol (E2) were significantly increased in the both doses of GABA. A favourable lipid profile, normal glucose tolerance, and decreased in the percentage of estrus smears were observed. Histopathological examination of ovary revealed a decreased in the number of cystic follicles, and decreased in the adipocytes respectively. The effects observed with GABA were comparable to that with metformin. Conclusion The results suggest that GABA treatment has shown protective effect in PCOs and provide beneficial effect either by reducing insulin resistance or by inducing antioxidant defence mechanisms.

In this paper, an approximate analytical solution of the bistable Allen–Cahn equation is given. The Allen–Cahn equation is a mathematical model to study the phase separation process in binary alloys and emerged as a convection-diffusion equation in fluid dynamics or reaction-diffusion equation in material sciences. A phase transition occurs at the interface when one material changes its composition or structure. The homotopy perturbation method and homotopy analysis method are used for finding the approximate solution. These methods don't need the use of any transformation, discretization, unrealistic restriction and assumption. The error estimates are computed by comparing with a numerical method, and a good agreement is observed.

Spontaneous retroperitoneal hematoma is a rare clinical entity that is most commonly caused by renal tumors and vascular disease. In this article, we present a case of spontaneous retroperitoneal hemorrhage caused by polyarteritis nodosa in a patient who presented with severe left flank pain. He underwent computed tomography angiography of his abdomen that showed left retroperitoneal hematoma, which was followed by arteriogram that showed multiple bilateral renal artery aneurysms with active extravasation, findings consistent with polyarteritis nodosa. The patient underwent successful coiling of the bleeding vessel that secured the bleeding and was started on high-dose prednisone, which resulted in resolution of his symptoms.

The present study is about the investigation of different aspects of viscous and electrically conducting Titania nanofluids with different base fluids. A three dimensional geometry is assumed for the steady nanofluid flow over an inclined rotating disk by applying magnetic field. The time-independent partial differential equations are constructed from the demonstrated geometry for the continuity, momentum and energy balance. By using similarity variables transformation these equations are reduced to a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. A numerical technique is used to solve the reduced system of equations. State variables are depicted to investigate the effects of various parameters with their variation. The influence of different physical parameters, like magnetic parameter M, Hall parameter m, porosity parameter γ, radiation parameter Rd and thickness parameter δ are briefly discussed graphically. In addition, the Nusselt number and skin friction are discussed graphically. A comparison of the applied numerical approach with the homotopy analysis method is carried out in the tabular form. Tables show the reliability of our technique verses the homotopy analysis method. The convergence of the implemented technique is presented by graph for the number of iterations performed.

PARP-1 gene plays an essential part in base excision repair pathway and its functional variations result in several types of cancer. In this study we have explored the effect of genetic variations in PARP-1 gene in brain tumorigenesis. This case control study comprised of 500 brain tumor cases along with 500 healthy controls. Three polymorphisms of PARP-1 gene, rs1136410 (Val762Ala), rs1805404 (Asp81Asp) and rs1805414 (Ala284Ala) were analyzed using AS-PCR method followed by DNA sequencing. Joint effect model, haplotype analysis and linkage disequilibrium of these polymorphisms was assessed using Haploview 4.2. In rs1136410 (Val762Ala) heterozygous mutant genotype (CT) was observed notably lower (OR: 0.44., 95% CI: 0.33-0.57., p

After the Fukushima Daiichi Accident, the safety features such as accident tolerant fuel (ATF) and diverse and flexible coping strategies (FLEX) for existing nuclear fleets are being investigated by the US Department of Energy under the Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program. This research is being conducted to quantify the risk-benefit of these safety features. Dynamic probabilistic risk assessment (DPRA)-based response-surface approach has been presented to quantify the FLEX and ATF benefits by estimating the risk associated with each option. ATFs with multilayered silicon carbide (SiC), iron-chromium-aluminum, and chromium-coated zirconium cladding were considered in this study. While these ATF candidates perform better than the current zirconium cladding (Zr), they may introduce additional failure modes in some operating conditions. The fuel failure analysis modules (FAMs) were developed to investigate ATF performance. The dynamic risk assessments were performed using RAVEN, a DPRA tool, coupled with RELAP5 and FAMs. A cumulative distribution function-based index provided a mean of comparing the benefits of safety enhancements. For medium break loss of coolant accidents, FLEX operational timing window for each fuel type was estimated. Among these ATF candidates, SiC-type ATF was the most beneficial candidate for an increased safety margin than Zr-based fuel and was found to complement FLEX strategies in terms of risk and coping time.

The aim of this paper is limited to the exclusionary effects of poor decision making power on children. A total of 500 children from both genders were selected by systematic sampling technique and interviewed, from seven shopping streets and seven high schools of the District Peshawar. Likert scale was used as measurement tool besides, using Chi-square test and Kendall’s Tau-b tests to check the strength and direction of association between social exclusion and decision making power. Relationship of social exclusion was significant and negative with feeling one’s self influential in molding family level decision, having membership of any organization, liberty in choice of sport, liberty in choice of dress/shoes and people listen to child’s views. At multivariate level the association of social exclusion in male and female children varied by means of power of decision making. Likewise, results of groups based on religious affiliations indicated a spurious relationship between power of making decision in children and their social exclusion. However, result of groups based on joint and nuclear family affiliation indicated a non-spurious relationship between power of making decision in children and their social exclusion; conversely, single parent family group had a spurious relationship with above two groups. Contrariwise, result of groups based on sufficiency of family income indicated a non-spurious relationship between power of making decision in children and their social exclusion. A welfare state while safeguarding employment to all income segments, ensuring child’s constructive social participation at family and community level activities, reintegration of family role in child’s physical, social and psychological care and socialization, and overcoming gender and religion based disparities in the society were some of the policy recommendations in light of the study.

Quality culture and performance of the organizations has become matter of concentration and interest for the researchers and practitioners since the last few decades. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between quality culture and organizational performance with mediating effect of competitive advantage. Data was collected from telecommunication companies operating in Pakistan and analyzed for Cronbach’s Alpha reliability, factor validity, correlation, and multiple regressions to test the stated hypotheses. Results revealed that there is positive and significant association between quality culture and organizational performance and that this relationship is significantly mediated by the competitive advantage

Background: Chlorhexidine (CHX) is the gold standard of all chemical plaque control agents and the most commonly prescribed mouthwash. However, several studies have shown cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of CHX on various eukaryotic cells. In this study, we have used micronuclei as a biomarker of DNA damage in buccal epithelial cells of chronic gingivitis patients who were given adjunct 0.2% CHX for plaque control. Materials and Methods: Chronic gingivitis patients who were exclusively on mechanical plaque control methods were taken as control (Group A) (n = 101), and chronic gingivitis patients who along with mechanical plaque control measures were taking 0.2% chlorhexidine mouthwash as adjunct were taken as cases (Group B) (n = 255). The Group B was further divided into 5 subgroups (B1, B2, B3, B4, B5) (n = 51) on increasing duration of usage of CHX from ≤1 week to 24 weeks. Buccal epithelial cells were gently scrapped from the buccal mucosa using soft toothbrush. The epithelial cells were collected in buffer solution and centrifuged at 8000 rpm for 5 min. The buccal epithelial cells were air dried, fixed, and stained with 5% Giemsa stain on preheated glass microscopic slides and observed under microscope to screen 2000 nucleated cells per individual for number of micronucleated cells and micronuclei as genotoxic measure. Results: The mean number of micronucleated cells was found to be 0.41 ± 0.71 for Group A as compared values ranging from 1.65 ± 2.09 (Group B1) to 11.7 ± 1.87 (Group B5) in different subgroups of Group B, and similarly, the mean number of micronuclei was found to be 0.48 ± 0.80 for Group A as compared to values ranging from 2.57 ± 1.64 (Group B1) to 14.5 ± 2.49 (Group B5) in different subgroups of Group B using analysis of variance (P < 0.001). Conclusion: We conclude that CHX mouthwash is genotoxic to buccal epithelial cells and there is incremental trend in genotoxicity as the duration of usage is increased.

In this article, we describe an enzyme-based, membraneless, microfluidic biofuel cell for the continuous determination of glucose using electrochemical power generation as a transducing signal. Enzymes were immobilized on multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) electrodes placed parallel to the co-laminar flow in a Y-shaped microchannel. The microchannel was produced with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) using soft lithography, while the MWCNT electrodes were replicated via a PDMS stencil on indium tin oxide (ITO) glass. Moreover, the electrodes were modified with glucose oxidase and laccase by direct covalent bonding. The device was studied at different MWCNT deposition amounts and electrolyte flow rates to achieve optimum settings. The experimental results demonstrated that glucose could be determined linearly up to a concentration of 4 mM at a sensitivity of 31 mV∙mM−1cm−2.

Flavonoids are phytochemical compounds present in many plants, fruits, vegetables, and leaves, with potential applications in medicinal chemistry. Flavonoids possess a number of medicinal benefits, including anticancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral properties. They also have neuroprotective and cardio-protective effects. These biological activities depend upon the type of flavonoid, its (possible) mode of action, and its bioavailability. These cost-effective medicinal components have significant biological activities, and their effectiveness has been proved for a variety of diseases. The most recent work is focused on their isolation, synthesis of their analogs, and their effects on human health using a variety of techniques and animal models. Thousands of flavonoids have been successfully isolated, and this number increases steadily. We have therefore made an effort to summarize the isolated flavonoids with useful activities in order to gain a better understanding of their effects on human health.

A closed-loop system imitating the function of pancreatic cells, connected to microneedles (MNs) that automatically “release” insulin in response to the blood glucose (BG) levels would be highly satisfactory for improving the quality of life and health for diabetes patients. This paper describes an easy, fast and simple technique of coating a porous polymer layer on stainless steel (SS) MNs that release insulin in a glucose-responsive fashion. It was fabricated by sealing insulin, sodium bicarbonate (a pH-sensitive element [NaHCO3]) and glucose oxidase (glucose-specific enzymes [GOx]) into the pores of a porous polymer coating. Glucose can passively diffuse into the pores and become oxidized to gluconic acid by GOx, thereby causing a decrease in local pH. The subsequent reaction of protons with NaHCO3 forms carbon dioxide (CO2) which creates pressure inside the pores, thereby rupturing the thin polymer film and releasing the encapsulated insulin. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) images displayed that upon the exposure of MNs to glucose-free phosphate buffer saline (PBS) with pH 7.4, the pores of the porous MNs were closed, while in MNs exposed to a hyperglycemic glucose level, the pores were opened and the thin film burst. These MNs demonstrated both in vitro (in porcine skin and PBS) and in vivo (in diabetic rats) glucose-mediated insulin release under hyperglycemic conditions with rapid responsiveness. This study validated that the release of insulin from porous MNs was effectively correlated with glucose concentration.

A 60-year-old male presented with complaints of fever, chills, cough, and shortness of breath. He denied abdominal pain, urgency, dysuria, or hematuria. His laboratory data revealed an elevated white blood cell count and lactic acid, and one set of blood culture stained positive for gram-positive cocci. He was empirically started on intravenous antibiotics. On the next hospital day, the patient complained of hematuria and lower abdominal discomfort. A computed tomography scan of his abdomen and pelvis was obtained that revealed a focal hypodensity relating to prostate abscess, which was subsequently confirmed on magnetic resonance imaging of the prostate. Final report of blood cultures stated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus . He was treated with intravenous vancomycin and transurethral resection and deroofing of the prostate gland with drainage that resulted in complete resolution of his symptoms.

Mufti Muhammad Shafi' was a great spiritual leader, Pakistan's grand mufti and a renowned Islamic scholar as well. He served in different fields with his knowledge, research and writings. He translated and wrote the interpretation of the Holy Qur’ān, he had keen grasp on Fiqh, Hadith and other religious affairs. Thousands of fatwas had been issued by him and he built a well known Islamic university named ‘Jamia Darul uloom Karachi.’ He participated in politics as well for the national cause and struggled too much for the Islamic contribution in the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. This research paper is about his efforts that he made for the life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him). He wrote several books on Seerat-e-Nabawi, he defended Khatm-e-Nubuwwat and fought against Qadyaniyyat. This report has the abstract frame on specific grounds regarding Sīrah, Sunnah and teachings of Holy Prophet. It will portray a very brief description on Mufti Shafi's services in Sīrah's aspect.

Abstract It is understood that drugs regardless of their order of administration can exhibit drug interactions. Established on the fact that treatment of hypertension may last for decades and prolong usage of multiple drug regimen may induce substantial pathophysiological changes. Hence, This study was designed to evaluate the possible synergistic toxic effects of anti-hypertensive (carvedilol), and anti-inflammatory drug (celecoxib) alone and in combinations. Well-established MTT assay, Single Cell Gel Electrophoresis (SCGE) and Ames assay were employed to evaluate the toxicity at cellular level. Results from MTT assay on Vero cell line revealed that drug combinations have more pronounced anti-proliferative activity with combine IC50 value of 13.7:47.8 µg/mL. Likewise, exposure of peripheral blood mononuclear cells with drug combinations revealed significant (P

The relationship between reactive arthritis and enteric infections caused by Yersinia enterocolitica, Campylobacter jejuni , and Salmonella typhimurium is well documented. Clostridium difficile colitis is a less recognized cause of reactive arthritis. We present a case of a 58-year-old woman with Clostridium difficile colitis complicated by reactive arthritis. A 58-year-old woman with no significant past medical history presented to our hospital with complaints of nonbloody watery diarrhea, abdominal pain for the past 1 week, and right knee pain starting 1 day prior. The patient had recently used antibiotics for a respiratory tract infection. On examination, the patient had a swollen and erythematous right knee. While in the hospital the patient also developed a similarly painful and swollen left knee. The patient was found to be positive for C difficile toxin in stool. Synovial fluid analysis of both the knee joints revealed a sterile and inflammatory fluid, negative for crystals and showing no growth on gram stain. We diagnosed the patient with reactive arthritis secondary to C difficile colitis once all other causes of the bilateral knee joint symptoms were ruled out with appropriate laboratory and imaging studies. Treatment with oral vancomycin and an anti-inflammatory was initiated, and the patient had complete resolution of symptoms. This case illustrates the importance of recognizing C difficile colitis as a potential differential for reactive arthritis under the appropriate circumstances. The treatment of reactive arthritis is mainly supportive and treating the underlying cause, which happens to be C difficile in this case.

Diphtheria is an acute and highly infectious disease, previously regarded as endemic in nature but vaccine-preventable, is caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae (Cd). In this work, we used an in silico approach along the 13 complete genome sequences of C. diphtheriae followed by a computational assessment of structural information of the binding sites to characterize the “pocketome druggability.” To this end, we first computed the “modelome” (3D structures of a complete genome) of a randomly selected reference strain Cd NCTC13129; that had 13,763 open reading frames (ORFs) and resulted in 1,253 (∼9%) structure models. The amino acid sequences of these modeled structures were compared with the remaining 12 genomes and consequently, 438 conserved protein sequences were obtained. The RCSB-PDB database was consulted to check the template structures for these conserved proteins and as a result, 401 adequate 3D models were obtained. We subsequently predicted the protein pockets for the obtained set of models and kept only the conserved pockets that had highly druggable (HD) values (137 across all strains). Later, an off-target host homology analyses was performed considering the human proteome using NCBI database. Furthermore, the gene essentiality analysis was carried out that gave a final set of 10-conserved targets possessing highly druggable protein pockets. To check the target identification robustness of the pipeline used in this work, we crosschecked the final target list with another in-house target identification approach for C. diphtheriae thereby obtaining three common targets, these were; hisE-phosphoribosyl-ATP pyrophosphatase, glpX-fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase II, and rpsH-30S ribosomal protein S8. Our predicted results suggest that the in silico approach used could potentially aid in experimental polypharmacological target determination in C. diphtheriae and other pathogens, thereby, might complement the existing and new drug-discovery pipelines.

Sphingomonas paucimobilis is a nonfermentative gram-negative bacillus of low pathogenicity. The organism has been involved in causing a wide range of infections in community and hospital settings. Only 3 cases of meningitis caused by this organism have been reported so far. We report a rare case of S paucimobilis meningitis who presented with atypical symptoms. A 50-year-old female presented with headache, dizziness, chills, shakiness, and neck pain along with nuchal rigidity. On physical examination, severe neck rigidity along with decreased range of motion was noticed. Her cerebrospinal fluid showed gram-negative rods, and she was started on meropenem. The cerebrospinal fluid grew S paucimobilis sensitive to meropenem. She subsequently showed significant improvement and was discharged home on intravenous meropenem for 21 days and showed complete recovering in 5 weeks.

We present a simple method to coat microneedles (MNs) uniformly with a porous polymer (PLGA) that can deliver drugs at high rates. Stainless steel (SS) MNs of high mechanical strength were coated with a thin porous polymer layer to enhance their delivery rates. Additionally, to improve the interfacial adhesion between the polymer and MNs, the MN surface was modified by plasma treatment followed by dip coating with polyethyleneimine, a polymer with repeating amine units. The average failure load (the minimum force sufficient for detaching the polymer layer from the surface of SS) recorded for the modified surface coating was 25 N, whereas it was 2.2 N for the non-modified surface. Calcein dye was successfully delivered into porcine skin to a depth of 750 µm by the porous polymer-coated MNs, demonstrating that the developed MNs can pierce skin easily without deformation of MNs; additional skin penetration tests confirmed this finding. For visual comparison, rhodamine B dye was delivered using porous-coated and non-coated MNs in gelatin gel which showed that delivery with porous-coated MNs penetrate deeper when compared with non-coated MNs. Finally, lidocaine and rhodamine B dye were delivered in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) medium by porous polymer-coated and non-coated MNs. For rhodamine B, drug delivery with the porous-coated MNs was five times higher than that with the non-coated MNs, whereas 25 times more lidocaine was delivered by the porous-coated MNs compared with the non-coated MNs.

Urease enzyme is responsible for gastric cancer, peptic ulcer, hepatic coma, and urinary stones in millions of people across the world. So, there is a strong need to develop new and safe antiurease drugs, particularly from natural sources. In search for new and effective drugs from natural sources bioassay-guided fractionation and isolation of Berberis glaucocarpa Stapf roots bark resulted in the isolation and characterization, on the basis of 1D and 2D NMR data, of two bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloids, oxyacanthine (1) and tetrandrine (2), followed by urease inhibition studies. Crude extract, all the subfractions and the isolated compounds 1 and 2 displayed excellent urease enzyme inhibition properties in vitro. The antiurease nature and possible mode of action for compounds 1 and 2 were verified and explained through their molecular docking studies against jack-bean urease enzyme. Half-maximum inhibitory concentration (IC50) was calculated for compounds 1 and 2. The IC50 value was found to be 6.35 and 5.51 µg/mL for compounds 1 and 2, respectively. Both compounds 1 and 2 have minimal cytotoxicity against THP-1 monocytic cells.

This study is conducted to analyse the factors, which significantly affect employee job satisfaction in Microfinance Banks of Pakistan. Furthermore, the impact of employee job satisfaction is evaluated on employee turnover intentions. Reward system and training opportunities are taken as independent variables. Primary data is used for this research, which was collected through questionnaire and the reliability of instrument is checked using Cronbach’s alpha. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) is used to process the collected data. Descriptive statistics are determined and correlation among variables is also calculated. OLS method is applied to find out the impact of independent variables and the results show that there is a significant positive correlation among training, reward system and employee job satisfaction, while a negative relationship is found between employee job satisfaction and employee turnover intention.

Corynebacterium diphtheriae (Cd) is a Gram-positive human pathogen responsible for diphtheria infection and once regarded for high mortalities worldwide. The fatality gradually decreased with improved living standards and further alleviated when many immunization programs were introduced. However, numerous drug-resistant strains emerged recently that consequently decreased the efficacy of current therapeutics and vaccines, thereby obliging the scientific community to start investigating new therapeutic targets in pathogenic microorganisms. In this study, our contributions include the prediction of modelome of 13 C. diphtheriae strains, using the MHOLline workflow. A set of 463 conserved proteins were identified by combining the results of pangenomics based core-genome and core-modelome analyses. Further, using subtractive proteomics and modelomics approaches for target identification, a set of 23 proteins was selected as essential for the bacteria. Considering human as a host, eight of these proteins (glpX, nusB, rpsH, hisE, smpB, bioB, DIP1084, and DIP0983) were considered as essential and non-host homologs, and have been subjected to virtual screening using four different compound libraries (extracted from the ZINC database, plant-derived natural compounds and Di-terpenoid Iso-steviol derivatives). The proposed ligand molecules showed favorable interactions, lowered energy values and high complementarity with the predicted targets. Our proposed approach expedites the selection of C. diphtheriae putative proteins for broad-spectrum development of novel drugs and vaccines, owing to the fact that some of these targets have already been identified and validated in other organisms.

Steviosides, rebaudiosides and their analogues constitute a major class of naturally occurring biologically active diterpene compounds. The wide spectrum of pharmacological activity of this group of compounds has developed an interest among medicinal chemists to synthesize, purify, and analyze more selective and potent isosteviol derivatives. It has potential biological applications and improves the field of medicinal chemistry by designing novel drugs with the ability to cope against resistance developing diseases. The outstanding advancement in the design and synthesis of isosteviol and its derivative has proved its effectiveness and importance in the field of medicinal chemical research. The present review is an effort to integrate recently developed novel drugs syntheses from isosteviol and potentially active pharmacological importance of the isosteviol derivatives covering the recent advances.

The redox behaviour of two potential anticancer anthraquinones, 9,10-anthraquinone and 2-chloromethyl-9,10-anthraquinone was investigated in a wide pH range. Cyclic voltammetry based assay was developed for the assessment of the effect of medium, substituents, potential scan rate and number of scans on the voltammetric response of anthraquinones. The electrode reaction mechanism was suggested on the basis of cyclic and differential pulse voltammetric results. The effect of DNA on anthraquinones was also probed at physiological pH which could lead to further investigation of possible citotoxic activity in vitro. The results revealed that anthraquinones interact with DNA more strongly than the clinically used anticancer drug, epirubicin.

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the role of community participation in prevention of dengue fever in The Swat district located in the Northern area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, which experienced a dengue fever outbreak in August, 2013. A total number of 8,963 dengue cases with 0.4% case fatality ratio were registered during the outbreak. Methods: A sample size of 354 respondents were proportionally allocated to each residential colony and then randomly selected. The association of independent variable (Community participation) and dependent variable (practices for control) were tested by using Chi Square test. Results: Results regarding perception of practices for dengue control with community participation showed that: practices for control had signifi cant association with organization of people to eradicate dengue mosquitoes (p=0.00), community leaders (p=0.04), community efforts (p≤0.01), use of insecticides by community people (p=0.00) and involvement of community people in awareness campaign (p=0.00). Similarly, signifi cant associations were found between practices for control and community shared information during dengue outbreak (p=0.00), community link with health department, NGO, Other agencies (p=0.02). Conclusion and Global Health Implications: We conclude that the spread of dengue epidemic was aided by the ignorance, laziness of the community people and government agencies. However, the people, religious scholars, leaders and government agencies were not organized to participate in dengue prevention and eradication, hence, the chances of dengue infection increased in community. The study recommends mobilizing local communities and activating local leadership with active participation of Government and non-government organizations for initiation of preventive strategies. Key words: Dengue fever • Control Practices • Community Participation • Local Leadership • Pakistan Copyright © 2016 Zahir et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

In the present investigation aqueous suspensions of nano- and colloidal range particles are stabilised by changing the ambient pH. Rheology is used to establish the stability of the suspensions and it is found that the rheology of the suspensions is strongly dependent on the pH values. The viscosity is highest close to the iso-electric point of the powders. At the iso-electric point the net surface charge on the powder particles is zero and is the cause of the high viscosity. Away from the iso-electric point, the particles are charged, giving rise to a double layer phenomenon and causing the reduction in viscosity. It is also found that increasing the solid contents of the suspensions reduces the pH region of low viscosity.

Artemisinin is a natural sesquiterpene lactone obtained from the Artemisia annua herb. It is widely used for the treatment of malaria. In this article, we have reviewed the role of artemisinin in controlling malaria, spread of resistance to artemisinin and the different methods used for its large scale production. The highest amount of artemisinin gene expression in tobacco leaf chloroplast leads to the production of 0.8 mg/g of the dry weight of the plant. This will revolutionize the treatment and control of malaria in third world countries. Furthermore, the generations of novel derivatives of artemisinin- and trioxane ring structure-inspired compounds are important for the treatment of malaria caused by resistant plasmodial species. Synthetic endoperoxide-like artefenomel and its derivatives are crucial for the control of malaria and such synthetic compounds should be further explored.

The use of cone and plate rotational rheology to characterize the flow properties of concentrated dispersion and extrusion methods to determine the rheological properties of pastes have become established rheometric techniques. Direct comparison between the results obtained from the two techniques has not previously been demonstrated. In this article the results of such a comparison using established experimental methods and associated analysis are reported. It is found that for most samples investigated the difference in the calculated values of shear stress at a shear rate of 5/s is

Background: Homicide is defined as killing of one human being by another human being. The various patterns of homicidal deaths include assault by sharp weapon, blunt weapon, firearm, strangulation, homicidal hanging, smothering, drowning, burns, poisoning etc. Killing of an individual is the highest level of aggression found in all the cultures. Therefore, the present study was conducted to find out the pattern of causes of death in homicidal cases on autopsy in Pakistan. Material & Methods: This retrospective observational study was conducted from January, 2010 to March, 2014. Autopsies of 2025 dead bodies were conducted in homicidal cases and included in this study. The data was collected on written proforma from the records of Forensic medicine Department BMC Bannu, Alama Iqbal Memorial Hospital Sialkot, Banzeer District Hospital Rawalpindi and Banzeer District Hospital Abbottabad with permission of the authorities. Cases of deceased where cause of death was determined either by external and internal examination or by histological examination / chemical analysis of viscerae were included in this study. Partially decomposed, advancedly decomposed or skeletonized bodies, with no internal or external injuries sufficient to cause death and histological and toxicological reports failing to reveal any abnormal findings, were also included in the study. Different variables of bodies e.g., sex and age were analyzed using statistical package for social Sciences (SPSS) version 13. Results: There were 15.89 % (325 cases) of homicidal autopsies conducted at Bannu district, 31.76 % (670 cases) of homicidal autopsies conducted at district Rawalpindi, 22.02 % (450 cases) of homicidal autopsies conducted at district Sialkot and 30.33 % (600 cases) of homicidal autopsies conducted at district Abbottabad as shown in Table No 1.The victims of homicide at autopsy were maximum 31 % (750 cases) at the age range of 31 – 40 years as compared to age above 60 years 5.15 % (130 cases) which was minimum in this study as shown in Table No 2. The female victims of homicide were 32.76 % (670 cases) and male victims of homicide on autopsy were 67.24 % (1375 cases) as shown in Table No 3. It was seen in this study that in 60.14 % (1230 cases) the cause was fire arm injury, bomb blast in 2.54 % (53 cases), target killing in 2.94 % (60 cases), blunt weapon injury in 17.94 % (367 cases), asphyxia in 1.72 % (35 cases), sharp weapon injury 1.96 % (40 cases), drowning in 1.72 % (35 cases), electrocution in 1.28 % (26 cases), poisoning in 1.37 % (28 cases), burning in 3.61 % (74 cases) and undetermined cause in 4.74 % (97 cases) as shown in Table No 4. Conclusion: Homicidal deaths, mostly due to fire arms have increased substantially in the last decade. Strict measures should be taken to monitor and control the possession of illegal fire arms. Law and order need to be improved in the country. Key Words: Autopsy, cause of death, Homicide, Decomposed or Skeltonized body and corpse.

Records belonging to 1248 Teddy goats kept at the Livestock Production Research Institute, Bahadurnagar, (Okara), Pakistan were analyzed to identify genetic and environmental factors affecting pre-weaning average daily weight gain. Sex of kid, season and year of kidding affected average daily weight gain significantly (P

A survey was conducted during the year 1999-2000 involving 120 farmers on a pre-tested questionnaire out of which 32. 70 and 18 farmers were from nomads. transhumant and sedentary classes respectively. It revealed that mostly selection was done in the male animals based on breeding efficiency, pedigree and individual performance of the animal. Males were selected within flock or taken from other flocks without any costs for some period. Majority of the farmers (57%) had adopted nutritional supplementation practices. For this purpose, they purchased fodder and concentrates rations. Nomads for feeding their animals were depending on grazing only, while transhumant and sedentary people were also growing fodder on agricultural land. Out of 120 respondents, 24.17 percent reported that they pay for grazing in the form of animals and their products. In nomads, transhumantand sedentary average losses of the mean flock size were 37.40, 22.58 and 25.37 percent respectively. Overall average animal losses were 39.48 with the standard deviation of 32.82 animals, which was 26.68 percent of mean flock size.

Data on birth weight of Teddy goats maintained at the Livestock Production Research Institute, Bahadurnagar, were collected. A total of 1666 kidding records spread over a period of 25 years were available. Overall least square mean for birth weight was 1.44 ± 0.06 kg. The variation in birth weight due year and season of birth was significant. The winter born kids were heavier (1.46 ± 0.06 kg) than summer born kids (1.42 ± 0.06 kg). Least square mean for birth weight of male kids was 1.49 ± 0.06 kg and this value was higher than that for female kids ( 1.40 ± 0.06 kg), Birth weight was significantly (P