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This study examined the effect of sonication on FTIR and stability at various temperatures in water-based lubricants with a mixture of Carboxymethyl Cellulose (1wt%) and Uncaria Gambir extract (1wt% and 2wt%). The sample was prepared by mixing the two materials into distilled water using a magnetic stirrer and sonicator with time variations of 5 and 10 minutes. Before mixing, the Uncaria Gambir extract solution with water is first centrifuged to remove the dregs in the Uncaria Gambir extract powder. Stability was carried out in an open room (28oC), drying oven (50oC), and refrigerator (5oC). The stability test results showed that the mixture of Carboxymethyl Cellulose and Uncaria Gambir had good stability at all temperatures after sonication for a short duration. The longer sonication duration could fuse the fibrils of Carboxymethyl Cellulose, leading to increasing particle size. FTIR results also show that there is no chemical reaction that occurs. After adding the gambier, there was a new peak at wave 800-1300 cm-1, corresponding to the gambier. The results of this study indicate that the Carboxymethyl Cellulose and Uncaria Gambir solution can be a potential lubricant additive. The Carboxymethyl Cellulose can be a viscosity modifier, while Uncaria Gambir extract for corrosion inhibitor.

Present study investigates the thermal decomposition and syngas potential of pre-drying municipal solid waste (PMSW) via pyrolysis using thermo-gravimetric (TGA) analyzer coupled with the mass spectrometer (MS). The experiments were performed at the heating rates 5 and 15°C/min. Differential thermo-gravimetric (DTG) curves exposed four conversion phases at lower heating rate and two conversion phases at higher heating rate. MS analysis of the evolved gases H2, CO, and CH4 revealed that the devolatilization phase played a major role during the processes. Higher H2 generation was observed at a lower heating rate due to more contact among PMSW and process temperature. Higher CO and CH4 were also favored at lower heating rate. Total yield of gases was found higher due to higher CO generation. For the estimation of activation energy (Ea), Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (FWO) kinetic model was applied at the conversion rates (α) ranged from 5–35. In overall, the lower heating rate supported the higher WMSW conversion as well as higher gas released during the process. Hence, this study will help to evaluate the H2 potential of the PMSW using pyrolysis thermal technology.

Abstract: Plants are a source of diverse classes of secondary metabolites with anticancer properties. Paclitaxel (Taxol) is an anticancer drug isolated from various Taxus species and is used as a chemotherapeutic agent against various cancers. The biosynthesis of paclitaxel is a complex pathway, making its total chemical synthesis commercially non-viable; hence, alternative novel sources - like plant cell culture and heterologous expression systems, are being investigated to overcome this issue. Advancements in the field of genetic engineering, microbial fermentation engineering, and recombinant techniques have significantly increased the achievable yields of paclitaxel. Indeed, paclitaxel selectively targets microtubules and causes cell cycle arrest in the G2/M phase, inducing a cytotoxic effect in a concentration and time-dependent manner. Innovative drug delivery formulations, like the development of albumin-bound nanoparticles, nano-emulsions, nano-suspensions, liposomes, and polymeric micelles, have been applied to enhance the delivery of paclitaxel to tumor cells. This review focuses on the production, biosynthesis, mechanism of action, and anticancer effects of paclitaxel.

Background: The triple-negative tumor is a high-risk tumor as a targeted therapy to these proteins is not possible with this type of cancer. Objective: To investigate the prognostic factors that can help in treatment selection in the triple-negative phenotype breast tumors Study design: A cross-sectional study Place and duration: This study was conducted at People's University of Medical and Health Sciences Nawabshah from Nov 2021 to Nov 2022 Methodology: The present study examined numerous cases of invasive carcinoma of the breast. The patients visited for follow-up for a long time and they were examined by tissue microarray. The series was stained through concurrent immune-histochemical prognostic panels. This was done to specify the subgroups of different types of breast cancer and for the identification of prognostic markers as well as the aggressive behavior of the tumors. Results: In the beginning, a total of 280 cases were included in the study, out of which 45 (16.07%) patients had triple-negative breast cancer. Most of these cancers were grade 3 carcinomas. A strong association was seen with pushing margins, development of recurrence, large size, poorer Nottingham Prognostic Index, and distant metastasis. Moreover, the association was also seen with loss of expression of E-cadherin and androgen receptors, basal phenotype, p53, EGFR, and P-cadherin. The size of the tumor, androgen receptors, and lymph node staging were the most valuable prognostic markers. Androgen receptor and size had prognostic significance in the tumor subgroup with lymph node-positive tumors. On the other hand, the basal phenotype was the only prognostic marker in the subgroup with lymph node-negative tumors. Some other parameters considered in the present study are histological grade, size of the tumor, age of the patient, and vascular invasion. Conclusion: The most significant markers identified were basal phenotype and androgen receptor. Also, tumor size and the status of the lymph node are quite significant in low-risk and high-risk patients while selecting surgical or non-surgical treatment for the triple-negative tumors Keywords: Triple-negative, breast tumor, prognostic markers, androgen receptors

Celiac disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder in the intestinal tract as a response to the use of gluten in genetically predisposed individuals. It is a worldwide problem, with a high prevalence rate in North America. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study involving 1090 samples collected from different hospitals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan, from January 2019 to December 2019. In this study, 1090 blood samples screened for seroprevalence of anti-tTG antibodies in CD symptomatic patients via ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). 1090 fecal samples from the same CD patients were collected and tested for the presence of rotavirus (RV) via ELISA and RT-PCR. Of the 1090 patients tested for seroprevalence of anti-tTG antibodies, 112/1090 (10.3%) were found to be positive. Of the 112 anti-tTG-positive patients, 78/112 (70%) were positive for RV via ELISA and 74/112 (66.1%) were RV positive via RT-PCR. A statistically significant association was reported between rotavirus infection and celiac disease ( p ˂ 0.05 ). Anti-tTG antibodies were higher in age group 6 (12-18 years) patients (18.4%) and at minimum in age group 3 (1-3 years) patients (4.8%). However, there was a statistically insignificant relationship between group age and CD prevalence ( p > 0.05 ). The highest CD prevalence was noted during winter season (19.6%) and the lowest (3.0%) during fall/autumn. Our study findings demonstrate that Pakistan has a high prevalence of CD compared to other studies. Further studies in the fields of environmental risk factors and treatment with more advanced serological and histopathological studies are needed in the future.

Small ruminants are preferably raised for meat production and hair or wool and milk as by-products and the population of sheep and goats has been growing exponentially among all species of livestock in Pakistan. But the small ruminants’ production has faced huge implications of gastrointestinal worms’ infestations and thereby significant reduction in the production of the animals. The parasitic burden is not only health devastating but also caused severe parasitic infections and production losses. Therefore, a cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of Haemonchus contortus in small ruminants in District Dera Ismail Khan (D. I. Khan) and Lakki Marwat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan and to determine the worm burden of Haemonchus contortus in terms of Egg per gram and to study the risk factors of the disease. For this purpose, a total of 480 fecal samples were collected randomly from the sheep and goat population of the District D.I. Khan and Lakki Marwat, during the four seasons of the year 2020-21 and 2021-22, for the determination of the prevalence of Haemonchus contortus. The results revealed that 12.97 and 13.30% were the overall prevalence of Haemonchus contortus in sheep and goats, respectively. The area-wise incidence of Haemonchus contortus in sheep and goats population, in District D. I. Khan and Lakki Marwat, was 11.25 and 15.68% in sheep and 12.50 and 15.51% in goats population. There was a significant difference (P

Globally, around 2000 plant species are used against pest control. The utilization of botanicals is considered the most economic and biodegradable methods for the control of stored grains pests. Therefore, the current study was carried out to investigate the repellency potential of five botanicals against Callosbruchus maculatus F. in Haripur, Pakistan. The concentrations of Azadirachta indica L., Nicotiana tabacum L., Melia azedarach L., Nicotiana rustica L., and Thuja orientalis L. were, i.e., 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, and 3.0% in four replicates to establish contact effects. The data were recorded after 1, 2, 3, 6, 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours. The repellency effect of these plant species against C. maculatus were increased in both the time- and dose-dependent manner, and highest effect was observed at 72 h. In addition, the repellency effect was 91% for A. indica (class: V), 86% M. azedarach, 82%, N. tabacum (class: V), 79% N. rustica (class: IV), and 75% T. orientalis (class: IV) at 3% concentration against C. maculatus. Furthermore, following 96 hours’ exposure to treatment the sensitivity response of insects decreases as the time interval increases, i.e., 86% A. indica (class: V) was followed by 71% M. azedarach (class: IV), 65% N. tabacum (class: IV), 61% N. rustica (class: IV), and T. orientalis 57% (class: III) repellency at highest concentration of 3%. The current study concluded that A. indica and M. azedarach can be incorporated for the management of C. maculatus and these plant species might be helpful in the productions of new biopesticides.

This study explored the composition and energy potential of university solid waste (USW) in China. Five combustible components, namely hard plastics (HP), paper (PP), soft plastics (SP), biomass (BM), and rubber (RB), were screened with the compositions 51%, 29%, 9%, 4%, and 3%, respectively. Each USW sample was gasified using a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) at the heating rates of 5, 10, and 15 ℃/min and a final process temperature of 900 ℃. Thermal weight loss (TG) curves exposed the degradation in the order HP SP RB BM PP. Derivative thermogravimetric (DTG) peaks revealed that HP, PP, BM, and SP were degraded in three temperature-oriented phases in the range 172-731 ℃. The RB took an additional phase in the range 584-660 ℃. Major released gases, H

Evolution of low moisture stress tolerant genotypes of cotton is a dire need of the time for sustainable/increased production of cotton in Pakistan. A study was conducted to estimate the varietal differences and genetic control of various within boll yield components and fiber quality traits under normal and moisture stress conditions. Five parents viz; PB-39, MNH-886, MNH-147, CIM-598, BH-95 and their ten direct crosses were grown in field in split plot arrangement under randomized complete block design with two replications. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences between the two treatments (normal and moisture deficit) and among the fifteen genotypes for all the recorded traits including bolls number per plant, weight per boll, seed cotton yield per plant, GOT, seeds number per boll, seeds mass per boll, lint mass per boll, fiber length, fiber strength and fiber fineness. Treatment × genotype interaction was also significant for all the traits except fiber fineness. Variance due to GCA and SCA were significant for most of the traits; however magnitude of dominance variance was higher than additive variance indicating prevalence of non-additive genetic control for all the traits under both the conditions. The phenotypic expression of all the genotypes varied greatly under the two growing conditions.

Sadiq-21 is a new wheat variety (Triticum aestivum L.) with better yield and rust resistance. It has been released for general cultivation in Punjab in 2021. The variety has been developed through selection from exotic germplasm at Regional Agricultural Research Institute (RARI), Bahawalpur, Pakistan. This variety has high yield potential (>6700 kg ha-1) and is resistant to yellow, leaf and stem rust. The variety can be adapted to rainfed areas of the province due to its better tolerance against moisture stress. Thousand grain weight ranges from 38-40 g, test weight is high (75.7 kg hl-­1). It is less appealing to wheat aphids and responds very well to fertilizers. The grains are amber in colour and contain good protein, starch and gluten percentage (12.9%, 53.9% and 21%, respectively). It has good chapati making quality. It has good yield potential if planted in the first two weeks of November, maintaining a seed rate of 100-120 kg ha-1 and a fertilizer dose of 150-120-60 NPK kg ha-1. It can be concluded that Sadiq-21 has high yield capability and is resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses prevaling in the region.

The present study was conducted at four different locations for the evaluation of mung bean (vigna radia L.) genotypes. It was shown that all of the genotypes performed better in producing yield at Sarghoda region of Pakistan. The mung bean genotype MPP-15039 performed highest in Sarghoda region and produce high yield in all other three location of the Pakistan in comparison with other genotypes. In Faisalabad region all the genotypes performed on second number in producing mung bean yield as compared to other region. The production of the genotypes was on third position at Sialakot followed by Faroqabad. It was also depicted from the study that the genotypes producing more pods also produced more yield. The Genotype MPP-15039 was producing more pods in Sargodha region and it produced more yield. The genotypes producing less number of the pods also produce low yield as in MPP-15002 as shown in graph 3.

Objective: To determine frequency of thyroid dysfunction among patients of chronic hepatitis C receiving combined pegylated interferon alpha and ribavirin therapy. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Medicine, Military Hospital Rawalpindi, from Jan to Jul 2017. Methodology: One hundred and twenty patients, aged 18–60 years from both genders, with established hepatitis C were included; while the patients with decompensated liver disease, previous antiviral treatment, pre-existing thyroid, autoimmune or severe cardiopulmonary disease and on immuno-suppressants or steroids were excluded. After formal informed consent, they were prescribed 24 weeks pegylated interferon alpha-2 (3 million units subcutaneously thrice weekly) and oral ribavirin (1000–1200 mg daily) therapy. After 12 weeks, serum thyroid stimulating hormone, free thyroxine and triiodothyronine levels were determined by chemiluminescence technique. Results: Out of 120 patients, 100 (83.33%) were males and 20 (16.67%) were females with male to female ratio of 5:1. Mean thyroid stimulating hormone levels at baseline and 12 weeks were 2.86 ± 1.03uiu/ml and 2.16 ± 0.79 uiu/ml respectively. Mean triiodothyronine levels at baseline and 12 weeks were 3.27 ± 1.31pg/ml and 2.69 ± 1.01 pg/ml respectively. Mean thyroxine levels at baseline and 12 weeks were 1.26 ± 0.38 pg/ml and 1.07 ± 0.53 pg/ml respectively. Frequency of thyroid dysfunction was found in 40 (33.33%) patients. Conclusion: Frequency of thyroid dysfunction among hepatitis C patients receiving combined pegylated interferon alpha and ribavirin therapy is quite high.

Heat and mass transfer analysis of viscous liquid flow generated by rotation of disk has generated prodigious interest due to promising utilizations in numerous processes such as thermal energy generation systems, turbine rotators, geothermal energy preservations, chemical processing, medicinal instrumentations, computing devices and so forth. In view of such extraordinary utilizations in numerous engineering procedures existent exertion is excogitated to disclose flowing phenomenon over rotating disk. To raise the importance of current analysis influential physical aspects like magnetic field, permeability, Dufour and Soret diffusion phenomenon are also incorporated. Subsequently, flow field distributions are analyzed for suction and injection cases. Modelling is structured via PDE’s by obliging constitutive conservation laws. Boundary layer approach is executed to reduce complexity of attained partial differential system. Transformations developed by Karman are implemented to convert developed differential framework into ODE’s. Implicitly finite differenced technique known as Keller Box is engaged to find solution of coupled intricate high order ordinary differential equations. Influence of flow controlling parameters on associated distributions are revealed through graphical and tabular representations. The related quantities of engineering interest like coefficients of wall drag force, along radial and tangential directions are also computed. Credibility of presently computed results is established by constructing comparison with previously published literature. It is inferred that magnetic strength parameter enhances tangential and radial components of velocity whereas contrary trend is depicted in axially directed velocity. In addition, temperature and momentum distributions show up surging attribute versus magnetic field parameter. All associated profiles have exhibited decrementing aspects against suction parameter. It is also revealed that increment in Soret tends to produce depreciation in temperature profile whereas concentration distribution is enhanced.

The assessment of temperature variability in any region of the world is important for prior planning in the context of current climate change. The mean monthly, seasonal and annual temperature data of nine meteorological stations was analysed in this study to determine the temperature variability and trend in Baluchistan province, Pakistan. The non-parametric Mann–Kendall and Sen’s slope estimator were applied to investigate the temperature trend pattern in the study Temperature data from the relevant meteorological stations (met-stations) were collected for this purpose from the Pakistan Meteorological Department and the National Center for Environmental Information. The result revealed an increasing significant trend (IST) in the mean annual temperature at Dalbandin, Kalat, Quetta, Zhob and Gawadar meteorological stations. While the seasonal minimum, maximum and mean temperature showed trend fluctuations in winter, spring and autumn seasons. In the seasonal analysis, the increasing trend has been detected in most of the meteorological stations (Dalbandin, Kalat, Quetta, Zhob, Khuzdar, Lasbella, Gawadar) in all four seasons. Whereas in Sibi met-station, a decreasing significant trend (DST) was recorded in summer (minimum, maximum and mean) and the met-station Barkhan recorded decreasing trend in maximum temperature in the autumn season. The Baluchistan province is totally spread over an arid and semiarid area of Pakistan where temperature fluctuations further aggravate the deprived agriculture and sparse natural vegetation.