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Objective: To identify different organisms from diabetic foot ulcers and their antibiotic susceptibility. Study Design: It was an institution based descriptive cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at Rehman Medical Institute, Hayatabad, Peshawar from 1 June 2017 to 31 December 2018. Materials and Methods: A total of 88 specimen have been collected from a sample of 60 diabetic patients who have clinically infected foot ulcers and 99 pathogens wereisolated. The samples includes pus, tissue and fluid under study were cultured on blood agar and McConkey plates. Anaerobic culture medium 1 (AN1) was used for isolating anaerobes. The micro-organisms were identified through gram staining, culture and analytical profile index 20E. The sensitivity to a particular antibiotic was determined by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method.Anti-microbial susceptibility testing of isolates was performed as per the guidelines recommended by the Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI). Results: The most commonly isolated organisms were Escherichia coli (36.2%), Staphylococcus aureus (80%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (13%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (11.6%). Polymicrobial growth was found in 19 cultures. The ratio of gram-negative and gram-positive organisms isolated was 2.3. Gram-negative bacteria accounted for 69.7%, while gram-positive bacteria accounted for 30.3%. Staphylococcus aureus (87%) isolates were resistant to penicillin, ampicillin, levofloxacin, ceftriaxone & cefoxitin. High levels of resistance to amoxicillin/Clavulanic acid 15 (93.57%), ampicillin 20 (100%), ciprofloxacin 17 (89.47%) and co-trimoxazole 12 (85.71%) was seen in Escherichia coli. Conclusion: E. coli are the most common pathogen isolated from diabetic foot ulcers. Their antibiograms suggest that resistance is on the rise and antimicrobial therapy should be selected based on culture results and antimicrobial sensitivity patterns.

Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) change has evolved as a central force behind environmental challenges and has gained great acknowledgment for its wide-ranging effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Mountains, including the mountainous belts of Pakistan, are particularly vulnerable to alterations in LULC resulting from deforestation and other anthropogenic activities. These changes have profound repercussions on the socio-ecological and biophysical environments of mountains. This research aims to investigate the spatiotemporal changes in LULC in the Swat River Basin (SRB), Eastern Hindu Kush, Pakistan. Assessments of LULC changes are crucial for gaining an in-depth understanding, formulating policy guidelines, and implementing conservation practices to address the environmental challenges faced by mountainous areas. The study is based on remotely sensed data and Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis. The temporal span (1988–2018) is divided into three periods and based on ten years interval, Landsat Satellite Images were acquired for 1988, 1998, 2008 and 2018. These images were processed and classified in ArcGIS 10.8. The analysis indicates varying trends in LULC changes over three periods. Forest cover increased by 52.5% in period 1 as a result of social forestry project but declined in periods 2 (-12.8%) and 3 (-18.8%). Contrarily, rangeland decreased by 63.9% in period 1 but grew in periods 2 (71.1%) and 3 (15.5%). Built-up areas expanded by 280%, barren land by 47%, agricultural land by 14.3%. However, snow cover consistently decreased. These alterations are mainly the result of bio-physical impacts, which highlight the urgent need for sustainable land management to mitigate the environmental impact of human activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel single-phase non-isolated bidirectional buck converter topology. The proposed converter uses a basic switching cell structure with a coupled inductor and an interleaving switching scheme. This article addresses a crucial challenge in bidirectional DC-DC conversion by prioritizing reducing output current ripples and minimizing filter inductor size. The employed method includes using MOSFETs with fast recovery diodes to mitigate reverse recovery and body diode losses. Furthermore, the optimization of the switching frequency of the output inductor to be twice the actual switching frequency contributes to reducing the component size of the converter. The coupled inductor also helps to reduce stress on components by distributing currents among its legs. The experimental result demonstrates the proposed converter has a very low ripple current as compared to the conventional converter. The low current ripples and smaller filter inductor size enabled by high-frequency operation have improved the efficiency and size of the converter. A common ground between input and output terminals ensures robust performance without common mode current concerns. Overall, the proposed converter represents a significant improvement in DC-DC converters, promising enhanced efficiency, reliability, and compactness in bidirectional DC-DC conversion systems. In order to verify the performance of the proposed converter, a 460 W buck converter prototype was built and tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study investigates the impact of Leadership Styles (LS) and Emotional Intelligence (EI) on Project Success (PS) through underlying mediating mechanism of Job Satisfaction (JS) and trust. Total 160 responses were received from the team leaders (project managers, project leaders, project coordinators) of the NGOs sector of Pakistan. The findings of the research show that the relationship of LS and EI have significantly positive impact on the PS. Further, JS and Trust is positively and significantly influencing the PS and mediate the relationship of both LS and EI with PS. Within leadership styles, transactional leadership and Laissez Faire leadership styles have positive relationship with PS. However, the negative relationship of transformational leadership with PS is somewhat surprising as this relationship was expected to be positive. The findings suggest that project managers in NGOs must be aware of the impact of certain leadership behaviors and level of emotional intelligence for completing the projects successfully.

Solvated organic compound with the general formula 2-formyl-3,6-bis(hydroxymethyl)phenyl benzoate [C16H14O5] was synthesized. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), Mass Spectrometry (MS) and X-ray powder analytical methods were used here for structure elucidation. Characterization revealed a triclinic geometry with space group P1. The refined unit cell parameters are, a = 15.196 Å, b = 14.882 Å and c = 14.606 Å. Development in present work is an idea of the organic electrochemical dry cell. Electrochemists with an idea in vitro/vivo development in present assay are openly encouraged for supporting exploration.