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The present study was carried out to investigate food habits and associated risk factors of depressed patients with cardiovascular disease in Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia. Depressed and healthy females (n = 30 each) and males (n = 30 each) aged 18-65 years were involved in this study. Sociodemographic, anthropometric proxies, and nutritional status were evaluated. Cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) levels of respondents' blood were determined. The respondents were varied according to demographic factors and anthropometric proxies. The majority of depressed males had higher values than healthy ones. The student t-test analysis showed that the average daily intake of fat especially saturated fat, by depressed respondents was higher than that of the healthy ones as well as the dietary requirement intake (DRI). The analysis of respondents' blood showed that the number of depressed females had higher abnormal HDL-c than males, who were observed to have an abnormal level of cholesterol and triglycerides. The correlation of daily nutrient intake and depression duration, depression severity, and age showed that the nutrients responsible for the extension and severity of depression were intake of food rich in dietary fat. Factors including demographics daily nutrient intake appeared to be associated with depression.

Worldwide, food waste is one of the prime issues threatening food security and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is not an exception. With 427 kg of food wasted per capita per year, the country ranks among the top food wasters. Ironically, the Kingdom has limited arable lands and scarce water resources to support mass-scale agriculture and to feed its increasing population, KSA relies heavily on imports and subsidized food to meet needs. Yet, food is wasted at restaurants, caterers, cafeterias and, especially, by households such that food waste is the single-largest component of the landfills. The review article is based on the grey and scientific literature published in the English and Arabic languages on the issue of food waste in Saudi Arabia. Information sources like Web of knowledge, online resources and the databases available through the King Saud University, Saudi Arabia were accessed and used to collect information on food waste, its social, cultural, economic and environmental impacts and related topics. Since food items and groceries are abundantly available to all living in KSA and they are highly subsidized, the residents take food for granted. According to a recent survey, about 78% of food purchased in KSA is discarded each week in order to make room for new groceries. The factors responsible for food waste include: lack of awareness; and insufficient and inappropriate planning when shopping. Food waste in restaurants, celebrations, social events and occasions are enormous. Waste is common in festivals and special events where the customs is to provide more food than required. There is a need to change society’s food culture, particularly among the women and the youth, as they are largest segment of the society and the prime food wasters. The analysis of the factors responsible for food waste, identified in this article suggests a “Stop Wasting Food” campaign should be launched. It is also recommended to determine and activate the role of extension education to reduce food waste in the KSA through vibrant capacity building programs for youth and women, in particular, and society in general. Keywords: Food waste, Economic losses, Environmental pollution, Food security, Natural resources, Sustainability issues, Behavioral change, Extension education

Purpose: Inappropriate application of pesticides is quite common in the study area, causing health issues and in some cases fatalities. The intent of the current study is to gauge the farmers’ level of knowledge on the safe usage of pesticides and biosafety to keep the famers healthy through the focused extension programs. Methodology: The study is carried out in 41 union councils of Tehsil Sahiwal, District Sahiwal, Punjab, Pakistan. Data are collected through a cluster sampling technique by conducting face-to-face interviews. Statistical analysis is used to determine relationships and interpret them. Results: The findings show that the majority of farmers (87.2%) earn their livelihoods from farming and 2.1% are traders. More than half of the respondents (51.8%) own small land-holdings with an area of 4–8 ha, with only 16.4% having a land area of more than 12 ha. The results also reveal that the majority of respondents obtain information from private agents and only about one third (34.4%) respondents get information on the safe usage of pesticides from the Department of Agriculture (Extension). The internet has emerged as a fast and reliable source of information in the new paradigm; however, only 14.4% of the respondents take advantage of this economical and fast information tool/medium. The findings also reveal that the farmers employ unhealthy and poor practices by not following the recommendations regarding the safe usage of pesticides. The study also reveals that more than half of the farmers (54.4%) use unsafe storage practices on their farms, and about 48.2% do not follow the instructions. Conclusions: Inappropriate application of pesticides can have negative effects on human health and the adoption safety measures are necessary to avoid the harmful effects of pesticides. Due to high illiteracy in the area, farmers mainly seek advice of neighboring farmers, having ignorance on the biosafety issues. Variables like education level, land ownership, total land size and the trainings on safe pesticide usage significantly influence the knowledge level of farmers on the safe usage of pesticides. Recommendations: Farmers do not follow the recommendations of the extension department or the instructions printed on pesticide bottles/containers, therefore educational (formal and informal) and training programs are necessary on the safe pesticide usage to upgrade their skills and expertise on safe usage of pesticides and the importance of biosafety. Keywords: Farmers level of knowledge, Information sources, Trainings, Safe pesticide usage, Biosafety

Objective: Only a few studies have assessed the quality of life in children with tracheostomies. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of life and the factors influencing it in these children. Method: This cross-sectional, two-centre study was conducted on paediatric patients living in the community with a tracheostomy by using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory. Clinical and demographic information of patients, as well as parents' socioeconomic factors, were obtained. Results: A total of 53 patients met our inclusion criteria, and their parents agreed to participate. The mean age of patients was 6.85 years, and 21 patients were ventilator-dependent. The total paediatric health-related quality of life score was 59.28, and the family impact score was 68.49. In non-ventilator-dependent patients, multivariate analyses indicated that social functioning and health-related quality of life were negatively affected by the duration of tracheostomy. The Quality of Life of ventilator-dependent patients was influenced by care visits and the presence of pulmonary co-morbidities. Conclusion: Children with tracheostomies have a lower quality of life than healthy children do. Routine care visits by a respiratory therapist and nurses yielded significantly improved quality of life in ventilator-dependent children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the northern areas of Pakistan, the use of Artemisia based therapeutics is a common practice. Plants of genus Artemisia are known to possess anthelmintic and therapeutic effect. Infections caused by gastrointestinal nematodes are major threat to livestock industry across the world resulting in loss of production and indirect economic losses due to high cost of anthelmintic drugs. Present study was carried out to evaluate in vitro and in vivo effect of Artemisia sieversiana and Artemisia parviflora on Haemonchus contortus, a parasitic nematode of small ruminants. Methanolic plant extract was tested against three different developmental stages using an egg hatch assay, infective larvae and adult worm motility assay. Different concentrations were used for the bioassays and post exposure mortality was recorded after 8 hr for adult worms and infective larvae, while egg inhibition percentage was observed after 27 hr. A highly significant ability to inhibit the egg hatching (100 %) was recorded for both plant extracts while, the highest activity for adult worm assay and larvicidal assay was 90 % for A. sieversiana. The highest activity for adult motility and larvicidal assay for A. parviflora was 89 % and 86.6 % respectively. For in vivo trials maximum parentage reduction was 77.0 % for A. sieversiana and 73.6 % for A. parviflora. It is concluded that selected plant extracts were effective in reducing worm burden in animals.

Shahid Mehmood,1 Malik A Rehman,1 Hammad Ismail,2 Bushra Mirza,2 Arshad S Bhatti11Center for Micro and Nano Devices, Department of Physics, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, 2Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, PakistanAbstract: In this work, we highlighted the effect of surface modifications of one-dimensional (1D) ZnO nanostructures (NSs) grown by the vapor–solid mechanism on their antibacterial activity. Two sets of ZnO NSs were modified separately – one set was modified by annealing in an Ar environment, and the second set was modified in O2 plasma. Annealing in Ar below 800°C resulted in a compressed lattice, which was due to removal of Zn interstitials and increased O vacancies. Annealing above 1,000°C caused the formation of a new prominent phase, Zn2SiO4. Plasma oxidation of the ZnO NSs caused an expansion in the lattice due to the removal of O vacancies and incorporation of excess O. Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy was employed for the quantification of defects associated with Zn and O in the as-grown and processed ZnO NS. Two distinct bands were observed, one in the ultraviolet (UV) region, due to interband transitions, and other in the visible region, due to defects associated with Zn and O. PL confirmed the surface modification of ZnO NS, as substantial decrease in intensities of visible band was observed. Antibacterial activity of the modified ZnO NSs demonstrated that the surface modifications by Ar annealing limited the antibacterial characteristics of ZnO NS against Staphylococcus aureus. However, ZnO NSs annealed at 1,000°C or higher showed a remarkable antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli. O2 plasma–treated NS showed appreciable antibacterial activity against both E. coli and S. aureus. The minimum inhibition concentration was determined to be 0.5 mg/mL and 1 mg/mL for Ar-annealed and plasma-oxidized ZnO NS, respectively. It was thus proved that the O content at the surface of the ZnO NS was crucial to tune the antibacterial activity against both selected gram-negative (E. coli) and gram-positive (S. aureus) bacterial species.Keywords: oxygen defects, oxygen plasma processing, annealing, photoluminescence spectroscopy

Pakistan is an agricultural country spreading over an area of about 79. 6 million hectares (Mha) with an arid and semi arid climate. Of 79. 6 Mha, about 23 Mha is suitable for crop production and nearly 25 percent of the total cultivated area is designated for rainfed agriculture. Unfortunately, rain-fed agriculture is constrained with multifarious problems such as moisture stress, soil erosion and crusting, nutrient deficiency, depletion and poor nutrient use efficiency, and weed infestation limiting the yield potential of these lands. In addition, deforestation and poor crop husbandry techniques are commonly noticed features. To meet the food requirements, farmers bring all the available pieces of lands under plough including steep slopes. Farming on steep slopes if not managed on scientific lines, results in severe erosion. The problems faced by the farmers are due to the unsustainable practices they adopt to practice dryland agriculture, limiting the productive potential of these important ecosystems. However, their potential can be improved by adopting suitable rainwater harvesting techniques; employing scientific soil and water conservation methods and using sustainable agricultural practices. This paper highlights some important issues associated with the rainfed agriculture of Pakistan. Working strategies for realizing optimum and sustainable yields have been outlined while conserving both land and water resources.

This study investigated hydrogen molecule adsorbing on palladium-functionalized C20 bowl and its H-saturated form (C20H10 bowl) using the B3LYP-D3 model. Moreover, this study examined the stability of different isomers of hydrogen adsorption. The values of adsorption energy were calculated in the investigated systems. This study demonstrated changes in the dipole moment and structural parameters. Additionally, this study indicated the differences in the frontier orbital energy and HOMO–LUMO gap values. Electrophilicity-based charge transfer showed charge transfer between fragments. Furthermore, this study also computed the hydrogen molecule′s recovery duration in the investigated systems. In addition, the present study showed the field emission features of the examined system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The synthesis of 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-one, -thione, and -selone derivatives by three-com-ponent condensation of aromatic aldehydes, ethyl acetoacetate, and urea (thiourea, selenourea) was catalyzed by TiO2 nanoparticles. The effect of this catalyst on the reaction time and yield was investigated. The use of TiO2 nanoparticles improved the reaction conditions to an acceptable level, and good yields of the products were obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]