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Over a span of 1 year, with millions infected, COVID-19 has spread to every part of the world and now poses a health threat to each and every one of us. The outbreak has consequently resulted in multiple health problems such as stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, insomnia, panic, and denial globally. Several factors have contributed to this rising number of psychiatric consults all over the world. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of Pakistani population during the second wave of the pandemic in this region. We conducted an online web-based cross-sectional survey comprising 500 participants. The questionnaire assessed the demographic information, attitude, and knowledge concerning COVID-19 outbreak in addition to generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) utilizing the GAD-7 scale and depressive symptoms using the Center for Epidemiology Scale for Depression (CES-D) scale. The response rate of the study was 90.9%. The results of the survey indicated a prevalence of 25.4% of GAD, and 18.8% of depressive symptoms. Furthermore, nearly 34.8% of participants feared contracting COVID-19, 62.8% obtained constant critical updates regarding COVID-19, while 17.6% did not understand the knowledge regarding COVID-19. In the multivariate regression models, GAD was significantly associated with gender, age, and checking constantly of critical updates regarding COVID-19. Similarly, participants under 30 years had a higher risk of developing depressive symptoms than those above (> 30 years). Lastly, participants with no formal education were also found to be more prone to developing depression. We identified a potential threat to mental health during the pandemic.

Application of nanoparticles in the field of agriculture can increase crop production. It can also decrease mineral loss and can lessen the fertilizer use. The present study deals with synthesis (green) of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) from ZnSO4 solution and seed extract of black seeds (Nigella sativa L.) that acted as reducing agent. To characterize the newly formed nanoparticles UV–visible spectrophotometer, particle size analyzer and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) were used. Seven concentrations (0, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1000 µg/L) of ZnO-NPs were given to the seeds of Broccoli (Brassica oleracea var italic) with ZnSO4 salt solution treatment as control. Results of the particle size analyzer and SEM showed the spherical nanoparticles with particle size of 24 nm. The application of ZnO-NPs to the Broccoli resulted an enhancement of 37.5% in seed germination, 56.6% in root length, 16.6% in shoot length, 41% in weight of seedlings, 11.5% in number of leaves, 17.1% in plant height, 24.4% in leaf area. Chlorophyll, phenolic, proline and sugar content were also observed to be increased by 50%, 67.4%, 14.6% and 36.2% respectively as compared to the distilled water treatment without any nanoparticle. Whereas results also proved higher efficiency of zinc oxide nanoparticles for enhancing crop growth as compared to the macro size ZnSO4 salt solution. From the results, it was concluded that zinc oxide nanoparticles can be a useful nano-supplement to improve the production of B. oleracea var italica. It is first time report for use of green synthesized ZnO-NPs as nanofertilizers for B. oleracea var italic crop.

The SARS‐CoV‐2 outbreak is an unprecedented event in modern history worldwide. To facilitate speedy and smooth recovery during this time period, an added responsibility is placed upon rehabilitation center counselors, staff and management. In this paper we expose the role that psychiatric rehabilitation plays during the COVID-19 crisis. Since COVID-19 pandemic has remarkably raised mental health concerns, one of the high risks and possibly neglected groups includes individuals undergoing mental health rehabilitation, the impact on which can be significant as compared to the rest of the population. In order to ensure that individuals on the road to recovery are not alone and forgotten during the times of coronavirus crisis they should be provided with adequate resources, such as online meetings and group therapy sessions, assessment, treatment and support by telephone and video consultation and getting the medications they need to recover. This article highlights how the coronavirus pandemic, that has hit hard the health care and all categories of patients affected by mental disorders, is likely to be particularly dramatic for mental health rehabilitation centers. Indeed, the COVID-19 crisis has severely tested the health systems worldwide, reducing sometimes the quality and quantity of care offered to psychiatric patients both hospitalized and not in rehabilitation centers. The main goal of this paper is to raise awareness of the importance, often underestimated, of mental health rehabilitation centers, on which one should invest for the both future of psychological and psychiatric rehabilitation and the current crisis as well.

COVID-19 continues to spread across borders and has proven to be a challenge for the existing healthcare system. The demand for intensivists has dramatically increased in the United States, in the backdrop of an expected lack of intensivists in many States even before the pandemic. One proposal has been to organize multidisciplinary teams functioning under one intensivist, as this approach would make use of the existing healthcare force and lessen the burden on intensivists. Another recommendation is the adaptation of Tele-ICUs, which have demonstrated constructive outcomes in the past. Moreover, ensuring the provision of all types of personal protective equipment, adequate testing and, other provisions such as mental health support, financial incentives for intensivists should be prioritized. More intensivists should be trained for the future, for which better institutional policies are essential.

Schizophrenia is a major psychotic disorder affecting nearly 23.6 million people globally and greatly impacting the cognitive and social functioning of individuals. Multiple risk factors, including genetic, environmental, and epigenetic factors have been identified. However, the exact mechanism by which some factors aid in the development of schizophrenia is still uncertain. Acute and/or long-standing inflammation has been implicated as both a cause and effect of schizophrenia. Heightened immune responses have been documented in large cohorts of individuals with schizophrenia. While not completely known, multiple hypotheses, such as disruption of the blood–brain barrier, alterations in the kynurenine/tryptophan pathway, and increased microglial activation, have been presented to correlate inflammation with schizophrenic symptoms. Measurement of C-reactive protein (CRP) is a commonly performed and inexpensive test on patients’ serum to determine levels of systemic inflammation in the body. Multiple studies have reported an elevated CRP level in different stages of schizophrenia, indicating its potential to be used as a viable biomarker in the diagnosis and monitoring of schizophrenia along with assessing treatment response to conventional and non-conventional treatment regimens. This review aims to evaluate the role of inflammation, in general, and CRP, in particular, in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia and its potential significance in diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventative approaches towards schizophrenia and psychosis.

Ischemic Stroke has been recognized as the principal cause of disability and the third leading cause of mortality worldwide. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency and pattern of dyslipidemia in patients presenting with ischemic stroke at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan and to evaluate the effect of demographic and clinical factors on the frequency and pattern of dyslipidemia in ischemic stroke subjects. Methods: A cross-sectional study carried on a sample size of 235 patients presenting to the out-patient clinic with paralysis, difficulty in speech, and/or loss of consciousness lasting for one hour or more. Blood samples were analyzed for total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoproteins (LDL), very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL) and high-density lipoproteins (HDL) by the enzymatic colorimetric methodology. These values were recorded on the pre-defined proforma by the investigators. All analysis was performed using SPSS version 23.0. Results: The average age of the patients was 50.84±11.51 years and 62.1% of them were males. The frequency of dyslipidemia was observed in more than half (n=134/235, 57.02%) of ischemic stroke patients. Regarding the dyslipidemia pattern, TC, VLDL-C and TG levels were deranged in more than 50% of the cases. The most commonly deranged values were of TC and VLDL-C, followed by TG levels. It was observed that patients with a previous history of DM (73.9%, p=0.002) and HTN (81.3%, p=0.001) had significantly higher rates of deranged lipid profiles. Lipid values were found to be more deranged in patients aged 41-50 years (p=0.002) however, no statistically significant differences were observed with respect to BMI (p=0.192) and symptoms duration (p=0.334). Conclusions: Dyslipidemia is an important risk factor for ischemic stroke, and elevated LDL-C is usually the lipid fraction implicated in the pathologic mechanism of stroke.

The coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), first appearing in Wuhan, China, and later declared as a pandemic, has caused serious morbidity and mortality worldwide. Severe cases usually present with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), pneumonia, acute kidney injury (AKI), liver damage, or septic shock. However, with recent advances in severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) research, the virus´s effect on cardiac tissues has become evident. Reportedly, an increased number of COVID-19 patients manifested serious cardiac complications such as heart failure, increased troponin, and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide levels (NT-proBNP), cardiomyopathies, and myocarditis. These cardiac complications initially present as chest tightness, chest pain, and heart palpitations. Diagnostic investigations such as telemetry, electrocardiogram (ECG), cardiac biomarkers (troponin, NT-proBNP), and inflammatory markers (D-dimer, fibrinogen, PT, PTT), must be performed according to the patient´s condition. The best available options for treatment are the provision of supportive care, anti-viral therapy, hemodynamic monitoring, IL-6 blockers, statins, thrombolytic, and anti-hypertensive drugs. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) healthcare workers should be well-informed about the evolving research regarding COVID-19 and approach as a multi-disciplinary team to devise effective strategies for challenging situations to reduce cardiac complications.

Applying machine learning techniques to solve real-world problems is a highly iterative process. The process from idea to code and then to experiment may require up to thousands of iterations to find the optimum set of hyper-parameters. Also, it is hard to find best machine learning techniques for a given dataset. The WOLF framework has been designed to simultaneously automate the process of selecting the best algorithm and searching for the optimum hyper-parameters. It can be useful to both who are novice in machine learning and just want to find best algorithm for their dataset, and also to those who are experts in the field and want to compare their new features or algorithm with state of the art techniques. By incorporating the WOLF framework in their designs, it is easier for novices to apply machine learning techniques on their dataset. With a wide range of evaluation metrics provided, WOLF also helps data scientists to develop better intuition towards machine learning techniques and speed up the process of algorithm development. Another main feature of the WOLF framework is that user can easily integrate new algorithms at any stage of the machine learning pipeline. In this paper, we present the WOLF architecture, and demonstrate how it could be used for standard machine learning datasets and for Android malware detection tasks. Experimental results show the flexibility and performance of WOLF.

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is currently a global threat with an estimated 38.6 million people affected with HIV worldwide. According to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), since 2004 the total number of cases of HIV in Pakistan has risen from 2700 to 130,000. In light of the rising burden of HIV/AIDS across the country, it is essential that medical students possess appropriate knowledge regarding the subject. Therefore, we aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of medical students towards HIV patients in their pre-clinical and post-clinical years in Karachi, Pakistan. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 518 pre-clinical (year 1 and 2) and post-clinical (year 3, 4, and 5) medical students from two medical schools in Karachi during the months of October - December 2019. Similar numbers of participants were taken from each year. Data were analyzed using SPSS. Descriptive statistics were used to report frequencies and proportions for categorical responses. Chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used as the primary statistical tests. About 55% of participants were female, and most belonged to the Islamic faith. More than half of the participants learned about HIV from books (315/518), followed by medical personnel (287/518). A quarter (134/518) of the participants believed HIV could be transmitted by sharing saliva, more than half of whom consisted of pre-clinical year students. Over half the participants (60.4%) knew that there was a difference between HIV and AIDs, most of whom belonged to the 5th year group. When detecting HIV, only about 30% of participants knew about indirect fluorescent antibody. Regarding attitudes, one-third would not be friends with a person diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. As a medical officer, a large majority (76.6%; n=397/518) of the participants would be anxious or somewhat anxious. Two-thirds believed that treating an HIV patient can make them contract HIV, and a majority of participants (333/518) did not feel adequately prepared to deal with the psycho-social problems of an HIV/AIDS patient. Finally, regarding practice, only one-third of the participants were willing to treat an HIV/AIDS patient, most of whom belonged to the pre-clinical 2nd year group and fewer to the post-clinical 3rd year group. Knowledge amongst medical students regarding HIV/AIDS was generally high, although there are some knowledge inadequacies which require more emphasis in the medical school curriculum. However, contrasting with the level of knowledge, in terms of attitude the majority were anxious or somewhat anxious when treating an HIV patient, and only one-third were willing to treat a patient with HIV.

Federated learning (FL) is promising in supporting collaborative learning applications that involve large datasets, massively distributed data owners and unreliable network connectivity. To protect data privacy, existing FL approaches adopt (k,n)-threshold secret sharing schemes, based on the semi-honest assumption for clients, to enable secure multiparty computation in local model update exchange which deals with random client dropouts at the cost of increasing data size. These approaches adopt the semi-honest assumption for clients, therefore they are vulnerable to malicious clients. In this work, we propose a blockchain-based privacy-preserving federated learning (BC-based PPFL) framework, which leverages the immutability and decentralized trust properties of blockchain to provide provenance of model updates. Our proof-of-concept implementation of BC-based PPFL demonstrates it is practical for secure aggregation of local model updates in the federated setting.

Current scenario of newer diseases with multiple causes has drawn the attention of the researchers in the field of therapeutics and they are now inclined to identify molecules effective for targeted therapy. Objective: Quinoline (1-azanaphthalene); belongs to heterocyclic aromatic nitrogen compound. Some quinoline-based derivatives are also known for their anti-tumor activity. The study was planned to evaluate the cytotoxic potential of quinoline derivatives. Methods: Berberine; a quinoline compound was made part of study to make structural analogs which were docked against potential target proteins. Cytotoxic profiling of all derivatives was done using MTT cytotoxicity assay. Results: The pharmacoinformatic and structure activity relationship studies of analogs were done. The cytotoxic profiles were elucidated by comparing viability rates of analogs treated hepatic cancerous cell line with untreated hepatic cells and untreated mesenchymal stem cells as standards. Marked cytotoxicity was seen in all molecules at low doses than reported in past studies with relevance to parent compound. Conclusions: The results will be further confirmed through various other cell culture assays targeting different marker proteins, pharmacoinformatics tools and structure activity relationship studies.