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Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is a significant global crop and a vital raw material for industries. Studying existing cotton germplasm is crucial for discovering new genetic resources for future breeding. In this study, the effectiveness of EST-SSRs and ISSRs markers were compared for assessing genetic variation among 45 Pakistani Bt and non-Bt cotton varieties. ISSR and EST-SSR primers yielded 108 and 28 loci, respectively. The polymorphism was found 32.40% for ISSR, while 89.28% was recorded for SSR primers. Cluster analysis revealed a high level of genetic similarity for ISSR (average 0.92) and EST-SSR (average 0.85) among cotton genotypes. The mean polymorphic information content (PIC) value was 0.25 for ISSR, whereas it was recorded 0.48 for EST-SSRs. Confusion probability (Cj) exhibited a negative association with discriminating power (Dj), while Dj displayed a positive association with PIC. Marker discriminating statistics showed that EST-SSRs have a high expected heterozygosity of polymorphic loci (Hep) as compared to ISSR, along with a higher marker index value (MI). The effective multiplex ratio for ISSRs (1.40) was greater than EST-SSRs (1.12). The structural analysis revealed 6 sub-clusters for EST-SSRs and 4 sub-clusters for ISSRs. This phylogenetic study is crucial for identifying promising genotypes for breeding programs, especially given the limited genetic diversity in cotton breeding. The study showed that Bt cotton genotypes share a high genetic similarity, emphasizing the need for introducing diverse or exotic genotypes into breeding programs to enrich genetic diversity. Additionally, marker-discriminating indices can aid in selecting effective markers to assess genetic variation, facilitating the development of improved cotton varieties with desired traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Klebsiella spp. are gram-negative bacteria that are widely distributed in the environment, and K. pneumoniae is a common cause of infection in humans (1). Increasingly, K. pneumoniae is reported as [...]

Aim: The study aims to assess the Saudi Arabian publications on dentistry and their citation impact as reflected in the Web of Science (WoS). Methods: WoS database categorized dental research under 'Dentistry Oral Surgery Medicine'. Dental sciences publications with citation impact by Saudi Arabian affiliated authors produced during 2009-2018 have been searched by using suitable searching strategy and dental research of 10 randomly selected countries has been carried out for comparison. The downloaded data was transferred into Microsoft Excel format to measure the bibliometric indicators and citation impact of publications. Results: A total of 1,771 documents on dentistry were published by Saudi Arabia from the time span of 2009 to 2018. These publications received a total of 10,320 citations with an average of 5.83 citations per paper. The subcategory of 'Engineering biomedical' in dentistry got maximum citation impact. Review articles received higher citations as compared to original research articles. Dataset by organizations showed that the research carried out in the hospital sector have a higher number of citations as compared to teaching institutions. The research collaboration by Saudi Arabian authors with the researchers of the University of Michigan, USA got maximum citations while by country analysis shows that research collaboration with Italy, Germany and Japan have more citations as compared to the US, Egypt and England. Conclusion: Although there is promising growth in dental research in Saudi Arabia, even then researchers need to write on the novel and innovative ideas to get global attention and citations. Articles published in Q1 impact factor journals and research collaboration with talent-rich countries got higher citations. Keywords: Bibliometrics; Publications; Citation Impact; Dentistry; Scholarly Productivity; Saudi Arabia; Web of Science;, Introduction Saudi Arabia has been significantly progressing in the field of higher education, remarkably contributing to research & development, and creation of knowledge, particularly during the last decade. The Saudi [...]

Introduction: Scientometric analysis helps to measure the research growth and highlights the salient characteristics of the specific dataset. Saudi Arabia is rapidly growing country in the field of science and technology and remarkably contributing in the research productivity in all areas of health sciences, including radiological sciences from 1995 to 2000 and is drastically increased globally. Aim: To analyse the credible literature on radiological sciences research from Saudi Arabia as reflected in the Scopus database. Materials and Methods: This was a quantitative exploratory study based on scientometric analysis. The data was extracted from the Scopus database. The subject category of "radiology, nuclear medicine and imaging" was selected in the advanced search feature of the Scopus database. All the relevant scholarly literature consisted of articles and reviews indexed under the country name of Saudi Arabia published in English language from 1985 to 2020 were included for analysis. Results: Saudi Arabia was ranked 33rd with 1,587 papers in radiological sciences, representing 0.43% of the global share. The slow progress was observed in the first 20 years but the remarkable growth was recorded during the last five years of study. King Saud University and King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre were the most contributing institutions. Saudi radiologists collaborated with 99 countries of the world and the United States was on the top. Four national journals were included in the list of top 10 preferred journals. Conclusion: Although the rising tendency in radiological sciences research was evident during the last 10 years, still the share of Saudi Arabia was found much lower in comparison with the developed countries. Few well-established Institutions have taken lead in research productivity but a prioritised response from other Research Institutions is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Failure of hemostasis and the formation of blood clots in the arteries are the main reasons that provoke the onset of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) such as myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke. Cardiovascular diseases have become the primary cause of deaths and disabilities across the globe. Therefore, this problem needs to be addressed with urgency. The disintegration of blood clots requires fibrinolytic agents, which are involved in thrombolysis. Streptokinase and urokinase are fibrinolytic enzymes; the former is primarily produced from microbial sources and the latter is isolated from urine, respectively. Streptokinase and urokinase have been in use for a long time to treat cardiovascular diseases. This review explains in detail the comparison of employing streptokinase and urokinase for the said purpose in a cost-effective manner. The recombinant production of both the agents has been discussed in detail. Furthermore, the efficacy of both the agents has been compared based upon their side effects and retention time in the body. A thorough study has been made to compare the influence of using both the agents on the health of cardiovascular patients in the last decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This study was intended to investigate the marketing of library and information services in medical college libraries in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. Research Methodology: The study employed a descriptive survey research design. The population consisted of 55 medical library in-charges, irrespective of their administrative set-up (public and private). A self-administrated questionnaire comprising five-point Likert scale was prepared. Which was pilot-tested and revised. The questionnaire was used as an instrument for data collection consisted of seven main research questions with 72 items. The descriptive statistics, frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation of the data were analyzed by using IBM SPSS-23. Results: All the targeted respondents participated in the survey. Administratively, 18 medical colleges were functioning under the public sector domain, while 37 medical colleges were run by the private sector. The finding demonstrated the necessity of marketing library and information services in order fulfill the objectives of the library and inform patrons of the value of library use. Most of the medical libraries marketed themselves by providing valuable library services to their clientele. The competencies required for librarians in marketing library services are the ability to answer the user's query and evaluate, improve as well as introduce value-added services in the libraries. Furthermore, study's finding revealed that lack of funds, lack of the latest facilities to market library services and unsupportive attitude of administrations were the leading factors militating against marketing library services. Conclusion: Based on the findings it was concluded that more funds should be allocated, workshops and seminars should also be organized for librarians to train them on how to market their library services effectively. The curriculum of Library and Information Science/Information Management should be redesigned to accommodate marketing courses. Finally, librarians must be committed to improve their competencies and market their services in befitting manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study aims to evaluate the Scopus-indexed publications of Professor Dr. Rubina Bhatti, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences and Chairperson, Department of Library and Information Sciences (LIS) at Islamia University of Bahawalpur (IUB), Pakistan. She obtained her Master's degree in LIS in 1991 from IUB, later she joined IUB as a Lecturer in the Department of LIS in 1993. She completed her Ph.D. at The University of Manchester, United Kingdom in 2003. She is the most productive LIS author belonging to the Southern part of Punjab province in Pakistan. The data of this study was retrieved from the Scopus database on January 2nd, 2023. The data analysis presented the periodic growth of papers, citation impact, authorship pattern, collaborative authors, frequently used sources of publications, topographic distribution of papers based on authors' used keywords and characteristics of top-cited papers. The findings of this study would encourage the females of Pakistan through sincere hard work, commitment and dedication, any female can achieve success in her practical and professional career. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Medical librarians support curriculum and research by delivering appropriate and high-quality information and facilities to students and faculty members. COVID-19 pandemic disrupted physical teaching and learning worldwide endorsing virtual education which was supported by digital information resources. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the extent of utilization of physical and digital learning resources along with customer satisfaction in a health science library before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: An online self-administered questionnaire was administered using Microsoft Forms to students and faculty members. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 24. Qualitative variables were analyzed using mean and standard deviation. A Chi-square test was carried out to compare customers' satisfaction with the utilization of information resources before and during the pandemic. A p-value < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: A total of 230 participants were included in the study. The library was visited by 18.7% and 26.1% of customers daily, and weekly respectively before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, none of them used the library daily during a pandemic, while digital library usage increased during this time. A significant reduction in the level of customers' satisfaction was observed with the physical library services in coronavirus outbreaks compared to satisfaction before the pandemic, p=0.028. Participants were satisfied with the utilization of digital library services during the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period, p=0.024. Conclusion: The use of digital libraries surged during the pandemic resulting in a rapid adaptation of electronic books and journals. Librarians' have played a vital role in the current catastrophe by improving awareness of stakeholders regarding e-resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, an introductory and research review of three books related to A’rāb al- Ḥadīth has been presented. Each of these books is unique in its importance and usefulness. The author of the first book A’rāb al-Ḥadīth al-Nabawi is Abu Al-Biqa’ al-Akbarī, who has made A’rāb al-Ḥadīth as the main topic, i.e. put A’rābs on difficult words for the ease of students of Ḥadīth. The author of the second book, Shawahid al-Tawzīḥ wal-Ṣaḥīḥ Li-mushkalāt al-Jaam’ al- Ṣaḥīḥ, is Ibn Mālik, who has selected 99 texts from Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī and interpreted them syntactically. The purpose of this work is to give the correct style to some difficult aḥādīth that are against the rules of syntax. The third book is the ‘Uqūd al-Zuburjad ‘alā Musnad al-Imām Aḥmad, which is written by Jalāluddīn Suyutī. He himself has raised a question regarding the selection book that I have chosen Musnad Imām-e-A’zam for two reasons. The first reason is that this book was the only one left in terms of annotations because of its large volume and not being circulated among students like other ḥadīth books. These suspensions were replaced by writing it. The second reason for its selection is that it is comprehensive for the aḥadīth discussed on the A’rābs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is always a spiritual element to everything we do as humans, even when we are healthy and when we are ill. Spirituality is no longer only a religious or mystic concept; it is now universally accepted as an important aspect in overall health and well-being. In recent years, neuroscience has been used to study spirituality. As a result, this area of investigation has been explored since it appears to have considerable potentiality of both understanding mental disease and expanding treatment techniques. As a prominent Islamic spiritual tradition, Sufism is influenced by Christianity and Hinduism among other major global religions. Many people, both Muslim and non-Muslim, have benefited greatly from its impact on their spiritual health. It has been centuries since Sufism has been preached. There have been many important Sufis throughout Islamic history, but it wasn't until the mediaeval period that Sufism reached its greatest height and culminated in the development of many Sufi communities and its major proponents that it was truly at its peak. Spiritual realization is the purpose of Sufism; the soul is considered as a conduit through which this interaction occurs. "Those who adhere to Sufism believe that God is not only the source of all things, but also the only source of significance in life. To comprehend religious experience and how it impacts one's mental health, this might be an important relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The CXCR3 ligand family, including CXCL9, CXCL10 and CXCL11, play important role in T-cell, natural killer (NK) cell, NKT cell and dendritic cell trafficking. These chemokines were suggested for their use as alternative markers for TB diagnosis, and their possible involvement in disease pathophysiology. In the present study, we investigated the genetic association and frequency of CXCL9 and CXCL10 genes polymorphisms in TB patients of Pakistani population. A total of 260 study participants, including 122 with tuberculosis disease (TB) and 138 healthy control (HC) were included. Out of these 122 TB disease subjects (67%) were diagnosed with PTB (n = 82) and 33% with EPTB (n = 40). Tri and Tetra-ARMS-PCR techniques were used to genotype rs2276886 of CXCL9 and rs5606198 of CXCL10 for all the samples. The results showed significant association (OR, 2.1 (0.99 to 4.30), p = 0.04) of A allele of rs2276886 with EPTB group as compared to the control. In genetic model analysis, we found strong association (OR, 0.4 (0.181 to 0.94), p = 0.03) of GG genotype with male with EPTB as compared to female in gender stratified dominant model. Furthermore, in context of different ethnic groups of Pakistani subpopulation, we found Punjabi speaking's to be significantly at higher risk (OR, 2.16 (95%CI, 1.0910 to 4.2901), p = 0.02) of developing TB as compared to other ethnic categories. Strong association of CXCL9 polymorphism (rs2276886 G>A) with TB disease in Pakistani population was concluded especially, Punjabi speaking participants were found to have higher risk of developing TB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]