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Metal-oxide-based gas sensors are extensively utilized across various domains due to their cost-effectiveness, facile fabrication, and compatibility with microelectronic technologies. The copper (Cu)-based multifunctional polymer-enhanced sensor (CuMPES) represents a notably tailored design for non-invasive environmental monitoring, particularly for detecting diverse gases with a low concentration. In this investigation, the Cu-CuO/PEDOT nanocomposite was synthesized via a straightforward chemical oxidation and vapor-phase polymerization. Comprehensive characterizations employing X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and micro Raman elucidated the composition, morphology, and crystal structure of this nanocomposite. Gas-sensing assessments of this CuMPES based on Cu-CuO/PEDOT revealed that the response current of the microneedle-type CuMPES surpassed that of the pure Cu microsensor by nearly threefold. The electrical conductivity and surface reactivity are enhanced by poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) polymerized on the CuO-coated surface, resulting in an enhanced sensor performance with an ultra-fast response/recovery of 0.3/0.5 s.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the status of antimicrobial-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus in Pakistan, their association in terms of co-occurrence with the biofilm-forming genes, resistance profiling and associated discrepancies in diagnostic methods., Methodology: A total of 384 milk samples from bovine was collected by using convenient sampling technique and were initially screened for subclinical mastitis, further preceded by isolation and confirmation of S. aureus. The S. aureus isolates were subjected to evaluation of antimicrobial resistance by phenotypic identification using Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method, while the genotypic estimation was done by polymerase chain reaction to declare isolates as methicillin, beta-lactam, vancomycin, tetracycline, and aminoglycoside resistant S. aureus (MRSA, BRSA, VRSA, TRSA, and ARSA), respectively., Results: The current study revealed an overall prevalence of subclinical mastitis and S. aureus to be 59.11% and 46.69%, respectively. On a phenotypic basis, the prevalence of MRSA, BRSA, VRSA, TRSA, and ARSA was found to be 44.33%, 58.49%, 20.75%, 35.84%, and 30.18%, respectively. The results of PCR analysis showed that 46.80% of the tested isolates were declared as MRSA, 37.09% as BRSA, and 36.36% as VRSA, while the occurrence of TRSA and ARSA was observed in 26.31% and 18.75%, respectively. The current study also reported the existence of biofilm-producing genes (icaA and icaD) in 49.06% and 40.57% isolates, respectively. Lastly, this study also reported a high incidence of discrepancies for both genotypic and phenotypic identification methods of resistance evaluation, with the highest discrepancy ratio for the accA-aphD gene, followed by tetK, vanB, blaZ, and mecA genes., Conclusion: The study concluded that different antibiotic resistance strains of S. aureus are prevalent in study districts with high potential to transmit between human populations. The study also determined that there are multiple resistance determinants and mechanisms that are responsible for the silencing and expression of antibiotic resistance genes., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

In this research communication we investigate the prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility of S. aureus harboring virulent genes responsible for mastitis in cattle of Punjab, Pakistan. A total of 690 milk samples were collected from commercial dairy farms for analysis of the prevalence of subclinical and clinical mastitis and isolation of S. aureus . Virulence ability and methicillin resistance in S. aureus (MRSA) was determined by targeting the pvl (the gene for Panton-Valentine leukocidin) and mec A genes, respectively. A total of 175 S. aureus isolates exhibiting prevalence of pvl gene (6.28%) and mec A gene (22.28%) were determined. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of pvl positive and negative MRSA against different classes of antibiotics revealed 100% resistance against β-lactams while 100% sensitivity towards tylosin and linezolid.

Pea (Pisum sativum L.), a globally cultivated leguminous crop valued for its nutritional and economic significance, faces a critical challenge of soil salinity, which significantly hampers crop growth and production worldwide. A pot experiment was carried out in the Botanical Garden, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur to alleviate the negative impacts of sodium chloride (NaCl) on pea through foliar application of ascorbic acid (AsA). Two pea varieties Meteor (V1) and Sarsabz (V2) were tested against salinity, i.e. 0 mM NaCl (Control) and 100 mM NaCl. Three levels of ascorbic acid 0 (Control), 5 and 10 mM were applied through foliar spray. The experimental design was completely randomized (CRD) with three replicates. Salt stress resulted in the suppression of growth, photosynthetic activity, and yield attributes in pea plants. However, the application of AsA treatments effectively alleviated these inhibitory effects. Under stress conditions, the application of AsA treatment led to a substantial increase in chlorophyll a (41.1%), chl. b (56.1%), total chl. contents (44.6%) and carotenoids (58.4%). Under salt stress, there was an increase in Na + accumulation, lipid peroxidation, and the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, the application of AsA increased the contents of proline (26.9%), endogenous AsA (23.1%), total soluble sugars (17.1%), total phenolics (29.7%), and enzymatic antioxidants i.e. SOD (22.3%), POD (34.1%) and CAT (39%) in both varieties under stress. Salinity reduced the yield attributes while foliarly applied AsA increased the pod length (38.7%), number of pods per plant (40%) and 100 seed weight (45.2%). To sum up, the application of AsA alleviated salt-induced damage in pea plants by enhancing photosynthetic pigments, both enzymatic and non-enzymatic activities, maintaining ion homeostasis, and reducing excessive ROS accumulation through the limitation of lipid peroxidation. Overall, V2 (Sarsabz) performed better as compared to the V1 (Meteor)., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Urban atmospheric pollution is global problem and and have become increasingly critical in big cities around the world. Issue of toxic emissions has gained significant attention in the scientific community as the release of pollutants into the atmosphere rising continuously. Although, the Pakistani government has started the Pakistan Clean Air Program to control ambient air quality however, the desired air quality levels are yet to be reached. Since the process of mapping the dispersion of atmospheric pollutants in urban areas is intricate due to its dependence on multiple factors, such as urban vegetation and weather conditions. Therefore, present research focuses on two essential items: (1) the relationship between urban vegetation and atmospheric variables (temperature, relative humidity (RH), sound intensity (SI), CO, CO 2 , and particulate matter (PM 0.5 , PM 1.0 , and PM 2.5 ) and (2) the effect of seasonal change on concentration and magnitude of atmospheric variables. A geographic Information System (GIS) was utilized to map urban atmospheric variables dispersion in the residential areas of Faisalabad, Pakistan. Pearson correlation and principal component analyses were performed to establish the relationship between urban atmospheric pollutants, urban vegetation, and seasonal variation. The results showed a positive correlation between urban vegetation, metrological factors, and most of the atmospheric pollutants. Furthermore, PM concentration showed a significant correlation with temperature and urban vegetation cover. GIS distribution maps for PM 0.5 , PM 1.0 , PM 2.5, and CO 2 pollutants showed the highest concentration of pollutants in poorly to the moderated vegetated areas. Therefore, it can be concluded that urban vegetation requires a rigorous design, planning, and cost-benefit analysis to maximize its positive environmental effects., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Mastitis is one of the highly devastating issues responsible for production and economic losses in all dairy animals including sheep. This study was designed to investigate subclinical mastitis (SCM) associated with S. aureus in lactating nomadic ewes, along with the associated risk factors analysis. Furthermore, molecular characterization and antibiogram profiling of local methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) isolates of ovine origin were also performed. A total of 384 milk samples (n = 384) were collected from 13 nomadic sheep flocks using a convenient sampling technique. SCM was evaluated using a Surf Field Mastitis test and the S. aureus was isolated using standard microbiological techniques. Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion assay was used for phenotypic identification of MRSA while the mecA gene was tested through PCR. Study results revealed that SCM was prevalent at 34.37% while S. aureus association was recorded at 39.39%. MRSA prevalence was 36.53% and 21.15% using phenotypic and genotypic tests, respectively. The mecA gene sequences of study isolates showed maximum resemblance with already reported sequences from Pakistan, China, and Myanmar. MRSA isolates showed maximum resistance towards penicillin, ceftriaxone sodium, and trimethoprim + sulphamethoxazole while gentamicin, ciprofloxacin, and tylosin showed maximum efficacy. Risk factors analysis revealed that various flock management, housing, and host-related factors positively influenced the incidence of S. aureus-associated SCM. This study is the first report on the prevalence of S. aureus and MRSA associated with SCM in lactating ewes in Pakistan. This study will help to devise effective treatment and control strategies for S. aureus-associated SCM., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: To prove the effect of Miana (M), Quercetin (Q), and the combination as an anti-inflammatory agent and Cefixime (C) as an antibiotic in Balb/c mice infected with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S. Typhi) and related to the dynamics of NF-κB mRNA expression and NF-κB protein levels., Methods: A cohort study on male Balb/c mice with subjects consisted of 8 groups with 5 each group by administration of M, Q, M + Q, M + C, Q + C, M + Q + C, C only and sterile distilled water group as negative control. The statistical significance of the difference group was defined as P values less than 0.05., Results: Decreased mRNA expression of NF-κB, NF-κB protein levels, and bacterial load after administration of M + C, Q + C, or M + Q + C showed significant differences when compared to the negative control. The decline in NF-κB was stronger when M + Q + C was given compared to M, Q, M + Q, or C only., Conclusion: The effects of NF-κB suppression appear to be the same between the administration of M, Q and the M + Q when C added. However, the suppression of NF-κB was not significant without adding C., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Authors.)

The cement industry contributes substantially to world emissions. Sustainable and circular practices are adopted globally to mitigate such emissions. Developing countries like Pakistan lack adaptation to circular and sustainable practices. The study proposes an alternative mix of coal and crop residues that can be used for cement production. The study aims to find the best mixtures of coal with crop residue for combustion purposes in cement industries. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) are implemented for the environmental and economic viability of the proposed material mixtures. Moreover, the study seeks to explore risks associated with the implementation of circular practices in the cement industry of a developing country. The study adopts Modified Safety Improvement Risk Assessment (SIRA) for assessing the risks. The results suggest that the partial replacement of coal with bagasse is the most viable mixture with lower environmental emissions and is economically feasible among other alternate mixtures. In terms of risk assessment, there is a lack of governmental support for adopting circular economy (CE) practices and profit uncertainties of these CE practices., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. The following are the supplementary data related to this article., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Pulmonary Fibrosis (PF) is an immedicable respiratory condition distinguished by permanent fibrotic alterations in the pulmonary tissue for which there is no cure. Hence, it is crucial to diagnose PF swiftly and precisely. The existing research on deep learning-based pulmonary fibrosis detection methods has limitations, including dataset sample sizes and a lack of standardization in data preprocessing and evaluation metrics. This study presents a comparative analysis of four vision transformers regarding their efficacy in accurately detecting and classifying patients with Pulmonary Fibrosis and their ability to localize abnormalities within Images obtained from Computerized Tomography (CT) scans. The dataset consisted of 13,486 samples selected out of 24647 from the Pulmonary Fibrosis dataset, which included both PF-positive CT and normal images that underwent preprocessing. The preprocessed images were divided into three sets: the training set, which accounted for 80% of the total pictures; the validation set, which comprised 10%; and the test set, which also consisted of 10%. The vision transformer models, including ViT, MobileViT2, ViTMSN, and BEiT were subjected to training and validation procedures, during which hyperparameters like the learning rate and batch size were fine-tuned. The overall performance of the optimized architectures has been assessed using various performance metrics to showcase the consistent performance of the fine-tuned model. Regarding performance, ViT has shown superior performance in validation and testing accuracy and loss minimization, specifically for CT images when trained at a single epoch with a tuned learning rate of 0.0001. The results were as follows: validation accuracy of 99.85%, testing accuracy of 100%, training loss of 0.0075, and validation loss of 0.0047. The experimental evaluation of the independently collected data gives empirical evidence that the optimized Vision Transformer (ViT) architecture exhibited superior performance compared to all other optimized architectures. It achieved a flawless score of 1.0 in various standard performance metrics, including Sensitivity, Specificity, Accuracy, F1-score, Precision, Recall, Mathew Correlation Coefficient (MCC), Precision-Recall Area under the Curve (AUC PR), Receiver Operating Characteristic and Area Under the Curve (ROC-AUC). Therefore, the optimized Vision Transformer (ViT) functions as a reliable diagnostic tool for the automated categorization of individuals with pulmonary fibrosis (PF) using chest computed tomography (CT) scans., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Waseem Sabir, Farhan, Almalki, Alnfiai and Sampedro.)

During the green revolution in the mid-twentieth century, the consumption of inorganic phosphorous and phosphate-based fertilizers (P-fertilizers) in the developing world skyrocketed, resulting in a proliferation of P-fertilizer industries. Phosphate-based fertilizer industries are ranked among the most environment-polluting industries. The worldwide phosphorus market, which was 68.5 million metric tons in 2020, is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.5% to 81 million metric tons by 2027. The release of untreated hazardous pollutants from these fertilizer industries into the soil, water, and atmosphere has resulted in severe environmental health issues. Excessive surface runoff of phosphorus from agricultural fields and its deposition in water promote the growth of algae and macrophytes and lower dissolved oxygen concentration through eutrophication, which is detrimental to aquatic life. Fluorides (F - ) and sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) and/or heavy metals (potentially toxic elements, PTEs) are also detected in the emissions from these fertilizer industries. The main solid waste generated from the phospho-gypsum plant produced up to 5 tons of di-hydrogen phosphate (H 2 PO 4 ), including PTEs and radioactive substances. Phosphates and fluorenes from these industries are usually disposed of as sludge in storage ponds or trash piles. Humans inhaling poisonous gases released from the P-fertilizer industries can develop hepatic failure, autoimmune diseases, pulmonary disorders, and other health problems. The objectives of this review are to provide guidelines for eliminating the bottleneck pollutions that occur from the phosphate-based fertilizer industries and explore the management practices for its green development., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Introduction  Traditionally, different fetal variable measurements are used in ultrasound to assess fetal growth. Ultrasound can detect abnormal fetal growth. Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is linked to higher fetal obesity as early as 20 weeks of pregnancy. The amount of fetal adipose tissue may be measured by measuring the thickness of the anterior abdominal wall. Measuring the thickness of the fetus's anterior abdominal wall (AAWT) is a straightforward procedure that may be performed alongside standard abdominal circumference measurements. Objectives  To check the diagnostic accuracy of fetal AAWT as an early sonographic sign for diagnosing GDM, keeping oral glucose tolerance test as the gold standard. Study design  This research was conducted using a cross-sectional analysis. Study place and duration The study was conducted in the Radiology Department at Rawalpindi Medical University and Allied Hospitals from July 10, 2019 to January 9, 2020. Materials and methods  Women between the ages of 18 and 45 who had a family history of type 2 diabetes and were at risk for developing GDM were recruited. Exclusions were made for diabetic women, those carrying multiples, and those with autoimmune diseases. The AAWT measurement of the fetus, which included the skin and subcutaneous tissue, was acquired using the traditional anterior cranial view, 2-3 cm lateral to cord insertion. Pregnant patients at risk for GDM underwent screening using an oral glucose tolerance test. Those exhibiting any two abnormal values were diagnosed with GDM. Results  The overall sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and diagnostic accuracy of fetal AAWT as an early sonographic sign for diagnosing GDM, with the oral glucose tolerance test as the gold standard, were 93.14%, 82.65%, 84.82%, 92.05%, and 88.0%, respectively. Conclusion  The study concludes that the diagnostic accuracy of fetal AAWT as an early sonographic indicator for identifying gestational diabetes is notably high., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2023, Sabir et al.)

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the nasal colonization and drug resistance profile of Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), and vancomycin-resistant S. aureus (VRSA) in donkeys (n =63), mules (n = 42), and horses (n = 98). MRSA and VRSA were confirmed based on phenotypic and molecular methods, followed by phylogenetic analysis. Furthermore, the association of various animal and management-based risk factors with S. aureus colonization was also evaluated. The presence of nuc gene on polymerase chain reaction showed an overall prevalence of 42.86% of S. aureus in equines. Based on Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion test, 26.44% of isolates showed resistance to vancomycin. Further, mecA and vanB genes were targeted which showed an overall 14.94% and 13.79% prevalence of methicillin and vancomycin-resistant isolates, respectively. The phylogenetic analysis revealed a significant variation of the study isolates with each other and with already reported sequences of mecA and vanB genes. Risk factor analysis revealed that raising purpose (P = .011), work intensity (P < .001), stocking density (P = .006), presence of other livestock animals in surroundings (P = .043), and common drinking water source (P = .023) as significant. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of MRSA and VRSA isolates showed high resistance to various commonly used antibiotics. Furthermore, all the tested isolates showing resistance to three or more than three antibiotics were considered multiple drug-resistant. The current study manifests the molecular evidence of MRSA and VRSA isolated from equines in Pakistan which will help to address the emerging issue of multidrug resistance in S. aureus in equines and emphasizes the need for possible measures to tackle this issue., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest All authors have declared no conflict of interest in the submission/publication of this data., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Phosphorus (P) is one of the six key elements in plant nutrition and effectively plays a vital role in all major metabolic activities. It is an essential nutrient for plants linked to human food production. Although abundantly present in both organic and inorganic forms in soil, more than 40% of cultivated soils are commonly deficient in P concentration. Then, the P inadequacy is a challenge to a sustainable farming system to improve the food production for an increasing population. It is expected that the whole world population will rise to 9 billion by 2050 and, therefore, it is necessary at the same time for agricultural strategies broadly to expand food production up to 80% to 90% by handling the global dilemma which has affected the environment by climatic changes. Furthermore, the phosphate rock annually produced about 5 million metric tons of phosphate fertilizers per year. About 9.5 Mt of phosphorus enters human food through crops and animals such as milk, egg, meat, and fish and is then utilized, and 3.5 Mt P is physically consumed by the human population. Various new techniques and current agricultural practices are said to be improving P-deficient environments, which might help meet the food requirements of an increasing population. However, 4.4% and 3.4% of the dry biomass of wheat and chickpea, respectively, were increased under intercropping practices, which was higher than that in the monocropping system. A wide range of studies showed that green manure crops, especially legumes, improve the soil-available P content of the soil. It is noted that inoculation of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi could decrease the recommended phosphate fertilizer rate nearly 80%. Agricultural management techniques to improve soil legacy P use by crops include maintaining soil pH by liming, crop rotation, intercropping, planting cover crops, and the consumption of modern fertilizers, in addition to the use of more efficient crop varieties and inoculation with P-solubilizing microorganisms. Therefore, exploring the residual phosphorus in the soil is imperative to reduce the demand for industrial fertilizers while promoting long-term sustainability on a global scale., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Salinization causes the degradation of the soil and threatening the global food security but the application of essential micronutrients like zinc (Zn), improve the plant growth by stabilizing the plant cell and root development. Keeping in view the above-mentioned scenario, an experiment was conducted to compare the efficiency of conventional Zn fertilizers like zinc sulphate (ZnSO 4 ), zinc ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (Zn-EDTA) and advance nano Zn fertilizers such as zinc sulphate nanoparticles (ZnSO 4 NPs), and zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) (applied at the rate of 5 and 10 mg/kg) in saline-sodic soil. Results revealed that the maximum plant height (67%), spike length (72%), root length (162%), number of tillers (71%), paddy weight (100%), shoot dry weight (158%), and root dry weight (119%) was found in ZnSO 4 NPs applied at the rate of 10 mg/kg (ZnSO 4 NPs-10) as compared to salt-affected control (SAC). Similarly, the plants physiological attributes like chlorophyll contents (91%), photosynthesis rate (113%), transpiration rate (106%), stomatal conductance (56%) and internal CO 2 (11%) were increased by the application of ZnSO 4 NPs-10, as compared to SAC. The maximum Zn concentration in root (153%), shoot (205%) and paddy (167%) found in ZnSO 4 NPs-10, as compared to control. In the body of rice plants, other nutrients like phosphorus and potassium were also increased by the application of ZnSO 4 NPs-10 and soil chemical attributes such as sodium and sodium adsorption ratio were decreased. The current experiment concluded that the application of ZnSO 4 NPs at the rate of 10 mg/kg in salt-affected paddy soil increased the growth, physiology, up take of essential nutrients and yield of rice by balancing the cationic ratio under salt stress., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Soil and air pollution caused by heavy metals and limestone dust are prevalent in urban environments and they are an alarming threat to the environment and humans. This study was designed to investigate the changes in morphological and physiological traits of three urban tree species seedlings ( Bombax ceiba, Conocarpus lancifolius , and Eucalyptus camaldulensis ) under the individual as well as synergetic effects of heavy metal lead (Pb) and limestone dust toxicities. The tree species were grown under controlled environmental conditions with nine treatments consisting of three levels of dust (0, 10, and 20 g) and three levels of Pb contaminated water irrigation (0, 5, and 10 mg L -1 ). The results depicted that the growth was maximum in T 1 and minimum in T 9 for all selected tree species. B. ceiba performed better under the same levels of Pb and limestone dust pollution as compared with the other two tree species. The B. ceiba tree species proved to be the most tolerant to Pb and limestone pollution by efficiently demolishing oxidative bursts by triggering SOD, POD, CAT, and proline contents under different levels of lead and dust pollution. The photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, evapotranspiration rate, and transpiration rate were negatively influenced in all three tree species in response to different levels of lead and dust applications. The photosynthetic rate was 1.7%, 3.1%, 7.0%, 11.03%, 16.2%, 23.8%, 24.8%, and 30.7%, and the stomatal conductance was 5%, 10.5%, 23.5%, 40%, 50.01%, 61.5%, 75%, and 90.9%, greater in T 2 , T 3 , T 4 , T 5 , T 6 , T 7 , T 8 , and T 9 plants of B. ceiba , respectively, as compared to T 1 . Based on the findings, among these three tree species, B. ceiba is strongly recommended for planting in heavy metal and limestone dust-polluted areas followed by E. camaldulensis and C. lancifolius due to their better performance and efficient dust and heavy metal-scavenging capability., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Sabir, Guo, Nawaz, Yasin, Yousaf, Gul, Hussain and Rahman.)

Objective: To determine the epidemiological profile of dermatophytes among patients of tinea capitis and their susceptibility pattern to fluconazole and terbinafine., Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted at the Department of Microbiology, Basic Medical Sciences Institute, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi, from August to December 2019, and comprised samples of hair and skin from the scalp of tinea capitis patients regardless of age and gender. Demographic details were collected and the samples were processed for direct microscopy and mycological culture. Antifungal susceptibility testing for fluconazole and terbinafine was performed using broth microdilution method. Data was analysed using SPSS 21., Results: Of the 207 patients, 115(55.5%) were males, and 114(55.1%) were children. Alopecia was the most common presenting complaint 141(68.1%), while grey patch tinea was the most characteristic clinical form 53(25.6%). Dermatophytes were yielded in 61(29.5%) cases, non-dermatophytes were isolated in 45(21.7%) specimens, and 101(48.8%) were culture-negative. Among the dermatophytes, trichophyton violaceum was the most common pathogen 21(34.4%), followed by trichophyton mentagrophytes 18(29.5%). Resistance to fluconazole and terbinafine among dermatophytes was recorded in 12(19.7%) and 7(11.5%) isolates, respectively., Conclusions: The frequency of dermatophytes among tinea capitis patients was higher compared to non-dermatophyte species. Antifungal resistance was predominantly seen in trichophyton violaceum and trichophyton mentagrophytes.

Nitrogen (N) deficiency is a primary limiting factor for crop production worldwide. Previously, we reported root system architectural modifications of hydroponically cultured foxtail millet [Setaria italica (L.) Beauv.] to facilitate N translocation under N limitation. Here, we investigated foxtail millet for its shoot adaptation to low N in terms of internal N regulation under hydroponic culture. The results of this study revealed that the shoot N and nitrate (NO 3 - ) concentrations significantly declined as compared to control (CK); however, the shoot over-accumulated ammonium (NH 4 + ) under low N (LN). N shortage resulted in down-regulation of expressions of SiPetA, SiccsA, SipsbA, SirpoB, SipsaA, SiatpA, Sirps16, and SiPEPC which, undermined chloroplast functioning and CO 2 assimilation for the provision of carbon skeleton. Carbon deficiency and lower activities of GS decelerated ammonia assimilation and led to over-accumulation of NH 4 + in the LN-shoot, as indicated by lower concentrations of total amino acids. Thus, enhanced GOGAT activity was to assimilate NH 4 + while, those of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) were to scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS) of NH 4 + toxicity framework. The weakened chloroplast factory eventually minimized photosynthesis and reduced dry mass of the LN shoot. Such regulation of N by the shoot, perhaps, resurrected physiological functions which maintained internal mineral status under nitrogen limitation in foxtail millet., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

One of the major environmental problems is the fast accumulation of brick kiln emissions near the peripheries of almost all urban centers. An enormous quantity of substandard coal, wood, rubber tires, or saw wood is used as fuel in these brick kilns, creating environmental pollution through carbon and heavy metals present in the emissions. The present study was designed to determine the distribution pattern of heavy metals in a soil-water-plant system under the influence of brick kiln emissions. Ash, soil (0-15 cm), water, and plant samples were collected from the adjacent areas of the brick kilns. Geo-accumulation index and contamination factors were used to assess the toxicity of metals to soil and plants. It was found that the concentrations of Cd in water, soil, coal, and plant samples were found in the range of 0.004-0.024 mg L -1 , 0.02-0.66, 0.002-0.042, and 0.06 to 0.07 mg kg -1 , respectively, while Pb concentration was found within the range of 0-0.08 mg L -1 , 0.30-8.60, 0.011-0, and 0.01-0.08 mg kg -1 in water, soil, and plant samples, respectively. The concentration of Cd in brick kilns ash was in the range of 0-0.04 mg kg -1 while Pb was found within the range of 0.01-0.05 mg kg -1 for ash. Geo-accumulation index and contamination factor values for Cd were found higher suggesting proper pollution prevention measures to be implemented. Based on the results, it was concluded that Cd concentrations in soil, plants, and water samples were higher in the subject area due to brick kiln emissions and higher Cd concentrations in the fuel material., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

UTIs are majorly caused by species of bacteria in patients of almost all ages. The study was aimed to determine the prevalence rate of uropathogens, its antibiotic susceptibility pattern and associated risk factors. Urine samples were collected from n=470 participants using sterilized containers and were inoculated on culture media. The isolates were identified via gram-staining and biochemical characterization. A total of 43.20% samples were positive. Female contributed the highest prevalence rate, 78.82% as compared to male, 21.18%. The highest prevalence 40.90% was observed in the age-group 31-45, followed by 16-30 with 36.90%. Escherichia coli (47.80%) was the most prevalent, followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (18.2%), Enterococcus faecalis (12.80%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (10.30%) and Proteus mirabilis (7.40%). Staphylococcus aureus showed high sensitivity (100%) to amikacin, meropenem, imipenem, fosfomycin, vancomycin, clindamycin and linezolid while in case of E. faecalis, vancomycin and linezolid were highly potent. Amikacin and meropenem showed the highest (100%) potency followed by imipenem While Fosfomycin was highly potent to E. coli, K. pneumoniae, P. mirabilis and P. aeruginosa with potency rate 89.97%, 92.31%, 100% and 100% respectively. In the current study, the positivity rate was highly observed in female. E. coli and K. pneumoniae were found the most ubiquitous for UTI.

Arsenic (As), a class-A human carcinogen, is ubiquitously present in the earth's crust and soil and may enter the air, water, and surface environments through different natural and anthropogenic sources. In this experiment, soil, irrigation water, and rice grains were sampled from conventional rice-growing areas of Punjab, Pakistan. Soil samples were collected from 0 to 15 cm surface soil of rice growing fields, and rice grains were collected from the same field at crop maturity. Irrigation water samples were collected from the source used to irrigate the respective rice fields. Coordinates of sampling locations were noted using a global positioning system, and a locations map was made using ArcGIS. Soil samples were digested in a microwave digester using aqua regia, and plant samples were block digested using nitric acid. Arsenic concentration was determined using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer coupled with an auto-sampler and integrated samples introduction system. The mean concentration of As in rice grains, soil, and water samples was found within the safe limit set by WHO except for a sample from Narowal (148.54 µg l -1 ) that exceeded the irrigation water standard limit, i.e., 100 µg l -1 for irrigation water. Principal component analysis was performed to reduce the multidimensional space of variables and samples. Through the calculations of estimated daily intake, it has been revealed that the As levels measured in this study would only contribute a small amount (less than 5%) of the total recommended daily intake allowance., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Objective: To determine the frequency of sleep paralysis among university students, and to determine the association between sleep paralysis and sleep quality along with different predictive factors leading to sleep paralysis., Methods: The descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad, Pakistan, from June to October, 2019, and comprised adult students of either gender who had experienced at least one episode of sleep paralysis in the past. Demographic variables were obtained using Google Form, while experiences of sleep paralysis were assessed using the Waterloo Unusual Sleep Experience Questionnaire, and sleep quality was assessed with the Sleep Condition Indicator. Data was analysed using SPSS 20., Results: Initially, 440 students were assessed/ Of them, 233(53%) were males, 207(47%) were females, 208(47.3%) were aged 20-23 years, and 129(29.3%) were studying in the third year of their university programme. Of the total, 130(29.5%) subjects had experienced sleep paralysis at least once in their lifetime. The most frequent sensation experienced was feeling of floating 22(16.9%). Mean age at the time of the first experience was 9.7±3.1 years, and 66(50.8%) had experienced the episodes while lying on their back, while 32(24.6%) had positive family history of sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis had significant relationship with sleep quality (p<0.001)., Conclusions: About one-third of the sample had experienced sleep paralysis once in their lifetime. The relationship between sleep paralysis and insomnia was significant.

Escherichia coli is the most studied among those bacteria causing urinary tract infections. This study was aimed to find out antibacterial activity and minimum inhibitory concentration of selected antibacterial agents against E. coli isolates of hospitalized UTI patients. The specimens were inoculated on Eosin Methylene Blue medium. E. coli isolates were identified via colonial morphology, biochemical testing and API-20 kit. The susceptibility pattern of antibacterial agents was determined applying disc diffusion method (Kirby-Bauer) and dilution tube method. Among all, 38.82% (n=158/407) specimens were positive for E. coli, while the rest showed either no growth or exhibited colonies other than E. coli. while observing the susceptibility pattern, Imipenem was found the most effective (73.42%) antibacterial agent, followed by nitrofurantoin (52.53%), cefpirome (44.94%) and tazobactam/ piperacillin (44.94%), whereas the E. coli isolates were highly resistant to sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim (71.52%), followed by Amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (67.72%), nalidixic acid (66.46%) and Tobramycin (62.03%), when tested by disc diffusion method. The isolates were susceptible to cefpirome (39.87%) and tobramycin (39.87%) and resistant to sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim (75.32%), followed by levofloxacin (61.39%), when tested by tube dilution method. The study concluded high degree of resistance against Sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim, in contrast, cephalosporin and Imipenem exhibited good potency which can be recommended for UTI.

We investigated the role of ascorbic acid (AsA) to alleviate nickel (Ni) induced adverse effects on growth and concentration of Ni, copper (Cu), and manganese (Mn) in hydroponically grown wheat varieties viz. Galaxy, Punjab-2011, and FSD-08. Plants were exposed to five levels of Ni viz. 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20   mg L -1 . After 1 week, AsA (1   mM) was sprayed onto the Ni-stressed plants. FSD-08 produced the maximum SDW with and without AsA compared to other varieties. FSD-08, Galaxy, and Punjab-2011 witnessed 2.61-, 2.83-, and 7.5-fold increases in SDW with AsA, respectively. Wheat plants contained the maximum Ni in shoots and roots with a Ni level of 20   mg L -1 irrespective of varieties. Nickel in shoots decreased with AsA witnessing 13, 12, and 10% decrease in FSD-08, Punjab-2011, and Galaxy, respectively. Nickel in roots of FSD-08 decreased by 18% while increased by 3.34-fold and 3.50-fold in Galaxy and Punjab-2011, respectively with AsA. Nickel decreased Cu in shoot and Mn in shoot and root while Cu in roots of all wheat varieties increased. It was concluded that AsA improved the growth of Ni-stressed and FSD-08 performed better by maintaining good growth and less Ni in shoots compared to other varieties.

We conducted a pot experiment to evaluate the potential for soil- and foliar-applied silicon (Si), alone and in combination, to a Cd-contaminated soil in order to evaluate the effects on such amendments on the Cd translocation from soil to wheat root, shoot and grains. Five treatments were used, T1) control with no external factor added, T2 received only Cd, while T3-T5 treatments received Cd in combination with soil, foliar and soil plus foliar applied Si. Except control (T1), soil was contaminated with Cd at 10 mg kg -1 in all the treatments and 1% solution of Si as an amendment was used for soil and/or foliar application or their combination. Overall, while Si application improved both plant growth and yield in Cd-contaminated soil. Control and combined soil- and foliar-applied Si in Cd contaminated treatments showed equally positive (2.5%) increase in plant height over Cd contaminated treatment. Grain yield was also highest in the treatment receiving Cd plus soil-applied Si (29%) followed by control (26%). It was concluded that Si can alleviate Cd toxicity in wheat irrespective of whether the Si was soil-applied or applied via a foliar method, but soil applied Si proved the best in this regard. Novelty statement Immobilization of metals i.e., cadmium (Cd) with soil-applied amendments like biomaterials and organic manure to decrease Cd concentration in plants have already been widely investigated. Silicon (Si) is a cheap in-organic and readily available element in the nature and also used for the same purpose. It can be applied both in soil as well as by foliar and soil + foliar application to decrease the metals concentration in soil and plants. However, comparative effectiveness of these three methods have not been checked simultaneously. In this study, we have studied the comparative effectiveness of Si application to soil, foliar and their combination (soil + foliar) to decrease Cd concentration during wheat crop.

Airway inflammation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an amplified response of the normal immune system that occurs as a result of chronic irritation by toxic substances, such as cigarette smoke. This leads to the characteristic pathological changes in the inflammatory cells of COPD patients. ADAM33 has been reported to be involved in the pathogenesis of COPD in East Asia by affecting airway inflammation and other immune responses. The aim of this study was to determine the potential role of ADAM33 (mRNA and soluble levels) as a biomarker of inflammation in COPD patients. This is a case control study using consecutive sampling. The COPD case and control (non-COPD) groups comprised 37 and 29 patients, respectively. We used univariate analysis to assess differences in the parameters between the groups and bivariate analysis to non-parametrically compare these parameters between the two groups. We observed significantly higher mRNA levels of ADAM33 in the COPD patients (10.39 ± 1.76) as compared to that in the non-COPD individuals (6.93 ± 0.39; P < 0.001). The levels of soluble ADAM33 were also significantly higher in the COPD patients (2.188 ± 1.142 ng/ml) compared to the non-COPD individuals (0.487 ± 0.105 ng/ml; P < 0.001). The mRNA and soluble ADAM33 levels were significantly higher in COPD patients compared to those in the parameter-matched non-COPD individuals. Thus, ADAM33 is a potential biomarker and treatment for inflammation in COPD patients., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Continuously increasing human population demands increased food production, which needs greater fertilizer's input in agricultural lands to enhance crop yield. In this respect, different fertilization practices gained acceptance among farmers. We reviewed effect of three main fertilization practices (Conventional-, Organic-, and Bio-fertilization) on soil microbial diversity, activity, and community composition. Studies reported that over application of inorganic fertilizers decline soil pH, change soil osmolarity, cause soil degradation, disturb taxonomic diversity and metabolism of soil microbes and cause accumulation of extra nutrients into the soil such as phosphorous (P) accumulation. On the contrary, organic fertilizers increase organic carbon (OC) input in the soil, which strongly encourage growth of heterotrophic microbes. Organic fertilizer vermicompost application provides readily available nutrients to both plants as well as microbes and encourage overall microbial number in the soil. Most recently, role of beneficial bacteria in long-term sustainable agriculture attracted attention of scientists towards their use as biofertilizer in the soil. Studies documented favorable effect of biofertilization on microbial Shannon, Chao and ACE diversity indices in the soil. It is concluded from intensive review of literature that all the three fertilization practices have their own way to benefit the soil with nutrients, but biofertilization provides long-term sustainability to crop lands. When it is used in integration with organic fertilizers, it makes the soil best for microbial growth and activity and increase microbial diversity, providing nutrients to soil for a longer time, thus improving crop productivity., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Introduction: Medical professionalism is an essential part of training and professional development of medical students. Unprofessional behavior in medical school may lead to professional misconduct in the future careers. The Learner's Attitude of Medical Professionalism Scale (LAMPS) is a self-assessment questionnaire. It has been used in this study to assess and compare self-reported attitudes about different domains of medical professionalism among First and Final Year students and Faculty of Shalamar Medical and Dental College (SMDC). LAMPS has been used to identify the gaps in the attitudes of medical students and professionals, which can be addressed through a training program of professionalism., Methods: This is a cross-sectional survey conducted in SMDC from June to Dec 2018. First Year and Final Year Students and Faculty were recruited by non-probability convenience sampling. The sample size was calculated by the Cochran's Formula, keeping the level of significance at 5% and margin of error at 3%. The reliability of LAMPS using Cronbach's alpha is 0.7. It has been validated by 32 experts followed by pilot testing. The domains of professionalism were scored according to Likert Scale. The data were analyzed using SPSS 24. T-test was used for comparison of the means., Results: There were a total of 204 study participants; 88 students from First Year, 78 from Final Year and 38 Faculty Members. Honor/Integrity was the most valued trait and Excellence/Autonomy was the lowest scored domain of medical professionalism. There was a significant difference among attitudes of the First and Final Year students in the domains of Excellence/Autonomy and Altruism. Excellence/Autonomy and Honor/Integrity showed a significant difference between the Final Year students and Faculty., Conclusions: Medical students and faculty have significantly different views of certain attributes of professionalism. Honor/Integrity was the most valued trait and Excellence/Autonomy was the lowest valued trait of medical professionalism., (Copyright: © Journal of Advances in Medical Education & Professionalism.)

Natural springs which originate from hilly areas of Skardu in Pakistan make their route downward and are utilized by the public as they passes from residential areas. Due to weathering processes in mountainous regions, these springs can be the source of various trace elements and pollutants. Keeping in mind the same concept, ten mostly used freshwater springs were selected to evaluate their drinking water quality in the Skardu region. Three samples of water from each spring (start/mouth, 100 m away from the mouth, and 200 m away from mouth) were collected and analyzed for water quality via Water Quality Index (WQI). The main parameters of spring water were recorded in the laboratory as electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), residual sodium carbonate (RSC), and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), and secondary parameters, i.e., Kelley's ratio (KR), permeability index (PI), and WQI, were derived. Besides these parameters, heavy metal pollutants (Cd, Cr, Mn, and Cu) were also determined from the water samples. The results showed that the assessed parameters TDS, SSP, KR, and PI were found within the safer limits of drinking water as prescribed by the Pak-EPA and WHO. However, among trace elements, only Cd (0.03 mg L -1 ) was found above the permissible limits of 0.01 mg L -1 as given by the GOP-EPA (2008) and WHO (1996) at Shigri Bala spring 200 m away. Similarly, at 2 ft from the mouth of Chumig S1 spring, its concentrations were recorded 0.03 mg L -1 , and at Benazir Chowk spring (100 m away), it was found 0.02 mg L -1 . In general, the Water WQI demonstrates that springs have good water quality. Our findings are useful for the environmental protection managers and citizens of the Skardu concerned with the water quality of the springs.

Background: Mathematical modeling of vector-borne diseases and forecasting of epidemics outbreak are global challenges and big point of concern worldwide. The outbreaks depend on different social and demographic factors based on human mobility structured with the help of mathematical models for vector-borne disease transmission. In Dec 2019, an infectious disease is known as "coronavirus" (officially declared as COVID-19 by WHO) emerged in Wuhan (Capital city of Hubei, China) and spread quickly to all over the china with over 50,000 cases including more than 1000 death within a short period of one month. Multimodal modeling of robust dynamics system is a complex, challenging and fast growing area of the research., Objectives: The main objective of this proposed hybrid computing technique are as follows: The innovative design of the NAR-RBFs neural network paradigm is designed to construct the SITR epidemic differential equation (DE) model to ascertain the different features of the spread of COVID-19. The new set of transformations is introduced for nonlinear input to achieve with a higher level of accuracy, stability, and convergence analysis., Methods: Multimodal modeling of robust dynamics system is a complex, challenging and fast growing area of the research. In this research bimodal spread of COVID-19 is investigated with hybrid model based on nonlinear autoregressive with radial base function (NAR-RBFs) neural network for SITR model. Chaotic and stochastic data of the pandemic. A new class of transformation is presented for the system of ordinary differential equation (ODE) for fast convergence and improvement of desired accuracy level. The proposed transformations convert local optimum values to global values before implementation of bimodal paradigm., Results: This suggested NAR-RBFs model is investigated for the bi-module nature of SITR model with additional feature of fragility in modeling of stochastic variation ability for different cases and scenarios with constraints variation. Best agreement of the proposed bimodal paradigm with outstanding numerical solver is confirmed based on statistical results calculated from MSE, RMSE and MAPE with accuracy level based on mean square error up to 1E-25, which further validates the stability and consistence of bimodal proposed model., Conclusions: This computational technique is shown extraordinary results in terms of accuracy and convergence. The outcomes of this study will be useful in forecasting the progression of COVID-19, the influence of several deciding parameters overspread of COVID-19 and can help for planning, monitoring as well as preventing the spread of COVID-19., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Self-medication is the use of medicines by people on the basis of their own experience without consulting a doctor. People use medicines for pain management or to cure a disease and sometime this may be unnecessary. There are a lot of public and professional health concerns about misuse of medicines and globally physicians agree upon this rising issue that leads to antibiotic resistance. In developing countries, medicines without prescription are easily available which results in many adverse outcomes, especially bacterial resistance. Insufficient healthcare services and socioeconomic factors result in increased proportion of self-medication compared to drugs prescribed by physicians. The current narrative review was planned to focus on indicating prevalence rate of self-medication in different developed and under-developed countries, major risk factors and control of self-medication due to which antibiotic resistance rate can be minimised. The issue needs urgent attention of representative authorities for taking serious actions. Furthermore, arranging awareness seminars and implementing new policies/regulations to prevent the sale of any drug/antibiotic without prescription could play a vital role in bringing this alarming issue under control.

Objective: This study aims to identify scientific evidence and knowledge currently available related to clinical laboratory management in the face of disasters with the literature review method., Method: This is a literature review study. Various references were collected from online databases, including reports, scientific journals, and books in the last ten years. Articles are screened according to the research objectives. The keywords used are laboratories, hospitals, disasters, Point of Care Testing (POCT)., Results: POCT is defined as the tools of a laboratory diagnostic test used in a disaster situation effectively. It can be operated by anyone who has been trained. However, it is quite constrained by temperature, earthquake shocks, and battery life. Storage and reagents supply, such as the strip test, might be prepare before the disaster. Moreover, maintenance and validation of POCT tools in disaster preparation is necessary. Hospitals must prepare POCT to conquer the limitation of electricity sources, human resources, and buildings situation was using a laboratory diagnostic analyzer not possible. The POCT was suitable to be conveyed anywhere both within the hospital and to disaster sites using the vehicle., Conclusion: POCT has the enormous potential as an emergency laboratory examination tool both at the hospital and at the disaster site to grip patient safety., (Copyright © 2021 SESPAS. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the sexual behavior relationship with HIV/AIDS on homosexuals in Palu City and its risk factors., Method: The study was held using a case-control with a retrospective study. The number of samples on the case-control group is 90 respondents with 1:1 comparison. Sampling techniques and data collection based on the medical record of VCT in Anutapura Hospital by using the questionnaire. The data is processed using the univariate analysis, bivariate analysis by using chi-square, and multivariate analysis by using logistic regression analysis., Results: Based on bivariate analysis gained that there is a significant relationship of sexual behavior in homosexuals with HIV/AIDS in Palu City. Dependent variable is HIV/AIDS while the independent variable are the number of pairs p=0.004 (OR=12.6); Anal sex p=0.003 (OR=3.6); Oral ejaculation p=0.002 (OR=14.2); Oral sex-licking/rimming p=0.035 (OR=2.5); Fingering p=0.019 (OR=2.8); and interfemoral coitus p=0.011 (OR=3.0). Based on the modeling of multivariate logistic regression analysis obtained, dominant variables are the number of pairs, anal sex, and interfemoral coitus, so the most dominant variables are the number of pairs with OR=20.8. Homosexuals that have more than one couple do bareback sex, and interfemoral coitus have an estimated probability of HIV/AIDS in Palu City is 83.7%., Conclusion: There is a significant influence between sexual behavior against HIV/AIDS in homosexuals at Palu City in 2020., (Copyright © 2021 SESPAS. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

This research investigates the heat and mass transfer in 3-D MHD radiative flow of water based hybrid nanofluid over an extending sheet by employing the strength of numerical computing based Lobatto IIIA method. Nanoparticles of aluminum oxide (Al 2 O 3 ) and silver (Ag) are being used with water (H 2 O) as base fluid. By considering the heat transfer phenomenon due to thermal radiation effects. The physical flow problem is then modeled into set of PDEs, which are then transmuted into equivalent set of nonlinear ODEs by utilizing the appropriate similarity transformations. The system of ODEs is solved by the computational strength of Lobatto IIIA method to get the various graphical and numerical results for analyzing the impact of various physical constraints on velocity and thermal profiles. Additionally, the heat transfers and skin friction analysis for the fluid flow dynamics is also investigated. The relative errors up to the accuracy level of 1e-15, established the worth and reliability of the computational technique. It is observed that heat transfer rate increases with the increase in magnetic effect, Biot number and rotation parameter.

The aim of this study was an in-situ synthesis of hydroxyapatite (HA) on cellulose fibers to be used as a new reinforcing agent for dental restorations. The microwave irradiation method was used for synthesis and the materials were characterized with analytical techniques. The prepared dental resin composites were mechanically tested by a universal testing machine and electrodynamic fatigue testing system. FTIR, XRD, SEM/EDS analysis confirmed the successful synthesis of HA on cellulose fibers. The Alamar blue biocompatibility assay showed more than 90% cell viability for the prepared cellulose/HA. The mechanical properties of resin composites improved with cellulose content from 30 wt.% to 50 wt.% in the polymer matrix. Substantially, increasing the cellulose/HA content from 40% to 50% improved the mechanical properties. The results suggested that HA could be successfully synthesized on cellulose fibers using microwave irradiation and contributed to improving the mechanical properties of dental resin composites.

A drone based on four rotors is considered in this research paper. Its chaotic solution is shown bounded in an inscribed sphere whose vertices are tangent to faces of octahedron. Based on concept of constrained optimization; Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMIs) satisfying quadratic constraint increment multiplier matrix σ m , state observers and descriptors with estimated parameter is calculated. Moreover, an image file is decrypted by designing description for mentioned chaotic system and then encrypted on its receiver end. Furthermore, an electric circuit is designed for chaotic quadrotor using LTspice and is fitted into wireless flying robot to observe its dynamics in bounded rectangular region., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper, (© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To assess and compare the frequency of antibiotic-resistant staphylococcus aureus strains., Methods: A retrospective study was conducted at the privately-owned Welfare Medical Laboratory, Peshawar, Pakistan, and comprised record related to the period between 07th February 2017 and 23rd March 2018 of patients referred for pus-testing from Khyber Teaching Hospital, Lady Reading Hospital and the Hayatabad Medical Complex. Pus samples were obtained from various parts of body with cotton swabs. The samples were cultured and the isolated staphylococcus aureus strains were analysed against selected antibiotics. The frequency of the isolated strains was tested and compared using Prism 7 software., Results: Of the 6780 samples, staphylococcus aureus was found in 4315(63.64%). Wild-type staphylococcus aureus strains were 2133(31.46%), followed by 825(12.16%) methicillin resistant, 792(11.68%) vancomycin intermediate, and 565(8.33%) vancomycin-resistant staphylococcus aureus strains. The isolated strains were significant (p<0.0001) for operated wounds, and non-significant (p=0.8915) for diabetic foot cases., Conclusions: The frequency of antibiotic-resistant staphylococcu saureus strains was high.

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivation in cadmium (Cd) polluted soil is a core concern to food quality and food security all over the world. Cadmium toxicity is mainly associated with a Cd influx from contaminated soils to human via grain consumption. Organic amendments are widely used for Cd immobilization and enhancement in plant growth, but the residual effects of these amendments are mostly unknown. The present study addressed the long-term effects of organic amendments in contaminated soils by evaluating their residual effects on 3rd crop (wheat) in the sequence. Initially six organic amendments viz. rice husk biochar (RHB), wheat-straw biochar (WSB), cotton-stick biochar (CSB), poultry manure (PM), press mud (PrMd) and farm manure (FM) were applied once at a rate of 2% in Cd (50 mg kg -1 ) contaminated soil with wheat-rice rotation. After the harvest of wheat and rice crops, wheat (Var. Galaxy) was again grown in the same pots. Results revealed that plants grown under Cd stress (without any amendment) contain more tissue (root, shoot and grain) and soil AB-DTPA extractable Cd. The soil amended with RHB has shown lowest AB-DTPA extractable Cd (69% lower than control). Similarly, RHB application has significantly reduced wheat root, shoot and grain Cd concentrations compared to control and other amendments. Results have confirmed the effectiveness of RHB residual contents as an active amendment for restriction of Cd in non-bioavailable pool of soil and better growth and yield of wheat., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The effect of organic amendments on phytoavailability of nickel (Ni) and other metals in soil may change with time due to transformation of organic matter. We investigated the residual effect of organic amendments (farm manure [FM], poultry manure [PM], pressmud [PrM], and activated carbon [AC]) to immobilize Ni and other metals in soil and absorption of metals by Egyptian clover. Fresh and dry weights of Egyptian clover increased significantly ( p  < 0.05) due to residual effect of amendments compared to control. Extractable Ni and other metals had significant positive correlation with residual organic matter in soil. Extractable manganese (Mn) in post-harvest soil of Egyptian clover increased compared with that of post-harvest soil of maize (previous crop). However, extractable copper (Cu) decreased with amendments. Copper was the maximum in control followed by AC. Zinc in soil decreased in FM and PrM treated pots but increased in pots amended with PM and AC. Concentration of Ni, Mn, and Cu was the minimum in shoots of those plants grown with AC amended pots compared to the control. It was concluded that AC was the most effective for immobilization of metals in soil which consequently decreased the concentration of metals in shoots of Egyptian clover.

Faisalabad is one of the major industrial cities of Pakistan, which may cause noise pollution to the local residents due to the development of robust industrial and transport systems. This study aimed at (i) mapping the noise pollution levels at various locations of Faisalabad city; (ii) comparing noise pollution levels in the morning, the afternoon, and the evening for each source; and (iii) assessing nonauditory effects of noise on human health. Two industries and 43 famous/busy locations of Faisalabad Sadar were selected to study noise pollution by using the sound level meter for the period of 24 h. A questionnaire-based survey was carried out near the sampling points to get a public perception about the health impacts of noise pollution. The measured equivalent sound pressure levels (SPLeq) were higher than the permissible limits at all the sampling locations during morning, afternoon, and evening hours. The maximum sound pressure level (SPL max ) was 102 dB inside the production unit in the afternoon at Mian Muhammad Siddiq Textile Loom industry. The average SPL was found at State Bank road (102 dB), Children's Hospital (101 dB), Jhang Bazar (100 dB) in the afternoon and at Punjab Medical College in the evening (97 dB). Based on the survey, 94% of respondents reported headache, 76% sleeplessness, 74% hypertension, 74% physiological stress, 64% elevated blood pressure levels, and 60% dizziness due to noise. Noise pollution is higher than the standard limits and causes auditory as well as nonauditory effects on humans. The vehicles and industrial machinery should be maintained, and sound proofing and protection equipment should be provided to the workforce in order to protect them from extreme noise levels.

The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between CO 2 emissions and its possible determinants and their direction of causality for Pakistan over the period of 1972 to 2017. The survey of literature guides us that the most frequently discussed factors are real GDP per capita, energy consumption, urbanization, trade openness, and financial development. Testing of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis is the most common in environment literature so we also incorporated the real GDP per capita squared term in the model. Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bound testing approach to cointegration with structural break and error correction method (ECM) are applied to the selected time series to investigate the long-run relationship between CO 2 emissions and real GDP per capita, real GDP per capita squared term, energy consumption, urbanization, trade openness, and financial development. The empirical evidence confirms the cointegration among the variables and EKC holds for Pakistan support H1 of the study, which though contradictory to the previous studies conducted on Pakistan but all of previous work faces the exclusion bias and their findings were skewed. The findings also suggest that energy consumption and urbanization have a positive effect on CO 2 emissions, supporting H2 and H3. However, H4 and H5 rejected as trade openness and financial development found positively significant. Moreover, bidirectional Granger causality was exists only between CO 2 emissions and trade openness. The findings suggests that Pakistan need to settle the economic agenda of the nation through the resolution of economic controversies, energy mix need to tilt toward clean and renewable energy, and rural-urban migration need to manage for better air, water, and living.

Nowadays, the excessive industrialization, increased use of fossil fuels, elevated levels of vehicular emissions are causing high level of air pollution reaching epidemic levels. The effects of "smog" or in other words of air pollution can be very dangerous for humans, and plants. In fact, air pollution can be linked to many health-related issues, as it is one of the leading causes of pulmonary, respiratory and skin diseases across the globe. In this context, Pakistan being an underdeveloped country, faces the hazardous impacts of smog on health, environment, transportation and educational sectors. The aim of the present research was to establish a correlation between smog/air pollution (the independent variable) and different dependent variables. The final goal was to define different precautionary measures and find their practicality and selection. Fuzzy VIKOR, a multi-criteria decision-making tool, was proposed in this research. It was applied to select an optimal alternative based on closeness to positive-ideal solution and deviation from the negative-ideal solution. Through this research, an environmental-friendly and health-promoting policy can be reach. This research will also help government in making future policies regarding environmental and industrial pollution. A case study settled in Pakistan was used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed fuzzy model., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Assessment of trace elements is inevitable to reduce stress on environment due to urbanization and industrialization. Rawalpindi, the fourth largest city of Pakistan, rapidly moving towards industrialization and has a large number of automobiles. In the present study, the urban area of Rawalpindi was divided into five parts: Gawal Mandi, Pir Wadhai, Soan Adda, Chah Sultan, and Central Ordinance Depot (COD), to determine distribution of trace elements. Soil samples were collected from 5 to 20 cm depth. After drying and sieving, samples were digested using di-acid (HNO 3 and HClO 4 at 2:1). Concentrations of heavy metals were determined using atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS). Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to reduce multidimensional space of variables and samples. Observed mean concentrations of Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn were 164, 33.4, 295, 336, 634, 236, 1572, and 546 mg kg -1 , respectively. Mean concentrations of all the heavy metals in urban area soil were higher than the WHO permissible limits. Correlation coefficient analysis showed positive correlation among Cd, Co, Cu, Ni, and Pb, whereas no obvious correlation for Cr and Mn was found with any other heavy metal. Zn was positively correlated with Co, Ni, and Mn, whereas negative correlation was found with Cr. Results showed that Pir Wadhai and COD were the most and least contaminated parts of the city, respectively, and this is attributed to the presence and absence of heavy traffic loads and industrial effluents. Graphical abstract ᅟ.

Cadmium (Cd) phytoremediation potential and its accumulation in edible and nonedible plant tissues is the function of various biochemical processes taking place inside plants. This study assessed the impact of organic ligands on Cd phyto uptake and different biophysiochemical processes of Spinacia oleracea L., and associated health hazards. Plants were exposed to Cd alone and chelated with citric acid (CA) and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). Results revealed that the effect of Cd on lipid peroxidation, H 2 O 2 production and pigment contents varied greatly with its applied level and the type of organic ligand. Moreover, the effect was more prominent in root tissues than leaf tissues and for high concentrations of Cd and organic ligands. Cadmium accumulation increased by 90 and 74% in roots and leaves, respectively, with increasing Cd levels (25-100 µM). Cadmium exposure at high levels caused lipid peroxidation in roots only. Application of both CA and EDTA slightly diminished Cd toxicity with respect to pigment contents, lipid peroxidation and hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) contents. Hazard quotient (HQ) of Cd was <1.00 for all the treatments. Under nonlinear effect of treatments, multivariate analysis can be an effective tool to trace overall effects/trends.

Purpose: The rate of cesarean sections has been rapidly increased in the last few decades in all the developing as well as developed countries. The rate of cesarean sections determined by the World Health Organization has been crossed by many countries, like Brazil, India, China, USA, Australia, etc. Similarly, this rate has also increased in Pakistan. The purpose of this paper is to explore and identify the factors that are responsible for the rising rate of cesarean sections in Pakistan., Design/methodology/approach: These factors are categorized under medical and non-medical factors. The medical factors include the obesity of mother, age of mother, weight of the baby, umbilical cord prolapse, fetal distress, abnormal presentation, dystocia and failure to progress. The non-medical factors include financial incentives of doctors, time convenience for doctors, high tolerance to surgery, patient's preference toward cesarean section, private hospitals, public hospitals, income status of patients, rural areas, urban areas and the education of patients. To identify the critical factors, data have been collected and a multi-criteria decision-making technique, called Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory, is used., Findings: The result shows that the medical factors that are responsible for the rise in the rate of cesarean sections are umbilical cord prolapse, age of mother and obesity of mother. On the other hand, the non-medical factors that are the reasons for the increase in cesarean sections are the large number of private hospitals and the unethical acts of the doctors in these hospitals, preference of patients, and either the unavailability of doctors or poor conditions of hospitals in rural areas., Originality/value: Cesarean section is an important surgical intervention and is considered to be very essential in the cases of existing as well as potential medical problems to the mother or the baby. Cesarean section is also performed for non-medical reasons. In Pakistan, the number of private hospitals has increased and these hospitals provide good health care. However, these hospitals do not work under the rules and regulations set by the government. The doctors in private hospitals perform unnecessary cesarean sections in order to fulfill the demands of private hospital's owners. In addition to this, it is also found that, nowadays, most women prefer to give birth through cesarean section in order to eliminate the pain of normal vaginal delivery.

This study forecast future infected patients from dengue and also sought optimum solution for its prevention. Previous years' data of dengue patients was used for forecasting numbers of infected patients in 2017. The novelty of the study is the application of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique in application of dengue control. We employed AHP to rank the alternative for dengue prevention using perception of general public collected via questioners from 100 respondents across Pakistan. The results show that public considered not to let the water accumulate inside their homes as the most economical, effective, efficient and less labour intensive alternative to combat dengue.

Cadmium (Cd) stress is a serious concern in agricultural soils worldwide whereas little is known about the impact of farmyard manure (FYM) alone or combined with limestone, lignite and biochar on Cd concentrations in plants. Wheat was grown in Cd-contaminated field amended with control (T 1 ), FYM @ 0.1% (T 2 ), FYM + limestone @ 0.05% each (T 3 ), FYM + lignite @ 0.05% each (T 4 ), FYM + biochar @ 0.05% each (T 5 ) and subsequent rice was grown without additional use of amendments. Soil application of amendments increased straw and grain yield and thousand grain weight being maximum in FYM + limestone treatment. Wheat and rice straw yield increased by 19% and 10% in T 3 than control respectively. Photosynthetic pigments increased with the supply of amendments than control. Amendments decreased Cd concentration, total Cd uptake in straw and grains and Cd harvest index of both crops and the maximum reduction in these parameters was recorded with where FYM + limestone (T 3 ). Cd concentration in wheat and rice straw decreased by 78.5% and 65% in T 3 than control, respectively. The highest benefit to cost ratio was obtained in FYM + limestone (T 3 ). Ammonium bicarbonate - diethylenetriamine penta acetic acid (AB-DTPA) extractable Cd of the post-harvest soil reduced whereas Cd immobilization index and soil pH increased with the supply of all treatments than control being maximum in T 3. The present study revealed that field management with FYM + limestone increased plant yield and reduced Cd concentrations in grains., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Despite significant recent advancement in research, biogeochemical behavior of heavy metals with respect to their applied form is still topical. Moreover, metal toxicity to plants may vary with their stage of development/maturity. Therefore, this study for the first time evaluated the influence of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and citric acid (CA) on cadmium (Cd) accumulation and toxicity to germinating and young pea seedlings as well as in younger and older leaves. The experimental setup of current study consisted of two separate studies. The first study was performed on germinating seedlings grown in a Cd-contaminated sand media. Pea seeds were treated with two levels of Cd (Cd-25 and Cd-100) alone and combined with different levels of EDTA and CA. The second study was carried out in hydroponic solution. The influence of organic amendments on Cd accumulation and toxicity to pea plants was evaluated by determining Cd contents in pea seedlings, H 2 O 2 contents, chlorophyll contents and lipid peroxidation in younger and older leaves. Cadmium stress caused overproduction of H 2 O 2 in roots and leaves of pea seedlings. Cadmium-induced overproduction of H 2 O 2 caused a decrease in the pigment contents and increased lipid peroxidation. Application of EDTA at higher levels (81 and 200µM) increased Cd accumulation by pea plants. However, CA did not affect Cd accumulation by pea. Both EDTA and CA increased Cd-induced H 2 O 2 production and lipid peroxidation. Younger pea leaves showed more sensitivity to Cd stress compared to older leaves. Similarly, Cd toxicity was more pronounced in germinating seedlings than young seedlings. Moreover, Pearson correlation and principal component analysis (PCA) showed very interesting correlations between treatments and stress responses of germination and young seedlings as well as younger and older leaves. Based on multivariate analysis, it is proposed that the Cd toxicity to pea plants greatly vary with its growth stage and the maturity of organs (younger or older leaves)., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Contamination of agricultural soils with lead (Pb) is a widespread problem which is mainly due to anthropogenic activities. The present study investigated the effect of organic and inorganic amendments on wheat growth and reducing Pb concentration in the plant. A greenhouse experiment was conducted on Pb spiked soil (500 mg kg -1 of soil) with the application of farmyard manure, poultry manure, gypsum and di-ammonium phosphate (DAP). Plants were harvested after 120 days of growth and analyzed for Pb concentration in different plant parts. Under Pb stress, amendments significantly (p < 0.05) increased grain yield and root dry weights compared to the control. Grain yield and dry weights of shoots and roots were maximum with DAP compared to the control and other amendments. Amendments increased transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, chlorophyll contents and photosynthetic rate. The lowest Pb concentration was found in DAP treated plants which were about 88%, 84%, and 85% lower in root, shoots and grains than control respectively. DAP fertilizer was the most effective in improving these parameters than control and other amendments and can be used to reduce Pb concentration in wheat and probably other crops.

Increased use of nitrogenous (N) fertilizers in agriculture has significantly altered the global N-cycle because they release nitrogenous gases of environmental concerns. The emission of nitrous oxide (N 2 O) contributes to the global greenhouse gas accumulation and the stratospheric ozone depletion. In addition, it causes nitrate leaching problem deteriorating ground water quality. The nitrate toxicity has been reported in a number of studies showing the health hazards like methemoglobinemia in infants and is a potent cause of cancer. Despite these evident negative environmental as well as health impacts, consumption of N fertilizer cannot be reduced in view of the food security for the teeming growing world population. Various agronomic and genetic modifications have been practiced to tackle this problem. Some agronomic techniques adopted include split application of N, use of slow-release fertilizers, nitrification inhibitors and encouraging the use of organic manure over chemical fertilizers. As a matter of fact, the use of chemical means to remediate nitrate from the environment is very difficult and costly. Particularly, removal of nitrate from water is difficult task because it is chemically non-reactive in dilute aqueous solutions. Hence, the use of biological means for nitrate remediation offers a promising strategy to minimize the ill effects of nitrates and nitrites. One of the important goals to reduce N-fertilizer application can be effectively achieved by choosing N-efficient genotypes. This will ensure the optimum uptake of applied N in a balanced manner and exploring the molecular mechanisms for their uptake as well as metabolism in assimilatory pathways. The objectives of this paper are to evaluate the interrelations which exist in the terrestrial ecosystems between the plant type and characteristics of nutrient uptake and analyze the global consumption and demand for fertilizer nitrogen in relation to cereal production, evaluate the various methods used to determine nitrogen use efficincy (NUE), determine NUE for the major cereals grown across large agroclimatic regions, determine the key factors that control NUE, and finally analyze various strategies available to improve the use efficiency of fertilizer nitrogen.