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Samia Kazmi,1 Ashar Alam,2 Beena Salman,2 Faiza Saeed,2 Shoukat Memon,2 Javeria Chughtai,2 Shahzad Ahmed,2 Sobia Tariq,2 Salman Imtiaz2 1Department of Internal Medicine, The Indus Hospital and Health Network, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan; 2Department of Nephrology, The Indus Hospital and Health Network, Karachi, Sindh, PakistanCorrespondence: Samia KazmiDepartment of Internal Medicine, The Indus Hospital and Health Network, Plot C-76, Sector 31/5, Opposite Crossing, Darussalam Society Sector 39 Korangi, Karachi, Sindh, PakistanTel +923061608016Email samia.kazmi@tih.org.pkBackground: In an ESRD subset of patients, COVID-19 infection is associated with increased disease burden and higher mortality rates.Methods: We conducted a retrospective single-center cohort study in which 43 ESRD patients had a diagnosis of COVID-19. Association of risk factors with mortality was assessed by chi-square test and logistic regression analysis. Data were collected on a structured performa which included variables like age, gender, comorbid conditions, drug history, clinical presentation, hemodynamic status and laboratory parameters. Outcome variables were recovery and death. All patients received standard treatment for COVID-19 according to hospital protocols, along with hemodialysis and continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) when needed.Results: Those most affected were found to be male, 25 (58.1%), while the number of females affected was 18 (41.9%). The most frequent comorbid condition was hypertension (HTN), seen in 35 (81.4%) patients; however, thromboembolic complications were very few in these patients. The mortality rate in our study was 25.6%, and the population most susceptible to poor outcomes in the ESRD subgroup was elderly people (45.5%), while younger patients recovered the most from COVID-19 (53.1%). Hypoalbuminemia, leukocytosis, lymphopenia and raised LDH were also found to be associated with death in ESRD patients suffering from COVID-19 (81.8, 72.7, 100 and 100%, respectively). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, we found that the odds ratio of dying from COVID-19 was 19.5 times higher in patients aged > 65 years as compared to patients aged 18– 50 years (p=0.039). Similarly, patients with a high TLC were 24.1 times more likely to die than patients with a normal TLC (p=0.008).Conclusion: In our center, the mortality rate of ESRD patients affected with COVID-19 disease was 25.6%, and older age, leukocytosis, lymphopenia, hypoalbuminemia and high LDH were significantly associated with mortality.Keywords: ESRD, COVID-19, hemodialysis, Pakistan, CKD, CRRT

The author describes the understanding of neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) from an endocrinologist's perspective to create awareness on NENs among medical professionals across specialities. Topics include the article "Progress Report: The Carcinoid Syndrome" by Grahame-Smith, published in 1970, standard histopathological classification of digestive NENs and pulmonary-NENs (P-NENs) proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO), and treatment approach in gastroenteropancreatic (GEP)-NEN.

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Drought is a grave concern due to changing climate phenomenon which drastically affects wheat production throughout the world. Screening drought tolerant varieties of wheat are important for ameliorating productivity of water scarce areas. An experiment was conducted at physiology division Nuclear Institute of Agriculture Tandojam (Latitude: 25.433 Longitude: 68.533) Sindh, Pakistan during 2016-2017. Treatment included a factorial combination using a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. Six wheat cultivars (cv. cultivars IBWSN-1010, IBWSN-1025, TD-1, ESW-9525, Khirman and Chakwal-86) were investigated for their response at seedling stage under different water stress treatments (T-1 0, T-2 -0.5, T-3 -0.75 and T-4 -1.0 MPa) in controlled conditions. The results of experiments with reference to cultivars revealed that cultivar Khirman & IBWSN-1010 showed maximum shoot length (17.33 and 16.68 cm), while the cultivar Khirman and TD-1showed maximum root length (10.02 and 8.67 cm), shoot fresh weight (34.46 g 10-1shoots), root fresh wt. (71.76 g 10-1shoots), shoot dry wt. (13.55 g 10-1shoots), root dry wt. (13.62 g 10-1roots),while the cultivar IBWSN-1010 observed more chlorophyll contents (0.27 mg g1 fresh wt) and ionic contents (K+ and Ca2+, and K+/Ca2+ratio)(1.05, 1.03 and 0.93 %). Among all the wheat cultivars tested Khirman and IBWSN-1010 are tolerant cultivar sand have the potential to perform better under drought conditions, whereas IBWSN-1025 and Chakwal-86 were moderately tolerant under water stress conditions. Moreover, the cultivars i.e. TD-1 and ESW-9525 are the sensitive cultivars under drought environment. It may be concluded from present in-vitro studies that osmotic stress significantly reduced the shoot/root length fresh and dry weight in all six wheat cultivars. The maximum reduction (P≤0.05) was found at higher osmotic stress induced by PEG-6000 (-1.0 MPa). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, titled "AIG-AGREE Modification: Redefining Adverse Event Assessment in Gastrointestinal Endoscopy with Economic Perspectives," discusses the use of the AGREE scale for classifying adverse events in gastrointestinal endoscopy. The study, conducted at the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology in India, aimed to integrate the economic impact of complications on patients within the AGREE classification. A total of 42,471 endoscopic procedures were performed, and 218 adverse events were identified. The modified AGREE classification, known as AIG-AGREE, introduced a unique approach by incorporating a suffix denoting the financial burden on the patient. The study concludes that the AIG-AGREE modification is a pioneering effort that emphasizes the importance of considering economic factors in evaluating adverse events in gastrointestinal endoscopy. Further research is needed to explore the applicability of this modification in diverse healthcare settings and populations. [Extracted from the article]

Banana is mostly propagated by conventional method of sucker which is very slow process. Moreover, in vegetative propagation, the plants once infected by pathogen can shift it to many generations and the whole plant population may be infected within few years. In vitro propagation of banana is the best alternative approach that leads to a rapid process of propagation and also the production of disease-free plants. Therefore, the present study was conducted at Plant Tissue Culture Laboratory and Plant Sciences Laboratory, Science Complex, Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad, Pakistan during the year 2017. In seven different treatments, Murashige and Skoog basal media was supplemented with different concentrations of BAP and IAA. During this study, the experiments were performed using completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. Least significant difference (LSD) test was applied to assess the significant differences among means. The results reveal that the highest number of shoots (366.6) was produced after 6th subculture. During this study, the highest proliferation rate (92.22%) was recorded in T6; MS salts supplemented with BAP (2.0 mg/l) and IAA (0.5 mg/l). The minimum number of days (6) for bud initiation was recorded in T6. Similarly, the highest average fresh weight (14.88 g) was recorded in T6. The highest number of main roots (9.25 ± 2.08) were recorded in MS basal media supplemented with IAA (2.0 mg/l) and BAP (0.5 mg/l). It was followed by MS basal media fortified with IAA (3.0 mg/l) and BAP (1.0 mg/l) that gave 7.81 ± 1.03 number of shoots. The survival rate (92%) was recorded in acclimatization when the plantlets were transferred in plastic pots having peat moss under controlled condition. This optimized protocol would be helpful for mass scale production of high yielding and disease-free banana plants in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study evaluated the effect of honey administration in pre- and post-hatch sessions on the immunity and intestinal microflora of growing broilers. The pre-hatch experiment was conducted on fertile eggs (n = 160) that were inoculated either with 0.5 ml 20% diluted honey (+pre-hatch) or with the same quantity of normal saline (-pre-hatch) on day 15 of incubation. After hatching, the chicks from each group were divided into two groups: control (-post-hatch) and the other receiving 1% honey (+post-hatch) in drinking water up to day 21. The experimental groups: C = -pre-hatch/- post-hatch, T1 = -pre-hatch/+post-hatch, T2 = +pre-hatch/-post-hatch and T3 = +pre-hatch/+post-hatch, were evaluated for performance parameters, antibody titer against Newcastle disease virus (NDV), relative weight of lymphoid organs and counts of gut microflora. It was shown that the pre-hatch honey administration significantly (P < 0.05) improved feed intake, final body weight, relative weight of spleen and anti-NDV antibody titer. Post-hatch honey supplementation significantly (P < 0.05) increased feed intake, FCR, final body weight, anti-NDV titer, relative weight of spleen and Lactobacilli count, while decreased (P < 0.05) the counts of Escherichia coli and Salmonella on day 21. The interaction of both the pre- and post-hatch honey administrations also significantly affected (P < 0.05) performance and immunity parameters, as well as the intestinal microflora. So, in ovo and post-hatch administration of honey had positive impacts on performance, immune organ indices, gut microbiota and anti-NDV titer in growing broiler chickens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breeders are aware of the phenomenon that in a hybridization programmes, certain crosses pass-on more favorable genes towards the progenies than others. Thus, identification of potential parents and hybrids remained main concern to cotton breeders for improving various yield and fibre traits in cotton breeding programmes. The present studies were carried-out to estimate the general and specific combining ability estimates and heterotic effects for different characters from line x tester crosses developed from six lines viz., Sindh-1, Sadori, CRIS-134, Chandi-95, Haridost and IR-1524 crossed with three testers i.e. NIA-ufaq, Sohni and Shahbaz. The experiment was laid-out in a Randomized Complete Block Design with four replications during 2016. The degrees of freedom for hybrids were split into lines, testers and line x tester interaction. The mean squares owing to lines and testers were significant for majority of the traits, however the general combining ability of lines for 1st sympodial node number while general combining ability of testers only boll weight was non-significant. Similarly, the mean square for line x tester interaction which designate specific combining ability were also significant for all traits except staple length, G.O.T. % and seed index. Among the lines, Chandi-95, IR-1524 and from testers Shahbaz expressed higher GCA effects especially for seed cotton yield, thus, proved as good general combiners and suitable parents for hybridization and selection of desirable plants from segregating populations. For SCA effects, F1 hybrids like Sadori x Shahbaz, Haridost x NIA-ufaq and Sindh-1 x Shahbaz demonstrated as best specific combiners, therefore’ these proved promising hybrids. The high heterotic effects were expressed by the hybrids Sadori x Shahbaz for bolls per plant, boll weight and seed cotton yield plant-1 and IR-1524 x NIA-ufaq for staple length thus, these hybrids with dominant and over dominant genes could be potential hybrids for the exploitation of heterosis breeding in cotton. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]