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Berberis lycium Royle has a long history of medicinal uses to treat different diseases. It naturally grows on the mountains of Indian subcontinent. Its ethnobotanical and biochemical study from the state of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K) was not previously explored. So, the objective of the current study was to explore the ethnobotanical and biochemical properties of the B. lycium Royle population of AJ&K. For this purpose, samples of B. lycium Royle were randomly collected from five districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, including thirty-five locations. Demographic features of informants such as plant part used, methods of preparation, modes of administration, conservation status, and ethnomedicinal uses were documented. It was used for treating different diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, joint pain, and stomach ulcer. This plant is very famous for providing medicinal roots, leaves, and fruits which are extensively used in many parts of the world. The biochemical analysis was conducted for total phenolic contents (TPC), chlorophyll contents, and antioxidant activity. The highest level of TPC found was 88.66 ± 1.07 µg/g of gallic acid equivalent phenolic (GAE) from leaves collected from Patikka (Chanjhal), Muzaffarabad District, AJ&K. The highest total chlorophyll contents (3.75 ± 0.53 µg/ml) were found in samples collected from Sathrian, Neelum District. The highest antioxidant activity with lowest IC50 value (33.26 µg/ml) was obtained from the root of sample collected from Bakreyali, Muzaffarabad District, as compared with other districts. The concentration of berberine was found to be 4.76 percent in the root bark of B. lycium Royle, estimated by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In syrup composition, 0.95 mg/5 ml of berberine was used. Hence, it is concluded that amongst the five districts, the plant parts (stem, fruits, and root) collected from Muzaffarabad District, AJ&K, showed the highest medicinal potential due to its unique climatic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A severe earthquake occurred in Kashmir in 2005. The epicentre was close to Muzzafarabad. We collected data on over 1,100 children 18 months after the earthquake to look at symptoms of PTSD and behavioural and emotional problems using well established questionnaires. We found that 64.8% of children had significant symptoms of PTSD. Girls were more likely to suffer from these symptoms. The proportion of children suffering from emotional and behaviour difficulties was 34.6%. This percentage was not different from other studies of children from Pakistan within areas which were not affected by the earthquake. The rate of emotional symptoms was higher in girls while hyperactivity was more frequent in boys. This pattern is similar to other studies from across the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: On average in a year 939 earthquakes of a magnitude between 5 and 8 on the Richter scale occur around the world. In earthquakes developing countries are prone to large-scale destruction because of poor structural quality of buildings, and preparedness for earthquakes. On 8th October 2005, a major earthquake hit the remote and mountainous region of northern Pakistan and Kashmir. We wanted to find out the rate of PTSD in a randomly selected sample of participants living in earthquake area and the correlates of the PTSD. Method: The study was conducted 18months after the earthquake. We selected a sample of men and women living in the houses and tents for interviews. Using well established instruments for PTSD and general psychiatric morbidity we gathered information from over 1200 people in face to face interviews. We gathered information about trauma exposure and loss as well. Results: 55.2% women and 33.4% men suffered from PTSD. Living in a joint family was protective against the symptoms of PTSD. Dose of exposure to trauma was associated with the symptoms of PTSD. Living in a tent was associated with general psychiatric morbidity but not with PTSD. Limitations: We used questionnaire instead of interviews to detect the symptoms of psychiatric disorders. Conclusions: The symptoms of PTSD are common 18months after the earthquake and they are specifically associated with the dose of trauma exposure. This may have implications for rehabilitation of this population. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A study was conducted at Institute of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad during the year 2012 to determine the factors effecting the technical efficiency of milk production in Punjab, considering various types of dairy farms, Pakistan. Primary data were collected from two tehsils of district Layyah, and 120 respondents were selected randomly from different villages. Stochastic production frontier approach was applied to determine technical efficiency of dairy farms. The findings reveal that coefficients of green fodder fed (0.25), concentrate cost (0.28) and labour hours (0.21) per animal were positive and statistically significant. The present study also reveal that institution factor such as veterinary services (-0.135) availed and the infrastructure factors namely the road condition (-0.117) from farm to market had significant impact on the technical efficiency of dairy farmers. The mean technical efficiency was around 86 percent, indicating that farm productivity can be increased by 14 percent without changing the input mix. On the basis of types of dairy farms, the commercial farms were more efficient (93.7 percent) than market oriented (85.7 percent) and subsistence (81.9 percent) farms. It is suggested that veterinary facilities such as appointment of full time veterinary officers, diseases monitoring and reporting, diseases diagnosis, quality control of vaccines and veterinary drugs, training and awareness of stakeholders and up-gradation of existing legal framework should be strengthened. Rural infrastructure should be linked to the urban markets for making easy and smooth transfer of inputs and outputs from both sides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PIDD1 encodes p53-Induced Death Domain protein 1, which acts as a sensor surveilling centrosome numbers and p53 activity in mammalian cells. Early results also suggest a role in DNA damage response where PIDD1 may act as a cell-fate switch, through interaction with RIP1 and NEMO/IKKg, activating NF-κB signaling for survival, or as an apoptosis-inducing protein by activating caspase-2. Biallelic truncating mutations in CRADD-the protein bridging PIDD1 and caspase-2-have been reported in intellectual disability (ID), and in a form of lissencephaly. Here, we identified five families with ID from Iran, Pakistan, and India, with four different biallelic mutations in PIDD1, all disrupting the Death Domain (DD), through which PIDD1 interacts with CRADD or RIP1. Nonsense mutations Gln863* and Arg637* directly disrupt the DD, as does a missense mutation, Arg815Trp. A homozygous splice mutation in the fifth family is predicted to disrupt splicing upstream of the DD, as confirmed using an exon trap. In HEK293 cells, we show that both Gln863* and Arg815Trp mutants fail to co-localize with CRADD, leading to its aggregation and mis-localization, and fail to co-precipitate CRADD. Using genome-edited cell lines, we show that these three PIDD1 mutations all cause loss of PIDDosome function. Pidd1 null mice show decreased anxiety, but no motor abnormalities. Together this indicates that PIDD1 mutations in humans may cause ID (and possibly lissencephaly) either through gain of function or secondarily, due to altered scaffolding properties, while complete loss of PIDD1, as modeled in mice, may be well tolerated or is compensated for.

Although there is some literature on translation and cultural adaptation of measurement scales, none is available on the translation of diagnostic guidelines, such as the International Classification of Diseases Tenth Edition (ICD-10). Our group translated ICD-10, Research Diagnostics Criteria (RDC) into Urdu, which is the official language of Pakistan but is also spoken in some states in India. Significant diasporas of Urdu speakers also exist in Western Countries. We describe the translation process and the principles that guided our work. The translation process consisted of preparation, forward-translation, external translation, synthesis, focus group discussions with laypersons to clarify terminology, and review by mental health professionals and laypersons. Translation also included a wider consultation process in which the final version was sent to Pakistani mental health professionals in Pakistan and abroad.