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The early eoeene Baska formation hosts the gypsum deposits in several parts of the Eastern Sulaiman Range (ESR) of middle Indus Basin. This study is aimed at evaluating its geology and geoehemistry at different loealities like Rakhi Nala (RN), Vidor Nala (VN), Zindapir (ZP), Barthi (BR) and Mangrotha (MG), whieh are loeated within the Zindapir Antielinorium. X-ray mineralogy reveals that these deposits are mainly eomposed of gypsum, anhydrite, magnesite and dolomite, while XRF results of gypsum samples aequired from five different loeations of ESR and eorrelated with other areas of Indus Basin of Pakistan and with Zagros Basin (Zeloi oil field, Iran), Siirt Basin (Turkey) and Morata de Tajuna (Madrid, Spain). From the XRF analysis, the major oxides in the seleeted samples vary in deseending order as SO3> CaO> MgO > SiO2 > Fe2O3> Al2O3>K2O. The major eation oxide is CaO present up to 33.08, whereas major anion is SO3 forming upto41.47 wt. %. The average value of Siliea (SiO2), Alumina (Al2O3), Iron (Fe2O3) and Magnesium (MgO) eontents of gypsum are 0.27, 0.14,0.23 and 0.7 wt. %, respeetively. Geoehemieally, the Baska Gypsum deposits of ESR have relatively lower SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, MgO and lower K2O relative to other parts of Indus Basin and with Zagros Basin (Zeloi oil field, Iran), Siirt Basin (Turkey) and Morata de Tajuna (Madrid, Spain). Based on geoehemieal studies gypsum mineralization of eastern Suliman Foldbelt are more suitable for the produetion of eement, plaster of Paris, solid wallboard, eeramies and ammonium sulphate fertilizer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is one of the most common recessive genetic diseases, with a wide spectrum of phenotypes, ranging from infertility to severe pulmonary disease. Mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene are considered the main genetic cause for CF. In this study, we recruited a consanguineous Iranian pedigree with four male patients diagnosed with congenital unilateral absence of the vas deferens (CUAVD), and one female patient diagnosed with congenital absence of the uterus (CAU). Testicular biopsy of one patient was performed, and hematoxylin and eosin (H and E) staining of testis sections displayed the presence of germ cell types ranging from spermatogonia to mature spermatids, indicating obstructive azoospermia. To explore the underlying genetic factor in this familial disorder, we therefore performed whole-exome sequencing (WES) on all available family members. WES data filtration and CFTR haplotype analysis identified compound heterozygous mutations in CFTR among four patients (two CUAVD patients carried p.H949Y and p.L997F, and one CUAVD and the female CAU patient carried p.H949Y and p.I148T). All these mutations were predicted to be deleterious by at least half of the prediction software programs and were confirmed by Sanger sequencing. Our study reported that CFTR compound heterozygous mutations in a consanguineous Iranian family cause infertility in both sexes., Competing Interests: None