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Background: In Pakistan, the death rate for post-menopausal women with breast cancer is significant due to late detection and delayed referral to proper facilities. There are a few reports on Pakistan's epidemiology and breast cancer risk factors. There are modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors associated with the development of breast carcinoma; of which body mass index (BMI), central obesity, and lipid profile are considered as major risk markers. Methods: This was a cross-sectional analytical study. A total of 384 women constituted the present study sample. Purposive sampling was used to collect 192 confirmed new breast cancer cases throughout the study. By using basic random sampling, an equal number of controls were chosen. Studied parameters included age, fasting blood sugar, cholesterol, triglyceride, serum high-density lipoprotein, cholesterol, serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, weight, height, BMI, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio. The inclusion criteria of this study were post-menopausal women (45–65 years) in Pakistan. The confirmation of breast carcinoma was done through histopathology. Breast cancer occurrence was taken as a dependent variable, whereas BMI, central obesity, and lipid profile were taken as independent variables. Results: Studied risk factors (cholesterol, BMI, and central obesity) significantly correlated with breast cancer. Cholesterol has a significantly high positive correlation (0.646) with breast cancer. BMI has a positive significant correlation (0.491) with breast cancer, and central obesity has a low but positive significant correlation (0.266) with breast cancer. Moreover, the binary logistic regression model also showed a significant association between biochemical factors and breast cancer occurrence. Regression analysis depicted a linear relationship between a dependent variable (breast cancer occurrence) and independent variables (central obesity, cholesterol, BMI). Conclusion: Postmenopausal overweight (central obesity), increased BMI and high cholesterol levels are major risk factors for breast cancer. Moreover, high total cholesterol proved to be the most significant risk marker for the occurrence of breast cancer in post-menopausal women of Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inflammatory diseases involve numerous disorders and medical conditions defined by an insufficient level of self-tolerance. These diseases evolve over the course of a multi-step process through which environmental variables play a crucial role in the emergence of aberrant innate and adaptive immunological responses. According to experimental data accumulated over the past decade, neutrophils play a significant role as effector cells in innate immunity. However, neutrophils are also involved in the progression of numerous diseases through participation in the onset and maintenance of immune-mediated dysregulation by releasing neutrophil-derived molecules and forming neutrophil extracellular traps, ultimately causing destruction of tissues. Additionally, neutrophils have a wide variety of functional heterogeneity with adverse effects on inflammatory diseases. However, the complicated role of neutrophil biology and its heterogeneity in inflammatory diseases remains unclear. Moreover, neutrophils are considered an intriguing target of interventional therapies due to their multifaceted role in a number of diseases. Several approaches have been developed to therapeutically target neutrophils, involving strategies to improve neutrophil function, with various compounds and inhibitors currently undergoing clinical trials, although challenges and contradictions in the field persist. This review outlines the current literature on roles of neutrophils, neutrophil-derived molecules, and neutrophil heterogeneity in the pathogenesis of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases with potential future therapeutic strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Activating the immune system plays an important role in maintaining physiological homeostasis and defending the body against harmful infections. However, abnormalities in the immune response can lead to various immunopathological responses and severe inflammation. The activation of dendritic cells (DCs) can influence immunological responses by promoting the differentiation of T cells into various functional subtypes crucial for the eradication of pathogens. CD83 is a molecule known to be expressed on mature DCs, activated B cells, and T cells. Two isotypes of CD83, a membrane-bound form and a soluble form, are subjects of extensive scientific research. It has been suggested that CD83 is not only a ubiquitous co-stimulatory molecule but also a crucial player in monitoring and resolving inflammatory reactions. Although CD83 has been involved in immunological responses, its functions in autoimmune diseases and effects on pathogen immune evasion remain unclear. Herein, we outline current immunological findings and the proposed function of CD83 in inflammatory disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To compare the effect of reperfusion by measuring time domain parameters of heart rate variability before and after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. Study design: Quasi-experimental study design Place and Duration: Department of Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology, Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology/National Institute of Heart Diseases (AFIC/NIHD), Rawalpindi in 2018. Patients and Methods: 40 patients with coronary artery disease having a mean age of 55.20 ± 8.03 years were recruited by non-probability convenience sampling. DMS 300-4A Holter monitors were used to obtain 24 hours of ambulatory ECG recording before and within 24 hours after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. Digital ECG data were transferred to the computer and edited with the help of DMS Cardio scan software. Heart rate variability was analysed in time domain measures. For time domain analysis normal heart rate, SDNN, SDNNi, SDANN, RMSSD, and pNN50 were recorded from 12 lead digital ECG data. Results: The results of our study demonstrated significantly decreased heart rate variability in coronary artery disease patients on comparison of pre and post-angioplasty values only SDNNi was significantly reduced (pvalue = 0.035) whereas the reduction in SDNN and pNN50 was statistically insignificant (p-value > 0.05). On the contrary, SDANN and RMSSD displayed a slight rise after angioplasty, but it was not significant (p-value > 0.05). Conclusion: Reperfusion after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty decreases heart rate variability within 24 hours after the procedure. Whereas heart rate during the same period after angioplasty increases. This reflects autonomic balance shifts towards sympathetic predominance as indicated by reduced heart rate variability and a rise in heart rate. This makes the susceptible patients vulnerable for the development of ventricular arrhythmias, especially during 24 hours after angioplasty. Therefore, patients with decreased heart rate variability are at risk of ventricular arrhythmogenesis so they may be kept under medical surveillance for at least 24 hours after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine the association of serum cholesterol and body mass index with body composition in the healthy Pakistani adults. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Physiology Department, Army Medical College Rawalpindi/National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS), in collaboration with Armed Forces Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine (AFIRM) Rawalpindi and Clinical Pathology Laboratory (CPL), Pak-Emirates Military Hospital, Rawalpindi. (Duration to be asked form the authors). Methodology: The total study sample of 100 participants was taken, that comprised of two groups. Group-1 included male participants (n=50) while group-2 included female participants (n=50). The participants were healthy adults of ages 18-60 years having same physical activity background. Body composition of the participants was evaluated by bioelectric impedance analysis machine. Measurement of serum cholesterol was carried out by the Bosh Diagnostic Kit. Body Mass Index (BMI) was determined by the formula. Results: Serum cholesterol was found to be significantly correlated with body fat mass and percent body fat in males (r-value = 0.90 and 0.82, p-value <0.001 and 0.002 respectively) and in females there was significantly positive correlation with the body fat mass (r-value=0.51, p-value 0.007), skeletal muscle mass (r-value = 0.59, p-value 0.005), total body water (r-value=0.67, pvalue 0.006) and fat free mass (r-value=0.47, p-value 0.008). Conclusion: Serum cholesterol and BMI were associated with the body composition in females but with only fat parameters in the males. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An individual's blood pressure (BP) reactivity to stress is linked to increased risk of hypertension and cardiovascular disease. However, inter- and intra-individual BP variability makes understanding the coupling between stress, BP reactivity, and long-term outcomes challenging. Previous microneurographic studies of sympathetic signaling to muscle vasculature (i.e. muscle sympathetic nerve activity, MSNA) have established a neural predictor for an individual's BP reactivity during short-lasting stress. Unfortunately, this method is invasive, technically demanding, and time-consuming and thus not optimal for widespread use. Potential central nervous system correlates have not been investigated. We used MagnetoEncephaloGraphy and Magnetic Resonance Imaging to search for neural correlates to sympathetic response profiles within the central autonomic network and sensorimotor (Rolandic) regions in 20 healthy young males. The main correlates include (a) Rolandic beta rebound and an anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) response elicited by sudden stimulation and (b) cortical thickness in the ACC. Our findings highlight the involvement of the ACC in reactions to stress entailing peripheral sympathetic responses to environmental stimuli. The Rolandic response furthermore indicates a surprisingly strong link between somatosensory and autonomic processes. Our results thus demonstrate the potential in using non-invasive neuroimaging-based measures of stress-related MSNA reactions, previously assessed only using invasive microneurography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Evaluate the accuracy of ultrasonography in the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma among cirrhotic patients by comparing it with contrast enhanced multiphasic MRI. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Setting: Radiology Department through OPD\Admitted\emergency, Allied Hospital, Faisalabad. Period: 01-01-2018 to 30- 06-2018. Material & Methods: A total of 91 cases, having symptoms of fatigue, weakness, vomiting, nausea, loss of appetite, abdominal pain, weight loss and bloating when the fluid is accumulated in abdominal cavity, itching, spider-like blood vessels on the skin were included in the study. Informed written consent was taken from all the patients or their next of kin after explaining the procedure, objectives and benefits of study. All the patients were examined with Conventional gray scale ultrasound using curvilinear probe of 5MHz and then with 1.5 tesla MR imager. Results: The diagnostic accuracy was computed as 42.86%(n=39) as true positive, 1.10%(n=1) as false positive, 49.45%(n=45) false negative and 6.59%(n=6) had true negative, while 46.43%(sensitivity), 85.71%(specificity), 97.5%(positive predictive value), 88.24%(negative predictive value), and 49.45%(diagnostic accuracy) were calculated. Conclusion: We concluded that the accuracy of ultrasonography for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma among cirrhotic patients by comparing it with contrast enhanced multiphasic MRI is in agreement with the previous studies, though its accuracy rate is lower but specificity is significantly higher and recommended in our country in low resource settings and tertiary care setups where diagnostic facilities are limited functional. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate preoperative assessment of tumor size in breast cancer is important for choosing appropriate treatment. Mammography & sonography both have been used to predict tumor size but there have been conflicting reports about their accuracy. Some studies have mentioned ultrasound to be more accurate than mammography in the preoperative assessment of breast tumor size. Objectives: The objective of the study was to determine the correlation of mammography and ultrasound in the preoperative assessment of breast tumor size in patients with breast cancer taking pathological tumor size as gold standard. Study Design: It was a cross-sectional survey. Setting: Radiology department SKMCH & RC Lahore. Period: Study was completed over a period of 6 months from Nov 09, 2008 to May 08, 2009. Subjects and Methods: Eighty cases fulfilling the inclusion criteria were selected. After informed consent, bilateral mammography and breast ultrasound were done in all the patients. Pathological measurements were done after surgery in the longest diameter of the specimen. Mammographic and ultrasonographic measurements were correlated with pathological measurements using Pearson's correlation coefficient. Results: Ultrasonographic measurements correlated more accurately with the pathological measurements as compared to mammographic measurements. Correlation coefficient "r" was 0.944 for ultrasound measurements versus 0.898 for mammographic measurements. Correlation was higher for lesions of 20 mm or less in there largest diameter than for larger tumors. Conclusion: Ultasonography is a more accurate tool for preoperative assessment of breast tumor size especially for small sized tumors of less than 20 mm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drosophila melanogaster being used as model organism is considered as pest of homes, restaurants, and fruit markets. The damaged fruits are also reported to serve as a carrier for various diseases. The current study was designed to evaluate the toxicity of petroleum extract of some weed plants, namely, Euphorbia prostrata, Parthenium hysterophorus, Fumaria indica, Chenopodium murale, and Azadirachta indica, against D. melanogaster. Mortality at 10, 20, and 30% concentrations after 24 and 48 hours was found comparatively low. E. prostrata caused high mortality (51.64%) at 30% concentration and was found more toxic (LC50 27.76; P value 0.00) after 72 hours. A. indica showed high LC50 value (P value 0.15) compared to other weed plants. The combination of E. prostrata and Bti showed highest mortality (100%; LC50 12.49; P value 0.00) after 72 hours. Similarly, the same combination caused maximum reduction in the activity of AChE, AcP, AkP, α-Carboxyl, and β-Carboxyl enzymes. Phytochemical analysis showed the presence of flavonoids, saponins, tannins, steroids, cardiac glycosides, alkaloids, anthraquinones, and terpenoids. FTIR analysis of E. prostrata showed the presence of phenolic compounds. It is suggested that further studies are needed in order to incorporate weed plant extracts in combination with Bti for the management of fruit flies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To observe the effects of Pomegranate juice (PJ) and Pomegranate peel extract (PPE) on glomerular transvertical diameter in steroid induced mice kidney damage. Methods: In this experimental study forty healthy adult mice (BALB/c strain), average weighing 25-30 gms were divided into four groups, having ten mice each. Control group A received only standard laboratory diet without alteration.Experimental groups B, C and D were injected ND (Nandrolone decanoate) (1 mg/100 gm body weight), intramuscularly (I/M), in the hind limb once a week for 8 weeks. Experimental group C was also given PJ (3ml/kg body weight) by oral gavage tube daily for 8 weeks and experimental group D was given PPE (200mg/kg body weight) through oral gavage tube,daily for 8 weeks.After the experimental period, the animals were sacrificed and both kidneys of all mice were obtained. Kidneys were processed, embedded and stained for histological study by using Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) and Periodic Acid Schiff (PAS) stains. The results were compiled and compared. Results: After ND administration, glomerular diameter was significantly reduced in experimental group B when compared to control group A.Protective effects were seen when comparison of experimental group B was done with PJ and PPE administered experimental groups C and D, respectively. When results of experimental groups C and D were compared with each other no statistical significance was present. Conclusion: Both forms of Pomegranate has ameliorative effects on glomerular transvertical diameter in steroid induced mice kidney disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine the association of ventricular late potentials with left ventricular hypertrophy in patients with systemic arterial hypertension. Study Design: Cohort retrospective study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Cardiac Electrophysiology, Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology, Rawalpindi from 11th Nov, 2014 to 10th Nov, 2015. Material and Methods: Sixty four patients with systemic arterial hypertension were divided into two equal groups on the basis of left ventricular hypertrophy. Patients with acute or old myocardial infarction, diabetes mellitus, cerebrovascular accident, heart failure, structural heart disease, bundle branch block and cardiomyopathies were excluded from the study. DMS 300 4L Holter monitors were used to obtain 3 channel signal averaged ECG recording. CardioScan premium luxury software was used for analysis of ventricular late potentials. Results: There were 49 (76.6%) males and 15 females (23.4%) with the mean age of 60 ± 11.83 years. Ventricular late potentials were revealed in 10 (31.3%) out of 32 patients with left ventricular hypertrophy whereas in patients without hypertrophy only 1 (3.1%) patient showed it. Ventricular late potentials were strongly associated with left ventricular hypertrophy (p-value=0.03) and the relative risk of developing ventricular late potentials was 10 times higher in patients with left ventricular hypertrophy as compared to those without left ventricular hypertrophy. Conclusion: Ventricular late potentials were strongly associated with left ventricular hypertrophy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the perceived stress, its sources, and severity and evaluated the relationship between causes of perceived stress and their coping mechanisms. Study Design: Cross-Sectional Survey. Place and Duration of Study: Army Medical College Rawalpindi and Fuji Foundation University Medical College, Islamabad Pakistan from Jun 2018 to Jun 2019. Methodology: Four hundred undergraduate medical students of the first and second-year MBBS were included in this study. Voluntary consenting students filled the questionnaires regarding perceived stress, its sources, and severity, along with the coping mechanisms. Results: Among 400 participants, the male and female students were 55.3% and 44.8%, respectively. Three hundred and forty (85%) students were stressed. Perceived stress was not statistically associated with academic stress (p-value=0.77). The coping mechanisms that were found significant were the 'use of tranquillizer' and 'positive reframing' with p-value of 0.018 and 0.025. Conclusion: A higher level of perceived stress was found in the medical students. Mostly the stressors were associated with the academic domain and not related to health and psychosocial domains. The coping mechanism used by the medical students were tranquillizers and positive reframing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To discern the relationship of height and weight with body composition in healthy attendants of cancer patients. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Combined Military Hospital, Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Oct to Dec 2022. Methodology: A total of 226 healthy adults aged 19-47 years having similar daily physical activity levels were included. The body composition of study participants was evaluated using a bioelectric impedance analysis (BIA) machine. The weight of all participants was recorded with the help of a weighing machine. The participants' height was measured using a Harp enden Stadiometer and recorded. Results: Our study showed that weight had a significant positive correlation with body fat mass (rs value=0.83), skeletal muscle mass (rs value=0.763), total body water (rs value=0.704), fat-free mass (rs value=0.75) and per cent body fat (rs value 0.716). On the other hand, height had a negative but non-significant association with fat mass (rs value= 0.025) and a negative significant association with per cent body fat (rs value=-0.16). Height had a positive and significant association with fat-free mass (rs value=0.553), total body water (rs value=0.501) and skeletal muscle mass (rs value=0.505). Conclusion: Weight, if used alone, is not a good indicator of obesity or emaciation, and height has a negative association with fat mass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sudden, unexpected stimuli can induce a transient inhibition of sympathetic vasoconstriction to skeletal muscle, indicating a link to defense reactions. This phenomenon is relatively stable within, but differs between, individuals. It correlates with blood pressure reactivity which is associated with cardiovascular risk. Inhibition of muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) is currently characterized through invasive microneurography in peripheral nerves. We recently reported that brain neural oscillatory power in the beta spectrum (beta rebound) recorded with magnetoencephalography (MEG) correlated closely with stimulus-induced MSNA inhibition. Aiming for a clinically more available surrogate variable reflecting MSNA inhibition, we investigated whether a similar approach with electroencephalography (EEG) can accurately gauge stimulus-induced beta rebound. We found that beta rebound shows similar tendencies to correlate with MSNA inhibition, but these EEG data lack the robustness of previous MEG results, although a correlation in the low beta band (13–20 Hz) to MSNA inhibition was found (p = 0.021). The predictive power is summarized in a receiver-operating-characteristics curve. The optimum threshold yielded sensitivity and false-positive rate of 0.74 and 0.33 respectively. A plausible confounder is myogenic noise. A more complicated experimental and/or analysis approach is required for differentiating MSNA-inhibitors from non-inhibitors based on EEG, as compared to MEG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To evaluate the effects of type 2 diabetes mellitus on fatigability of soleus (slow) and extensor digitorium longus (EDL) (fast) muscles of female Sprague Dawley rats. Methods:Twenty healthy female Sprague Dawley rats were divided into 2 groups with 10 rats each. Group I (control) was fed with normal diet and group II (diabetic) was given high fat diet. Group II was given intra-peritoneal streptozotocin(STZ) (35mg/kg body weight) on 15th day. Body weight, blood glucose and TG:HDL ratio were estimated on 21st day to confirm type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) induction. Soleus and extensor digitorium longus (EDL) muscles were removed intact and fixed in organ bath system containing Krebs-Ringer buffer solution and connected to data acquisition unit (iWorx®) to study their contractile and fatigability parameters. Results: Soleus and extensor digotorium longus muscles of female diabetic rats displayed significantly (p<0.05) increased fatigability. Conclusions:Fatigability of slow (soleus) and fast (EDL) muscles increases in T2DM.There occurs reduction in resistance to and recovery from fatigue in both slow and fast skeletal muscles of type 2 diabetic female Sprague Dawley rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the perceived stress, its sources, and severity and evaluated the relationship between causes of perceived stress and their coping mechanisms. Study Design: Cross-Sectional Survey. Place and Duration of Study: Army Medical College Rawalpindi and Fuji Foundation University Medical College, Islamabad Pakistan from Jun 2018 to Jun 2019 Methodology: Four hundred undergraduate medical students of the first and second-year MBBS were included in this study. Voluntary consenting students filled the questionnaires regarding perceived stress, its sources, and severity, along with the coping mechanisms. Results: Among 400 participants, the male and female students were 55.3% and 44.8%, respectively. Three hundred and forty(85%) students were stressed. Perceived stress was not statistically associated with academic stress (p-value=0.77). The coping mechanisms that were found significant were the 'use of tranquillizer' and 'positive reframing' with p-value of 0.018 and 0.025. Conclusion: A higher level of perceived stress was found in the medical students. Mostly the stressors were associated with the academic domain and not related to health and psychosocial domains. The coping mechanism used by the medical students were tranquillizers and positive reframing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine the effect of combined supplementation of Pioglitazone and Acacia Honey on blood glucose levels in Streptozotocin-induced type 2 diabetic rats. Study Design: Laboratory-based animal study. Place and Duration of study: Al-Nafees Medical College, in collaboration with the National Institute of Health, Islamabad Pakistan, from Jan 2016 to Jun 2017. Methodology: The study was conducted on 150 male Sprague Dawley rats, divided into five groups with 30 rats. Group-I was the control Group. Groups II-V were given Streptozotocin 65 mg Streptozotocin intraperitoneally to make them diabetic. Group II was diabetic control. Group-III was given acacia honey for three weeks. Group-IV received an intraperitoneal injection of Pioglitazone (oral hypoglycemic) 15 mg/kg body weight per day plus Acacia honey, and Group-V was given Pioglitazone intraperitoneally for the same dose and duration. Fasting blood glucose levels were measured after three weeks of supplementation. Results: After three weeks of supplementation, the blood glucose levels were significantly (p-value <0.001) lower in all Groups (Group-III: 228.33±40.60 mg/dl, Group-IV: 132.50±22.67 mg/dl and Group-V: 120.73±14.19 mg/dl) as compared to Group-II (Diabetic Controls) (290.13±52.60 mg/dl). Conclusion: Combined supplementation of Acacia honey and Pioglitazone reduces blood glucose levels in Streptozotocin-induced type 2 diabetic rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the modern technological era, Anti-cancer peptides (ACPs) have been considered a promising cancer treatment. It's critical to find new ACPs to ensure a better knowledge of their functioning processes and vaccine development. Thus, timely and efficient ACPs using a computational technique are highly needed because of the enormous peptide sequences generated in the post-genomic era. Recently, numerous adaptive statistical algorithms have been developed for separating ACPs and NACPs. Despite great advancements, existing approaches still have insufficient feature descriptors and learning methods, limiting predictive performance. To address this, a trustworthy framework is developed for the precise identification of ACPs. Particularly, the presented approach incorporates four hypothetical feature encoding mechanisms namely: amino acid, dipeptide, tripeptide, and an improved version of pseudo amino acid composition are applied to indicate the motif of the target class. Moreover, principal component analysis (PCA) is employed for feature pruning, while selecting optimal, deep, and highly variated features. Due to the diverse nature of learning, experiments are performed over numerous algorithms to select the optimum operating method. After investigating the empirical outcomes, the support vector machine with hybrid feature space shows better performance. The proposed framework achieved an accuracy of 97.09% and 98.25% over the benchmark and independent datasets, respectively. The comparative analysis demonstrates that our proposed model outperforms as compared to the existing methods and is beneficial in drug development, and oncology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resistance development against some frequently used insecticides, i.e., deltamethrin (1.5% EC), cypermethrin (10% SC), permethrin (0.5% WP) and DDVP (50% EC) was evaluated against Musca domestica L. Insecticide bioassays were carried out against susceptible and resistant strains at 2.5, 5, 10, 20 and 40 µg/µl concentrations. Mortality data was recorded after 24, 48 and 72 hours. Resistance was monitored up to three generations and the flies with higher LD50values than the F1 generation were considered resistant. LD50values for Permethrin increased from 58.258 µg/µl to 85.1375 µg/µl with highest resistance ratio (RR) in F1 to F3. The lowest resistance ratio was observed with DDVP. Maximum inhibition in adult emergence was observed against DDVP. The inhibitory activity of Esterases; Acetylcholine and Phosphatases; ACP, AKP was recorded. Deltamethrin inhibited the maximum activity of AChE (50%), whereas, DDVP caused maximum inhibition of acid phosphatases. The results suggested that house fly populations are more resistant to pyrethroids compared to organophosphate insecticides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gamma oscillations facilitate information processing by shaping the excitatory input/output of neuronal populations. Recent studies in humans and nonhuman primates have shown that strong excitatory drive to the visual cortex leads to suppression of induced gamma oscillations, which may reflect inhibitory‐based gain control of network excitation. The efficiency of the gain control measured through gamma oscillations may in turn affect sensory sensitivity in everyday life. To test this prediction, we assessed the link between self‐reported sensitivity and changes in magneto‐encephalographic gamma oscillations as a function of motion velocity of high‐contrast visual gratings. The induced gamma oscillations increased in frequency and decreased in power with increasing stimulation intensity. As expected, weaker suppression of the gamma response correlated with sensory hypersensitivity. Robustness of this result was confirmed by its replication in the two samples: neurotypical subjects and people with autism, who had generally elevated sensory sensitivity. We conclude that intensity‐related suppression of gamma response is a promising biomarker of homeostatic control of the excitation–inhibition balance in the visual cortex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We present a benchmarking protocol for quantitatively comparing emerging on-scalp magnetoencephalography (MEG) sensor technologies to their counterparts in state-of-the-art MEG systems. Methods: As a means of validation, we compare a high-critical-temperature superconducting quantum interference device (high $T_{{c}}$ SQUID) with the low-$T_{{c}}$ SQUIDs of an Elekta Neuromag TRIUX system in MEG recordings of auditory and somatosensory evoked fields (SEFs) on one human subject. Results: We measure the expected signal gain for the auditory-evoked fields (deeper sources) and notice some unfamiliar features in the on-scalp sensor-based recordings of SEFs (shallower sources). Conclusion: The experimental results serve as a proof of principle for the benchmarking protocol. This approach is straightforward, general to various on-scalp MEG sensors, and convenient to use on human subjects. The unexpected features in the SEFs suggest on-scalp MEG sensors may reveal information about neuromagnetic sources that is otherwise difficult to extract from state-of-the-art MEG recordings. Significance: As the first systematically established on-scalp MEG benchmarking protocol, magnetic sensor developers can employ this method to prove the utility of their technology in MEG recordings. Further exploration of the SEFs with on-scalp MEG sensors may reveal unique information about their sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To determine the effect of combined supplementation of Pioglitazone and Acacia Honey on blood glucose levels in Streptozotocin-induced type 2 diabetic rats. Study Design: Laboratory-based animal study. Place and Duration of study: Al-Nafees Medical College, in collaboration with the National Institute of Health, Islamabad Pakistan, from Jan 2016 to Jun 2017. Methodology: The study was conducted on 150 male Sprague Dawley rats, divided into five groups with 30 rats. Group-I was the control Group. Groups II-V were given Streptozotocin 65 mg Streptozotocin intraperitoneally to make them diabetic. Group II was diabetic control. Group-III was given acacia honey for three weeks. Group-IV received an intraperitoneal injection of Pioglitazone (oral hypoglycemic) 15 mg/kg body weight per day plus Acacia honey, and Group-V was given Pioglitazone intraperitoneally for the same dose and duration. Fasting blood glucose levels were measured after three weeks of supplementation. Results: After three weeks of supplementation, the blood glucose levels were significantly (p-value <0.001) lower in all Groups (GroupIII: 228.33±40.60 mg/dl, Group-IV: 132.50±22.67 mg/dl and GroupV: 120.73±14.19 mg/dl) as compared to Group-II (Diabetic Controls) (290.13±52.60 mg/dl). Conclusion: Combined supplementation of Acacia honey and Pioglitazone reduces blood glucose levels in Streptozotocininduced type 2 diabetic rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) has a unique capacity to resolve the spatio-temporal development of brain activity from non-invasive measurements. Conventional MEG, however, relies on sensors that sample from a distance (20–40 ​mm) to the head due to thermal insulation requirements (the MEG sensors function at 4 ​K in a helmet). A gain in signal strength and spatial resolution may be achieved if sensors are moved closer to the head. Here, we report a study comparing measurements from a seven-channel on-scalp SQUID MEG system to those from a conventional (in-helmet) SQUID MEG system. We compared the spatio-temporal resolution between on-scalp and conventional MEG by comparing the discrimination accuracy for neural activity patterns resulting from stimulating five different phalanges of the right hand. Because of proximity and sensor density differences between on-scalp and conventional MEG, we hypothesized that on-scalp MEG would allow for a more high-resolved assessment of these activity patterns, and therefore also a better classification performance in discriminating between neural activations from the different phalanges. We observed that on-scalp MEG provided better classification performance during an early post-stimulus period (10–20 ​ms). This corresponded to the electroencephalographic (EEG) component P16/N16 and was an unexpected observation as this component is usually not observed in conventional MEG. This finding shows that on-scalp MEG enables a richer registration of the cortical signal, indicating a sensitivity to what are potentially sources in the thalamo-cortical radiation. We had originally expected that on-scalp MEG would provide better classification accuracy based on activity in proximity to the P60m component compared to conventional MEG. This component indeed allowed for the best classification performance for both MEG systems (60–75%, chance 50%). However, we did not find that on-scalp MEG allowed for better classification than conventional MEG at this latency. We suggest that this absence of differences is due to the limited sensor coverage in the recording, in combination with our strategy for positioning the on-scalp MEG sensors. We show how the current sensor coverage may have limited our chances to register the necessary between-phalange source field dissimilarities for fair hypothesis testing, an approach we otherwise believe to be useful for future benchmarking measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]