Search results for: Amna Bibi

Authors: Tayyaba Bibi, Jenny Ronan, Robert Hernan, Kathleen O’Rourke, Brendan McHugh, Evin McGovern, Michelle Giltrap, Gordon Chambers, James Wilson

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Sediment contamination is a major source of ecosystem stress and has received significant attention from the scientific community. Both the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) require a robust set of tools for biological and chemical monitoring. For the MSFD in particular, causal links between contaminant and effects need to be assessed. Appropriate assessment tools are required in order to make an accurate evaluation. In this study, a range of recommended sediment bioassays and chemical measurements are assessed in a number of potentially impacted and lowly impacted locations around Ireland. Previously, assessment indices have been developed on individual compartments, i.e. contaminant levels or biomarker/bioassay responses. A number of assessment indices are applied to chemical and ecotoxicological data from the Seachange project (Project code) and compared including the metal pollution index (MPI), pollution load index (PLI) and Chapman index for chemistry as well as integrated biomarker response (IBR). The benefits and drawbacks of the use of indices and aggregation techniques are discussed. In addition to this, modelling of raw data is investigated to analyse links between contaminant and effects.

Keywords: bioassays, contamination indices, ecotoxicity, marine environment, sediments

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Authors: Mohammad Tahir Yousafzai, Amna Rehana Siddiqui, Naveed Zafar Janjua

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We assessed the frequency and predictors of sharp injuries (SIs) among health care workers (HCWs) at first level care facilities (FLCF) in rural Pakistan. HCWs working at public clinic (PC), privately owned licensed practitioners’ clinic (LPC) and non-licensed practitioners’ clinic (NLC) were interviewed on universal precautions (UPs) and constructs of health belief model (HBM) to assess their association with SIs through negative-binomial regression. From 365 clinics, 485 HCWs were interviewed. Overall annual rate of Sis was 192/100 HCWs/year; 78/100 HCWs among licensed prescribers, 191/100 HCWs among non-licensed prescribers, 248/100 HCWs among qualified assistants, and 321/100 HCWs among non-qualified assistants. Increasing knowledge score about bloodborne pathogens (BBPs) transmission (rate-ratio (RR): 0.93; 95%CI: 0.89–0.96), fewer years of work experience, being a non-licensed prescriber (RR: 2.02; 95%CI: 1.36–2.98) licensed (RR: 2.86; 9%CI: 1.81–4.51) or non-licensed assistant (RR: 2.78; 95%CI: 1.72–4.47) compared to a licensed prescriber, perceived barriers (RR: 1.06;95%CI: 1.03–1.08), and compliance with UPs scores (RR: 0.93; 95%CI: 0.87–0.97) were significant predictors of SIs. Improved knowledge about BBPs, compliance with UPs and reduced barriers to follow UPs could reduce SIs to HCWs.

Keywords: health belief model, sharp injuries, needle stick injuries, healthcare workers

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Authors: Fehmeada Bibi, Shafqat Nawaz Qaisrani, Masood Akhtar, Zulfiqar Ali

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Population trends learning is an important tool for conservation programs in rare as well as in common species of birds. A study was conducted to assess annual decline in species of birds and to identify the causes of this decline at Taunsa Barrage wildlife Sanctuary, Punjab, Pakistan. Data were collected by direct census method during wintering and breeding periods (2001 to 2002 and 2008 to 2011). The results indicated an increasing trend in 157, whereas a decreasing trend in 14 species of birds. Among the species with declining trend, there was a 92% decrease in White-backed Vulture (Gyps bengalensis), 60% in Greater Painted Snipe (Rostratula benghalensis), 57% in Garganey (Anas querquedula), Pallas’s Fish Eagle and Long-legged Buzzard (Buteo rufinus) 50% each, 41% in Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea), 39% in Little Cormorant (Phalacrocorax niger), 37% in Gadwall (Anas strepera), 33% in Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus), 30% in Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus) and 26% in Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina) population. Habitat exploitation, hunting and grazing were found the main causes of this decline. In conclusion, conservation and management of the study area is foremost to interests of declining bird population. It is suggested, therefore, to take immediate steps for the protection of the sanctuary to conserve the declining population of birds.

Keywords: population trends, wildlife sanctuary, bird, habitat exploitation

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Authors: Amna Khaliq

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This research project centers on Canadian business leaders’ phenomenological online education expansion by navigating the challenges faced by strategic leaders concerning the expansion of online education in the Canadian higher education sector from a business perspective. The study identifies the problems and opportunities of faculty members’ transition from traditional face-to-face to online instruction, particularly in the context of technology-enhanced learning (TEL), and their influence on the growth strategies of Canadian educational institutions. It explores strategic leaders’ approaches and the impact of emerging technologies to assist with developing and executing business strategies to expand online education in Canada. As online education has gained prominence in the country, this research addresses a relevant business problem for educational institutions. The research employs a phenomenological approach in the qualitative research design to conduct this investigation. The study interviews eighteen faculty members engaged in online education in Canada. The interview data is analyzed to answer the three research questions for strategic leaders to expand online education with higher education institutions in Canada. The recommendations include 1) data privacy, infrastructure, security, and technology, 2) support and training for student engagement, 3) accessibility and inclusion, and 4) collaboration among institutions associated with expanding online education.

Keywords: strategic leadership, Canada, education, technology

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Authors: Ram A. Giri, Amna Bedri, Abdou Niane

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Exclusion in education on the basis of language in multilingual contexts operates at multiple levels. Learners of diverse ethnolinguistic backgrounds are often expected to learn through English and are pushed further down the learning ladder if they also have to access education through Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The paper explores marginalized children’s lived experiences in accessing technology and English in four low-income countries in Africa and Asia. Based on the findings of the first phase of a multinational qualitative research study, we report on the factors or barriers that affect children’s access, opportunities and motivation for learning through technology and English. ICT and English - the language of ICT and education - can enhance learning and can even be essential. However, these two important keys to education can also function as barriers to accessing quality education, and therefore as zones of exclusion. This paper looks into how marginalized children (aged 13-15) engage in learning through ICT and English and to what extent the restrictive access and opportunities contribute to the widening of the already existing gap in education. By applying the conceptual frameworks of “access and accessibility of learning” and “zones of exclusion,” the paper elucidates how the barriers prevent children’s effective engagement with learning and addresses such questions as to how marginalized children access technology and English for learning; whether the children value English, and what their motivation and opportunity to learn it are. In addition, the paper will point out policy and pedagogic implications.

Keywords: exclusion, inclusion, inclusive education, marginalization

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Authors: Naqeeb Ahmad Jan, Rukhsana Bibi

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Extremism is once again pushing the globe towards ignorance and darkness. In the present day, the wave of extremist element (tendencies) has affected the people across the globe which led them to believe in manifestation of various ideologies. Likely, the Pakistan’s North-Western province (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) served as a main prey. However, it also served as an equal partner to halt to and control the extremist activities. This current extremist element has also affected the poets herein, and thus they (poets) used their pen as a sword and depicted this havoc, the nature of extremism they witnessed, and also asked for and supported a positive and durable solution to this menace of extremism and terrorism. Their poetic works portrayed and exhibited various examples of the extremism and its possible solution to ensure peace and harmony. The researcher has taken the liberty to argue that a balanced behaviour and attitude play a key role in the fulfillment of desired actions. The imposition of any set of belief, value and attitude leads to the multiplication of extremism and it is so poisonous that it causes to the destruction of whole human society. This study has found that the present day extremism has led to the emergence of new words, similes, metaphor and other figures of speech to be a part of the language and literature to be survived. These words have been analyzed and discussed in a new getup and meanings; the similes and metaphors describing extremism used by poets and writers of this era. The methodology is based on quantitative, analytical and comparative research. Moreover, this research has discussed indication of new words and figures of speech used by the poets and which are in practice, and impacts of extremism on the modern Urdu poetry of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Keywords: extremism, modern Urdu poetry, subcontinent, terrorism

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Authors: B. Medani Amna, M. A. Elbadwi Samia, E. Amin Ahmed

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Variable plants present in nature are used by simple rural and urban people, researchers and drug manufacturers for medicinal purposes. Garad is one of the most commonly used in Sudan for both treatment and prophylaxis of infections in the respiratory, urinogenital tracts and the skin. Water exctracts from Acacia nilotica bods were used in this very experiment to test for their toxicity to Nubian goats at two dose rates under proper experimental conditions. The clinical, pathological, haematological and biological changes in Nubian goats given daily oral doses of 1 and 5 g/kg body weight of Acacia nilotica to two groups of test goats. The goats of the control group were undosed with Acacia nilotica.Other than the dose co-related mortality rates, the clinical signs were observed to be salivation, staggered gait, intermittent loss of voice and low appetite. On histopathological testing, the main lesions were hepatic centrolobular necrosis and fatty changes associated with the significant changes in GGT and ALP are indicating hepatic dysfunction.Renal malfunction is indicated by haemorrhages in addition to the change in the urea concentration. The congested, haemorrhagic, emphysematous, edematous and cyanotic lungs may contribute to the development of dyspnea. Acacia nilotica poisoning may lead to an immunosuppression pointed out by the lymphocyte infiltration. On evaluation of the above results, Acacia nilotica was considered toxic to Nubian goats at the above mentioned doses. Future work for Acacia nilotica was forwarded and practical implications of the result were highlighted.

Keywords: Acaia nilotica, toxicity data, Nubian goats, Garad

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Authors: Muhammad Zia ul Haq, Ong Kuan Boon, Jeffrey Low Fook Lee, Bendri Bin Dasril, Amna Iqbal, Muhammad Saleem

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This study is bond of two purpose, first is to establish the anthropometric profile of Malaysian cricket batsmen and second, to find the variances among the anthropometric characteristics of ten under-16 years, eight under-19 years and eight senior teams batsmen. The anthropometric variables were measured as 8 skinfolds, 12 circumferences, 06 lengths and 05 breadths, stature, sitting height, arm span, body mass, hand grip strength and leg strength. The batsmen of under-19 and under-16 found similar in skinfolds, sum of skinfolds, circumferences and breadth measurements but significantly lesser than the senior team batsmen. Senior and Under-19 batsmen were almost found similar in segmental lengths, heights and arm span but significantly higher than the under-16 batsmen. Breadth measurements the under-19 found higher than the senior and u-16 batsmen. The hand grips strength of the senior batsmen significantly high than the uder-19 and under-16 players and both groups were similar and no significant difference were found in leg strength of all three groups batsmen. Leg strength were found significant correlation with wrist, hip, thigh, and calf girth and handgrip strength. The hand grip strength were found correlated with all variables except biceps, mid-thigh skinfold, segmental length, humerus breadth. It is concluded from the present study that the girth segments and hand grip strength are the predictors of good performance in cricket batting.

Keywords: cricket batting, batsmen, anthropometry, body segments, hand grip strength

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Authors: Amna Beshir Medani Ahmed, Samia Mohammed Ali El Badwi, Ahmed El Amin Mohammed

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This work has been managed to yield toxicity information on water treatment agents in the Sudan namely polyDADMAC, using New Zealand rabbits at multiple daily oral doses for a period of 10 weeks. Thirty-three heads of New Zealand rabbits were divided into 11 groups, each of three. Group 1 animals were the undosed controls. Test groups of either species were given polyDADMAC at similar dose rates of 0.5, 2.5, 4.5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50, 100 and 150 mg/kg body weight respectively for groups 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 and 11. Clinical signs were closely observed with postmortem and histopathological examinations. Chemical investigations included enzymatic concentrations of ALP, GOT, CK, GPT and LDH together with hematological changes in Hb, PCV, RBCs and WBCs. Mortalities occurred to variable degrees irrespective of the dose level. On polyDADMAC challenge, the test species showed clinical signs of dullness, loss of weight, anorexia, diarrhea, difficulty in respiration, hind limb paralysis and recumbency. Notably oral dosing with polyDADMAC caused lung emphysema, hepatic and renal dysfunctions, irregularity in enzymatic activities and serum metabolites, sloughing of intestinal epithelium, decreased electrolytes in serum, and splenic haemosiderosis. On evaluation of the above results, polyDADMAC was considered toxic to New Zealand rabbits at all dose rates tried. Practical implications of the results were highlighted and suggestions for future work were put forward.

Keywords: polydiallyldiethylaluminiumchloride (polyDADMAC), nubian goats, toxicity of drinking water, treatment of drinking water using chemicals

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Authors: Zainab Bibi, Afsheen Aman, Shah Ali Ul Qader

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Endo-β-1,4-xylanases [EC 3.2.1.8] are one of the major groups of enzymes that are involved in degradation process of xylan and have several applications in food, textile and paper processing industries. Due to broad utility of endo-β-1,4-xylanase, researchers are focusing to increase the productivity of this hydrolase from various microbial species. Harsh industrial condition, faster reaction rate and efficient hydrolysis of xylan with low risk of contamination are critical requirements of industry that can be fulfilled by synthesizing the enzyme with efficient properties. In the current study, a newly isolated thermophile Geobacillus stearothermophilus KIBGE-IB29 was used in order to attain the maximum production of endo-1,4-β-xylanase. Bacterial culture was isolated from soil, collected around the blast furnace site of a steel processing mill, Karachi. Optimization of various nutritional and physical factors resulted the maximum synthesis of endo-1,4-β-xylanase from a thermophile. High production yield was achieved at 60°C and pH-6.0 after 24 hours of incubation period. Various nitrogen sources viz. peptone, yeast extract and meat extract improved the enzyme synthesis with 0.5%, 0.2% and 0.1% optimum concentrations. Dipotassium hydrogen phosphate (0.25%), potassium dihydrogen phosphate (0.05%), ammonium sulfate (0.05%) and calcium chloride (0.01%) were noticed as valuable salts to improve the production of enzyme. The thermophilic nature of isolate, with its broad pH stability profile and reduced fermentation time indicates its importance for effective xylan saccharification and for large scale production of endo-1,4-β-xylanase.

Keywords: geobacillus, optimization, production, xylanase

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Authors: Sadaf Ambreen, Ayesha Bibi, Sara Rafiq

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Hypertension is a medical condition in which blood pressure in the arteries is elevated than the normal, having systolic blood pressure more than 120mmHg and diastolic blood pressure more than 80 mmHg. It leads to health complications and increase the risk of diseases such as stroke, heart failure, heart attack, and even death. The aim of the current study was to evaluate nutritional status and activity level among hypertensive early adults in District Mardan Data was collected from the subjects of Public Hospital, Mardan Medical Complex, through questionnaire. A complete information about individual sociodemographic, anthropometry and health status were collected, and physical activity was assessed by using IPAQ questionnaire. A total of 150 individuals were included in the study, in which 90% were females, and 10% were males. Data was analyzed through SPSS Version 22. Majority of the study subjects, 88%, were married, 70% having nuclear living system, 43% were having elementary education, and 43% were working as laborer. Body mass index and waist circumference in female counterpart were found to be positively associated with hypertension and was found statistically significant P=<0.01. Results showed that majority of females were fall in hypertension crisis category with mild activity, and males were having hypertension stage 1 with moderate activity. Our study concluded that non-optimal nutritional status and physical inactivity resulted in elevated blood pressure in females, therefore, lifestyle change such as optimal nutritional status and physical activity may play key role in reducing risk of hypertension.

Keywords: obesity/overwight, body mass index, waist circumference, early adulthood

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Authors: Sadia Bibi, Karim Ullah

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Islamic banks have excess liquidity, which needs proper management to earn a high rate of return on them to remain competitive. However, they lack assets-backed avenues and rely on a few sukuks, which led them to liquidity management issues. Financial engineering comes forward to innovate and develop instruments for the requisite financial problem. Still, they face many challenges, explored in the context of liquidity management in Islamic banks. The rigorous literature review shows that Shariah compliance, competition from the conventional banks, lack of sufficient instruments, derivatives are still not accepted as legitimate products, the inter-bank market being less developed, and no possibility of lender of last resort is the six significant constraints to financial engineering for liquidity management of Islamic banks. To further explore the problem, a multiple case study strategy is used to extend and develop the theory with the philosophical stance of social constructivism. Narrative in-depth interviews over the telephone are conducted with key personnel at treasury departments of selected banks. Data is segregated and displayed using NVivo 11 software, and the thematic analysis approach identifies themes related to the constraints. The exploration of further constraints to financial engineering for liquidity management of Islamic banks achieves the research aim. The theory is further developed by the addition of three more constraints to the theoretical framework, which are i) lack of skilled human resources, ii) lack of unified vision, and iii) lack of government support to the Islamic banks. These study findings are fruitful for the use of the government, regulatory authorities of the banking sector, the State Bank of Pakistan (Central Bank), and the product design & development division of Islamic banks to make the financial engineering process feasible and resolve liquidity management issues of Islamic banks.

Keywords: financial engineering, liquidity management, Islamic banks, shariah compliance

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Authors: Tayyaba Azim, Bibi Amina

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The increase in the popularity of opinion mining with the rapid growth in the availability of social networks has attracted a lot of opportunities for research in the various domains of Sentiment Analysis and Natural Language Processing (NLP) using Artificial Intelligence approaches. The latest trend allows the public to actively use the internet for analyzing an individual’s opinion and explore the effectiveness of published facts. The main theme of this research is to account the public opinion on the most crucial and extensively discussed development projects, China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), considered as a game changer due to its promise of bringing economic prosperity to the region. So far, to the best of our knowledge, the theme of CPEC has not been analyzed for sentiment determination through the ML approach. This research aims to demonstrate the use of ML approaches to spontaneously analyze the public sentiment on Twitter tweets particularly about CPEC. Support Vector Machine SVM is used for classification task classifying tweets into positive, negative and neutral classes. Word2vec and TF-IDF features are used with the SVM model, a comparison of the trained model on manually labelled tweets and automatically generated lexicon is performed. The contributions of this work are: Development of a sentiment analysis system for public tweets on CPEC subject, construction of an automatic generation of the lexicon of public tweets on CPEC, different themes are identified among tweets and sentiments are assigned to each theme. It is worth noting that the applications of web mining that empower e-democracy by improving political transparency and public participation in decision making via social media have not been explored and practised in Pakistan region on CPEC yet.

Keywords: machine learning, natural language processing, sentiment analysis, support vector machine, Word2vec

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Authors: Hiba T. Allah ALtieb Gusm ALsied, Amna Beshir Medani Ahmed, Ikram Mohamed ELtayeb, Saad Mohamed Hussein Ayoub

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This study was carried out to determine the hepatoactivity and the antioxidant activity of Coiradrum sativum L. aerial part and fruit extracts against CCL4 induced acute liver damages in Wistar rats. The aerial parts and fruits part of the plant were extracted 96% ethanol with soxhlet apparatus. Hepatic injury was achieved by subcutaneous injection of 3 ml/kg of CCL4 diluted with olive oil with ratio 1:1. The extracts were mixed together 1:1 ratio and given in different doses 100,200,400 mg/kg/day for 5 days under CCL4 induction at 3rd day. The significance of differences between means by using T-test was compared among the groups. The mixture of the two extracts didn’t show any significant result in protecting liver injury (antagonistic effects), it shows high level of liver enzyme like alkaline phosphatase (ALP), glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT) and glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT). Serological studies further confirmed the results. The results obtained were compared with silymarin (70 mg/kg/day) orally, the standard drug for hepatoprotection which show recovery close to normalization almost like that of silymarin; therefore, further studies on this plant with different ratios especially in isolated tissue to spot more light on antagonistic effects of the two extracts. Antioxidant activity of the extracts was determined by the DPPH method. The results obtained show high anti-oxidant activity for fruits extract while slight or moderate antioxidant activity to aerial extracts.

Keywords: antioxidant, aerial part, Coriadrum sativum L., fruity, hepatoprotection, Silymarin, phytochemical screening

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Authors: Amna I. Shibeika, Batoul Y. Hittini, Tasneem B. Abd Bakri

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Regulation and integration of public policy, economy, insurance industry, education, and construction stakeholders are the main contributors to achieve sustainable development. Building environmental assessment methods were introduced in the field to address issues such as global warming and conservation of natural resources. In the UAE, Estidama framework with its associated Pearl Building Rating System (PBRS) has been introduced in 2010 to address and spread sustainability practices within the country’s fast-growing built environment. Based on literature review of relevant studies investigating different project characteristics that influence sustainability outcomes, this paper presents a conceptual framework for understanding the adoption of PBRS in UAE projects. The framework also draws on Diffusion of Innovations theory to address the questions of how the assessment method is chosen in the first place and what is the impact of PBRS on the multi-disciplinary design and construction processes. The study highlights the mandatory nature of the adoption of PBRS for government buildings as well as imbedding Estidama principles within Abu Dhabi building codes as key factors for raising awareness about sustainable practices. Moreover, several project-related elements are addressed to understand their relationship with the adoption process, including project team collaboration; communication and coordination; levels of commitment and engagement; and the involvement of key actors as sustainability champions. This conceptualization of the adoption of PBRS in UAE projects contributes to the growing literature on the adoption of energy assessment tools and addresses the UAE vision is to be at the forefront of innovative sustainable development by 2021.

Keywords: adoption, building assessment, design management, innovation, sustainability

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Authors: Amna J. Ghith, Khaled Abu Zid, Khairia Youssef, Nasser Saad

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Backgrounds: The multikinase and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor inhibitors interrupt the pathway by which angiogenesis becomes established and promulgated, resulting in the inadequate nourishment of metastatic disease. VEGFR-2 has been the principal target of anti-angiogenic therapies. We disclose the new thieno pyrimidines as inhibitors of VEGFR-2 designed by a molecular modeling approach with increased synergistic activity and decreased side effects. Purpose: 2-substituted thieno pyrimidines are designed and synthesized with anticipated anticancer activity based on its in silico molecular docking study that supports the initial pharmacophoric hypothesis with a same binding mode of interaction at the ATP-binding site of VEGFR-2 (PDB 2QU5) with high docking score. Methods: A series of compounds were designed using discovery studio 4.1/CDOCKER with a rational that mimic the pharmacophoric features present in the reported active compounds that targeted VEGFR-2. An in silico ADMET study was also performed to validate the bioavailability of the newly designed compounds. Results: The Compounds to be synthesized showed interaction energy comparable to or within the range of the benzimidazole inhibitor ligand when docked with VEGFR-2. ADMET study showed comparable results most of the compounds showed absorption within (95-99) zone varying according to different substitutions attached to thieno pyrimidine ring system. Conclusions: A series of 2-subsituted thienopyrimidines are to be synthesized with anticipated anticancer activity and according to docking study structure requirement for the design of VEGFR-2 inhibitors which can act as powerful anticancer agents.

Keywords: docking, discovery studio 4.1/CDOCKER, heterocycles based anticancer agents, 2-subsituted thienopyrimidines

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Authors: Usama Bin Zubair, Syed Azhar Ali

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Introduction: Depression is emerging as a major public health problem in all parts of the world. Developing countries have a unique socioeconomic structure that affects the lives of its inhabitants in several ways. Going abroad for employment is one of the common social problems which have been faced by young males in developing countries. This included both highly qualified individuals as well as the labor class. Objective: To determine the difference in the presence of depressive symptoms among pregnant women with husbands living abroad and those with husbands living with them in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Methods: The sample population comprised of pregnant women reporting for an antenatal checkup at Amna hospital Rawalakot. Cases constituted the pregnant women with husbands living abroad while controls were the pregnant women with husbands living with them. Patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was used to record the presence and severity of depressive symptoms. Age, gestation, parity, rural or urban origin, education, level of family income, daily contact hours on the telephone or what’s app, previous pregnancy loss or complications, number of years abroad and visits to home per year were associated with the presence of depressive symptoms. Findings: The mean age of the study participants was 29.73 ±5.395 years. Sixty-six had significant depression in the case group, while 14 had in the control group (p-value<0.001). Education and rural background had a significant difference between the case and the control group. Less number of visits per year of the husband was strongly linked with the presence of depressive symptoms among the cases. Conclusion: Pregnant women with husbands abroad were found more prone to develop depressive symptoms as compared to those with husbands living with them. Special attention should be paid to the women whose husband had a lesser number of visits to the country.

Keywords: depression, pregnancy, lack of support, war zone

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Authors: Amna Jalal, Muhammad Dildar Gogi, Muhammad Jalal Arif, Anum Tariq, Waleed Afzal Naveed, Talha Farooq, Mubashir Iqbal, Muhammad Junaid Nisar

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Melon fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae: Dacinae) are economically important pests of the cucurbits and are geographically distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics of the world. It causes heavy quantitative and qualitative losses in bitter gourd. The present experiment was carried out to evaluate the performance of different biodegradable waxes based SPLAT-MAT-CL (Specialized Pheromone and Lure Application Technology-Male Anhelation Technique- Cue Lure) formulations in bitter gourd field. Fourteen SPLAT-MAT emulsions/formulations were prepared by admixing different SPLAT matrices with toxicant (spinosad) and sex pheromone cuelure (attractant) in different proportionate percentage by weight. The results revealed that attraction and trapping of fruit flies of B. cucurbitae varied significantly for different SPLAT-MAT-CL formulations (p < 0.05). The maximum B. cucurbitae males were trapped in SPLAT-MAT-CL-7 (60 flies/trap/day) followed by SPLAT-MAT-CL-9 (40 flies/trap/day). The performance of all other formulations of SPLAT-MAT-CL was found in the order of SPLAT-MAT-CL-8 (30 flies/trap/day) > SPLAT-MAT-CL-3 (28 flies/trap/day) > SPLAT-MAT-CL-5 (25 flies/trap/day) > SPLAT-MAT-CL-4 (22 flies/trap/day) > SPLAT-MAT-CL-12 (20 flies/trap/day) SPLAT-MAT-CL-2 (19 flies/trap/day) > SPLAT-MAT-CL-14 (17 flies/trap/day) > SPLAT-MAT-CL-13 (15 flies/trap/day) > SPLAT-MAT-CL-11 (10 flies/trap/day) > SPLAT-MAT-CL-1 (8 flies/trap/day) > SPLAT-MAT-CL-10 (02 flies/trap/day). Overall, all the SPLAT-MAT-CL formulations, except SPLAT-MAT-CL-10, demonstrated higher density of captures of B. cucurbitae males as compared to standard (06 flies/trap/day). The results also demonstrate that SPLAT-MAT-CL-7, SPLAT-MAT-CL-9, SPLAT-MAT-CL-8, SPLAT-MAT-CL-3, SPLAT-MAT-CL-5, SPLAT-MAT-CL-4, SPLAT-MAT-CL-12, SPLAT-MAT-CL-2, SPLAT-MAT-CL-14, SPLAT-MAT-CL-13, SPLAT-MAT-CL-11 and SPLAT-MAT-CL-1 explained approximately 5, 4.6, 4.1, 3.6, 3.3, 3.1,2.8,2.5 and 1.6 times higher captures of B. cucurbitae males over standards. However, SPLAT-MAT-CL-10 demonstrated 3 times fewer captures of B. cucurbitae males over standards. In conclusion, SPLAT-MAT-CL-7, SPLAT-MAT-CL-9 can be exploited for the monitoring and trapping of B. cucurbitae in its IPM of program.

Keywords: attractancy, field conditions, melon fruit fly, SPLAT-MAT-CL

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Authors: Amna Ali Nasser Al-Saadi, Riken Homma, Kazuhisa Iki

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Need to generate objective communication between researchers, Practitioners and policy makers are top concern of sustainability. Despite the fact that many places have successes in achieving some aspects of sustainable urban development, there are no scientific facts to convince policy makers in the rest of the world to apply their guides and manuals. This is because each of them was developed to fulfill the need of specific city. The question is, how to learn the lesson from each case study? And how distinguish between the potential criteria and negative one? And how quantify their effects in the future development? Walkability has been found as a solution to achieve healthy life style as well as social, environmental and economic sustainability. Moreover, it is complicated as every aspect of sustainable development. This research is stand on quantitative- comparative methodology in order to assess pedestrian oriented development. Three Analyzed Areas (AAs) were selected. One site is located in Oman in which hypotheses as motorized oriented development, while two sites are in Japan where the development is pedestrian friendly. The study used Multi-Criteria Evaluation Method (MCEM). Initially, MCEM stands on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The later was structured into main goal (walkability), objectives (functions and layout) and attributes (the urban form criteria). Secondly, the GIS were used to evaluate the attributes in multi-criteria maps. Since each criterion has different scale of measurement, all results were standardized by z-score and used to measure the co-relations among cr iteria. Different scenario was generated from each AA. After that, MCEM (AHP- OWA) based on GIS measured the walkability score and determined the priority of criteria development in the non-walker friendly environment. As results, the comparison criteria for z-score presented a measurable distinguished orientation of development. This result has been used to prove that Oman is motorized environment while Japan is walkable. Also, it defined the powerful criteria and week criteria regardless to the AA. This result has been used to generalize the priority for walkable development.

Keywords: walkability, sustainable development, multi- criteria evaluation method, gis

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Authors: Talaat Ahmed, Amna Babssail

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Mangroves are evergreen trees and grow along the coastal areas of Qatar. The largest and oldest area of mangroves can be found around Al-Thakhira and Al-Khor. Other mangrove areas originate from fairly recent plantings by the government, although unfortunately the picturesque mangrove lake in Al-Wakra has now been uprooted. Avicinnia marina is the predominant mangrove species found in the region. Mangroves protect and stabilize low lying coastal land, and provide protection and food sources for estuarine and coastal fishery food chains. They also serve as feeding, breeding and nursery grounds for a variety of fish, crustaceans, reptiles, birds and other wildlife. A total of 21 individuals of A. marina, representing seven diverse Natural and artificial populations, were sampled throughout its range in Qatar. Leaves from 2-3 randomly selected trees at each location were collected. The locations are as follows: Al-Rawis, Ras-Madpak, Fuwairt, Summaseima, Al-khour, AL-Mafjar and Zekreet. Total genomic DNA was extracted using commercial DNeasy Plant System (Qiagen, Inc., Valencia, CA) kit to be used for genetic diversity analysis. Total of 12 (Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat) ISSR primers were used to amplify DNA fragments using genomic DNA. The 12 ISSR primers amplified polymorphic bands among mangrove samples in different areas as well as within each area indicating the existing of variation within each area and among the different areas of mangrove in Qatar. The results could characterize Avicinnia marina populations exist in different areas of Qatar and establish DNA fingerprint documentations for mangrove population to be used in further studies. Moreover, existing of genetic variation within and among Avicinnia marina populations is a strong indication for the ability of such populations to adapt different environmental conditions in Qatar. This study could be a warning to save mangrove in Qatar and save the environment as well.

Keywords: DNA fingerprint, Avicinnia marina, genetic analysis, Qatar

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Authors: Safee Chaudhary, Mahnoor Naseer Gondal, Hira Anees Awan, Abdul Rehman, Ammar Arif, Risham Hussain, Huma Khawar, Zainab Arshad, Muhammad Faizyab Ali Chaudhary, Waleed Ahmed, Muhammad Umer Sultan, Bibi Amina, Salaar Khan, Muhammad Moaz Ahmad, Osama Shiraz Shah, Hadia Hameed, Muhammad Farooq Ahmad Butt, Muhammad Ahmad, Sameer Ahmed, Fayyaz Ahmed, Omer Ishaq, Waqar Nabi, Wim Vanderbauwhede, Bilal Wajid, Huma Shehwana, Muhammad Tariq, Amir Faisal

Abstract:

Cancer is a manifestation of multifactorial deregulations in biomolecular pathways. These deregulations arise from the complex multi-scale interplay between cellular and extracellular factors. Such multifactorial aberrations at gene, protein, and extracellular scales need to be investigated systematically towards decoding the underlying mechanisms and orchestrating therapeutic interventions for patient treatment. In this work, we propose ‘TISON’, a next-generation web-based multiscale modeling platform for clinical systems oncology. TISON’s unique modeling abstraction allows a seamless coupling of information from biomolecular networks, cell decision circuits, extra-cellular environments, and tissue geometries. The platform can undertake multiscale sensitivity analysis towards in silico biomarker identification and drug evaluation on cellular phenotypes in user-defined tissue geometries. Furthermore, integration of cancer expression databases such as The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Human Proteome Atlas (HPA) facilitates in the development of personalized therapeutics. TISON is the next-evolution of multiscale cancer modeling and simulation platforms and provides a ‘zero-code’ model development, simulation, and analysis environment for application in clinical settings.

Keywords: systems oncology, cancer systems biology, cancer therapeutics, personalized therapeutics, cancer modelling

Procedia PDF Downloads 222

Authors: Amna Ali Al-Saadi, Riken Homma, Kazuhisa Iki

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Despite the fact that many places have successes in achieving some aspects of sustainable urban development, there are no scientific facts to convince decision makers. Also, each of them was developed to fulfill the need of specific city only. Therefore, objective method to generate the solutions from a successful case is the aim of this research. The questions were: how to learn the lesson from each case study; how to distinguish the potential criteria and negative one; snd how to quantify their effects in the future development. Walkability has been selected as a goal. This is because it has been found as a solution to achieve healthy life style as well as social, environmental and economic sustainability. Moreover, it has complication as every aspect of sustainable development. This research is stand on quantitative- comparative methodology in order to assess pedestrian oriented development. Three analyzed area (AAs) were selected. One site is located in Oman in which hypotheses as motorized oriented development, while two sites are in Japan where the development is pedestrian friendly. The study used Multi- criteria evaluation method (MCEM). Initially, MCEM stands on analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The later was structured into main goal (walkability), objectives (functions and layout) and attributes (the urban form criteria). Secondly, the GIS were used to evaluate the attributes in multi-criteria maps. Since each criterion has different scale of measurement, all results were standardized by z-score and used to measure the co-relations among criteria. As results, different scenario was generated from each AA. MCEM (AHP-OWA)-GIS measured the walkability score and determined the priority of criteria development in the non-walker friendly environment. The comparison criteria for z-score presented a measurable distinguished orientation of development. This result has been used to prove that Oman is motorized environment while Japan is walkable. Also, it defined the powerful criteria and week criteria regardless to the AA. This result has been used to generalize the priority for walkable development. In conclusion, the method was found successful in generate scientific base for policy decisions.

Keywords: walkability, policy decisions, sustainable development, GIS

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Authors: Amna Imtiaz

Abstract:

Aims: To correlate serum ferritin with left ventricular function in beta thalassemia major patients with increased transfusion dependence and to find out whether echocardiography can be used to assess pre clinical cardiac disease in these patients. Methods: The cross sectional study was conducted at Department of Pathology, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad. 60 patients of beta thalassemia major with increased transfusion dependence were enrolled in this study. Serum ferritin levels of all patients were measured by using indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Echocardiography was performed on all patients by a consultant cardiologist by linking conventional echocardiography with tissue Doppler imaging. Ejection fraction and E/A ratio were measured in all patients to assess left ventricular systolic and diastolic function. Results: On the basis of serum ferritin level, patients were divided into three groups. Group I consisted of patients having serum ferritin level equal to or less than 2500 ng/ml. A total of 25 patients were placed in this group. Group II included patients having serum ferritin level between 2500 to 5000 ng/ml. A total of 22 patients were placed in this group. Group III included patients having serum ferritin level more than 5000 ng/ml. This group consisted of 13 patients. All patients having serum ferritin below 2500ng/ml had normal systolic function, and only 16% of the patients in this group had diastolic dysfunction as reflected by abnormal E/A ratio. In group II, 27% of the patients had systolic dysfunction reflected by subnormal ejection fraction while 40% of the patients had diastolic dysfunction. In group III, 62% of the patients had abnormal systolic and diastolic function. Pearson correlation was used to find a correlation between serum ferritin and left ventricular function. A strong negative correlation was found which is reflected by a p value of less than 0.05 which is significant. Chi square test is used to correlate serum ferritin with E/A ratio. P value came out to be less than 0.05 which is significant.

Keywords: beta thalassemia major, left ventricular function, serum ferritin, transfusion dependence

Procedia PDF Downloads 188

Authors: Samar Saadeldin Abdelmotalab Omer, Ikram Mohammed Eltayeb Elsiddig, Amna Beshir Medani Ahmed, Saad Mohammed Hussein Ayoub

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Many herbal medicinal products are considered as potential hypocholesterolemic agents with encouraging safety profiles, however, only a limited amount of clinical research exists to support their efficacy. The present study was designed to compare the antihypercholesterolaemic and antioxidant activities of the crude ethanolic extracts of Citrus reticulata peel, Zingiber officinale rhizome, and Sesamum indicum seeds. Forty-five rats were used throughout the experiment, which were divided into nine groups, five rats in each as follows; normal control group (normal rats fed with standard normal diet), rats fed hypercholesterolemic diet consisting of 1% cholesterol and 10% saturated animal fat, which were further divided into eight groups; hypercholesterolemic control group (rats only fed hypercholesterolemic diet), groups 3,4,5,6,7, and 8 were given Citrus reticulata, Zingiber officinale, and Sesamum indicum ethanolic extracts at doses of (250mg/kg and 500mg/kg, respectively) orally; and group 9 rats were given atorvastatin (0.18mg/kg) orally as a reference antihypercholesterolaemic drug. Blood samples were obtained four weeks following treatment from the retro-orbital venous plexus after fasting overnight from all groups and the lipid profile (serum total cholesterol (TC), high-density-lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), and triglycerides levels) was measured and the risk ratio (TC/HDL-C) was assessed. The antioxidant activity of the three plant extracts was determined using DPPH free-radical assay. Results of in vivo and in vitro antihypercholesterolaemic and antioxidant assay, respectively, revealed that the three extracts possess comparable antioxidant and anti-hypercholesterolaemic activities.

Keywords: anti hypercholesterolemic effects, antioxidant activity, HDL, LDL, TC, TGs, citrus reticulata, sesamum indicum, zingiber officinale

Procedia PDF Downloads 465

Authors: Muhammad Dildar Gogi, Muhammad Jalal Arif, Muhammad Junaid Nisar, Mubashir Iqbal, Waleed Afzal Naveed, Muhammad Ahsan Khan, Ahmad Nawaz, Muhammad Sufian, Muhammad Arshad, Amna Jalal

Abstract:

Fruit flies of Bactrocera genus cause heavy losses in fruits and vegetables globally and insecticide-application for their control creates issues of ecological backlash, environmental pollution, and food safety. There is need to explore alternatives and food-baits application is considered safe for the environment and effective for fruit fly management. Present experiment was carried out to assess the attractancy of five phagostimulant-Mixtures (PHS-Mix) prepared by mixing banana-squash, mulberry, protein-hydrolysate and molasses with some phagostimulant-lure sources including beef extract, fish extract, yeast, starch, rose oil, casein and cedar oil in five different ratios i.e., PHS-Mix-1 (1 part of all ingredients), PHS-Mix-2 (1 part of banana with 0.75 parts of all other ingredients), PHS-Mix-3 (1 part of banana with 0.5 parts of all other ingredients), PHS-Mix-4 (1 part of banana with 0.25 parts of all other ingredients) and PHS-Mix-5 (1 part of banana with 0.125 parts of all other ingredients). These were evaluated in comparison with a standard (GF-120). PHS-Mix-4 demonstrated 40.5±1.3-46.2±1.6% AI for satiated flies (class-II i.e., moderately attractive) and 59.5±2.0-68.6±3.0% AI for starved flies (class-III i.e., highly attractive) for both B. dorsalis and B. zonata in olfactometric study while the same exhibited 51.2±0.53% AI (class-III i.e., highly attractive) for B. zonata and 45.4±0.89% AI (class-II i.e., moderately attractive) for B. dorsalis in field study. PHS-Mix-1 proved non-attractive (class-I) and moderately attractive (class-II) phagostimulant in olfactometer and field studies, respectively. PHS-Mix-2 exhibited moderate attractiveness for starved lots in olfactometer and field-lot in field studies. PHS-Mix-5 proved non-attractive to starved and satiated lots of B. zonata and B. dorsalis females in olfactometer and field studies. Overall PHS-Mix-4 proved better phagostimulant-mixture followed by PHS-Mix-3 which was categorized as class-II (moderately attractive) phagostimulant for starved and satiated lots of female flies of both species in olfactometer and field studies; hence these can be exploited for fruit fly management.

Keywords: attractive index, field conditions, olfactometer, Tephritid flies

Procedia PDF Downloads 249

Authors: Amna Khaliq

Abstract:

In this research paper, a comparison study has been undertaken between Canada and Denmark to analyze the education system between the countries in entrepreneurship. Denmark, a land of high wages and high taxes, and Canada, a land of immigrants and opportunities, have seen a positive relationship in entrepreneurs' growth. They are both considered one of the top ten countries to start a business and to have government support globally. However, education is entirely free to Danish students, including university degrees, compared to Canadians, which can further hurdle for Canadian millennials to grow in the business world—the business experience more growth with educated entrepreneurs with international backgrounds in new immigrants. Denmark has seen a gradual increase in female entrepreneurs over the decade but is still lower than OECD countries. Compassionate management and work-life balance are prioritized in Denmark, unlike in Canada. Danish are early adopters of technology and have excellent infrastructure to support the technology industry, whereas Canada is still a service-oriented and manufacturer-based country. 2018 has been the highest number of opening businesses for Canada and Denmark. Some companies offer high wages, hiring bonuses, flexible working hours, wellness, and mental health benefits during Pandemic to keep the companies running and keep their workers' morale high. Pandemic has taught consumers new patterns to shop online. It is essential now to use technology and automation to increase productivity in businesses. Only those companies will survive that are applying this strategy. The Pandemic has ultimately changed entrepreneurs' and employees' behavior in the business world. Along with Ph.D. professors, entrepreneurs should be allowed to teach at learning intuitions. Millennials turn out to be the most entrepreneurial generation in both countries. Entrepreneurship education will only be beneficial when students create businesses and learn from real-life experiences. Managing physical, mental, emotional, and psychological health while dealing with high pressure in entrepreneurship are soft skills learned through practical work.

Keywords: entrepreneurship education, millennials, pandemic, Denmark, Canada

Procedia PDF Downloads 105

Authors: Aziza S. Al Adhoobi, Amna Al Ruheili, Saud M. Al Jufaili

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This study investigates the potential effects of climate change on the habitat suitability of two Aphaniops species (Teleostei: Aphaniidae) found in the Oman Mountains and the Southwestern Arabian Coast. Aphaniops kruppi, an endemic species, is found in various water bodies such as wadis, springs, aflaj, spring-fed streams, and some coastal backwaters. Aphaniops stoliczkanus, on the other hand, inhabits brackish and freshwater habitats, particularly in the lower parts of wadies and aflaj, and exhibits euryhaline characteristics. Using Maximum Entropy Modeling (MaxEnt) in conjunction with ArcGIS (10.8.2) and CHELSA bioclimatic variables, topographic indices, and other pertinent environmental factors, the study modeled the potential impacts of climate change based on three Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs 2.6, 7.0, 8.5) for the periods 2011-2040, 2041-2070, and 2071-2100. The model demonstrated exceptional predictive accuracy, achieving AUC values of 0.992 for A. kruppi and 0.983 for A. stoliczkanus. For A. kruppi, the most influential variables were the mean monthly climate moisture index (Cmi_m), the mean diurnal range (Bio2), and the sediment transport index (STI), accounting for 39.9%, 18.3%, and 8.4%, respectively. As for A. stoliczkanus, the key variables were the sediment transport index (STI), stream power index (SPI), and precipitation of the coldest quarter (Bio19), contributing 31%, 20.2%, and 13.3%, respectively. A. kruppi showed an increase in habitat suitability, especially in low and medium suitability areas. By 2071-2100, high suitability areas increased slightly by 0.05% under RCP 2.6, but declined by -0.02% and -0.04% under RCP 7.0 and 8.5, respectively. A. stoliczkanus exhibited a broader range of responses. Under RCP 2.6, all suitability categories increased by 2071-2100, with high suitability areas increasing by 0.01%. However, low and medium suitability areas showed mixed trends under RCP 7.0 and 8.5, with declines of -0.17% and -0.16%, respectively. The study highlights that climatic and topographical factors significantly influence the habitat suitability of Aphaniops species in Oman. Therefore, species-specific conservation strategies are crucial to address the impacts of climate change.

Keywords: Aphaniops kruppi, Aphaniops stoliczkanus, Climate change, Habitat suitability, MaxEnt

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Authors: Muhammad Ashfaq, Muhammad Saleem Haider, Muhammad Ali, Muhammad Sajjad, Amna Ali, Urooj Mubashar

Abstract:

Phenotypic diversity was confirmed by measuring different morphological traits i.e. seed traits (seed length, seed width, seed thickness, seed length-width ratio, 1000 grain weight) and root-shoot traits (shoot length, root length, shoot fresh weight, root fresh weight, root-shoot ratio, root numbers and root thickness). Variance and association study of desirable traits determine the genotypic differences among the rice germplasm. All the traits showed significant differences among the genotypes. The traits were studied in Randomized complete block design (RCBD) at different water levels. Some traits showed positive correlation with each other and beneficial for increasing the yield and production of the crop. Seed thickness has positive correlation with seed length and seed width (r= 0.104**, r=0.246**). On the other hand, various root shoot traits showed positive highly significant association at different water levels i.e. root length, fresh root weight, root thickness, shoot thickness and root numbers. Our main focus to study the performance/correlation of root shoots traits under stress condition. Fresh root weight, shoot thickness and root numbers showed positive significant association with shoot length, root length, fresh root and shoot weight (r=0.2530**, r=0.2891**, r=0.4626**, r=0.4515**, r=0.5781**, r=0.7164**, r=0.0603**, r= 0.5570**, r=0.5824**). Long root length genotypes favors and suitable for drought stress conditions and screening of diverse genotypes for the further development of new plant material that performing well under different environmental conditions. After screening genetic diversity of potential rice, lines were studied to check the polymorphism by using some SSR markers. DNA was extracted, and PCR analyses were done to study PIC values and allelic diversity of the genotypes. The main objective of this study is to screen out the genotypes on the basis of various genotypic and phenotypic traits.

Keywords: rice, morphological traits, association, germplasm, genetic diversity, water levels, variation

Procedia PDF Downloads 321

Authors: Amna Shoaib, Sidrah Hanif, Rashid Mehmood

Abstract:

Current research work was carried out to check influence of farmyard manure (FYM) in Lycopersicon esculentum L. against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (FO) in copper polluted soil. Silt-loam soil naturally enriched with 70 ppm of Cu was inoculated with 1 x 106 spore suspensions of FO and incorporated with 0%, 1%, 1.5% or 2% FYM. The multilateral interaction of host-pathogen-metal-organic amendment was assessed in terms of morphology, growth, yield, physiology, biochemistry and metal uptake in tomato plant after 30 and 60 days of sowing. When soil was inoculated with FO, plant growth and biomass were significantly increased during vegetative stage, while declining during flowering stage with substantial increase in productivity over control. Infected plants exhibited late wilting and disease severity was found on 26-50% of plant during reproductive stage. Incorporation of up to 1% FYM suppressed disease severity, improved plant growth and biomass, while it decreased yield. Rest of manure doses was found ineffective in suppressing disease. Content of total chlorophyll, sugar and protein were significantly declined in FO inoculated plants and incorporation of FYM caused significant reduction or no influence on sugar and chlorophyll content, and no pronounced difference among different FYM doses were observed. On the other hand, proline, peroxidase, catalase and nitrate reductase activity were found to be increased in infected plants and incorporation of 1-2% FYM further enhanced the activity of these enzymes. Tomato plant uptake of 30-40% of copper naturally present in the soil and incorporation of 1-2% FYM markedly decreased plant uptake of metal by 15-30%, while increased Cu retention in soil. Present study concludes that lower dose (1%) of FYM could be used to manage disease, increase growth and biomass, while being ineffective for yield and productivity in Cu-polluted soil. Altered physiology/biochemistry of plant in response to any treatment could be served as basis for resistant against pathogen and metal homeostasis in plants.

Keywords: Lycopersicon esculentum, copper, Fusarium wilt, farm yard manure

Procedia PDF Downloads 414

Authors: Ikram Elsiddig, Yacouba Djamila, Amna Hamad

Abstract:

Abstract—The worldwide increasing of using herbs in form of medicine with or without prescription medications potentiates the interactions between herbal products and conventional medicines; due to more research for herb-drug interactions are needed. for a long time hyperglycemia had been treated with several medicinal plants. A. sativum, belonging to the Liliaceae family is well known for its medicinal uses in African traditional medicine, it used for treating of many human diseases mainly diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. The purpose of this study is to determine the interaction effect between A. sativum bulb extracts and metformin drug used in diabetes treatment. The in vitro and in vivo evaluation were conducted by glucose reuptake using isolated rats hemidiaphgrams tissue and by estimate glucose tolerance in glucose-loaded wistar albino rats. The results showed that, petroleum ether, chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts were found to have activity of glucose uptake in isolated rats hemidiaphgrams of 24.11 mg/g, 19.07 mg/g and 15.66 mg/g compared to metformin drug of 17 mg/g. These activity were reducded to 17.8 mg/g, 13.59 mg/g and 14.46 mg/g after combination with metformin, metformin itself reduced to 13.59 mg/g, 14.46 mg/g and 12.71 mg/g in comination with chloroform and ethyl acetate. These decrease in activity could be due to herbal–drug interaction between the extracts of A. sativum bulb and metformin drug. The interaction between A. sativum extract and metformin was also shown by in vivo study on the induced hyperglycemic rats. The glucose level after administered of 200 mg/kg was found to be increase with 47.2 % and 17.7% at first and second hour compared to the increase of blood glucose in the control group of 82.6% and76.7%.. At fourth hour the glucose level was became less than normal with 3.4% compared to control which continue to increase with 68.2%. Dose of 400 mg/kg at first hour showed increase in blood glucose of 31.5 %, at second and fourth hours the glucose level was became less than normal with decrease of 3.2 % and 30.4%. After combination the activity was found to be less than that of extract at both high and low dose, whereas, at first and second hour, the glucose level was found to be increase with 50.4% and 21.2%, at fourth hour the glucose level was became less than normal with 14%. Therefore A. sativum could be a potential source for anti-diabetic when it used alone, and it is significant important to use the garlic extract alone instead of combined with Metformin drug in diabetes- treatment.

Keywords: Antagonistic, Garlic, Metformin, Synergistic

Procedia PDF Downloads 181