Prevalence of and Antimicrobial Drug Residues in Chicken Liver its Antibiogram Analysis and Implications on Public Health.

Chicken is a primary source of food worldwide. Ensuring food safety and preserving public health is crucial, and chicken meat inspection plays a critical role in achieving this goal. The transfer of pathogenic bacteria from animal intestines to carcasses during processing, and subsequently from meat products to consumers, is a significant contributor to the growing incidence of resistance and foodborne illnesses.

Safety and Efficacy of Low Molecular Weight Heparin Vs. Direct Oral Anticoagulants in Cancer-Associated Venous Thromboembolism.

Objective: To compare the safety and efficacy of low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) and direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in treating venous thromboembolism (VTE) among cancer patients.

Study Design: Descriptive study. Place and Duration of the Study: Department of General Medicine, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital, Peshawar, Pakistan, from February to September 2023.

Modulation of glucose metabolism and insulin resistance following hepatitis C virus clearance via direct-acting antivirals.

The positive sense RNA virus, hepatitis C virus (HCV), is affiliated with the Flaviviridae family. Approximately 1% of people around the globe experience the impact of the HCV, which can coax them into potentially fatal conditions, including cirrhosis and carcinoma. The second-highest hepatitis C infection burden lies in Pakistan.

Adenosine A2AR in viral immune evasion and therapy: unveiling new avenues for treating COVID-19 and AIDS.

Adenosine is a neuro- and immunomodulator that functions via G protein-coupled cell surface receptors. Several microbes, including viruses, use the adenosine signaling pathway to escape from host defense systems. Since the recent research developments in its role in health and disease, adenosine and its signaling pathway have attracted attention for targeting to treat many diseases.

Impact of ITPA gene polymorphism for predicting anemia and treatment outcome in HCV infected patients taking Sofosbuvir Ribavirin therapy.

Background: Globally, 80 million people are suffering from chronic Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Sofosbuvir ribavirin-based anti-HCV therapy is associated with anemia and other adverse effects. Polymorphisms of Inosine triphosphatase (ITPA) gene may cause functional impairment in the Inosine triphosphate pyrophosphatase enzyme, resulting in enhanced sustained viral response (SVR) and protection from ribavirin-associated anemia in patients on therapy.

Incidence of infection in carpal tunnel surgery with and without the use of local antibiotics.

Objectives: To compare the infection rate in patients who underwent carpal tunnel surgery with and without instilling local antibiotics into the surgical wound.

Methods: The retrospective cohort study was conducted at the Department of Surgery, Unit of Neurosurgery, Government Naseer Ullah Babar Memorial Hospital, Peshawar, Pakistan, and comprised data from July 2019 to July 2021 related to non-diabetic patients without any comorbidity who had undergone fresh carpal tunnel surgery. The cases had been operated by two surgeons having a different approach to preventing infection in carpal tunnel surgery cases.

Augmentation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells by Using Adult Bovine Serum.

Background: Umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) are increasingly being utilized for immune-related disease therapies due to their low immunogenicity. However, the primary culture of UC-MSCs requires the supplementation of serum in the growth medium, which has posed a challenge due to ethical issues related to the collection method of the fetal bovine serum (FBS) that is routinely used in cell culture.

Aim: In order to address this, the purpose of this research was to assess the effectiveness of adult bovine serum (ABS) as a different and more affordable source of serum for the in-vitro cultivation of UC-MSCs.

Identification and Functional Characterization of Mutation in in Families with Congenital Cataract.

Congenital cataract (CC) causes a third of the cases of treatable childhood blindness worldwide. CC is a disorder of the crystalline lens which is established as clinically divergent and has complex heterogeneity. This study aimed to determine the genetic basis of CC.

Designing Highly Photoactive Hybrid Aerogels for In-Flow Photocatalytic Contaminant Removal Using Silica-Coated Bacterial Nanocellulose Supports.

This study explores the use of silica-coated bacterial nanocellulose (BC) scaffolds with bulk macroscopic yet nanometric internal pores/structures as functional supports for high surface area titania aerogel photocatalysts to design flexible, self-standing, porous, and recyclable BC@SiO-TiO hybrid organic-inorganic aerogel membranes for effective in-flow photo-assisted removal of organic pollutants. The hybrid aerogels were prepared by sequential sol-gel deposition of the SiO layer over BC, followed by coating of the resulting BC@SiO membranes with a porous titania aerogel overlayer of high surface area using epoxide-driven gelation, hydrothermal crystallization, and subsequent supercritical drying. The silica interlayer between the nanocellulose biopolymer scaffold and the titania photocatalyst was found to greatly influence the structure and composition, particularly the TiO loading, of the prepared hybrid aerogel membranes, allowing the development of photochemically stable aerogel materials with increased surface area/pore volume and higher photocatalytic activity.

Size Control and Improved Aqueous Colloidal Stability of Surface-Functionalized ZnGaO:Cr Bright Persistent Luminescent Nanoparticles.

Near-infrared (NIR)-emitting ZnGaO:Cr (ZGO) persistent luminescent nanoparticles (PLNPs) have recently attracted considerable attention for diverse optical applications. The widespread use and promising potential of ZGO material in different applications arise from its prolonged post-excitation emission (several minutes to hours) that eliminates the need for continuous excitation and the possibility of its excitation in different spectral regions (X-rays and UV-vis). However, the lack of precise control over particle size/distribution and its poor water dispersibility and/or limited colloidal stability required for certain biological applications are the major bottlenecks that limit its practical applications.

Supported nanostructured photocatalysts: the role of support-photocatalyst interactions.

Heterogeneous photocatalysis employing semiconductor oxide photocatalysts is a sustainable and promising method for environmental remediation and clean energy generation. In this context, nanostructured photocatalysts, with at least one dimension in the 1‒100 nm size regime, have attracted ever-growing attention due to their unique and often enhanced size-dependent physicochemical properties. While their reduced size ensures enhanced photocatalytic performance, the same makes it difficult and time/energy-demanding to remove/recover such nanostructured photocatalysts from aqueous media.

Association between 17q21 variants and asthma predisposition in Pashtun population from Pakistan.

Objective: Asthma is a heterogeneous and genetically complex respiratory disease, and more than 300 million people are affected worldwide. In this study, frequencies of four SNPs (rs3816470, rs7216389, rs8067378, rs12603332) in chromosome 17q21 region were analyzed and their relationship with the asthma susceptibility, in the Pashtun population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (KPK) of Pakistan were investigated.

Methods: DNA samples from 500 subjects (asthma cases/controls) were genotyped by Sanger sequencing.

Unusual Local Therapies Used for the Treatment of Low Back Pain and Sciatica: Concepts and Approaches.

Background and objective Low back pain (LBP) and sciatica are major healthcare issues globally. Since patients may seek various ways to cure their ailments, these conditions are managed not just by physicians, but many other health-related professionals provide alternative treatment options for it as well. We conducted this study to examine a local subset of patients who used stabbing their back and legs as a treatment option for curing LBP and sciatica.

Duration of In-hospital Stay for Elective Neurosurgical Procedures in a Tertiary Care Hospital.

Objective: Public hospitals have fixed days with allotted time slots during which to perform neurosurgical elective cases. If emergency operations or other events preempt these scheduled time slots, the patient remains hospitalized, waiting in queue for a new time slot. We conducted this study to determine the number of days patients remained admitted waiting for elective cases in a tertiary care public hospital, which operates on fixed days.

Thymic Stromal Lymphopoietin (TSLP) gene variant rs1837253 is significantly associated with Asthma prevalence in Pakistani Pashtun women.

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by airway hyperresponsiveness and remodeling. Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), a member of the interleukin-2 family of cytokines, is produced by activated lung and intestinal epithelial cells, mast, and other immune cells. Population-based studies identified associations between SNPs in the TSLP promoter region and asthma pathogenesis.

Early Complications of Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt in Pediatric Patients With Hydrocephalus.

Objective Ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VPS) is the most commonly used procedure for the treatment of hydrocephalus (HDC), especially in children. However, this is prone to many complications, and requires repeated surgeries, which as such increases the morbidity of the patients. It is estimated that majority of the complications occurs in the immediate post-operative period and the rate of complications decreases over the time, with no impunity to these, though.

Bacterial Nanocellulose/MoS Hybrid Aerogels as Bifunctional Adsorbent/Photocatalyst Membranes for Water Decontamination.

To address the problems associated with the use of unsupported nanomaterials, in general, and molybdenum disulfide (MoS), in particular, we report the preparation of self-supported hybrid aerogel membranes that combine the mechanical stability and excellent textural properties of bacterial nanocellulose (BC)-based organic macro/mesoporous scaffolds with the excellent adsorption-cum-photocatalytic properties and high contaminant removal performance of MoS nanostructures. A controlled hydrothermal growth and precise tuning of the synthetic parameters allowed us to obtain BC/MoS-based porous, self-supported, and stable hybrid aerogels with a unique morphology resulting from a molecular precision in the coating of quantum-confined photocatalytic MoS nanostructures (2-4 nm crystallite size) on BC nanofibrils. These BC/MoS samples exhibit high surface area (97-137 m·g) and pore volume (0.

A novel nonsense mutation in the STS gene in a Pakistani family with X-linked recessive ichthyosis: including a very rare case of two homozygous female patients.

Background: X-linked ichthyosis (XLI; OMIM# 308100) is a recessive keratinization disorder characterized by the presence of dark brown, polygonal, adherent scales on different parts of the body surface. It almost exclusively affects males and the estimated prevalence ranges from 1:2000-6000 in males worldwide. Extracutaneous manifestations are frequent including corneal opacities, cryptorchidism, neuropsychiatric symptoms or others.

Precisely tailored shell thickness and Ln content to produce multicolor emission from Nd-sensitized Gd-based core/shell/shell UCNPs through bi-directional energy transfer.

Lanthanide (Ln)-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) have been paid great attention as multiplexing agents due to their numerous uses in biological and clinical applications such as bioimaging and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), to name a few. To achieve efficient multicolor emission from UCNPs under single 808 nm excitation and avoid detrimental cross-relaxations between the Ln activator ions (positioned in either the core and/or shell in the core/shell), it is essential to design an adequate nanoparticle architecture. Herein, we demonstrate the tailoring of multicolor upconversion luminescence (UCL) from Nd-sensitized Gd-based core/shell/shell UCNPs with an architecture represented as NaGdF:Tm(0.

Correlation of IL28B rs12979860 genotype and gender with spontaneous clearance of HCV infection: a Pakistani cross-section study.

Aim: There is a strong correlation of IL28B rs12979860 genetic variations and gender with spontaneous clearance of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.

Materials & Methods: HCV-infected subjects were categorized into HCV spontaneous clearance (SC) group and chronic hepatitis C (CHC) group on the basis of anti-HCV antibodies and HCV RNA level and follow-up of 6 months. 35 subjects were classified in SC group and 165 subjects were classified in CHC group.

Predictive value of IL-28B rs12979860 variants for peg-IFN, sofosbuvir plus ribavirin treatment of HCV infection in Pakistani population.

Aim: The correlation of IL28-B genetic variants (rs12979860) with combinational therapy (peg-interferon, sofosbuvir plus ribavirin) of hepatitis C virus infection were studied in 154 chronic hepatitis C patients.

Methods & Results: The sustained virological response for efficient antiviral regimen was achieved in 75.32% treated individuals.

Klippel-Feil Syndrome With Auxiliary Anterior Cervical Meningomyelocele and Thoracic Syringomyelia: A Case Report.

Study Design: Case report.

Objective: Since this is the first ever case of a male patient with Klippel-Feil syndrome (KFS) with anterior cervical meningomyelocele and syringomyelia. All four previously reported cases were female patients.

Modern biotechnology-based therapeutic approaches against HIV infection.

The causative agent of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Since its discovery before 30 years, a number of drugs known as highly active antiretroviral therapy have been developed to suppress the life cycle of the virus at different stages. With the current therapeutic approaches, ending AIDS means providing treatment to 35 million individuals living with HIV for the rest of their lives or until a cure is developed.

Salmonella Infection Amongst Food Workers In Lahore.

This descriptive observational study was conducted at Pathology lab Jinnah hospital, Lahore, January 2013 to October 2015. We include all the food workers in different restaurants, slaughters, inn, recreation centre and bakeries of Lahore for the purpose to identify the salmonella infection, we used Typhoid IgGI/IgM Rapid test device methods (Serum/Plasma), is a lateral flow chromatographic immunoassay technique were calculated. We analysed 1025 individuals, 62 (6%) were found positive for the said diseases out of which 14 (1.