Explore the vast range of titles available.

South Asian individuals possess a high risk of chronic kidney disease. There is a need to study, evaluate, and compare the newly suggested glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) equations for accurate CKD diagnosis, staging, and drug dosing. This study aimed to (1) evaluate the European Kidney Function Consortium (EKFC), Pakistani CKD-EPI, and 2021 Race-Free CKD-EPI creatinine equation in the South Asian population with CKD and (2) to examine the expected implications on both CKD classification as well as End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) prevalence across these equations in South Asian population. We carried out a cross-sectional investigation on 385 participants, a CKD cohort ≥ 18 years, at Allama Iqbal Medical College, Jinnah Hospital, Lahore. Serum creatinine was measured by Jaffe's method and rGFR was measured by inulin clearance. Pakistani CKD-EPI has a lower median difference at -1.33 ml/min/1.73m2 elevated precision (IQR) at 2.33 (-2.36, -0.03) and higher P30 value at 89.35% than 2021 CKD-EPI and EKFC equations. The mean difference (ml/min/1.73m2), 95% agreement limits (ml/min/1.73m2) of CKD-EPI PK: -1.18, -6.14, 2021 CKD-EPI: -5.98, -13.24 and EKFC: -5.62, -13.01 (P <0.001). These equations highly correlated to rGFR (P <0.001). An upward re-classification in GFR categories was shown by 2021 CKD-EPI and EKFC compared to the Pakistani CKD-EPI equation. However, there was an exception regarding the G5 category, where an elevated count of 217 (56.36%) was shown for CKD-EPI PK. The prevalence of ESRD was seen in entire age groups and prevailed among females more than in males overall equations. Pakistani CKD-EPI exhibited outstanding performance, while 2021 CKD-EPI and EKFC demonstrated poor performances and could not show an adequate advantage for both CKD classification and prevalence of ESRD compared to Pakistani CKD-EPI. Therefore, Pakistani CKD-EPI appears optimal for this region and warrants future validation in other South Asian countries. In contrast, suitable measures must be implemented in Pakistani laboratories.

Cadmium (Cd) is a highly toxic heavy metal and its presence in soil is of great concern due to the danger of its entry into the food chain. Among many others, proper plant nutrition is an economic and practicable strategy for minimizing the damage to plants from Cd and to decrease Cd accumulation in edible plant parts. The study was carried out to compare the effectiveness of soil and foliar applications of zinc (Zn) to minimize Cd accumulation in wheat grains. The results revealed that the exposure of plants to Cd decreased plant growth and increased Cd concentration in the shoots and grains of wheat, when compared with unexposed plants. Foliar application of 0.3 % zinc sulfate solution effectively decreased Cd concentration in wheat grains. Foliar application of Zn at a suitable concentration can effectively ameliorate the adverse effects of Cd exposure and decrease the grain Cd concentration of wheat grown in Cd-contaminated soil.

This research aims to conduct a comparative analysis of the first crack load, flexural strength, and shear strength in reinforced concrete beams without stirrups. The comparison is made between the conventional model developed according to the current design code (ACI building code) and an unconventional approach using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). To accomplish this, a dataset comprising 110 samples of reinforced concrete beams without stirrup reinforcement was collected and utilised to train a Multilayer Backpropagation Neural Network in MATLAB. The primary objective of this work is to establish a knowledge-based structural analysis model capable of accurately predicting the responses of reinforced concrete structures. The coefficient of determination obtained from this comparison yields values of 0.9404 for the first cracking load, 0.9756 for flexural strength, and 0.9787 for shear strength. Through an assessment of the coefficient of determination and linear regression coefficients, it becomes evident that the ANN model produces results that closely align with those obtained from the conventional model. This demonstrates the ANN’s potential for precise prediction of the structural behaviour of reinforced concrete beams.

Myeloid differentiation 88 (MyD88) is a well-established inflammatory adaptor protein. It is one of the essential downstream proteins of the toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) signaling pathway. TLRs are pattern recognition receptors that are usually activated by the damage-associated molecular pattern molecules (DAMPs). Sterile inflammation is triggered by the endogenous DAMPs released in response to global cerebral ischemia and from extravasated blood after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). In this review, we highlight the importance of the neuroinflammatory role of the MyD88 in the SAH. We also explore a few possible pharmacological agents that can be used to decrease SAH-associated neuroinflammation by modulating the MyD88 dependent functions. Pharmacological agents such as flavonoids, melatonin, fluoxetine, pentoxifylline and progesterone have been investigated experimentally to reduce the SAH-associated inflammation. Inhibition of the MyD88 not only reduces the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, but also potentially inhibits other processes that can augment the SAH associated inflammation. Further investigations are required to translate these findings in the clinical setting.

In this paper, smart integration of cold dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma in various geometrical arrangements with laser ablation at atmospheric pressure for nanomaterial was described. A composite Co:ZnO target was ablated in an airflow by a nanosecond (ns) laser (wavelength: 1064 nm, pulse duration: 30 ns) using fluence of 5 J-cm−2 at a repetition rate of 10 Hz. The nanomaterial produced under vertical and oblique plasma streams, surface discharge and gas flow, were compared. Utilization surface discharge markedly improved the material adhesion by altering surface intrinsic behavior, inducing anticipated surface energy activation, chemical changes, and the formation of a densely packed solid structure. Under all conditions, the material consistently retained its crystalline nature, elemental composition, and ultraviolet emission characteristics. These preliminary findings hold promise for additional research, suggesting avenues for making complex materials in a flexible environment. Such new advancements could facilitate applications in the biomedical, catalysis, pharmaceutical, and surgical device domains.

Eating disorders and excessive attachment to social media are a matter of great concern among youths. This study assessed the prevalence of eating disorders and their association with social media addiction among youths. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 350 participants aged 14–25 years. Two pre-validated tools were used, i.e., the Eating Attitude Test and the Social Networking Addiction Scale. SPSS was used to analyze the data. Out of the 350 students, 42% had probable eating disorders, and 41.7% had social media addictions. The findings revealed that the chances of having eating disorders were significantly higher among youths who lived in separate places, smoked, and had a family history of eating disorders (p ≤ 0.05). Furthermore, the dieting domain displayed notably higher scores for youths living separately (p ≤ 0.05) and smokers (p ≤ 0.01). Moreover, the scores for bulimia and food preoccupation were significantly higher among participants who were married (p = 0.038), were smokers (p = 0.027), and had a family history of eating disorders (p = 0.001). Higher scores in the oral control domain were reported by females (p ≤ 0.05) and severely obese youths (p ≤ 0.01). Moreover, social media addiction was significantly higher among students aged 18–21 (p ≤ 0.01). Spearman’s correlation revealed that social media addiction has a weak positive relationship with eating disorders (r = 0.133, p ≤ 0.01), particularly bulimia and food preoccupation (r = 0.173, p ≤ 0.001). This reflects the need to address the harmful consequences of social media addiction that might raise the likelihood of developing eating disorders, particularly bulimia nervosa.

Public health is seriously threatened by the rise of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, especially methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). This study investigated the phytochemical compounds, and possible antibacterial effects of a methanolic extract of the cactus species Opuntia monacantha Haw. against MRSA. The powdered substance was extracted with methanol and filtered, and the filtrate was partitioned with n-hexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate. The fractions with higher percentage yields such as the n-hexane and chloroform fractions went through GC-MS analysis. They consist of various compounds that are known to have strong antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. The antimicrobial activity of the plant was measured via a diffusion assay. On the basis of these results, the Opuntia monacantha crude methanolic extract, and the n-hexane and chloroform fractions significantly inhibited all the MRSA strains used in the test at 100, 75 and 50 mg/mL. Furthermore, the minimum inhibitory concentrations of various fractions of the methanolic extract of Opuntia monacantha were also examined. Therefore, Opuntia could be a promising candidate for strengthening the existing formulations in pharmaceutical science for the treatment of MRSA. However, additional research is necessary before its therapeutic use is recommended. The results are intended to provide important new information for the creation of sustainable and alternative antimicrobial agents.

Aim of the present work was to develop alginate raft forming tablets for controlled release pantoprazole sodium sesquihydrate (PSS). Box behnken design was used to optimize 15 formulations with three independent and three dependent variables. Physical tests of all formulations were within pharmacopoeial limits. Raft was characterized by their strength, thickness, resilience, acid neutralizing capacity, floating lag time and total floating time. Raft strength, thickness and resilience of optimized formulation AR9 were 7.43 ± 0.019 g, 5.8 ± 0.245 cm and greater than 480 min, respectively. Buffering and neutralizing capacity were 11.2 ± 1.01 and 6.5 ± 0.56 meq, respectively. Dissolution studies were performed by using simulated gastric fluid pH 1.2 and cumulative percentage release of optimized formulation AR9 was found 98%. First order release kinetics were followed and non-fickian diffusion was observed as value of n was greater than 0.45 in korsmeyer-peppas model. PSS, polymers, tablets and rafts were further characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). FTIR spectra of PSS, polymers and raft of optimized formulation AR9 showed peaks at 3223.09, 1688.17, 1586.67, 1302.64 and 1027.74 cm−1 due to –OH stretching, ester carbonyl group (C=O) stretching, existence of water and carboxylic group in raft, C–N stretching and –OH bending vibration showed no interaction between them. XRD showed diffraction lines indicates crystalline nature of PSS. DSC thermogram showed endothermic peaks at 250 °C for PSS. The developed raft was suitable for controlled release delivery of PSS.

Recently, alternative therapies are gaining popularity in the treatment of epilepsy. The present study aimed to find out the antiepileptic potential of quercetin, catechin, and kaempferol. In vivo and in silico experiments were conducted to investigate their therapeutic potential. 25 mg/kg/day of pentylenetetrazole was administered for 4 weeks after epilepsy was induced in the rats; this was followed by the behavioral studies and histological analysis of rat brain slices. Binding affinities of kaempferol, quercetin, and catechin were assessed by performing in silico studies. Kaempferol, quercetin, and catechin were found to have the highest binding affinity with the synaptic vesicle 2A (SV2A) protein, comparable to standard levetiracetam (LEV). The mRNA levels of SV2A, as well as the expression of TNF, IL 6, IL 1 beta, NFkB, IL 1Ra, IL 4, and IL 10, were investigated using qPCR. Our results indicate for the first time that SV2A is also a transporter of understudied phytoflavonoids, due to which a significant improvement was observed in epileptic parameters. The mRNA levels of SV2A were found to be significantly elevated in the PF-treated rats when compared with those of the control rats with epilepsy. Additionally, downregulation of the pro-inflammatory cytokines and upregulation of the anti-inflammatory cytokines were also noted in the PF-treated groups. It is concluded that kaempferol, quercetin, and catechin can effectively decrease the epileptic seizures in our chronic epilepsy rat model to a level that is comparable to the antiepileptic effects induced by levetiracetam drug.

Soybean stover-derived biochar was used to immobilize lead (Pb) in military firing range soil at a mass application rate of 0 to 20 wt.% and a curing period of 7 days. The toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment. The mechanism responsible for Pb immobilization in military firing range soil was evaluated by scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX) and x-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy analyses. The treatment results showed that TCLP Pb leachability decreased with increasing biochar content. A reduction of over 90 % in Pb leachability was achieved upon treatment with 20 wt.% soybean stover-derived biochar. SEM-EDX, elemental dot mapping and XAFS results in conjunction with TCLP leachability revealed that effective Pb immobilization was probably associated with the pozzolanic reaction products, chloropyromorphite and Pb-phosphate. The results of this study demonstrated that soybean stover-derived biochar was effective in immobilizing Pb in contaminated firing range soil.