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Ergonomic risk assessment is crucial for preventing work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs), which often arise from repetitive tasks, prolonged sitting, and load handling, leading to absenteeism and increased healthcare costs. Biomechanical risk assessment, such as RULA/REBA, is increasingly being enhanced by camera-based motion capture systems, either marker-based (MBSs) or markerless systems (MCBSs). This systematic review compared MBSs and MCBSs regarding accuracy, validity, and reliability for industrial ergonomic risk analysis. A comprehensive search of PubMed, WoS, ScienceDirect, IEEE Xplore, and PEDro (31 May 2025) identified 898 records; after screening with PICO-based eligibility criteria, 20 quantitative studies were included. Methodological quality was assessed with the COSMIN Risk of Bias tool, synthesized using PRISMA 2020, and graded with EBRO criteria. MBSs showed the highest precision (0.5–1.5 mm error) and reliability (ICC > 0.90) but were limited by cost and laboratory constraints. MCBSs demonstrated moderate-to-high accuracy (5–20 mm error; mean joint-angle error: 2.31° ± 4.00°) and good reliability (ICC > 0.80), with greater practicality in field settings. Several studies reported strong validity for RULA/REBA prediction (accuracy up to 89%, κ = 0.71). In conclusion, MCBSs provide a feasible, scalable alternative to traditional ergonomic assessment, combining reliability with usability and supporting integration into occupational risk prevention.

Background Infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices during the first two years of life are important for the growth and development of a child. The aim of this study was to assess IYCF practices and its associated factors in two rural districts of Pakistan. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in two rural districts of Sindh province, Pakistan as part of a stunting prevention project between May and August 2014. A standard questionnaire on IYCF practices recommended by World Health Organization was used to collect information from 2013 mothers who had a child aged between 0 and 23 months. Results Only 49% of mothers initiated breastfeeding within one hour of birth. Thirty-seven percent of mothers exclusively breastfed their infants for six months. Seventy-percent mothers introduced complementary feeding at 6–8 months of age. Eighty-two percent of mothers continued breastfeeding for at least one year and 75% for at least two years of age. IYCF practices were not significantly different for boys and girls in the study area. Being an employed mother (AOR 2.14; 95% CI 1.02, 4.51) was positively associated with the early initiation of breastfeeding. Children who were born at a health facility (AOR 0.65; 95% CI 0.50, 0.84) and were aged six to eleven months (AOR 0.70; 95% CI 0.54, 0.90) were less likely to be have an early initiation of breastfeeding. Mothers aged 25 to 29 years (AOR 1.83; 95% CI 1.05, 3.18), being literate (AOR 1.79; 95% CI 1.15, 2.78), and higher income (AOR 10.6; 95% CI 4.40, 25.30) were more likely to have an improved dietary diversity. Being an employed mother (AOR 2.18; 95% CI 1.77, 4.03) and higher income were more likely to have minimum acceptable diet (AOR 9.7; 95% CI 4.33, 21.71). Conclusion IYCF practices were below the acceptable level and associated with maternal age, maternal illiteracy, unemployment, and poor household wealth status. Emphasis should be given to improve maternal literacy and reduction in poverty to improve IYCF practices.

Postoperative sore throat (POST) is a common complication after endotracheal intubation, occurring in 30–50 % of patients. While lidocaine (local anesthetic) and dexamethasone (anti-inflammatory) are used individually to prevent POST, their combined efficacy remains unclear. This meta-analysis synthesizes evidence from randomized controlled trials to determine whether Intravenous dexamethasone-lidocaine combination is more effective than dexamethasone alone in reducing POST incidence. A systematic search was conducted across PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science to identify studies comparing the effect of dexamethasone with and without lidocaine on the incidence of POST, cough, and hoarseness. Statistical analysis was performed on RevMan. Data were pooled using a random-effects model (Mantel-Haenszel method), with results reported as risk ratios (RR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs); heterogeneity was assessed using the I2 statistic. A p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. We use Gradpro GDT and Trial sequential analysis to assess the certainty and reliability of evidence, respectively. Our search retrieved 116 articles, of which 31 were duplicates. At the end of the selection process based on prespecified eligibility criteria, three randomized controlled trials were included in the final meta-analysis. Dexamethasone-lidocaine significantly reduces the incidence of POST compared to dexamethasone alone, with a (RR: 0.53; 95 % CI: 0.37–0.75; P = 0.0003, I2 = 0 %). The meta-analysis showed no statistically significant difference in postoperative cough (RR: 0.81; 95 % CI: 0.41–1.61; P = 0.55, I2 = 24 %) and hoarseness (RR: 0.60; 95 % CI: 0.29–1.22; P = 0.16, I2 = 24 %) between the dexamethasone-lidocaine combination and dexamethasone alone. Non-significance doesn't prove groups are comparable; wide confidence intervals suggest a potentially meaningful difference in cough incidence. GRADE assessment analysis showed high evidence for POST and cough but showed moderate evidence for hoarseness and cough. Trial sequential analysis showed insufficient evidence to conclude that Dexamethasone-lidocaine reduces the incidence of POST. The dexamethasone-lidocaine combination suggests a clinically meaningful reduction in POST compared to dexamethasone alone, with consistent effects across studies. While not impacting hoarseness and cough, these robust findings support adopting this readily available, cost-effective strategy to enhance recovery after intubation. The combination's benefit on the most common postoperative complications justifies its inclusion in airway management protocols. Further trials are needed to support and enhance the reliability of this current evidence. •IV Dexamethasone-lidocaine combination reduces sore throat by 47 % vs. dexamethasone alone.•Combination of both drugs shows no significant effect on postoperative cough or hoarseness.•First meta-analysis with TSA and GRADE assessment shows high certainty for sore throat relief.•Our evidence supports the combination use in critical care; however larger trials needed to confirm long-term outcomes.

Composite layered structure of TiO 2 nanoparticles (TiNPs) and TiO 2 nanotubes (TiNTs) was prepared by two-step anodizing of titanium at 50 V to form well-aligned TiNTs with uniform diameter, followed by spin coating the TiNPs of 10–30 nm prepared by hydrothermal synthesis. For smaller number of cycles, the spin coated nanoparticles were observed to penetrate into the nanotubular structure up to some extent. Morphology of the samples was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy showed that TiNPs were composed of a mixture of brookite, anatase and rutile phases. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) was performed to assess the light scattering properties and measuring band gap. Photoluminescence spectroscopy was performed to assess the presence of defect. The DSSC made by five times spin coated photoanode shows percentage increase in efficiency of about 55% under back side xenon lamp irradiation. The good light scattering ability of the mixed layer formed by the penetration of nanoparticles without deteriorating the electron transport properties of the high aspect ratio nanotubes offered synergistic effects on the performance of DSSC in backside illumination mode.

Purpose The rate of cesarean sections has been rapidly increased in the last few decades in all the developing as well as developed countries. The rate of cesarean sections determined by the World Health Organization has been crossed by many countries, like Brazil, India, China, USA, Australia, etc. Similarly, this rate has also increased in Pakistan. The purpose of this paper is to explore and identify the factors that are responsible for the rising rate of cesarean sections in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach These factors are categorized under medical and non-medical factors. The medical factors include the obesity of mother, age of mother, weight of the baby, umbilical cord prolapse, fetal distress, abnormal presentation, dystocia and failure to progress. The non-medical factors include financial incentives of doctors, time convenience for doctors, high tolerance to surgery, patient’s preference toward cesarean section, private hospitals, public hospitals, income status of patients, rural areas, urban areas and the education of patients. To identify the critical factors, data have been collected and a multi-criteria decision-making technique, called Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory, is used. Findings The result shows that the medical factors that are responsible for the rise in the rate of cesarean sections are umbilical cord prolapse, age of mother and obesity of mother. On the other hand, the non-medical factors that are the reasons for the increase in cesarean sections are the large number of private hospitals and the unethical acts of the doctors in these hospitals, preference of patients, and either the unavailability of doctors or poor conditions of hospitals in rural areas. Originality/value Cesarean section is an important surgical intervention and is considered to be very essential in the cases of existing as well as potential medical problems to the mother or the baby. Cesarean section is also performed for non-medical reasons. In Pakistan, the number of private hospitals has increased and these hospitals provide good health care. However, these hospitals do not work under the rules and regulations set by the government. The doctors in private hospitals perform unnecessary cesarean sections in order to fulfill the demands of private hospital’s owners. In addition to this, it is also found that, nowadays, most women prefer to give birth through cesarean section in order to eliminate the pain of normal vaginal delivery.

The monkeypox virus ( MPXV ) is a newly discovered zoonotic orthopoxvirus that can infect humans and shares similarities with the smallpox virus . With no clinically validated treatment for MPXV infections, it is important to develop a broad-range vaccine that is effective against this disease. This study aimed to design novel multiple-epitope DNA and mRNA vaccines against MXPV using comprehensive immunoinformatics and reverse vaccinology techniques. Eleven MPXV proteins were selected from the UniProt database and assessed for their antigenicity and allergenicity. Proteins exhibiting significant antigenicity and non-allergenic characteristics were examined for the prediction of T-cell and B-cell epitopes. Four MHC-I, eight MHC-II, and six B-cell epitopes were coupled with specific linkers and adjuvant peptide sequences to boost the immunological response to the developed vaccine. The designed vaccines showed antigenic nature with a 0.5936 score and solubility nature with a 0.513 score, and its GRAVY score of 0.147 indicates their hydrophilic nature. Structural validation confirmed the superior tertiary structure of the designed vaccines. Molecular docking studies demonstrated a robust interaction between human TLR-8 and the developed vaccines, with a docking score of -1208.2 kcal/mol, and Moleculae Dynamics (MD) simulations confirmed its stability. The immune simulation results indicated that vaccination strongly stimulated immunity, resulting in high concentrations of IgG and IgM antibodies. Cloning analysis and in silico restriction prediction demonstrated the viability of integrating the developed vaccine into an Escherichia coli ( E. coli) expression system. Furthermore, an mRNA vaccine was developed by incorporating a 5′ cap, 5′ untranslated region (UTR), Kozak sequence, and tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) with the CD40 ligand (CD40L) linked to the selected epitopes using EAAAK linkers. A poly (A) tail, MITD1, and 3′ UTR were appended to the 3′ end of the construct. The mRNA vaccine design incorporated codon optimization, resulting in a CAI score 0.83 and GC content of 60.46%, indicating efficient vaccine expression within host cells. Analysis of several parameters revealed that the architecture of the synthesized mRNA was stable with MFE: -2170.70 kcal/mol. These outcomes may contribute to the development of an experimental MPXV vaccine with stronger potency and superior safety measures. Additional in vitro and in vivo experiments are required to test the safety and efficacy of these newly developed vaccines. Highlights MPXV proteins were selected and assessed for safety and efficacy as potential vaccine targets. Four MHC-I, eight MHC-II, and six B-cell epitopes were identified and combined with an adjuvant to design the final vaccine. The vaccine demonstrated favorable interactions with human TLR-8 and exhibited good stability. The experimental results demonstrated a significant enhancement in the immune response, characterized by increased levels of IgG and IgM. An mRNA vaccine was developed with specific sequences to improve cellular efficacy, with a GC content of 60.46%. Both protein-based and mRNA vaccines have shown promising results in laboratory tests.

Objectives To estimate Global, Regional, and National prevalence of Malnutrition, specifically Coexisting forms of malnutrition (CFM) and its various types: Coexistence of underweight with stunting (CUS), Coexistence of underweight with wasting (CUW), Coexistence of underweight with wasting & stunting (CUWS), Coexistence of stunting with overweight/obesity (CSO) among children under five years in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Methods This cross-sectional observational study utilized latest nationally representative Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) datasets of 62 LMICs corresponding to six global regions from 2006 to 2024. Data of 541,707 children aged 0 to 59 months with complete anthropometry were analysed descriptively (prevalence estimates) and inferentially (multivariate logistic regression). Results The global malnutrition prevalence among children was 43.9%, of which CFM was observed among 20.9% children. Among various CFM types, CUS was highly prevalent (11.8%), followed by CUW (4.2%), CUWS (3.2%), and CSO (2.1%). South & Southeast Asian had highest CFM prevalence of 29.6%, while Central Asia and Latin America & Caribbean reported the lowest CFM prevalence of 8.1% and 6.2%, respectively. Among all the LMIC included, Timor-Leste exhibited the highest CFM at 41.8%. In general, children aged between 12 to 35 months had 2-3 times higher odds of various forms of CFM. However, female sex, maternal education, improvement in socioeconomic status, medium to large family size showed significantly lower odds with various forms of CFM. Conclusions This study advances the understanding of CFM’s prevalence, determinants, and regional variations, filling a critical gap in global nutrition research. The findings serve as a reminder to reinvest in efforts to protect children from malnutrition during their early years of life. Governments and other global health sector must invest in a well-established system of nutrition surveillance for addressing CFM, informing targeted interventions to improve child health outcomes in LMICs.

The present study was conducted at the CRI Cotton Research Institute in Tandojam to evaluate the genetic diversity for yield and fiber characteristics in upland cotton. The crop was grown using a randomized complete block design with 3 replications and 8 genotypes, including a single check variety. The cluster analysis divided the genotypes into four groups based on their genotypic homogeneity. Cluster 1 contains two genotypes (TH-25/23, TH-23/23), and there is a close relationship between them. Cluster 2 included two genotypes (TH-22/23, TH-24/23), cluster 3 contains genotypes TH-27/23 and Sindh-1, and cluster 4 contains two genotypes TH-26/23 and TH-28/23 with a maximum distance between them. Similarly, the presence of high loading was significantly observed in the first principal component PCA-4, 5, 6, and 7 exhibited positive loadings for sympodial branches plant-1, height of plant, and monopodial branches plant-1, respectively. A greater percentage of variance was observed in PCA-7 and PCA-8 (99.90% and 100%). Among the genotypes, TH-26/23 and TH-22/23 should be preferred for further breeding programs, and they could be utilized in hybridization and selection programs for the development of a new variety.

The current study was conducted to examine the in vitro antibacterial activity of pure Aloe vera extract and compared with commonly used antibiotic, Gentamicin against Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia isolated from mastitis milk. For this purpose, 50 milk samples were collected from dairy farms in the vicinity of Tandojam and processed the samples for culture, identification, and Minimum inhibitory concentration of pure Aloe vera extract and gentamicin in the laboratory of department of Veterinary Pharmacology, Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam, to record the MIC against isolated organisms at different concentrations i-e 40, 20, 10, 5, 2.5, 1.25, 0.625, 0.312, 0.156, 0.081 and 0.039µl. The MIC of the isolates was determined by the turbidity and translucency of the cultured medium Results of present study revealed that out of 50 milk samples, 35 (70%) and 15 (30%) were found positive for E. coli and K. pneumonia, respectively. It was found that E. coli stopped growth at 10µl of pure Aloe vera and 1.25µl of Gentamicin. Whereas K. pneumoniae failed to grow at 2.5µl of pure Aloe vera, but it was found highly susceptible for gentamicin and stopped growth at lowest conc: i-e 0.03µl. The comparative results revealed that the concentrations of Aloe vera used in this study were not as effective as that of commercial product, but Aloe vera stopped the growth of isolated organisms at certain level as that of gentamicin. Therefore, due to emergence of resistance towards antibiotics, Aloe vera can be used as a substitute of antibiotics.

Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) is a contagious viral infection that significantly deteriorates livestock health, thereby posing a serious threat to the global economy and food security. Owing to its rapid spread characteristics, early and precise identification is crucial to prevent outbreaks and ensure timely intervention. In this paper, we propose a hybrid deep learning-based approach called LUMPNet for the early detection of LSD. LUMPNet utilizes image data to detect and classify skin nodules -- the primary indicator of LSD. To this end, LUMPNet uses YOLOv11, EfficientNet-based CNN classifier with compound scaling, and a novel adaptive hybrid optimizer. More precisely, LUMPNet detects and localizes LSD skin nodules and lesions on cattle images. It exploits EfficientNet to classify the localized cattle images into LSD-affected or healthy categories. To stabilize and accelerate the training of YOLOv11 and EfficientNet hybrid model, a novel adaptive hybrid optimizer is proposed and utilized. We evaluate LUMPNet at various stages of LSD using a publicly available dataset. Results indicate that the proposed scheme achieves 99% LSD detection training accuracy, and outperforms existing schemes. The model also achieves validation accuracy of 98%. Moreover, for further evaluation, we conduct a case study using an optimized EfficientNet-B0 model trained with the AdamW optimizer, and compare its performance with LUMPNet. The results show that LUMPNet achieves superior performance.