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The divalent transition metal ions (Ni, Co, and Fe)-doped MgO nanoparticles were synthesized via the sol–gel method. X-ray diffraction showed the MgO pure, single cubic phase of samples at 600 °C. Field emission electron microscope showed the uniform spherical shape of samples. The magnetic behavior of Ni, Co, Fe-doped MgO system were varied with Ni, Co, Fe content (0.00, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05, 0.07). The magnetic nature of pure had changed from paramagnetic to ferromagnetic. The number of oxygen vacancies increases with increasing amounts of dopant ions that lead to an ionic charge imbalance between Ni 2+ /Co 2+ /Fe 2+ and Mg 2+ , leading to increase magnetic properties of the samples. The magnetic nature of prepared samples makes them suitable for biomedical applications. A comparative study of the antibacterial activity of nanoparticles against the Gram-negative ( E. coli ) and Gram-positive bacteria ( S. aureus ) was performed by disc diffusion, pour plate techniques, and study surface morphology of untreated and treated bacterial cell wall. An investigation of the antibacterial activity of doped MgO nanoparticles reveals that the doped MgO nanoparticles show effective antibacterial activity against the Gram-negative ( E. coli ) and Gram-positive ( S. aureus ) bacterium. The minimum inhibitory concentration of the synthesized nanoparticles against microorganisms was recorded with 40 μg/ml, while the maximum inhibitory concentration was observed with 80 μg/ml. At a concentration of 80 μg/ml, the complete growth inhibition of the E. coli was achieved with 7% Co-doped MgO and 7% Fe-doped MgO, while bacterial growth of S. aureus was inhibited by 100% in the presence of 7% Fe-doped MgO. The present work is promising for using nanomaterials as a novel antibiotic instead of the conventional antibiotics for the treatment of infectious diseases which are caused by tested bacteria.

Introduction ( ) is one of the major causes of diarrhea transmitted by the fecal-oral route.  type BI/NAP1/027 is responsible for the most severe infection (CDI). It is a major cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea followed by  and Historically, clindamycin, cephalosporins, penicillins, and fluoroquinolones were related to CDI. We conducted this study to evaluate the antibiotics associated with CDI in recent times. Methods We conducted a retrospective, single-center study over a period of eight years. A total of 58 patients were enrolled in the study. Patients with diarrhea and positive toxin in stool were evaluated for antibiotics given, age, presence of malignancy, previous hospital stay for more than three days in the last three months, and any comorbidities. Results Among patients who developed CDI, prior antibiotics for at least four days duration were given in 93% (54/58) of patients. The most common antibiotics associated with infection were piperacillin/tazobactam in 77.60% (45/58), meropenem in 27.60% (16/58), vancomycin in 20.70% (12/58), ciprofloxacin in 17.20% (10/58), ceftriaxone in 16% (9/58), and levofloxacin in 14% (8/58) of patients, respectively. Seven percent (7%) of patients with CDI did not receive any prior antibiotics. Solid organ malignancy was present in 67.20% and hematological malignancy in 27.60% of CDI patients. Ninety-eight percent (98%, 57/58) of patients treated with proton pump inhibitors, 93% of patients with a previous hospital stay for more than three days, 24% of patients with neutropenia, 20.1% of patients aged more than 65 years, 14% of patients with diabetes mellitus, and 12% of patients with chronic kidney disease also developed infection. Conclusion The antibiotics associated with infection are piperacillin/tazobactam, meropenem, vancomycin, ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone, and levofloxacin. Other risk factors for CDI are proton pump inhibitor use, prior hospital admission, solid organ malignancy, neutropenia, diabetes mellitus (DM), and chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Software requirements (SRs) selection is a multicriteria group decision making (MCGDM) problem whose objective is to select the SRs from the pool of the requirements on the basis of different criteria. In MCGDM, different decision makers have different opinions of the same requirement so it is difficult to decide which set of SRs to implement during the different releases of the software. During the MCGDM process, decision makers may use linguistic variables to specify preferences of requirements over other requirements. In real life applications, it has been observed that sometimes decision makers cannot evaluate the SRs due to their lack of knowledge and limited expertise related to the problem domain. In this situation, incomplete linguistic preference relations (LPRs) are constructed. In literature, SRs selection with incomplete LPRs is still an unresearched problem. Therefore, to address this issue, a method is presented for the selection of SRs with incomplete LPRs. Finally, the applicability of the proposed method is explained with the help of an example.

meningitis is usually observed among neonates. We present a rare case of meningitis in a 33-year-old immunocompromised male patient with Burkitt lymphoma. Initially, the patient exhibited nonspecific symptoms, including postprandial vomiting, blurred vision, and episodic memory loss. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis and imaging revealed meningitis. Empiric antibiotic therapy with ceftriaxone and vancomycin, followed by targeted ampicillin treatment, resulted in complete resolution. This case highlights the importance of considering unusual pathogens in immunocompromised patients with nonspecific symptoms and underscores the need for prompt diagnosis and targeted antibiotic therapy.

Introduction: Pakistan has been experiencing an extensively drug-resistant (XDR) outbreak of typhoid for some years. We sought to evaluate how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted typhoid epidemiology in Pakistan, from the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 through the end of 2022, and the reduction of COVID-19 cases. Methodology: We compared national public COVID-19 data with retrospectively obtained patient data of confirmed S. Typhi isolates between January 2019 and December 2022 from Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre and the hospital’s extended network of laboratory collection centers across Pakistan. Results: We observed that during the early onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and COVID-19 peaks, typhoid positivity generally decreased. This suggests that restrictions and non-pharmaceutical interventions that limited social interactions and promoted good sanitation and hygiene practices had a positive secondary effect on typhoid. This led to an overall yearly decrease in typhoid positivity between 2019 to 2021. However, the percentage of S. Typhi cases isolated that were ceftriaxone-resistant continued to increase, suggesting the continued dominance of XDR typhoid in Pakistan. In 2022, with the alleviation of pandemic restrictions, we observed increased typhoid positivity and COVID-19 and typhoid positivity started to follow similar trends. Conclusions: Given the continued presence of COVID-19 along with XDR typhoid in Pakistan, it will be imperative to use differential testing to ensure that the epidemiology of each reported is accurate, the spread of each it contained, and that antibiotics are not misused. The use of approved vaccinations will lessen the burden of both diseases.

Objective Vancomycin-resistant (VRE) is an important cause of infection in immunocompromised populations. In Pakistan, very limited data are available regarding infection and its outcomes. We conducted this study to evaluate the trends including risk factors, treatment options, and outcomes of infections due to vancomycin-resistant enterococci in cancer patients in Pakistan. Methods We conducted a retrospective observational study. We extracted data from medical records of our center over a period of seven years. All admitted cancer patients with any vancomycin-resistant positive culture were included. The following parameters were evaluated: age, gender, type of cancer, febrile neutropenia, prior antibiotics, admission, comorbidities, system-wise infections (including bacteremia, catheter-related infection, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, intra-abdominal infection, bone and joint infections, skin and skin structure infections), intensive care unit admission, and 30-day all-cause mortality. Frequencies of infections, mortality, and drug susceptibility were evaluated over the course of seven years. Results Risk factors for infection included prior exposure of piperacillin/tazobactam (n=209, 86.7%), meropenem (n=132, 54.8%), vancomycin (n=126, 52.3%), metronidazole (n=67, 27.8%), prior admission for more than 48 hours (n=198, 82.2%), and comorbidities (n=76, 31.5%), with acute kidney injury being most common (n=72, 95%) followed by diabetes mellitus (n=70, 92.1%). Precursor B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (pre-B ALL) was the most common malignancy in which infection occurred (n=54, 38.3%). Among patients who developed infection, 46% (n=111) had febrile neutropenia. caused infection in 61% (n=147) and in 39% (n=94). Bacteremia occurred in 45.2% (n=109) patients followed by urinary tract and intra-abdominal infection; 45.6% (n=110) patients were admitted to ICU, and 30-day all-cause mortality was 44.8% (n=108). Linezolid sensitivity was 100%. The total number of enterococci infections decreased over seven years. Frequency of infection, bacteremia, intra-abdominal, skin-related infections, and recurrent infection also decreased, but the frequency of infections, ICU admission, and 30-day all-cause mortality was increased. Conclusion VRE infections have become less frequent but more severe in recent years with increase in mortality. Prior use of antibiotics (including piperacillin/tazobactam, vancomycin, carbapenems, and metronidazole), diagnosis of hematological malignancy, febrile neutropenia, diabetes mellitus, and renal failure are the risk factors for VRE infection. Bacteremia was the most common infection with high mortality rate. All strains remain sensitive to linezolid. Patients with these risk factors should be worked up for VRE and can be treated with linezolid empirically.

Synthesis of Ni 1- x Co x O ( x  = 0, 3, 7, 10%) nanoparticles have been done by microwave gel combustion method. The structural analysis of the synthesized nanomaterials was investigated with the help of Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and crystallite size was calculated from Debye–Scherrer’s method which varies from 13.11 to 19.03 nm. The temperature dependence of dielectric permittivity shows the enhancement in the dielectric permittivity of the Co-doped NiO NPs. The Co-doped NiO NPs show ferromagnetic nature with enhanced magnetization as compared to pure NiO NPs. Bacterial growth inhibition effect /anti-bacterial analysis of Co-doped-NiO NPs was investigated by disk diffusion method against Pseudomonas aeruginosa as gram-negative and Staphylococcus aureus as gram-positive bacteria. Due to increased and tuned dielectric, magnetic, and antibacterial behavior, Co-doped NiO may find its application in diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMSs) spintronic, electronic devices, as well as developing antimicrobial nanomaterial.

The present work reconnoiters the dielectric, electrical, and magnetic properties of transition metal–doped lead sulfide nanoparticles (PbS-NPs) synthesized by co-precipitation technique. The particle size was assessed from the histogram obtained by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Frequency- and temperature-dependent measurements of dielectric permittivity and ac conductivity have been carried out for transition metal–doped lead sulfide nanoparticles (PbS-NPs). The transition metal–doped lead sulfide nanoparticles show ferromagnetic nature with enhanced magnetization with the doping of Ni, Co, and Fe respectively as compared with pure lead sulfide nanoparticles. These nanoparticles may find its application in electronic storage and DMS spintronic devices due to their enhanced and regulated nature of dielectric and magnetic behavior.

Hazardous microorganisms and poisonous pigments found in industrial effluent can have detrimental effects on the environment and human health. This study investigates the synthesis and characterization of graphene oxide (GO), silver oxide (Ag 2 O) nanoparticles (NPs), and graphene oxide-based silver oxide (GO/Ag 2 O) nanocomposite, highlighting their enhanced antibacterial and visible light-driven photocatalytic activities. Modified Hummers’ method, sol-gel auto-combustion method, and low-cost sonication method were used to prepare GO, Ag 2 O NPs, and GO/Ag 2 O nanocomposite with different wt% (1, 5, 10, and 15) of GO, respectively. These synthesized materials were characterized using various characterization techniques such as, UV-vis spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), and Transmission electron microscope (TEM). Particle size was calculated using Gaussian fitting of XRD, which was found to increase from 20 to 25 nanometres (nm). The optical energy band gap was calculated using a Tauc plot, which decreased from 1.77 to 1.14 electron Volts (eV), respectively. The valence state of Ag (Ag + ) for Ag 2 O, GO-1/Ag 2 O, and GO-15/Ag 2 O are confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye was done in exposure to sunlight at various time periods using these synthesized materials as photocatalysts to evaluate their photocatalytic activity. GO (15 wt% )/Ag 2 O nanocomposite showed the best photocatalytic activity among all synthesized materials by the degradation of MB dye to 90% in 120 min under the sun. In addition to excellent photocatalytic activity, GO (15 wt% )/Ag 2 O nanoparticles exhibited excellent antimicrobial activity. It showed the highest inhibitory range and lowest inhibitory concentration against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli among all synthetic materials. This demonstrates its potential as a versatile material with excellent photocatalytic and antimicrobial properties, making it promising for many applications in environmental and medical care.

Digital image forensic is a sub-area of multimedia security whose objective is to expose the malicious image manipulations in digital images. Among different types of image forgery, copy–move forgery is the most popular to forge the digital images where a part of the original digital image is copied and pasted at another position in the same image. Different methods have been developed to detect the image forgery in digital images. On the basis of our literature review, we identify that less attention is given to clustering algorithms to speed up the block matching strategy during image forgery detection process. Therefore, to address this issue, we present a pixel-based copy–move image forgery detection method to check the genuineness of digital images. Proposed method includes the following steps: (1) convert the color image into gray-scale image, (2) divide the gray-scale image into overlapping blocks of size 8 × 8, (3) feature extraction using DCT on the basis of different feature sets, (4) block clustering using K-means algorithm, and (5) radix sort for feature matching. Experimental results demonstrate that proposed method can efficiently detect the forged part from digital images.