Associations between Dietary Intake of Fruits and Vegetables in Relation to Urinary Estrogen DNA Adduct Ratio

Background: Estrogen exposure plays a role in breast cancer (BC) development. A novel estrogen biomarker, the estrogen DNA adduct (EDA) ratio, was shown to be elevated in women at high-risk of BC and among BC cases. Modifiable factors may impact the EDA ratio, with studies demonstrating that resveratrol reduces EDA ratio in vitro. We sought to examine the hypothesis that dietary intake of fruits and vegetables is inversely associated with EDA ratio. Methods: This analysis was conducted in 53 pre-menopausal, healthy women aged 40 - 45 years from a cross-sectional study in which participants provided first-void urine samples and 3-day food records. Urine samples were analyzed using ultra performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. The EDA ratio was calculated as the estrogen-DNA adducts divided by estrogen metabolites and conjugates. A trend test was used to assess associations between tertiles of dietary intake using linear regression. Results: After adjustment for age, total energy, percent adiposity, serum estradiol and estrone-sulfate, we observed inverse associations of EDA ratio with carbohydrate consumption (P = 0.01) and vegetable intake (P = 0.01). EDA ratio was inversely associated with 5 botanical groups (Chenopodiaceae: P = 0.02;Umbelliferae: P = 0.03;Compositae: P = 0.01;Ericaceae: P = 0.01;Musaceae: P = 0.03) but not fruit intake overall. Conclusion: Although these data require replication before conclusions are drawn, this report suggests an inverse association between vegetable and carbohydrate consumption and EDA ratio. Impact: While more information is still needed, these findings suggest a link between dietary intake and a biomarker that is both associated with high-risk BC status and associated with modifiable factors.

Isolation and Identification of Multi-Drug Resistant Strains of Non-Lactose Fermenting Bacteria from Clinical Refuses in Major Hospitals of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Purpose: The present studied was performed in order to investigate the drug resistance of different non-lactose fermenting gram negative bacteria from clinical isolates. The bacteria were morphologically characterized through culturing and gram staining techniques were used for the identification of different bacterial strains. Methods: A total of 324 samples were collected from patients, after they were diagnosed by physicians at different hospitals at district Peshawar. Samples were morphologically identified by blood agar, MacConkey agar and Eosine Methylene Blue, identified by gram staining techniques. Modified Kirby-Bauer Disc diffusion method was used to test the in-vitro susceptibility of the identified isolates to different antibiotics. Results: The non-lactose fermenting gram negative bacteria were isolated from samples of blood (33.30%), pus/ wound (33.30%), urine (23.30%) and from ascetic/pleural fluids (10.20%). The study revealed that Pseudomonas aeroginosa showed high resistance against Gentamicin (74%) and Aztreonam (74%), followed by Ciprofloxacin (59.20%) and Amikacin (33.30). Tazocin was active as low resistance (18.50%) is shown. More resistance was seen in Morganella morganii against Aztreonam (77.7%) followed by Gentamicin (62.90%), Ciprofloxacin (40.70%). Tazocin show low resistance (3.70%). Multidrug resistant Proteus mirabillis was highly resistance to Gentamicin (66.60%), followed by Aztreonam (62.90%), Amikacin (55.50%), Ciprofloxacin (40.20%) and low resistance to Tazocin was (22.20%). Salmonella typhi demonstrated high resistance against Amikacin (62.90%), followed by Aztreonam (48.10%), Tazocin (40.70%). Gentamicin showed low resistance (29.60%), and hence it is more active against S. typhi. Conclusions: It can be concluded from the present study that different species of non-lactose fermenting gram negative bacteria have shown a different resistivity pattern. This study is a gate way for better and suitable management strategy for the infections caused by non-Lactose fermenting bacteria in the sampling region.

An Efficient and Reliable Multicasting for Smart Cities

The Internet of thing(IoT)is a growing concept for smart cities,and it is compulsory to communicate data between different networks and devices.In the IoT,communication should be rapid with less delay and overhead.For this purpose,flooding is used for reliable data communication in a smart cities concept but at the cost of higher overhead,energy consumption and packet drop etc.This paper aims to increase the efficiency in term of overhead and reliability in term of delay by using multicasting and unicasting instead of flooding during packet forwarding in a smart city using the IoT concept.In this paper,multicasting and unicasting is used for IoT in smart cities within a receiver-initiated mesh-based topology to disseminate the data to the cluster head.Smart cities networks are divided into cluster head,and each cluster head or core node will be responsible for transferring data to the desired receiver.This protocol is a novel approach according to the best of our knowledge,and it proves to be very useful due to its efficiency and reliability in smart cities concept because IoT is a collection of devices and having a similar interest for transmission of data.The results are implemented in Network simulator 2(NS-2).The result shows that the proposed protocol shows performance in overhead,throughput,packet drop,delay and energy consumption as compared to benchmark schemes.

Prevalence and Perceptions about Migraine among Students and Patients in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan

Migraine is a common neurological disorder, prevalent in almost all over the world population and being considered as the 13th major medical disorder among other major disorders across the globe, generally characterized with unilateral or bilateral headache, nausea and vomiting. In developing world, countries like Pakistan, most of the patients are not well aware of migraine headaches, as usually taken for simple headache due to no proper awareness. Usually it is not a contagious condition and most of the time it is recoded as episodic in nature. To assess the migraine, its frequency, symptoms, usual triggers and patients’ perceptions, the present study was conducted. For this purpose a prospective study was carried out based on properly designed questionnaire. The data were collected from 7 educational institutes, including students of Islamia College Peshawar, University of Peshawar, Khyber Medical College, Engineering University Peshawar, Fatima Jinnah College Peshawar, Commerce College Peshawar and Agriculture University Peshawar. Part of data was also collected from patients visiting Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar for their headache problems. A total of 270 questionnaires were filled up. About 81 (30.00%) headache cases were recorded, fulfilling the International criteria of Headache. Out of 81 recorded cases, 31 (38.3%) patients were of migraine with aura and 50 (61.7%) were of migraine without aura condition. The prevalence of migraine in the study population was found to be 30.00%. The frequency of female migraine patients was higher i.e. 31 (34.1%) than the male sufferers 50 (27.9%). The present study clearly showed that the higher frequency (65.0%) of migraine exists in the age group of above 30 years age. The most prevalent trigger was found to be tension, which was in parallel followed by the lack of sleep or oversleeping. A family history for migraine was found in migraine patients. Usually the condition was found to limit the routine activities of patients. The present study recorded that most of the migraine patients (40.2%) did not visit doctors at hospital and preferably go for self-medication, which really needs a public awareness in order to properly cope this neurological disorder, which may pose future medical complications as well.

Isolation and Identification of Multi-Drug Resistant Strains of Non-Lactose Fermenting Bacteria from Clinical Isolates

Purpose: We studied the drug resistance of different microbes from clinical isolates. The morphological characteristics of bacteria were observed through culture characteristics and by carrying out gram staining techniques while the biochemical characteristics of bacteria were carried out by biochemical test. Methods: A total of 324 samples were collected from suspected patients visiting different hospitals at district Peshawar. For morphological identification, samples of clinical isolates were analyzed by blood agar, MacConkey agar and Eosine Methylene Blue, identified by gram staining and characterized by different biochemical tests. Antibiotic Sensitivity test by Modified Kirby-Bauer Disc diffusion method was used to test the in-vitro susceptibility of the identified isolates to different antibiotics such as Ceftazidime, Ceftazidime, Ceftriaxone, Cefepime and Imipenem. Results: These resistant non-lactose fermenting gram negative bacteria were isolated from samples of pus/wound (33.30%, n = 108/324), blood (33.30%, n = 108/324), urine (23.30%, n = 75/324) and from ascetic/pleural fluids (10.20%, n = 33/324). The study revealed that the percentage of non-fermenting bacterial infection was higher in females (53%) as compared to males (47%) along with higher infection observed in the age group of 11 - 30 years. Pseudomonas aeroginosa showed high resistance against Cefepime (88.80%), followed by Cefoperazone (55.50%), Ceftazidime (48.10%), Ceftriaxone (33.30%). Imipenem was active with low resistance (7.40%). More resistance was seen in Morganella morganii against Imipenem (66.70%) followed by Cefoperazone (55.50%), Ceftriaxone (55.50%). Cefepime showed low resistance (11%). Multi-drug resistant Proteus mirabillis was highly resistance to Ceftriaxone (74.07%), followed by Cefepime (59.20%), Cefoperazone (44.40%) and low resistance for Imipenem (25.90%). Salmonella typhi demonstrated high resistance against Imipenem (74.07%), followed by Ceftriaxone (40.70%), Ceftazidime (37.03%). Cefepime showed low resistance (3.70%), hence it is more active against S. typhi. Conclusions: The different species of non-lactose fermenting gram negative bacteria have shown a different resistivity pattern in the present study. Therefore identification of non-lactose fermenting gram negative bacteria and looking after their resistivity/susceptibility pattern are important for suitable management of the infections caused by them.

Iron Deficiency Anemia in School Age Children in District Karak Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan

The present study aimed to estimate the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in school-going children. Both Iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia have considerable adverse effect on human health. Among the different negative health concerns, including stunt development, less developed immunity, lower IQ level, no proper physical work capacity, more fatigue, maternal mortality rates, young ones born with low birth weight, birth complications and infant mortality rates are some of the remarkable health concerns posed by iron deficiency level. Our study sample was consisting of 420 school age children of both genders. The blood samples were collected in EDTA (Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) tubes from different school and health maternity centres by trained and veteran persons. Questionnaires were utilised for the data collection, at the time of blood samples collection. Hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrite (Hct), Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), Mean Corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), white blood cell and red blood cell (RBC) were determine by automatic hematological analyzer model Symex Ks-21 having two reagents, cell pack and Stromatolyser-wwt 500 ml. The total percentage of anemia recorded in school age children was 34.0%. In tehsil Banda Daud Shah, the incidence of anemia was high up to 43.6% while in tehsil Takhti Nasrati and Karak was 32.1% and 26.4% respectively. The percentage was higher in girls (38.9%) than in boys (31.0%). The anemia percentage was recorded high (55.8%) in lower socioeconomic family children, than middle class (32.2%) and upper class (17%). The percentage of anemic children was also high (40%) in age group of 10 - 12 years. Pale skin was the most common symptom of anemia.

Statistical Modelling of Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity of Fly Ash Based Geopolymer Mortar using Response Surface Methodology

The fly ash based geopolymer has emerged as a capable and sustainable binder material in construction industry.Ultrasonic pulse velocity(UPV)method is a non-destructive technique for investigating the mechanical performance of concrete.Experimental investigation was performed for studying the effect of NaOH Molarity,Na2SiO3/NaOH and curing temperature on the ultrasonic pulse velocity of geopolymer mortar.Experiments were designed based on central composite design(CCD)technique of response surface methodology(RSM).Statistical model was developed and statistically validated and found significant as the difference between adjustable R-squared and predicted R-squared less than 0.2.Finally,the optimized mix proportion was assessed for maximized value of UPV.Experimental validation on the optimized mix reveals the close agreement between experimental and predicted values of UPV with significance level of more than 95%.The proposed technique improves the yield,the reliability of the product and the processes.

Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in domestic animals of Mohmand agency,Pakistan

Objective:To determine the prevalence of toxoplasmosis among domestic animals of Mohmand Agency,Pakistan.Methods:Indirect haemagglutination test was used to detect Toxoplasma gondii(T.gondii)antibodies in the sera.Results:Out of 384 domestic animals,124(32.29%)were seropositive for antibodies of T.gondii.T.gondii antibodies were detected in 56 out of 104 examined goats(53.84%).The seropositivity in male and female goats were 20(38.46%)and 36(69.23%)respectively.The seropositivity of T.gondii in sheep was 36%(n=100)while the prevalence in female sheep was higher(41.66%)as compared to male sheep(30.76%).A total of 8 out of 48 male cows were detected seropositive(16.66%)and 8 out of 32 female cows were detected seropositive(25%).Lowest prevalence was detected in buffaloes which was 16%(n=100).Out of 52 male buffaloes 4 were detected seropositive for T.gondii antibodies(7.69%)while in female buffaloes was 25%(n=48).The seroprevalence of T.gondii antibodies was higher in goats and lower in buffaloes.Conclusions:The findings of the present study indicate that T.gondii infection is high in domestic animals in Mohmand agency,Pakistan,which has implications for public health in this region.Essential control strategies and suitable measures should be carried out rationally in this region,in order to lower the risk of exposure to T.gondii.