Albus Scientia最新文献

{"title":"Geometric Morphometrics Analysis of Inter-Population Wing Shape Variations in Bats","authors":"Zaira Ahmad, S. Ahmad, M. Abbasi, N. Sheikh","doi":"10.56512/as.2022.1.e220629","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56512/as.2022.1.e220629","url":null,"abstract":"Background: The cryptic diversity of bat fauna in Pakistan demands to incorporate an efficient and reliable approach for morphological species identification. The traditional taxonomic approaches are effective in exploring variations of characters but have proved to be less efficient in quantifying the interspecific and intraspecific differences. Geometric morphometric method has recently act as an efficient tool to analyze the overall changes in shape and size of biological features. The present study is therefore conducted to exploit the use of geometric morphometric methods along with traditional morphological measurements to examine the size and shape differences among four geographically isolated population groups of insectivorous bat species (Pipistrellus coromandra). \u0000Methods: Specimens were collected from different locations of Punjab, Pakistan. Twelve well-defined landmarks to quantify the variation in right wing of bats were analyzed using geometric morphometric tools and wing measurements of 5 selected parameters were also taken using traditional morphological measurements. \u0000Results: The results of external measurements for wing overlapped for most part among the different studied population groups. Fur colour photographs displayed in the inter-population had shown visible change from dark brown to light brown giving an indication of more morphological differences. Regarding the geometric morphometric results, wing-shape differences were found to dominate in inter-population as compared to intra-population for bats species (Pipistrellus coromandra) which clearly reflects the effects of habitat factors on different populations phenotypically. The wireframe for the first two PCs indicated an overall shape change trend with the displacement of landmark points representing the expansion along the upper wing margins in PC1 compared to PC2. \u0000Conclusion: The current study has successfully explored the power of geometric morphometric in reflecting the variations in wing shape among different populations of bats species (Pipistrellus coromandra).","PeriodicalId":447991,"journal":{"name":"Albus Scientia","volume":"153 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128231933","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Synonymous Variant, GABRG2 rs211037 might be a Predictive Genetic Marker of Migraine: A Case Control Study from Pakistan","authors":"T. Saleem, H. Maqbool, S. Suqaina, Mavra Irfan, Raana Zafar, N. Sheikh","doi":"10.56512/as.2022.1.e220628","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56512/as.2022.1.e220628","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000\u0000\u0000Background: Migraine is a severe neurovascular disease with some temporary symptoms like unilateral headache attacks associated with sensory and autonomic disturbances. It affects 12% of the general population worldwide. Females are more susceptible to migraine than males. The genetic and environmental factors contribute as a causative agent to its symptomatology. Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neurotransmitter plays a potential role in migraine pathophysiology that prompted us to evaluate the association between gamma-aminobutyric acid type a receptor gamma two subunit gene (GABRG2) polymorphisms and the risk of a migraine attack.\u0000Methods The present case-control study included 220 subjects (100 control; 120 patients). Blood samples were taken from all the participants and DNA was isolated. The selected SNPs (rs211037, rs121909672, and T813C) of exons 5, 7, and 8 of the GABRG2 gene were genotyped for cases and controls.\u0000Results: A silent polymorphism was found at the rs211037 polymorphic site, while no variation was found on other targeted sites either in the case or control population.  Statistical analysis indicated significant differences in genotypic (p=<0.05) and allelic frequencies (p = <0.001; OR 2.039; 95% CI 1.346-3.089) and for dominant model (p = <0.001; OR 2.836; 95% CI 1.618-4.970).\u0000Conclusion: The result of our study showed that rs211037 polymorphism of the GABRG2 gene was significantly associated with migraines in the Pakistani population.\u0000\u0000\u0000","PeriodicalId":447991,"journal":{"name":"Albus Scientia","volume":"109 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122416838","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Efficacy of SDS For Protein Extraction from Broiler Muscles and Mammalian Liver Tissue","authors":"Syeda Qandiel Zahra, Sidra Latif, H. Nazir, Zunaira Izhar Shah, Azka Zafar, A. Majid, Adil Farooq, A. Qureshi","doi":"10.56512/as.2022.1.e220624","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56512/as.2022.1.e220624","url":null,"abstract":"Background: The present study purports to check and validate the potential of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) alone being a suitable and cost-effective lysis buffer for maximum and efficient protein extraction from various muscle tissues of broiler chicken and mammalian liver.\u0000Materials and Methods: Three different muscle tissues (I; chest, II; wing and III; leg) were extracted from randomly selected commercial broilers (n=4) while mice (n=3) were dissected for the extraction of liver tissue samples. 1:1 ratio (w/v) of SDS; 10 and 1.0 & 1.5% was used for muscles and liver tissues, respectively for its best time optimization for protein extraction. After incubation, respective tissues were homogenized followed by centrifugation. The supernatant was then processed for crude protein (CP) extraction by Bromocresol Green (BCG) method.\u0000Results: SDS (10%) achieved a maximum yield of CP after 1 hour of incubation. When checked the co-dependence of SDS-reagent on muscle-tissue type and time of incubation, tissue I (chest) was found to give maximum CP contents after 1 hour of incubation, tissue II (wing) extracted more CP after 3 hours while tissue III (leg) rendered equal amounts of CP after 1, 2 and 3 hours of incubation, respectively. From the mammalian liver tissue maximum yield of CP (6.9 g/dl), and albumin (ALB) (1.6 g/dl) was obtained with 1.5% of SDS. While the CP and albumin (Alb) content was not detected after homogenization with 1.0% SDS. Significance was checked at (P< 0.05).\u0000Conclusion: It is concluded from the above findings that 10% SDS is the best lysis buffer concentration to extract crude protein from all the studied broiler muscle tissues while from mice liver samples we found 1.5% SDS lysis reagent seems good than 1.0%. Furthermore, this simple and cheapest procedure and ease of preparation this reagent may be suitable for extraction of important tissue protein fractions.","PeriodicalId":447991,"journal":{"name":"Albus Scientia","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129356472","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Metal Dust Exposure Caused Changes in Blood Indices and Serum Proteins","authors":"R. Mehmood, N. Sheikh","doi":"10.56512/as.2022.1.e220530","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56512/as.2022.1.e220530","url":null,"abstract":"Background: Amongst the industrial hubs in Pakistan, Wazirabad is renowned for its cutlery industry. Cutlery industry generates heaps of multi-metallic dust in whetting units during the processing of stain fewer steel tools. This dust comprises certain potentially toxic and even carcinogenic constituents, thus pose a serious health threat to the workers involved in its processing. Laborers health and safety is something quite non-seriously considered in most of the developing countries, no different is Pakistan. Present exploration was aimed at searching for the differences, in blood profile and quantitative serum protein profile of a group of laborers in cutlery industry that are directly and regularly exposed to multi-metallic dust. \u0000Materials and Methods: After taking written consent from the participants, blood samples were drawn for hematological analysis and serum analysis. Hematological analysis was performed with hematological analyzer and serum was subjected to SDS gel electrophoresis for protein profiling. \u0000Results: Statistically significant changes were observed in the number of RBCs, MCV, HCT and RDW, whereas platelet count was decreased in experimental groups when compared to control group. Serum protein profiling using SDS-PAGE revealed the protein fractions ranging from 73 to 287 kDa. Densitometric analysis has shown changes in the serum proteins of the subjects exposed to metal dust. \u0000Conclusion: Chronic exposure to the metal dust induce changes in the hematological parameters as well as serum proteins. The industrial workers should ensure the use of industry specific personal safety equipment. \u0000Key words: Health hazard, Hematology, Metals, Metal dust, Proteins, SDS-PAGE.","PeriodicalId":447991,"journal":{"name":"Albus Scientia","volume":"58 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124660980","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Second Wave Scenario of COVID-19 in Pakistan and Combating Strategies","authors":"M. B. Khawar, M. Abbasi, N. Sheikh, M. Riaz, Mussarat Rafiq, A. Farooq, Z. Ahmad, Sana Fatima, Hafiza Nabeela Amaan","doi":"10.56512/as.2022.1.e220430","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56512/as.2022.1.e220430","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Dear Editor,\u0000According to WHO, there have been 209,876,613 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 4,400,284 total deaths to date (https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019, retrieved on 22nd August 2021, 17:09 PST). Pakistan documented the first confirmed case of COVID-19 on February 26, 2020 (Waris et al. 2020). There were 1,123,812 confirmed cases and 24,923 deaths reported with Sindh being the most affected province with 419,810 confirmed cases followed by Punjab with 379, 574 confirmed cases (http://covid.gov.pk/ retrieved on 22nd August 2021, 17:09 PST). Effective strategy and strict steps taken by the Government of Pakistan have confined the active cases to 89,334 only (http://covid.gov.pk/, retrieved on 22nd August 2021, 17:09 PST). Federal and Provincial Governments of Pakistan took various measures to control its spread well in advance. These measures include a strict screening of travelers, the installation of scanners at exchange routes (airport and land routes), closure of every single educational institute all over Pakistan, and awareness campaigns via public and private media and social platforms (Waris et al., 2020).\u0000Pakistan had reported the second-highest cases in the last seven days (4th-10th August 2021) in the Eastern Mediterranean region with 24127 cumulative deaths, which is alarming (https://covid19.who.int/table). Experts have already warned that the second wave of COVID-19 will strike more badly than the first one. They urged on the continuity of lockdown until the number of cases starts to decrease as developed countries did. WHO has also expressed its concerns that if Pakistan does not take strict measures, then it may become the next epicenter of this pandemic after Europe.\u0000In the present letter, we provide a short-term toll of reported cases, deaths, and recoveries of COVID-19 to forecast the situation in upcoming months under the prevailing circumstances of easing lockdown. The daily-updated data of the COVID-19 epidemic across all provinces of Pakistan have been extracted at (8:25 am PST) between 17th October 2020 to 15th December 2020 from the official website (http://covid.gov.pk/) developed to provide the exact statistics of the COVID-19 pandemic.\u0000We generated a bimonthly cumulative record of COVID-19 from 17th October 2020 to 15th December 2020. Regarding 17th October, 32062 tests were performed out of which 567 cases were reported positive with a mortality rate of 2.12%. From 17th October to 15th November, out of 908,599 total tests performed 36,580 cases were reported positive with 522 deaths. By the mid of November, testing capacity was increased to find out more affected patients and to reduce the transmission rate. On 16th November out of 29378 tests performed on that day, there were 2140 positive cases, 33 deaths, and 1010 recoveries. From 16th November to 15th December, 1,185238 tests were performed, 86,945 cases were positive with 1,850 total deaths, and 64,774 recoveries. Pakistan has w","PeriodicalId":447991,"journal":{"name":"Albus Scientia","volume":"58 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114861361","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}