Midurethral Sling Mesh Exposure Confers a High Risk of Persistent Stress Urinary Incontinence.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: The objective was to investigate the relationship between mesh exposure and persistent stress urinary incontinence (SUI) post-midurethral sling (MUS) surgery. METHODS: Extensive data collection including patient demographics, obstetric history, existing medical conditions, previous surgeries, and surgical outcomes, encompassing both perioperative and postoperative complications. RESULTS: Out of 456 patients who underwent the MUS procedure within the specified period, the persistence of SUI was noted in 6.4% of cases. Mesh exposure was observed in 8.8% of these cases. Notably, 25% of patients with mesh exposure suffered from persistent SUI, in stark contrast to 4.6% of those without mesh exposure (p < 0.0001). Further, multivariate analysis indicated that patients with mesh exposure had an approximately 6.5-fold increased likelihood (95% CI: 2.71-15.44) of experiencing persistent SUI compared with those without mesh exposure. CONCLUSIONS: Mesh exposure is a significant independent risk factor for persistent SUI post-MUS surgery. Patients with mesh exposure are about 6.5 times more prone to persistent SUI than those without. Although mesh exposure is typically managed with expectant measures, vaginal estrogen or mesh excision, current evidence does not support surgical revision of MUS affected by mesh exposure or additional incontinence procedures during mesh excision.

Use of whole-genome sequence data for fine mapping and genomic prediction of sea louse resistance in Atlantic salmon.

Sea louse (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) infestation of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) is a significant challenge in aquaculture. Over the years, this parasite has developed immunity to medicinal control compounds, and non-medicinal control methods have been proven to be stressful, hence the need to study the genomic architecture of salmon resistance to sea lice. Thus, this research used whole-genome sequence (WGS) data to study the genetic basis of the trait since most research using fewer SNPs did not identify significant quantitative trait loci. Mowi Genetics AS provided the genotype (50 k SNPs) and phenotype data for this research after conducting a sea lice challenge test on 3,185 salmon smolts belonging to 191 full-sib families. The 50 k SNP genotype was imputed to WGS using the information from 197 closely related individuals with sequence data. The WGS and 50 k SNPs of the challenged population were then used to estimate genetic parameters, perform a genome-wide association study (GWAS), predict genomic breeding values, and estimate its accuracy for host resistance to sea lice. The heritability of host resistance to sea lice was estimated to be 0.21 and 0.22, while the accuracy of genomic prediction was estimated to be 0.65 and 0.64 for array and WGS data, respectively. In addition, the association test using both array and WGS data did not identify any marker associated with sea lice resistance at the genome-wide level. We conclude that sea lice resistance is a polygenic trait that is moderately heritable. The genomic predictions using medium-density SNP genotyping array were equally good or better than those based on WGS data.

Ethanolic extract of Euphorbia royleana Boiss. reduces metastasis of breast cancer cells and inhibits tumor progression in vivo.

Metastasis is the most devastating attribute of breast cancer (BC) that leads to high mortality. It is a complex process of tumor cell migration, invasion, and angiogenesis. In this study, we evaluated the effect of ERA on BC metastasis and BC progression in vivo. The transwell invasion/migration and wound healing assays showed that ERA treatment significantly reduced the invasion and migration of BC cell lines. The expression of mesenchymal (E-cadherin and N-cadherin), matrix metalloproteinases (MMP2, MMP9), and stemness markers (Oct3) were down-regulated by ERA. Furthermore, ERA down-regulated angiogenic chemokines (CXCL1/2/3, CXCL5, and CXCL12) expression in the highly metastatic MDA-MB-231 cell line. The clonogenic survival of BC cells was also reduced by ERA treatment. Strikingly, ERA prevented DMBA-induced tumor growth in Swiss albino mice as depicted by a high animal survival rate (84%) in the ERA group and histopathological analysis. Conclusively, this study revealed that ERA possesses anti-metastatic potential and also reduces the growth of BC in vivo. Moreover, the GC-MS data revealed the presence of biologically active compounds (Lupeol, Phytol, phytosterol) and some rare (9, 19-Cyclolanost) phyto metabolites in ERA extract. However, further studies are suggestive to identify and isolate the therapeutic agents from ERA to combat BC and metastasis.

Enhancing Water Purification by Integrating Titanium Dioxide Nanotubes into Polyethersulfone Membranes for Improved Hydrophilicity and Anti-Fouling Performance.

Water pollution remains a critical concern, one necessitated by rapidly increasing industrialization and urbanization. Among the various strategies for water purification, membrane technology stands out, with polyethersulfone (PES) often being the material of choice due to its robust mechanical properties, thermal stability, and chemical resistance. However, PES-based membranes tend to exhibit low hydrophilicity, leading to reduced flux and poor anti-fouling performance. This study addresses these limitations by incorporating titanium dioxide nanotubes (TiO2NTs) into PES nanofiltration membranes to enhance their hydrophilic properties. The TiO2NTs, characterized through FTIR, XRD, BET, and SEM, were embedded in PES at varying concentrations using a non-solvent induced phase inversion (NIPS) method. The fabricated mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) were subjected to testing for water permeability and solute rejection capabilities. Remarkably, membranes with a 1 wt% TiO2NT loading displayed a significant increase in pure water flux, from 36 to 72 L m2 h-1 bar-1, a 300-fold increase in selectivity compared to the pristine sample, and a dye rejection of 99%. Furthermore, long-term stability tests showed only a slight reduction in permeate flux over a time of 36 h, while dye removal efficiency was maintained, thus confirming the membrane's stability. Anti-fouling tests revealed a 93% flux recovery ratio, indicating excellent resistance to fouling. These results suggest that the inclusion of TiO2 NTs offers a promising avenue for the development of efficient and stable anti-fouling PES-based membranes for water purification.

Understanding how junction resistances impact the conduction mechanism in nano-networks.

Networks of nanowires, nanotubes, and nanosheets are important for many applications in printed electronics. However, the network conductivity and mobility are usually limited by the resistance between the particles, often referred to as the junction resistance. Minimising the junction resistance has proven to be challenging, partly because it is difficult to measure. Here, we develop a simple model for electrical conduction in networks of 1D or 2D nanomaterials that allows us to extract junction and nanoparticle resistances from particle-size-dependent DC network resistivity data. We find junction resistances in porous networks to scale with nanoparticle resistivity and vary from 5 Ω for silver nanosheets to 24 GΩ for WS2 nanosheets. Moreover, our model allows junction and nanoparticle resistances to be obtained simultaneously from AC impedance spectra of semiconducting nanosheet networks. Through our model, we use the impedance data to directly link the high mobility of aligned networks of electrochemically exfoliated MoS2 nanosheets (≈ 7 cm2 V-1 s-1) to low junction resistances of ∼2.3 MΩ. Temperature-dependent impedance measurements also allow us to comprehensively investigate transport mechanisms within the network and quantitatively differentiate intra-nanosheet phonon-limited bandlike transport from inter-nanosheet hopping.

The Transcription Factor MiMYB8 Suppresses Peel Coloration in Postharvest 'Guifei' Mango in Response to High Concentration of Exogenous Ethylene by Negatively Modulating MiPAL1.

Anthocyanin accumulation is regulated by specific genes during fruit ripening. Currently, peel coloration of mango fruit in response to exogenous ethylene and the underlying molecular mechanism remain largely unknown. The role of MiMYB8 on suppressing peel coloration in postharvest 'Guifei' mango was investigated by physiology detection, RNA-seq, qRT-PCR, bioinformatics analysis, yeast one-hybrid, dual-luciferase reporter assay, and transient overexpression. Results showed that compared with the control, low concentration of exogenous ethylene (ETH, 500 mg·L-1) significantly promoted peel coloration of mango fruit (cv. Guifei). However, a higher concentration of ETH (1000 mg·L-1) suppressed color transformation, which is associated with higher chlorophyll content, lower a* value, anthocyanin content, and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) activity of mango fruit. M. indica myeloblastosis8 MiMYB8 and MiPAL1 were differentially expressed during storage. MiMYB8 was highly similar to those found in other plant species related to anthocyanin biosynthesis and was located in the nucleus. MiMYB8 suppressed the transcription of MiPAL1 by binding directly to its promoter. Transient overexpression of MiMYB8 in tobacco leaves and mango fruit inhibited anthocyanin accumulation by decreasing PAL activity and down-regulating the gene expression. Our observations suggest that MiMYB8 may act as repressor of anthocyanin synthesis by negatively modulating the MiPAL gene during ripening of mango fruit, which provides us with a theoretical basis for the scientific use of exogenous ethylene in practice.

Modeling COVID-19 data with a novel neutrosophic Burr-III distribution.

In this study, we have presented a novel probabilistic model called the neutrosophic Burr-III distribution, designed for applications in neutrosophic surface analysis. Neutrosophic analysis allows for the incorporation of vague and imprecise information, reflecting the reality that many real-world problems involve ambiguous data. This ability to handle vagueness can lead to more robust and realistic models especially in situation where classical models fall short. We have also explored the neutrosophic Burr-III distribution in order to deal with the ambiguity and vagueness in the data where the classical Burr-III distribution falls short. This distribution offers valuable insights into various reliability properties, moment expressions, order statistics, and entropy measures, making it a versatile tool for analyzing complex data. To assess the practical relevance of our proposed distribution, we applied it to real-world data sets and compared its performance against the classical Burr-III distribution. The findings revealed that the neutrosophic Burr-III distribution outperformed than the classical Burr-III distribution in capturing the underlying data characteristics, highlighting its potential as a superior modeling toolin various fields.

Comparative analysis, diversification, and functional validation of plant nucleotide-binding site domain genes.

Nucleotide-binding site (NBS) domain genes are one of the superfamily of resistance genes involved in plant responses to pathogens. The current study identified 12,820 NBS-domain-containing genes across 34 species covering from mosses to monocots and dicots. These identified genes are classified into 168 classes with several novel domain architecture patterns encompassing significant diversity among plant species. Several classical (NBS, NBS-LRR, TIR-NBS, TIR-NBS-LRR, etc.) and species-specific structural patterns (TIR-NBS-TIR-Cupin_1-Cupin_1, TIR-NBS-Prenyltransf, Sugar_tr-NBS etc.) were discovered. We observed 603 orthogroups (OGs) with some core (most common orthogroups; OG0, OG1, OG2, etc.) and unique (highly specific to species; OG80, OG82, etc.) OGs with tandem duplications. The expression profiling presented the putative upregulation of OG2, OG6, and OG15 in different tissues under various biotic and abiotic stresses in susceptible and tolerant plants to cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD). The genetic variation between susceptible (Coker 312) and tolerant (Mac7) Gossypium hirsutum accessions identified several unique variants in NBS genes of Mac7 (6583 variants) and Coker312 (5173 variants). The protein-ligand and proteins-protein interaction showed a strong interaction of some putative NBS proteins with ADP/ATP and different core proteins of the cotton leaf curl disease virus. The silencing of GaNBS (OG2) in resistant cotton through virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) demonstrated its putative role in virus tittering. The presented study will be further helpful in understanding the plant adaptation mechanism.

Revolutionizing tumor detection and classification in multimodality imaging based on deep learning approaches: methods, applications and limitations.

BACKGROUND: The emergence of deep learning (DL) techniques has revolutionized tumor detection and classification in medical imaging, with multimodal medical imaging (MMI) gaining recognition for its precision in diagnosis, treatment, and progression tracking. OBJECTIVE: This review comprehensively examines DL methods in transforming tumor detection and classification across MMI modalities, aiming to provide insights into advancements, limitations, and key challenges for further progress. METHODS: Systematic literature analysis identifies DL studies for tumor detection and classification, outlining methodologies including convolutional neural networks (CNNs), recurrent neural networks (RNNs), and their variants. Integration of multimodality imaging enhances accuracy and robustness. RESULTS: Recent advancements in DL-based MMI evaluation methods are surveyed, focusing on tumor detection and classification tasks. Various DL approaches, including CNNs, YOLO, Siamese Networks, Fusion-Based Models, Attention-Based Models, and Generative Adversarial Networks, are discussed with emphasis on PET-MRI, PET-CT, and SPECT-CT. FUTURE DIRECTIONS: The review outlines emerging trends and future directions in DL-based tumor analysis, aiming to guide researchers and clinicians toward more effective diagnosis and prognosis. Continued innovation and collaboration are stressed in this rapidly evolving domain. CONCLUSION: Conclusions drawn from literature analysis underscore the efficacy of DL approaches in tumor detection and classification, highlighting their potential to address challenges in MMI analysis and their implications for clinical practice.

Assessing Disparities about Overweight and Obesity in Pakistani Youth Using Local and International Standards for Body Mass Index.

Background/Objectives: Obesity is currently considered a public health problem in both developed and developing countries. Gender- and age-specific body mass index (BMI) growth standards or references are particularly effective in monitoring the global obesity pandemic. This study aimed to report disparities in age-, gender- and ethnic-specific statistical estimates of overweight and obesity for 2-18 years aged Pakistani children and adolescents using the World Health Organization (WHO), the Center for Disease Control (CDC) 2000 references, the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) and Pakistani references for BMI. Methods: The study used secondary data of 10,668 pediatric population, aged 2-18 years. Demographic information like age (years), gender, city and anthropometric examinations, i.e., height (cm) and weight (kg) were used in this study. The recommended age- and gender-specific BMI cut-offs of the WHO, CDC 2000 and the IOTF references were used to classify the children sampled as overweight and obese. For the Pakistani reference, overweight and obesity were defined as BMI-for-age ≥ 85th percentile and BMI-for-age ≥ 95th percentile, respectively. Cohen's κ statistic was used to assess the agreement between the international references and local study population references in the classification of overweight/obesity. Results: The statistical estimates (%) of the participants for overweight and obesity varied according to the reference used: WHO (7.4% and 2.2%), CDC (4.9% and 2.1%), IOTF (5.2% and 2.0%) and Pakistan (8.8% and 6.0%), respectively; suggesting higher levels of overweight and obesity prevalence when local study references are used. The Kappa statistic shows a moderate to excellent agreement (κ ≥ 0.6) among three international references when classifying child overweight and obesity and poor agreement between local references and the WHO (0.45, 0.52), CDC (0.25, 0.50) and IOTF references (0.16, 0.31), for overweight and obesity, respectively. Conclusions: The results of the study showed a visible difference in the estimates of excess body weight after applying the WHO, CDC, IOTF and local BMI references to the study population. Based on the disparity results and poor agreement between international references and the local study reference, this study recommends using local BMI references in identifying children with overweight and obesity.

Selection of mungbean (Vigna radiata L.) mutants with respect to seasonal variation of summer and spring using discriminant function analysis.

The current study was carried out at Nuclear Institute of Agriculture, Tandojam to assess ten mungbean mutants together with one check cultivar in two separate cropping seasons. The findings revealed that all mutants, with the exception of the branches per plant, had significantly different examined traits. By characterizing ten variables, including plant height (cm), number of branches/plant, number of seeds per pod, grain yield per plot (g/plot), grain weight per plant, pod length (cm), pods per plant, days to flowering, above ground biological weight per plot (g/plot) and days to maturity, the results could considerably differentiate between low and high producing mutants. Discriminant analysis was used to choose high-yielding genotypes. The discriminant score demonstrated a significant canonical correlation of 0.994** and could account for 98.8 % of differences in mungbean production. According to the results of discriminant function analysis, the most significant features are pod length, days to flowering, plant height and above ground biological weight. The highest discriminant scores were displayed by the genotypes AEM66, AEM27, AEM25 and AEM14, identified as high yielding mutants. The low yielding mungbean mutants, designated Viz, AEM20, AEM30, AEM35, AEM-96, AEM29, AEM40 and AEM32 are those that exhibit the lowest values of the discriminant score. Mungbean cultivation is more successful in the summer than it is in the spring.

Disparities with global standards about growth references of mid-upper arm circumference-for-age for Pakistani children aged 6-60 months.

AIM: Growth reference values about mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) are vital for assessing children's nutritional status. However, Pakistan lacks these reference values and growth charts. This study aims to develop these for children aged 6-60 months and compare them with global standards. METHODS: The data were acquired from the 2018 National Nutrition Survey of Pakistan, which was conducted by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) during 2018-2019. The final study cohort comprised 57 285 children, with 51% being boys. Percentile values and charts for MUAC-for-age were developed using generalised additive models for location, scale and shape with the Box-Cox power exponential distribution. RESULTS: The mean MUAC was 14.21 cm (±2.07 cm) and 14.13 cm (±2.12 cm) for the boys and girls, respectively. At 60 months of age, the P3 and P97 percentiles for girls were slightly higher than those for boys. The median percentiles of Pakistani children were smaller than the World Health Organisation 2007 standards and with international references. CONCLUSION: We observed disparities in MUAC-for-age growth references among Pakistani children compared to global standards, highlighting regional, age and gender variations. This underscores the need for developing countries like Pakistan to establish their growth references.

Midurethral Sling with Concomitant Sacrocolpopexy: Does the Sequence Matter? A Retrospective Cohort Study.

The objective is to determine if the timing of midurethral sling (MUS) placement has an impact on the recurrence rate of stress urinary incontinence (SUI). We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients that underwent robot sacrocolpopexy (RSC) with MUS placement at a large community hospital. Our data demonstrated that there was no significant difference in SUI recurrence when the MUS was placed before or after the RSC (15% vs. 11%, P = 0.41, respectively). We concluded that physician preference may dictate surgical approach to sequence of retropubic MUS placement at the time of RSC.

Up-gradation of the dielectric, physical & chemical properties of cottonseed-based, non-edible green nanofluids as sustainable alternatives for high-voltage equipment's insulation fluids.

The use of natural ester oils as electrically insulating fluids has gained significant attention from industries and electrical utilities as they aim to replace traditional mineral oils. However, most natural ester oils are derived from edible products, which has the potential to contribute to the food crisis. Therefore, nonedible green nanofluids made from cottonseed oil (CSO) have been targeted as a keen solution to this issue. However, Al2O3, TiO2, Fe2O3, SiO2, and graphene nanoparticles at (0.025, 0.05, and 0.075 wt/vol%) were used as additives, along with surfactant Olic Ac-id and Ethanol (1:5) due to their promising impact on the dielectric and thermal properties of the nanofluid. The nanofluid synthesis process was practically conducted in HV & Chemical Laboratories using one-step and two-step methods, and their breakdown voltage results and chemical properties (e.g., fire point, flash point, cloud point, pour point, viscosity, acidity, moisture content, resistivity, and dissipation factor) were compared. The physical mechanisms underlying these properties were also analyzed and tested. For the validation of the proposed vegetable oil the results have been compared with traditional mineral oil for high-voltage equipment's. The findings suggest that the proposed nonedible green nanofluids-based cottonseed oil (CSO) has a high potential to be used as electrically insulating fluids, providing a sustainable alternative to conventional mineral oils. Overall, this study provides insights into the use of non-edible green nanofluids as a solution to the potential contribution of natural ester oils to the food crisis. The findings highlight the importance of sustainable solutions in the energy industry and the need for further research in this area.

Zinc oxide nanoparticles and Klebsiella sp. SBP-8 alleviates chromium toxicity in Brassica juncea by regulation of antioxidant capacity, osmolyte production, nutritional content and reduction in chromium adsorption.

Heavy metals are one of the most damaging environmental toxins that hamper growth of plants. These noxious chemicals include lead (Pb), arsenic (As), nickel (Ni), cadmium (Cd) and chromium (Cr). Chromium is one of the toxic metal which induces various oxidative processes in plants. The emerging role of nanoparticles as pesticides, fertilizers and growth regulators have attracted the attention of various scientists. Current study was conducted to explore the potential of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) alone and in combination with plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) Klebsiella sp. SBP-8 in Cr stress alleviation in Brassica juncea (L.). Chromium stress reduced shoot fresh weight (40%), root fresh weight (28%), shoot dry weight (28%) and root dry weight (34%) in B. juncea seedlings. Chromium stressed B. juncea plants showed enhanced levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), electrolyte leakage (EL), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and superoxide ion (O2• -). However, co-supplementation of ZnONPs and Klebsiella sp. SBP-8 escalated the activity of antioxidant enzymes i.e., superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) in B. juncea grown in normal and Cr-toxic soil. It is further proposed that combined treatment of ZnONPs and Klebsiella sp. SBP-8 may be useful for alleviation of other abiotic stresses in plants.

Development of a robust method for Cd(II) ions analysis using CeO2- and CeO2-Cu-BTC-based electrochemical sensors.

Simple and sensitive electrochemical sensors were fabricated from cerium oxide (CeO2) and copper-benzene tricarboxylic acid-modified cerium oxide (CeO2-Cu-BTC) materials for differential pulse voltammetric analysis of toxic cadmium (Cd) ions in aqueous solutions. The materials were prepared by hydrothermal method and structurally characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). The CeO2-modified carbon paste electrode (CeCPE) and the CeO2-Cu-BTC-modified carbon paste electrode (CeBCPE) were electrochemically characterized by their cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance study in standard K3[Fe(CN)6] single-electron redox process. Their electrochemical surface areas, electrode surface coverages, and charge transfer resistances were calculated to be 1.46 cm2, 2.338 × 10-5 mol∙cm-2, and 2790 Ω and 5.48 cm2, 2.476 × 10-5 mol∙cm-2, and 1254.65 Ω for CeCPE and CeBCPE, respectively. These fabricated electrodes were used as electrochemical sensors for cadmium ion estimation by optimizing the experimental parameters through differential pulse voltammetry. The optimized conditions included 10% modifier for CeCPE and 5% modifier for CeBCPE in 0.12 M HCl solution of pH 5 as supporting electrolyte at - 1.2 V deposition for 30 s in 0.01 to 10 mg L-1 linear cadmium solution range. Under these conditions, the limit of quantification (LOQ) of 0.368 mg L-1 and 0.005 mg L-1 was calculated for CeCPE and CeBCPE electrodes, respectively. The limit of detection (LOD) was calculated to be 0.121 mg L-1 and 0.002 mg L-1 for CeCPE and CeBCPE, respectively. All the experimental results indicated that electrodes fabricated from CeO2-Cu-BTC show better performance as compared to CeO2-based electrodes. Both these types of electrochemical sensors presented good repeatability and performance in the presence of interfering ions as well. From these findings, it can also be inferred that these electrochemical sensors can provide a simple and very sensitive method for approximation of toxic cadmium ions in aqueous solutions.

Unlock flow-type reversible aqueous Zn-CO2 batteries.

Metal-CO2 batteries, which use CO2 as the active species at cathodes, are particularly promising, but device design for mass-producible CO2 reduction and energetic power supply lag behind, limiting their potential benefits. In this study, an aqueous reversible flow-type Zn-CO2 battery using a Pd/SnO2@C cathode catalyst has been assembled and demonstrates an ultra-high discharge voltage of 1.38 V, a peak power density of 4.29 mW cm-2, high-energy efficiency of 95.64% and remarkable theoretical energy density (827.3 W h kg-1). In the meantime, this optimized system achieves a high formate faradaic efficiency of 95.86% during the discharge process at a high rate of 4.0 mA cm-2. This energy- and chemical-conversion technology could store and provide electricity, eliminate CO2 and produce valuable chemicals, addressing current energy and environment issues simultaneously.

Assessment of heavy metals level in chicken with indeterminate analysis in localities of Lahore, Pakistan.

The poultry industry is a significant source of animal protein, vitamins, and minerals, particularly through the consumption of chicken meat. In order to conduct the study, 100 samples of liver, chicken feed, and drinking water were collected in nearby areas of Lahore. The investigation aims to detect the presence of specific heavy metals in the collected samples. For this purpose, atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) was used to detect heavy metals after proper preparation of the samples. The experimentally observed data were analyzed through a novel statistical approach known as neutrosophic statistics. It was observed that copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and cadmium (Cd) were the most prominent metals detected with contamination above the safe limits (for chicken drinking water (Zn = 23.09±13.67 mg/L, Cu = 3.84±3.04 mg/L, Cd = 0.805±0.645 mg/L, Pb = 0.275±0.095 mg/L, As = 0.982±0.978 mg/L), for chicken feed (Zn = 2.705±0.715 mg/kg, Cu = 1.85±0.53 mg/kg, Cd = 3.065±1.185 mg/kg, Pb = 0.215±0.175 mg/kg, As = 0.68±0.22 mg/kg), and chicken's liver (Zn = 3.93±0.66 mg/kg, Cu = 1.2±0.52 mg/kg, Cd = 0.07±0.05 mg/kg, Pb = 0.805±0.775 mg/kg, As = 1.05±0.8 mg/kg)). Similarly, the statistical analysis leads that the findings emphasize the importance of monitoring and mitigating heavy metal contamination in the poultry industry to ensure the safety and quality of poultry products.

A redescending M-estimator approach for outlier-resilient modeling.

The OLS model is built on the assumption of normality in the distribution of error terms. However, this assumption can be easily violated, especially when there are outliers in the data. A single outlier can disrupt the normality assumption of error terms, making the OLS model less effective. In such situations, M-estimators (MEs) come into play to obtain reliable estimates. We introduce a redescending M-estimators (RME) for robust regression to handle datasets with outliers. The proposed RME produces more robust estimates by effectively managing the influence of outliers, even at lower values of the tuning constant. We compared the performance of this estimator with existing RMEs using real-life data examples and an extensive simulation study. The results show that our suggested RME is more efficient than the compared ME in various situations.

Phytochemical screening, antioxidant, immunomodulatory and analgesic potential of aqueous-ethanolic extracts of Euphorbia prostrata ait. and Crotalaria burhia Buch-Ham.

Euphorbia prostrata (E. prostrata) and Crotalaria burhia (C. burhia) are widely found in flora of the Cholistan Desert of Bahawalpur, Pakistan and are traditionally used to treat pain and chronic disease. The current study aimed to evaluate their phytochemical screening, antioxidant activity, in-vivo phagocytic activity, and analgesic activity. Both the plant extracts were investigated for phytochemical screening, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) analysis, in-vitro antioxidant by 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method, in-vivo immunomodulatory activity by macrophages phagocytosis using carbon clearance rate assay and analgesic activity by acetic acid produced writhing method. Phytochemical screening showed the presence of carbohydrates, saponins, tannins, phenols, quinines, proteins, terpenes, glycosides, and alkaloids. FTIR analysis revealed the existence of different functional groups in both extracts. The DPPH method showed that E. prostrata exhibited a high antioxidant potential with an IC50 of 62.5 µg/ml whereas C. burhia showed a lower antioxidant potential. At the dose of 200 mg/kg body weight (b. wt), both the extracts showed a significant increase in the phagocytic index by 5.2 ± 0.2, and, 4.8 ± 0.1 (p < 0.001) respectively which was close to the 100 mg/kg b. wt of the standard drug (Levamisole) 5.4 ± 0.2. Both the extracts at the dose of 200 mg/kg b. wt also significantly reduced the writhing (abdominal contractions) count by 13.7 ± 0.3 and, 25.3 ± 1.5 (p < 0.001), showing 71.8% and 47.6% of reduced analgesic activity compared to the standard drug dicloran (diclofenac sodium), respectively. In conclusion, extracts of both plants indicate their role in the management of various disorders to relieve pain and modulate the immune system.