PET waste management in Pakistan through use of PET shreds as additive in backfill soil.

The management of waste plastic bottles is one of the major environmental challenges in the world. Plastic bottles are composed of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is non-biodegradable, resulting in environmental problems. Various studies have been carried out on the use of waste PET bottles in the form of custom-made strips as a stabilizer. However, no significant research has been carried out on the use of waste PET bottle shreds already available in the market. These shreds do not require any special technology or arrangement for bulk production. In this study, the shear strength of low plastic silty clay was improved using locally available PET shreds, and their prospective application in the backfill soil was investigated. Standard Proctor tests and direct shear tests were conducted on soil stabilized with three different sizes of plastic shreds (2 mm, 6 mm, and 10 mm) in four different percentages (1%, 3%, 5%, and 10%). Findings revealed that adding PET shreds in 1% content improves the shear strength characteristics. However, the shear strength parameters decrease with further increase in PET shred content. Therefore, PET shreds in 1% content can be added in backfill soil to improve its shear strength. Pakistan needs to construct 0.77 million housing units annually to keep up with its population growth. The statistics of seven major cities of Pakistan show that the PET waste management issue of Pakistan can be resolved by using PET shreds as a backfill additive in only 32% of the new houses required to be constructed.

Clinical Challenges in the Management of Malignant Ovarian Germ Cell Tumours.

Nonepithelial ovarian cancers (NEOC) are a group of rare malignancies, including germ cell tumours (GCT) and sex cord-stromal tumours (SCST), along with small-cell carcinomas and sarcomas. GCTs represent 2-5% of ovarian cancers, with a yearly incidence of 4:100,000, and they usually affect young women and adolescents. Precursory germ cells of the ovary form the basis of GCT. They are histologically classified into primitive GCT, teratomas, and monodermal and somatic-type tumours associated with dermoid cysts. A primitive GCT can be either a yolk sac tumour (YST), dysgerminoma, or mixed germ cell neoplasm. Teratomas are either mature (benign) or immature (malignant). Given that malignant GCTs occur rarely compared to epithelial ovarian tumours (EOC), greater focus is required in their diagnosis and treatment. In this article, we review the epidemiology, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, and molecular biology, along with the management and therapeutic challenges.

Comparison of PET-CT, CT and MRI scan in initial staging and management of head and neck cancers.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the utility of positron-emission tomography (FDG PET) in initial staging and management of head and neck cancers. METHODS: This is a retrospective study of 99 treatment naïve head and neck cancer patients treated between January 2017 and December 2020 at a tertiary teaching centre. Change in initial staging and management was noted based on PET scan compared to cross-sectional imaging (CT and MRI). RESULTS: There were 73 (73.7%) males and 26 (26.2%) females with male-to-female ratio of 2.8:1.Overall, change in management was seen in 36/99 (36.4%) patients due to PET scan. With regards to initial staging, T, N and M stage was changed in 14/99 (14.1%), 19/99 (19.1%) and 3/99 (3%) patients, respectively. These changes were significantly higher in patients with unknown primary (63.3%, p value -0.001) and N3 (41%, p -0.045) nodal disease. CONCLUSION: PET-CT plays an important role in appropriate initial staging and subsequent treatment planning of head and neck cancers. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: Initial staging PETCT changes management in 36.4% cases. Accuracy of various different imaging modalities have been compared.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in the atmospheric total suspended particles in Karachi, Pakistan: Profiles, potential sources, and daily intake estimates.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have received continuous attention; however, there is limited understanding of their sources in the atmosphere and related human exposure risks. This study measured PFAS in the atmospheric total suspended particles collected from Karachi, Pakistan, during the winter. Among the quantified PFAS, perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA) showed the highest average concentration (3.11 ± 2.64 pg/m3), accounting for 32% of the total PFAS. Wind speed was positively correlated with perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA) and N-ethyl perfluorooctanesulfonamide (N-EtFOSA), while relative humidity was negatively correlated with perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). Weighted potential source contribution function (WPSCF) and concentration weighted trajectory (WCWT) analyses suggested that northwestern Pakistan and western Afghanistan areas were highly associated with the long-range atmospheric transport of PFAS. We also calculated the daily intake of PFAS via inhalation, which were in the range of 0.07-3.98 and 0.01-0.33 pg/kg bw/d for children and adults, respectively. The calculated hazard quotient (HQ) of PFOS and PFOA was significantly lower than 1, indicating less or unlikely to cause non-carcinogenic effect via inhalation exposure. Overall, this study contributes to the understanding of geographic origins and human inhalation risks of airborne PFAS on a regional scale.

Formulation development and in vitro characterization of triple layer tablet containing amlodipine besylate, rosuvastatin calcium and hydrochlorothiazide.

Triple layered tablet having various excipients and a new combination of APIs i.e. amlodipine besylate, rosuvastatin calcium and hydrochlorothiazide was prepared through wet granulation. The concentration of disintegrant and diluent was kept different in formulations of all APIs. At compression stage, nine different formulations from H1 to H9 having different combinations were prepared. Layers T1, T2 and T3 of all the three APIs had disintegrant concentration of 3%, 5% and 7 % respectively. In vitro analysis of granules was made by determining angle of repose, loss on drying, bulk density, tapped density, hausner ratio. Results of all these parameters were quite similar in all layers, which showed that change in disintegrant concentration does not affect the flow ability of granules to much extent. After compression, tablets were further subjected to weight variation, hardness, thickness, friability, disintegration, dissolution studies and FTIR. In vitro drug release data of all formulations were studied which showed that all the formulations exhibited zero order release. Results indicated that H8 had the best results in terms of physicochemical properties, assay and dissolution studies. The external morphology of formulations were further analyzed using scanning electron microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. Triple layered tablet was successfully developed and characterized.

Knowledge, attitude and preventive practices related to COVID-19 among health professionals of Punjab province of Pakistan.

INTRODUCTION: Considering health professionals among high-risk individuals, we aimed to evaluate their knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) regarding COVID-19. METHODOLOGY: This cross-sectional study was conducted among the health professionals (medical doctors, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists, hospital technicians and technologists) providing services at seven hospitals of Punjab province of Pakistan. A self-administered questionnaire was used to evaluate knowledge, attitude and practices regarding COVID-19. RESULTS: All of the participants (N = 429) reported that they were aware of COVID-19 and social media was the major source (65%) of this information. Mean knowledge score was 12 ± 2.1, with 75.5% of participants having satisfactory knowledge. Doctors were found to have significantly better knowledge scores than the other health professionals (p = 0.001). Mean attitude score was 8.0 ± 1.2, with a wide majority of health professionals (86.5%) having positive attitudes. Regarding preventive practices, around 64% reported of always covering nose and mouth with a tissue paper during sneezing or coughing and nearly 65% disposed of the dirty tissue paper in trash bin. Only 40% of the participants reported that 'if they do not have tissue, they cough or sneeze into upper sleeves'. Around 45% reported that they used face mask during their working hours in hospitals nowadays. Mean practice score was 23.3 ± 3.6, with 73.4% of health professionals having satisfactory practices. CONCLUSIONS: The overall COVID-19 related KAP of Pakistani health professionals are satisfactory, however some misperceptions and malpractices uncovered in the present study must be addressed to effectively combat COVID-19.

Knowledge, attitude and preventive practices related to COVID-19: a cross-sectional study in two Pakistani university populations.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess COVID-19-related knowledge, attitudes, and preventive practices of two Pakistani university populations. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among students and employees of two higher education institutions in Lahore, Pakistan, namely the University of Lahore and the Gulab Devi Educational Complex. Participants were recruited using a convenient sampling method. A validated 45-item, self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Total possible scores were 0-14 for knowledge (scores < 7, 7-10 and > 10 were considered to indicate poor, moderate and good knowledge, respectively); 0-7 for attitude (scores > 5 were considered to indicate a good attitude); and 0-18 for COVID-19 preventative practices (scores > 12 were considered to indicate good preventative practices). RESULTS: Of the 417 enrolled participants, 416 reported that they were aware of COVID-19 and social media was the major source of their information. Mean scores were 10.12 ± 2.20 for knowledge (good, moderate and poor knowledge in 50.2%, 42.8% and 7.0% of participants, respectively); 5.74 ± 1.28 for attitude (65.4% of individuals had a positive attitude); and 11.04 ± 3.34 for COVID-19 preventative practices (only 36.5% of participants had good preventive practices). CONCLUSION: Pakistani university students and employees have good knowledge and attitudes regarding COVID-19, but unsatisfactory preventive practices. Therefore, health regulators should use multiple communication approaches, such as electronic, print and social media, phone messages, etc., to increase awareness and improve practices related to COVID-19.

Generalized equilibrium problem with mixed relaxed monotonicity.

We extend the concept of relaxed α-monotonicity to mixed relaxed α-ß-monotonicity. The concept of mixed relaxed α-ß-monotonicity is more general than many existing concepts of monotonicities. Finally, we apply this concept and well known KKM-theory to obtain the solution of generalized equilibrium problem.

Joint torque reduction of a three dimensional redundant planar manipulator.

Research on joint torque reduction in robot manipulators has received considerable attention in recent years. Minimizing the computational complexity of torque optimization and the ability to calculate the magnitude of the joint torque accurately will result in a safe operation without overloading the joint actuators. This paper presents a mechanical design for a three dimensional planar redundant manipulator with the advantage of the reduction in the number of motors needed to control the joint angle, leading to a decrease in the weight of the manipulator. Many efforts have been focused on decreasing the weight of manipulators, such as using lightweight joints design or setting the actuators at the base of the manipulator and using tendons for the transmission of power to these joints. By using the design of this paper, only three motors are needed to control any n degrees of freedom in a three dimensional planar redundant manipulator instead of n motors. Therefore this design is very effective to decrease the weight of the manipulator as well as the number of motors needed to control the manipulator. In this paper, the torque of all the joints are calculated for the proposed manipulator (with three motors) and the conventional three dimensional planar manipulator (with one motor for each degree of freedom) to show the effectiveness of the proposed manipulator for decreasing the weight of the manipulator and minimizing driving joint torques.