Intolerance of uncertainty across stress, anxiety, and depression among university students in Pakistan: A descriptive cross-sectional study.

Background: The mental health issues due to COVID-19, such as intolerance of uncertainty (IOU), anxiety, stress, and depression, have attracted extensive attention from researchers. The challenges for Pakistani university students could be worse than developed countries due to the lack of online courses/programs and online mental health support provided by academic institutions. Therefore, the current study aims to assess the intolerance of uncertainty, depression, anxiety, and stress of Pakistani university students after the second wave of COVID-19 and the relationship among these constructs. Methods: A convenience cross-sectional sampling method was used to collect data from university students in Pakistan between January 2021 and April 2022 via a structured online questionnaire. The Descriptive analysis focused on frequencies, percentages, mean, and standard deviation (SD) were calculated on IOU-12 and DASS-21. Covariance for the research model and confirmatory factor analyses fit indices for the IOU-12 and DASS-21 were analyzed by AMOS statistical packages. Results: As expected, anxiety, depression, and stress persist among Pakistani university students. On average, they report mild to moderate mental health problems regarding anxiety, depression, stress, and intolerance of uncertainty. Our results indicate a strong positive relationship among the three emotional distress components - anxiety, depression, and stress. However, our results suggest no significant relationship between IOU and the three subcomponents of emotional distress (anxiety, depression, and stress). Limitations: First, the cross-sectional survey design means we cannot conclude on the causal relations. Second, the self-report questionnaire embeds subjectivity issues. Last, the generalizability of the sample to the whole student population in Pakistan is limited, considering the sampling method. Conclusion: This study expanded the current knowledge in the psychological health domain (intolerance of uncertainty, anxiety, depression, and stress) due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In practice, higher education institutions should further mitigate university students' mental health issues. For researchers, our findings inspire future studies to delve into the relationship between IOU and mental health issues due to COVID-19 since our findings display contrary evidence for various reasons.

Assessing the Workplace Cyberloafing Behavior among Pharmacists in Pakistan.

Objective: After the commencement of the Internet and the popularity of various electronic devices, cyberloafing has become prevalent in the workplace regardless of professional type, demographic characteristics, and country. Individuals use the Internet for work-irrelevant purposes during work hours, which is believed to have a controversial role in work productivity. However, rare studies have paid attention to the prevalence of cyberloafing behavior among Pakistan pharmacists. Considering pharmacists' essential role in the health sector, this study investigates the prevalence of cyberloafing activities among workplace pharmacists in Pakistan. Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted among 242 registered pharmacists in Pakistan between October 2021 and February 2022 with a structured self-administered online questionnaire. The final sample consisted of 200 valid responses after screening. Data were processed through exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analyses. Pearson Chi-square analysis was also used to test the correlation between factors. Findings: Descriptive analysis shows that pharmacists spend more time on sharing-related activities and least on gambling/gaming-related activities in the workplace. All the items' Cronbach's alpha values range from 0.923 to 0.927. The analysis indicates that (60%) pharmacists have intermediate Internet skills. The results also suggest that age, Internet usage, and work area have a strong relationship with cyberloafing behaviors which also, in turn, are linked with their perceived Internet skills. This study has important practical implications for pharmacy management in Pakistan. Conclusion: Cyberloafing behavior is prevalent among Pakistan pharmacists. Our findings could inspire how managers and all other relevant stakeholders could improve the pharmacy system in Pakistan.

Evaluation of anti-inflammatory and antibacterial potential of newly synthesized 4-(2-Keto-1-benzimidazollinyl) derivatives of piperidine.

Benzimidazole and its derivatives found variety of biological activities, for the searching of its potent anti-inflammatory analogues, we synthesized four novel 4-(2-keto-1-benzimidazollinyl) piperidine derivatives (Q1 to Q4) by refluxing piperidine with substituted imidazole and subjected to in-vitro anti-inflammatory (ROS, NO) and antibacterial activities, structures were elucidated using spectroscopic techniques. Results revealed that compound Q1 showed most effective anti-inflammatory activity with IC 50 7.6±1.3 µg/ml compared with standard Ibuprofen having IC50 11.2±1.9µg/mL. Compound Q3 showed good activity for Nitrite accumulation by stimulating macrophages test similar to standard NG Methyl L-arginine acetate with IC50 value 24.2±0.8µg/mL. The antibacterial activity of these compounds were evaluated against selected Gram+ve E. faecalis, C. diphtheriae, S. aureus and Gram -ve organism E. coli, Enterobacter aerogenes and P. aeruginosa. Synthesized compounds showed low to moderate level of antibacterial activity Q1 showed the highest antibacterial activity against Enterococcus faecalis and Escherichia coli with zone of inhibition 18mm and Q3 showed highest activity against Corynebacterium diptheriae (ZOI:18mm). Structure-activity relationship (SAR) study revealed that among all the synthesized compounds unsubstituted naphthalene (Q1) and phenyl (Q3) ring containing derivatives were most potent.

Synthesis, Characterization and evaluation of antioxidant potential of 2, 6-diphenylpiperidine-4-one compounds and their novel imine derivatives.

In search of potent molecules having antioxidant activity the present work was designed to synthesize 2, 6-diphenylpiperidine-4-one compounds (1a and 1b) and their imine derivatives (2a, 2b, 3a, and 3b). Compounds 1a and 1b were synthesized by Mannich condensation reaction. The method was found to be simple, convenient with high yield and products were easily separated. Compounds 1a and 1b serves as an intermediate for the preparation of highly functionalized novel imine derivatives. Oxime (2a, 2b) and carbothioamide (3a, 3b) derivatives of 1a and 1b compounds were produced by condensation reaction with hydroxyl amine hydrochloride and thiosemicarbazide respectively. These compounds were characterized by IR, EI-mass and 1HNMR spectroscopy. The antioxidant activity of compounds was analyzed by 1, 1- dipheny1-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay method. It was found that substituted aryl derivatives containing phenol and methoxy groups (1b, 2b and 3b) showed better antioxidant activity (IC50 values rang from 1.84-4.53µg/ml) than unsubstituted aryl derivative (1a, 2a and 3a) (IC50 rang from 6.46-11.13µg/ml). Compound 1b exhibited excellent antioxidant activity (IC50 1.84±0.15µg/ml) comparable to standard ascorbic acid (IC501.65± 0.16µg/ml).