Levels of Depression and Anxiety Post-Mastectomy in Breast Cancer Patients at a Public Sector Hospital in Karachi

Khan, Sara,Khan, Naveed Ali,Rehman, Ata Ur,Khan, Iqra,Samo, Khursheed A,Memon, Amjad Siraj Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2016 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.17 No.3

Background: There is a noticeable change in the approach with which women nowadays seek help for diseases like breast cancer, primarily due to awareness campaigns, but what happens after surgical procedures is of great significance too. This study focused on the several psychological connotations attached to mastectomy and how the patients cope. Objective: To understand the pattern of anxiety and level of depression among Pakistani patients undergoing mastectomy. Materials and Methods: The sample size consisted of 88 patients who had undergone mastectomy at the different surgical units of the Civil Hospital, Karachi, from January 2012-December 2014; The questionnaire was administered before they were discharged i.e. within 3 days of surgical procedures. The patients were asked if they were willing to participate in this study, those who agreed signed the consent form and then we preceded by asking questions with a standardized tool. A self made questionnaire was constructed keeping in mind the nature and specification of the disease, which consisted of 20 questions related to anxiety and depression, focusing on a mixture of psychological and physiological symptoms. Results: There were a total of 88 patients out of which 36 (41%) were aged 51 to 60 years, 24 (27.2%) of the patients were in the age category of 41 to 50 years, 17 aged 61 and above (19.3%) and only 11 (12.5%) 30-40 years of age, the youngest of all the age categories. The pattern of depression and anxiety was found to be similar among all age categories, severe depression and anxiety predominating over moderate level of such symptoms, with only relatively few patients sufering mild or no depression symptoms. Conclusions: It was concluded that going through mastectomy leads to moderate to severe levels of depression and anxiety, primarily because the females feel incomplete and insecure after losing a part of themselves.

X-Ray Image Enhancement Using a Boundary Division Wiener Filter and Wavelet-Based Image Fusion Approach

Khan, Sajid Ullah,Chai, Wang Yin,See, Chai Soo,Khan, Amjad Korea Information Processing Society 2016 Journal of information processing systems Vol.12 No.1

To resolve the problems of Poisson/impulse noise, blurriness, and sharpness in degraded X-ray images, a novel and efficient enhancement algorithm based on X-ray image fusion using a discrete wavelet transform is proposed in this paper. The proposed algorithm consists of two basics. First, it applies the techniques of boundary division to detect Poisson and impulse noise corrupted pixels and then uses the Wiener filter approach to restore those corrupted pixels. Second, it applies the sharpening technique to the same degraded X-ray image. Thus, it has two source X-ray images, which individually preserve the enhancement effects. The details and approximations of these sources X-ray images are fused via different fusion rules in the wavelet domain. The results of the experiment show that the proposed algorithm successfully combines the merits of the Wiener filter and sharpening and achieves a significant proficiency in the enhancement of degraded X-ray images exhibiting Poisson noise, blurriness, and edge details.

Gibberellin application ameliorates the adverse impact of short-term flooding on <i>Glycine max</i> L.

Khan, Muhammad Aaqil,Hamayun, Muhammad,Iqbal, Amjad,Khan, Sumera Afzal,Hussain, Anwar,Asaf, Sajjad,Khan, Abdul Latif,Yun, Byung-Wook,Lee, In-Jung Portland Press Ltd. 2018 Biochemical journal Vol.475 No.18

<P>Flooding is an abiotic stress that creates hypoxic conditions triggered by redox potential leading to restricted growth and grain yield in plants. In the current study, we have investigated the effect of exogenous gibberellins (GA(4+7)) on soybean under flooding stress. A regulatory role of GAs on biochemical changes in soybean plants [including chlorophyll contents, endogenous bioactive GA(1) and GA(4), endogenous jasmonic acid (JA) and abscisic acid (ABA)] has been elucidated after 3 and 6 h of flooding stress. The modulation of stress-related bio-chemicals and their genetic determinants [for instance, ABA (Timing of CAB expression1-TOC1, ABA-receptor-ABAR) and NO (S-nitrosoglutathione reductase-GSNOR1, NO overproducer1-NOX, and nitrite reductase-NR)] in response to short-term flooding stress were also explored. The current study showed that exogenous GAs rescued chlorophyll contents, enhanced endogenous bioactive GA(1) and GA(4) levels, endogenous jasmonic acid (JA) and checked the rate of ABA biosynthesis under short-term flooding. The exo-GAs induced the glutathione activity and reduced the resulting superoxide anion contents during short-term flooding in Pungsannamul soybean. Exo-GAs also triggered the endogenous S-nitrosothiols (precursor for increased NO production) that have been decreased over the time. Moreover, the exo-GAs could impinge a variety of biochemical and transcriptional programs that are ameliorative to plant growth during short-term flooding stress. The presence of GA(1) and GA(4) also confirms the presence of both C13-hydroxylation pathway and non-C13-hydroxylation pathway in soybean, respectively.</P>

Microsatellite Analysis of Rosa damascena from Pakistan and Iran

Amjad Farooq,Mahnaz Kiani,Muhammad Aslam Khan,Atif Riaz,Asif Ali Khan,Natalie Anderson,David H. Byrne 한국원예학회 2013 Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology Vol.54 No.2

For the perfume industry, Rosa damascena is the most important species used in the production of rose attar which is made by distilling volatile oils from the petals of flowers. It is also used widely in the manufacture of rose water, as a flavoring agent. Other species like Rosa gallica L., Rosa centifolia L., Rosa × borboniana Desp. and the rose cultivar Gruss an Teplitz also exhibit the fragrance that is sought by perfumeries in the world. The main rose oil producers in the world are Turkey and Bulgaria, and they are obtaining the rose oil almost exclusively from the single clone of R. damascena. In the recent studies a wide genetic diversity for R. damascena has been revealed in Iran, but there was a need to explore and evaluate the R. damascena in the neighboring areas of Iran. Thus the new research project was planned with the objective to evaluate the genetic diversity amongst R. damascena landraces grown in Pakistan and the subsequent comparison with tested germplasm grown in Iran. Further, the study is based on the collection of Damask and selected garden roses from Pakistan, Iran and USA, determining the characterization through microsatellite markers. The SSR markers confirmed the high level of diversity of the Rosa damascena germplasm within Iran and showed that the Pakistani genotypes were similar to those from the Iranian provinces of Isfahan, Kerman and Fars. The garden rose cultivars were distantly related.

Genome and transcriptome-wide analyses of cellulose synthase gene superfamily in soybean

Nawaz, Muhammad Amjad,Rehman, Hafiz Mamoon,Baloch, Faheem Shehzad,Ijaz, Babar,Ali, Muhammad Amjad,Khan, Iqrar Ahmad,Lee, Jeong Dong,Chung, Gyuhwa,Yang, Seung Hwan G. Fischer 2017 Journal of plant physiology Vol. No.

<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P>The plant cellulose synthase gene superfamily belongs to the category of type-2 glycosyltransferases, and is involved in cellulose and hemicellulose biosynthesis. These enzymes are vital for maintaining cell-wall structural integrity throughout plant life. Here, we identified 78 putative cellulose synthases (CS) in the soybean genome. Phylogenetic analysis against 40 reference <I>Arabidopsis</I> CS genes clustered soybean CSs into seven major groups (CESA, CSL A, B, C, D, E and G), located on 19 chromosomes (except chromosome 18). Soybean CS expansion occurred in 66 duplication events. Additionally, we identified 95 simple sequence repeat makers related to 44 CSs. We next performed digital expression analysis using publically available datasets to understand potential CS functions in soybean. We found that CSs were highly expressed during soybean seed development, a pattern confirmed with an Affymatrix soybean IVT array and validated with RNA-seq profiles. Within CS groups, CESAs had higher relative expression than CSLs. Soybean CS models were designed based on maximum average RPKM values. Gene co-expression networks were developed to explore which CSs could work together in soybean. Finally, RT-PCR analysis confirmed the expression of 15 selected CSs during all four seed developmental stages.</P>

X-Ray Image Enhancement Using a Boundary Division Wiener Filter and Wavelet-Based Image Fusion Approach

( Sajid Ullah Khan ),( Wang Yin Chai ),( Chai Soo See ),( Amjad Khan ) 한국정보처리학회 2016 Journal of information processing systems Vol.12 No.1

To resolve the problems of Poisson/impulse noise, blurriness, and sharpness in degraded X-ray images, a novel and efficient enhancement algorithm based on X-ray image fusion using a discrete wavelet transform is proposed in this paper. The proposed algorithm consists of two basics. First, it applies the techniques of boundary division to detect Poisson and impulse noise corrupted pixels and then uses the Wiener filter approach to restore those corrupted pixels. Second, it applies the sharpening technique to the same degraded X-ray image. Thus, it has two source X-ray images, which individually preserve the enhancement effects. The details and approximations of these sources X-ray images are fused via different fusion rules in the wavelet domain. The results of the experiment show that the proposed algorithm successfully combines the merits of the Wiener filter and sharpening and achieves a significant proficiency in the enhancement of degraded X-ray images exhibiting Poisson noise, blurriness, and edge details.

Adiponectin homolog novel osmotin protects obesity/diabetes-induced NAFLD by upregulating AdipoRs/PPARα signaling in <i>ob/ob</i> and <i>db/db</i> transgenic mouse models

Ahmad, Ashfaq,Ali, Tahir,Kim, Min Woo,Khan, Amjad,Jo, Myeung Hoon,Rehman, Shafiq Ur,Khan, Muhammad Sohail,Abid, Noman Bin,Khan, Mehtab,Ullah, Rahat,Jo, Min Gi,Kim, Myeong Ok Elsevier 2019 clinical and experimental Vol.90 No.-

<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P><B>Background</B></P> <P>In metabolic disorders, adiponectin and adiponectin receptors (AdipoR1/R2) signaling has a key role in improving nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in obesity-associated diabetes.</P> <P><B>Objective</B></P> <P>To the best of our knowledge, here, we reported for the first time the underlying mechanistic therapeutic efficacy of the novel osmotin, a homolog of mammalian adiponectin, against NAFLD in leptin-deficient <I>ob/ob</I> and <I>db/db</I> mice.</P> <P><B>Methods</B></P> <P>The <I>ob/ob</I> and <I>db/db</I> mice were treated with osmotin at a dose of 5 μg/g three times a week for two weeks. To co-relate the <I>in vivo</I> results we used the human liver carcinoma HepG2 cells, subjected to knockdown with small siRNAs of AdipoR1/R2 and PPARα genes and treated with osmotin and palmitic acid (P.A.). MTT assay, Western blotting, immunohistofluorescence assays, and plasma biochemical analyses were applied.</P> <P><B>Results</B></P> <P>Osmotin stimulated AdipoR1/R2 and its downstream APPL1/PPAR-α/AMPK/SIRT1 pathways in <I>ob/ob</I> and <I>db/db</I> mice, and HepG2 cells exposed to P.A. Mechanistically, we confirmed that knockdown of AdipoR1/R2 and PPARα by their respective siRNAs abolished the osmotin activity in HepG2 cells exposed to P.A. Overall, the <I>in vivo</I> and <I>in vitro</I> results suggested that osmotin protected against NAFLD through activation of AdipoR1/R2 and its downstream APPL1/PPAR-α/AMPK/SIRT1 pathways as shown by the reduced body weight, blood glucose level and glycated hemoglobin, improved glucose tolerance, attenuated insulin resistance and hepatic glucogenesis, regulated serum lipid parameters, and increased fatty acid oxidation and mitochondrial functions.</P> <P><B>Conclusion</B></P> <P>Our findings strongly suggest that novel osmotin might be a potential novel therapeutic tool against obesity/diabetes-induced NAFLD and other metabolic disorders.</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P> <P> <UL> <LI> Osmotin <I>via</I> AdipoRs dependently reduced palmitic acid-induced toxicity <I>in vitro</I>. </LI> <LI> Osmotin regulated AdipoRs/APPL1/PPAR-α/AMPK/SIRT1 pathways in <I>ob/ob</I> and <I>db/db</I> mice. </LI> <LI> Osmotin regulated AdipoRs/APPL1/PPAR-α/AMPK/SIRT1 pathways in HepG2 cells. </LI> <LI> Osmotin regulated the impaired insulin signaling both <I>in vivo</I> and <I>in vitro</I> studies. </LI> <LI> Osmotin treatment regulated plasma chemistry associated with metabolic disorders. </LI> </UL> </P>

RELATIVE RECIPROCAL VARIATIONAL INEQUALITIES

Khan, Awais Gul,Noor, Muhammad Aslam,Pervez, Amjad,Noor, Khalida Inayat The Honam Mathematical Society 2018 호남수학학술지 Vol.40 No.3

In this paper, we introduce a new class of reciprocal convex set which is called as relative reciprocal convex set. We establish a necessary and sufficient condition for the minimum of the differentiable relative reciprocal convex function. This condition can be viewed as a new class of variational inequality which is called relative reciprocal variational inequality. Using the auxiliary principle technique we discuss the existence criteria for the solution of relative reciprocal variational inequality. Some special cases which are naturally included in our main results are also discussed.

IoTEC: IoT based Efficient Clustering Protocol for Wireless Sensor Network

Amjad Mehmood,S. Khan,Daqiang Zhang,Jaime Lloret,Syed Hassan Ahmed 한국산업정보학회 2014 한국산업정보학회 학술대회논문집 Vol.2014 No.1

Dietary Practices, Addictive Behavior and Bowel Habits and Risk of Early Onset Colorectal Cancer: a Case Control Study

Khan, Naveed Ali,Hussain, Mehwish,Rahman, Ata ur,Farooqui, Waqas Ahmed,Rasheed, Abdur,Memon, Amjad Siraj Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.17

Background: The abrupt rise of colorectal cancer in developing countries is raising concern in healthcare settings. Studies on assessing relationships with modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors in the Pakistani population have been limited. The present investigation was designed to examine associations of dietary practices, addictive behavior and bowel habits in developing colorectal cancer (CRC) among patients in a low-resource setup. Materials and Methods: An age-gender matched case control study was conducted from October 2011 to July 2015 in Karachi, Pakistan. Cases were from the surgical oncology department of a public sector tertiary care hospital, while their two pair-matched controls were recruited from the general population. A structured questionnaire was used which included questions related to demographic characteristics, family history, dietary patterns, addictive behavior and bowel habits. Results: A family history of cancer was associated with a 2.2 fold higher chance of developing CRC. Weight loss reduced the likelihood 7.6 times. Refraining from a high fat diet and consuming more vegetables showed protective effects for CRC. The risk of CRC was more than twice among smokers and those who consumed Asian specific addictive products as compared to those who avoid using these addictions (ORsmoking: 2.12, 95% CI: 1.08 - 4.17, ORpan: 2.92, 95% CI: 1.6 - 5.33, ORgutka: 2.13, 95% CI: 1.14 - 3.97). Use of NSAID attenuated risk of CRC up to 86% (OR: 0.14, 95% CI: 0.07 - 0.31). Conclusions: Most of the findings showed concordance with the literature elucidating protective effects of consuming vegetables and low fat diet while documenting adverse associations with family history, weight loss, constipation and hematochezia. Moreover, this study highlighted Asian specific indigenous addictive products as important factors. Further studies are needed to validate the findings produced by this research.