Biomonitoring of Toxic Effects of Pesticides in Occupationally Exposed Individuals

Arshad, Muhammad,Siddiqa, Maryam,Rashid, Saddaf,Hashmi, Imran,Awan, Muhammad Ali,Ali, Muhammad Arif Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute 2016 Safety and health at work Vol.7 No.2

Background: Workers in pesticide manufacturing industries are constantly exposed to pesticides. Genetic biomonitoring provides an early identification of potential cancer and genetic diseases in exposed populations. The objectives of this biomonitoring study were to assess DNA damage through comet assay in blood samples collected from industry workers and compare these results with those of classical analytical techniques used for complete blood count analysis. Methods: Samples from controls (n = 20) and exposed workers (n = 38) from an industrial area in Multan, Pakistan, were subjected to various tests. Malathion residues in blood samples were measured by gas chromatography. Results: The exposed workers who were employed in the pesticide manufacturing industry for a longer period (i.e., 13-25 years) had significantly higher DNA tail length ($7.04{\mu}m$) than the controls ($0.94{\mu}m$). Workers in the exposed group also had higher white blood cell and red blood cell counts, and lower levels of mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), MCH concentration, and mean corpuscular volume in comparison with normal levels for these parameters. Malathion was not detected in the control group. However, in the exposed group, 72% of whole blood samples had malathion with a mean value of 0.14 mg/L (range 0.01-0.31 mg/L). Conclusion: We found a strong correlation ($R^2=0.91$) between DNA damage in terms of tail length and malathion concentration in blood. Intensive efforts and trainings are thus required to build awareness about safety practices and to change industrial workers' attitude to prevent harmful environmental and anthropogenic effects.

Biomonitoring of Toxic Effects of Pesticides in Occupationally Exposed Individuals

Muhammad Arshad,Maryam Siddiqa,Saddaf Rashid,Imran Hashmi,Muhammad Ali Awan,Muhammad Arif Ali 한국산업안전보건공단 산업안전보건연구원 2016 Safety and health at work Vol.7 No.2

Background: Workers in pesticide manufacturing industries are constantly exposed to pesticides. Genetic biomonitoring provides an early identification of potential cancer and genetic diseases in exposed populations. The objectives of this biomonitoring study were to assess DNA damage through comet assay in blood samples collected from industry workers and compare these results with those of classical analytical techniques used for complete blood count analysis. Methods: Samples from controls (n = 20) and exposed workers (n = 38) from an industrial area in Multan, Pakistan, were subjected to various tests. Malathion residues in blood samples were measured by gas chromatography. Results: The exposed workers who were employed in the pesticide manufacturing industry for a longer period (i.e., 13-25 years) had significantly higher DNA tail length (7.04 ㎛) than the controls (0.94 ㎛). Workers in the exposed group also had higher white blood cell and red blood cell counts, and lower levels of mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), MCH concentration, and mean corpuscular volume in comparison with normal levels for these parameters. Malathion was not detected in the control group. However, in the exposed group, 72% of whole blood samples had malathion with a mean value of 0.14 mg/L (range 0.01-0.31 mg/L). Conclusion: We found a strong correlation (R2 = 0.91) between DNA damage in terms of tail length and malathion concentration in blood. Intensive efforts and trainings are thus required to build awareness about safety practices and to change industrial workers’ attitude to prevent harmful environmental and anthropogenic effects.

Effects of elastic medium on buckling of microtubules due to bending and torsion

Taj, Muhammad,Hussain, Muzamal,Afsar, Muhammad A.,Safeer, Muhammad,Ahmad, Manzoor,Naeem, Muhammad N.,Badshah, Noor,Khan, Arshad,Tounsi, Abdelouahed Techno-Press 2020 Advances in concrete construction Vol.9 No.5

Microtubules buckle under bending and torsion and this property has been studied for free microtubules before using orthotropic elastic shell model. But as microtubules are embedded in other elastic filaments and it is experimentally showed that these elastic filaments affect the critical buckling moment and critical buckling torque of the microtubules. To prove that, we developed orthotropic Winkler like model and demonstrated that the critical buckling moment and critical buckling torque of the microtubules are orders of higher magnitude than those found for free microtubules. Our results show that Critical buckling moment is about 6.04 nNnm for which the corresponding curvature is about θ = 1.33 rad /㎛ for embedded MTs, and critical buckling torque is 0.9 nNnm for the angle of 1.33 rad/㎛. Our results well proved the experimental findings.

Genome-wide identififi cation and characterization of a plant-specifific Dof transcription factor gene family in olive (Olea europaea) and its comparison with Arabidopsis

Mariyam,Muhammad Shafiq,Muhammad Haseeb,Rana Muhammad Atif,Syed Agha Armaghan Asad Abbas Naqvi,Numan Ali,Muhammad Arshad Javed,Fizza Gillani,Muhammad Saleem Haider 한국원예학회 2021 Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology Vol.62 No.6

DNA binding with one fi nger (Dof) proteins are encoded by a ubiquitous plant-specifi c transcription factor gene family thatplays a critical role in various biological processes including fruit ripening and organogenesis. The wild olive ( Olea europaeavar. sylvestris v1.0 ) genome was used to identify Dof gene family members using a set of bioinformatics tools. Gene structure,chromosome locations, phylogeny, protein motifs, miRNA targets and tissue-specifi c expression patterns were analyzed. Here, we identifi ed 51 potential Dof genes unevenly distributed on all chromosomes and a few scaff olds. Dof proteins in oliveclustered into eight subgroups (D1, B2, C3, C2.2, C1, C2.1, B1, and A) based on the established Arabidopsis classifi cation. The prevalence of segmental duplication was observed as compared to tandem duplication, and this was the main factorunderlying the expansion of the Dof gene family in olive. Tissue-specifi c expression profi ling of Oeu Dof genes revealed thatthe majority of Oeu Dof genes were highly expressed in fl owers, stem and meristem tissues. In seed and meristem tissues,cis-regulatory element (CRE) analysis revealed the presence of elements that are specifi cally responsive to light, circadian,auxin, and ABA. In addition, a comparative analysis between Dof genes in olive and Arabidopsis revealed eight groups orsub-families, although the C3 group of Arabidopsis was not represented in olive. This extensive genome evaluation of theDof gene family in olive presents a reference for cloning and functional analysis of the members of this gene family.

Retention and stability of bioactive compounds in functional peach beverage using pasteurization, microwave and ultrasound technologies

Saira Sattar,Muhammad Imran,Zarina Mushtaq,Muhammad Haseeb Ahmad,Muhammad Sajid Arshad,Melvin Holmes,Joanne Maycock,Muhammad Faisal Nisar,Muhammad Kamran Khan 한국식품과학회 2020 Food Science and Biotechnology Vol.29 No.10

The peach functional beverages pasteurized for10 min at 90 C, microwaved for 1.5 min at 850 W ofpower and sonicated for 90 min at 20 kHz of frequencywere selected to keep in storage for up to 30 days inrefrigerator to examine the changes happened to theirphysicochemical characteristics and functional components. It was observed that the pH and the cloud values ofall processed juice samples reduces with the storage time,whereas, the total soluble solids almost remain consistentparticularly in microwave and ultrasound treated samples. While storage period causes the decrement in total phenoliccontent (TPC) and total flavonoid content of treated beveragesamples, but ultrasound processing showed greaterretention of TPC value up to 5.7% more than other techniquesduring storage. The similar trend was observed forantioxidant activity where the ultrasound treatment showedimproved free radicals (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and2,20-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)scavenging activities except ferric ion reducing antioxidantpower after 30 days of storage.

EXTENDED WRIGHT-BESSEL FUNCTION AND ITS PROPERTIES

Arshad, Muhammad,Mubeen, Shahid,Nisar, Kottakkaran Sooppy,Rahman, Gauhar Korean Mathematical Society 2018 대한수학회논문집 Vol.33 No.1

In this present paper, our aim is to introduce an extended Wright-Bessel function $J^{{\lambda},{\gamma},c}_{{\alpha},q}(z)$ which is established with the help of the extended beta function. Also, we investigate certain integral transforms and generalized integration formulas for the newly defined extended Wright-Bessel function $J^{{\lambda},{\gamma},c}_{{\alpha},q}(z)$ and the obtained results are expressed in terms of Fox-Wright function. Some interesting special cases involving an extended Mittag-Leffler functions are deduced.

Dengue Virus Serotypes Circulating in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan, 2013-2015

Muhammad Suleman,Rani Faryal,Muhammad Masroor Alam,Salmaan Sharif,Shahzad Shaukat,Uzma Bashir Aamir,Adnan Khurshid,Mehar Angez,Massab Umair,Mian Muhammad Sufian,Yasir Arshad,Syed Sohail Zahoor Zaidi 대한진단검사의학회 2017 Annals of Laboratory Medicine Vol.37 No.2

From 2013 to 2015, the National Institute of Health, Pakistan, received 1,270 blood samples of suspected dengue cases reported from inpatient and outpatient departments of various hospitals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province. In this study, we determined the circulating dengue virus (DENV) serotypes using real-time reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR to understand the serotype-based epidemiology of DENV. All four serotypes (DENV-1 [6%], DENV-2 [33%], DENV-3 [47%], and DENV-4 [0.1%]) were found circulating during the study period. Our findings suggest the need for an active surveillance system coupled with the laboratory diagnosis, especially in the chronic endemic areas of the country. Public awareness programs are needed for effective control and prevention of outbreaks in the future.

Anthropogenic impact on the distribution of the birds in the tropical thorn forest, Punjab, Pakistan

Muhammad Altaf,Arshad Javid,Abdul Majid Khan,M.S.H. Khan,Muhammad Umair,Zulfiqar Ali 국립중앙과학관 2018 Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity Vol.11 No.2

The present research was conducted to assess the anthropogenic impacts on avian diversity around the river Chenab, Pakistan. The avian diversity was recorded on different landscapes along the river Chenab, that is, forest, agricultural, rural, and urban habitats. The data on diversity and distribution of various avian species were collected through linear count along with direct count methods viz. personal observations and sound records and indirect count methods viz. presences of carcasses and meeting with local communities. The habitat preferences of birds varied significantly. A decline in avian diversity was observed from forest habitat to urban landscapes. One year of bird surveys compiled a total of 150 species from all habitats along the river Chenab. Computed statistical data show that Shannon's index provides a quantitative report of diversity which was highest at forest habitat (4.261) followed by rural forest habitat (3.746), agri–rural habitat (3.746), agriculture habitat (3.623), WLH (2.723), urban vegetative habitat (3.215), and very least at urban nonvegetative habitat (2.247). It can be concluded from the present study that many of the avian species have specific habitats and also noted that corridors and connections among different landscapes are important for the conservation of avian diversity.

Fault Detection in the Semiconductor Etch Process Using the Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average Modeling

( Muhammad Zeeshan Arshad ),( Javeria Muhammad Nawaz ),( Sang Jeen Hong ) 한국정보처리학회 2014 Journal of information processing systems Vol.10 No.3

In this paper, we investigated the use of seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) time series models for fault detection in semiconductor etch equipment data. The derivative dynamic time warping algorithm was employed for the synchronization of data. The models were generated using a set of data from healthy runs, and the established models were compared with the experimental runs to find the faulty runs. It has been shown that the SARIMA modeling for this data can detect faults in the etch tool data from the semiconductor industry with an accuracy of 80% and 90% using the parameter-wise error computation and the step-wise error computation, respectively. We found that SARIMA is useful to detect incipient faults in semiconductor fabrication.

Characterization of Poly(methyl methacrylate)-tin (IV) Chloride Blend by TG-DTG-DTA, IR and Pyrolysis-GC-MS Techniques

Muhammad Arshad,Khalid Masud,Muhammad Arif,Saeed ur Rehman,Aamer Saeed,Jamshed Hussain Zaidi 대한화학회 2011 Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society Vol.32 No.9

Thermal behavior of poly (methyl methacrylate) was analyzed in the presence of tin (IV) chloride. Five different proportions − polymer to additive − were selected for casting films from common solvent. TG, DTG and DTA were employed to monitor thermal degradation of the systems. IR and py-GC-MS helped identify the decomposition products. The blends start degrading at a temperature lower than that of the neat polymer and higher than that of the pure additive. Complex formation between tin of additive and carbonyl oxygen (pendent groups of MMA units) was noticed in the films soon after the mixing of the components in the blends. The samples were also heated at three different temperatures to determine the composition of residues left after the expulsion of volatiles. The polymer, blends and additive exhibited a one step, two-step and three-step degradation, respectively. T_0 is highest for the polymer, lowest for the additive and is either 60 ^oC or 70 ^oC for the blends. The amount of residue increases down the series [moving from blend-1 (minimum additive concentration) to blend-5 (maximum additive concentration)]. For blend-1, it is 7% of the original mass whereas it is 16% for blend-5. Tmax also goes up as the concentration of additive in the blends is elevated. The complexation appears to be the cause of observed stabilization. Some new products of degradation were noted apart from those reported earlier. These included methanol, isobutyric acid, acid chloride, etc. Molecular-level mixing of the constituents and “positioning effect” of the additive may have brought about the formation of new compounds. Routes are proposed for the appearance of these substances. Horizontal burning tests were also conducted on polymer and blends and the results are discussed. Activation energies and reaction orders were calculated. Activation energy is highest for the polymer, i.e., 138.9 Kcal/mol while the range for blends is from 51 to 39 Kcal/mol. Stability zones are highlighted for the blends. The interaction between the blended parts seems to be chemical in nature.