Ecology of aphidophagous ladybird Propylea species: A review

Ahmad Pervez,Omkar 한국응용곤충학회 2011 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.14 No.3

Herein, the ecology of genus Propylea, with special reference to its three species — viz. P. dissecta (Mulsant),P. japonica (Thunberg), and P. quatuordecimpunctata Linnaeus is reviewed, with an eye toward its position in natural habitats and amongst other ladybirds and its biocontrol potential. Although Propylea is not as polyphagous as other successful species, it evidences a preference for certain prey, specifically aphids and whiteflies. This genus is a good model for studies of mating, reproduction, sexual selection, etc. Propylea is usually an intraguild prey in the guilds containing ladybirds, such as Harmonia axyridis (Pallas) and Coccinella septempunctata L. It also appears that it retains some intrinsic advantages that aid in the sustenance and survival of the species. Owing to its smaller size and level of victimization in the guild, its biocontrol potential is questionable, but its size disadvantages are counter-balanced by its high intrinsic rate of increase, high predation, reproductive potential, and bioconversion efficiency, as well as the ease with which it can be reared in the laboratory. Further research will be necessary to ascertain clearly the biocontrol potential of Propylea.

Rhabdomyosarcoma - an Epidemiological and Histopathologic Study of 277 Cases from a Major Tertiary Care Center in Karachi, Pakistan

Ahmad, Zubair,Din, Nasir Ud,Ahmad, Arsalan,Imran, Sheharbano,Pervez, Shahid,Ahmed, Rashida,Kayani, Naila Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.2

Aim: To present the epidemiologic data (age, gender, size etc) and histopathologic and immunohistochemical features of cases of rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) reported in our department. Settings: Section of Histopathology, Department of Pathology and Microbiology, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. Duration: All cases of RMS diagnosed between January 1, 2003 and December 31, 2012 were included in the study. Results: A total of 277 cases were included. Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (ERMS) was by far the dominant histologic type (87.4%) followed by alveolar type (ARMS)(9.4%). ERMS was much more common in males (64.0%)and over 65% of cases occurred in the first decade of life (over 90% in the first two decades). Head and neck region was commonest site for ERMS (46.7%), followed by the genitourinary system (16.1%). Over 65% cases of ARMS occurred in the extremities. Over 80% cases of ARMS occurred in the first 3 decades of life. Immunohistochemical staining for Desmin and MyoD1 was positive in 96.7% and 85.4% respectively. Conclusions: The epidemiologic data and microscopic findings in our patients are similar to international published data on rhabdomyosarcoma.

Commonest Cancers in Pakistan - Findings and Histopathological Perspective from a Premier Surgical Pathology Center in Pakistan

Ahmad, Zubair,Idrees, Romana,Fatima, Saira,Uddin, Nasir,Ahmed, Arsalan,Minhas, Khurram,Memon, Aisha,Fatima, Syeda Samia,Arif, Muhammad,Hasan, Sheema,Ahmed, Rashida,Pervez, Shahid,Kayani, Naila Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2016 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.17 No.3

Context: There are no recent authoritative data about incidence and prevalence of various types of cancers in Pakistan. Aim: To determine the frequency of malignant tumors seen in our practice and provide a foundation for building a comprehensive cancer care strategy. Materials and Methods: 10,000 successive cases of solid malignant tumors reported in 2014 were included. All cases had formalin fixed, paraffin embedded specimens available and diagnosis was based on histological examination of H&E stained slides plus ancillary studies at the Section of Histopathology, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi. The latest WHO classifications were used along with the latest CAP protocols for reporting and the most updated TNM staging. Results: There were 9,492 (94.9%) primary tumors while 508 (5.1%) were metastatic. Some 5,153 (51.5%) were diagnosed in females and 4,847 (48.5%) in males. The commonest malignant tumors in females were breast (32%), esophagus (7%), lymphomas (6.8%), oral cavity (6.7%) and ovary (4.8%), while in males they were oral cavity (13.9%), lymphomas (12.8%), colorectum (7.9%), stomach (6.9%) and esophagus (6.6%). Malignant tumors were most common in the 5th, 6th and 7th decades. About 8% were seen under 20 years of age. Conclusions: Oral cavity and gastrointestinal cancers continue to be extremely common in both genders. Breast and esophageal cancers are prevalent in females. Lung and prostate cancer are less common than in the west. Ovarian cancer was very common but cervix cancer was less so.

How Our Practice of Histopathology, Especially Tumour Pathology has Changed in the Last Two Decades: Reflections from a Major Referral Center in Pakistan

Ahmad, Zubair,Idrees, Romana,Fatima, Saira,Arshad, Huma,Din, Nasir-Ud,Memon, Aisha,Minhas, Khurram,Ahmed, Arsalan,Fatima, Syeda Samia,Arif, Muhammad,Ahmed, Rashida,Haroon, Saroona,Pervez, Shahid,Hassa Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.9

Continued advances in the field of histo pathology (and cyto pathology) over the past two decades have resulted in dramatic changes in the manner in which these disciplines are now practiced. This is especially true in the setting of a large university hospital where the role of pathologists as clinicians (diagnosticians), undergraduate and postgraduate educators, and researchers has evolved considerably. The world around us has changed significantly during this period bringing about a considerable change in our lifestyles and the way we live. This is the world of the internet and the world-wide web, the world of Google and Wikipedia, of Youtube and Facebook where anyone can obtain any information one desires at the push of a button. The practice of histo (and cyto) pathology has also evolved in line with these changes. For those practicing this discipline in a poor, developing country these changes have been breathtaking. This is an attempt to document these changes as experienced by histo (and cyto) pathologists practicing in the biggest center for Histopathology in Pakistan, a developing country in South Asia with a large (180 million) and ever growing population. The Section of Histopathology, Department of Pathology and Microbiology at the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city has since its inception in the mid-1980s transformed the way histopathology is practiced in Pakistan by incorporating modern methods and rescuing histopathology in Pakistan from the primitive and outdated groove in which it was stuck for decades. It set histopathology in Pakistan firmly on the path of modernity and change which are essential for better patient management and care through accurate and complete diagnosis and more recently prognostic and predictive information as well.

Oblivious user management for cloud-based data synchronization

Ahmad, Mahmood,Pervez, Zeeshan,Cheong, Taechoong,Lee, Sungyoung Springer-Verlag 2015 The Journal of supercomputing Vol.71 No.4

Gastrointestinal, Liver and Biliary Tract Pathology: A Histopathological and Epidemiological Perspective from Pakistan with a Review of the Literature

Ahmad, Zubair,Arshad, Huma,Fatima, Saira,Idrees, Romana,Ud-Din, Nasir,Ahmed, Rashida,Ahmed, Arsalan,Memon, Aisha,Minhas, Khurram,Arif, Muhammad,Fatima, Samia,Haroon, Saroona,Pervez, Shahid,Hasan, Shee Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.11

Aim: To present an epidemiological and histological perspective of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (including liver and biliary tract) at the Section of Histopathology, Department of Pathology, AKUH, Karachi, Pakistan. Materials and Methods: All consecutive endoscopic biopsies and resections between October 1 and December 31, 2012 were included. Results: A total of 2,323 cases were included. Carcinoma was overwhelmingly the commonest diagnosis on esophageal biopsies (69.1%); chronic helicobacter gastritis (45.6%) followed by adenocarcinoma (23.5%) were the commonest diagnoses on gastric biopsies; adenocarcinoma (27.3%) followed by ulcerative colitis (13.1%) were the commonest diagnoses on colonic biopsies; acute appendicitis (59.1%) was the commonest diagnosis on appendicectomy specimens; chronic viral hepatitis (44.8%) followed by hepatocellular carcinoma (23.4%) were the commonest diagnoses on liver biopsies; chronic cholecystitis was the commonest diagnosis (over 89%) on cholecystectomy specimens. Conclusions: Squamous cell carcinoma comprised 88.8% of esophageal cancers. About 67% were in the lower third and 56.5% were moderately differentiated; mean ages 49.8 years for females and 55.8 years for males; 66% cases were from South West Pakistan. Over 67% patients with gastric adenocarcinoma were males; mean ages 59 and 44 years in males and females respectively, about 74% gastric carcinomas were poorly differentiated; and 62.2% were located in the antropyloric region. About 63% patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma were males; mean ages 46.1 and 50.5 years for males and females respectively; tumor grade was moderately differentiated in 54%; over 80% were located in the left colon. In 21.2% appendicectomies, no acute inflammation was found. Acute appendicitis was most common in young people. Hepatitis C (66.3%) was more common than hepatitis B (33.7%); about 78% cases of hepatocellular carcinoma occurred in males; females comprised 76.7% patients with chronic cholecystitis; and 77.8% patients with gall bladder carcinoma. All resection specimens showed advanced cancers. Most cancers occurred after the age of 50 years.

Mutable Encryption for Oblivious Data Access in Cloud Storage

( Mahmood Ahmad ),( Shujjat Hussain ),( Zeeshan Pervez ),( Sungyoung Lee ),( Tae Choong Chung ) 한국정보처리학회 2013 한국정보처리학회 학술대회논문집 Vol.20 No.1

Data privacy and access control policies in computer clouds are a prime concerns while talking about the sensitive data. Authorized access is ensured with the help of secret keys given to a range of valid users. Granting the role access is a trivial matter but revoking user access is tricky and compute intensive. To revoke a user and making his data access ineffective the data owner has to compute new set of keys for the rest of effective users. This situation is inappropriate where user revocation is a frequent phenomenon. Time based revocation is another way to deal this issue where key for data access expires automatically. This solution rests in a very strong assumption of time determination in advance. In this paper we have proposed a mutable encryption for oblivious data access in cloud storage where the access key becomes ineffective after defined number of threshold by the data owner. The proposed solution adds to its novelty by introducing mutable encryption while accessing the data obliviously.

Improvement of Banana Quality by Storing in Polyethylene Bags of Different Thickness with and without Ethylene

Saeed Ahmad,Muhamad Aslam Pervez,Raheel Anwar,AnthonyKeth Thompson 한국원예학회 2006 Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology Vol.47 No.5

This research was carried out to investigate the effect of different thickness of polyethylene bags on ripening behavior and quality of ripe banana fruit. It was observed that bananas ripened in polyethylene packaging showed attractive fresh appearance with good eating quality. The effectiveness of ethylene in hastening of ripening was not reduced with CO₂ levels less than 5% and O₂ levels greater than 5% in polyethylene bags. Softness of banana fruits packed in polyethylene bags was directly proportional to weight loss. Packaging of fruit in polyethylene bags produced firmer bananas which could be beneficial in avoiding mechanical injury and some fungal infection and also extends the shelf life. Total soluble solids showed no significant difference regarding the polyethylene thickness. Packaging of bananas in 0.050 mm polyethylene bags extended the storage life of banana, but these received lower scores by panelists than those which were packed in 0.025 and 0.037 mm polyethylene bags. Packaging of bananas in 0.025 and 0.037 mm polyethylene bags was effective in achieving a more attractive appearance, freshness, and good flavor of ripe fruit than unpacked fruit and those packed in 0.050 mm polyethylene bags.

Metabolites of Marine Algae Collected from Karachi-coasts of Arabian Sea

Muhammad Shaiq Ali,Muhammad Jahangir,Muhammad Saleem,Muhammad Kashif Pervez,Shaista Hameed,Viqar Uddin Ahmad 한국생약학회 2000 Natural Product Sciences Vol.6 No.2

The ethanolic extracts of marine green, brown and red algae collected from Karachi coasts of Arabian Sea afforded a new enol-derivative of N-acylsphingosine named as coelarthenol (1) from Coelarthrum muelleri, two new glucose-derivatives named: botryenal (2) and botryenol (3) from Botryocladia leptopoda, α-tocopherol quinone (4) from Codium iyengarii, β-sitosterol and hexadecanoic acid from Stokeyia indica. The known constituents (4, β-sitosterol & hexadecanoic acid) have not been reported so far from their corresponding sources and the structures were determined through spectroscopic methods, whereas, the structures of new constituents (1-3) were elucidated with the aid of selective HMBC experiments. The phytotoxicity of 4 was also monitored.

Fragmentation Behavior Studies of Chalcones Employing Direct Analysis in Real Time (DART)

Motiur Rahman, A.F.M.,Attwa, Mohamed W.,Ahmad, Pervez,Baseeruddin, Mohammad,Kadi, Adnan A. Korean Society for Mass Spectrometry 2013 Mass spectrometry letters Vol.4 No.2

Chalcones are naturally occurring, biologically active molecules generating interest from a wide range of research applications including synthetic methodology development, biological activity investigation and studying fragmentation patterns. In this article, a series of chalcones has been synthesized and their fragmentation behavior was studied using modern ambient ionization technique Direct Analysis in Real Time (DART). DART ion source connected with an ion trap mass spectrometer was used for the fragmentation of various substituted chalcones. The chalcones were introduced to the DART source using a glass capillary without sample preparation step. All the chalcones showed prominent molecular ion peaks $[M]^{{\cdot}+}$ corresponding to the structures. Multistage mass spectral data $MS^n$ ($MS^2$ and $MS^3$) were collected for all the chalcones studied. The chalcones with substitutions at 3, 4 or 5 positions gave product ion peaks with the loss of a phenyl radical ($Ph^{\cdot}$) by radical initiated ${\alpha}$-cleavage, while substitution at 2 position of chalcone in the A-ring gave a product ion peak with the loss of substituted styryl radical (PhCH = $CH^{\cdot}$). In case of the chalcones with the substituent at 4 positions in A and B rings gave both types of fragmentation patterns. In conclusion, chalcones can be easily characterized using modern DART interface in very short time and efficiently without any cumbersome sample pretreatment.