Aberrant Promoter Methylation at CpG Cytosines Induce the Upregulation of the E2F5 Gene in Breast Cancer

Arshad Ali,Farman Ullah,Irum Sabir Ali,Ahmad Faraz,Mumtaz Khan,Syed Tahir Ali Shah,Nawab Ali,Muhammad Saeed 한국유방암학회 2016 Journal of breast cancer Vol.19 No.2

Purpose: The promoter methylation status of cell cycle regulatory genes plays a crucial role in the regulation of the eukaryotic cell cycle. CpG cytosines are actively subjected to methylation during tumorigenesis, resulting in gain/loss of function. E2F5 gene has growth repressive activities; various studies suggest its involvement in tumorigenesis. This study aims to investigate the epigenetic regulation of E2F5 in breast cancer to better understand tumor biology. Methods: The promoter methylation status of 50 breast tumor tissues and adjacent normal control tissues was analyzed. mRNA expression was determined using SYBR® green quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and methylation- specific PCR was performed for bisulfite-modified genomic DNA using E2F5-specific primers to assess promoter methylation. Data was statistically analyzed. Results: Significant (p<0.001) upregulation was observed in E2F5 expression among tumor tissues, relative to the control group. These samples were hypo-methylated at the E2F5 promoter region in the tumor tissues, compared to the control. Change in the methylation status (Δmeth) was significantly lower (p=0.022) in the tumor samples, indicating possible involvement in tumorigenesis. Patients at the postmenopausal stage showed higher methylation (75%) than those at the premenopausal stage (23.1%). Interestingly, methylation levels gradually increased from the early to the advanced stages of the disease (p<0.001), which suggests a putative role of E2F5 methylation in disease progression that can significantly modulate tumor biology at more advanced stage and at postmenopausal age (Pearson’s r=0.99 and 0.86, respectively). Among tissues with different histological status, methylation frequency was higher in invasive lobular carcinoma (80.0%), followed by invasive ductal carcinoma (46.7%) and ductal carcinoma in situ (20.0%). Conclusion: Methylation is an important epigenetic factor that might be involved in the upregulation of E2F5 gene in tumor tissues, which can be used as a prognostic marker for breast cancer.

Development and Mechanical Characterization of Weave Design Based 2D Woven Auxetic Fabrics for Protective Textiles

Mumtaz Ali,Muhammad Zeeshan,Muhammad Bilal Qadir,Rabia Riaz,Sheraz Ahmad,Yasir Nawab,Aima Sameen Anjum 한국섬유공학회 2018 Fibers and polymers Vol.19 No.11

Auxetic materials expand in at least one dimension, when stretched longitudinally i.e. they have negative Poisson’s ratio. Development of 2D woven auxetic fabrics (AF) is a new approach to develop mechanically stable auxetic textile structures. However, the mechanical response of such emerging structure is still not studied in detail yet, therefore different mechanical properties of 2D woven AF are compared with conventional non-auxetic fabric (NAF). AF was developed by orienting yarns in auxetic honey-comb (AHC) geometry and auxeticity is induced due to such orientation of yarns. AF was developed using conventional (non-auxetic) materials; cotton yarn and elastane cotton yarn in warp and weft dimension respectively, using air jet loom. Structure and auxeticity of AF were analyzed using a digital microscope and its different mechanical properties (tensile strength, tear strength, bursting strength, cut resistance, and puncture resistance) were studied. AF showed superior mechanical properties with a lower initial modulus, which is beneficial for different protective textiles applications like cut resistance gloves, blast resistant curtains, and puncture tolerant elastomeric composites.

Simple and Efficient Management Scheme for EDFA in WDM Systems

Ali, Mumtaz,Khaliq, M. Shoaib,Sattar, A.,Shin, Seo-Yong Optical Society of Korea 2007 Current Optics and Photonics Vol.11 No.4

We present a simple and efficient management scheme for gain control of EDFA by using standardized network management protocol(Simple Network Management Protocol) and operating the optical amplifier in a link-control scheme. We have demonstrated the proposed scheme by using SNMP Simulator and optical simulation software package.

Research Output of the Pakistani Library and Information Science Authors: A Bibliometric Evaluation of Their Impact

Anwar, Mumtaz Ali,Jan, Sajjad Ullah Korea Institute of Science and Technology Informat 2017 Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice Vol.5 No.2

This paper uses 601 cited papers of Pakistani LIS researchers with the purpose to examine the individual performance of these Library and Information Science (LIS) researchers in terms of their research output and its impact on the LIS (national/international) literature by using various bibliometric indicators. A list of 139 authors was compiled with the help of the Library, Information Science, and Technology Abstracts (LISTA) and some other sources. Data were collected from Google Scholar and SPSS version 20 was utilized in order to identify the relationship between self-citations and various performance indices of the authors. The average citations received per paper vary from 1.80 to 10.08. About half of the papers were single-authored whereas less than one-fifth were by three or more authors. The authors who worked in collaboration produced more papers and received more citations. The h-index, g-index, hI-index, hI-norm, and e-index were used to determine the rank for each author. The intra-group citations grid revealed the volume of self-citations and a small group who cite each other more due to close academic and social relationships. The correlations between self-citations and the impact indices used revealed significant differences. Findings are useful for concerned institutions regarding award, promotions, etc. Further, future research should seriously consider the self-citations and social networking of authors while examining their citations-based research performance.

Does Ramzan Effect the Returns and Volatility? Evidence from GCC Share Market

Asif Ali ABRO,Ahmed Raza UL MUSTAFA,Mumtaz ALI,Youaab NAYYAR 한국유통과학회 2021 The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Busine Vol.8 No.7

The study aims to investigate the impact of seasonality in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries’ share market during the month of Ramadan. It helps in finding the opportunities for stock market investors to earn abnormal (returns) gain by investing during Ramadan in GCC stock markets. This study uses stock returns data of GCC countries (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Dubai, and UAE) from January 2004 to November 2019. Stock prices indexes of GCC stock markets have been obtained from Datastream. The ARCH-GARCH model is used to study the impact of the Ramadan month on the return and volatility of the stock market in GCC countries. The results showed that the Ramadan month has a significant impact on share market prices in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. However, Ramadan has an insignificant impact on share market prices in Bahrain and Oman. The study found no evidence of serial correlational between residuals in Kuwait; meaning that stock return was not dependent on the prior stock returns in Kuwait, therefore, we cannot go for forecasting. The ARCH-LM test statistic for Qatar does not fulfill the requirement of a good regression model; therefore, we cannot go for forecasting or testing the hypothesis of Qatar.

Effects of CPEC on the Economy of China and Pakistan

Sadiq Ullah(Sadiq Ullah ),Mumtaz Alam(Mumtaz Alam ),Zulfiqar Ali Baig(Zulfiqar Ali Baig ) 아시아사회과학학회 2022 Jornal of Asia Social Science Vol.8 No.3

CPEC is a huge investment that will bring prosperity and will heal the economic condition of Pakistan. It will also give China the shortest proximity to the rest of the world. It's a project which will benefit both of the countries as well as Europe and the Gulf. Descriptive analysis is used in this research study to investigate the effects of CPEC on Pakistan and China's economy. Diverse literature was found on this topic and is cited in the literature part of this research study. This study shows that Pakistan and China both of the countries will be better off and will achieve good economic results. Pakistan will get the maximum benefit from CPEC because its infrastructure and energy structure is less developed. And by the injection of this massive CPEC project, the Pakistani economy will boost up, and the mutual trade between China and Pakistan will be enhanced. GDP growth and welfare position of Pakistan will take more benefit from CPEC than China. Chinese export of non-agricultural products will increase more than the Chinese export of agricultural products. While in the case of Pakistani exports, the situation is the opposite one. Agricultural exports will be increased more than the increase in non-agricultural exports of Pakistan.

An evidence for an organic N-doped multiwall carbon nanotube heterostructure and its superior electrocatalytic properties for promising dye-sensitized solar cells

Arbab, Alvira Ayoub,Memon, Anam Ali,Sahito, Iftikhar Ali,Mengal, Naveed,Sun, Kyung Chul,Ali, Mumtaz,Jeong, Sung Hoon The Royal Society of Chemistry 2018 Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for e Vol.6 No.18

<P>A novel organic heteroatom doping technique is proposed for the synthesis of N-doped multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) heterostructures. The approach involves the effective doping of MWCNTs with nitrogen <I>via</I> a cationised bovine serum albumin (cBSA) protein complex. The cationization of BSA releases an exceptional number of activated nitrogen species present in localized amino groups, which are further embedded into the MWCNT framework. The amino groups present in BSA act as nitrogen donors and surface stabilizing agents to generate a highly conductive and functionalized carbon heterostructure. The doped nitrogen was present in the form of pyridinic and pyrrolic states, as evidenced by XPS analysis. Organic N-doped MWCNTs with predominant pyridinic N atoms displayed superior charge transfer (<I>R</I>CT = 0.06 Ω) owing to their superior electrocatalytic activity. A DSSC fabricated with organic N-doped MWCNT heterostructures exhibited a high conversion efficiency of 9.55%, which was similar to that of a Pt cathode, with an efficiency of 9.89%. The superior electrochemical performance of organic N-doped MWCNT heterostructures is due to the high charge polarization arising from the difference in electronegativity between nitrogen and carbon as well as the structural strain caused by the cationic BSA protein complex. Our proposed system provides new routes for the synthesis of organic heteroatom-doped nanomaterials for promising energy storage devices.</P>

On the relationship between the porosity and initial coulombic efficiency of porous carbon materials for the anode in lithium-ion batteries

Majid Shaker,Ali Asghar Sadeghi Ghazvini,Reza Riahifar,Asim Mumtaz 대한금속·재료학회 2022 ELECTRONIC MATERIALS LETTERS Vol.18 No.4

Herein, we present a new model to investigate the cause of the low initial coulombic efficiency of lithium-ion battery (LIB)porous carbon anodes and discover its relationship with the porosity of these materials. According to the proposed model,the capacity of porous carbon LIB anodes is in a direct relationship with their porosity, which reduces by the formation ofthe solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer occupying the cavities and decreasing the accessible surface area for the electrolyte. The introduced model in this study was compared with the data published in the literature and revealed a satisfactoryagreement with them. As a result, it was concluded that the fraction of the mesopores occupied by SEI after the 1st cyclefluctuates around the value of 0.5 and is mostly in the range of 0.6−0.4. Thereby, it can be employed for the prediction ofthe first cycle coulombic efficiency (CE) of carbonaceous anodes as LIB anodes and optimization of their structure.

A Study on IPTV Standardization

Shahzad, Aamir,Ali, Mumtaz,Shin, Seo-Yong,Kim, Han-Su Korean Society for Internet Information 2007 인터넷정보학회지 Vol.8 No.3

The IPTV Standardization work being done by the ITU-T in collaboration with other SDOs and telecommunication companies. Currently IPTV services are provided with no global standards and interoperability. ITU-T leads the process of IPTV standardization. We used the ITU-Ts working documents which were publically available to investigate the direction of IPTV standardization process. Many things including architecture, services, service requirements, codec and error correction mechanisms etc already defined through recommendations. But still there is effort going on to standardize the complete IPTV system.

Self-assembled nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) over graphene sheets for superb electro-photocatalytic activity

Riaz, Rabia,Ali, Mumtaz,Sahito, Iftikhar Ali,Arbab, Alvira Ayoub,Maiyalagan, T.,Anjum, Aima Sameen,Ko, Min Jae,Jeong, Sung Hoon Elsevier BV * North-Holland 2019 Applied Surface Science Vol.480 No.-

<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P>Nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) are emerging electroactive and visible light active organic photocatalysts, known for their high stability, catalytic activity and biocompatibility. The edge surfaces of N-GQDs are highly active, however, when N-GQDs make the film the edges are not fully exposed for catalysis. To avoid this issue, the N-GQDs are shaped to branched leaf shape, with an extended network of voids, offering highly active surfaces (edge) exposed for electrocatalytic and photocatalytic activity. The nitrogen doping causes a decrease in the bandgap of N-GQDs, thus enabling them to be superb visible light photocatalyst, for degradation of Methylene blue dye from water. Photoluminescence results confirmed that by a synergistic combination of the highly conductive substrate; Carbon fabric coated graphene sheets (CF-rGO) the recombination of photogenerated excitons is significantly suppressed, hence enabling their efficient utilization for catalysis. Comparatively, uniformly coated N-GQDs showed 49.3% lower photocatalytic activity, owing to their hidden active sites. The degradation was further boosted by 30% by combining the electrocatalytic activity, i.e. electro-photocatalysis of the proposed electrode. The proposed electrode material was analyzed using TEM, FE-SEM, FTIR, AFM, and WA-XRD, whereas the stability of electrode was confirmed by TGA, tensile test, bending test, and in harsh chemical environments. The proposed photo-electrocatalyst electrode is binder-free, stable, flexible and highly conductive, which makes the electrode quite suitable for flexible catalytic devices like flexible solar cells and wearable supercapacitors.</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P> <P> <UL> <LI> A flexible electrode is fabricated using self-assembled overlayer of Nitrogen doped Graphene Quantum Dots (N-GQDs). </LI> <LI> Self-assembeled highly porous leaflets structure has maximum exposed edge surfaces to accelarate the catalytic reaction. </LI> <LI> The proposed electrode is metal free and is stable at high temperature, harsh chemical environments, and mechanical stresses. </LI> <LI> The surface resistance of the all carbon electrode is only 2.5 Ω sq.<SUP>−1</SUP>. </LI> </UL> </P> <P><B>Graphical abstract</B></P> <P>Nitrogen doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) were self-assembled (with high porosity) on reduced graphene oxide coated carbon fabric to fabricate a highly stable visible light photocatlytically and electrocatalytically active flexible electrode for water treatment.</P> <P>[DISPLAY OMISSION]</P>