Assessment of ethanolic extract of ocimum sanctum whole plant (oswp) in ethanol-induced gastric mucosal damage in rats

Background: Previously, Ocimum sanctum (Lamiaceae), commonly known as holy basil, has been noted for its anti-ulcer properties, primarily attributed to its oil and leaf extracts. However, the anti-ulcer activity of an ethanolic extract derived from the whole plant has not been reported. This study aimed to evaluate the antiulcer effect of the ethanolic extract of O. sanctum whole plant (OSWP) in an experimental ulcer model. Methods: The study, conducted at PCSIR Labs Complex in Karachi in August 2024, was approved by the Ethical Use of Experimental Animals Committee (IEC/OSWP-05). This study investigates the anti-ulcer activity of an ethanolic extract of OSWP in a rat model of ethanol-induced gastric mucosal damage at 200, 300, and 400 mg/kg body weight, with ranitidine (50 mg/kg) used as a positive control. Outcome measures included ulcer index (UI), percentage protection, and gastric pH. Results: The ethanolic extract of OSWP demonstrated dose-dependent gastroprotective effects. At 200, 300, and 400 mg/kg, the UIs were 9.49 ± 2.40, 4.55 ± 1.44, and 2.5 ±2.25, respectively, with corresponding protection ranging from 48.9% to 86.54% for the 200 to 400 mg/kg doses (p < 0.05). Gastric pH increased from 5.6 to 7.6. In comparison, ranitidine (50 mg/kg) resulted in a UI of 4.0 ± 0.88, 78.47% protection (p < 0.05), and a pH of 7.0. Conclusions: The study demonstrates the dose-dependent anti-ulcer activity in the ethanolic extract of OSWP, which may be further developed as a potential anti-ulcer agent. A graphical presentation of the whole experimental process is shown in Figure 1.

Karishma Karishma

Employment status of persons living with mental illness in india: ground reality

The main aim of rehabilitation is vocational independence and community integration. Rehabilitation is complete with the person being a productive member within the community. But this is quite a challenging task as can be vouched by any of the professionals working in this field. What are the barriers and facilitators towards employment or return to work in case of persons living with mental illness? Literature shows that multiple factors are governing the ability to take up gainful employment. Most of this literature is about the western world where the social fabric is more supportive of individual autonomy. India lags in its rehabilitation efforts for mental illness. There is still stigma and lack of awareness about mental illnesses. This increases the problem of unemployment within persons living with mental illness manifold. There are very few detailed investigations into the vocational status of persons with mental illness and almost negligent literature existing in the Indian context. Hence, the current review article tries to examine the factors prevailing in the Indian scenario that influences the employment status.

Gita

Framing the first palestinian general elections by malaysia’s new straits times

The main focus of this study is the coverage of New Straits Times (NST) of the first Palestinian General Elections for two presidential candidates namely, Yasser Arafat and Samiha Khalil. This study aimed to explore if any of Entman’s 1993 framing functions was used in the coverage of this issue and to explore whether the tone of NST coverage was negative, positive, balanced or neutral. To achieve the aims of this study, qualitative content analysis of elections stories from NST has been adopted. The number of news stories was eight, and the time frame started from 19th January to 13th February 1996, where three of these stories were published on the same day of 22nd January, two days after holding the elections on 20th January. Defining problems and diagnosing causes were the most prominent of Entman’s four framing functions presented in all the articles. The moral judgment function was included in four news stories, and suggesting remedies was included in two news stories out of eight. The findings revealed that Yasser Arafat received 50% balanced coverage, followed by 37.5% positive coverage, and only 12.5% negative coverage, while Samiha Khalil received 67% balanced coverage, compared to 33% positive coverage.

Mohammed Fadel Arandas Mohammed fadel arandas

Pharmacotherapy and associated risk factors for pulmonary tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is communicable disease which is common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis continues to be a major public health problem in the world. The aim of this study is to assess prevalence and associated risk factors of pulmonary tuberculosis. Treatment and development of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis were also considered. Drugs for Pulmonary tuberculosis confirmed cases used in calculating tuberculosis prevalence in Libya which is obtained from archive department of Abu Seta Hospital. Data obtained from 427 files during 2019 determine the incidence and epidemiology of tuberculosis in Libya. For a total of 427 confirmed cases of pulmonary tuberculosis, about 75.0% of the cases were male and most of the patients (55.0%) were within the age group of 20 - 40 years old. Of the study patients, 114 patients (26.7%) were viral infected and most of the viral infected cases were in the age group of 20 - 40 years and the majority of this age group patients (n = 41, 53.2%) were infected with HIV/HCV, while the least percentage in this group age were infected with HIV/HBsAg (01.3%). Among 427 cases, 73 cases (17.1%) were comorbid with other chronic diseases. Of the 73 cases, 54 cases (74.0%) were diabetes mellitus whereas only 1.4% of them had bronchial asthma, Parkinsonism and renal failure. The drug therapy of active tuberculosis disease needs combination chemotherapy to escape the selection of naturally occurring drug-resistant mutants. Amongst current anti tuberculosis drugs, the rifamycins hold the highest potential for shortening treatment and improving effects. Prevalence of smear positive tuberculosis and bacteriologically confirmed that a high rate of tuberculosis among unemployed population. This study reported that the highest incidence rate is found in people who are smokers.

Mediterranean Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Mediterranean journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences

Use and impact of information communication technology based library resources and services in the universities of tamil nadu, india: a study

Libraries play a vital role in providing access to information and fostering lifelong learning in communities. With the rapid advancement of Information Communication Technology (ICT), libraries are embracing digital tools and services to enhance their offerings and extend their reach. In today's interconnected world, the utilization of Information Communication Technology (ICT) resources and services has become imperative for various sectors. This study examines the utilization of ICT-based resources and services by libraries, focusing on key technologies such as digital libraries, online databases, electronic resources, and library management systems. It explores how these technologies enable libraries to expand their collections, improve accessibility, and deliver personalized services to users. The present study is an attempt to examine uses of information communication technology based library resources and services at university of Tamil Nadu. In this paper, the majority of the users' use of ICT based resources and services are study purpose. The majority of the respondents that satisfaction of ICT based resources and services have developed academic skills.

V.murugapandi

Assessment of serum cotinine, c-reactive protein levels and body mass index in smokers in calabar, nigeria.

Abstract Cigarette smoking has been linked to health challenges of global concern. This study determined Body Mass Index (BMI), serum cotinine and C-reactive protein levels of smokers. Forty-five smokers and forty-five aged-matched non-smokers were recruited into the study. Informed consents were obtained from the participants. Ethical consideration was granted by Cross River State Ministry of Health. Blood samples were collected by standard phlebotomy. Smokers were categorized based on Smoking Pack Years (SPY) into light, moderate and heavy smokers. Serum cotinine and C-reactive protein levels were determined by spectrophotometry. Height and weights were measured and BMI calculated. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 23.0. Student’s t-test, ANOVA, Pearson’s correlation were utilized for comparison, results were considered significant at p<0.05. There was no significant difference (p=0.103) between the mean age of smokers and non-smokers. Mean BMI of smokers was significantly lower (p=0.015) than that of non-smokers. Mean Serum cotinine and C-reactive protein of smokers were significantly higher (p=0.001) than those of non-smokers. Mean age, serum cotinine and C-reactive protein levels vary significantly (p<0.05) among the smokers categorized based on SPY. BMI did not vary significantly (p=0.269) among the groups. A correlation between age and serum cotinine was negative (r=-0.359, p=0.016), and that between age and SPY was negative (r=-0.348, p=0.019). Correlations between cotinine and C-reactive protein and between cotinine and SPY were positive (r=0.928, p=0.001) and (r=0.947, p=0.001) respectively. A correlation between C-reactive protein and SPY was positive (r=0.957, p=0.001). The study had shown that C-reactive protein increases with cotinine levels and smoking pack years in smokers.

Eworo Raymond Eworo raymond

N-gram and k-nearest neighbour based igbo text classification model

The evolution in Information Technology has gone a long way of bringing Igbo, one of the major Nigerian languages evolved. Some online service providers report news, publish articles and search with this language. The advancement will likely result to generation of huge textual data in the language, that needs to be organized, managed and classified efficiently for easy information access, extraction and retrieval by the end users. This work presents an enhanced model for Igbo text classification. The classification was based on N-gram and K-Nearest Neighbour techniques. Considering the peculiarities in Igbo language, N-gram model was adopted for the text representation. The text was represented with Unigram, Bigram and Trigram techniques. The classification of the represented text was done using the K-Nearest Neighbour technique. The model is implemented with the Python programming language together with the tools from Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK). The evaluation of the Igbo text classification system performance was done by calculating the recall, precision and F1-measure on N-gram represented text. The result shows text classification on bigram represented Igbo text has highest degree of exactness (precision); trigram has the lowest level of precision and result obtained with the three N-gram techniques has the same level of completeness (recall). Bigram text representation technique is extremely recommended for any text-based system in Igbo. This model can be adopted in text analysis, text mining, information retrieval, natural language processing and any intelligent text-based system in the language.

Dr. Nkechi Ifeanyi-Reuben Dr. nkechi ifeanyi-reuben

Akshaya patra model: feeding knowledge hungry children

While today, he was ready to serve 1.4 million meals for schoolchildren, Mr.CC Das, Program Director, Akshaya Patra Foundation from Bangalore also faced the challenges 15-years before its establishment like any other start-up. Similar was the case of Mr.Trilok Gautam, Executive Supervisor, who was working in a remote village called Baran in Rajasthan. On his visit during the mid-day meal preparation, he was inspecting the quality of meal, where women were busy in preparing food. They were preparing bread by rolling the dough, while few were chopping vegetables with utmost hygienic care. Cleaner, safer, quality meal was to be prepared and served for 1,500 poor students. These children earlier used to go hungry from the school. On November 28th 2001, Supreme Court of India gave a verdict and directed the State Government and Union Territories to provide mid-day meal to every child in Government and Government-assisted primary schools. The Right to Food Law emerged as a fundamental right, enforced due to constitutional amendment under Article 32 of the constitution. Hence, every State Government geared up to make the mid-day meal scheme successful in their respective States. The Karnataka government also participated and named this programme as ‘Akshara Dashoha’. Government of Karnataka took the pioneering step to involve NGOs like Akshaya Patra as an important partner of the government to run this innovative mid-day meal scheme under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Model. Presently, Indian mid-day meal scheme considered as one of the largest mid-day meal programme in the world has a target to reach out nearly 120 million children in the country.

Nitin Mali Nitin mali

A case of acute ischemic stroke in moyamoya syndrome associated with graves’ disease: is there a role for anti-dsdna antibodies?

The coexistence of Moyamoya syndrome (MMS) and Graves’ disease (GD) is uncommon. Here, we report a case of a 41-year-old Filipino female, who presented with thyrotoxicosis and acute ischemic stroke. Based on her clinical presentation, cerebral computed tomography angiography, and thyroid function tests, she was diagnosed with MMS and GD. Her Burch-Wartofsky point scale score was 30, suggesting an impending thyroid storm. Antithyroid therapy was started with her neurological status deterioration initially, but after controlling the thyroid storm, the patient’s neurological status stabilized. She remained stable till she travelled to her country. We hypothesized that MMS in a patient with GD is mediated through anti-dsDNA antibodies, by altering key biological mechanisms, that is, inflammation, neutrophil extracellular traps, and apoptosis that drive a distinctive and coordinated immune and vascular activation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of MMS associated with GD reported in Qatar.

Karishma Karishma

Covid19 vaccine production in india – changing market scenario

India is in the midst of a severe second wave of Covid-19. As per the Global Commission for Post-Pandemic Policy by mid-April of 2021, India had manufactured nearly 17 percent of all Covid-19 vaccine doses globally. It was the world’s fourth-largest producer, after China (about 36 percent), the United States (about 22 percent) and the European Union (more than 17 percent). Even so, following a shortage of vaccines and with insufficient local production, Government of India decided to import more foreign vaccines with quicker approval process for vaccines accepted in US/EU markets. India is currently using made-in-India vaccines, namely, Covishield manufactured by Serum Institute India and Covaxin of Bharat Biotech in its COVID-19 immunisation programme. The shortcoming in the production of vaccines and its dissemination within the country urges one to understand who the local producers are and how the market is playing out. This paper looks at the evolving market structure of vaccine production in India in the textbook framework of an oligopoly market. We use secondary data sources and daily newspaper briefs.

Nandini Nandini

Using a resnet50 with a kernel attention mechanism for rice disease diagnosis

The domestication of animals and cultivation of crops have been essential to human development throughout history, with the agricultural sector playing a pivotal role. Insufficient nutrition often leads to plant diseases, such as those affecting rice crops, resulting in yield losses of 20-40% of total production. These losses carry significant global economic consequences. Timely disease diagnosis is critical for implementing effective treatments and mitigating financial losses. However, despite technological advancements, rice disease diagnosis primarily depends on manual methods. In this study, we present a novel Self-Attention Network (SANET) based on the ResNet50 architecture, incorporating a kernel attention mechanism for accurate AI-assisted rice disease classification. We employ attention modules to extract contextual dependencies within images, focusing on essential features for disease identification. Using a publicly available rice disease dataset comprising four classes (three disease types and healthy leaves), we conducted cross-validated classification experiments to evaluate our proposed model. The results reveal that the attention-based mechanism effectively guides the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) in learning valuable features, resulting in accurate image classification and reduced performance variation compared to state-of-the-art methods. Our SANET model achieved a test set accuracy of 98.71%, surpassing current leading models. These findings highlight the potential for widespread AI adoption in agricultural disease diagnosis and management, ultimately enhancing efficiency and effectiveness within the sector.

Mehdhar S. A. M. Al-Gaashani Mehdhar s. a. m. al-gaashani

Reconceiving translation: homi bhabha's hybridity and the third space in literary translation

This conceptual paper critiques the overgeneralized adoption of hybridity in translation studies, exposing its theoretical circularity, lack of actionable strategies and weak methodological grounding. Although hybridity is often conceptualized as a means of cultural negotiation, its translation-specific application remains underdeveloped. Bhabha’s “third space” metaphor is frequently cited but without translating it into actionable strategies, with existing applications being viewed either as too niche or essentializing cultural binaries. Therefore, the ethical dilemma of striking a balance between source text authenticity and target text accessibility remains unresolved, with actual translation decisions often oscillating between two extremes, either reinforcing or subverting hegemonic structures. To close this gap, this research proposes a dynamic hybrid model which puts practical strategies into action to overcome theoretical limitations of hybridity. The model draws on Joseph Malone’s practical strategies to combine foreignization and domestication in a dynamic framework which enables translators to maintain essential cultural elements while achieving clarity. The model presents a practical hybrid approach to literary translation, one that maintains a balanced harmony between faithfulness and accessibility.

Faisal Khalifa Faisal khalifa

Serum uric acid as an adjunct in the assessment of psychiatric disorders: an overview

Oxidative stress is due to altered levels of prooxidants and anti-oxidants in the body. This can lead to tissue damage especially the central nervous system. Oxidative damage has been implicated in several disorders including some psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and major depressive disorder. Uric acid is an anti-oxidant which prevents tissue damage caused by oxidative stress. In this review, the reduced levels of serum uric acid in schizophrenia and depression are discussed. The effect of treatment in these disorders leading to increased serum uric acid levels are also reviewed.

Mediterranean Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Mediterranean journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences

The beginnings of the organization of the kosovo liberation army in the lap operational subzone december 1995 – june 1998

The study, “The beginnings of the organization of the Kosovo Liberation Army in the Lap Operational Subzone December 1995 – June 1998,” as its object of study has the period of the Kosovo Liberation War in the years 1998-1999. This study touches upon the historical dimension of the efforts and sacrifices of Albanians found in the Serbian-Yugoslav area against their will.This study’s main topic is the beginnings of the organization in the Lap Operational Subzone (LOSz) as a significant part of the KLA. The study has undergone a scientific analysis based on sources of all kinds. The analysis included LOSz’s position in the KLA structure: the mission and duties during the liberation war, the governing bodies at the beginning of the LOSz organization and their functional organization, as well as the battles and downfalls of the freedom fighters. Historical literature, feuilletons, scientific papers, as well as interviews with famous personalities, were used to shed more light on the organization and the war in LOSz. This topic covers an essential segment of the Kosovo Liberation War period 1998-1999 And contributes towards the complete enlightenment of this historical period, especially in this region. Therefore, hopefully, this study will build interest and create perspectives for new studies of this nature.

Anglisticum

Development and evaluation of muco-adhesive buccal films containing metronidazole for the treatment of periodontal diseases

Gingivitis, a reversible inflammation of the gums leads to an advancement to periodontitis, a more severe and often irreversible stage characterized by the destruction of connective tissue and bone, potentially leading to tooth loss. This study was designed to develop and evaluate muco-adhesive buccal films containing metronidazole for localized treatment of periodontal disease, aiming to reduce systemic side effects and improve therapeutic efficacy. Thin films were prepared using chitosan as the primary polymer, combined with various copolymers (HPMC, MC, EC, PVP, HPC, and Carbopol) via the solvent casting technique. Thirteen formulations (F1-F13) were investigated for their ability to control the in vitro drug release, surface pH, folding endurance, drug content uniformity, and muco-adhesion, in addition to studying drug release kinetics. Formulations F12 (60.0% HPMC, 20.0% chitosan) and F13 (20.0% HPMC, 60.0% chitosan) showed optimal surface pH (≈6.7-7.0) with high muco-adhesion characteristics (49-51 Mn/m). Sustaining or expediting the drug release rate was manipulated by tailoring the polymer composition within the studied formulations. Examining drug release data has shown that the release kinetics followed the Korsmeyer-Peppas model, indicating diffusion and polymer relaxation mechanisms. The study demonstrates that polymer selection, in addition to the chosen ratio allows customization of release kinetics, Formulation F9 (20.0% HPC, 60.0% Chitosan) was proven to have the ability to provide the most sustained release characteristics. These findings support the potential of chitosan-based muco-adhesive films as effective localized delivery systems for metronidazole in periodontal therapy.

Mediterranean Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Mediterranean journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences

Revolutionizing supply chains the role of artificial intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the landscape of supply chain management, offering unprecedented opportunities for optimization, efficiency, and innovation. This white paper explores the various applications of AI in supply chain operations, highlighting its potential to revolutionize the way businesses manage inventory, logistics, demand forecasting, and more. Through real-world examples and case studies, we demonstrate how AI-driven technologies are reshaping traditional supply chain practices and driving competitive advantage in today's dynamic marketplace.

Kalpak

Removing the stigma and discrimination for people with hiv/aids: the main role of civil society

HIV/AIDS cases in Indonesia continue to increase and have spread to all provinces in Indonesia. Bandung is one of the cities with a high number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Indonesia. As one of the areas with the highest number of reported HIV cases, the Bandung city government seeks prevention and treatment through the role of existing stakeholders. However, stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV & AIDS, now referred to as PLHIV, are still found and are difficult to eliminate. People diagnosed as contaminated with the HIV & AIDS virus often get a negative stigma. This study aims to analyze how to remove the stigma and discrimination of people with HIV/AIDS through the role of civil society. The research results show that stigma against HIV is often directed at certain minority groups and is often associated with morals and religion. Meanwhile, discrimination against people with HIV is manifested in violations of individual rights in the economic, social, and cultural spheres. The issue of stigma and discrimination against PLWHA has not received serious attention. Therefore, the role of civil society is very important because it can open a dialogue with the community regarding HIV/AIDS to dispel myths that tend to discriminate against PLHIV.

Syahrul Tuba Syahrul tuba

Psychological health valuation of adults in the present covid-19 situation

The Covid 19 pandemic affects many elements of a person's life negatively. This reduced concern and considered the major problems that people – especially adolescents and young adults – are experiencing. In this regard, the study examined young adults' mental health by looking at the relationship between welfare and several psychological characteristics, such as loneliness, suppression of mind, common anxiety, flexibility, and self-worth. A total of 134 young people (45 men and 89 women) aged 18 to 25 were recruited for the study by purposeful sampling. Information collection Questionnaires are used. The measurement measurements were the Rosenberg personality Scale, UCLA isolation Scale edition 3 and the Coping Capacity Questionnaire. The information was analysed by means of the coefficient of Pearson correlation and a z-test to determine results for various genres. In Pairson's product time correlation test, the above psychological features were linked to well-being. Self-esteem, well-being, resilience and well-being were found to be moderately good. All had a negative association between general anxiety and well being, solitude and wellbeing, and suppression of thought and wellbeing. The results of the Z-test showed no significant differences in psychological variable scores among men and women, meaning that the whole community felt a sense of harmony in difficult times regardless of gender. The gladness of the sample was 7.95 (ranging from 0 to 20), which was very low.

Dr. Amarjeet Singh Dr. amarjeet singh

Measuring vietnamese social work students’ and non-social work students’ attitudes toward poverty and poor population

The paper reports the results collected from social work students (SW) and nonsocial work students (NSW) of Ho Chi Minh City Open University (OU) through attitudes toward poverty and poor people in Vietnam. The Attitude toward Poverty Short Form (ATP-SF) 21-item (ATP-SF) scale, developed by Yun & Weaver (2010), was used for the data collection. The sample of this study comprises 180 students enrolled in three disciplines: social work (n = 86), law (n = 34), foreign language (n = 30) and economics (n = 30). The questionnaire was used to collect the data for the study. Cronbach’s alpha and independent t-tests were run to compare means between two groups of students. All students voluntarily participated in the survey.

Le Minh Tien Le minh tien

The influence of employee empowerment on employee job satisfaction in five-star hotels in jordan

This paper examines the influence of empowerment on job satisfaction in five-star hotels in Jordan. The influence of empowerment on job satisfaction remains a relatively unexplored area. A 52-item questionnaire, measuring empowerment and job satisfaction, was distributed to 332 employees in 12 five-star hotels in Jordan with a 56% response rate. Principal components analysis determined the factor structure and regression analysis determined the influence of empowerment on job satisfaction. The results revealed both structural and psychological empowerment have significant individual influences on job satisfaction, but more significant when structural and psychological empowerment are combined. Most of previous studies were conducted in western economies and little in the Middle East generally and Jordan in particular. This research contributes to the literature by including both dimensions of empowerment where previous scholars used only one.

Mukhles m. al-ababneh

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