Ethnomedicine use in the war affected region of northwest Pakistan

BACKGROUND: North-West of Pakistan is bestowed with medicinal plant resources due to diverse geographical and habitat conditions. The traditional use of plants for curing various diseases forms an important part of the region’s cultural heritage. The study was carried out to document medicinal plants used in Frontier Region (FR) Bannu, an area affected by the “War on Terror”. METHODS: Fieldwork was carried out in four different seasons (spring, autumn, summer and winter) from March 2012 to February 2013. Data on medicinal plants was collected using structured and semi-structured questionnaires from 250 respondents. The voucher specimens were collected, processed and identified following standard methods. RESULTS: Of the 107 species of ethnomedicinal plants reported, fifty percent species are herbaceous. The majority of the reported species were wild (55%) but a substantial proportion are cultivated (29%). For most of the plant species (34%), leaves are the most commonly used part in the preparation of ethnomedicines. The most common use of species is for carminative purposes (14 species), with the next most common use being for blood purification (11 species). The main methods used in the preparation of ethnomedicinal recipes involves grinding and boiling, and nearly all the remedies are taken orally along with ingredients such as water, milk or honey for ease of ingestion. Traditional healers prepare plant remedies using one or more plants. There was a significant correlation (r(2) = 0.95) between the age of local people and the number of plants known to them, which indicates that in the coming 20 years, an approximate decrease of 75% in the indigenous knowledge may be expected. CONCLUSION: Traditional medicines are important to the livelihoods of rural communities in the region affected by the Global war on Terrorism. The medicinal recipes are indigenous; however, there is a threat to their future use on account of rapid modernization and terrorist activities. Documentation of medicinal plants and recipes may help in the conservation of the regional indigenous medicinal knowledge for future generations and to provide a baseline for further studies

Comprehensive Algorithmic Review and Analysis of LDPC Codes

Due to the increasing popularity of LDPC codes and its demand for future applications, first time in this paper, LDPC coding techniques have been systematically summarized and analyzed. The paper gives the comprehensive review of LDPC encoder, decoder and its architecture for simulation and implementation. The paper is specially intended for giving an insight of the algorithmic overview of the LDPC encoder, decoder and its architecture for research and practical purposes. The original belief propagation algorithm (BPA) , logarithmic model of BPA , and the other simplified form of the logarithmic sum product algorithms (SPA) has been elaborated and analyzed for medium and short length codes under AWGN channe

QC LDPC Codes for MIMO and Cooperative Networks using Two Way Normalized Min-Sum Decoding

This paper is based on the magnitude overestimation correction of the variable message by using two normalized factors in each iteration for LDPC min-sum decoding algorithm. The variable message is modified with a normalized factor when there is a sign change and with another normalized factor when there is no sign change during any two consecutive iterations. This paper incorporates QC LDPC codes using this new decoding algorithm for flat fading multiple input multiple output (MIMO) channel and single relay cooperative communication networks for improving the bit error performance. MIMO flat fading channel is used with zero forcing (ZF) spatial decoding for noise suppression. The performance is greatly enhanced by using the new min-sum algorithm for medium and short length Cooperative communication network and MIMO LDPC codes

Climatic Changes and Their Effect on Wildlife of District Dir Lower, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Climatic changes and their impact are increasingly evident in Pakistan, especially in the mountainous regions. Mountain ecosystems are considered to be sensitive indicators of global warming; even slight variations in temperature can lead to significant shifts in local climate, which can, in turn, drastically affect the natural environment, subsequently altering people’s lifestyle and wildlife habitats. The targeted area for the present research was Lower Dir District, Pakistan. The study gathered the required information from primary and secondary sources. Secondary data on temperature and precipitation were obtained from various sources, i.e., local CBO, including WWF Pakistan. Based on information gathered on climate change and wildlife, a detailed questionnaire was designed. Results showed that no regular pattern of the increase was found in temperature from 2010 to 2018; the same was noticed in the rainfall decrease pattern. Results also showed that the leading causes behind climatic changes are an increase in greenhouse gases due to pollution by industries, vehicles, crushing plants, deforestation, and some natural phenomena such as floods. The study showed that more than 80% of the respondents agreed that climatic effects have a significant impact on wildlife, i.e., the existence of wildlife falls in danger due to climatic changes as it may lead to habitat change, making it difficult for the survival and adaptation of the wildlife. Hence, in consequence, it leads to migration, low growth rate, an increase in morbidity and mortality rate, and finally leading to the extinction of the species or population. It is concluded from the study that people are severely noticing the climatic change and its leading causes are greenhouse gases and deforestation. To control climatic changes and wildlife extinction, we need an appropriate policy for forest conservation, wildlife conservation, prevent hunting, industrial pollution control, vehicle pollution control, increase in plantation, awareness of policy for the control of climatic changes, etc

New Onset Refractory Status Epilepticus as an Unusual Presentation of a Suspected Organophosphate Poisoning

New onset refractory status epilepticus (NORSE) is a new entity in medical literature. It has different infectious and noninfectious etiologies showing a devastating impact onto the clinical outcome of patients. Therapy with anaesthetic and antiepileptic agents often fails to improve the condition, unless the primary cause is rectified. Here is presented the case of a young female with a history of depression who after a recent bereavement came to the Emergency Department of Aga Khan University Hospital with complaints of drowsiness that lasted for few hours. Though she had no history of organophosphate poisoning, her physical examination and further investigations were suggestive of the diagnosis. During her hospital stay, she developed refractory status epilepticus. Her seizures did not respond to standard antiepileptic and intravenous anesthetic agents and subsided only after intravenous infusion of atropine for a few days. Organophosphate poisoning is a very common presentation in the developing world and the associated status epilepticus poses a devastating problem for emergency physicians. In patients with suspected organophosphate poisoning with favoring clinical exam findings, the continuation of atropine intravenous infusion can be a safe option to abate seizures

Insurance Demand in Emerging Asian and OECD countries: A Comparative Perspective

Purpose: In this paper we aim to assess insurance demand across selected Asian and OECD countries during the period of the global financial crisis. Methodology: We collected data from 55 emerging Asian and OECD countries during the period of the global financial crisis. Our methodology relies on panel regressions. Separate models are run for the Asia/OECD economies and a follow-up distinction between high/low income regions is also made. Findings: We find that global financial crisis affects negatively the general insurance demand particularly in high-income region. Higher dependency ratio in Asia tends to decrease insurance demand, whereas Education in case of Asia positively influences insurance demand indicating that higher literacy rate can be helpful to capture the potential customers. Our results further reveal that life insurance is an important driver for insurance demand in OECD countries whereas general insurance demand is higher in the Asian economies. Research Limitation: A limitation of this study is that data sets employed do not differentiate between different life and general insurance products. Practical Implications: This study is helpful for regulators, policy makers and insurance providers to evaluate, assess and monitor insurance demand in relevant countries. Originality: This is one of the pioneering studies that have assessed insurance demand among emerging Asian and OECD countries during the period of the global financial crisis

Enhancing Wheat Yield and Phosphorus use Efficiency through Foliar Application in Calcareous Soil

The experiment was conducted at Agricultural Research Farm of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Agricultural University, Peshawar during 2011-12 to evaluate the effect of foliar P on growth, yield and P uptake by wheat crop, respectively.. Soil P was applied in the form of TSP while foliar P was applied in the form of KH2PO4 with maximum concentrations of 1% P equally applied in three split doses at tillering, boot and anthesis stage of wheat crop c.v. Atta Habib. The foliar application of P showed significant effect on grains spike-1, thousand grain weight, grain yield, biological yields and plant P and K and post harvest soil P. The grain yield increased from 2.12 to 2.60 t ha-1 with 2 kg foliar P ha-1 but further increases in P levels showed decreasing trend. Combination of soil and foliar application showed the supplemental effect in increasing the grain yield. Application of 20 kg soil + 2 kg foliar applied P ha-1 increased the grain yield from 2.57 t ha-1 to 2.92 t ha-1 showing increase of 13.67 and 37.73 % over alone soil applied control, respectively. The biological yield showed 12.94 % increase over control with 2.0 kg foliar P but further increases in P doses again failed to do so. The post harvest soil P, and plant [P] and [K] at both boot and anthesis stage improved with foliar application of P. The comparatively higher performance by 20 kg soil+2 kg foliar P ha-1 suggested that this could be the optimum level for wheat under the prevailing soil and climatic condition. However, such studies on diverse soil, crop and climatic condition should be conducted for confirmation of results and widespread recommendation. Keywords: Wheat, Yield Foliar spray of KH2PO

Ethnobotanical assessment of plant resources of Banda Daud Shah, District Karak, Pakistan

Abstract Background The Indigenous knowledge of plants is scientifically and culturally very significant. This paper elucidates the empirical findings of an ethnobotanical survey of Banda Daud Shah, District Karak, Pakistan. Methods Data collection was carried out from October 2011 to September 2012. Total twelve survey trips were made, three in each season. About 100 respondents were interviewed; most of them were aged people between 60–70 years. Interviews were conducted using structured questionnaire composed of variety of questions regarding ethnomedicinal uses of plants of the study area. Direct matrix ranking (DMR), informant citations and market survey of multipurpose plants were also carried out. Results The local community was using 58 plant species belonging to 52 genera and 34 families for different purposes. A total of 25 plant species were herbs followed by 18 shrubs. Leaf (45%) was the most commonly used plant part followed by the whole plants (23%). In total, 40 plant species were medicinally used to treat variety of diseases, of which highest number of species being used for gastro-intestinal problems (19 spp.), expectorant (3 spp.) and antipyretic (3 spp.). Beside medicinal values, 25 species were used for fuel and 18 for fodder purposes. Informant consensus showed that gastrointestinal and respiratory infections were ranked highest (FIC = 0.75) among all ailments. According to DMR output, Dalbergia sisso ranked first due to high multipurpose uses among all species and was found most threatened with higher market value. Conclusion The investigated area is rural in nature and the inhabitants are highly dependent on the native plants for their health care needs and other requirements like fuel wood and fodder due to financial constraints and unavailability of resources. Medicinal plants for high ranked diseases may be phtyochemicaly and pharmacologically investigated to prove their efficacy. The local medicinal flora is facing overexploitation, overgrazing and improper way of collection. Proper conservation strategies such as controlled grazing, reforestation and rangeland management among many others may be adopted to promote the sustainable use of medicinal plants. </jats:sec

Effect of Deficit Irrigations and Sowing Methods on Mung Bean Productivity

A field experiment was designed to study the response of Mungbean to deficit irrigation levels and sowing methods. Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with split plot arrangement replicated three times. Water treatments were controlled at I0 (zero percent irrigation), I33 (33% of full irrigation), I67 (67% of full irrigation) and I100 (full irrigation). Full irrigation was determined on the basis of 65% management allowed deficit (MAD). Results shows that I67 and I100 not significant for pods plant-1 while these were highly significant for the sowing methods. The pods per plant are highly significant for I0 and I33 levels. The sowing methods and irrigation levels both have significant impact on grain yield and biological yield. The biological yields continuously and consistently increase with the increase in irrigation levels. The harvest index of Mungbean and its water productivity both increase in irrigation levels certain level. The maximum irrigation applied at 65% MAD substantially decreases the Mungbean water productivity when compared to the harvest index. It was concluded that Mungbean MAD in semi-arid region of Peshawar may be exploited further; more moisture contents may be further extracted before applying next irrigation in raised bed technique in special and as usual in flat beds. Keywords: Deficit irrigation, Irrigation levels, Sowing method, Growth attributes, Mung bean