TELETHERAPY- AN INNOVATIVE WAY OF TREATMENT IN THE FIELD OF OCCUPAIONAL THERAPY IN PAKISTAN

Teletherapy is an emerging and enlarging tool for having treatment in occupational therapy in rehabilitation sciences among occupational therapists all over the world mainly in Pakistan, especially during the era of COVID-19. A lot of studies have been done already highlighting the paramount of teletherapy around the world but it is a new rising mode of treatment in Pakistan coming to light. Therapists and Patients throughout the country making the most of this treatment way respectively and hence this method of treatment while using of technologies is highly being appreciated. The aim of this study is to foster and encourage the use of this technology in third-world countries like Pakistan. It is the most used treatment tool during COVID-19 among occupational therapists all over the country and is highly appreciated in order to cut-down the negative circumstances of a one-to-one session in which therapist and patient is in highly close contact to each other. This course of action has advocate the on-going rehabilitation treatment and has kept away people from COVID-19 expansion to the most extent. In this study, a 5years old boy was included with an under-diagnostic process within the umbrella term of genetic disorder. Having genetic disorder, his sessions were taken in tele-clinic using video call technology during COVID-19. In this process, AOTA Occupational Therapy Tele-Health Decision Guide, AOTA Occupational Profile Template, AOTA Advisory Opinion for the Ethics Commission Teletherapy, i-PiCS-Internet-Based Parent-Implemented Communication Strategies Program, and modeling strategy were followed.

Isolation, Identification, Characterization and Toxicity Evaluation of Indigenous Strains and Preparation of Indigenous Bacillus Thuringiensis-Based Biopesticide Against Chickpea Pod-Borer, Helicoverpa Armigera

Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner is being used successfully as biological control agent throughout the world as a substitute of hazardous chemical insecticide in agriculture and forestry for the elimination of pests, and in human health sector for the elimination of disease vectors. In Pakistan, being an agricultural country, commercial scale production and application of biological insecticide is essential. The main objective of this study was to explore potential B. thuringiensis isolates from local environments and to produce effective and low cost biopesticides by a simple and effective process (shake flask technique/fermentation) for the control of chickpea pod-borer, Helicoverpa armigera Hübner of lepidoptera group. To achieve this objective 150 soil samples collected from different regions of Pakistan were screened and eighty one B. thuringiensis isolates were obtained from 33 (22%) soil samples, identified as B. thuringiensis by using phase contrast microscope and standard tests. These B. thuringiensis isolates contained crystal of different shapes but majority contained typical bipyramidal with cuboidal or irregular crystal. Polymerase chain reaction results indicated that 85.19% isolates was positive for cry1 gene (Lepidoptera specific) showing that cry1 gene occur frequently in our B. thuringiensis isolates. The SDS-PAGE results indicated that variations exist in the protein profile of spore-crystal of B. thuringiensis isolates but the protein profile of the majority was similar to reference standard strain. Results of preliminary screening bioassay at 500 μg toxin/mL diet indicated that toxic B. thuringiensis isolates and reference strain caused 96.55-100% whereas non-toxic caused - 7.33-45.33% mortality against 1 st instar larvae of H. armigera. Non-toxic B. thuringiensis isolates did not contain typical bipyramidal crystal. These results indicated that correlation exist between crystal morphology and toxicity to H. armigera. Bioassay results of toxic B. thuringiensis isolates indicated that LC 50 and potency of the most toxic B. thuringiensis isolate, PA-Sb-46.3 were 4.54 μg/mL, 1177515 IU/mg and relative potency 73.6. Relative potency showed that it was 73.6 times toxic than reference strain. B. thuringiensis var. kurstaki (HD-I-S-1980) viiiThe biopesticide was prepared from locally available low cost ingredients: dried beef blood, molasses and mineral salts (ZnCl 2, MgCl 2, MnCl 2, CaCl 2 and FeCl 3 ) which were used as medium for the laboratory scale production of B. thuringiensis biopesticide by shake flask technique. Indigenous B. thuringiensis isolate PA-Sb-46.3 which produced two crystals: bi-pyramidal and cuboidal was found 73.6 times toxic against H. armigera than reference strain B. thuringiensis var. kurstaki (HD-I-S-1980) was used. Medium was fermented for 72 hours at 30 ± 2 o C and 160 rpm. After 72 h fermented medium showed 95-99 % sporulation, with spore yield of 3.97 X 10 9 spore/mL and LC 50 value to 1 st instar larvae of H. armigera was 0.53 μg/mL diet. Preservatives and diluents used in the biopesticide were found to be effective when stored it at room temperature over a period of 30 months. The three years field results of biopesticide with exotic and chemical insecticides indicated that biopesticide was effective against H. armigera. These observations suggested that the biopesticide produced was effective and highly economical for the industrial scale production to manage H. armigera in Pakistan.