GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER AND ITS ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG FEMALE STUDENTS

Background and Aim: To determine the Generalized Anxiety Disorder and its association with factors like hormonal changes, chronic illness among female students of university. Methodology: Perceptions and preferences of Female Students were determined in well-organized Institute (Superior University) with ages between 16-28 years old of all disciplines. Electronic self-administrated questionnaires consisting of two parts; demographics factors (Age, Gender, Designation, education Discipline, socioeconomic status and medical history) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder GAD-7, were then filled by the participated female students with sample size of 231. Then the perceptions and preferences were evaluated using a pre validated questionnaire (GAD-7) from previous research article. Results: A total of 231 responses were returned. All respondents were females. About (62.7%) of total respondents reported feeling nervous, anxious, or on edge to some degree; 10% of respondents said that they experience this feeling nearly every day. A significant proportion of respondents reported mild to moderate anxiety levels. The mean score of anxiety scale was 3.87±3.32 with minimum and maximum score of 0 and 19. The study findings give us a better considerate that Traumatic disorders (39.4 %), hormone issues (45.2%), were the main causes of anxiety. 39.8% indicated that they had a family history of anxiety. Overall, moderate to high levels of anxiety among the participants were observed. Conclusion: These results illustrate the need to devise treatment strategies to alleviate symptoms of generalized anxiety and reduce the prevalence of Generalized Anxiety Disorder among students. It is suggested that to decrease the level of anxiety among university students, regular counseling sessions should be implemented.

Characterization of Leaf Rust Resistance Genes in Pakistani Wheat Varieties to Assist Molecular Breeding

The leaf rust epidemic in 1978 shifted the focus of local wheat breeders to introduce new effective leaf rust genes from exotic sources (often obtained from CIMMYT and USDA) to the local varieties. However, the rapid changes in rust causing pathogen (Puccinia triticina) warrant deploying more efficient technologies for screening, selection and development of new varieties. Hence the present study was designed to focus on screening the presently available resistant genes in local wheat varieties, find the effective leaf rust resistance genes and to suggest a pre-breeding plan to combat future leaf rust incidence. Thirty-eight wheat varieties were selected some of which are still under cultivation especially in Punjab province and therefore hold importance in the commercial market. The data thus generated after field and molecular assisted screening were verified using sensitive ABI capillary electrophoresis (ABI 3730) to differentiate the closely located alleles as an efficient method to reduce the issues generated by conventional gel electrophoresis. The screening of leaf rust resistant genes revealed the presence of: Lr10, Lr13, Lr14a, Lr17, Lr26 and Lr27-Lr31 in 16, 16, 15, 16, 16 and 31 tested varieties respectively, while Lr34 also showed presence in 10 of the wheat varieties tested. The study reported absence of Lr9, Lr21 and Lr24 from the local germplasm making these genes as an appealing choice to introduce in local germplasm. Furthermore, screening of some newly mapped genes such as: Lr35, Lr46 and Lr47 showed complete absence while Lr39 was identified in 5 Pakistani varieties. The study was validated through the phenotypic data pertaining to these wheat germplasm grown under natural conditions at Regional Agriculture Research Centre, Bahawalpur (RARI) for three crop cycles (2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12). Hence, the assessed wheat varieties possessed more than one leaf rust resistant genes and showed a moderate level of resistance. The effective combinations under local conditions are: Lr14a, Lr17 and Lr26, while Lr34 has also been observed as efficient in combination with Lr10 and Lr27+Lr31. Following genes were found as the effective genetic combinations currently deployed in the field: Lr10, Lr13, L17, Lr27-31 and Lr34, Lr1, Lr10, Lr14a, Lr26, Lr27-31 and Lr34, Lr3, Lr10, Lr13, Lr14a, Lr17 and Lr27-31, Lr1, Lr26, Lr27-31 and Lr34, while several gaps have been identified where individual gene or gene combinations were not found in our varieties. These have been recommended for introduction in future pre-breeding programs.