EFFECTS OF RELAXING MUSIC THERAPY ALONG WITH TASK-ORIENTED TRAINING OF LOWER LIMB ON BALANCE AND FUNCTIONAL INDEPENDENCE IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC STROKE: A RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIAL

Background of the Study: To compare the effects of relaxing music therapy with task-oriented training of lower limbs on the balance and functional status in patients with chronic stroke. Methodology: This randomized clinical trial was conducted in three outpatient physiotherapy clinics in Lahore, Pakistan. A sample of 76 participants with chronic stroke, aged 40-60 years, and on assistance walking, were recruited through a purposive sampling technique. Individuals who had physical impairments and visual or hearing deficits were not included in the study. Group A received task-oriented training with routine physical therapy while Group B received Music therapy additionally. Three sessions on alternate days per week for eight weeks were given. Balance and functional independence were the outcome variables measured using the Berg Balance Scale and Functional Independence Measure respectively. Mann-Whitney U test and Friedman ANOVA were applied for between-group and within-group differences respectively. P-value was significant at ≤0.05. Results: The mean age of participants was 54.05 ± 3.64 years, the majority i.e., 55 (72.4%) were male, 46 (60.5%) had ischemic stroke and 53 (69.7%) were presented with left-sided weakness. A statistically significant difference was observed among both groups in balance (p =.000) and functional independence (p=0.000). The within-group difference was also significant for balance (p=0.000) and functional independence (p=0.000). Conclusion: The integration of relaxing music therapy, task-oriented training, and routine physiotherapy is effective in improving balance and functional independence in chronic stroke patients.

Influence of Fruit Thinning Intensity, Calcium and Gibbrellic Acid Application on Fruit Yield and Quality of Peach

A research study entitled “Influence of thinning intensity, calcium and gibbrellic acid application on fruit yield and quality of peach” was conducted at Horticulture Research Farm and Post harvest Laboratory, The University of Agriculture Peshawar (UAP) in the year 2014-15. The present research project consists of four interlinked experiments. The 1st experiment entitled “Effect of thinning intensity and time on quality fruit yield of peach”. Various thinning intensity i.e. 0, 20, 40 and 60% and thinning time i.e. 7, 14 and 21 days after fruit set) were carried out in peach fruit trees. The experimental results showed that peach fruits trees thinned 60% after 7 days of fruit set significantly improved all the studied attributes but showed more split pits incidence and inferior quality yield of peach. However, the results of 60% fruit thinning were statistically at par with peach fruits thinned 40% after 14 days of fruit set with less split pits incidence and good quality fruits, hence recommended for better quality fruit production of peach. In order to overcome the problem of split pits, another field experiment entitled “influence of irrigation intervals and gibbrellic acid concentrations (GA3) on the split pit incidence and fruit quality of peach” was conducted during the year 2015. Keeping irrigation intervals in main plots and various concentrations of GA3 in subplots, peach trees were irrigated with different intervals (5, 10 and 15 days), sprayed with gibbrellic acid (GA3) concentrations (0, 50, 100 and 150 ppm) in already thinned plant (40% fruit thinning after 14 days of fruit set) optimized from the previous year experiments. The experimental results showed that peach fruit trees irrigated after every 10 days significantly increased the leaf area and other fruit and quality related attributes but most importantly reduced the incidence of split pits. Moreover, application of 100 GA3 concentration proved to be the best in controlling split pit incidence of peach with improving the yield and quality related attributes of peach. Hence, peach fruit trees could be irrigated after every 10 days along with 100 ppm GA3 concentration for better quality fruit production of peach with minimum incidence of split pits. As peach is a highly perishable commodity with short post harvest life. Hence, the third pre and post harvest experiment was conducted to retain the quality attributes of peach with longer shelf life. Various calcium sources (Calcium chloride, calcium nitrate and calcium sulphate) were sprayed at different concentration (0, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.0%) on peach fruit trees and the 2 harvested fruits were kept in storage for 30 days with 10 days interval having storage temperature of 8±2 0C at 50% Relative Humidity. The experimental results showed that some of the quality attributes like fruit firmness, fruit calcium content, TSS, TSS-acid ratio of peach fruits were better retained for 30 days by the pre harvest foliar application of 1.0% CaCl2 with minimum percent brown rot incidence, weight loss, ion leakage from cell membrane and cell wall. However, the effect of calcium sources and concentration on other quality attributes such as ascorbic acid content, percent acidity, reducing sugars and non reducing sugars of peach fruits were found non-significant. Pre harvest application of calcium chloride at 1% significantly retained the pre harvest and some of the post harvest attributes but could not retained the other studied quality attributes of peach, so to further enhance the quality of peach fruits, another post harvest experiment entitled “effect of 1-Methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) concentrations on storability of Peach fruit cv. Early Grand” was conducted during year 2015. Optimum source and dose of calcium (optimized from the previous experiment i.e. calcium chloride at 1%) was applied pre harvest to peach fruit trees. The treated fruits were then dipped in different levels of 1-MCP (0, 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 μg L-1), stored for 40 days at temperature of 8±2 0C with 50% RH. The experimental results showed that 1-MCP at 0.9 μg L-1 reduced weight loss, fruit decay, total soluble content, TSS-acid ratio while retained fruit firmness, acidity, ascorbic acid, reducing sugars, free radical scavenging assay, catalase activity, total phenols and antioxidant activity of peach fruits. Peach fruits stored for 40 days showed better performance for most of the quality attribute up to consumer preferences. However, free radical scavenging assay, catalase activity, total phenols and antioxidant activity increased up to 30 days but declined up to 40 days of storage. Therefore, an integrated management of peach fruits with 40% thinning after 14 days of fruit set, irrigated after 10 days, sprayed with 100 ppm GA3 concentration enhanced the fruit size, weight, yield and quality of peach fruits with lower split pit incidence. Moreover, peach fruits trees could be sprayed with CaCl2 at 1.0% and later on treated with 0.9 μg L-1 1-MCP solution for retaining the quality attributes of peach fruit up to 40 days of storage (Temperature = 8±2 0C and 50% RH).