A community based follow-up study in four socioeconomically different groups in Lahore, Pakistan was conducted consisting of a rural area, a peri-urban slum, an urban slum and an upper middle class group. A total sample of 150 expectant mothers from three areas was selected. Scheduled interviews were conducted at 4 points in time; from eighth month of pregnancy up to the complete end of breastfeeding whenever it occurred during the infant’s first two years of life. All mothers were breastfeeding at the time of interview within one month after childbirth. Majority of the upper middle class mothers breastfed their infants partially and terminated breastfeeding within six months which is significantly different from the other groups. For prolonged breastfeeding significant contributing psychological factors were maternal own personal experience of breastfeeding right from the beginning as a pleasant, natural and enjoyable process even when initial infant feeding method and housing standard were taken into account. A significant positive relationship was found between maternal temperament dimensions (traits) “Accepting” and “Responsible” with initial feeding pattern for longer duration. The results of the study also suggested that not only the demographic variables and psychological factors but some maternal temperament dimensions also play an important role in the process of decision making regarding the initial feeding pattern and its sustenance for longer duration as well. The role and attitude of health care service provider is also very important in decision making about the initiation of breastfeeding and its longer duration. A cross sectional study was conducted on 30 women who delivered a normal healthy child in the Gynecological ward of a government hospital which caters 30% of general population and more than 80% of the Government Servants in the area. Information about the mode of infant feeding and about the reinforcement provided by experts for a particular mode of feeding to the mothers was obtained through a structured interview from women. 30 Medical Doctors including Gynecologists and Pediatricians of the same hospital were also interviewed to find out their years of practical experience their knowledge about importance of breastfeeding and their perspective and type of technical support provided to pregnant women at the time of antenatal, natal and post-natal visits. Results of the study supported and complemented the findings of the longitudinal study. Gynecologists and Pediatricians perspective indicated that mothers from low socio economic2 groups, have family support and tradition of breastfeeding within their families and are comparatively more religious, or/and were aware about benefits of breastfeeding were the ones who breastfeed their babies. At the time of interview 80% of the mothers in our sample were breastfeeding either exclusively or mixed feeding (Breast and formula milk) and 20% were feeding formula milk through bottle. Reasons given by mothers for adopting a particular mode for feeding their babies indicated that several maternal and social factors including health service provider’s responses dictate mother’s feeding choice. In establishment of initial feeding pattern all the factors related significantly are poor living conditions, low socioeconomic status, maternal breastfeeding satisfaction, her previous positive breastfeeding experience, a positive family support, with temperamental traits like responsible, reflective, accepting, impulsive irritable & withdrawing temperament, act as a stimulant in this regard. Mothers who adopted almost exclusive breastfeeding pattern right from the beginning, lived in poor housing conditions with poor socioeconomic status but had a good previous breastfeeding experience, had breastfeeding satisfaction and enjoyed a good family support in this regard, possessed Casual but Critical temperament, breastfed for a longer duration. The results also suggest that there is a need for formal and informal education of expectant mothers and health service providers in this regard. Breastfeeding and its management can be encouraged through “Behavior Change Communication” and follow up support of health care system.
چئیر مین ذوالفقار علی بھٹو کا قتل سابق چیف جسٹس سپریم کورٹ کا اعتراف جرم جن ججوں نے انہیں پھانسی کی سزا سنائی انہیں قبروں سے نکال کر مقدمات چلائے جائیں ۔انہوں نے وہ ظلم کیا جس کی سزا پاکستان آج تک بھگت رہا ہے ۔
This paper is the study of the fact that chief nutrition and health-relevant compounds in honey are carbohydrates, particularly glucose and fructose, which create it a superb energy resource for human. The honey comprises huge number of components in minor and trace level enzymes, proteins, minerals, vitamins and phenolic compounds, creating biological and nutritional effects like wound healing, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiviral, antitumor and anti-inflammatory activities. The usage of honey is commonly comprised by all cultural beliefs and religious. Honey is a natural liquid mentioned in religious books and accepted by all generations, traditions and civilizations in both ancients and modern era. More than 1400 years ago, honey is described a source of healing in the Quran and it is also mentioned as one of the foods of paradise
Soil salinity is one of the factors that most severely affect plant growth and production around the world. The rhizosphere supports the development and activity of a huge and diversified microbial community, including microorganisms capable to promote plant growth. Bacterial strains have variable ability to tolerate the salt stress and some salt tolerant rhizobium strains can grow at NaCl concentration up to 500 mM. Such bacterial strains are halophiles, with distinctive physiological structure and hereditary properties, salt-tolerant bacteria go through some morphological, metabolic and structural modifications to tolerate salt stress. These halo tolerant rhizobacteria colonize roots of monocots and dicots, and enhance plant growth by direct and indirect mechanisms. Modification of root system architecture by plant growth promoting bacteria implicates the production of phytohormones and other signals that lead, mostly, to enhanced lateral root branching and development of root hairs. Plant growth promoting bacteria also modify root functioning, improve plant nutrition and influence the physiology of the whole plant.Such halophilic microorganisms have captivated the attention of scholars at home and abroad. Our country has large salt deposits providing suitable condition for growth of salt loving microbes. Such salt deposits are best source for isolation of halo tolerant bacteria. In this project plants were collected from Karak salt mines (Bahadur Khel, Jatta Ismail Khel) and Khewra salt mines of Pakistan. The salt deposits of Khewra and Karak are enormously saline and the microbial communities in such areas have not been explored yet. This study reports isolation, identification and characterization of halo tolerant bacteria. This report also represents novel bacteria that require NaCl for its growth. Total sixty four bacterial strains were isolated from the rhizosphere of plants collected from Karak salt mines (Bahadur Khel, Jatta Ismail Khel) and Khewra salt mines of Pakistan belonging to fourteen different genera. Such bacterial strains can grow in media with different salt concentrations. Morphological and biochemical characteristics of these strains were studied by optimizing their growth conditions such as pH range 5-10 and NaCl range 0-30%. High microbial growth was observed at low salt concentration. Bacterial strains were identified on the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence and phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that these are closely related to species belonging to different genera: Halomonas, Kushneria, Alcanivorax, Brevibacterium, Planococcus, Staphylococcus, Zhihengluella, Bacillus, Tenuibacillus, Thalassobacillus, Salinicola, Brachybacterium, Piscibacillus and Halobacillus. NCCP-934 is candidate novel strain in this study. Based upon phylogenetic analysis, physiological and chemotaxonomic data and DNA-DNA hybridization values, strain NCCP-934T belong to the genus Kushneria and showed the highest similarity as 98.9% with Kushneria marisflavi SW32T (AF251143), 98.7% with K. indalinina CG2.1T (AJ427627), 98.4% with K. avicenniae MW2aT (DQ888315) and less than 95% with the other species of the genus Kushneria and other taxa of the related genera. Strain NCCP-934T was characterized as Kushneria pakistanensis. Cells of strain NCCP-934T are Gram-stain negative, motile, non-spore forming rods and strictly aerobic. The optimal growth conditions occur at 30–33ºC and a pH of 7.0–9.0. Strain NCCP-934T tolerated to 30% NaCl with optimum growth at 3–9% (w/v) NaCl and thus, it can be considered as a moderately halophilic microorganism. DNA-DNA relatedness between strain NCCP-934T and other related strain was less than 30%. The data supported the affiliation of NCCP-934T with genus Kushneria. On the basis of results strain NCCP-934T distinguished from closely related strains and represented a novel species in the genus Kushneria, for which the name Kushneria pakistanensis sp. nov. is proposed with the type strain, NCCP-934T (=LMG 28525T = KCTC 42082T = JCM 18802T) is AB970675. Isolated bacterial strains and novel strain were characterized for their plant growth promoting properties. For this purpose PCR amplification of nifH and acdS genes was done. Bacterial strains with nifH gene and acdS genes were inoculated to Phaseolus vulgaris under sodium chloride stress. Inoculated bacterial strains showed positive results indicating that such bacterial strains can be utilized for growth promotion of different plants under salt stress.