Aspergillus species registered world-wide for grasshoppers and locusts control. This practice is currently under consideration as a potential alternative to chemical insecticides for grasshopper control in Pakistan. Grasshoppers are major agricultural pests. They destroyed the rice, sugarcane, wheat, maize and fodder crops in everywhere. For control of this pest several pesticides of billion rupees are used indiscriminately in every year. On the other hand, these chemicals are injurious and health hazardous effects on living creature and their environment. So, there should be suitable, beneficial and cheap alternative of these poisonous chemical. For this purpose the biological control is very important therefore, an attempt was made to introduce pathogenic fungi, against the reduction of acridid population in Sindh. During the present study, a total of 2520 specimens pertaining to 06 sub-families of Acrididae were collected from different ecological zones of Sindh. The isolation percentage of entomopathogenic fungi and their association with pest species of grasshopper has been presented in comparative manner. Total No. of isolated percentage of Aspergillus niger was reported 6.77% and 5.64% on Acrida exaltata and A. gigantea respectively, in sub-family Acridinae, 6.21% in Acrotylus humbertianus of Oedipodinae and 5.08% Truxalis exmia exmia contaminated with A. fumigatus and Oxya fuscovittata infected 5.08% with A. flavus. The order of prevalence of grasshopper’s species varying in both selected region. Lethal infection level of entomopathogenic fungi from lower Sindh, site-I indicates that significant highest No. of sporulation was recorded for A. gigantea and A. exaltata i.e 71.42% and 68.42% respectively, while unknown fungal infection was 36.36% followed by 31.57% on Phlaeoba tenebrosa and A. exaltata respectively. It was observed that infestation ratio of entomopathogenic fungi vary species to species in different localities. Beside this, observations taken under Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) showed that there is significant difference in coloration and phialides pattern of three Aspergillus species including two unknown fungi. SEM results regarding spectrum acquisition indicate that normal weightage % of Oxygen (O2) was highest i.e 56.19% followed by 42.60% for Carbon (C) and very least ratio i.e 1.21% for Sodium (Na) was observed in A. niger. As far as, chemical composition of A. flavus is concerned the normal weightage % for Carbon (C) was 52.33% followed by Oxygen (O2) i.e 46.84% opposing to this, least percentage was calculated for Sodium (Na) 0.83%. In case of A. fumigatus the greater normal weightage % was found for Oxygen (O2) i.e 54.61% followed by 43.92% for Carbon (C). Food consumption and faecal production by the insects treated with different formulation of the Aspergillus species were analyzed under laboratory conditions. Three replicates i.e A. flavus, A. fumigatus and A. niger excluding control. It seems that greater reduction in faecal production was noticed after the treatment of oil formulation. Reduction in feeding of the infected insects stages (N1 to N3) was started after treatment of 1st to 2nd day. Significant reduction in faecal production was noted from 1st to 4th day after that all immature consists on (N1 to N3) stages were died except few individuals. However, mortality of insects on day first was noted significantly highest i.e [F0.48 = 84.65, P < 0.05] followed by [F0.35 = 61.96, P < 0.05] and [F0.27 = 48.00, P < 0.05] on day 4th and 2nd respectively. Beside this, it was extremely low [F0.17 = 30.54, P < 0.05] on day 3rd. As for as developmental stage of (N4 to N6) are concerned their faecal production was significantly reduce on 2nd day i.e [F0.18 = 32.29, P < 0.05]. The faecal production of Acridid (adults) when treated with conidial concentration in H2O was found maximum on first day. Mortality of Acridid adults suggest that maximum casualties were noted on day 7th i.e [F13.7 = 23.56, P < 0.05] followed by [F12.5 = 21.82, P < 0.05] on 6th day and minimum mortality i.e [F0.44 = 77.67, P < 0.05] was on day 1st followed by [F0.77 = 35.26, P < 0.05] on 3rd day. The results showed that cumulative percent of faecal material of the treated insect with various pathogenic fungi was significantly differ with control whereas other three treatments having significant impact on the food consumption and feeding behaviour, even as the mortality of Acridid when treated with H2O formulation, indicate that maximum mortality of individual was record on day 8th i-e [F1.00 = 02.62, P < 0.05] whilst, it was significantly low i.e [F0.06 = 11.34, P < 0.05] and [F0.02 = 04.36, P < 0.05] on day 1st and 2nd. However, mortality of these adult individual were non-significant from day 3rd to 7th respectively. During the present investigation, it was noted that insect pathogen unlike chemical insecticides don’t have quick response on pest feeding but, after 2 nd day insect gradually reduce its feeding. Sexual reproductive activities of Hieroglyphus oryzivorus were also affected by the infection of Aspergillus. It was noticed that infected insects altered their thermoregulatory response and showed very interesting behavioral changing that include: insect’s feeding stopped completely, poor coordination, jerky movements, excessive grooming, loss of orientation, confuse during mating, short mating , drop egg without searching oviposition site, ecdysis process slow or complete stop, Behavioral fever (body temperature raised) and body fat accumulation was also reduced. Present study recommends that exploration and screening must be conducted to provide additional pathogens for evaluation as potential biological control against grasshoppers and locusts.
The political reality of many countries in the Muslim World is untenable and reforms and change is absolutely necessary. This article argues that use of force and violence for political change is making things worse as one can witness in Syria and Iraq. The article advances a Qur’ānic perspective on the desirability of peace as a goal and peaceful means as instruments of change. The article acknowledges that the Qur’ānic sanction for use of force to defend religious freedom prcludes the advocacy of pacifism but nevertheless the article does make a strong case for privileging peace over use of force.
Antipsychotic drugs are widely used in the short term management of acute psychotic, manic and psycho depressive disorders and long period treatment of chronic psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia, psycho effective disorders and delusional disorders. However, these drugs produce serious side effects ranging from the most troublesome (Intense sedation, dry mouth and somnolence) to dangerous (Parkinsonism, dyskinesia and akathesia). The management of these side effects has become an important part of treatment plans as the frequency and intensity of the side effects play a major role in the effectiveness and tolerability of a particular antipsychotic agent. Non-compliance to antipsychotic medication is the primary issue directly linked to long term clinical outcomes. The development of modified drug delivery systems (MDDSs) have improved patient compliance, reduced side effects and optimized the dosage schedule without compromising their therapeutic efficacy. As a result of reduction in side effects of antipsychotics, some MDDSs have been developed. In this respect, Quetiapine xfumarate (Seroquel XR ® ) and Paliperidone (Invega ® ) extended release tablets of antipsychotic drugs are offering improved treatment and tolerability profiles. As oral route for administration of drug is mostly preferred and tablet is the most popular dosage form, therefore, extended release tablets of risperidone, olanzapine and prochloperazine maleate were developed. Binary mixtures of the commonly recommended Methocel ® K100 LV-CR (hydrophilic) and Ethocel ® Standard 7FP Premium (hydrophobic) were used to prepare tablets by flow bound dry granulation-slugging method. Combination of the two polymers successfully extended the release period up to 24 hours. The release period was extended regularly as the amount of Ethocel ® Standard 7FP Premium was sequentially increased from 30% to 60%. The inclusion of Methocel ® K100 LV-CR helped in maintaining drugs knotted in its viscous gel layer, while presence of Ethocel ® caused slow hydration & erosion of the matrices leading to extended drug release period. pH independent drug release with zero order kinetics was an important achievement in the present study. Hardness of tablets did not influence the release kinetics. The two polymers played a role of functional copartners. The matrix tablets containing 30% Methocel ® and 60% Ethocel ® (F3) with 12kg hardness were selected for further studies. The optimized matrix tablets of the model drugs exhibited an acceptable level of stability under accelerated storage conditions. Bioavailability studies of the optimized tablets of risperidone, olanzapine and prochlorperazine were conducted in rabbit’s serum using HPLC based validated methods. Measured serum concentrations of the drugs were used in calculation of the various pharmacokinetic parameters, including peak concentration (C max ), peak time (T max ), area under curve up to 24 hours (AUC 0–24 ), area under curve up to infinite time (AUC 0-inf ), mean residence time (MRT 0-48 ) , half life (t 1/2 ), volume of distribution (Vd), elimination rate constant (K el ) and total clearance (Cl total ) for the Test-extended release and Reference-conventional tablets using PK WinNonlin software. Optimum levels of the drugs serum concentrations (C max ) from the Test tablets were observed as compared to Reference tablets. Significantly prolonged peak time (t max ) of the Test tablets indicated smooth and extended absorption phase of the drugs. A good correlation between the In-vitro drug release and In-vivo drug absorption was achieved in case of each model drug. The area under curves (AUCs) xiof Test extended release tablets and Reference-conventional tablets were not significantly different (p < 0.05), indicating their bioequivalence. The bioavailability data generated in the present study indicated that the absorption of risperidone, olanzapine and prochlorperazine maleate from gastro intestinal tract (GIT) were dependent on their release rate. A good level of In-vitro In-vivo correlation of the all three drugs showed successful use of the dissolution process, binary mixtures of the model polymers and rabbits as model animals. Further studies on binary mixtures of the Methocel® and Ethocel ® may ensure their utility in formulation of extended release tablets of other similarly low dose water insoluble drugs. Extensive preclinical studies and clinical trials of the presently developed tablet formulations need to be conducted to determine improvement in safety profiles of the model drugs.