Leptadenia pyrotechnica (Forssk.) Decne (Asclepiadaceae), a medicinal plant is native to hot deserts of Pakistan. The present study was designed to assess antimicrobial and antioxidant activities and phytochemical screening of this plant. Eight solvents based extracts viz., hexane, chloroform, acetone, ethyl acetate, butanol, ethanol, methanol and water were prepared from the roots and aerial parts of the plant for phytochemical screening and antimicrobial activity while antioxidant activity of b Preliminary phytochemical screening involved qualitative and quantitative screening of four major groups of phytochemicals including alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins and tannins. Qualitative screening was carried out by simple biochemical tests that revealed the presence of all major groups of phytochemicals in both parts of the plant. Methanol was the most efficient solvent that extracted all the selected classes of phytochemicals. It was followed by ethanol, which also reflected a good extraction efficiency. The percentage of alkaloid contents was 3.267±0.643 and 3±0.6 in roots and aerial parts respectively (p>0.05). The total flavonoid content was 76.867±2.266 and 139.448±8.677 QE/100g of extract in roots and aerial parts respectively. The total saponin contents were 0.34±0.013% and 0.46±0.010% in roots and aerial parts respectively. The total tannin contents were 62.713±4.841 and154.961±5.853 mg of TAE/100g of extract in roots and aerial parts respectively. For the determination of antimicrobial activity, agar well diffusion method was employed utilizing eight solvent extracts against Staphyllococcus aureus and S. 18 epidermidis and two fungal strains viz. Aspergillus fumigatus and A. niger, which are the causative agents of various human infections. Antifungal activity was very weak while antibacterial activity was appreciably good. Both plant parts had significant differences in inhibiting bacterial growth (p<0.05). Root extracts were found more effective than the aerial parts extracts in checking bacterial growth. The root extracts inhibited S. epidermidis and S. aureus with the Zone of inhibition (ZI) that was 15+1.73 and 13+1.73mm respectively, followed by the aerial parts extract (ZI: 10±0.58 and 10±1.53mm respectively). The methanolic root extracts exhibited promising antibacterial activity (Acitivty Index: 0.1) that inhibited the growth of S. epidermidis at par with the standard antibiotic. With reference to solvent extracts, methanolic ones were the most effective in inhibiting bacterial growth resultantly minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) was determined against S. aureus and S. epidermidis by using tube dilution method. The root extract exhibited pronounced effect on S. epidermidis with the MIC of 12.5mg/ml. On the other hand, S. aureus was also inhibited by root extract with the MIC of 25mg/ml. Likewise; MBC of root extracts was 20 mg/ml and 30 mg/ml against S. epidermidis and S. aureus respectively. The MIC of aerial parts extracts was 25mg/ml and 50mg/ml against S. aureus and S. epidermidis respectively. Likewise, MBC of aerial parts extracts was 25mg/ml and 12.5mg/ml against S. aureus and S. epidermidis respectively. Antioxidant activity of methanolic extracts of both plant parts was determined at ten different concentrations ranging from 10 μg/ml to 100 μg/ml through three 19 methods viz., 1) DPPH scavenging, 2) hydrogen peroxide scavenging and 3) reducing power assays. Both plant parts showed strong antioxidant capacity determined through all assays. There was significant difference in activity expressed by all selected concentrations amongst the three assays (p<0.05). Furthermore, the activity was found directly proportional to concentration. The antioxidant activity of this plant depicted by all assays was comparable with that of synthetic antioxidant agent i.e. Butylated Hydroxy Anisole (BHA). The results of bioactivity exhibited the efficiency of methanolic extracts. Bioactivity guided study of the extracts was carried out through three different techniques including 1HNMR Spectroscopy, HPLC and LC-MS. For this purpose, NMR and LC-MS based metabolomics analysis of all solvent extracts coupled with multivaritate statistical analysis including Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Partial Least Square Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) was carried out. The analysis of NMR based spectral data confirmed the metabolic differences and similarities in different solvent extracts of both parts of L. pyrotechnica. On the other hand, analysis of LC-MS based chromatographic data predicted four components as potential antibacterial agents. The methanolic extracts were analyzed through HPLC and the fractions obtained through Reverse Phase HPLC were analyzed against bacterial pathogens, where none of the fractions exhibited activity, which reflected that more than one compounds might be acting synergistically in inhibiting bacterial growth. It can be concluded that extracts from both plant parts showed appreciable antibacterial activity as well as antioxidant activity along with range of 20 phytochemicals. The antibacterial and antioxidant activities of the plant validated scientifically the traditional use of this plant for treating various human diseases by the natives of desert habitats of Pakistan. The findings are stressing the need for further indepth analysis of extracts from the said plant. Such findings may lead to identification of potential compounds responsible for antimicrobial and/or antioxidant activities. In addition, in vivo assays may be conducted in future to assess the potential toxicity of the extracts that may ultimately lead to drug development.
بڑے ادیب کی پہچان اس کی تخلیقی انفرادیت ہوتی ہے اور یہ ہی انفرادیت اسے دوسرے ادیبوں سے تشخص عطاء کرتی ہے اس کے فن کی خوبیاں اس کے بعد آ تی ہیں بلاشبہ سیمیں کرن موجودہ دور کے ادیبوں میں ایک جانا پہچانا نام ہیں آ پ اردو ادب میں فکشن نگاری ،تبصرہ نگاری ،اور کالمز لکھنے میں پیش پیش ہیں ۔۔۔۔۔
خالدہ حسین نے کہا تھا کہانی لکھنے کا عمل میرے لیے اپنے وجود سے رشتہ قائم رکھنے کی ایک کوشش کا نام ہے تو جب میں اپنا وجود خطرے میں محسوس کرتی ہوں تو خود کو لکھنے پر مجبور پاتی ہوں ۔۔۔۔۔! بلکل یہ ہی رشتہ سیمیں کا کہانیوں کے ساتھ ہے ان کے نزدیک ادب زندگی کے حبس اور گھٹن میں ایک تازہ ہوا کا جھونکا ہے ادب ایک ایسی کھڑکی ہے جو اندر باہر کھلتی ہے وہ کہتی ہیں کہ میں کہانی کب لکھتی ہوں وہ مجھے خود گلے آ ملتی ہے کسی سہیلی کی طرح ۔۔۔۔۔۔کسی کردار کی صورت ۔۔۔۔اور میرے کان میں سرگوشی کرتی ہے کہ مجھے پڑھو مجھے لکھو۔۔۔۔۔۔! اب تک مصنفہ کے 3 افسانوی مجموعے، 2 ناول اورمختلف سماجی و سیاسی موضوعات پر کالمز تبصرے چھپ چکے ہیں آ پ نے ہر صنف ادب میں طبع آزمائی کی ہے اور کامیاب ہوئی ہیں۔
ادیب ،ادب ،اور سماج کا آپس میں گہرا تعلق ہوتا ہےایک ادیب بہت حساس طبیعت کا مالک ہوتا ہے معاشرے کے اندر بگاڑ پیدا کرنے والے عوامل اسے ہمیشہ بے چین رکھتے ہیں اور لکھنے پر آ مادہ کرتے ہیں سیمیں کرن بار بار سنی سنائی کہانیاں پیش نہیں کر تی ہیں ان کے ہاں نمایاں ترین موضوعات میں...
Journalism in Pakistan has passed through successive phases of trials and tribulations. The crises journalism had to undergo since independence had their origin both in the state policies as well as the authoritarianism embedded in the society. The book under review does not claim to divulge into the societal challenges which have emerged more visibly in the last three or four decades, especially, in the context of the spread of religious extremism and ethnic and other types of militancy in the society. Studies need to be done on these aspects as well as the external factors that have had impact on the growth and the content of media. The latter has come in the garb of globalization that has greatly affected the local environment and has come to strongly affect, if not directly dictate, what the media should encompass and present. Leaving the societal and global aspects aside, the role of the state and the successive governments has a lot to offer to be written about by way of what the media has endured in the last seventy plus years. It doesn’t need too much of pondering to conclude that the major pressures over media have come from the governments who, by and large, had been quite at unease with independent flow of information, and criticism of their policies. And, unfortunately, this process had begun right after Independence when newspapers’ and periodicals’ independent voice was tried to be silenced, and they were pressurized to toe the official line with respect to domestic and foreign policies. Pakistan’s independent journey, unfortunately, began with the imposition of black laws which prohibited dissent and curtailed freedom of expression in the strongest possible manner.
The present study was an effort to see the effects of information communication technologies (ICTS) instructional approach, on the academic achievement, retention and interest of higher secondary students. The main objectives were, to find the difference in mathematics achievement in the control and experimental groups before and after the experiment. The present study was experimental in nature and true experimental design was used. Here in this study there was random assignment of the control and experimental groups to two different groups. The accessible population of the present study was the higher secondary school students of the two schools of Dera Ismail Khan (GHSS No4 Dera Ismail and St. Helen Higher Secondary school Dera Ismail Khan). A sample of 60 male students selected from GHSS No 4 DIKhan and a sample of 60 female students was selected from St. Helen’s Higher Secondary School DIKhan. Three instruments (pre-test, post-test, and interest inventory) were used for data collection. The result shows that ICT instructional approach was more effective as compared to the traditional lecture method. The pre –test was achievement test in the subjects of mathematics developed by researchers. This test was to divide the sample into equated groups. The post-test was to check the academic achievement and retention of students after experiment and the interest inventory to check the interest of students in the different methods of teachings. The descriptive as well as inferential statistics were used for analysis of data.