Fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) having economic importance because of pest attacking throughout the world on various fruits and vegetables. The genus of fruit flies; Bactrocera are serious pests of fruits and vegetables, hence the studies were carried out to find out the level of fruit fly infestation, comparison of fruit fly attractants and molecular identification of fruit fly species in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The trials were laid out in randomized complete block design, replicated three times on various fruits and vegetables in KP during 2010 and 2011. The experimental studies were carried out on Guava at Kohat, Peach at Swat and Bitter gourd at Charsada. The data of infestation were recorded on counting healthy and infested fruits and vegetable randomly. Findings of the study showed that fruit fly infestation gradually gained from mid April and reached to its peaks in mid August and then dropped till mid November in Guava orchards. In case of Peach orchards, fruit fly infestation varied during the study periods in both the years (2010 & 2011). The infestation increased from mid April and gained its peaks in August and thereafter started declined till October. In similar way, fruit flies infestation in Bitter gourd at Charsada reached to highest percentage in months of August, drastically decreased and the lowest records were in the month of November. It was concluded that the presence of fruit fly was recorded in all the three orchards throughout their crop seasons and this window is considered a critical one in the management of fruit fly. The findings of three different attractants i.e, Methyl eugenol (M.E), Cue lure (C.L) and PPr-Product (locally made protein/yeast autolysate based) showed that significant variation for the captured of fruit flies among attractants and observational dates in Guava, Peach and Bitter gourd orchards. M.E trapped more fruit flies as compared PPr-Product and C.L traps in Guava and Peach orchards whereas higher number of fruit flies was captured by PPr-Product as compared to both C.L and M.E traps in Bitter gourd orchards. Higher capture of Bactrocera zonata and Bactrocera dorsalis in Guava and Peach orchards was recorded by M. E whereas C.L attracted more Bactrocera. cucuribitae as compared to M.E traps for Peach, Guava and Bitter gourd orchards. More number B. zonata and B. dorsalis captured by PPr-Product in Bitter gourd. The PPr-Product traps were found more effective against all three types of female adults flies whereas M.E traps captured more B. zonata and B. dorsalis while C.L captured more male adults of B. cucurbitae in xiPeach, Bitter gourd and Guava orchards. For molecular analysis of five major Tephritids fruit fly species (B. zonata, B. dorsalis, B. cucurbitae, Bactrocera tau and Myiopardalis pardalin) the mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase (COI) gene was amplified using primers previously described for the conserved region and the amplified products were subjected to RFLP analysis and sequencing. Analysis of the PCR-RFLP profile of COI gene using primers LCOI and HCOI and restriction enzymes (PstI, HincII, HaeIII, BamHI and SspI) revealed that the five different restriction enzymes could efficiently differentiate among the Five (05) major fruit fly species analyzed in this study. Furthermore, sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of fruit fly species based upon the COI gene revealed species-specific distinct evolutionary trends.
شہزاد ش شاہِ طیبہ کی محبت کا سدا نغمہ گزار ہ ہر عمل اُس کا جمالِ مصطفیؐ کا عکس بار ز زادِ رہ اس کا فقط وصفِ حبیب کردگار ا ایک شاعر ، اک محقق ، اک ادیبِ زر نگار د دستِ فن سے نعت گوئی کا سلیقہ آشکار احمد ا اس کا ہر اک نقشِ خدمت ، آب دار و تاب دار ح حمدِ باری ، مدحِ احمد، اُس کا عجز و افتخار م مدحتِ خیرالبشرؐ کے گل ستاں کا نوبہار د دانش و حکمت میں یکتا ، بزمِ فن کا شہریار! از جمشیدکمبوہ
Travancore was the first and foremost among the princely states of India to receive the message of Jesus Christ. According to tradition, St. Thomas the Apostle came to India in 52 A.D. He made many conversions along the west coast of India. It had to the beginning of the Christian Community in India from the early Christian era. He attained martyrdom in 72 A.D. At Calamina in St. Thomas mount, Madras. He was the first to be sacrificed for the sake of Christ in India. During the close of the second century A.D. The Gospel reached the people of southern most part of India, Travancore. Emperor Constantine deputed Theophilus to India in 354 A.D. To preach the Gospel. During this time the persecution of Christians in Persia seemed to have brought many Christian refugees to Malabar coast and after their arrival it strengthened the Christian community there. During the 4th century A.D. Thomas of Cana, a merchant from West Asia came to Malabar and converted many people. During the 6th century A.D. Theodore, a monk, visited India and reported the existence of a church and a few Christian groups at Mylapore and the monastery of St. Thomas in India. Joannes De Maringoly, Papal Legate who visited Malabar in 1348 has given evidence of the existence of a Latin Church at Quilon. Hosten noted many settlements from Karachi to Cape Comorin and from Cape Comorin to Mylapore. The Portuguese were the first European power to establish their power in India. Under the Portuguese, Christians experienced several changes in their general life and religion. Vas-co-da-gama reached Calicut on May 17, 1498. His arrival marked a new epoch in the history of Christianity in India. Many Syrian Catholics were brought into the Roman Catholic fold and made India, the most Catholic country in the East. Between 1535 to 1537 a group of Paravas were converted to Christianity by the Portuguese. In 1544 a group of fishermen were converted to Christian religion. St. Francis Xavier came to India in the year 1542. He is known as the second Apostle of India. He laid the foundation of Latin Christianity in Travancore. He could make many conversions. He is said to have baptized 30,000 people in South India. Roman Congregation of the propagation of Faith formed a Nemom Mission in 1622. The conversion of the Nairs was given much priority. As a result, several Nairs followed Christian faith particularly around Nemom about 8 k.m. South of Trivandrum. Ettuvitu pillaimars, the feudal chiefs began to persecute the Christians of the Nemom Mission. Martyr Devasahayam, belonged to the Nair community and was executed during the reign of Marthandavarma (1729-1758). It is an important chapter in the History of Christianity in South India in general, and of Travancore in particular.
Genetic disorders are a major cause of disabling conditions in regions of the world with high rates of consanguinity. Pakistan has a tradition of consanguineous marriages and therefore a high prevalence of Mendelian disorders. Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome and autosomal recessive spastic ataxia of Charlevoix-Saguenay affect peripheral nerves leading to severe foot deformity. Cerebral palsy, ataxia telangiectasia and hereditary multiple exostoses are some examples of the disorders that renders a person incapable of spending a normal life style. Such abnormalities may incapacitate the socioeconomic development of a country by putting forth major burden with respect to providing health care facilities. Importantly, ensuring the normality of a fetus will likely decrease the number of pregnancies a couple may have thereby decreasing the burden on society and family. Recent advancements in genomics enable genetic screening of large cohorts. Next generation sequencing technologies are used to identify genes, gene variants and variable expression associated with specific phenotypes. Exonic regions are known to contain most of the variants responsible for Mendelian disorders. Traditional approaches like linkage analysis and Sanger sequencing of candidate genes are costly or time consuming and a large samples size is required for this purpose. In this study ten inbred families from Pakistan were investigated using whole exome sequencing as a diagnostic and mutation identifying tool. Variants form whole exome sequencing were prioritized based on their functional relevance, disease association, pedigree information, inheritance pattern and pathogenicity scores using bioinformatics software. All the variants were validated through Sanger sequencing to rule out errors. Five novel mutations and two previously reported mutations were identified in this study. These variants were also evaluated for their functional impact using various bioinformatics tools. The findings in this study will help in understanding the disease mechanism and related pathways as well as annotating various entities of genome. The incidence of these disorders in Pakistan can be reduced through efficient carrier screening, genetic counseling, prenatal diagnosis and improved therapeutic approaches.