OCCURRENCE OF LOWER EXTREMITY MUSCULOSKELETAL INJURIES DURING THE LOCKDOWN IN ATHLETES

Background of the Study: Lockdown was implemented worldwide to limit the spread of COVID-19. This sudden implementation of lockdown causes significant lifestyle changes for every individual. Along with the general population, it also has psychological, behavioral, and physical consequences on athletes. The study objective is to determine the occurrence of lower extremity musculoskeletal injuries during the COVID-19 lockdown in athletes. Methodology: Retrospective cross-sectional study design was used, and participants were recruited by a non-probability convenient sampling technique. A sample size of 147 was taken as calculated by the Raosoft software, and the study was completed 6 months. Both male and female athletes between the age group of 18-35 years, participants who did not participate in any official training session during the lockdown and registered at domestic level for at least 2 years were recruited from Pakistan Sports Board and Wapda Sports Complex Lahore. Data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire was used to identify the problematic painful areas of body. Data entry, analysis, and interpretation were done by using SPSS software version 22.0. Results: The mean age and BMI of participants were 25.6531±4.49 (years) and 23.28±3.24 (kg/m2) respectively. From the total, 39.5% of participants reported lower extremity musculoskeletal injuries. And most reported problematic areas include lower back and knee. 75% of participants continue to do workouts at home as a prevention strategy against injury occurrence. Conclusion: This concluded that the occurrence of lower extremity musculoskeletal injuries during the lockdown was moderate.

Next Generation Mixed Matrix Membranes for Co2 Separations Aimed at Energy & Environmental Issues

Next Generation Mixed Matrix Membranes for CO2 Separations aimed at Energy & Environmental Issues The gas separation process is mainly governed by membrane technology in different industries. Currently, gas separations acquire a membrane market of over four hundred million dollars per year which comprise 24% of the overall membrane market. The components of feed mixture can be efficiently separated via membranes, which exhibit promising potential, based on size, shape and physiochemical properties of the components. Generally, inorganic membranes (e.g. alumina, zeolite, carbon etc.) exhibit high separation efficiency and can withstand under high thermal and chemical exposure than polymeric membranes. However, their commercial application is limited due to some disadvantages such as their brittleness, difficult processing and high cost. In past decades, polymeric membranes have attracted the attention of researchers due to their promising intrinsic advantages of efficient removal of unwanted gases from feed stream economically. Gas separation membranes are efficiently used for natural gas treatment, hydrogen recovery, and oxygen and nitrogen recovery from air. The aim of this research work was to fabricate promising mixed matrix membranes with superior CO2 selectivities and high permeabilities at high temperatures and pressures. In chapter 2 of this thesis, MMMs were synthesized comprising of F-SPEEK polymer and zeolite 4A as filler. Gas separation studies for both pure and mixed gases were examined and results revealed the considerable increase in permeability and selectivity at higher filler loadings. Moreover, the combined effect of sulfonic and fluorine groups in the polymer matrix significantly improved molecular sieving effect, fixed pores and high free volume which resulted in enhanced gas separation performance. The increasing permselectivity of F-SPEEK/4A MMMs proved to be an effective material for CO2 sequestration. Chapter 3 deals with Bio-MOF-11 based PSf MMMs for CO2 separation. BioMOFs are the sub-class of MOFs which have Lewis basic sites in their structures. BioMOF-11 consists of nitrogenous base adenine with five nitrogen in the ring which has a strong affinity towards CO2 gas molecules. The gas separation results showed outstanding. CO2 permeabilities (upto 210%) and selectivities (upto 100%) at higher MOF loadings as compared to pure polymer. These performances were attributed to the cobalt-adeninateacetate paddle wheel clusters. Chapter 4 focusses on the investigation of highly stable zirconium based MOF UiO66. MOF particles first functionalized with the sulfonic group which was grafted by the silane coupling agent MPTMS. Sulfonic group imparted high separation properties to the UiO-66 MOF. PSf was used as a polymer matrix and MMMs were synthesized of nonfunctionalized and functionalized UiO-66 and their results were compared. The ideal and mixed gas performance of the synthesized MMMs was investigated by DSC, SEM and results from density and FFV measurements that proved good MOF‐polymer adhesion. Moreover, the MMMs exhibited high CO2 permeabilities and selectivities and proved this material promising for the CO2 separation. PIM-1 and Cu-MOF based MMMs were studied in chapter 5 of this thesis. PIM-1 is well-known for its high rigid backbone structure, interconnected voids and high free volume, high permeabilities ranging from several hundred to thousands (3000-8000 barrer) and comparable selectivities. Cu-MOF consists of a paddle wheel structure which on incorporation with PIM-1 results in high stability and superior gas separation performance.