144 research outputs found
The tadpoles of Murree Hills Frog Nanorana vicina (Anura: Dicroglossidae)
No full textGill, Sumbul, Rais, Muhammad, Saeed, Muhammad, Ahmed, Waseem, Akram, Ayesha (2020): The tadpoles of Murree Hills Frog Nanorana vicina (Anura: Dicroglossidae). Zootaxa 4759 (3): 440-442, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4759.3.1
FIGURE 1 in The tadpoles of Murree Hills Frog Nanorana vicina (Anura: Dicroglossidae)
No full textFIGURE 1. Tadpoles of Murree Hills Frog (Nanorana vicina). Lateral (A), dorsal (B), ventral (C) views, and detail of the oral disc (D).Published as part of Gill, Sumbul, Rais, Muhammad, Saeed, Muhammad, Ahmed, Waseem & Akram, Ayesha, 2020, The tadpoles of Murree Hills Frog Nanorana vicina (Anura: Dicroglossidae), pp. 440-442 in Zootaxa 4759 (3) on page 441, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4759.3.11, http://zenodo.org/record/374212
Figure 3 from: Rais M, Ahmed W, Sajjad A, Akram A, Saeed M, Hamid HN, Abid A (2021) Amphibian fauna of Pakistan with notes on future prospects of research and conservation. ZooKeys 1062: 157-175. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1062.66913
No full textFigure 3 A Skittering Frog (Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis) B Skittering Frog (Euphlyctis kalasgramensis) C Pierrei's Cricket Frog (Minervarya pierrei) D Murree Hills Frog (Nanorana vicina) E, F Burrowing Frog (Sphaerotheca maskeyi). Photographers: Dr Muhammad Rais (A, C–F); Waqas Ali (B)
Figure 1 from: Rais M, Ahmed W, Sajjad A, Akram A, Saeed M, Hamid HN, Abid A (2021) Amphibian fauna of Pakistan with notes on future prospects of research and conservation. ZooKeys 1062: 157-175. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1062.66913
No full textFigure 1 A Iranian Toad (Bufotes surdus) B Batura Toad (Bufotes baturae) C Himalayan Toad (Duttaphrynus himalayanus) D Ladakh Toad (Bufotes latastii) E Baloch Green Toad (Bufotes zugmayeri) F Swat Green Toad (Bufotes pseudoraddei). Photographers: Dr Spartak Litvinchuk (A–D, F); Muhammad Sharif Khan (E)
In Vitro Cytotoxicity and Morphological Assessments of GO-ZnO against the MCF-7 Cells: Determination of Singlet Oxygen by Chemical Trapping
No full textGraphene-based materials have attracted considerable interest owing to their distinctive characteristics, such as their biocompatibility in terms of both their physical and intrinsic chemical properties. The use of nanomaterials with graphene as a biocompatible agent has increased due to an uptick in dedication from biomedical investigators. Here, GO-ZnO was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX), and Raman spectroscopy for structural, morphological, and elemental analysis. The toxic extent of GO-ZnO was noted by a methyl-thiazole-tetrazolium (MTT), while cellular morphology was observed towards the MCF-7 cells using an inverted microscope at magnification 40 x. The cytotoxic effect of GO-ZnO investigated the cell viability reduction in a dose-dependent manner, as well as prompted the cell demise /destruction in an apoptotic way. Moreover, statistical analysis was performed on the experimental outcomes, with p-values < 0.05 kept as significant to elucidate the results. The generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) demonstrated the potential applicability of graphene in tumor treatment. These key results attest to the efficacy of GO-ZnO nanocomposites as a substantial candidate for breast malignancy treatment
Effects of Soil Water Deficit on Three Tree Species of the Arid Environment: Variations in Growth, Physiology, and Antioxidant Enzyme Activities
No full textLow water availability predicted under climate change is a major abiotic factor limiting plants growth and productivity. In this study a greenhouse experiment was conducted on three important tree species of arid environment: Conocarpus erectus (CE), Acacia modesta (AM), and Salix tetrasperma (ST). Young saplings were subjected to control (C), medium (MWD) and severe soil water deficit (SWD) treatments and response was evaluated. Results showed that in all the three species leaf, stem and root dry weight production remained similar to C under MWD treatment but decreased significantly under SWD. The highest decrease in total dry weight was noticed in ST and the lowest was evidenced in AM under SWD. Root:shoot ratio increased significantly in both CE and AM under MWD and SWD. Furthermore, chlorophyll content decreased while proline content increased significantly in both MWD and SWD treatments. The production of oxidants (hydrogen peroxide and superoxide anions) and antioxidants (superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase and ascorbate peroxidase) increased significantly under both MWD and SWD treatments and were the highest in AM in both MWD and SWD treatments. Therefore, we may conclude that all the three species can tolerate medium water stress due to increased root production and an effective antioxidant defense mechanism
Nanorana vicina
No full text. Murree Hills Frog N. vicina , is an endemic species of Southeast Asian uplands in Pakistan and India and was first reported by Stoliczka (1872) from Murree, Punjab Province, Pakistan. Later Rais et al. (2014) recaptured it from its type locality and described morphology of one juvenile female and one adult male. The species is listed as Least Concern in IUCN Red List of Threatened Species while the EDGE (Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered) score is 2.64. In Pakistan, it is reported from brook water springs and streams of Murree, Galiat (North Punjab), Ayubia (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), and parts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (Rais et al. 2014). Although the adult form has been characterized (Khan 2006; Rais et al. 2014), the morphology of the tadpoles have not yet been described. The current study aimed to describe external morphology and morphometry of tadpoles of N. vicina. We collected 154 tadpoles during March 2018 from the streams of Village Perhana (UTMX 358388.4, UTMY 3745826.6, zone 43), Tehsil Murree, District Rawalpindi, Province Punjab, Pakistan. All were studied alive and later one tadpole of each Gosner (1960) stage (26 to 41) was euthanized and preserved in 20% Bouin’s solution (Khan 1982). The samples were housed at the lab of Department of Wildlife Management at PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, with voucher numbers SG-19926 to SG-19941. The morphological terminology followed Altig (2007) and McDiarmid and Altig (1999). Twenty tadpoles of stage 36 (SG-19936) were used to describe the external morphology. The photographs were taken with the help of Canon EOS D60 DSLR with EF-S 18–55 mm lens. Eighteen variables were measured with INSIZE Electronic Calipers series 1112 (0.01 mm). One specimen at stage 36 was studied using scanning electron microscope (2380 N Hitachi) for studying the oral apparatus at Central Hi-Tech Lab, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan. Description of tadpoles. The morphological measurements are given in mm as mean ± standard error: total length (TL) = 50.96 ± 4.14, snout-vent distance (SVL) = 22.37 ± 1.45, body length (BL) = 18.9 ± 1.48, maximum body width (MBW) = 10.76 ± 0.95, body height (BH) = 6.52 ± 0.87, eye diameter (ED) = 1.8 ± 0.23, internarial distance (IND) = 1.66 ± 0.26, interorbital distance (IOD) = 3.93 ± 0.52, snout-narial distance (SND) = 2.33 ± 0.44, orbito-narial distance (OND) = 1.33 ± 0.28, snout-spiracle distance (SSD) = 12.14 ± 0.87, tail length (TLL) = 36.55 ± 3.46, maximum tail height (MTH) = 7.17 ± 0.85, tail muscle height (TMH) = 5.16 ± 0.7, tail muscle width (TMW) = 4.58 ± 0.56, dorsal fin height (DFH) = 2.44 ± 0.33, ventral fin height (VFH) = 2.36 ± 0.37 and oral disc width (ODW) = 5.84 ± 0.49. The tadpoles were medium sized. Body depressed in lateral view (Fig. 1A) and oval in dorsal view (Fig. 1B); longer than broad (BL/MBW = 1.76) and broader than deep (MDW/BH = 1.67). Snout broad and round in dorsal view, slightly sloped and pointed in lateral view. Interorbital distance more than twice the internarial distance (IOD/IND = 2.4). Nares small, rounded, slightly rimmed and closer to eyes than snout (SND/END = 1.79). Eyes round, small, positioned dorsally and directed dorsolaterally (Fig. 1B). Spiracle single, sinistral, distinct, oval opening, posterodorsally directed, spiracular tube attached to the body, visible in lateral, dorsal and ventral views. Tail robust, muscular and well-developed, more than 1.5 times longer than body length (TLL/BL = 1.93), tail length five times the tail height (TLL/MTH = 5.13), tail height similar to body height (MTH/BH = 1.11); tail tip widely rounded. Tail muscle height slightly greater than tail muscle width (TMH/TMW = 1.13), dorsal and ventral fin origin nonparallel, fins of same height (DFH/VFH = 1.04), tail muscle height more than twice dorsal fin height (TMH/DFH = 2.14) and ventral fin height (TMH/VFH = 2.22). Dorsal fin originates posteriorly on the body; ventral fin originates attached to the vent tube. Vent tube medial, attached to the left side of the ventral tail fin with dextral opening (Fig. 1C). Oral disc medium sized (MBW/ODW = 1.85), anteroventral, not emarginated. Marginal papillae continuous on posterior labium with a wide dorsal gap on anterior labium; submarginal papillae larger, arranged in a single row in posterior labium and some scattered at the lateral margins of the anterior labium and posterior labium. Labial tooth row formula (LTRF) 5(3-5)/3(1). The jaw sheaths fully keratinized, dark, serrated (22 serrations/mm), upper sheath widely arched and lower sheath wide ‘V’-shaped (Fig. 1D). Labial teeth (35/ 0.5 mm) with narrow base and head with multiple cusps. Color in life. The body dorsum was dark, greenish-brown or greenish-gray, while the ventral side was transparent with visible digestive tract. Tail was greenish-gray in dorsal view having dark greenish-brown speckles. In lateral view tail muscle was darker dorsally and gradually became lighter creamish-green color ventrally. The speckles also decreased gradually from dorsal to ventral side and anterior to posterior side of the tail. Color in preservative: The body dorsum dark, green in appearance; ventral side yellow with visible intestines. Yellow staining due to picric acid in Bouin’s solution (Fig. 1 A, B and C). The comparison of the tadpoles of Nanorana vicina with other studied tadpoles of the genus, N. aenea, N. unculuanus, N. chayuensis, N. conaensis, N. maculosa, N. medogensis, N. taihangnica, N. parkeri, N. pleskei and N. ventripunc- tata, showed that the posterior labium had three labial tooth rows with one medially interrupted 3(1) in all species while five anterior tooth rows of N. vicina was a shared character with N. conaensis. Two rows of papillae on posterior labium were also common in all except N. parkeri and N. pleskei tadpoles. Tail end was also round in most with the exception of N. chayuensis and N. maculosa (Chuaynkern et al. 2018; Fei et al. 2012). The tadpole of Murree Hills Frog (Nanorana vicina) were type IV Orton (1953) and type 5 Inthara et al. (2005) larvae. Some features, such as anteroventral oral disc, dorsoventrally flattened body and low tail fins, are frequent in tadpoles of shallow, permanent lotic water bodies (Ampai et al. 2015). The anteroventral placement of the oral disc, and the structure of keratinized mouthparts suggest a detritivorous and suspension-rasper feeding ecology (Khan & Mufti 1994). The description of Nanorana vicina provides an essential morphological basis for the identification and classification. Further study on buccopharyngeal morphology, diet analysis and population dynamics may help understand natural history of the species.Published as part of Gill, Sumbul, Rais, Muhammad, Saeed, Muhammad, Ahmed, Waseem & Akram, Ayesha, 2020, The tadpoles of Murree Hills Frog Nanorana vicina (Anura: Dicroglossidae), pp. 440-442 in Zootaxa 4759 (3) on pages 440-442, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4759.3.11, http://zenodo.org/record/374212
Extensions of Dombi Aggregation Operators for Decision Making under m-Polar Fuzzy Information
No full textAn m-polar fuzzy set is a powerful mathematical model to analyze multipolar, multiattribute, and multi-index data. The m-polar fuzzy sets have appeared as a useful tool to portray uncertainty in multiattribute decision making. The purpose of this article is to analyze the aggregation operators under the m-polar fuzzy environment with the help of Dombi norm operations. In this article, we develop some averaging and geometric aggregation operators using Dombi t-norm and t-conorm to handle uncertainty in m-polar fuzzy (mF, henceforth) information, which are mF Dombi weighted averaging (mFDWA) operator, mF Dombi ordered weighted averaging (mFDOWA) operator, mF Dombi hybrid averaging (mFDHA) operator, mF Dombi weighted geometric (mFDWG) operator, mF Dombi weighted ordered geometric operator, and mF Dombi hybrid geometric (mFDHG) operator. We investigate properties, namely, idempotency, monotonicity, and boundedness, for the proposed operators. Moreover, we give an algorithm to solve multicriteria decision-making issues which involve mF information with mFDWA and mFDWG operators. To prove the validity and feasibility of the proposed model, we solve two numerical examples with our proposed models and give comparison with mF-ELECTRE-I approach (Akram et al. 2019) and mF Hamacher aggregation operators (Waseem et al. 2019). Finally, we check the effectiveness of the developed operators by a validity test
Interspecific Differences in Physiological and Biochemical Traits Drive the Water Stress Tolerance in Young <i>Morus alba</i> L. and <i>Conocarpus erectus</i> L. Saplings
No full textMitigating climate change requires the identification of tree species that can tolerate water stress with fewer negative impacts on plant productivity. Therefore, the study aimed to evaluate the water stress tolerance of young saplings of C. erectus and M. alba under three soil water deficit treatments (control, CK, 90% field capacity, FC, medium stress MS, 60% FC and high stress, HS, 30% FC) under controlled conditions. Results showed that leaf and stem dry weight decreased significantly in both species under MS and HS. However, root dry weight and root/shoot ratio increased, and total dry weight remained similar to CK under MS in C. erectus saplings. Stomatal conductance, CO2 assimilation rate decreased, and intrinsic water use efficiency increased significantly in both species under MS and HS treatments. The concentration of hydrogen peroxide, superoxide radical, malondialdehyde and electrolyte leakage increased in both the species under soil water deficit but was highest in M. alba. The concentration of antioxidative enzymes like superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, catalase, and ascorbate peroxidase also increased in both species under MS and HS but was highest in C. erectus. Therefore, results suggest that C. erectus saplings depicted a better tolerance to MS due to an effective antioxidative enzyme system
Inhalation performance analysis of dry powder inhaler
Get PDFDry powder inhalers (DPIs) are commonly used to treat respiratory diseases, particularly asthma, lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, by delivering medications directly to the lungs. This review explores the influence of key formulation parameters such as particle size, morphology, surface roughness, and excipients on the inhalation performance and efficiency of DPIs. A comprehensive analysis of recent studies was performed to understand how these variables affect aerosolization and inhalation performance. The findings highlight that particle size is directly correlated with fine particle fraction (FPF), smaller particles (<5 µm) exhibit higher FPF (~80 %), and are suitable for targeting lower airways. Regarding morphology, elongated or needle-shaped particles experience an increased aerodynamic drag, aiding their deposition in the lower regions of the respiratory tract. In contrast, particles with smooth surfaces exhibit less interparticle adhesion and cohesion forces, leading to improved dispersion and aerosolization. Moreover, the incorporation of lubricant is shown to occupy the binding sites of the carrier, reduce agglomeration, and promote aerosolization and delivery efficiency of DPIs. In conclusion, DPIs offer strong potential to achieve targeted delivery to designated regions of the upper and lower respiratory tract through particle size modulation and formulation approaches
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