Modified ferriman-gallwey score and hirsutism among normal healthy female population.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of Hirsutism by using the mFG score and to identify the mean mFG score among the normal healthy female population of Peshawar. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 448 normal healthy married women aged between 20 to 40 years from 14th April 2022 to 13th October 2022 at Hayatabad Medical Complex in Peshawar. The mFG score was used to evaluate Hirsutism, a score of eight or above was regarded as indicative of Hirsutism. Results: The mean modified Ferriman-Gallwey (mFG) score was 8.89 ± 4.33. 255 (56.9%) of the individuals had a mFG score of more than 8. These people showed mild hirsutism in 52.0% of cases, moderate hirsutism in 4.5% of cases, and severe hirsutism in 0.4% of cases. It was observed that the lower abdomen and thigh region had the highest prevalence of mild to moderate hirsutism, with a considerable number of individuals scoring two and three. Conversely, the back and buttocks showed predominantly minimal to no hirsutism, with the majority of participants scoring 0 and 1. There was no discernible difference in mean mFG scores between age groups, according to statistical analysis (p=0.195). Intriguingly, rates of hirsutism were found to be higher in urban versus rural populations, at 78.7% versus 36.6%, respectively (p<0.01). In addition, 80.3% of people who had a positive family history of hirsutism had a mFG score of 8 or higher. Conclusion: The prevalence of Hirsutism among the normal healthy female population based on the mFG score was relatively high.

New multitarget directed benzimidazole-2-thiol-based heterocycles as prospective anti-radical and anti-Alzheimer's agents.

A series of new heterocycles (4-18) was synthesized by the structural modification of benzimidazole-2-thiol (BT, 2-MBI). The structures of the synthesized compounds were confirmed with the help of high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) and 1 HNMR spectroscopy. High inhibitions of the oxidants such as ABTS and DPPH were observed for compounds 9 [IC50 (s) = 167.4 µM (ABTS), 139.5 µM (DPPH)], 10 [IC50 (s) = 186.5 µM (ABTS), 155.4 µM (DPPH)], 11 [IC50 (s) = 286.1 µM (ABTS), 189.1 µM (DPPH)], 12 [IC50 (s) = 310.8 µM (ABTS), 162.2 µM (DPPH)], 14 [IC50 (s) = 281.3 µM (ABTS), 205.7 µM (DPPH)], 15 [IC50 (s) = 284.1 µM (ABTS), 177.3 µM (DPPH)], and 16 [IC50 (s) = 344.7 µM (ABTS), 270.2 µM (DPPH)] as compared with Ascorbic acid [IC50 (s) = 340.9 µM (ABTS), 164.3 µM (DPPH)]. The anti-Alzheimer's activity was performed in vitro against cholinesterase enzymes (AChE, BChE). Compound 11 was able to show significant inhibitions [IC50 (s) = 121.2 µM (AChE), 38.3 µM (BChE)] as against that of galantamine [IC50 (s) = 139.4 µM (AChE), 40.3 µM (BChE)]. Compound 14 was found as a very good inhibitor of butyrylcholinesterase (IC50 = 35.4 µM) as compared with standard galantamine. Molecular docking was further performed to investigate the mechanism of anticholinesterase activity.

Financial development and environment in South Asia: the role of institutional quality.

The paper investigates the effect of financial development and institutional quality on the environment in South Asia. Other determinants of environmental quality included are economic growth, energy consumption, FDI, trade openness and institutional quality. For empirical analysis, panel data is used for the period 1984 to 2015. The estimated results indicate that Environmental Kuznet Curve (EKC) hypothesis holds in South Asia, i.e., environment first deteriorates with economic development and then it starts improving. Empirical results reveal that 1% increase in economic growth worsens environment by 1.709%. However, further increase in economic growth improves environment by 0.104%. Energy consumption has deteriorating effect on environment. Financial development has degraded the environment in the region, which indicates that South Asian countries have used financial development for capitalization and not to improve technology. The estimated results show that 1% increase in financial development deteriorates environment by 0.147%. FDI, which is a measure of financial openness, has mitigating effect on pollution. In turn, trade openness has worsened the environmental quality in the region. Institutional quality has significant negative effect on carbon emissions. It also has significant negative moderating effects on carbon emissions. The findings show that 1% improvement in institutional quality will decrease pollution by 0.114%. The study suggests that South Asian countries should focus more on technology effect and not on scale effect of financial development.

Long-term (2007-2013) analysis of aerosol optical properties over four locations in the Indo-Gangetic plains: erratum.

The authors regret the incomplete acknowledgment in Appl. Opt.55, 6199 (2016)APOPAI0003-693510.1364/AO.55.006199.

Observations of black carbon aerosols characteristics over an urban environment: Radiative forcing and related implications.

With observations of black carbon (BC) aerosol concentrations, optical and radiative properties were obtained over the urban city of Karachi during the period of March 2006-December 2008. BC concentrations were continuously measured using an Aethalometer, while optical and radiative properties were estimated through the Optical Properties of Aerosols and Clouds (OPAC) and Santa Barbra DISORT Atmospheric Radiative Transfer (SBDART) models, respectively. For the study period, the measured BC concentrations were higher during January, February and November, while lower during May, June, July and August. A maximum peak value was observed during January 2007 while the minimum value was observed during June 2006. The Short Wave (SW) BC Aerosol Radiative Forcing (ARF) both at Top of the Atmosphere (ToA) and within ATMOSphere (ATMOS) were positive during all the months, whereas negative SW BC ARF was found at the SurFaCe (SFC). Overall, SW BC ARF was higher during January, February and November, while relatively lower ARF was found during May, June, July and August. Conversely, the Long Wave (LW) BC ARF at ToA and SFC remained positive, whereas within ATMOS it shifted towards positive values (heating effect) during June-August. Finally, the net (SW+LW) BC ARF were found to be positive at ToA and in ATMOS, while negative at SFC. Moreover, a systematic increase in Atmospheric Heating Rate (AHR) was found during October to January. Additionally, we found highest correlation between Absorption Aerosol Optical Depth (AODabs) and SW BC ARF within ATMOS followed by SFC and ToA. Overall, the contribution of BC to the total ARF was found to greater than 84% for the whole observational period while contributing up to 93% during January 2007.

Long-term (2007-2013) analysis of aerosol optical properties over four locations in the Indo-Gangetic plains.

The emphasis of the present work lies on the examination of the distribution and spectral behavior of the optical properties of atmospheric aerosols in the Indo-Gangetic plains (IGP). Measurements were performed using an AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) Sun photometer at four sites (Karachi, Lahore, Jaipur, and Kanpur) with different aerosol environments during the period 2007-2013. The aerosol optical depth (AOD) and Ångström exponent (α) were measured, and the results revealed a high AOD with a low α value over Karachi and Jaipur in July, while a high AOD with a high α value was reported over Lahore and Kanpur during October and December. The pattern of the aerosol volume size distribution (VSD) was similar across all four sites, with a prominent peak in coarse mode at a radius of 4.0-5.0 µm, and in fine mode at a radius of 0.1-4.0 µm, for all seasons. On the other hand, during the winter months, the fine-mode peaks were comparable to the coarse mode, which was not the case during the other seasons. The single scattering albedo (SSA) was found to be strongly wavelength-dependent during all seasons and for all sites, with the exception of Kanpur, where the SSA decreases with increasing wavelength during winter and post-monsoon. It was found that the phase function of the atmospheric aerosol was high at a small angle and stable around a scattering angle of 90°-180° at all sites and during all seasons. Spectral variation of the asymmetry parameter (ASY) revealed a decreasing trend with increasing wavelength, and this decreasing trend was more pronounced during the summer, winter, and post-monsoon as compared to pre-monsoon. Furthermore, extensive measurements suggest that both real (RRI) and imaginary (IRI) parts of the refractive index (RI) show contrasting spectral behavior during all seasons. Finally, the analysis of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hybrid single particle Lagrangian integrated trajectory model back trajectory revealed that the seasonal variation in aerosol types was influenced by a contribution of air masses from multiple source locations.