DIRECT SCIENCES: SOLVING PROBLEMS THROUGH SCIENTIFIC NETWORKING

Emissions from vehicles possess various pollutants which cause worst form of environmental pollution. Various pollutants of vehicles altered parameters of exposed vegetation. Increase in vehicles pollution may also increase effect of vehicles-emitted pollutants on vegetation. It affects mainly the photosynthetic pigments, respiratory activities, enzymatic activities, uptake of water etc. Present review highlights the impacts of road side pollutants like sulphur dioxide, carbon mono oxide, nitrous oxide, lead compounds and some heavy metals e.g. cadmium, copper, chromium and zinc on aerial parts of plants. Cited literature reveals that the commonly affected plants by road-side traffic pollution are Azadirachta indica , Dalbergia sissoo, Cassia surattensis, Leucaenaleu cocephala and Parkinsonia aculeates, Alstonias cholaris, Cassia siamea, Allium sativum etc. in Pakistan. It is concluded that vehicles emission had significant effect on the various parameters of the plants.

Road side pollution, Vehicles, Environment, Vegetation

Malaria has been one of the leading public health concerns worldwide particularly in developing countries. This study was aimed to determine malarial prevalence in local population of district Kohat in Khyber-Pakhthunkhwa province of Pakistan, within the study tenure of three months (April to June). Total 560 blood samples from suspected individuals were collected. These samples were then subjected to microscopic detection of Plasmodium by developing thin and thick blood smears followed by giemsa staining. Among all collected samples, only 137 (24.46%) samples were positive for malaria. Further investigation showed that out of positive samples, 129 persons (94.16%) were infected with Plasmodium vivax while remaining 8 persons (5.84%) were infected with Plasmodium falciparum. Highest number of infected-ratio (35.77%) belonged to the age group “11-20 years”, while least prevalence (2.19%) was found in age group “51 years and above”. Malarial infection ratio was higher in males 54.74% compared to females 45.26%. It has been concluded from the study that the malarial prevalence is high in Kohat, which may be due to the availability of favorable breeding places for malarial parasites and lack of effective preventive measures in study area.

Malaria, Palsmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, Kohat District, Epidemiology

To study the Antibiotic resistance determination of S. aureus isolates and screening for MRSA. This was in-vitro study on MRSA isolates received from clinical samples in the department of microbiology during three months (January 2015-March 2015). Staphylococci were identified by catalase, coagulase and DNAse tests. The samples were cultured on blood agar and MacConkey-s agar plates. Antibiotic susceptibility tests were carried out by disc diffusion method. The disc used was Amikacin (30μg), Doxycycline (30μg), Co-trim0oxazole (25μg), Gentamicin (10μg), Penicilin (10μg), Erythromycin (15μg), Clindamycin (2μg), Vancomycin (30μg), Linezolid (30μg), Cefoxitin (30μg), Fusidic acid (10 g), Chloramphenicol (30μg) and Ciprofloxacin (5μg). Our results indicate that out of 112 positive isolates of S. aureus, 34 (30.35%) were found to be MRSA. These isolates were also resistant to different commonly prescribed other anti-staphylococcal antibiotics. A total of 34 (30.35%) MRSA was isolated from various clinical samples. The susceptibility of MRSA to antibiotics is changing. Upon the isolation of MRSA isolates many of them showed resistance against different antibiotics.

Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Antimicrobial susceptibility pattern, Pus swab, Rawalpindi, Pakistan