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Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc; Zingiberaceae family) is an herb commonly used as a spice and remedy for a broad spectrum of diseases. The essential oil extracted from ginger is an effective antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antifungal agent. The present study has investigated the variations in yield and chemical composition of essential oils of two cultivars (Chinese and Thailand) of ginger locally available in Pakistan. Two different drying pretreatments were employed to observe the changes in compositional variations of the essential oils of ginger. The essential oil extracted from fresh, oven-dried, and sun-dried samples of two different cultivars of ginger was analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The essential oil yield was found to be highest for the sun-dried sample of each variety. The major compounds (>4%) overall in the essential oil of fresh, oven-dried, and sun-dried ginger samples from Thailand origin were camphene, 3-carene, o-cymene, caryophyllene, α-curcumene, sabinol trans, citral, and santalol. Major compounds overall in the essential oil of fresh, oven-dried, and sun-dried ginger samples of Chinese origin were α-pinene, Camphene, limonene, longicyclene, copaene, longifolene, β-sesquiphellandrene, alloaromadendrene, γ-muurolene, α-curcumene, α-farnesene, and citral. The inter-varietal variations and pretreatment methods considerably affected yield and chemical composition. Cluster analysis was performed to validate the results further. Significantly varying compounds responsible for the significant variation among varieties and treatments of the ginger were identifies by using the heat map. There was clear differentiation among Chinese and Thailand varieties due to the variation in the concentrations of the volatile compounds. The results obtained can be helpful for the ginger growers and end users to choose the ginger variety and the way of use that is more beneficial.

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Objective:  To determine the Prevalence & Severity of depression in Chronic Obstructive Airway Diseases (COPD) patients. Background: Chronic Obstructive Airway Disease is a chronic heterogeneous disease that is also progressive. Depression is a common entity in chronic diseases. COPD causes long-term respiratory symptoms and depression is commonly found in these patients. The symptoms of these two diseases are overlapping and depression in COPD patients’ needs to be diagnosed and adequately treated. Untreated patients lead to poor control of respiratory symptoms and further deterioration of the illness. Our study aimed to determine prevalence and severity of depression in COPD patients using HAM-D score. Material and Methods: This study was conducted in Medicine & Pulmonology OPD, Fuji Foundation Hospital, Rawalpindi from August 2019 to February 2021. Using a cross sectional study design, a total of 169 cases of COPD were recruited and tested for the presence of absence of depression using the HAM-D rating scale and observations were recorded. Results: Total 169 patients recruited in this study with female & male percentage of 59% and 47% respectively.  The Mean duration of illness was 11.5 years ± 6.48. The incidence of Anxiety & Depression was high (45% and 36%) in moderate to severe disease with total prevalence of 54 % among participants in the study. Conclusion: Anxiety & depression is commonly prevalent in COPD patients. Female patients are found to have more psychological disturbance irrespective to their COPD severity. Psychological impairment must be carefully evaluated in patients having COPD.

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Background: Hepatitis C is the leading cause of liver damage that lead to death if left untreated. Sofosbuvir has recently attained enormous success due to high rate of virological response. Recent studies have shown that addition of vitamin D to antiviral therapy improves the efficacy of treatment in patients with Hepatitis C. Objective: To compare the frequency of virological response in hepatitis C patients treated with vitamin D along with sofosbuvir plus ribavirin to those treated with sofosbuvir plus ribavirin only Study Design: Randomized-controlled-trial Place and Duration of Study: Department of Medicine, Pak Emirates Military Hospital, Rawalpindi from 1st November 2017 to 30th April 2018. Methodology: One hundred patients of chronic hepatitis C were included. Patients were randomly divided into two groups; group A receiving vitamin D along with sofosbuvir plus ribavirin and group B receiving sofosbuvir plus ribavirin therapy only. Patients were treated for 6 months and their RVR was monitored. Results: The mean age of patients in combination group was 39.0±12.92 years and in control group were 36.66±13.80years. After 4 weeks, RVR (no HCV RNA detected on PCR) was achieved in 31 (62%) cases in combination group while in 19 (38%) cases there was still HCV RNA present. In control group, RVR could be achieved in 18 (36%) cases while in 32 (64%) cases, RVR could not be achieved. The difference was significant between both groups (p<0.05). Conclusion: The addition of vitamin D can help in achieving RVR in >50% cases within 4 weeks. So addition of vitamin D in standard therapy may help to improve the quality of treatment. Keywords: Rapid virological response, Hepatitis C, 25-OH vitamin D, Sofosbuvir, Ribavirin