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BACKGROUND: In its recent report 'Human Reproductive Technologies and the Law', the House of Commons' Select Committee on Science and Technology called for greater efforts to establish the potential demographic impact of sex selection across all sectors of UK society. Given the well-known preference for boys over girls among some communities, there is concern that a readily available service for social sex selection may upset the balance of the sexes. Of particular interest are the gender preferences and the demand for sex selection among Pakistanis. METHODS: We conducted a social survey on gender preferences and potential demand for preconception sex selection among 301 pregnant women in Karachi, Pakistan, using a self-report questionnaire consisting of 14 questions. RESULTS: About 41.5% wish to have a family with an equal number of boys and girls; 3.3% would like to have only boys, 1.0% only girls, 27.6% more boys than girls and 4.3% more girls than boys, and 22.3% stated that they do not care about the sex composition of their family. Whereas 6.3% could imagine employing cytometric sperm separation for social sex selection, 76.1% could not and 17.6% were undecided. About 27.2% felt that social sex selection ought to be legal, 48.8% thought it ought to be illegal and 23.9% were undecided. CONCLUSIONS: Although Pakistani women do show a statistically significant preference for boys over girls, the number of women willing to subject themselves to cytometric sperm separation appears to be too small to cause a severe imbalance of the sexes. However, further research among British citizens of Pakistani origin is needed to establish whether sex selection poses a serious threat to the sex ratio of UK communities.

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This research is about the effectiveness of ventilation systems for human thermal comfort concerning the height of the ceilings which contribute to green building structures, especially for residential areas. One of the greatest challenges in architecture is the cost of mechanical ventilation and the need for energy demand for cooling in hot and humid climates. The study is based on quantitative data of the selected houses, keeping constant the areas, location, elevation features, plant placement, and open spaces. Temperature records for 20 days of 10 low ceiling houses (LCH) and 10 high ceiling houses (HCH) with ventilators, 200 observations each, are compared using independent sample t-test. The mean temperature is 15.31°C in LCH and 13.88°C in HCH, with the difference of 1.43°C so the alternative hypothesis that there is a significant difference between the average temperature of LCH and HCH with ventilators, is accepted. The other benefits of ventilation cannot be ignored which we get in the high ceiling houses. This would also help to reduce moisture, smoke, odor, heat, dust, and bacteria.

Purpose: At present, the world is in the grip of COVID-19, a new health threat that has been declared a pandemic. To reduce the number of COVID-19 cases, preventive measures such as lockdowns and social distancing have been adopted. This situation is a cause of psychological stress for humans, especially among the youth. This study was conducted to analyze the stress levels of university students and the factors that contributed to reduction in stress levels. Methodology: A sample of 997 students was taken from the University of Home Economics Lahore. The data was collected through a detailed online survey and presented graphically with the help of tables and graphs. The impact of family size, family setup, and house size, the presence of kids and pets at home as well as religious following on stress levels was studied using chi-square tests and tests of correlation. Findings: Significant correlations were found supporting the idea that all of the aforementioned factors played a significant role in reducing stress levels among the young students. Practical implications: This research will help the educators and psychologists tackle students’ stress issues during social distancing. This research is an addition to the existing literature developed during COVID-19.

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Scorpion venom contains a variety of neurotoxins which interact with ion channels and affect their activities. The present study was designed to evaluate the potential of scorpion venom as acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor by using Aedes aegypti as model organism. Venoms of two species, Hottentota tamulus (Fabricus, 1798) and Androctonus finitimus (Pocock, 1897) were selected for this study. Two peptides (36 kDa from H. tamulus and 54 kDa from A. finitimus) were separated from scorpion venom by using HPLC. Selected peptides caused significantly higher mortality in larvae and adults of Aedes aegypti than control (no mortalities were observed in control groups). Significant acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory potential of both peptides was recorded by spectrophotometer. The peptide of A. finitimus caused significantly higher mortality (95±1.53% in larvae and 100% in adults) than the peptide of H. tamulus (84.33±2.33% in larvae and 95.37±1.45% in adults). While H. tamulus peptide was more efficient in reducing AChE activity (0.029±0.012 in larvae and 0.03±0.003 in adults) than the peptide of A. finitimus (0.049±0.005 in larvae and 0.047±0.001 in adults). It was concluded that H. tamulus venom peptide was more efficiently reducing AChE activity, thus it could be a potential bio-insecticide which can be synthesized at industrial scale for the control of harmful insects.