D escending into Peshawar for the first time, a foreign tourist might be surprised to learn that amid the clutter of buildings in this historical city lies an important gem trading center. This market serves a wide range of buyers and sellers from Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Iran who deal with locally mined gemstones from Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan (figure 1). They might also be surprised that this trading hub does not have a modern name. Namak Mandi, meaning "salt market" in Urdu, was originally established decades ago as a trading center and storage facility for salt (Hussain, 2015). Fifty years ago, no one could have imagined it becoming a primary trading center for rough and faceted gemstones in Pakistan. The au-
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common progressive neurodegenerative movement disorder. The cardinal feature of Parkinson's is neuronal degeneration causing a dopamine deficit in the brain which leads to a host of clinical features in the patient. However, consensus over specific clinical criteria for diagnosis remains to be established. Parkinson's does not have a cure yet, but a variety of diagnostic and treatment protocols have been developed over the years with a primary focus on pharmacological therapy. Anti-parkinsonian drugs such as levodopa lose their efficacy over time and are needed in higher doses as the disease inevitably progresses. An alternative to pharmacological therapy is deep brain stimulation (DBS). Deep brain stimulation involves transcranial placement of unilateral or bilateral leads (wires) most commonly in the sub-thalamic nucleus or the globus pallidus interna of the brain by stereotactic surgery. Given the multiple hypotheses explaining the different effects of DBS with sometimes conflicting mechanisms, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact way in which DBS operates. Nevertheless, it has proven to be significantly effective. DBS, although being a cost-effective treatment measure for Parkinson's patients, is not without limitations. A careful selection of patients is required preoperatively that determines the response and tolerance to the therapy in patients. This review aims to summarize the current literature on DBS in Parkinson's with a focus on the hypothesized mechanisms, selection criteria, advantages and its limitations.
Kunzite, the pink variety of spodumene is famous and desirable among gemstone lovers. Due to its tenebrescent properties, kunzite always remains a hot research candidate among physicists and mineralogists. The present work is continuing the effort towards value addition to kunzite by enhancing its color using different treatments. Before color enhancement, it is essential to identify the chromophores and their oxidation states. In this paper, the authors investigated the main impurities in natural kunzite from the Nuristan area in Afghanistan and their valence states. Some impurities in the LiAlSi2O6 spodumene structure were identified and quantified by using sensitive techniques, including Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), UV−VIS and X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES). LA-ICP-MS indicated many trace elements as impurities in kunzite, among which Fe and Mn are the main elements responsible for coloration. The oxidation states of these two transition elements were determined by the XANES technique. The study reveals that Mn is present in both Mn2+ and Mn3+ oxidation states, while Fe is present only in Fe3+ oxidation state.
OBJECTIVES Frequency of congenital heart disease in patients with Down syndrome.METHODOLOGY This study was conducted in Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar from 10th May 2021 to 9th November 2021. A total of 377 patients of age 1 to 10 years and both gender were included in the study. Those with already diagnosed cases of congenital heart disease and dysmorphic features other than Down syndrome were excluded from the study. All patients were undergone echocardiography and patient with PDA, VSD, ASD, ASVSD, and TOF were labeled as having congenital heart diseases.RESULTSMean age was 5.96 ±1.954, Males were 176 (46.7%) while females were 201 (53.3%), Mean birth weight was 3.45 ± 0.801 kg, Mean age of the mother was 38.25 ± 6.797 years, Congenital heart diseases were present in 157 (41.6%) of the patient while it was not present in 220 (58.4%) of patients, there was no association between congenital heart disease and age of mother, age of the child, sex of child or weight of the child (P >0.05).CONCLUSIONCongenital heart disease is very common in patients with Down syndrome. It is recommended that at the time of diagnosis of this disease, the patient should be screened for congenital heart disease.
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