The effects of lead on root, shoot and seedling length, leaf area, number of leaves, plant circumference, seedling dry weight, root/shoot and leaf area ratios of Thespesia populnea L. were determined in greenhouse under natural environmental conditions with and without phytotoxic metal ions at 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 µmol/l. Lead treatments have a strong influence on the growth and development of T. populnea by reducing significantly (P < 0.05) all the above parameters. Lead treatment at 5-25 µmol/l produced significant (P < 0.05) effects on seedling and root length, plant circumference and seedling dry weight of T. populnea, while lead treatment at 10-25 µmol/l produced significant (P < 0.05) effects on shoot length, number of leaves and leaf area as compared to control. Tolerance in T. populnea seedling at 25 µmol/l of lead treatment was lowest as compared to all other treatments.

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Present study was conducted among school children to recognize the prevalence of IPIs in rural communities of district Dir Lower, Pakistan. A sum of 324 samples of stool were collected (210 boys and 114 girls). Used direct smear method and formol ether sedimentation concentration technique for processing the samples. The result shows that 82% (n=266) were found infected comprised 64.8% male and 35.1% females. Children of the age group 10 to 12 years were found extremely infected 94.2% while 4-6 year age group were having minimum ratio of infection 72%. Current study shows mono parasitism in 50.6% of the students while 22.2% were infected with 2 species and 7.40% were infected with three species of parasites. Seven species of intestinal parasites were reported include Ascaris lumbricoid in male (n=122) 58.0% and in female (n=65) 57.0% followed by Hook worm (n=88) 41.9% and (n=44) 38.5%; Tania saginata (n=44) 20.9% and (n=24) 21.0%; Entrobius vermicularis (n=32) 15.2% and (n=16) 14.0%; Trichuris trichura (n=25) 11.9% and (n=22) 19.2%; Hymenolepis nana (n=24) 11.4% and (n=18) 15.7% and Entameoba histolytica (n=16) 7.61% and (n=14) 12.2% in male and females respectively. The study indicates that most occurring intestinal parasite in the current study were Ascaris lumbricoides 58.0% (n=122) followed by hookworms 41.9% (n=88). Male students were more infected than females in the present study.

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The seedling growth performance of Adenanthera pavonina L. in polluted soils of different railway tracks viz. Karachi Cantt. Station, Malir Halt, Malir 15, Landhi Junction and University Campus (control) was studied under in pots under natural field conditions. The results showed that the root, shoot and seedling size, number of leaves, plant cover, leaf weight ratio of A. pavonina seedlings were significantly (p<0.05) reduced in Karachi Cantt. Station soil as compared to University Campus soil. Similarly, shoot, root and seedling size, plant cover, seedling dry weight of A. pavonina were significantly (p<0.05) increased in soils of Landhi Junction as compared to soil of University Campus. A better seedling growth of A. pavonina was also found in soil of Malir 15 followed by Malir Halt. A significant variation in the the physico-chemical characteristics of the railway tract soil sample was observed. The soil of Malir Halt, Malir 15 and Landhi Junction railway tracks was sandy clay loam while the Karachi Cantt. Station and University Campus had clay loam textured soil. A significant variation in chemical characteristics of railway track soil such as maximum water holding capacity, bulk density, chloride contents, available sulfur, and exchangeable sodium as compared to University Campus soil observed. Whereas, porosity, calcium carbonate, organic matter, electrical conductivity, total dissolved salts and exchangeable potassium were low in railway tracks soil. The present study demonstrated that the growth of A. pavonina was significantly (p<0.05) reduced in Karachi Cantt. Station soil as compared to soils of other sites.Keywords: Adenanthera pavonina, railway track, pollution, seedling growth, soil

Dengue fever (DF) is increasingly recognized as one of the world’s major mosquito borne diseases and causes significant morbidity and mortality in tropical and subtropical countries. Dengue fever is endemic in most part of Pakistan and continues to be a public health concern. Knowledge, attitude and practices can play an important role in management of the disease. Current study was aimed to determine the level of knowledge, attitude and practices regarding dengue fever among health practitioners, to study the level of knowledge and attitude with preventive practices for dengue fever. A cross sectional study was carried out in medical practitioners of the four districts of Malakand region during October to November 2019. A pre-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from medical practitioners. Data was analyzed using Graph Pad version 5. Significant value was considered when less than 0.05 (at 95% confidence of interval). The results revealed that most of participants have seen dengue vector (62%), the media being the most quoted source of information. Nearly 81.2% participants were aware from transmission of dengue fever is by mosquito bite. Practices based upon preventive measures were found to be predominantly focused towards prevention of mosquito bites rather than elimination of breeding places. Although the knowledge regarding DF and mosquito control measure was quite high among the medical practitioners but this knowledge was not put into practice. Further studies are required to aware the people about dengue and its vector in order to get prevention and control.

Vegetables eating raw are a leading source of transmission of infective forms of pathogenic internal parasites among human beings. This research was conducted from April to October, 2017 to assess the parasitic contamination of vegetables sold at main vegetable markets in districts Lower Dir and Peshawar, Pakistan. Eight hundred specimens of different vegetables were purchased and soaked in physiological saline solution, shaken with a mechanical shaker for 20 minutes and processed by sedimentation concentration method. Results revealed that only 19.7% (n=158/800) of the vegetables were found to be contaminated with single or multiple parasite species. Ascaris lumbricoides (the large round worm) 12.3% (n=99/800) was the most commonly detected pathogen and Taenia saginata (the beef tapeworm) 1.62% (n=13/800) was the least frequently detected one. Interestingly, significant p value (p>0.05 at 95%CI) between the number of examined and contaminated for all the variables studied including education status of the vendors, markets location, type of vegetables, means of display, washed before display, washing source of water and market type. The findings of this study evidenced that consumption of raw vegetables possesses great risk of getting parasitic infections in Lower Dir and Peshawar districts, Pakistan. Instructing the sellers and the public about parasitic disease transfer and their hygiene can reduce the infection rate of parasites of human origin.

The human population explosion and rapidly increasing urbanization are two major problems of the current century. According to an estimate world human population is about 8 billion, while in the previous century, it was about 2.0 billion. These figures and facts shows that the future impacts of anthropogenic activities will be more harsh and comprise a more complex nature. Carbon emission induced in environment by anthropogenic activities is major cause for global warming. Climate change, different types of environmental pollution, wastage of raw materials, and ecosystem degradation are major important ecological challenges which are being faced by humanity. These problems are increasing every year due to increasing human population. Forests represent one of most frequent types of green area in cities. Their environmental settlement include perfection in air, water and soil quality, conservation of energy, carbon sequestration, low air temperatures, reduction in ultraviolet radiation and reduction in environmental pollution especially air pollution. The political ecology approach is based on interactions between humans and nature, talking about climate change mitigation and adaptation and technologies that are used for these purposes. Many environmental experts have initiated concept of green revolution to achieve mitigation and adaptation strategies. If human population explosion and establishment of new industrial structures go on increasing without considering the importance of trees then certainly there would be more critical changes for living organisms on surface of the earth in near future. So, “green revolution is the best solution to arrest the environmental pollution” in this changing climate of the world.