Muhammad A. Farooq

Depression symptomatology and diagnosis: discordance between patients and physicians in primary care settings

BackgroundTo examine the agreement between depression symptoms using an assessment tool (PHQ-9), and physician documentation of the same symptoms during a clinic visit, and then to examine how the presence of these symptoms affects depression diagnosis in primary care settings.MethodsInterviewer administered surveys and medical record reviews. A total of 304 participants were recruited from 2321 participants screened for depression at two large urban primary care community settings.ResultsOf the 2321 participants screened for depression 304 were positive for depression and of these 75.3% (n = 229) were significantly depressed (PHQ-9 score ≥ 10). Of these, 31.0% were diagnosed by a physician with a depressive disorder. A total of 57.6% (n = 175) of study participants had both significant depression symptoms and functional impairment. Of these 37.7% were diagnosed by physicians as depressed. Cohens Kappa analysis, used to determine the agreement between depression symptoms elicited using the PHQ-9 and physician documentation of these symptoms showed only slight agreement (0.001–0.101) for all depression symptoms using standard agreement rating scales. Further analysis showed that only suicidal ideation and hypersomnia or insomnia were associated with an increased likelihood of physician depression diagnosis (OR 5.41 P sig < .01 and (OR 2.02 P sig < .05 respectively). Other depression symptoms and chronic medical conditions had no affect on physician depression diagnosis.ConclusionTwo-thirds of individuals with depression are undiagnosed in primary care settings. While functional impairment increases the rate of physician diagnosis of depression, the agreement between a structured assessment and physician elicited and or documented symptoms during a clinical encounter is very low. Suicidality, hypersomnia and insomnia are associated with an increase in the rate of depression diagnosis even when physician and self report of the symptom differ. Interventions that emphasize the use of routine structured screening of primary care patients might also improve the rate of diagnosis of depression in these settings. Further studies are needed to explore depression symptom assessment during physician patient encounter in primary care settings.

Alleviation of cadmium toxicity by silicon is related to elevated photosynthesis, antioxidant enzymes; suppressed cadmium uptake and oxidative stress in cotton

Biotic systems face immense environmental hazards such as accumulation of heavy metals, particularly in agricultural ecosystems that might cause deterioration of yield and quality of crops. In this study, we evaluated the role of silicon (Si) in alleviating the heavy metal (Cd) stress tolerance in cotton by analyzing the induced Physio-chemical changes. Cotton plants were grown in hydroponic culture with three different Cd levels (0, 1 and 5μM) along with two Si treatment levels (0 and 1mM). The data showed that Cd alone reduced the plant growth as well as the efficiency of antioxidant activity as compared to control plants. Plant growth, gas exchange characteristics (net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, water use efficiency) chlorophyll contents, and carotenoids as well as the performance of antioxidant enzymes were improved by the exogenous application of Si. The adverse effects of Cd on plant growth were alleviated by the exogenous application of Si. It was observed that Si effectively mitigated the adverse effects of Cd on cotton plants and markedly enhanced the growth, biomass and photosynthetic parameters while decreased the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and electrolytic leakage (EL). The antioxidant enzyme activities in cotton leaves and roots increased significantly, when Si was added to control as well as Cd stressed plants. In conclusion, Si improved the growth and photosynthesis attributes of cotton plants by mitigating the adverse effects of Cd stress through reduced EL, MDA and H2O2 contents and improved activities of antioxidant enzymes.

Chromium-induced physio-chemical and ultrastructural changes in four cultivars of Brassica napus L.

In nature, plants are continuously exposed to several biotic and abiotic stresses. Among these stresses, chromium (Cr) stress is one of the most adverse factors that affects the plant growth, and productivity, and imposes a severe threat for sustainable crop production. In the present study, toxic effects of Cr were studied in hydroponically grown seedlings of four different cultivars of Brassica napus L. viz. ZS 758, Zheda 619, ZY 50 and Zheda 622. The study revealed that elevated Cr concentrations reduced the plant growth rate and biomass as compared to respective controls in all the cultivars and this decline was more obvious in Zheda 622. It was observed that reduction of photosynthetic attributes was more pronounced in Zheda 622 as compared to other cultivars; while, cultivar ZS 758 performed better under Cr-toxicity. Results showed that Cr contents in different parts of seedlings were higher in Zheda 622 as compared to other cultivars and Cr contents were higher in roots than shoots in all the cultivars. Accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were induced under different Cr concentrations. Results showed that some of anti-oxidant enzyme activities in leaves and roots were increased under the Cr-toxicity. The electron microscopic study showed that ultrastructural damages in leaf mesophyll and root tip cells were more prominent in Zheda 622 as compared to other cultivars under 400 μM Cr stress. Under 400 μM Cr concentration, changes like broken cell wall, immature nucleus, a number of mitochondria, ruptured thylakoid membranes and large size of vacuole and starch grains were observed in leaf ultrastructures. The damages in root cells were observed in the form of disruption of golgibodies and diffused cell wall under the higher concentration of Cr (400 μM). On the basis of these observations, it was concluded that Zheda 622 was found to be more sensitive as followed by ZY 50, Zheda 619 and ZS 758 under Cr-toxicity.

The influence of silicon on barley growth, photosynthesis and ultra-structure under chromium stress.

Silicon (Si) is generally considered as a benefic element for higher plants, especially for those grown under abiotic stressed environments. Current study is carried out in a hydroponic experiment to analyze the effect of Si application on barley growth, photosynthesis and ultra-structure under chromium (Cr) stress. The treatments consisted of three Si (0, 1 and 2mM) and two Cr (0 and 100 μM) levels. The results showed that Si application at both levels enhanced plant growth relative to the control, and alleviated Cr toxicity, reflected by significant increase in growth and photosynthetic parameters, such as SPAD value, net photosynthetic rate (P(n)), cellular CO(2) concentration (C(i)), stomatal conductance (G(s)) and transpiration rate (T(r)), and chlorophyll fluorescence efficiency (Fv/Fm), with 2mM Si having greater effect than 1mM Si. Cr stress caused ultra-structural disorders in leaves, such as uneven swelling of chloroplast, increased amount of plastoglobuli, disintegrated and disappeared thylakoid membranes, increased size and number of starch granules in leaves, and root ultra-structural modification, including increased vacuolar size, presence of Cr metal in cell walls and vacuoles, disruption and disappearance of nucleus. Exogenous Si alleviated these ultra-structural disorders both in roots and leaves. Apparently, Si and Cr behaved antagonistically, indicating that Si could be a candidate for Cr detoxification in crops under Cr-contaminated soil.

Antibacterial Schiff Bases of Oxalyl-hydrazine/diamide Incorporating Pyrrolyl and Salicylyl Moieties and of Their Zinc(II) Complexes

Schiff bases derived from oxaldiamide/oxalylhydrazine and pyrrol-2-carbaldehyde, or salicylaldehyde respectively, as well as their Zn(II) complexes have been prepared and tested as antibacterial agents. These Schiff bases function as tetradentate ligands, forming octahedral Zn(II) complexes. The ketonic form for the diamide derived Schiff base and the enolic form of the hydrazide derived Schiff base were the preferred tautomers for coordination of the metal ions. The title compounds and their Zn(II) derivatives were evaluated for antibacterial activity against several bacterial strains which easily develop resistance to classical antibiotics, such as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Some of them showed promising biological activity in inhibiting the growth of such organisms.

Numerical and Series Solutions for Stagnation-Point Flow of Nanofluid over an Exponentially Stretching Sheet

This investigation is concerned with the stagnation-point flow of nanofluid past an exponentially stretching sheet. The presence of Brownian motion and thermophoretic effects yields a coupled nonlinear boundary-value problem (BVP). Similarity transformations are invoked to reduce the partial differential equations into ordinary ones. Local similarity solutions are obtained by homotopy analysis method (HAM), which enables us to investigate the effects of parameters at a fixed location above the sheet. The numerical solutions are also derived using the built-in solver bvp4c of the software MATLAB. The results indicate that temperature and the thermal boundary layer thickness appreciably increase when the Brownian motion and thermophoresis effects are strengthened. Moreover the nanoparticles volume fraction is found to increase when the thermophoretic effect intensifies.

Thermally Stratified Stagnation Point Flow of an Oldroyd-B Fluid

Abstract This paper is devoted to examine the thermally stratified mixed convection flow of an Oldroyd-B fluid. The stagnation point flow towards a stretching surface is discussed. The boundary layer flow and energy equations are employed. Resulting partial differential systems are converted into the ordinary differential systems. Convergent series solutions for velocity and temperature are developed and analyzed. Numerical values of Nusselt number is computed and examined. Comparison of present study is shown with the previous results. It is found that velocity decreases through the stratified effects.

Regulation of Cadmium-Induced Proteomic and Metabolic Changes by 5-Aminolevulinic Acid in Leaves of Brassica napus L.

It is evident from previous reports that 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA), like other known plant growth regulators, is effective in countering the injurious effects of heavy metal-stress in oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.). The present study was carried out to explore the capability of ALA to improve cadmium (Cd2+) tolerance in B. napus through physiological, molecular, and proteomic analytical approaches. Results showed that application of ALA helped the plants to adjust Cd2+-induced metabolic and photosynthetic fluorescence changes in the leaves of B. napus under Cd2+ stress. The data revealed that ALA treatment enhanced the gene expressions of antioxidant enzyme activities substantially and could increase the expression to a certain degree under Cd2+ stress conditions. In the present study, 34 protein spots were identified that differentially regulated due to Cd2+ and/or ALA treatments. Among them, 18 proteins were significantly regulated by ALA, including the proteins associated with stress related, carbohydrate metabolism, catalysis, dehydration of damaged protein, CO2 assimilation/photosynthesis and protein synthesis/regulation. From these 18 ALA-regulated proteins, 12 proteins were significantly down-regulated and 6 proteins were up-regulated. Interestingly, it was observed that ALA-induced the up-regulation of dihydrolipoyl dehydrogenase, light harvesting complex photo-system II subunit 6 and 30S ribosomal proteins in the presence of Cd2+ stress. In addition, it was also observed that ALA-induced the down-regulation in thioredoxin-like protein, 2, 3-bisphosphoglycerate, proteasome and thiamine thiazole synthase proteins under Cd2+ stress. Taken together, the present study sheds light on molecular mechanisms involved in ALA-induced Cd2+ tolerance in B. napus leaves and suggests a more active involvement of ALA in plant physiological processes than previously proposed.

Effect of chromium and nitrogen form on photosynthesis and anti-oxidative system in barley

The effect of nitrogen forms on photosynthesis and anti-oxidative systems of barley plants under chromium stress was studied in a hydroponic experiment. The treatments comprised three chromium concentrations (0, 75, and 100 μM) and three N forms (NH4)2SO4, urea, and Ca(NO3)2. In comparison with the urea or (NH4)2SO4 fed plants, the Ca(NO3)2 fed plants had higher net photosynthetic rate, intercellular CO2 concentration, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, photosynthetically active radiation utilization efficiency, variable to maximum chlorophyll fluorescence ratio, and the content of chlorophylls and carotenoids. Cr toxicity caused oxidative stress in all plants but the Ca(NO3)2 fed plants had the least oxidative stress. Moreover, the Ca(NO3)2 fed plants had higher activities of anti-oxidative enzymes and content of non-enzymatic antioxidants than the urea or (NH4)2SO4 fed plants. In addition, the Ca(NO3)2 fed plants had higher N and lower Cr content in all plant tissues than the urea or (NH4)2SO4 fed plants. The current results indicate that the reasonable choice of N fertilizer is important for barley production on the Cr-contaminated soils.

Alleviation of chromium toxicity by hydrogen sulfide in barley

A hydroponic experiment was carried out to examine the effect of hydrogen sulfide (H2 S) in alleviating chromium (Cr) stress in barley. A 2-factorial design with 6 replications was selected, including 3 levels of NaHS (0 μM, 100 μM, and 200 μM) and 2 levels of Cr (0 μM and 100 μM) as treatments. The results showed that NaHS addition enhances plant growth and photosynthesis slightly compared with the control. Moreover, NaHS alleviated the inhibition in plant growth and photosynthesis by Cr stress. Higher levels of NaHS exhibited more pronounced effects in reducing Cr concentrations in roots, shoots, and leaves. Ultrastructural examination of plant cells supported the facts by indication of visible alleviation of cell disorders in both root and leaf with exogenous application of NaHS. An increased number of plastoglobuli, disintegration, and disappearance of thylakoid membranes and starch granules were visualized inside the chloroplast of Cr-stressed plants. Starch accumulation in the chloroplasts was also noticed in the Cr-treated cells, with the effect being much less in Cr + NaHS-treated plants. Hence, it is concluded that H2 S produced from NaHS can improve plant tolerance under Cr stress.