Allgrove (Triple A) Syndrome: A Case Report from the Kashmir Valley

Raiz Ahmad Misgar,Nazir Ahmad Pala,Mahroosa Ramzan,Arshad Iqbal Wani,Mir Iftikhar Bashir,Bashir Ahmad Laway 대한내분비학회 2015 Endocrinology and metabolism Vol.30 No.4

Allgrove (Triple A) syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by cardinal features of adrenal insufficiency due to adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) resistance, achalasia, and alacrimia. It is frequently associated with neurological manifestations like polyneuropathy. Since its first description by Allgrove in 1978, approximately 100 cases have been reported in the literature. Here we report an 18-year-old boy diagnosed as having Allgrove syndrome, with ACTH resistant adrenal insufficiency, achalasia, alacrimia, and severe motor polyneuropathy. Alacrimia was the earliest feature evident at the age of 8 years. He presented with achalasia and adrenal insufficiency at 12 and 18 years respectively and developed neurological symptoms in the form of severe muscle wasting at the age of 15 years. Patients with Allgrove syndrome usually manifest adrenal insufficiency and achalasia during first decade of life. Our patient manifested adrenal insufficiency and achalasia in the second decade and manifested neurological dysfunction before adrenal dysfunction.

GSTP1 Gene Ile105Val Polymorphism Causes an Elevated Risk for Bladder Carcinogenesis in Smokers

Pandith, Arshad Ahmad,Lateef, Adil,Shahnawaz, Sheikh,Hussain, Aashaq,Malla, Tahir Mohiuddin,Azad, Niyaz,Shehjar, Fahim,Salim, Mosin,Shah, Zafar Amin Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.11

Background: The glutathione S transferase (GST) family of enzymes plays a vital role in the phase II biotransformation of environmental carcinogens, pollutants, drugs and other xenobiotics. GSTs are polymorphic and polymorphisms in GST genes have been associated with cancer susceptibility and prognosis. GSTP1 is associated with risk of various cancers including bladder cancer. A case control study was conducted to determine the genotype distribution of GSTP1 A>G SNP, to elucidate the possible role of this SNP as a risk factor in urinary bladder cancer (UBC) development and to examine its correlation with clinico-pathologic variables inUBC cases. Materials and Methods: Using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) approach, we tested the genotype distribution of 180 bladder cancer patients in comparison with 210 cancer-free controls from the same geographical region with matched frequency in age and gender. Results: We did not observe significant genotype differences between the control and bladder cancer patients overall with an odds ratio (OR)=1.23 (p>0.05). The rare allele (AG+GG) was found to be present more in cases (28.3%) than in controls (24%), though the association was not significant (p<0.05). However, a significant risk of more than 2-fold was found for the variant allele (AG+GG) with smokers in cases as compared to controls (p>0.05). Conclusions: Thus, it is evident from our study that GSTP1 SNP is not implicated overall in bladder cancer, but that the rare, valine-related allele is connected with higher susceptibility to bladder cancer in smokers and also males.

Effect of Sulphur and Nitrogen Application on Growth Characteristics, Seed and Oil Yields of Soybean Cultivars

Arshad Jamal,Inayat Saleem Fazli,Saif Ahmad,Malik Zainul Abdin,윤성중 한국작물학회 2005 Korean journal of crop science Vol.50 No.6

A field experiment was conducted to assess the growth characteristics, seed and oil yield of two cultivars of soybean (G. max (L.) Merr.) cv. PK-416 (V1) and cv. PK-1024 (V2) in relation to sulphur and nitrogen nutrition. Six combinations (T1-T6) of two levels of sulphur (0 and 40 kg ha-1) and two levels of nitrogen (23.5 and 43.5 kg ha-1) were applied to the two soybean cultivars as nutrients. Results indicated significant effect of sulphur and nitrogen, when applied together, on the growth characteristics, yield components, and seed and oil yield. Maximum response was observed with treatment T6 (having 40 kg S and 43.5 kg N ha-1). Seed and Oil yields were increased 90 and 102% in V1, and 104 and 123% in V2, respectively as compared to the control i.e. T1 (having 0 kg S and 23.5 kg N ha -1). Positive responses of S and N interaction on leaf area index, leaf area duration, crop growth rate and biomass production were also observed. The results obtained in these experiments clearly suggest that balanced and judicious application of nitrogen and sulphur can improve both seed and oil yield of soybean cultivars by enhancing their growth.

How Our Practice of Histopathology, Especially Tumour Pathology has Changed in the Last Two Decades: Reflections from a Major Referral Center in Pakistan

Ahmad, Zubair,Idrees, Romana,Fatima, Saira,Arshad, Huma,Din, Nasir-Ud,Memon, Aisha,Minhas, Khurram,Ahmed, Arsalan,Fatima, Syeda Samia,Arif, Muhammad,Ahmed, Rashida,Haroon, Saroona,Pervez, Shahid,Hassa Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.9

Continued advances in the field of histo pathology (and cyto pathology) over the past two decades have resulted in dramatic changes in the manner in which these disciplines are now practiced. This is especially true in the setting of a large university hospital where the role of pathologists as clinicians (diagnosticians), undergraduate and postgraduate educators, and researchers has evolved considerably. The world around us has changed significantly during this period bringing about a considerable change in our lifestyles and the way we live. This is the world of the internet and the world-wide web, the world of Google and Wikipedia, of Youtube and Facebook where anyone can obtain any information one desires at the push of a button. The practice of histo (and cyto) pathology has also evolved in line with these changes. For those practicing this discipline in a poor, developing country these changes have been breathtaking. This is an attempt to document these changes as experienced by histo (and cyto) pathologists practicing in the biggest center for Histopathology in Pakistan, a developing country in South Asia with a large (180 million) and ever growing population. The Section of Histopathology, Department of Pathology and Microbiology at the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city has since its inception in the mid-1980s transformed the way histopathology is practiced in Pakistan by incorporating modern methods and rescuing histopathology in Pakistan from the primitive and outdated groove in which it was stuck for decades. It set histopathology in Pakistan firmly on the path of modernity and change which are essential for better patient management and care through accurate and complete diagnosis and more recently prognostic and predictive information as well.

Estimation of Crop Water Requirement and Comparison with Available Irrigation Water Supply

( Ahmad Mirza Junaid ),( M. Arshad ),( Kyung Sook Choi ) 한국농공학회 2015 한국농공학회 학술대회초록집 Vol.2015 No.-

The study was conducted on the irrigation area of Nokhar Branch belong to Upper Chenab Canal (UCC) System, Punjab province of Pakistan. The objectives of the study were 1) to generate image map of the land use in UCC system, 2) to determine the irrigation requirements for different crop and 3) to compare the irrigation requirements with water supply from UCC system. The study period was from November 2010 to October 2011 comprising two cropping seasons including spring and autumn. MODIS 250m NDVI time series data were downloaded from NASA website (https://wist.echo.nasa.govlapii). ERDAS imagine model and ArcGIS tools were used for processing of NDVI images. CROPWAT model was applied to estimate the irrigation requirements within the study area on the basis of different crop fields. The estimated irrigation area of Nokhar Branch from the RS image process was 161,054.4 acres which shows 86% of accuracy compared to the official map. The total water supplied to irrigation system of Nokhar Branch for the study area, in which the major crops were wheat and rice, was 376.36 million m³(MCM). The actual irrigation water for crops was estimated to be 206.994 MCM after subtracting conveyance losses of 45% total water supplied. The estimated total volume of water required in autumn and spring seasons were 150.46 MCM and 603.29 MCM respectively. The maximum water requirement of water was observed 220 MCM from June in autumn season and 144 MCM from September in spring season. The comparison between the available water supplied from UCC system and the estimated water demand was shown that the deficit of irrigation water was up to 60% through the study period.

Performance of self-compacting concrete at room and after elevated temperature incorporating Silica fume

Ahmad, Subhan,Umar, Arshad,Masood, Amjad,Nayeem, Mohammad Techno-Press 2019 Advances in concrete construction Vol.7 No.1

This paper evaluates the workability and hardened properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC) containing silica fume as the partial replacement of cement. SCC mixtures with 0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10% silica fume were tested for fresh and hardened properties. Slump flow with $T_{500}$ time, L-box and V-funnel tests were performed for evaluating the workability properties of SCC mixtures. Compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and modulus of rupture were performed on hardened SCC mixtures. Experiments revealed that replacement of cement by silica fume equal to and more than 4% reduced the slump flow diameter and increased the $T_{500}$ and V-funnel time linearly. Compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and modulus of rupture increased with increasing the replacement level of cement by silica fume and were found to be maximum for SCC mixture with 10% silica fume. Further, residual hardened properties of SCC mixture yielding maximum strengths (i.e., SCC with 10% silica fume) were determined experimentally after heating the concrete samples up to 200, 400, 600 and $800^{\circ}C$. Reductions in hardened properties up to $200^{\circ}C$ were found to be very close to normal vibrated concrete (NVC). For 400 and $600^{\circ}C$ reductions in hardened properties of SCC were found to be more than NVC of the same strength. Explosive spalling occurred in concrete specimens before reaching $800^{\circ}C$.

Gastrointestinal, Liver and Biliary Tract Pathology: A Histopathological and Epidemiological Perspective from Pakistan with a Review of the Literature

Ahmad, Zubair,Arshad, Huma,Fatima, Saira,Idrees, Romana,Ud-Din, Nasir,Ahmed, Rashida,Ahmed, Arsalan,Memon, Aisha,Minhas, Khurram,Arif, Muhammad,Fatima, Samia,Haroon, Saroona,Pervez, Shahid,Hasan, Shee Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.11

Aim: To present an epidemiological and histological perspective of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (including liver and biliary tract) at the Section of Histopathology, Department of Pathology, AKUH, Karachi, Pakistan. Materials and Methods: All consecutive endoscopic biopsies and resections between October 1 and December 31, 2012 were included. Results: A total of 2,323 cases were included. Carcinoma was overwhelmingly the commonest diagnosis on esophageal biopsies (69.1%); chronic helicobacter gastritis (45.6%) followed by adenocarcinoma (23.5%) were the commonest diagnoses on gastric biopsies; adenocarcinoma (27.3%) followed by ulcerative colitis (13.1%) were the commonest diagnoses on colonic biopsies; acute appendicitis (59.1%) was the commonest diagnosis on appendicectomy specimens; chronic viral hepatitis (44.8%) followed by hepatocellular carcinoma (23.4%) were the commonest diagnoses on liver biopsies; chronic cholecystitis was the commonest diagnosis (over 89%) on cholecystectomy specimens. Conclusions: Squamous cell carcinoma comprised 88.8% of esophageal cancers. About 67% were in the lower third and 56.5% were moderately differentiated; mean ages 49.8 years for females and 55.8 years for males; 66% cases were from South West Pakistan. Over 67% patients with gastric adenocarcinoma were males; mean ages 59 and 44 years in males and females respectively, about 74% gastric carcinomas were poorly differentiated; and 62.2% were located in the antropyloric region. About 63% patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma were males; mean ages 46.1 and 50.5 years for males and females respectively; tumor grade was moderately differentiated in 54%; over 80% were located in the left colon. In 21.2% appendicectomies, no acute inflammation was found. Acute appendicitis was most common in young people. Hepatitis C (66.3%) was more common than hepatitis B (33.7%); about 78% cases of hepatocellular carcinoma occurred in males; females comprised 76.7% patients with chronic cholecystitis; and 77.8% patients with gall bladder carcinoma. All resection specimens showed advanced cancers. Most cancers occurred after the age of 50 years.

Impact of Sulphur and Nitrogen Application on Seed and Xanthotoxin Yield in Ammi majus L.

Ahmad, Saif,Jamal, Arshad,Fazili, Inayat Saleem,Alam, Tanweer,Khan, Mather Ali,Kamaluddin, Kamaluddin,Iqbal, Mohd,Abdin, Malik Zainul The Korean Society of Crop Science 2007 한국작물학회지 Vol.52 No.2

Field experiments were conducted to determine the physiological and biochemical basis of the interactive effect of sulphur (S) and nitrogen (N) application on seed and xanthotoxin yield of Ammi majus L. Six treatments were tested ($T_1$ = control-without manure and fertilizers, $T_2$ = manure @ 9 kg $plot^{-1}-10\;t\;ha^{-1},\;T_3=A_0N_{50}K_{25}P_{25},\;T_4=S_{40}N_{50}K_{25}P_{25},\;T_5=S_{40}N_{100}K_{25}P_{25}\;T_6=S_{20+20}N_{50+50}K_{25}P_{25})$). Nitrate reductase (NR) activity and ATP-sulphurylase activity in the leaves were measured at various phonological stages, as the two enzymes catalyze rate-limiting steps of the assimilatory pathways of nitrate and sulphate, respectively. The activities of these two enzymes were strongly correlated with seed and xanthotoxin yield. The highest nitrate reductase activity, ATP-sulphurylase activity and xanthotoxin yield were achieved with the treatment $T_4$. Any variation from this treatment decreased the activity of these enzymes, resulting in a reduction of the seed and xanthotoxin yield in Ammi majus L. The higher seed and xanthotoxin yield achieved in Ammi majus L. at treatment $T_4$ could be due to optimization of leaf soluble protein and photosynthetic rate, as these parameters are Influenced by S and N assimilation.

Aberrant Promoter Methylation at CpG Cytosines Induce the Upregulation of the E2F5 Gene in Breast Cancer

Arshad Ali,Farman Ullah,Irum Sabir Ali,Ahmad Faraz,Mumtaz Khan,Syed Tahir Ali Shah,Nawab Ali,Muhammad Saeed 한국유방암학회 2016 Journal of breast cancer Vol.19 No.2

Purpose: The promoter methylation status of cell cycle regulatory genes plays a crucial role in the regulation of the eukaryotic cell cycle. CpG cytosines are actively subjected to methylation during tumorigenesis, resulting in gain/loss of function. E2F5 gene has growth repressive activities; various studies suggest its involvement in tumorigenesis. This study aims to investigate the epigenetic regulation of E2F5 in breast cancer to better understand tumor biology. Methods: The promoter methylation status of 50 breast tumor tissues and adjacent normal control tissues was analyzed. mRNA expression was determined using SYBR® green quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and methylation- specific PCR was performed for bisulfite-modified genomic DNA using E2F5-specific primers to assess promoter methylation. Data was statistically analyzed. Results: Significant (p<0.001) upregulation was observed in E2F5 expression among tumor tissues, relative to the control group. These samples were hypo-methylated at the E2F5 promoter region in the tumor tissues, compared to the control. Change in the methylation status (Δmeth) was significantly lower (p=0.022) in the tumor samples, indicating possible involvement in tumorigenesis. Patients at the postmenopausal stage showed higher methylation (75%) than those at the premenopausal stage (23.1%). Interestingly, methylation levels gradually increased from the early to the advanced stages of the disease (p<0.001), which suggests a putative role of E2F5 methylation in disease progression that can significantly modulate tumor biology at more advanced stage and at postmenopausal age (Pearson’s r=0.99 and 0.86, respectively). Among tissues with different histological status, methylation frequency was higher in invasive lobular carcinoma (80.0%), followed by invasive ductal carcinoma (46.7%) and ductal carcinoma in situ (20.0%). Conclusion: Methylation is an important epigenetic factor that might be involved in the upregulation of E2F5 gene in tumor tissues, which can be used as a prognostic marker for breast cancer.

TUNING THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF MULTIWALL CARBON NANOTUBE THIN FILMS BY N+ ION BEAMS IRRADIATION

AHMAD ISHAQ,LONG YAN,G. HUSNAIN,BO LU,MAHMOOD ARSHAD,ALAMGIR KHALID 성균관대학교(자연과학캠퍼스) 성균나노과학기술원 2011 NANO Vol.6 No.4

Measurements of optical transmission in the visible spectral range of N+ irradiated thin films of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) at various doses prepared by a vacuum filtration method are reported. An increase in optical transmission was observed corresponding to increase in N+ ion doses. Changes in Raman spectra at different ions doses ranging from 5 × 1015 ions/cm2 to 1 × 1017 ions/cm2 indicate that the structure of graphene evolves from a highly ordered layer to a disordered domains. These structural changes result in a dramatic increase in the optical transmission. Additionally, the increase of optical transmission of irradiated MWCNTs thin film as a function of electrical conductivity at various doses is also discussed. The optical transmission increases in irradiated MWCNT thin films is found to be a function of defects density in MWCNTs.