The global burden of stroke is particularly substantial in low- and middle-income countries. Ther... more The global burden of stroke is particularly substantial in low- and middle-income countries. There are several risk factors or determinants of stroke and other cardiovascular diseases that are modifiable and have been shown to reduce the risk of stroke in at-risk persons. The high-risk or individual approach to prevention uses screening to identify such persons and medication is then usually required; however, to affect change in risk in a community, a population or mass approach is required to shift the community population to a lower risk profile. The community approach is usually accomplished through legislation, health education and wider economic means. In this review, the authors discuss the population approach to primary stroke prevention.
Potential of seed priming treatments in improving the performance of early planted maize was eval... more Potential of seed priming treatments in improving the performance of early planted maize was evaluated against timely planting. Seeds of maize hybrid FH-810 were soaked in water (hydropriming), CaCl2 (2.2%, osmopriming), moringa leaf extracts (MLE 3.3%, osmopriming) and salicylic acid (SA, 50 mg L-1, hormonal priming) each for 18 h. Untreated and hydroprimed seeds were taken as control. Seeds primed with SA took less time in emergence and had high vigor in early planted maize. Amongst treatment, hormonal priming, reduced the electrical conductivity, increased the leaf relative water and chlorophyll contents followed by osmopriming with CaCl2 at seedling stage. Likewise, plant height, grain rows and 1000-grain weight, grain and biological yield and harvest index were also improved by seed priming; however hormonal priming and osmopriming with MLE were more effective in this regard. Improved yield performance by hormonal priming or osmopriming with MLE in early planting primarily owed...
Plenty of variations in nutritional, morphological and agronomic traits occur in the pigmented ri... more Plenty of variations in nutritional, morphological and agronomic traits occur in the pigmented rice germplasm. The current study was conducted to evaluate the growth characteristics of 71 pigmented rice genotypes having different origin taking one Korean landrace (Heugjinjubyeo) as control. Amongst the twenty eight growth characters studied; leaf length, leaf width, ligule length, panicle length and panicles per hill showed a higher degree of variance. The heading dates of the pigmented rice germplasm were distributed from Aug. 1 to Sep. 28. Thirty five cultivars that headed or flowered in August were found adaptable for cultivation in Korea. The mean culm length and panicle length were significantly higher than Heugjinjubyeo but most of cultivars having strong or middle of culm strength made it possible to produce the stable yield. Some cultivars showed unique qualitative characters such as openness of culm angle, purple ligule, auricle, awn and glume colors, poor panicle exsertion...
Key words: Aspergillus niger DNA ITS region Ochratoxin A PCR Black Aspergilli are second most imp... more Key words: Aspergillus niger DNA ITS region Ochratoxin A PCR Black Aspergilli are second most important cause of contamination of poultry feed and their by-products with ochratoxin-A after Aspergillus ochraceous in Pakistan. A total of 23 black Aspergilli were isolated from poultry feeds. Of these black Aspergilli samples, 12 (52.17%) were toxigenic (Ochratoxin A). A PCR based molecular method of cloning and sequencing of ITS (internal transcribed spacer) regions of fungal DNA was developed to identify these fungi. A universal pair of primers (ITS1 and ITS4) was used and PCR product (600 bp) for A. niger was amplified. These specific universal primers of ITS region were tested for twelve DNA samples of different isolates of Aspergillus species isolated from poultry feeds. The sequencing of ITS-region provided a powerful and reliable tool for identification of black Aspergilli responsible for the production of ochratoxin-A in poultry feed., 2012. Molecular identification of black Asp...
Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research, 2008
Endometrial adenocarcinoma is one of the most common gynecological tumors in postmenopausal women... more Endometrial adenocarcinoma is one of the most common gynecological tumors in postmenopausal women. The distant metastasis mostly involves liver, lung and bone. Scalp metastases from endometrial adenocarcinoma are very rare. A 63-year-old female with history of irregular vaginal bleeding presented with progressive headaches and a rapidly enlarging mass on the left forehead. There were no other associated symptoms including any motor or sensory deficits. MRI of the head showed a large 8 cm tumor extending from the left frontal subcutaneous tissue through the skull into the epidural space. CT scan of the abdomen, pelvis and thorax revealed a uterine mass and showed multiple signal abnormalities in the ribs and vertebra indicative of metastasis. The patient underwent craniotomy and also had an endometrial biopsy. Both craniotomy and endometrial biopsies revealed endometrioid adenocarcinoma. This case illustrates that although scalp or intracranial metastases from endometrial adenocarcin...
Sildenafil, a phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor commonly used for erectile dysfunction, may also have... more Sildenafil, a phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor commonly used for erectile dysfunction, may also have a beneficial therapeutic effect in the treatment of stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage, dementia, learning, and neurodegenerative disorders by enhancing angiogenesis and neurogenesis. It also favorably influences the nitric oxide-cyclic guanosine monophosphate pathways, which are involved in the pathogenesis of a number of neurological diseases. Its potential therapeutic role in the treatment of the neurological disorders mentioned above is still under preclinical investigation. Sildenafil is currently being used to treat erectile dysfunction in patients with multiple sclerosis, Parkinson disease, multisystem atrophy, and spinal cord injury by improving their neurologically related erectile dysfunction. Conversely, it has been implicated in a number of neurological problems, such as intracerebral hemorrhage, migraine, seizure, transient global amnesia, nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic ...
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an emerging imaging modality that provides high-resolution,... more Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an emerging imaging modality that provides high-resolution, microstructural information on atherosclerotic plaques in biological systems. Intracoronary OCT can identify thin-cap fibroatheroma and other vulnerable plaques that may be responsible for acute coronary events. These characteristics make OCT helpful in guiding coronary management and interventions, including stent apposition and early identification of procedure-related complications. OCT is being assessed for its potential role in carotid plaque characterization and in the diagnosis of peripheral arterial atherosclerosis. Its current use in studying carotid and cerebral vasculature and in the diagnosis of peripheral arterial diseases is limited and ill defined, but it is finding increasing application in these areas. Its performance can be further improved by increasing the signal to noise ratio and by using dynamic focus tracking techniques. It can potentially be used to monitor the ...
Malignant cerebral infarction is a life-threatening condition with case fatality rates of approxi... more Malignant cerebral infarction is a life-threatening condition with case fatality rates of approximately 80% in adults with malignant infarction of the middle cerebral artery. No medical treatment has been proven effective for this condition. Decompressive hemicraniectomy within 48 h of massive cerebral infarction significantly reduces mortality and improves outcome in adults 18-60 years of age. However, there is very limited data available about the role of decompressive hemicraniectomy in children with acute malignant cerebral infarction. We present the case of a 19-month-old female who presented with progressive encephalopathy and right hemiparesis. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging of the brain showed massive cerebral infarction in the distribution of the left carotid artery with midline shift and impeding brain stem herniation. She underwent emergent decompressive hemicraniectomy with duraplasty and placement of an intracranial pressure monitor. Intracranial pre...
An urgent need exists to develop therapies for stroke that have high efficacy, long therapeutic t... more An urgent need exists to develop therapies for stroke that have high efficacy, long therapeutic time windows, and acceptable toxicity. We undertook preclinical investigations of a novel therapeutic approach involving supplementation with carnosine, an endogenous pleiotropic dipeptide. Efficacy and safety of carnosine treatment was evaluated in rat models of permanent or transient middle cerebral artery occlusion. Mechanistic studies used primary neuronal/astrocytic cultures and ex vivo brain homogenates. Intravenous treatment with carnosine exhibited robust cerebroprotection in a dose-dependent manner, with long clinically relevant therapeutic time windows of 6 hours and 9 hours in transient and permanent models, respectively. Histological outcomes and functional improvements including motor and sensory deficits were sustained on 14th day poststroke onset. In safety and tolerability assessments, carnosine did not exhibit any evidence of adverse effects or toxicity. Moreover, histolo...
Trichorhinophalangeal syndrome (TRPS) is an autosomal-dominant congenital hair loss disease chara... more Trichorhinophalangeal syndrome (TRPS) is an autosomal-dominant congenital hair loss disease characterized by sparse and slow-growing scalp hair, craniofacial and skeletal abnormalities, pear-shaped nose, thin upper lip, brittle and thin toenails, and bilateral brachydactyly of the big toes. We report a case of TRPS1 exhibiting these clinical features with a novel heterozygous single nucleotide substitution in exon 3 of the TRPS1 gene. By immunohistochemical analysis of a biopsied specimen of the patient's alopecia lesion, we found for the first time that the expression level of TRPS1 was markedly reduced in the epidermis and the outer root sheath of hair follicles as compared to a normal subject. In addition, higher expression of phospho-Stat3 was found consequent to the loss of TRPS1 in the outer root sheath.
The global burden of stroke is particularly substantial in low- and middle-income countries. Ther... more The global burden of stroke is particularly substantial in low- and middle-income countries. There are several risk factors or determinants of stroke and other cardiovascular diseases that are modifiable and have been shown to reduce the risk of stroke in at-risk persons. The high-risk or individual approach to prevention uses screening to identify such persons and medication is then usually required; however, to affect change in risk in a community, a population or mass approach is required to shift the community population to a lower risk profile. The community approach is usually accomplished through legislation, health education and wider economic means. In this review, the authors discuss the population approach to primary stroke prevention.
Potential of seed priming treatments in improving the performance of early planted maize was eval... more Potential of seed priming treatments in improving the performance of early planted maize was evaluated against timely planting. Seeds of maize hybrid FH-810 were soaked in water (hydropriming), CaCl2 (2.2%, osmopriming), moringa leaf extracts (MLE 3.3%, osmopriming) and salicylic acid (SA, 50 mg L-1, hormonal priming) each for 18 h. Untreated and hydroprimed seeds were taken as control. Seeds primed with SA took less time in emergence and had high vigor in early planted maize. Amongst treatment, hormonal priming, reduced the electrical conductivity, increased the leaf relative water and chlorophyll contents followed by osmopriming with CaCl2 at seedling stage. Likewise, plant height, grain rows and 1000-grain weight, grain and biological yield and harvest index were also improved by seed priming; however hormonal priming and osmopriming with MLE were more effective in this regard. Improved yield performance by hormonal priming or osmopriming with MLE in early planting primarily owed...
Plenty of variations in nutritional, morphological and agronomic traits occur in the pigmented ri... more Plenty of variations in nutritional, morphological and agronomic traits occur in the pigmented rice germplasm. The current study was conducted to evaluate the growth characteristics of 71 pigmented rice genotypes having different origin taking one Korean landrace (Heugjinjubyeo) as control. Amongst the twenty eight growth characters studied; leaf length, leaf width, ligule length, panicle length and panicles per hill showed a higher degree of variance. The heading dates of the pigmented rice germplasm were distributed from Aug. 1 to Sep. 28. Thirty five cultivars that headed or flowered in August were found adaptable for cultivation in Korea. The mean culm length and panicle length were significantly higher than Heugjinjubyeo but most of cultivars having strong or middle of culm strength made it possible to produce the stable yield. Some cultivars showed unique qualitative characters such as openness of culm angle, purple ligule, auricle, awn and glume colors, poor panicle exsertion...
Key words: Aspergillus niger DNA ITS region Ochratoxin A PCR Black Aspergilli are second most imp... more Key words: Aspergillus niger DNA ITS region Ochratoxin A PCR Black Aspergilli are second most important cause of contamination of poultry feed and their by-products with ochratoxin-A after Aspergillus ochraceous in Pakistan. A total of 23 black Aspergilli were isolated from poultry feeds. Of these black Aspergilli samples, 12 (52.17%) were toxigenic (Ochratoxin A). A PCR based molecular method of cloning and sequencing of ITS (internal transcribed spacer) regions of fungal DNA was developed to identify these fungi. A universal pair of primers (ITS1 and ITS4) was used and PCR product (600 bp) for A. niger was amplified. These specific universal primers of ITS region were tested for twelve DNA samples of different isolates of Aspergillus species isolated from poultry feeds. The sequencing of ITS-region provided a powerful and reliable tool for identification of black Aspergilli responsible for the production of ochratoxin-A in poultry feed., 2012. Molecular identification of black Asp...
Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research, 2008
Endometrial adenocarcinoma is one of the most common gynecological tumors in postmenopausal women... more Endometrial adenocarcinoma is one of the most common gynecological tumors in postmenopausal women. The distant metastasis mostly involves liver, lung and bone. Scalp metastases from endometrial adenocarcinoma are very rare. A 63-year-old female with history of irregular vaginal bleeding presented with progressive headaches and a rapidly enlarging mass on the left forehead. There were no other associated symptoms including any motor or sensory deficits. MRI of the head showed a large 8 cm tumor extending from the left frontal subcutaneous tissue through the skull into the epidural space. CT scan of the abdomen, pelvis and thorax revealed a uterine mass and showed multiple signal abnormalities in the ribs and vertebra indicative of metastasis. The patient underwent craniotomy and also had an endometrial biopsy. Both craniotomy and endometrial biopsies revealed endometrioid adenocarcinoma. This case illustrates that although scalp or intracranial metastases from endometrial adenocarcin...
Sildenafil, a phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor commonly used for erectile dysfunction, may also have... more Sildenafil, a phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor commonly used for erectile dysfunction, may also have a beneficial therapeutic effect in the treatment of stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage, dementia, learning, and neurodegenerative disorders by enhancing angiogenesis and neurogenesis. It also favorably influences the nitric oxide-cyclic guanosine monophosphate pathways, which are involved in the pathogenesis of a number of neurological diseases. Its potential therapeutic role in the treatment of the neurological disorders mentioned above is still under preclinical investigation. Sildenafil is currently being used to treat erectile dysfunction in patients with multiple sclerosis, Parkinson disease, multisystem atrophy, and spinal cord injury by improving their neurologically related erectile dysfunction. Conversely, it has been implicated in a number of neurological problems, such as intracerebral hemorrhage, migraine, seizure, transient global amnesia, nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic ...
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an emerging imaging modality that provides high-resolution,... more Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an emerging imaging modality that provides high-resolution, microstructural information on atherosclerotic plaques in biological systems. Intracoronary OCT can identify thin-cap fibroatheroma and other vulnerable plaques that may be responsible for acute coronary events. These characteristics make OCT helpful in guiding coronary management and interventions, including stent apposition and early identification of procedure-related complications. OCT is being assessed for its potential role in carotid plaque characterization and in the diagnosis of peripheral arterial atherosclerosis. Its current use in studying carotid and cerebral vasculature and in the diagnosis of peripheral arterial diseases is limited and ill defined, but it is finding increasing application in these areas. Its performance can be further improved by increasing the signal to noise ratio and by using dynamic focus tracking techniques. It can potentially be used to monitor the ...
Malignant cerebral infarction is a life-threatening condition with case fatality rates of approxi... more Malignant cerebral infarction is a life-threatening condition with case fatality rates of approximately 80% in adults with malignant infarction of the middle cerebral artery. No medical treatment has been proven effective for this condition. Decompressive hemicraniectomy within 48 h of massive cerebral infarction significantly reduces mortality and improves outcome in adults 18-60 years of age. However, there is very limited data available about the role of decompressive hemicraniectomy in children with acute malignant cerebral infarction. We present the case of a 19-month-old female who presented with progressive encephalopathy and right hemiparesis. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging of the brain showed massive cerebral infarction in the distribution of the left carotid artery with midline shift and impeding brain stem herniation. She underwent emergent decompressive hemicraniectomy with duraplasty and placement of an intracranial pressure monitor. Intracranial pre...
An urgent need exists to develop therapies for stroke that have high efficacy, long therapeutic t... more An urgent need exists to develop therapies for stroke that have high efficacy, long therapeutic time windows, and acceptable toxicity. We undertook preclinical investigations of a novel therapeutic approach involving supplementation with carnosine, an endogenous pleiotropic dipeptide. Efficacy and safety of carnosine treatment was evaluated in rat models of permanent or transient middle cerebral artery occlusion. Mechanistic studies used primary neuronal/astrocytic cultures and ex vivo brain homogenates. Intravenous treatment with carnosine exhibited robust cerebroprotection in a dose-dependent manner, with long clinically relevant therapeutic time windows of 6 hours and 9 hours in transient and permanent models, respectively. Histological outcomes and functional improvements including motor and sensory deficits were sustained on 14th day poststroke onset. In safety and tolerability assessments, carnosine did not exhibit any evidence of adverse effects or toxicity. Moreover, histolo...
Trichorhinophalangeal syndrome (TRPS) is an autosomal-dominant congenital hair loss disease chara... more Trichorhinophalangeal syndrome (TRPS) is an autosomal-dominant congenital hair loss disease characterized by sparse and slow-growing scalp hair, craniofacial and skeletal abnormalities, pear-shaped nose, thin upper lip, brittle and thin toenails, and bilateral brachydactyly of the big toes. We report a case of TRPS1 exhibiting these clinical features with a novel heterozygous single nucleotide substitution in exon 3 of the TRPS1 gene. By immunohistochemical analysis of a biopsied specimen of the patient's alopecia lesion, we found for the first time that the expression level of TRPS1 was markedly reduced in the epidermis and the outer root sheath of hair follicles as compared to a normal subject. In addition, higher expression of phospho-Stat3 was found consequent to the loss of TRPS1 in the outer root sheath.
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Papers by Muhammad Usman Farooq