Acacia species are very important tree species in tropical and subtropical countries of the World for their economic and medicinal benefits. Precise identification of Acacia is very important to distinguish the invasive species from rare species however, it is difficult to differentiate Acacia species based on morphological charcters. In addition, precise identification is also important for wood charcterization in the forest industry as these species are declining due to illegal logging and deforestation. To overcome thsese limitations of morphological identification, DNA barcoding is being used as an efficient and quick approach for precise identification of tree species. In this study, we selected two chloroplast and plastid base DNA markers ( rbcL and matK ) for the identification of five selected tree species of Acacia (A. albida, A. ampliceps, A. catechu, A. coriacea and A. tortilis) . The genomic DNA of the selected Acacia species was extracted, amplified through PCR using specific primers and subsequently sequenced through Sanger sequencing. In matK DNA marker the average AT nucleotide contents were higher (59.46%) and GC contents were lower (40.44%) as compared to the AT (55.40%) and GC content (44.54%) in rbcL marker. The means genetic distance K2P between the Acacia species was higher in matK (0.704%) as compared to rbcL (0.230%). All Acacia species could be identified based on unique SNPs profile. Based on SNP data profiles, DNA sequence based scannable QR codes were developed for accurate identification of Acacia species. The phylogenetic analysis based on both markers ( rbcL and matK ) showed that both A. coriacea and A. tortilis were closely related with each other and clustered in the same group while other two species A. albida and A. catechu were grouped together. The specie A. ampliceps remained ungrouped distantly, compared with other four species. These finding highlights the potential of DNA barcoding for efficient and reproducible identification of Acacia species.

SummaryInformation on the current prevalence and types of consanguineous marriages in Malakand District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (KPK), Pakistan, was collected from 1192 rural couples. Some 66.4% of marriages were between couples related as second cousins or closer (F≥0.0156), equivalent to a mean coefficient of inbreeding (α) of 0.0338. The data suggest that the prevalence of consanguineous unions in Malakand has been increasing during the last decade, in response to the high levels of violence across KPK.

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The present study aimed to estimate the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in schoolgoing children. Both Iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia have considerable adverse effect on human health. Among the different negative health concerns, including stunt development, less developed immunity, lower IQ level, no proper physical work capacity, more fatigue, maternal mortality rates, young ones born with low birth weight, birth complications and infant mortality rates are some of the remarkable health concerns posed by iron deficiency level. Our study sample was consisting of 420 school age children of both genders. The blood samples were collected in EDTA (Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) tubes from different school and health maternity centres by trained and veteran persons. Questionnaires were utilised for the data collection, at the time of blood samples collection. Hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrite (Hct), Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), Mean Corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), white blood cell and red blood cell (RBC)were determine by automatic hematological analyzer model Symex Ks-21 having two reagents, cell pack and Stromatolyser-wwt 500 ml. The total percentage of anemia recorded in school age children was 34.0%. In tehsil Banda Daud Shah, the incidence of anemia was high up to 43.6% while in tehsil Takhti Nasrati and Karak was 32.1% and 26.4% respectively. The percentage was higher in girls (38.9%) than in boys (31.0%). The anemia percentage was recorded high (55.8%) in lower socioeconomic family children, than middle class (32.2%) and upper class (17%). The percentage of anemic children was also high (40%) in age group of 10 -12 years. Pale skin was the most common symptom of anemia.