Background: Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory, immune mediated, provocative and challenging skin condition. It is a non-contagious but debilitating disease and a leading cause of socioeconomic burden on the health system. Objective: To evaluate the role of antioxidant levels, lipid peroxidation status and lipid profile in the etiology and degree of severity of psoriatic illness among psoriasis patients presenting in Dermatology department. Study Design: This study was carried out as a retrospective case control study. Place and duration of Study: It was carried out by the Department of Biochemistry, Basic Medical Sciences Institute (BMSI) in collaboration with Departmnt of Biochemistry, Khyber Medical College, Peshawar and Department of Skin and Venereal disease, Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre (JPMC) Karachi. Material and Methods: One hundred and twenty cases (n=130) of already diagnosed psoriasis patients were randommely and fifty healthy matched controls (n=50) of the same age and gender were included from the general population for comparison. Lipid profile including serum total cholesterol, TG, HDL-c and LDL-c levels were measured by enzyme colorimetric analysis on Micro Lab 300 (Merck & Germany). Antioxidant status SOD and lipid peroxidation status MDA were measured by ELISA technique. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software Version 16. In this analysis, a “p” value of less than 0.05 was considered to be significant. Results: The study showed significantly elevated levels of MDA, serum TG, total cholesterol and LDL-c levels in psoriatic patients in comparison with controls, whereas SOD levels and HDL-c levels were found to be significantly lower in psoriatic patients as compared to normal healthy matched controls. Conclusion: The findings of this study support the hypothesis that an imbalance in oxidant-antioxidant system may play a role in the etiology of psoriasis and the degree of severity of its presentation. The study also concluded that dyslipidemia was an observed risk factor for the development of cardiovascular diseases in psoriatic patients..

Introduction: Zinc has many effects on human’s multiple systems in the body, including gastrointestinal tract. It is essential for normal development, immune system and growth of an infant. Zinc deficiency increases the chances and severity of gastrointestinal tract and respiratory infections. Children are at high risk of zinc deficiency as their requirements increases with growth. The amount of zinc absorbed from infant formulae is considerably lesser than that absorbed from mother’s milk. The aim was to study the differences in the growth indices of breast-fed and formula-fed infants and also to look for the association of zinc, if any, with these indices. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was performed from October 2017 to March 2018 in Peshawar, on 50 healthy infants {25 breast-fed infants (BFI) and 25 formula-fed infants (FFI)}. The infants' weight, height, BMI, head circumference and skinfolds (biceps and triceps) were recorded. Blood samples of all the infants were collected for zinc assay. Data were collected in an MS Excel sheet and descriptive data analysis was done by Minitab version 16. Results: It was observed that the head circumference (cm) of FFI was significantly higher (40.32± 2.34) in comparison to BFI (38.12±4.46) whereas SDS weight, SDS BMI, biceps and triceps measurements did not reveal any significant difference in the two groups. The variables showing a significant positive correlation with zinc were age (r = 0.328, p=0.02) and SDS height (r= 0.274, p= 0.05) while SDS weight, SDS BMI, biceps and triceps measurements were not correlated with zinc status. Conclusion: All the growth indices except head circumference of both breast-fed and formula-fed infants were comparable. Similarly, all these indices except SDS height were not associated with the levels of zinc during early infancy showing that zinc status does not affect the growth of infants at least in the early phase of life. Keywords: Zinc, Growth indices, Breast-feeding, Formula feeding

Hypercholesterolemia is a mediator for the etiology of cardiovascular diseases, which are characterized as the global leading cause of mortality. We aimed to investigate the inhibitory activity of Withania coagulans compounds against 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (Hmgcr) of Mus musculus using an extensive in silico approach. The 3D structure of the Hmgcr protein is not yet known, so we performed the homology modeling using MODELLER and SWISS-MODEL tools, followed with structural validation and assessment. The PROCHECK web server showed that the top-ranked homology model from SWISS-MODEL has 93.4% of residues in the most-favorable region, the quality factor was 98%, and the Verify3D score was 91.43%, compared to the other generated models. The druggable protein-binding cavities in a 3D model of Hmgcr were investigated with the aid of commonly prescribed statin compounds using the CB-dock approach. We compiled a 3D compound library of W. coagulans, followed by drug-likeness evaluation, and found 20 eligible compounds. The pattern of consensus residues obtained from the CB-dock procedure was then used for grid-box docking of W. coagulans compounds and statin drugs using AutoDock 4.2, respectively. The results showed that withanolide R (−10.77 kcal/mol), withanolide Q (−10.56 kcal/mol), withanolide J (−10.52 kcal/mol), atorvastatin (−8.99 kcal/mol), simvastatin (−8.66 kcal/mol), and rosuvastatin (−8.58 kcal/mol) were promising candidates that bind Hmgcr protein. The key residues involved in protein–ligand (withanolide R) interactions were Y516, C526, V529, I530, M533, I535, and V537, and the formation of a H-bond was at C526, M533, and I535 residues. M533 was the consensus residue having a tendency to form a H-bond with withanolide Q, too. Molecular dynamics simulations were used to validate the top-ranked docked complexes for the stability of the modeled protein. We also predicted the pharmacokinetic properties of binding affinity-based top-ranked compounds and concluded that they could be used as potential inhibitors of Hmgcr. However, further in vitro and in vivo studies are essential to completing the drug development process.