Banana (Musa spp.) is one of the most widely grown and consumed fruits in Pakistan and all around the world due to their distinct aroma and taste. In 2018, anthracnose symptoms were observed on banana fruit harvested from different plantations of Sindh- a major banana producing Province of Pakistan. Approximately, 25% of banana fruit collected from different plantations were infected. The symptoms consisted of small brown to reddish-brown spots on the fruit surface and then became sunken lesions as the disease progressed. To identify the pathogen, infected tissues (5 mm in diameter) from the margin of the lesions were surface sterilized by dipping in 1% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) for 2 min, 70% ethanol for 30 s, and then rinsed twice with sterile distilled water, plated onto potato dextrose agar (PDA), and incubated at 27°C for 5 days with 12 h light and darkness cycle. Colonies with a similar pattern were consistently isolated and all colonies were sub-cultured using the single-spore method. Colonies first appeared with white colored mycelium and later turned to dark gray. Conidia produced in acervuli were cylindric, hyaline, straight, and aseptate, with both ends rounded. Conidia measured 14.0 ± 0.5 × 3.4 ± 0.6 μm. Conidiomata were dark brown and spherical. On the basis of morphological characterization, the pathogen was identified as Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (Penz.) Penz. & Sacc. (Weir et al. 2012). Two independent isolates (PDL2031 and PDL2032) were used for further genetic analysis. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and chitin synthase 1 (CHS-1) gene were amplified from genomic DNA using primer pairs of ITS1/ITS4 and CHS-79F/CHS-345R, respectively (White et al. 1990; Damm et al. 2012). The GenBank accession numbers (MW493198, MW504711 for ITS and MW530421, MW530422 for CHS-1) of the sequences exhibited 99% to 100% identity to multiple sequences of C. gloeosporioides. To conduct a pathogenicity test, 10 healthy fruits were selected and surface sterilized with 70% ethanol followed by a wash of sterilized water. The fruits were stabbed with a sterile needle and a drop of 20 µl of spore suspension (106 spores/ml) was placed on each wound independently. Meanwhile 10 fruits inoculated with sterile water were treated as controls. The fruits were incubated at 27°C with 90% relative humidity for 10 days. Inoculated fruits exhibited symptoms similar to the original infection. No visible lesions appeared on control fruit. C. gloeosporioides was successfully reisolated from the inoculated fruit, confirming Koch’s postulates. Anthracnose of banana is known to be caused by C. musae, C. gloeosporioides, C. siamense, C. tropicale, C. chrysophilum, C. theobromicola, and C. scovillei (Kumar et al. 2017; Peres et al. 2001; Vieira et al. 2017; Zakaria et al. 2009; Zhou et al. 2017). To our knowledge, this is first report of anthracnose of banana caused by C. gloeosporioides in Pakistan. The new disease primarily reduces the quality and yield of Banana. Effective measures should be taken to manage this disease.

The approach of eco-friendly and safe environmental materials for various industrial applications like medicine, agriculture and similar areas is growing rapidly. The advantages of biologically degradable and non-toxic materials like the natural polymers are evident by the mounting level of its use in pharmaceutical field particularly. The various natural polymers have been aiding the drug delivery systems for long time as the drug transporters with the objective of improving the efficacy and efficiency. The floating drug delivery systems are required to possess proper floating capability in gastric systems and use of natural polymers in such delivery systems has been very beneficial. The physical characteristics of natural polymers facilitate them to be brilliant drug carriers for such type of drug delivery systems.  The aim of this review is to provide the overview of role of natural polymers in floating drug delivery system, its characteristic effects, ongoing research and trend of future developments and applications in the field.Javaid et al., International Current Pharmaceutical Journal, March 2017, 6(4): 23-26http://www.icpjonline.com/documents/Vol6Issue4/01.pdf

Viral hepatitis is one of the common transmissible causes of chronic liver responsible for increased risk of mortality and morbidity. Hepatitis C disease has worldwide high prevalence which is more fatal because of lack of vaccination availability. Present study was conducted with the aim of to address the comparative prevalence and risk factor of hepatitis C. Secondary objective was to evaluate the prevalence of this disease in Pakistan as compared to other countries. Most of the countries in the world do not have significant studies of population infected with Hepatitis C virus (HCV). During 1990-2016, 232 studies were included; containing 117 countries representing that 90% of the world population have 2.3% prevalence. According to studies, developed countries have low HCV prevalence while developing countries have high prevalence. Pakistan being a developing country has second highest HCV prevalence ranging from 4.5 to 8%. The reason of this high prevalence is unawareness about Hepatitis C in community and lack of successful therapies for patients with HCV. In past, developed countries had high prevalence but now they have low incidence because of proper system and awareness. Pakistan needs such kind of public awareness programs and better treatment facilities at affordable price to community.Tahir et al., International Current Pharmaceutical Journal, November 2016, 5(12): 106-110http://www.icpjonline.com/documents/Vol5Issue12/02.pdf

Asthma means chronic (long term) illness of the lungs causing cough, shortness of breath, chest tightness, wheezing and fast respirations, which is influenced by several genetic developments and environmental factors that affect over 300 million people around the world and 1 in 4 urban children. The occurrence of asthma increased in the world over the last 25 years. Environmental factors such as air pollution allergens, infection, smoking, hormones, and some specific medicine take part in this disorder. Currently there are different therapies to overcome this disease like Herbal, Unani, Ayurveda, Siddha, Homeopathy, Naturopathy, Allopathy, Biochemical and Chinese herbs. Allopathic treatment is also available for majority of the disorders but the problem is increasing price of medication now a days and allopathic medicines are related with a diversity of side effects. So tendency towards management of asthma with modern therapies like intake of nutritional diet and modification in our lifestyle including exercise, yoga are highly adopted these days.

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