Water stress causes major agricultural loss throughout the world as survival of the crops remained under stress and loss in yield. Plants respond to drought stress by means of different adaptive mechanisms such as accumulation of osmoprotectants to counteract the water stress. Amino acid proline is known to occur widely in higher plants and normally accumulates in large quantities as an osmolyte in response to environmental stresses. Biochemical estimation of proline was done in the drought-affected wheat genotypes by spectrophotometric method. Proline promoted a positive effect as root/shoot ratio was enhanced in wheat germplasm under drought stress. SSR primer pairs (45) were tested for polymorphism among selected wheat genotypes. The dendrogram results have shown the wheat genotype association with the levels of proline during induced drought stress. The relationship between pattern of drought responsive biochemical attributes and DNA markers in the selected wheat genotypes was recognized to select drought tolerant genotypes for sowing in drought affected areas of the country.

Objective: To determine the foreign body aspiration in ear, nose and throat among children under 13 years of age attending tertiary care hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among children under 13 years of age attending Outpatient Department (OPD) or emergency room with history of foreign body aspiration or children among whom foreign body was retrieved during surgery. All information like age, gender, sharpness of foreign body, type of foreign body, requirement of general anaesthesia and site of foreign body were observed. Results: Out of total 181 children, foreign body aspiration of toys/beads (n=66, 36.5%) stone/metal (n=45, 24.9%), and plant/seed nut (n=28, 15.5%), were observed in majority of the patients. Most of the children (n=108, 59.7%) ingested/inserted foreign body during playing while 73 (40.3%) children ingested/inserted foreign body during eating. A significant association of site of foreign bodies were observed with sharpness of foreign body (p-value <0.001), type of foreign bodies (p-value <0.001) and general anaesthesia (p-value <0.001). Similarly type of foreign bodies were significantly associated with gender (p-value 0.003), sharpness of foreign body (p-value <0.001) and general anaesthesia (pvalue 0.003). Conclusion: Male children were significantly more involved in foreign body aspiration of plant seeds/nuts, toys/beads, stone/meta, fish bone and coin whereas requirement of general anaesthesia was found in almost all children with history of coin as foreign body aspiration.

Objective: To determine the association of thickness of tumor of oral lesions with and without metastasis in neck based on computerized tomography (CT) scan. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted among patients having age >18 years of either gender diagnosed with oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Moreover, patients with buccal mucosa and tongue malignant tumor were also included. CT scan was performed on all patients and tumor thickness in anteroposterior, transverse, and craniocaudal positions were measured. Results: A total of 119 patients were included. The mean age of the patients was 46.97 ±11.79 years. Male preponderance was found to be higher 102 (85.7%) than that of females 17 (14.3%).The mean anterioposterior thickness level was signi icantly higher in right side of oral cavity as compared to left side (4.39 ±2.12 vs 3.52 ±1.56, p-value 0.015). Moreover, mean transverse dimension was found signi icantly higher among patients in whom post tongue was involved as compared to those among which post tongue was not involved (5.05 ±1.56 vs 2.64 ±1.78, p-value 0.009). Metastasis was signi icantly higher among patients with right side of oral tumor as compared to those with left side of oral tumor (p-value 0.043). Conclusion:Metastasis of anterioposterior thickness level was signi icantly higher among patients with right side of SCC while transverse dimension was found signi icantly higher among patients in whom post tongue was involved.