Naeem

Human eyes are the precious gift from the Al-mighty Allah. The eyes play an important role in mobility, function and enjoyment of life. Without it, a man won't be able to see the beauty of this wonderful world. For this reason it is important to maintain good ocular health. Having good ocular health means that the eyes are disease free and vision is at least 20/20 or better with or without correction Health services related with eyes are one of the important aspect of school health services in which children are screened for various systemic and eye diseases such as refractive error, squint, amblyopia, cataract, vitamin deficiency etc. The basic aim of this study was to assess the factor influencing on ocular Morbidity amongst school going children. School surveys were conducted in various AMU Schools, Aligarh. A total of 1129 children between age group 8 to 12 years were enrolled in the study. Prevalence of Ocular morbidity was found in 32.3 % (n=365 out of 1129) Refractive error was found to be the most common cause of ocular morbidity 84.9 % (n= 310) followed by Conjunctivitis 7.9 % (n= 29).

Abresham or silk cocoon (Bombyx mori), a well known Unani drug has been previously shown by us to possess striking antilipidperoxidative and ROS generation blocking potential in rats subjected to oxidative stress by immobilization. This effect is likely to be produced by an increase in the concentration of GSH following silk cocoon administration, as it contains a higher concentration of those three amino acids viz. Gglycine, Glutamic acid and Cysteine, which constitute the glutathione and by modulating the activities of its metabolizing enzyme which are responsible for the reduction of oxidized glutathione and break down of GSH. Therefore, in present study silk cocoon was studied for its effects on the level of GSH, GR, GGT and GST in rat subjected to oxidative stress by immobilization. It produced a significant increase in GSH concentration and GR activity and a significant decrease in GGT activity in a dose dependant manner. It can be concluded that silk cocoon exerts antioxidant activity by increasing glutathione and by modulating its metabolizing enzyme.

Bitter gourd or Karela (Momordica charantia) belongs to the family cucurbitaceae. It is high in vitamins and an excellent source of iron and calcium. It is also known to cure diabetes, arthritis, rheumatism, asthma, warts, abscesses and ulcers. In the present study bitter gourd tea was developed and its sensory evaluation was conducted. The bitter gourd tea was screened for possible antioxidant activities by free radical scavenging activity (DPPH) and reducing power assay. The total phenolic content was also determined. The results of the investigations on appearance, color, flavor, taste and overall acceptability values ranged from 6.1 to 8.5. The amount of total phenolic contents found in bitter gourd tea extract was (264 ± 1.63) mg/g gallic acid equivalent (GAE). The bitter gourd tea exhibited antioxidant activity in the range from 18.35 ± 0.80 - 65.96% ± 2.50 at the concentrations (20-100µg/ml) in DPPH radical scavenging method. A concentration dependent reducing potential were exhibited by the bitter gourd tea which was compared with BHA and it was found that its antioxidant activity was higher than standard antioxidant BHA. The bitter gourd tea extract and standard BHA showed antioxidant activity with IC50 value of 72.04 ± 3.25 μg/ml and 98.75 ± 3.92 μg/ml, respectively. These results indicated that bitter gourd tea may be used as a potential source of natural antioxidant.

Physicochemical properties and heavy metals in honey are of interest not only for quality control but also for determination environmental contamination. The present study was carried out to investigate the physicochemical properties and heavy metal levels in branded and non branded honey samples purchased from different areas of Peshawar, Islamabad, Mardan, Swabi and Charsadda. The main objective of this study was to compare the branded and non branded honey samples obtained from the different regions. The collected honey samples were analyzed for pH, ash content, moisture and electrical conductivity and  four heavy metals i.e. Iron, Lead, Copper & Zinc and levels of these metals were determined using atomic absorption spectroscopy. The samples in this study were prepared by ashing method. The concentration ranges obtained for the metals analyzed in honey samples were as follows; Fe (1.26±0.05-7.21±2.01), Pb (0.07±0.06-0.53±0.03), Cu (0.02±0.01-0.17±0.01) and Zn (0.81±0.13-7.73±0.02) in mg/kg. The results shows that the geological strata may affect the physicochemical properties and the metal content in the honey samples.