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This paper aims to evaluate the therapeutic potential of apple extracts against thrombocytopenia, i.e. decrease in platelet count.

Male Sprague Dawley rats were used to evaluate therapeutic potential of apple extracts. Diets enriched with apple fruit and seed’s ethanolic extract were provided to normal and KBrO₃-induced thrombocytopenic rats for 60 days. KBrO₃ was administered at level of 85 mg/Kg of body weight of rats to intentionally decrease the platelet count. Platelet count and other hematological parameters were monitored at monthly intervals to evaluate therapeutic effect of apple extracts against thrombocytopenia.

The results of current research portrayed that both apple seed and fruit extracts enriched diets increased the platelet count significantly (p < 0.05) in thrombocytopenic rats. It was observed that apple fruit extract-enriched diet (AFE) raised the platelet count to 14.72 and 33.07 per cent in normal and thrombocytopenic rats, respectively. Apple seed extract-enriched diet (ASE) raised the platelet count to 11.08 and 32.90 per cent in normal and thrombocytopenic rats, respectively. Other hematological parameters including white blood cells, red blood cells and hemoglobin were also significantly increased.

Thrombocytopenia is uprising problem in developing world including India and Pakistan accompanied by different diseases especially dengue and related complications. Because of questioning on therapies against thrombocytopenia, research on diet-based therapies, as a substitute to synthetic one, is increasing. Diet rich in antioxidant compounds including apple fruit and seeds are the limelight of manuscript.

Nigella sativa L. (black cumin) has a unique nutritional profile that can be employed in food formulation to improve health of consumers. Black cumin is already used in traditional medicines in Pakistan to treat various maladies like diabetes mellitus, gastrointestinal disorders, and as immune booster. The core objective of the present research study is to explore the role of black cumin fixed oil (BCFO) as a functional ingredient in cereal‐based bakery products.

The BCFO was supplemented in cookies' formulations and impact on nutritive quality, tocopherols and thymoquinone contents was studied.

The results indicated that addition of fixed oil influenced the physical characteristics of cookies significantly. Chemical attributes varied non‐significantly, but oxidative stability of the cookies was improved as indicated from decreased peroxide (POV) and TBA value. Gradual increase in BCFO in cookies formulations increased the amounts of total tocopherols significantly from 9.85 ± 0.392 to 53.19 ± 1.689 mg/kg‐oil. BCFO addition significantly enhanced α‐, β‐, γ‐, δ‐tocopherols i.e. 8.80±0.630 to 32.19±1.410, 0.96±0.035 to 3.47±0.114, 0.09 ± 0.000 to 14.98 ± 0.520, 0.00 ± 0.000 to 2.55 ± 0.127 mg/kg‐oil, respectively. Likewise, thymoquinone contents were recorded highest in cookies containing 5.0 @ BCFO (7.25 ± 0.482 mg/100 g) as compared to control. Moreover, cookies containing fixed oil @ 4% rated better on hedonic scale as compared with control by the trained taste panel during sensory evaluation.

The results of present research paved the way for the commercial applications of BCFO especially in cereal‐based products. Moreover, present intervention heightened the prospects of using black cumin seed oil in different food products that may produce healthy impact on end consumers.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the perspective debates upon the real-time challenges for a three-staged Performance Improvement Continuing Medical Education (PI-CME) model, an innovative and potential approach for future CME, to inform providers to think, prepare and to act proactively.

In this discussion, the challenges associated for adopting the American Medical Association’s three-staged PI-CME model are reported.

Not many institutions in USA are using a three-staged performance improvement model and then customizing it to their own healthcare context for the specific targeted audience. They integrate traditional CME methods with performance and quality initiatives, and linking with CME credits.

Overall the US health system is interested in a structured PI-CME model with the potential to improve physicians practicing behaviors.

Knowing the dearth of evidence for applying this structured performance improvement methodology into the design of CME activities, and the lack of clarity on challenges inherent to the process that learners and providers encounter. This paper establishes all-important first step to render the set of challenges for a three-staged PI-CME model.

The use of Twitter by political parties and politicians has been well studied in developed countries. However, there is a lack of empirical work, which has examined the use of Twitter in developing countries. This study aims to explore the information-sharing patterns of Pakistani politicians through Twitter accounts during the pre-election campaign of 2018.

Data of three weeks of the official party accounts and the politicians running for prime minister were analysed. The mixed-methods approach has been used to analyse quantitative and qualitative data retrieved through Twitonomy.

It was found that the most active Twitter account belonged to the winning party. The prominent Twitter account functions were a call to vote, promotional Tweets, promises and Tweeting about party developments. The present study provides evidence that there is a difference between the Tweeting behaviour of established and emerging parties. The emerging party heavily posted about changing traditional norms/culture/practices.

The study contributed to existing knowledge and has practical implications for politicians, citizens and social media planners.

The present study was designed carefully and based on empirical research. The study is unique in its nature to fill the research and knowledge gap by adding a variety of Twitter functions used by politicians.

The modern day has seen an increase in the prevalence of the improvement of high-performance thermal systems for the enhancement of heat transmission. Numerous studies and research projects have been carried out to acquire an understanding of heat transport performance for their functional application to heat conveyance augmentation. The idea of this study is to inspect the entropy production in Darcy-Forchheimer Ree-Eyring nanofluid containing bioconvection flow toward a stretching surface is the topic of discussion in this paper. It is also important to take into account the influence of gravitational forces, double stratification, heat source–sink and thermal radiation. In light of the second rule of thermodynamics, a model of the generation of total entropy is presented.

Incorporating boundary layer assumptions allows one to derive the governing system of partial differential equations. The dimensional flow model is transformed into a non-dimensional representation by applying the appropriate transformations. To deal with dimensionless flow expressions, the built-in shooting method and the BVP4c code in the Matlab software are used. Graphical analysis is performed on the data to investigate the variation in velocity, temperature, concentration, motile microorganisms, Bejan number and entropy production concerning the involved parameters.

The authors have analytically assessed the impact of Darcy Forchheimer's flow of nanofluid due to a spinning disc with slip conditions and microorganisms. The modeled equations are reset into the non-dimensional form of ordinary differential equations. Which are further solved through the BVP4c approach. The results are presented in the form of tables and figures for velocity, mass, energy and motile microbe profiles. The key conclusions are: The rate of skin friction incessantly reduces with the variation of the Weissenberg number, porosity parameter and Forchheimer number. The rising values of the Prandtl number reduce the energy transmission rate while accelerating the mass transfer rate. Similarly, the effect of Nb (Brownian motion) enhances the energy and mass transfer rates. The rate of augments with the flourishing values of bioconvection Lewis and Peclet number. The factor of concentration of microorganisms is reported to have a diminishing effect on the profile. The velocity, energy and entropy generation enhance with the rising values of the Weissenberg number.

According to the findings of the study, a slip flow of Ree-Eyring nanofluid was observed in the presence of entropy production and heat sources/sinks. There are features when the implementations of Darcy–Forchheimer come into play. In addition to that, double stratification with chemical reaction characteristics is presented as a new feature. The flow was caused by the stretching sheet. It has been brought to people's attention that although there are some investigations accessible on the flow of Ree-Eyring nanofluid with double stratification, they are not presented. This research draws attention to a previously unexplored topic and demonstrates a successful attempt to construct a model with distinctive characteristics.

This study aims to identify enablers of belief and ethics-based marketing practices, establish relationships among the factors and present them in a hierarchical model to derive critical insights. This paper emphasizes interpretations of the in-depth interviews to decipher the market pervasiveness of the evolved model.

In-depth interviews were conducted with individuals and small groups of informed and elite respondents pursuing marketing guided explicitly by ethics and led by belief. The interview data further corroborated with the related literature contributed to specific factors. Finally, interpretive structural modeling has been implemented step by step to develop a systematic model for enablers.

This paper contributes a structural relationship of morality and ethics, strengthening faith and belief through philosophical understanding, which traverses into the actions related to societal benefits with the support of market opportunity development while bringing in value, enhancing the demand in return and establishing market pervasiveness. The crux of this paper is that the foundation of belief will reduce the hierarchy of other related factors while strengthening their interdependencies with equity to contribute to the development of the pervasiveness of the market for such organizations.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study exploring and examining the enablers contributing to belief and ethics-based organizations’ pervasiveness along with their interrelationships. The initial intrigue that led to the inquiry was evidence of the market pervasiveness of such organizations’ products and services across various streams.

This paper aims to report a prototype of a reliable method for rapid, sensitive bacterial detection by using a low-cost zinc oxide nanorods (ZnONRs)-based electrochemical sensor.

The ZnONRs have been grown on the surface of a disposable, miniaturized working electrode (WE) using the low-temperature hydrothermal technique. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersion spectroscopy have been performed to characterize the distribution as well as the chemical composition of the ZnONRs on the surface, respectively. Moreover, the cyclic voltammetry test has been implemented to assess the effect of the ZnONRs on the signal conductivity between −1 V and 1 V with a scan rate of 0.01 V/s. Likewise, the effect of using different bacterial concentrations in phosphate-buffered saline has been investigated.

The morphological characterization has shown a highly distributed ZnONR on the WE with uneven alignment. Also, the achieved response time was about 12 minutes and the lower limit of detection was approximately 103 CFU abbreviation for Colony Forming Unit/mL.

This paper illustrates an outcome of an experimental work on a ZnONRs-based electrochemical biosensor for direct detection of bacteria.

This study aims to investigate the impact of empowering leadership (EL) on employee innovative work behavior (IWB), using an interactionist perspective on creativity and conservation of resources theory. Following the premise, the study unravels the mediating role of job crafting (JC) and creative self-efficacy (CSE) as a boundary condition that likely triggers and facilitates this process.

Using a dyadic cross-sectional design, this study focuses on academic staff at four universities in Pakistan. Participants were surveyed, and questionnaires were distributed to collect data pertaining to accomplish the study objectives.

The study results reveal that JC plays a pivotal role as an intervening factor in establishing the connection between EL and employees’ IWB. This implies that EL likely promotes employees’ JC behavior, thus contributing to a greater manifestation of innovative behaviors at work. Furthermore, this interplay is further enhanced by using CSE as a moderator.

This study accentuates the importance of JC in eliciting the mechanism which effectively channelizes and translates the impact of EL on IWB. It also offers the valuable and fresh perspective on the conditions favoring the innovative behaviors at work.