School of Sciences

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Browsing School of Sciences by Author "Haroon Ahmed"

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    A computational structural analysis of functional attributes of hypodermin a and b proteins: a way forward for vaccine development
    (Pak. J. Pharm. Sci, 2018) Irum Arif; Abdul Rauf Siddiqi; Haroon Ahmed; Inam Afzal; Muhammad Umer; Arooma Maryam; Rana Rehan Khalid; Saira Asif; Muhammad Sohail Afzal; Shabnum Shaheen; Sadaf Abdul Rauf; Ozyalin, Ozge; Simsek, Sami
    Hypodermosis is a parasitic disease of cattle. The pathogenicity of the disease is attributed to Hypodermin proteins (Hypodermin A, Hypodermin B and Hypodermin C). Studies suggest that Hypodermin proteins may be defined as Serine proteases and collagenases. The structure of both proteases Hypodermin A and Hypodermin B were modeled using the Swiss-model server followed by its validation using Procheck, Errat and Verify-3D. Afterwards, both Hypodermin A and Hypodermin B were docked against collagen in order to study its interaction with respective Hypodermin proteins. The structure of both Hypodermin A and Hypodermin B showed more bent towards hydrophobic nature as more beta sheets were present in them. Both structures were also superimposed to check out similarities and differences present between them. Serine, Aspartic acid, Histidine, Glutamic acid and Lysine are found as interacting residues that are involved in hydrogen bonding with collagen. The interactions are found in the active domain region of Hypodermin proteins. The interacting residues were present in the active region of the hypodermin proteins thus validating the docking studies. This study may help in the drug development against hypodermosis with least side effects.
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    Knowledge, attitudes and practices related to cystic echinococcosis endemicity in Pakistan
    (Infectious diseases of poverty, 2018) Aisha Khan; Haroon Ahmed; Simsek, Sami; Kashf Naz; Muhammad Sohail Afzal; Waseem Haider; Sheikh Saeed Ahmad; Sumaira Farrakh; Weiping, Wu; Yayi, Guan
    Background: Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a human and animal health problem in many endemic areas worldwide. It is considered a neglected zoonotic disease caused by the larval form (hydatid cyst) of Echinococcus spp. tapeworm. There are limited studies on echinococcosis in Pakistan. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted to find out recent knowledge, attitudes and practices on the occurrence of cystic echinococcosis in butchers and dog owners in both urban and rural areas of Rawalpindi/ Islamabad regions, Pakistan. The quantitative data was collected in the form of questionnaires to investigate the knowledge and awareness of CE among community members and their routine practices that were behind the factors involved in hydatid cyst infection. The practices and infrastructure of abattoirs/butcher shops and their role in transmission of cystic echinococcosis were also evaluated in the present study. Results: The participants involved in the study were dog owners and people who kept animals. A total of 400 people were interviewed and 289 questionnaires were received. The results showed that only 4.1% of people have heard about the disease, and 58.1% were closely associated with dogs. Sixty-three percent of dogs in study area were consuming uncooked organs (e.g. liver, lung, etc.) of slaughtered animals, while 100% of dogs at butcher shops were consuming uncooked organs. Home slaughtering was common in 20.06%. Among butchers, 32.3% had heard about zoonoses and 7.61% knew about CE. The statistical analysis showed that there was highly significant difference (P < 0.05) among most of the practices that were associated with the prevalence of CE. Conclusions: It was concluded from the present study that, the knowledge and awareness of CE among people of Rawalpindi/Islamabad were low. Because of dogs and poor knowledge of CE among community members and butchers, the transmission of echinococcosis is facilitated. Therefore, there is urgent need to strengthen awareness and health education among people, as well as proper practices related to the CE not only in the study area, but also in other areas of Pakistan.
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    Recurrence of chikungunya outbreak; an upcoming problem for Pakistan
    (Future Virology, 2018) Muhammad S Afzal; Sarmad Zahoor; Mahvish Kabir; Haroon Ahmed; Sania Munir
    InPakistan,theinitialoutbreakofchikungunyawasreportedinNovember–December2016inthecityofKarachi. Atotal1740peoplewerebroughttohospitalbetweenDecember2016andMarch2017 [1].Recurrenceofinfection was observed again with thousands of cases in April 2017. It is proposed that due to the upcoming rainy season and poor senatory system of the city, reemergence of the Aedes aegypti (A. aegypti) borne viral disease will be highly predictable. During the recent outbreak, the highest numbers of cases were reported from Malir followed by Ibrahim Hyderi, Kemari, Bin Qsim, Kemari and Lyari [2]. In April 2017, a large number of confirmed and suspected cases were reported from the city. According to the Health Department of Sindh, from April 2017 to 5 May 2017, a total of 212 chikungunya cases were confirmed by testing acute-phase samples for presence of viral RNA and convalescent-phase samples for the presence of antibodies. Out of these reported cases, the highest number of patients (131) arrived at Ibrahim Hyderi Hospital, followed by 81 infected patients from Malir and Kemari, whereas only nine were reported from Saudabad [3]. The situation is alarming, considering that 21,000 suspected patients were tested for chikungunya or given symptomatic treatment at hospitals in the city [4]. On 4 May 2017, the WHO shared its findings to the provincial GovernmentthatfiveoutofsixcitydistrictsofKarachiweredisease-infested.Asaresult,itwashighlyrecommended totheGovernmenttotake‘radical’measurestosafeguardthecityfromtheincreasingincidenceofchikungunya [5].
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    A retrospective analysis on the cystic echinococcosis cases occurred in northeastern Punjab province, Pakistan
    (Korean J Parasitol, 2018) Aisha Khan; Sarmad Zahoor; Haroon Ahmed; Uzma Malik; Rabia Amin Butt; Muhammad Sultanul Muzam; Gunyakti Kilinc, Seyma; Noorulain Noor; Saroosh Zahoor; Muhammad Sohail Afzal; Hamza Mansur; Shumaila Irum; Simsek, Sami
    A retrospective study was performed to report the case occurrence of cystic echinococcosis (CE) in three hospitals of north-eastern region in Punjab Province, Pakistan. We reviewed retrospectively the clinical records of patients in 4 hospitals which were diagnosed with CE during 2012-2017. A total of 198 cases, 82 (41.4%) male and 116 (58.6%) females were detected as CE. The most Highest incidence was revealed in.... 21-30 years-old group (24.2%) followed by 41-50 (22.7%), 31-40 (16.2%), 11-20 (13.6%), 51-60 (8.1%), below 10 (5.5%), over 71 (5.1%) and 61-70 year-old group (4.5%). CE was detected in various organs of infected individuals. However, most of CE cases were detected in the liver (47.4%) and lung (18.6%). The present study indicated that CE is more or less prevalent in surveyed areas and one of the most important public health problems in Punjab Province, Pakistan.