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جو بادۂ جاں چھلک رہا ہے سنبھال لینا خطا سے پہلے

جو بادۂ جاں چھلک رہا ہے سنبھال لینا خطا سے پہلے
یہ رند ساقی سے ملتمس ہے عطا ہو مجھ کو عطا سے پہلے

جو لو لگانے کی آرزو ہو یہ جان لینا کہ اس نگر میں
وفا خطا میں شمار ہو گی کہ لب جلیں گے دعا سے پہلے

تری نگہ سے جو بچ گیا وہ اسیر و مجرم خرد کا ہو گا
مسیحا و خضر منتظر ہیں، علاج ہو گا دوا سے پہلے

فنا ہوئے ہیں وہ سارے فتنے، وہ سارے محشر لپٹ گئے ہیں
تری جوانی کی بات پہنچی ہے آج بادِ صبا سے پہلے

ہے چاک دامن مگر فضاؔ کی ہے دید اب بھی سعید مجھ کو
نشاطِ دل کا یہی ہے چارہ فنا سے پہلے، قضا سے پہلے

Knowledge, Attitude and Practices towards Menstrual Hygiene among Government and Private School Girls KAP towards menstrual hygiene in school girls

Menstruation is a normal physiological process unique to females. Pre-menarche is characterized by physiological, cognitive, and psychological transitions which may be initiated from the midst of their second decade. The onset of puberty/ menstruation in girls tends to change their role in society. Overall inadequate awareness levels accompanied by socio-cultural taboos and prevailing myths and misconceptions about menarche and menstruation have played havoc on human society. Objective: To diagnose and compare the prevailing level ofknowledge, attitude, and practices of adolescent girls studying in government and private schoolstowards menstrual hygiene and management. Methods: This Analytical and cross-sectional study was conducted at Government Jouhar Girls High School and Shiblee Grammar School System, Gulberg Branch (private) Faisalabad. A self-administered survey-based questionnaire was developed. Prior formal written approval from school authorities was followed by the pre-planned scheduled visits, explaining the purpose of the study, assuring confidentiality of acquired information, and self-administration of survey-based questionnaires. Results: The results indicated that the mean age at menarches of the girls was 13.69±0.95 years. A relatively more percentage of government (59.6%) school respondents followed by private school respondents (57.1%) had satisfactory knowledge about their age of first menarche (p = 0.806). Motivated by the socio-cultural taboos and /or fear or shame a majority of government (59.6%) and private school respondents (57.1%) had satisfactory knowledge about their age of first menarche (p = 0.806). A strong prevalence of Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) was found in private school girls 87(49.2%) and 21(11.9%), followed by respective percentages of 78(43.8%), 16(9.0%) amongst the government school respondents who recorded their responses as agreed and strongly agreed about the development of reproductive tract infection in the post-menstruation period. As far as the adoption of hygienic practices is concerned a relatively high percentage of government school 28(15.7%) followed by private school 14(7.9%) girls strongly disagreed about changing their absorbent material on daily basis. The development of skin abrasions like rashes, itching, and urinary tract infection was found in a relatively high proportion amongst the government school girls 30(16.9%) followed by private school respondents 18(10.2%) in the post-menstruation period. A most common and alarming unhygienic practice prevalent amongst the government and private school girls was the reuse of absorbent cloth,   who responded as agreed and strongly agreed in respective terms as 43(24.2%),   22(12.4%), and 69(39%) and 28(15.8%).  Conclusions: The study concluded that the persistent myths, misconceptions, socio-cultural taboos, and unhygienic practices i.e. Use of old clothes as absorbent, reuse of absorbent material, and delaying tendency of changing absorbent,   amongst the adolescent school girls of government and private institutes which may pose direct adverse health and life quality concerns for the female Pakistani community. The current situation calls for active participatory contributions from education communities to initiate various communication and awareness campaigns regarding pre-menarche knowledge and menstruation management which may aid to strengthen and transform their role as a significant representative of society. 

Application of Chemicals to Break Corm Dormancy and Enhance Production in Gladiolus Gladiolus Grandiflorus

Ornamental bulbous plants have great value in the world floriculture industry and gladiolus possesses prominent position among them. Gladiolus plant is mainly grown for its flower spike but it can be used as an bedding and potting plant. The increase in demand of its spikes needs continuous cultivation to meet the market demands throughout the year but occurrence of dormancy in corms limits its cultivation to only one growing season in a year. Various chemicals were used to break corms dormancy and their effect on corm health was also studied. The effect of important factors which affects the breaking of corm dormancy including corm source, scales and varieties was studied. Among treatments the soaking of dormant corms in different concentrations of methanol in combination with plant growth regulators (gibberellic acid, 6-benzylaminopurine and indole acetic acid) was effective to break corm dormancy rather than individual application of chemicals. The descaled corms responded better to application of chemicals than the scaled ones. In another set of chemical treatments, the combined application of gibberellic acid with benzylaminopurine enhanced their effect to get the maximum germination percentage under controlled conditions of temperature at 26 o C in complete darkness. The combination of gibberellic acid with benzylaminopurine was found the best from the initial experiments and this combination was used to break corm dormancy under field conditions. The germination percentage increased as the concentration of gibberellic acid in combination with benzylaminopurine increased. The chemical analysis of treated and non treated corms revealed that there was maximum increase in total soluble sugars (6.98mg/g), gibberellic acid content (112.80ηg/g) and decrease in starch content (22.25mg/g), total phenolic content (91.57μg/g) and abscisic acid (27.32ηg/g) was recorded in treated corms. In the second part of the study, foliar application of gibberellic acid, 6-benzylaminopurine and salicylic acid was done at three different stages of growth of gladiolus plants. The plants which received foliar application of gibberellic acid showed an improvement in their vegetative characters i.e. the maximum increase in plant height (122.14cm), spike length (58.41cm), number of florets (13.49), corm diameter (4.43 cm), corm weight (25.34g), number of cormels plant-1(75.64), cormel weight plant-1(20.45 g), and also the chemical constituents of leaves including, chlorophyll content (7.72mg/g), total carotenoids (1.61mg/g), total soluble sugars (3.68mg/g), nitrogen (1.52%), phosphorus (0.28%) and potassium (0.64%). Whereas benzylaminopurine application increased the spike diameter (7.23 mm) and salicylic acid application acted to decrease the number of days to flower (64.93) and total phenolic content (0.62mg/g) of leaf compared to control plants. The foliar application of polyamines (putrescine and spermine) and vitamins (ascorbic acid and thiamine) at 0.1, 0.4, 0.7 and 1mM concentrations improved the morphological and physiological parameters. Putrescine application at 1mM concentration resulted in increased morphological parameters, the plant height (107.85cm), spike length (53.19cm), spike diameter (7.53 mm), florets spike-1(13.99), 1st floret diameter (9.66 cm), floret weight (4.90g), corm diameter (4.57cm) corm weight (26.16g), cormels plant-1(80.86), cormel weight (23.03g) and also improved the physiological attributes like chlorophyll content(8.06mg/g), total carotenoids (1.66mg/g), total phenolic content (0.89mg/g), total soluble sugars (4.75mg/g), nitrogen (1.42%), phosphorus (0.27%) and potassium (0.84%). Thus foliar application of gibberellic acid and putrescine is helpful to improve the economically valuable characteristics of gladiolus plant which may helpful for gladiolus growers to fetch more price in the market.
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Asian Research Index Whatsapp Chanel

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