Shabir Ahmed

Livestock farming has a key role in many rural communities both economically and culturally. It plays an important role in overcoming the deficiencies of meat, milk, wool and various by-products. Pakistan has a large number of livestock, well-adapted to local conditions. and has some of the best tropical dairy breeds. Native sheep breeds stand a vital asset to the country’s livestock sector because of their adaptability and unique genetic traits. However, knowledge of the genetic diversity of these sheep breeds remains limited. This study aims to investigate the genetic diversity of 10 local sheep breeds from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by analyzing the mitochondrial D-loop from 159 individual samples of females. The sequenced data from the mtDNA D-loop showed 106 different haplotypes, with a haplotype diversity of 0.9854 ± 0.0041. Analysis of the mitochondrial D-loop revealed three distinct haplogroups (HapA, HapB, and HapC). Out of the 159 sequences, 125 (77.99%) grouped with HapA, 30 (18.87%) with HapB, and 5 (3.14%) with HapC. While HapA and HapB are commonly found in sheep breeds worldwide, the identification of 5 sequences belonging to HapC was unexpected. This haplogroup was seen in four sheep breeds: Afghani, Australian, Gauder and Waziri. Most interestingly, the two Pakistani-origin breeds, the Waziri sheep breed, from South of Waziristan and the Gauder, a crossbreed, have been identified with HapC haplogroup. This indicates that the sheep breeds of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa belong to three distinct phylogenetic lineages, suggesting a probable gene flow from the southwest to the northeast regions of the province.

| Pakistan has reported twenty-four amphibian species, nine of which are endemic to the country. Amphibians in Pakistan are diverse, falling into four families: Dicroglossidae, Microhylidae, Bufonidae, and Megophryidae. The current study was carried out to investigate the amphibian fauna of several localities in District Abbottabad. From June 2019 to August 2020, a field survey was undertaken in District Abbottabad. Total dissolve solvent (TDS), Dissolve solvent (DO), Electrical Conductivity (EC), PH, Humidity, and Temperature (C) of several water bodies were also measured. A total of 100 specimens from the District were collected and stored in a 10% formalin solution. This study discovered that five species of anurans, i.e. Duttaphrynus s tomaticus , Duttaphrynus melanostictus , Euphlyctis cyanophlyctis , Hoplobatrachus tigerinus , and Nanorana liebigii are members of the Bufonidae and Dicroglossidae families, respectively. Morphometric measurements were made using a non-digital vernier caliper with a resolution of 0.05 mm. HW, HL, SVL, TFL, THL, TBL, HnL, TD, END, IND, IOD, ED, LF, LH, FAL, LHU, UEW, PL, and PW were all measured. This research discovered that D. melanostictus and E. cyanophlyctis were also found but in lower numbers than D. stomaticus . The District had the lowest amount of H tigerinus as well as N. liebigii records. There is need to discovered more amphibians fauna in the District Abbottabad and all over Pakistan to update the identification keys of Amphibians.

Grasshoppers are one of the most varied group of insects. They belong to phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta and order Orthoptera. Ensifera and Caelifera are two common suborders of the order Orthoptera. The current study was carried out to explore the diversity and distribution of grasshoppers in Tehsil Havelian, District Abbottabad, KPK. Field survey was conducted in 19 localities of Tehsil Havelian from August 2022 to October 2022. Environmental parameters like Temperature and Humidity were also measured. Total 400 specimens were collected from Tehsil Havelian by using Sweep Netting method and Handpicking method and were preserved in the Zoological Museum of Hazara University Mansehra. This study revealed 18 species, 14 genera and 3 families belonging to 2 sub-orders of Orthoptera. Species identified during present research includes: Acrida cinerea, Acrida exaltata, Aiolopus thalassinus, Hieroglyphus nigrorepletus, Oedaleus decorus, Oedaleus senegalensis, Oxya hyla, Oxya japonica, Oxya velox, Patanga succincta, Spathosternum prasiniferum, Trilophidiini annulate, Atractomorpha crenulate, Chrotogonus trachypterus, Conocephalus maculatus, Himertula kinneari, Mecopoda elongate and Phaneroptera gracilis. The most common species recorded in Tehsil Havelian was Spathosternum prasiniferum. Moreover, Acrididae was the most common family and Pyrogomorphidae was recorded as least common family in Tehsil Havelian.

Background. The current study was carried out between October 2017 and October 2018 to explore knowledge, attitudes, practices, and information sources regarding toxoplasmosis among pregnant women in Malakand region, the northwestern part of Pakistan. The current study was carried out between October 2017 and October 2018. Methods. A structured questionnaire was used to interview the women after taking verbal informed consent. Graphpad version 5 was used to indicate the differences. Significant was considered as a -value of less than 0.05. This study revealed poor knowledge regarding toxoplasmosis. Results. Overall, 31.2% of the respondents showed good knowledge, and 39.2% showed moderate knowledge. On the other hand, 29.5% of the participants showed poor knowledge about toxoplasmosis. The average knowledge score of pregnant women was , which is considered to be within the scale of good knowledge. Number of children within the pregnant multipara women was significantly associated with knowledge about toxoplasmosis. Pregnant women who measured in number of childbirths within a women showed the highest mean score of with 57 (44.8%) displaying a good knowledge level. Pregnant women with more than one child had significantly higher (Conclusion. Pregnant women knowledge regarding toxoplasmosis was poor as compared to attitudes and practices. Health workers and newspapers/magazines were the main sources of information.

The study reveals the prevalence of a potential rodent-borne zoonotic helminth species, Hymenolepis diminuta in commensal rodents caught from irrigated and rain-fed areas of Swat, Pakistan. Three hundred and fifty rodents (269 rats and 81 mice) trapped during vegetative, flowering/fruiting and mature/harvesting stages of crops were studied from 2011-2013. Hymenolepisdiminuta eggs were identified on the basis of their shape, size, colour and markings on the surface of the egg shell and three pairs of embryonic hook-lets. Overall prevalence of H. diminuta was 3.14% (n=11/350). The highest prevalence 3.49% (n=5/143) of H. diminuta was noted at harvesting stages of the crops whereas the lowest 2.59% (n=2/77) during vegetative stage. Infection was higher in males 3.25% (n=7/215) than females 2.96% (n=4/135). Adult rodents were highly infected while no sub-adult was found infected. Infection was higher in mice 3.70% (3/81) than rats 2.69% (8/269) while no significance (p=1.0000:0.1250 to 32.00 CI). Rats and mice appears to show the most suitable reservoirs by hosting H. diminuta a zoonotic helminth. The presence of these rodents in all possible habitats can act as a main channel of transferring parasites through various habitats and can pose a hazard to humans in the area.

Tapeworms of zoonotic importance have been described as a leading public health problem. Current research was aim to assess the prevalence of tapeworms among 5-12years school children residing in district Lower Dir, Pakistan from January 2019-December 2019. The wet mount preparation in saline/iodine/methods were used for stool examination. Data was analyzed using appropriate descriptive, static methods. Of the 400 children studied 71.7% were infected with one or more species of intestinal parasites. Single infection of cestode species was found in 69 individuals with 17.2% prevalence and multiple parasitic infections were identified in 19.7% (n=79/400) individuals. The multiple infection were comprised as 10% (n=40) double, 6.75% (n=27) triple and 3% (n=12) quadruple. A total of 9 species of helminths and one species of protozoan infection. Among the helminths Ascaris lumbricoides was the most prevalent 33.1% (n=95), Taenia saginata 22.6% (n=65), hookworm 19.8% (n=57), Hymenolepis nana 18.8% (n=54), Enterobius vermicularis and Hymenolepis diminuta 1.39% (n=4each), Trichuris trichura 1.04% (n=3), Toxocara spp 0.69% (n=2) and Schistosoma japonicum 0.34% (n=1) were reported. One protozoan species was Cryptosporidium spp 0.69% (n=2) in current study. In case of A.lumbricoides, hookworm, E.vermicularis, T.trichura, T.saginata, H.nana and H.diminuta the male children of below 8 years of age were highly infected. Other infections are reported in the same prevalence with slight difference if any. We conclude that there is a need for mass scale campaigns to create awareness regarding health and hygiene in children and the need for development of effective poverty control programs because deworming alone is not adequate to control parasitic infections.

The present research was carried out to explore the spider fauna of Buner valley with taxonomic study from February 2018 to January 2019. For this purpose samples were collected, four times at each month from 4 tehsils: Daggar, Gagra, Mandan and Totalai. Two methods were used, hand picking and sweep net for collection of samples. During day and night, three habitats, arid area, agriculture land and building area were search for collection. A total of 534 samples of spider were collected from four sampling sites, in which 379 were belonging to family Araniedae. After confirmation, the identified species were belonging to 8 genera (Neoscona, Argiope, Cyclosa, Araneus, Cyrtophora, Larinia, Erivoxia and Poltys) and 19 species. 18 of them were identified to specie level while a single specie to its generic level. The genus Neoscona was the dominant genus 26.31% having 5 species while the genus Argiope 21.05% is the second dominant having 4 species followed by Cyclosa 15.78% having 3 species followed by Cyrtophora and Araneus 10.52% having two species both. The Poltys and Larinia 5.26% are the rarest genera represent single-single specie both. Statistical analysis show that specie richness (D) = 5.77, Simpson index (1-D) = 0.87, Shannon index (H) = 2.33. Diversity of spiders was evenly distributed and calculated Evenness value was H/InS = 0.5408. There is also few atypical species and Fisher alpha estimate high value (Fisher α) = 4.42. Chao-1 estimated we have reported 22 species.