Editorial

Abstract

Editorial – Issue 1, Volume 4

Life Science Journal of Pakistan (LSJP) is going to publish its fifth issue and become more and more credible among life science researchers who are sending their valuable articles for publication. In the current issue, five manuscripts have been selected for publication, out of which three are original research articles and two review articles. First manuscript focuses on immuno-chromatographic assay-based frequency estimation of most common infectious diseases among the hospital visiting patients of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Authors reported almost half of the hospital attending patients (47.01%) were positive for Hepatitis B virus infection followed by Salmonella typhi infection among 21.51% of patients. Other reported infections were Hepatitis C virus found in 14.34% of patients, Helicobacter pylori infection in 12.35% of patients, and almost every 20^th patient was found positive with Plasmodium (4.78%). Both males and females were almost equally screened in over 750 subjects, astonishingly, over 3/4^th of screened subjects belonged to the age group 21-30 years. The figures mentioned in this manuscript are alarming for health officials and demand urgent and special attention. The second manuscript accepted for publication was also of great importance in reporting post-operative surgical site infections (POSSIs) to determine the prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in remote areas of Jacobabad. They highlighted the emergence of a significant fraction of VRSA among MRSA isolates in POSSIs. They also suggested regular monitoring of sensitivity patterns and the necessity of finding new and effective antibiotics sensitivity patterns in order to treat infections in our local settings. The third article, accepted for publication in this issue was regarding plant sciences and reports the impact of hydropriming and halopriming on seed vigor and germination of tomato seeds under heat stress conditions. Authors have devised safe, cost-effective, and easily adaptable protocols for farmers for priming of low-quality tomato seeds and they can achieve seed- germination to several folds by using such protocols. 

A mini-review focusing release of the herpes simplex virus from the infected cells was also included in this issue. That review describes the role of different proteins including UL7, UL51, UL 36, UL 37, Pin1, etc. in the egress of the herpes simplex virus.    Team LSJP is striving and supporting government agencies and healthcare workers, in fighting against COVID-19, by continuously publishing pandemic-related literature. A relevant review was included in this issue focusing on COVID-19 and human physiological systems. Authors have reviewed the effect of COVID-19 on lungs, gut, immune system, brain and mental health, cardiac system, liver, muscular system, etc., and reported COVID-19 is a multi-organ affecting unique virus.

LSJP will continue addressing scientific trends related to all disciplines mentioned in the scope of this journal, for that we hope for more active participation of scholars from academia and R&D institutes.  Team LSJP made every effort to make the process of manuscript submission, review, and publication very user-friendly and convenient. Efforts of the LSJP team are highly acknowledged for their help and support to bring LSJP to this level of gaining excellence in life sciences publications.

Dr. Yasar Saleem,

Managing Editor,

Life Science Journal of Pakistan