Pakistan Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research Series A: Physical Sciences (Vol.64, Issue 1, 2021) EDITORIAL BOARD Dr. Syed Hussain Abidi (Oxon) Chief Editor Shahida Begum Executive Editor MEMBERS Dr. F. Ahmed Dr. S. Goswami Prof. R. Mahmood Dr. M. Sarfaraz The University of Technology Sambalpur University, Odisha, India Slippery Rock University University of Engg. and Technology, Petronas, Malaysia Prof. S. Haydar Pennsylvania, USA Lahore, Pakistan Prof. Dr. J. Anzano University of Engg. & Technology Dr. Y. Qi Prof. Dr. D. Z. Seker University of Zaragoza, Spain Lahore, Pakistan National Cancer Institute, Istanbul Technical University, Dr. A. Chauhan Dr. W. L. Jong National Institutes of Health, Turkey Nat. Institute of Pharma. Education University of Malaya, Malaysia USA Dr. I. Ulfat and Research, Mohali, India Dr. H. Khan Dr. I. Rezic University of Karachi, Pakistan Dr. Debanjan Das Institute of Chemical Sciences Faculty of Textile Technology Dr. J. P. Vicente C.B. Fleet Company, Inc.,VA, USA University of Peshawar, Pakistan Zagreb, Croatia University of Valencia, Spain Prof. A. S. Goonetilleke Prof. W. Linert Dr. R. Sappal Prof. Z. Xie Queensland University of Institute of Applied Synthetic University of Prince Edward Imperial College, London University, Technology, Australia Chemistry, Vienna, Austria Island, Canada UK Editors: Gul-e-Rana, Sajid Ali, Zia-ur-Rahman Aamir, Tanveer Ahmad and Bushra Arshad Pakistan Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research is published triannually i.e: Series A: Physical Sciences [ISSN 2221-6413 (Print); ISSN 2223-2559 (Online)] (appearing as issues of January-April, May-August and September-December). This Journal is indexed/abstracted in BIOSIS Preview, NCBI, Pub Med, Scimago, Research Gate, Clarivate Analytics, CABI, Elseviers Scopus and Zoological Record. 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Pakistan Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research Series A: Physical Sciences Vol. 64, No. 1, January-April, 2021 Contents The Anti-depressant Activity of Fixed Oil of Phaseolus vulgaris Linn. in Mice Salma Sabir, Sadia Ghousia Baig, Muhammad Mohtasheem ul Hasan, Afshan Siddiq, Salman Ahmed and Syeda Anum Fatima 1 Efficacy Studies of Two Iron Supplements Irovit-1 and Irovit-2 Rehana Jafri, Amir Ahmed, Kamran Abro, Irshad Ahmed Khan and Atiq ur Rehman 6 Effect of Rainforced Glass Fibre on the Mechanical Properties of Polyamide Raza Muhammad Khan and Asim Mushtaq 10 Phase, Microstructural Characterization and Beneficiation of Iron Ore by Shaking Table Sajad Ali, Fahad Nawaz and Yaseen Iqbal 19 Characterization of Cleaning Potential of Khakhar-Bala, Punjab (Pakistan) Coal and Simulation-Based Study for Identification of Best Strategy for its Cleaning Muhammad Shahazad, Syed Mahmood Arshad, Zulfiqar Ali, Rana Ahmad Ali and Hamza Shabeer 26 Assessing Impact of Naphthalene Acetic Acid on the Growth and Yield of Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L. Moench) Muhammad Nisar, Habib Ur Rahman, Muhammad Sohail Khan, Ilham Khan, Saba Fatima, Kashif Waseem and Khalid Rahma 35 Soil Characteristics and Fertility Indexation in Gujar Khan Area of Rawalpindi Obaid ur Rehman, Zhahzada Munawar Mehdi, Raja Abdi Raza, Shahid Saleem, Rizwan Khalid, Sarosh Tariq Alvi and Asia Munir 46 Sunspots Influence on Climatic Variability of Karachi and Rohri Kanwal Aftab and Saifuddin Ahmed Jilani 52 Source Rock Potential of Chichali and Samana Suk Formations Deposits in Panjpir Oilfield Subsurface, Punjab Platform, Pakistan Syed Bilawal Ali Shah, Syed Haider Ali Shah, Adeeb Ahmed and Muhammad Nofal Munir 59 Design Optimization and Analysis of Rotor Blade for Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbine Using Q-Blade Software Muhammad Mujahid, Abdur Rafai, Muhammad Imran, Mustansar Hayat Saggu and Noor Rahman 65 Experimental Investigation of the Influence of Stacking Sequence and Delamination Size on the Natural Frequencies of Delaminated Composite Plate Muhammad Imran, Rafiullah Khan and Saeed Badshah 76 Reviews Nanocarriers for the Oral Delivery of Drugs With Special Focus on Porous Silicon: A Review Asad Muhammad Azama and Tahir Iqbal Awan 84 Pak. j. sci. ind. res. Ser. A: phys. sci. 2021 64A(1) 1-5 The Anti-depressant Activity of Fixed Oil of Phaseolus vulgaris Linn. in Mice Salma Sabira, Sadia Ghousia Baiga*, Muhammad Mohtasheem ul Hasanb, Afshan Siddiqa, Salman Ahmedb and Syeda Anum Fatimaa aDepartment of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan bDepartment of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan (received April 26, 2019; revised November 26, 2019; accepted December 12, 2019) Abstract. Phaseolus vulgaris Linn commonly known as red kidney bean, it is enriched in protein, carbohydrates and dietary fibres. Beans have nutritional and health benefits and also possess antimicrobial, antihyperglycemic, antioxidant and anticancer activity due to presence of bio-active chemical constituents. The following study was carried out to evaluate the anti-depressant activity of Phaseolus vulgaris fixed oil (PVFO) using forced swim test and tail suspension test in mice. In this study animals assigned into four groups (n=7). Group I: Control normal saline (2 mL/Kg), Group II: PVFO I (2 mL/Kg), Group III: PVFO II (4 mL/Kg) and Group IV: standard amitriptyline (10 mg/Kg). The results were significant and indicated the possible anti-depressant role of Phaseolus vulgaris fixed oil. Keywords: Phaseolus vulgaris, fixed oil, anti-depressant, forced swim test, tail suspension test, beans Introduction as involved in DNA synthesis, repair, methylation and The remedies based on plants or herbs used from ancient serve as co-factor in different reactions. Beans also times because the plants are economical. In each era contain phenolic compounds, tocopherols, unsaturated the use of herbal medicine is admired because they fatty acids, peptides as well as other constituents. Some meet the criteria for immediate personal need. Herbal valuable biological activities related to chemical and plant based drugs are gaining attention in developing constituents of beans have also been reported in literature, countries for health related products. For the last few which include antimicrobial, anti-hyperglycemic, decades the demand of herbal medicine in global market antioxidant and anticancer activity (Los et al., 2018). is growing vigorously (Rana et al., 2016). Depression is a mood disorder which involves