Zia Ur Rehman

International News: The attack at a court complex has raised the worry that violence that has largely been confined to the western regions of the country had returned to

International News: After deadly cross-border military clashes, the Pakistani and Afghan governments have locked their populations in a trade war threatening the liveliho

More than a decade after one of the darkest days in Pakistan's history, the trauma endured by the families of the victims of the Peshawar Army Public School (APS) massacre remains undiminished.

Structured into six chapters, the book opens with a rigorous examination of the Frontier Crimes Regulation, the colonial legal framework that governed the region for nearly a century.

As artificial intelligence accelerates growth without inclusion, Keynes' warning returns: technology alone cannot deliver prosperity without just institutions

Pakistan has emerged as the unlikely protagonist for de-escalation between the US and Iran. How did it get here?

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), the dominant form of dementia that evolves with age, involves several mechanisms by which it progresses. The cholinergic hypothesis proposes that the activity of Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) causes the decline of cholinergic neurotransmission, which leads to Alzheimer’s Disease. Considerable studies are being conducted to determine the best AChE inhibitor. This study evaluated 40 phytocompounds from the Astragalus zederbaueri plant as potential AChE inhibitors for Alzheimer’s disease. The analysis of the phytochemicals was conducted using the control drug donepezil (co-crystallized ligand) through various computational tools and biological databases for docking, visualization, and simulation. The findings of our research showed that the key ligands according to the docking analysis were Rutin (AZ-29), Kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside (Nicotiflorin) (AZ-32), and Isoquercitrin (AZ-28); nevertheless, it was found that Rutin played the most effective role of an anti-AChE compound with an exceptional binding affinity of −15.043 kcal/mol. TRP341 and TYR286 were key amino acid residues in hydrogen bonds and π-π stacking interactions, respectively. The results of pharmacokinetic and toxicological analyses of these compounds were within the acceptable range. Moreover, the molecular dynamics simulation confirmed the stability of the complexes. Our findings suggest a novel phytochemicals from Astragalus zederbaueri for Alzheimer’s disease, paving the way for further experimental validation and drug development.

Subscribers // by Zia Ur Rehman (Le Monde diplomatique - English edition, May 2026)

Before declaring Pakistan's industrial sector a lost cause, policymakers must first ensure they are measuring the sector accurately, because much of its decline may be statistically invisible rather than economically absent

Despite Trump's pressure, costs of normalising ties with Israel are higher in Pakistan than in Arab states due to its more vibrant and contested political landscape