12 research outputs found
Norman Finkelstein’s Academic Struggle for Truth and Justice for the cause of Palestine: A case for Noble Peace Prize
No full textNorman G. Finkelstein, a prominent scholar with a PhD in political science from Princeton University, is recognized for his detailed analysis of the Israel-Palestine conflict. His influential works address Israeli policies, humanitarian issues, and international law, advocating for justice for Palestinians. Finkelstein's notable publications include "Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict”, "Beyond Chutzpah”, "This Time We Went Too Far", “Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom” and “I'll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It!” where he critiques historical narratives, human rights abuses and cancel cultures while challenging the misuse of
Anti-Semitism in silencing dissent. His scholarship highlights the human impact of illegal Israeli military actions and advocates for a just resolution to the conflict. Despite facing academic opposition, particularly from figures like Alan Dershowitz, Finkelstein's relentless pursuit of truth has significantly shaped the discourse on Palestinian rights, making a compelling case for his consideration for the Nobel Peace Prize
Occupational Stress among Medical and Paramedical Staff in Tertiary Care Hospitals Based on Observational Study
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TO EXPLORE THE LEVEL OF JOB SATISFACTION AMONG SPEECH AND LANGUAGE PATHOLOGISTS WORKING IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS
No full textBackground: Working with the full range of communication and its disorders, speech-language pathologists evaluate and diagnose speech, language, cognitive-communication, and swallowing disorders in individuals of all ages, from infants to the elderly. So, it was necessary to explore the level of job satisfaction among speech and language pathologists working in the public and private sectors to rule out any insecurities among them regarding their workplace.
Objectives: To explore the level of job satisfaction among speech and language pathologists (SLPs) working in the public and private sectors.
Methods: The data was collected from speech-language pathologists working in different cities in Pakistan. The sample size was estimated to be 156 speech and language pathologists, with a confidence interval of 95%. The sample size was calculated through an online portal (surveysystem.com). The data was gathered through convenience sampling via an online questionnaire.
Results: 98 of the 156 speech and language pathologists met the inclusion criteria and filled out the questionnaire. 23.5% of speech and language pathologists were working in the public sector, while 76.5% were working in the private sector. Approximately 60% of SLPs working in the private sector were more satisfied than SLPs who were working in the public sector. The main factors included fair amount of work, the transport facility was fairly interactive with colleagues, and supervisors were highly cooperative.
Conclusion: Job satisfaction among SLPs is influenced by factors like salary, transport facilities, colleagues' interaction, and supervisory cooperation, with private sector workers experiencing higher satisfaction
Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles Using Euphorbia wallichii Leaf Extract: Its Antibacterial Action against Citrus Canker Causal Agent and Antioxidant Potential
No full textBiologically synthesized silver nanoparticles are emerging as attractive alternatives to chemical pesticides due to the ease of their synthesis, safety and antimicrobial activities in lower possible concentrations. In the present study, we have synthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using the aqueous extract of the medicinal plant Euphorbia wallichii and tested them against the plant pathogenic bacterium Xanthomonas axonopodis, the causative agent of citrus canker, via an in vitro experiment. The synthesized silver nanoparticles were characterized by techniques such as UV-Vis spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis and transmission electron microscopy. Moreover, the plant species were investigated for phenolics, flavonoids and antioxidant activity. The antioxidant potential of the extract was determined against a DPPH radical. The extract was also evaluated for phenolic compounds using the HPLC technique. The results confirmed the synthesis of centered cubic, spherical-shaped and crystalline nanoparticles by employing standard characterization techniques. A qualitative and quantitative phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of phenolics (41.52 mg GAE/g), flavonoids (14.2 mg QE/g) and other metabolites of medicinal importance. Different concentrations (1000 µg/mL to 15.62 µg/mL—2 fold dilutions) of AgNPs and plant extract (PE) alone, and both in combination (AgNPs-PE), exhibited a differential inhibition of X. axanopodis in a high throughput antibacterial assay. Overall, AgNPs-PE was superior in terms of displaying significant antibacterial activity, followed by AgNPs alone. An appreciable antioxidant potential was recorded as well. The observed antibacterial and antioxidant potential may be attributed to eight phenolic compounds identified in the extract. The Euphorbia wallichii leaf-extract-induced synthesized AgNPs exhibited strong antibacterial activity against X. axanopodis, which could be exploited as effective alternative preparations against citrus canker in planta in a controlled environment. In addition, as a good source of phenolic compounds, the plant could be further exploited for potent antioxidants
Job Stress in Administrative Employees of Public Medical Institutes in Punjab, Pakistan
No full textAbstract: Background: Job stress arises when job demands exceed an individual’s coping capacity, leading to physical and psychological strain. Factors include excessive workload, tight deadlines, and lack of support.
Objective: To measure the job-related stress in the administrative employees in public medical institutes of Punjab.
Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study took place at three public medical institutes in Punjab from Nov 2022 to July 2023, after the approval of the ethical review board. The data was collected through an interview-administered questionnaire. A well-structured questionnaire was devised using the Likert scale to collect the required data, with a score of 1 denoting no stress and 5 denoting extreme stress. A sample of 150 subjects was taken by purposive sampling technique. The collected data was entered and analyzed on SPSS software version 20.
Result: The mean age was 31.03±8.90. The overall mean job stress score reported in the present study was 3.35±0.59. The mean stress score regarding the nature of the task was 3.56±0.68, for the boss behavior was 3.30±0.36; regarding the organizational environment, it was 3.10±0.67; and for job-related tension, the mean stress score was 3.69±0.68, indicating that the participants were experiencing moderately to higher stress levels. Factors like workload, irritating noisy environment, lack of appreciation, and critical boss significantly contributed to higher stress levels.
Conclusion: The study indicated that most employees had moderate to high levels of job stress during work owing to several factors such as working overtime, unfamiliar duty, excessive criticism, heavy workload, and lack of authority
The Prevalence of Migraine Headache and the Health-Seeking Behavior of Medical Undergraduates in Punjab
No full textAbstract: Background: Neurological headaches have been on the rise recently; among these, migraine is the most common. Younger individuals are more prone to this, and it affects their quality of life to a great extent.
Objective: To identify the prevalence, specific characteristics, and relieving factors of migraine as well as the healthcare-seeking practice among undergraduate medical students of Punjab.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted on undergraduate medical students of Punjab from June to September 2021. Convenience sampling was used to select 150 students. A validated questionnaire assessed the prevalence of migraine headaches, symptoms, and relieving factors.
Result: The females reported a higher prevalence, 78.57%, than males. Of all the types observed, 67.74% suffered from migraines, 22% suffered from tension headaches, and 9.8% had cluster and other headaches. The prevalence of headaches was most significant among subjects aged 20 to 2 years (37.93%). The top three symptoms experienced before the start of the migraine were disturbance from lights, disturbance by sound, and mood swings. The top three symptoms experienced during migraine were disturbance from light, difficulty in concentration, and irritation from sound. The top three relieving factors were rest, sleep, quietness, and massage.
Conclusion: Migraine is more prevalent in females than males, especially younger adults. Proper sleep/rest, avoiding stress, noise, regular exercise, and healthy lifestyles can significantly prevent migraine headaches. Disturbance from light was the most common symptom experienced before and during headaches. The most common relievers were rest and sleep
Antibiotic Sensitivity on Isolates from Diabetic And Non-Diabetic Population Based In Pattoki Punjab
No full textObjectives: To isolate and characterizing microorganisms from diabetic and non-diabetic patients and assessing the antimicrobial activity of isolate extracts from Citrus sinensis and Psidium guajava.
Methodology: Experimental study of one year and six month duration from May 2016 to May 2018 conducted in Microbiology Laboratory University of Lahore, Pakistan. Convenient sampling was done by collecting the urine sample at random from 250 persons in the Pattoki community. All the urine samples from diabetic and non-diabetics were cultured separately and after biochemical confirmation of microorganisms, the disc diffusion method was used for carrying out an antimicrobial activity.
Results: A total of 105 samples, were found to have positive urine cultures. Among these positive urine culture samples, 75 were diabetic and 30 were non-diabetics. The bacterial isolate most commonly found among diabetics was E.coli followed by the presence of Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae,Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris respectively. Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of different parts of plant extracts against isolated bacteria from diabetics showed that the highest sensitivity was shown against peel, leaves and seed extracts of Citrus sinensis and Psidium guajava while the least sensitivity was shown against the stem and root extracts of these plants. Moreover, antibiotic sensitivity tests of isolated microbes showed that the highest resistance is found against Augmentin and Tetracycline while the most sensitive drug for isolates was found to be Chloramphenicol.
Conclusion: From the results, it is concluded that leave extract of Psidium guajava and peel extracts of Citrus sinensis showed effective results against bacterial pathogens and could serve as a good alternate source of antibacterial agent
Time series analysis and short-term forecasting of monkeypox outbreak trends in the 10 major affected countries
No full textBackground: Considering the rapidly spreading monkeypox outbreak, WHO has declared a global health emergency. Still in the category of being endemic, the monkeypox disease shares numerous clinical characters with smallpox. This study focuses on determining the most effective combination of autoregressive integrated moving average model to encapsulate time dependent flow behaviour of the virus with short run prediction.Methods: This study includes the data of confirmed reported cases and cumulative cases from eight most burdened countries across the globe, over the span of May 18, 2022, to December 31, 2022. The data was assembled from the website of Our World in Data and it involves countries such as United States, Brazil, Spain, France, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, United Kingdom, Germany and Canada. The job of modelling and short-term forecasting is facilitated by the employment of autoregressive integrated moving average. The legitimacy of the estimated models is argued by offering numerous model performance indices such as, root mean square error, mean absolute error and mean absolute prediction error.Results: The best fit models were deduced for each country by using the data of confirmed reported cases of monkeypox infections. Based on diverse set of performance evaluation criteria, the best fit models were then employed to provide forecasting of next twenty days. Our results indicate that the USA is expected to be the hardest-hit country, with an average of 58 cases per day with 95% confidence interval of (00-400). The second most burdened country remained Brazil with expected average cases of 23 (00-130). The outlook is not much better for Spain and France, with average forecasts of 52 (00-241) and 24 (00-121), respectively.Conclusion: This research provides profile of ten most severely hit countries by monkeypox transmission around the world and thus assists in epidemiological management. The prediction trends indicate that the confirmed cases in the USA may exceed than other contemporaries. Based on the findings of this study, it remains plausible to recommend that more robust health surveillance strategy is required to control the transmission flow of the virus especially in USA
Comparison of Single-Stage Reverse Sural Artery Flap Versus Two-Staged Interpolated Flap in Distal Lower Limb Injuries
No full textBackground and Objective: Plastic surgeons face challenging conditions when dealing with soft tissue injuries or defects involving the lower part of the leg and the proximal part of the foot. The objective of the current study is to compare single-staged reverse sural artery flaps with two-staged interpolated flaps in distal lower limb injuries.
Methods: It was a prospective study carried out at the Department of Plastic Surgery, Allama Iqbal Memorial Teaching Hospital, Sialkot, Pakistan, over 5 years from 2015 to 2020. Sixty-eight (n = 68) patients with distal lower limb soft-tissue defects were enrolled and randomly allotted a two-stage interpolated flap design (group A) or single-stage reverse sural artery flap design (group B). The measured outcomes included the frequency of flap-tip necrosis, epidermolysis, partial or total flap loss, and additional procedures needed for managing these complications.
Results: Out of all the patients, 72% were of male gender and 28% were females with a mean age of 38.38 ± 10.76 years. In group A, there were 6% of the cases where tip necrosis was the only impediment as compared to 17% in group B. In patients of group A, epidermolysis was seen in 12% as compared to 35% in group B whereas only 6% of patients in group A required secondary procedures for flap tip necrosis as compared to group B (47%). Paired t-test was used to calculate the statistical significance of the outcome between the two groups (p-value of 0.0491).
Conclusion: The two-staged interpolated flap procedure results in fewer complications as compared to a single-staged reverse sural artery flap procedure. However, the shorter hospital stay in single-staged flap design is satisfying for the patients who did not report any complications with this procedure.</p
