218 research outputs found
Growth and Poverty in Pakistan: Implications for Governance
No full textAccording to the Economic Surveys, Pakistan’s real GDP has grown at an average annual rate of 6.8 percent in the 1960s, 4.8 percent in the 1970s, 6.5 percent in the 1980s and 4.7 percent in the 1990s. However, that did not seem to have mitigated poverty as parallel to this growth the number of poor also kept swelling. Although different estimates put number of poor in Pakistan around 50 million, the actual could be more [Ahmad (2001)]. The average growth rates in the first halfcentury of Pakistan have been around 2 percent [Hasan (1997)]. It is pertinent to state that this discussion paper is not an attempt to challenge the figures either of the growth rates or the numbers of the poor in Pakistan. This is rather an attempt to understand the correlation of governance with growth on one hand and poverty on the other. It offers conceptual analysis of the concepts and their respective interpretation, explanation, application and ensuing misunderstandings. This paper has also attempted to challenge certain (usual) assumptions and perceptions regarding the role and relationship of growth and governance in reducing poverty in Pakistan. One has pointed out that most of the studies on the subject focus on symptoms and not the causes of poverty. This leads to on one hand growth of poverty, as poverty does not seem to halt despite certain evidence of relatively high growth particularly in 1960s. On the other hand we witness poverty of growth as whatever growth we have had it has hitherto failed either translating into corresponding mitigation of poverty or equitable collective prosperity. This is because there have not been efforts at governance level to ensure equity of impact of growth through adequate distribution mechanisms, sufficient social and human investments leading to education and skill development of women and men, who in turn could benefit from opportunities arising by way of process of economic growth.
Computational Analysis of Untapped Natural Compounds of Dodonaea viscosa as a Potential Drug Target against Rheumatoid Arthritis
No full textDocumentos apresentados no âmbito do reconhecimento de graus e diplomas estrangeirosRheumatoid arthritis is an inflammatory condition that damages joints and cartilage over time. It results in swelling of the synovial lining, which makes movement difficult. Although the exact cause of RA is still unknown, it is well established that genetic and
environmental variables have a role in its development. The condition is shown to affect females three times more frequently than males. The WHO estimates that it affects 0.3–1 percent of the world's population. In contrast, the incidence in Pakistan varies from 0.5 to 1.9 percent. There are numerous therapeutic options available for it, including NSAIDs, DMARDs, and biologics. These therapies aid in reducing disease-related symptoms, but their adverse effects have restricted their use. Thus, scientists are looking into herbal
plants as a modern remedy for RA that has a high potential for treatment while minimizing side effects and is non-toxic, affordable, and cost-effective.
The therapeutic qualities of medicinal plants are derived from bioactive metabolites that help them fight pathogenic diseases. Similarly, Dodonaea viscosa (L.) Jacq., an ethnobotanical plant, was used in this study to assess the effectiveness of its components in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. D. viscosa is widely distributed close to Margalla Hills in Pakistan. It is an evergreen, blooming hardy shrub with a variety of plant parts that are said to have anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, wound healing, and antioxidant
effects.
Phenols, flavonoids, steroids, sterols, saponins, coumarins, tannins, and terpenoids were all detected in D. viscosa ethanol extract. The DPPH and FRAP experiments demonstrated good antioxidant activity. Similarly, D. viscosa extract exhibited significant anti-inflammatory potential in tests like the protein denaturation assay and the HRBC membrane stabilization experiment.
In silico studies revealed that nine of the 480 compounds found in D. viscosa ethanol extract had drug-like properties. TNF-α, STAT3, and IL-6 were found to be among the top three RA-related genes in a HUB gene analysis of the top 200 RA genes. The signaling pathways of these genes result in the activation of JAK/STAT, Nuclear factor κB (NF-κB), and Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) pathways, respectively.
Significant findings were obtained from the molecular docking analysis of three protein targets with nine ligands. The compound 06, 4-(1-Hydroxy-3-oxo-1H-isoindol-2-yl) benzoic acid, had the lowest binding score for TNF-α. Comparatively, compound 7 (3-
(2,3-Dihydro-1,4-benzodioxin-6-yl)-3-hydroxy-2H-isoindol-1-one) displayed the lowest binding energies for STAT3 and IL-6. The docked complex's highest stability is indicated by its lowest binding energy. The MD simulation findings for these three complexes showed that only compound 6-TNF complex remained stable, proving that compound 06, 4-(1-Hydroxy-3-oxo-1H-isoindol-2-yl) benzoic acid, is a good small molecule inhibitor of TNF-α and may one day be employed as a potent drug.
The current study concludes that D.viscosa have excellent inhibitory potential against TNF-α, which plays a significant role in the disease. However, additional in-vitro and invivo testing is strongly advised to assess the efficacy of nine compounds in alleviating the
effects of Rheumatoid arthritis progression
Replication Data for: Living Together, Voting Together: Voters moving in together before an election have higher turnout
No full textThe readme for the replication archive for "Living Together, Voting Together: Voters moving in together before an election have higher turnout"
by Dahlgaard JO, Bhatti Y, Hansen JH and Hansen KM*
published in British Journal of Political Science
Year 2021
*Corresponding author: Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, [email protected], www.kaspermhansen.eu. Øster Farimagsgade 5, 1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark, Cell +45 51245005.
The administrative data used for most files are not part of the replication archive as they can not be share according to Statistics Denmark's Terms & Conditions.
PLease see https://www.dst.dk/en/TilSalg/Forskningsservice# about general access to Statistics Denmark data for research
The Mantle of Advanced Glycation End Products in Micro-and Macrovascular Complications of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
No full textUser Education Programme in the John Rylands University Library of Manchester: A Case Study
No full textThe paper reports a case study which was conducted during the doctoral research by the author. It aimed to find out the relevance of user education programme in academic libraries to the teaching and learning process. Data for the study was collected through the questionnaires, interviews with the library user-education specialists, other library staff, students and faculty. The multidisciplinary approach was applied to investigate the library’s activities in providing user education to new students. It emerged from the findings that for students to become truly information literate, the best way is to integrate the user education programmes into the university’s core curriculum
Scalable centralized and distributed spectral clustering
No full textSpectral clustering approaches have led to well-accepted algorithms for finding accurate clusters in a given dataset. However, their application to large-scale datasets has been hindered by the computational complexity of eigenvalue decompositions. Several algorithms have been proposed in the recent past to accelerate spectral clustering, however, they compromise on the accuracy of the spectral clustering to achieve faster speed. In this paper, we propose a novel spectral clustering algorithm based on a mixing process on a graph. Unlike the existing spectral clustering algorithms, our algorithm does not require computing eigenvectors. Specifically, it finds the equivalent of a linear combination of eigenvectors of the normalized similarity matrix weighted with corresponding eigenvalues. This linear combination is then used to partition the dataset into meaningful clusters. Simulations on real datasets show that partitioning datasets based on such linear combinations of eigenvectors achieve better accuracy than standard spectral clustering methods as the number of clusters increase. Our algorithm can easily be implemented for parallel processing.
In the past few years, the size of a typical dataset has grown exponentially making it impossible to the store the data in a single system. Thus distributed systems are employed to store the data. Most of the clustering algorithms are tailored towards data stored in a centralized system which makes them inappropriate for the distributed system. Moreover, the large scale of the data prohibits us from moving it to a central location to use a centralized algorithm. Our approach to distributed spectral clustering works in two phases. In phase 1, individual machines generate a set of representative points of the local data and communicate it to a central machine. In phase 2, the central machine performs spectral clustering on the data and communicates the cluster assignment of the representative points to the corresponding nodes. We have explored various algorithms to generate the representative points and compare their trade-offs and accuracy. Our algorithm can easily be cast in the MapReduce framework.Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2020-08-01The student, Shahzad Bhatti, accepted the attached license on 2018-06-24 at 19:39.The student, Shahzad Bhatti, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2018-06-24 at 19:54.This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2018-06-26 at 09:00.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #12667 on 2018-09-27 at 11:33:38Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-27T16:45:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2
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The 6-week Wikipedia translation sprint: a case study in fast medical knowledge equity
No full textOne of our long-standing partners in Scotland is the IDEA Network at the the University of St Andrews. Based at the School of Computer Science, the Network looks broadly to make knowledge production inclusive, diverse, equitable and accessible. Part of their work has been the development of a range of Wiki-activities in and out of the classroom, including Summer programmes, undergraduate and postgraduate work, as well as outreach events with community partners. At the time of writing, on-wiki material which has been worked on as part of the Network’s activity has gained 3.38 million article views.
I invited Dr Ross (who, along with Dr Ardati, also of the IDEA network, and Dr Bhatti, a co-author of the below blog, have all attended Wikimedia UK Train the Trainer courses) to tell us more about one of this year’s Summer programmes.
/ (Dr Sara Thomas, Programme Manager, Wikimedia UK
Refugee children in our schools: Prevention and intervention of mental health issues
No full textNumerous research studies indicate that refugee children attending schools in California are at greater risk of developing mental health issues due to their experiences which may have included chronic adversities during pre-migration, migration and resettlement (Bhatti, 2010; del Valle, 2002; Fazel & Stein, 2009). Furthermore, prior research by the first author of this project indicated that there was a lack of awareness of refugee children by school psychologists. In addition, dialogue with school psychologists indicated that their lack of knowledge of refugee children was because refugee students can be recognized as English Language Learners and sometimes as homeless students. This lack of awareness prompted these authors to endeavor to assist school administration in the identification process. Knowing the history and cultural practices of the refugee families in California was considered important background information. A Response to Intervention (RtI) prevention/intervention approach utilized by school psychologists or counselors to screen or assess and address these students' social-emotional and academic needs was discussed. The information presented in this project was used as the basis for a six-hour training workshop intended to be presented by school psychologists and/or counselors. The intended result is that educators working with refugee students will have empirically based information on how best to screen and intervene with refugee children in their schools
Thymus serpyllum Exhibits Anti-Diabetic Potential in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 Mice: A Combined Biochemical and In Vivo Study
No full textType 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a complex metabolic disorder that is characterized by hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, and lack of insulin production. It has been previously reported that Thymus serpyllum has therapeutic potential against many diseases. To investigate the antidiabetic action of Thymus serpyllum, this study aimed to analyze its restorative impact in diabetic mice, in which it was administered in diet. Diabetes was induced in BALB/c mice fed with a high-fat diet and two intraperitoneal injections of streptozotocin. With the onset of diabetes, the mice were administered daily with aqueous extract of Thymus serpyllum (500 mg/kg/d and 800 mg/kg/d) for 4 weeks. Body weight and fasting blood glucose levels were measured after every 1 week of the treatment. Subsequently, intraperitoneal glucose tolerance and insulin tolerance tests were conducted. In addition, liver tissue was isolated for assessment in terms of levels of gene expression of the AMPK, IRS1, and GLUT2 gene. Treatment with the aqueous extract of Thymus serpyllum was found to be significantly effective in controlling hyperglycemia and improving glucose and insulin tolerance. Predictable with these impacts, the extract of Thymus serpyllum upregulated the AMPK expression at the mRNA level, as well as upregulating the expression of IRS1 and GLUT2 gene. Histopathological examination of the liver, kidney, and pancreas also revealed the restorative impact in terms of cellular morphology. The results hence demonstrated that oral administration of aqueous extract of Thymus serpyllum can potentially attenuate hyperglycemia in the liver muscle of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice via AMPK and IRS1 upregulation
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