9 research outputs found
Assessment of the Vaccination Status of Pregnant Mothers and their Infants after Birth with Tetanus Toxoid in District Rawalpindi of Pakistan
No full textAim: The aim of study was to find the vaccination status of infants and their mothers during pregnancy and to find out the factors affecting such coverage in the district Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using World health organization (WHO) 30 cluster sampling technique. According to this technique, 30 clusters including seven mothers along with their infants were considered per cluster randomly. The mothers were convinced for interview through the structured Performa to ask about the vaccination status of their infants and themselves.
Results: 93% mothers during pregnancy were found to be vaccinated with both the doses while 87% infants were found to be vaccinated with tetanus toxoid. The factors affecting for low vaccination coverage was also determined. Among them, Economic and lacking education or awareness were the common factors.
Conclusion: Thus, Study emphasis for the effective measures needed to raise this vaccination status up to 100%
Prevalence of sputum smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis at Dargai, District Malakand, Pakistan: A four year retrospective study
No full textAbstractTuberculosis (TB) is an ancient disease however, poses serious challenge in the modern era in developing as well as developed countries. Every year millions of peoples are infected with TB and millions of peoples lose their lives. This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis sputum smear positive (PTB-SS+ve) among the suspected TB patients at Tehsil Head Quarter (THQ) Hospital Dargai, District Malakand Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. A retrospective study was designed from January 2011 to December 2014. Out of 736 registered and suspected patients of TB, (40.08%) were PTB-SS+ve, (15.63%) were PTB-SS−ve whereas the remaining cases were diagnosed with extra-pulmonary TB, hence excluded from the study. The ratio of PTB-SS+ve cases was higher in females (57.63%) compared to males (42.37%). Furthermore, in the age group <20years PTB-SS+ve cases were (34.92%), in 21–40years it was (33.90%), and in 41–60years it was (21.35%), and in >60years age group PTB-SS+ve cases were (9.83%). No difference was found in the years 2013 and 2014 regarding PTB-SS+ve cases registration. PTB still presents a serious health issue in the region and rapid prophylactic measures are needed to eradicate the issue
Modifiable risk factors in patients with cerebrovascular accident
No full textTo determine the frequency of modifiable risk factors of stroke. Study Design: Descriptive Case series. Place and duration of study: Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad from March to December 2012. Methodology: 106 cases of cerebrovascular accident (CVA) above 20 years of age and of either sex admitted in medical units of Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad were included in this study. The patients below 20 years of age, those with recurrent history of CVA, patients not fulfilling the required criteria of risk factors set in operational definitions and patients having intracranial space occupying lesion such as tumors or brain abscess or neurological deficit secondary to head injury were not included in the study. The subjects were taken by non-probability sampling. Results: There were 106 patients in this study. Of these 62(58.5%) were male and 44(41.5%) were females. Mean age of the patients was 62.3 years. 66 (62.3%) patients had hypertension, 29 (27.3%) had Diabetes mellitus, 10 (9.4%) were smokers, 8 (7.5%) had dyslipidemia, 3 (2.83%) had atrial fibrillation, 4 (3.77%) were obese and 2 (1.88%) had carotid bruit. Conclusions: This study showed that hypertension was the commonest modifiable risk factor of CVA followed by diabetes mellitus, smoking, dyslipidemia, obesity, atrial fibrillation, and carotid bruit. CVA was more common in males as compared to female and mostly occurred in middle and old age patient
IS GREED REWARDED? DEVELOPING HEURISTICS FOR GREEDY INVESTORS USING UPPER PARTIAL MOMENTS
No full textRules of thumb play an important role in making investment decisions. This study gives the rule of a thumb/heuristic known as “Pleonexia rule” based on the trait of greed of an investor. The heuristic in the paper is developed using the Upper partial moment (UPM) ratio, which is based on upside risk only, nonrestrictive to normal distribution and risk-taking and risk-neutral investors can be accommodated. Portfolios are formed by using the monthly prices taken from Pakistan Stock Exchange for the period from Dec 1999 to June 2018. Two staged methodology is proposed for the development and empirical testing of the Pleonexia rule. At first stage forecasted the probabilities to know whether it is possible to develop such type of rule or not. At second stage the Pleonexia rule is developed and tested by using the probabilities. The results reveal that on average there are above 90% chances that the investors get minimum returns or gains by meeting the benchmark which is PSX-100 index. Moreover, greed is not rewarded because there is less probability of getting gains higher than the optimal level. These results are better for the developing countries like Pakista
The Impact of Family Ownership on Quality and Disclosure of Internal Control in Pakistan
No full textThe role of family owners in the internal control environment is characterized by contradictory theoretical arguments i.e., entrenchment and alignment behavior. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the behavior exhibited by family owners concerning the internal control environment in an underdeveloped regulatory setting. The study collected both primary and secondary data to use a multivariate regression research design to investigate the impact of family owners and CEOs on the internal control quality and disclosure of enterprises. The results of the current study demonstrated that family owners and family CEO have a negative impact on the internal control quality and disclosure, which validates the entrenchment behavior exhibited by family owners in the Pakistani setting. The results of the current study imply that policymakers should promote strict policy initiatives regarding the effectiveness of internal controls and their reporting so that companies are compelled to have better engagement in internal control practices for the protection of minority shareholders
Downside Risk-Based Six-Factor Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM): A New Paradigm in Asset Pricing
No full textThe importance of downside risk cannot be denied. In this study, we have replaced beta in the five-factor model of using downside beta and have added a momentum factor to suggest a new six-factor downside beta capital asset pricing model (CAPM). Two models are tested—a beta- and momentum-based six-factor model and a downside-beta- (proxy of downside risk) and momentum-based six-factor model. Beta and downside beta are highly correlated; therefore, portfolios are double-sorted to disentangle the correlation. Factor loadings, i.e., size, value, momentum, profitability, and investment, are constructed. The standard methodologies are applied. Data for sample stocks from different non-financial sectors listed in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) are taken from January 2000 to December 2018. The PSX-100 index and three-month T-bills are taken as proxies for market and risk-free returns. The study uses three subsamples for robustness—period of very high volatility, period of stability, and period of stability and growth with volatility. The results show that the value factor is redundant in both models. The momentum factor is rejected in the beta-based six-factor model only. The beta-based six-factor model shows very low R2 in periods of highly volatility. The R2 is high for the other periods. In contrast, the downside beta six-factor model captures the downside trend of the market in an effective manner with a relatively high R2. The risk–return relationship is stronger for the downside beta model. These reasons lead us to believe that, overall, the downside beta six-factor model is a better option for investors as compared to the beta-based six-factor model in the area of asset pricing models
The impact of sustainability reporting quality on the value relevance of corporate sustainability performance
No full textTriethylammonium salt of a synthesized dicoumarol: Structural insight and human anti-glioblastoma activities
No full textGlioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and primary brain tumor with poor prognosis. They are removed by following tedious and life threatening surgeries. GBM stem cells (GSCs) are the main source of tumor recurrence after surgery. Hence, drugs are designed to overcome the recurrent glioblastoma malignant cells. Currently used chemotherapies are not cost effective as well as bear resistance. New and effective chemotherapeutic compounds are developed to overcome the intrinsic and acquired resistance. Dicoumarol derivative 3,3′-[(4-methoxyphenyl)methanediyl]bis(4-hydroxy-2Hchromen-2-one) (HL) and its triethylammonium salt triethylammonium3-[(4-methoxyphenyl)(4-hydroxy-2-oxo-2H-chromen-3-yl)methyl]-2-oxo-2H-chromen-4-olate (L) were synthesized and characterized using spectral and analytical techniques. The deprotonated compound L was further studied structurally using single crystal analysis. Cytotoxic studies against human glioblastoma cells A172 and LN229 were investigated both dose and time dependently and compared with the cytotoxicity of normal human astrocytes (NHA). The IC50 value of HL against A172 was found to be lying within the range 2.68–0.95 μM whereas against LN229 the range was found to be 9.55–0.85 μM. Similarly, the compound L revealed range of 1.9–0.271 μM against A172 and 1.2–0.27 μM against LN229. Cell cycle arrest was observed in GBM cells treated with L compared to the control group, which suggested that L may trigger apoptosis in GBM cells according to cytotoxicity and flow cytometry results. The antioxidant activity of synthesized compounds was also investigated using DPPH free radicals
Utilization of locally sourced waste fats for biodiesel production:Experimental characterization and environmental life cycle assessment
No full textThis study presents the production, chemical characterization, and life cycle assessment (LCA) of biodiesel derived from various local waste feedstocks using experimental setup. Biodiesel was produced via transesterification in a 50-L batch reactor using oils sourced from a five-star restaurant (A), three-star café (B), rancid palm oil (C), and chicken feather oil (D). Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) was used for identification of functional groups, while gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyzed fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) composition, revealing key variations such as Hexadecanoic acid (C16:0) and Octadecenoic acid (C18:1). Type A biodiesel exhibited the highest saturation, while Types B and C contained more unsaturated FAMEs, influencing their heating values. Conversion efficiencies were significantly influenced by the acid values of the feedstocks, with a maximum yield of 85 % achieved for a sample with an acid value of 3.5 mgKOH/g and a heating value of 35.8 MJ/kg. LCA performed using Simapro V9.5.0.2 demonstrated that biodiesels from Types A, B, C, and D reduced carbon footprints by 70 %, 64 %, 63 %, and 65 %, respectively, compared to fossil diesel. Feedstocks with lower free fatty acid (FFA) levels resulted in lower environmental impacts, while extensively reused cooking oils with higher FFA values contributed to increased carbon footprints. This study underscores the potential for scalable biodiesel production from waste resources, aligning with global and regional sustainability goals.</p
