63 research outputs found
Hepatitis C virus entry: role of host and viral factors
No full textAbstract not availableBaila Samreen, Saba Khaliq, Usman Ali Ashfaq, Mahwish Khan, Nadeem Afzal, Muhammad Aiman Shahzad, Sabeen Riaz, Shah Jaha
Asymptomatic urinary tract infection with multidrug resistant pathogens in retro positive patients on ART
No full textIntroduction: Asymptomatic urinary tract infection refers to occurrence of bacteria in urine without causing symptoms. UTI is more prevalent among retro positive patients compared to people without HIV. Objectives – The study was done to determine prevalence of UTI, common etiologies and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of urinary isolates among HIV seropositive patients attending ART centre for CD4 counts.
Materials & Methods: –A total of 109 patients without any symptoms of UTI were included in the study. AST was done using Kirby Bauer disk diffusion method.CD4 count was done using FACS counter.
Results: Out of the 109 cases tested, 55 were males, and 54 cases were females. No growth was seen in 60 (55.04%) samples, insignificant bacteriuria in 9(8.26%) samples. Significant growth was seen in 40 samples (36.7%). Among the 54 females, 44% had significant growth. Among 55 males, significant growth was seen in 29.1%. The isolated organisms included Escherichia coli - 9(22.5%), Staphylococcus aureus - 7(17.5%), Candida albicans - 7(17.5%). Bacterial isolates showing resistance to three or more categories of antibiotics were considered Multidrug resistant (MDR). Multidrug resistance was seen among 16 bacterial isolates (48.5%). HIV positive patients with CD4 counts of <200 had higher rates of asymptomatic bacteriuria.
Conclusion: Screening of HIV seropositive patients with lower CD4 counts for asymptomatic UTI helps in early diagnosis and appropriate, early management of MDR will reduce morbidity
Thermal conductance of interfaces between titanium nitride and group IV semiconductors at high temperatures
No full textThis article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. This article appeared in Samreen Khan, Xinping Shi, Joseph Feser, Richard Wilson; Thermal conductance of interfaces between titanium nitride and group IV semiconductors at high temperatures. Appl. Phys. Lett. 22 July 2024; 125 (4): 041601. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0220124 and may be found at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0220124.
© 2024 Author(s). Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.
This article will be embargoed until 07/22/2025.Measuring the temperature dependence of material properties is a standard method for better understanding the microscopic origins for that property. Surprisingly, only a few experimental studies of thermal boundary conductance at high temperatures exist. This lack of high temperature data makes it difficult to evaluate competing theories for how inelastic processes contribute to thermal conductance. To address this, we report time domain thermoreflectance measurements of the thermal boundary conductance for TiN on diamond, silicon-carbide, silicon, and germanium between 120 and 1000 K. In all systems, the interface conductance increases monotonically without stagnating at higher temperatures. For TiN/SiC interfaces, ranges from 330 to 1000 MW/m2-K, with a room temperature conductance of 750 MW/m2-K. The interface conductance for TiN/diamond ranges from 140 to 950 MW/m2-K. Notably, for all four interfacial systems, the conductance continues to increase with temperature even after all phonon modes in the vibrationally soft material are thermally excited. This observation suggests that inelastic processes are significant contributors to the thermal conductance in all four interfacial systems, regardless of whether the materials forming the interface are vibrationally similar or dissimilar. Our study fills a notable gap in the literature for how interfacial conductance evolves at high temperatures and tests burgeoning theories for the role of inelastic processes in interfacial thermal transport.This work was supported as part of ULTRA, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences under Award No. DE-SC0021230
Isolation and Characterization of Agarolytic Bacteria from Marine Environment
No full textThis Dissertation / Report is the outcome of investigation carried out by the creator(s) / author(s) at the department/division of Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore mentioned below in this page
The Dynamic Effects of Fiscal Policy Shocks in Pakistan
No full textThis study investigates the dynamic effects of fiscal policy shocks in Pakistan by using structural vector auto-regressive (SVAR) model for annual time series data from 1972 to 2014. To identify the effects of fiscal shocks on macro economy, four different identification approaches has been used i.e. Recursive approach, Blanchard and Perotti approach, Sign Restriction and Event Study approach for two different lags. Both sets of impulse responses gives the same results and support Mountford and Uhlig (2005) that different lag order has no effects on the whole results. While the impulse responses of all identification approaches give different results criticized Caldara and Kamps (2006) that different identification methods given the same results. The most common results provided both government expenditure and revenue shocks showed that an expansionary fiscal policy increased output only for short and medium term at the cost of high prices and have no significant effects in the long run
Construction and Validation of Attitude towards Aging Scale for Pakistani Population
No full textThe attitude in the direction of aging can demonstrate sentimental beliefs, reactions, knowledge, and particular behavioral reactions about the elderly and aging. So far, no tool is available relative to Pakistani culture that could exclusively measure attitudes towards aging.In order to generate item pool semi-structured interviews were conducted, moreover literature review and expert opinion were also consulted. Exploratory factor analysis was carried out on a sample of 606 Pakistani adolescents and young adults. A two-factor(positive attitude & negative attitude) solution with 20-items was yielded, which accordingly accounted for 30.11% of the variance. To confirm the factor structure of Attitude towards Aging Scale, confirmatory factor analysis was carried out on 200 respondents and The Confirmatory factor analysis supported the measurement structure of Attitude towards Aging Scale retained through exploratory factor analysis. In order to ensure the convergentvalidity of the instrument, an independent sample of 250 participants was taken. Results provided the evidence of convergent validity as attitude towards aging appeared to be positively correlated with knowledge about aging and aging anxiety. The Cronbach alpha reliability for factors was .73 and .81. Moreover, the implications of the study along with its limitations were discussed
A case report of secondary cutaneous cryptococcosis in a retrovirus positive patient
No full textCryptococcosis is a systemic mycosis caused by the capsulated yeast Cryptococcus neoformans. Cryptococcus remains an important opportunistic pathogen in HIV positive patients. It is usually acquired through inhalation of spores and by invasion of the respiratory system, and then, the organisms may spread hematogenously to other viscera mainly central nervous system. Although there are some reports of primary cutaneous cryptococcosis, cryptococcal skin disease is a rare feature of disseminated cryptococcosis and has poor outcome if undiagnosed and untreated. We present a case of secondary cutaneous cryptococcosis in a 50-year-old male, who was diagnosed as a case of retroviral disease 3 years back but not on anti-retroviral therapy
The role of consumer multiple identities in bank choice in Pakistan.
No full textIdentity via consumption has received much attention in academic research, however fewer studies are found on the role of multiple identities in consumption. This gap becomes wider when it comes to financial services consumption (banking in particular). Further, components of these multiple identities (personal, role and group) are yet to be explored in relation to consumer choice. Therefore, this study aims to contribute to the theory of multiple identities by classifying and defining the components of each consumer multiple identities and exploring the role each of these identities play in consumers’ bank choice. The choice motivation between Islamic and Non-Islamic banks is explored in this regard, where Islamic banks provide the same services as Non-Islamic banks but with an exception of paying/earning any interest. Previous studies have found culture and religion to play a strong role in the formation of multiple identities, thus the author will also investigate the influence of culture (role of family) and religion (religious beliefs, commitment and affiliation) on consumers’ multiple identities and hence on their bank choice. Pakistan is chosen as the context of this study because 1) the presence of Islamic and Non-Islamic banks; 2) Pakistan is a country which was found in the name of religion and thus there is strong presence of religious values in the country; and 3) Pakistan is considered to be an under researched country in the area of consumption, which made it the best suited context for this study. Adopting a qualitative approach, the author conducted 39 semi-structured interviews with Pakistani bank consumers, and the data was analysed thematically using NVIVO 10. Data analyses revealed four key findings. First, religious identity, role of being son/daughter and career identity were the salient consumer identities in relation to bank choice. Second, while defining the components of these multiple identities, the author found that; religious identity was comprised of religious beliefs, role of religion and spirituality. Parents’ happiness, importance of parents and father vs mother made up the role identity of being son/daughter. Whereas moving out, ambitious; future oriented, and making parents proud were grouped under career identity. Third, the role identity of son/daughter was considered to be the most relevant in terms of the consumption of the services of Islamic banks. Fourth, the overlapping nature of cultural and religious influences gave rise to identity conflict in participants’ lives. The author therefore found two types of identity conflict in relation to participants’ bank choice: inter and intra identity conflict. This study contributes to the theory of multiple identities, consumption and financial services literature. First, by investigating different level of identities enacted by consumers via their consumption behaviour. Second, by identifying components of each of these multiple identities. Third, the author discovered a conflict among and between multiple identities, labelled inter and intra identity conflict for the purpose of this study. The fourth contribution to the theory of multiple identities is on what made some identities salient over the others. Similarly, this study also contributes to the existing debate of the precedence of religion over culture and vice versa in the consumption research. Finally, this is one of the first studies to explore the topic of multiple identities in the context of financial services, hence contributing to the consumption literature of banking choice. This study has implications for the banking sector in Pakistan. Islamic banks should design their communication strategies using sound Islamic tangible cues to improve the congruence between their banks and consumers. This will also help to address consumers’ identity conflict. Future research can further explore the identities of Islamic banks and its alignment with consumer identities utilising big sample data
The twin cell model and its excellence in determining the glass transition temperature of thin film metallic glass
No full textImpact of Changes in Reserve Requirement on Banks Profitability: A Case of Commercial Banks in Pakistan
No full textThis study examines the relationship between Reserve Requirement Ratio and Banks Profitability in Pakistan. It emphasizes on the effect of changes in CRR on commercial banking profitability and how it affects the ROE and ROA. The data collected for the research was secondary and quantitative time series data for the ten year period 2005-2014. Using correlation analysis followed by Linear Regression carries the empirical analysis of the study. The finding of study reveal that CRR taken as measure for Reserve Requirement has significant inverse relationship on banks’ financial performance, which is measured by ROA and ROE
- …
