Understanding Women’s English Writings as a Paradigm of Resistance

Women face numerous political, economic, cultural, and religious barriers in the world. To remove the barriers, fight for survival, and pave their way for development, women show resistance in politics, legislation, literature, theatre, songs, marches, art, sports, movies, and seminars. The previous studies have explored patriarchy as the best reason for women\u27s resistance to fight against male-domination, ideological divisions, policies, traditions and cultures, and religion to claim their individual identity and equality. The present study demonstrates the role of literature in awakening society and explores how writing helps in resistance and maintains the struggle of liberation for the vulnerable section of the society. It uses textual analysis to explore resistance in the writing of women from Pakistan, England, and Ireland - namely Bernardine Evaristo, Marian Keyes, and Uzma Aslam Khan. It considers English language fiction narratives as a writing tool and a ‘paradigm of resistance’ to society, religion, politics, patriarchy, and class. The study contributes to the emancipation of women in patriarchal societies by resisting the forces, which work to suppress women. Women\u27s writings are strong tools of survival and resistance in male-dominant societies. Women must write in different languages to voice against injustice, inequality, and violence in the world

The effectiveness of hyaluronic acid in reducing adverse effects associated with inhaled hypertonic saline therapy in patients with cystic fibrosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis

# Background Inhaled hypertonic saline (HS) is an effective mucolytic agent in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). However, adverse events can impair the clinical utility of hypertonic saline (HS) in this patient population. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effectiveness of hyaluronic acid (HA) in reducing these adverse events. # Methods A literature search was conducted across three electronic databases (Medline, Cochrane Central, and EMBASE) from inception through February 2023. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the impact of hyaluronic acid (HA) in reducing adverse events in patients taking hypertonic saline (HS) for CF were included in the analysis. Outcomes of interest included cough, throat irritation, unpleasant taste, and FEV1. Evaluations were reported as risk ratios (RRs) and mean differences (MDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). The Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool (CRBT) was employed to assess the quality of RCTs. The New Castle Ottawa Scale was used to assess the quality of observational studies. # Results From the 1960 articles retrieved from the initial search, five relevant studies (n=236 patients) were included in the final analysis. Compared with patients only on HS, patients with HS and HA were significantly less likely to experience cough (RR: 0.45; 95% CI, 0.28--0.72, *p*=0.001), throat irritation (RR: 0.43; 95% CI, 0.22--0.81, *p*= 0.009), and unpleasant smell (RR: 0.43; 95% CI, 0.23 -- 0.80, *p*=0.09). In addition, patients with HS with HA had significantly less forced expiratory volume (FEV1) (MD: -2.97; 95% CI, -3.79---2.15, *p*=0.52) compared to patients only on HS. # Discussion The addition of HA to HS was linked to a better tolerability profile. When HS was coupled with HA, there was a reduction in all side effects. This may permit tolerance of the medication in otherwise difficult patients, improve adherence to patients receiving frequent inhalations, and improve therapeutic outcomes. # Conclusion The addition of HA is advantageous in CF patients who require continuous HS therapy and have previously shown poor tolerance to therapy

Decline in subarachnoid haemorrhage volumes associated with the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND: During the COVID-19 pandemic, decreased volumes of stroke admissions and mechanical thrombectomy were reported. The study\u27s objective was to examine whether subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) hospitalisations and ruptured aneurysm coiling interventions demonstrated similar declines. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional, retrospective, observational study across 6 continents, 37 countries and 140 comprehensive stroke centres. Patients with the diagnosis of SAH, aneurysmal SAH, ruptured aneurysm coiling interventions and COVID-19 were identified by prospective aneurysm databases or by International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, codes. The 3-month cumulative volume, monthly volumes for SAH hospitalisations and ruptured aneurysm coiling procedures were compared for the period before (1 year and immediately before) and during the pandemic, defined as 1 March-31 May 2020. The prior 1-year control period (1 March-31 May 2019) was obtained to account for seasonal variation. FINDINGS: There was a significant decline in SAH hospitalisations, with 2044 admissions in the 3 months immediately before and 1585 admissions during the pandemic, representing a relative decline of 22.5% (95% CI -24.3% to -20.7%, p\u3c0.0001). Embolisation of ruptured aneurysms declined with 1170-1035 procedures, respectively, representing an 11.5% (95%CI -13.5% to -9.8%, p=0.002) relative drop. Subgroup analysis was noted for aneurysmal SAH hospitalisation decline from 834 to 626 hospitalisations, a 24.9% relative decline (95% CI -28.0% to -22.1%, p\u3c0.0001). A relative increase in ruptured aneurysm coiling was noted in low coiling volume hospitals of 41.1% (95% CI 32.3% to 50.6%, p=0.008) despite a decrease in SAH admissions in this tertile. INTERPRETATION: There was a relative decrease in the volume of SAH hospitalisations, aneurysmal SAH hospitalisations and ruptured aneurysm embolisations during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings in SAH are consistent with a decrease in other emergencies, such as stroke and myocardial infarction

Antibacterial Polyketides from Antarctica Sponge-Derived Fungus Penicillium sp. HDN151272

Three new polyketides, ketidocillinones A–C (1–3), were discovered from the extract of an Antarctica sponge-derived fungus Penicillium sp. HDN151272. All the structures were deduced by spectroscopic data, including NMR and HRESIMS. The absolute configuration of compound 3 was established by using ECD calculation. Compounds 1−3 can be slowly oxidized to quinone form when exposed to air. Ketidocillinones B and C (2 and 3) exhibited potent antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeurigenosa, Mycobacterium phlei, and MRCNS (methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci) with MIC values ranging from 1.56 to 25.00 µg/mL

Investigating the Suitability of Extreme Programming for Global Software Development : A Systematic Review and Industrial Survey

Context: Over the past few years, Global Software Development (GSD) has emerged as an evolving trend in the software industry. The reasons behind this evolution are globalization, economic benefits, time to market, organizational and strategic location, access to skilled labor and reduction of costs. But despite its benefits, GSD also has challenges associated with communication, coordination and control. The challenges are mainly due to temporal, geographical and socio-cultural distances. Due to flexibility, and emphasis on frequent communication in agile methods, researchers have shown interest in incorporating agile methods in GSD. Extreme Programming (XP) is one of the most widely known agile methodologies that values simplicity, communication, courage and feedback. In this research study, we have investigated the suitability of XP in GSD by exploring its benefits and challenges in the state of art and state of practice. Objectives: This study aims at investigating the benefits and challenges associated with the combination of XP and GSD both in the research literature and in practice. The study also explores practices or solutions adopted in order to address the challenges of XP-GSD combination. Moreover, this study compares challenges of XP-GSD combination with the traditional GSD challenges. Methods: This research study has been accomplished with the help of a systematic literature review (SLR) and an industrial survey. For the systematic review, the snowballing approach was applied, and an initial set of papers was selected from IEEE Xplore and Google Scholar. After selecting the initial set of papers, backward snowballing was conducted by searching the reference list of the selected articles. Then, forward snowballing was conducted by looking for the citations of the selected articles. After completing the systematic review, the industrial survey was conducted to complement the findings of the literature review. The data collected from both SLR and survey was analyzed both separately and collectively. Results: Through SLR, we have identified 21 benefits, 17 challenges, and 18 solutions to the identified challenges. The benefits and challenges have been classified according to communication, coordination and control in correspondence with temporal, socio-cultural and geographical distance. From the survey, we have identified 19 benefits, 20 challenges, and 17 solutions to the identified challenges. However, 13 benefits, 9 challenges, and 8 solutions were in common. The majority of challenges found in both literature review and survey were however traditional GSD challenges. Conclusions: The scarcity of research literature in the area suggests that more work needs to be done to successfully implement XP in GSD projects. The benefits and challenges extracted from literature and industry suggest that the application of XP can be beneficial for GSD since the majority of the reported challenges are traditional GSD challenges. Nevertheless, application of XP practices can alleviate these challenges. Based on the results, we conclude that XP can be successfully adopted in GSD projects

Triangular intuitionistic fuzzy linear system of equations with applications: an analytical approach

This study extended an existing semi-analytical technique, the Homotopy Perturbation Method, to the Block Homotopy Modified Perturbation Method by solving two [Formula: see text] crisp triangular intuitionistic fuzzy (TIF) systems of linear equations. In the original system, the coefficient matrix is considered as real crisp, while the unknown variable vector and right hand side vector are regarded as triangular intuitionistic fuzzy numbers. The Block Homotopy Modified Perturbation Method is found to be efficient and practical to solve [Formula: see text] TIF linear systems as it only requires the non-singularity of the [Formula: see text] TIF linear system's coefficient matrix, whereas the point Homotopy Perturbation Method and other classical numerical iterative methods typically require non-zero diagonal entries in the coefficient matrix. A set of theorems relevant to this study are presented and demonstrated. We solve an engineering application, i.e. a current flow circuit problem that is represented in terms of a triangular intuitionistic fuzzy environment, using the suggested method. The unknown current is then obtained as a triangle intuitionistic fuzzy number. The proposed semi-analytic method is used to solve some numerical test problems in order to validate their performance and efficiency in comparison to other existing techniques. The numerical results of the example are displayed on graphs with different degrees of uncertainty. The efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method are further demonstrated by comparisons to block Jacobi, Adomain Decomposition method, Successive Over-Relaxation method and the classical Gauss-Seidel numerical method

Modified Block Homotopy Perturbation Method for solving triangular linear Diophantine fuzzy system of equations

Numerous real-world applications can be solved using the broadly adopted notions of intuitionistic fuzzy sets, Pythagorean fuzzy sets, and q-rung orthopair fuzzy sets. These theories, however, have their own restrictions in terms of membership and non-membership levels. Because it utilizes benchmark or control parameters relating to membership and non-membership levels, this theory is particularly valuable for modeling uncertainty in real-world problems. We propose the unique concept of linear Diophantine fuzzy set with benchmark parameters to overcome these restrictions. Different numerical, analytical, and semi-analytical techniques are used to solve linear systems of equations with several fuzzy numbers, such as intuitionistic fuzzy number, triangular fuzzy number, bipolar fuzzy number, trapezoidal fuzzy number, and hexagon fuzzy number. The purpose of this research is to solve a fuzzy linear system of equations with the most generalized fuzzy number, such as Triangular linear Diophantine fuzzy number, using an analytical technique called Homotopy Perturbation Method. The linear systems co-efficient are crisp when the right hand side vector is a triangular linear Diophantine fuzzy number. A numerical test examples demonstrates how our newly improved analytical technique surpasses other existing methods in terms of accuracy and CPU time. The triangular linear Diophantine fuzzy systems of equations’ strong and weak visual representations are explored

Serum magnesium levels and acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive lung disease.

Objectives: To get a comprehensive insight into COPD exacerbation & stability and its relation with serum magnesium levels. Methods: The study included 77 patients of COPD who had presented with acute exacerbation from June 2006 to May 2008, as defined by Anthonisens criteria. Serum magnesium was determined in these patients at exacerbation, at discharge and one month after discharge as stable COPD. Results: Hypomagnesaemia was found in 33.8% of patients with acute exacerbation of COPD. Maximum numbers of patients were in the age group 60-69 years (46.8%) followed by > 70 years (32.5%). The average duration of COPD was 7±4.5 years and the commonest presenting symptom was dyspnea (100%) followed by cough (96.1%) & increased sputum production (63.6%). The average duration of symptoms was 6.5±4.1 days. The factors associated with hypomagnesaemia were duration of symptoms greater than 7 days, stage II & III disease, & raised MCV. It was also observed that patients with hypomagnesaemia had hospital stay of more than 7 days in 73% of cases. The incidence of hypomagnesaemia at the time of discharge & in stable COPD patients was 5.4 & 04 % respectively. The mean serum mg levels of patients with acute exacerbation of COPD was statistically significantly lower 1.88±0.67 mg/dl (mean±SD) than serum Magnesium 0f Stable COPD patients 2.30±0.36 (mean±SD) Conclusions: The prevalence of hypomagnesaemia in acute exacerbation of COPD is higher than in stable COPD patients and is associated with prolonged hospital stay

Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Gallus domesticus of District Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Abstract.-The aim of present study was to determine the rate of prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in chickens and to apprise the community about the negative effects of the T. gondii in the study area. A total of 536 blood samples of caged and free range chicken were tested, of which 18.85% were found infected with T. gondii. In 64 blood samples from caged 5.90% were found sero-positive. While out of 468 free range chickens 20.70% were found with anti-toxoplasma antibody. The seroprevalence rate was 22.20% detected in female birds of free range chickens, while 17.80% were found sero-positive in male free range chickens. A greater number of samples were found positive in free range chickens, while little number of caged chickens was with negative result. The present research study shows that infection of toxoplasmosis is high in chickens in Mardan, Pakistan, which is a public health threat in the study area