Nutritional and lifestyle risk behaviors and their association with mental health and violence among Pakistani adolescents: results from the National Survey of 4583 individuals

Background: Unhealthy behaviors are associated with mental health problems and violence in adolescents, yet their combined association has been understudied. Using the Global School Health Survey, this study examined the association between combined unhealthy behaviors (including fast food, soft drink, smoking, other tobacco products and physical inactivity) and anxiety, suicidal ideation and involvement in physical fight among Pakistani adolescents. Methods: Data were obtained from the Global School Health Survey conducted in Pakistan (2009). The study population consisted of school going adolescents aged 13 to 15 years. Association of combined unhealthy behaviors with anxiety, suicidal ideation and involvement in physical fight were studied through secondary analysis. We used univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis by complex sample method, accounting for cluster sampling technique used for data collection. Results: Of the total 4583 students, weighted percentage and unweighted count for one, two, three and four or more unhealthy behaviors was 39.4% (n = 1770), 22.1% (n = 963), 5.9% (n = 274) and 1.2% (n = 62) respectively. The weighted prevalence for anxiety, suicidal ideation and involvement in physical fight were 8.4%, 7.3% and 37.4% respectively. The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis after adjustment showed that students who had four or more unhealthy behaviors had higher odds of; being anxious (OR 2.45, 95% CI 1.31-4.59, p value 0.004), suicide ideation (OR 4.56, 95% CI 2.58-8.07, p value &lt;0.001) and being involved in physical fight (OR 3.15, 95% CI 1.63–6.08, p value &lt;0.001) as compared to those who had not adopted any unhealthy behaviors. Conclusions: This study suggests that the co-occurrence of unhealthy behaviors is associated with anxiety, suicidal ideation and physical fight among adolescents. These findings should be considered when developing interventions to combat detrimental outcomes of unhealthy behaviors during adolescence.</p

Abstracts from the 7th annual neurology research day, shifa international hospital, islamabad

:It\u27s a cross sectional study conducted at CP clinic of Armed Forces institute of Rehabilitation medicine Rawalpindi from Jan 2012 to Jan 2013. All cerebral palsy children above 2 years of age and both genders were included in study. SPSS version 17 was used for data analysis

Impact of Political Instability on International Investment and Trade in Pakistan

This paper focuses on the effect of political instability on international investment and trade in Pakistan. The sample comprised of annual data for a period of 41 years (from 1976 to 2016). To test the long and short run relationships among the variables, ARDL model is applied and particularly Error Correction Model is used for short run analysis. To check the serial correlation in the ECM models, LM serial correlation test is applied. Cumulative sum (CUSUM) is also utilized to test the stability of the ARDL models. The unit root of all the variables is also tested and it is found that all the variables are stationary either at level or at first difference. Findings conclude that political instability badly hampers both the international investment and trade in the long-run. Moreover, in short-run, the political instability significantly hinders the foreign portfolio investment and exports. No significant impact of political instability is found on foreign direct investment and imports in the long run

Impact of Political Instability on International Investment and Trade in Pakistan

This paper focuses on the effect of political instability on international investment and trade in Pakistan. The sample comprised of annual data for a period of 41 years (from 1976 to 2016). To test the long and short run relationships among the variables, ARDL model is applied and particularly Error Correction Model is used for short run analysis. To check the serial correlation in the ECM models, LM serial correlation test is applied. Cumulative sum (CUSUM) is also utilized to test the stability of the ARDL models. The unit root of all the variables is also tested and it is found that all the variables are stationary either at level or at first difference. Findings conclude that political instability badly hampers both the international investment and trade in the long-run. Moreover, in short-run, the political instability significantly hinders the foreign portfolio investment and exports. No significant impact of political instability is found on foreign direct investment and imports in the long run

Asset Pricing Model Conditional on Up and Down Market for Emerging Market: The Case of Pakistan

This study proposes an asset pricing model conditional on up and down market for emerging market and tests its validity in Pakistan on individual stocks of Karachi Stock Exchange from July 2004 to December 2012. The basic capital asset pricing model is also tested. The results indicate that when emerging market undergoes negative market excess return, basic capital asset pricing model is inaccurate to predict stock returns. Although the conditional asset pricing model accurately predicts the risk-return trade off with beta as sole determinant of stock returns when there is up market, however yet it is significantly variant during down market where significant impact of residuals is evinced on stock returns.  The market excess returns of up and down markets are also found asymmetric. The study implies that conditional asset pricing model can be an adequate technique for investors and portfolio managers considering investments in emerging markets. Keywords: Asset Pricing Model, Conditional, Pakistan, Emerging Market, Up Market, Down Market. JEL Codes: C21, C22, G10, G12, G1

Prevalence, distribution and antibiotic resistance of emergent Arcobacter spp. from clinically healthy cattle and goats

Prevalence, distribution and antibiotic resistance of Arcobacter spp. were investigated in cattle, goats, floor and treated water samples in this study. The prevalence of Arcobacter in adult and young was recorded as 8/110 (7.27%) and 4/83 (4.81%), respectively, which showed insignificant difference (P = 0.3503) in detection rates between adult and young cattle. A total of 33.33% of the floor samples and 11.11% of the treated water samples analysed were determined as positive for Arcobacter. Among the species isolated, over all, A. butzleri (45%) was the most frequently detected species, followed by A. skirrowii (5%). A. butzleri was isolated from adult cattle, floor and water samples at the rates of 75.0%, 33.4% and 50%, respectively. Co-colonization of species was not uncommon, and 50% of the samples were carrying more than one Arcobacter species. Only 12.5% sample from cattle (adult) was detected positive for only A. skirrowii. All samples from young animals, floor and water contained mixed isolates. None of the samples from goat farm was found to be carrying Arcobacter species. On profiling of antimicrobial resistance patterns, it was found that only one A. butzleri isolate (3.7%) was sensitive to all nine antibiotics tested. A. butzleri was found highly resistant to ampicillin (55.6%), followed by cefotaxime (33.4%) and ciprofloxacin (33.4%). Overall, 20% of the isolates showed multidrug resistance (resistant ≥4 antibiotics). Gentamicin and enrofloxacin can be used as drugs of choice for the treatment for Arcobacter infection

Do Exchange Rates Fluctuations Influence Gold Price in G7 Countries? New Insights from a Nonparametric Causality-in-Quantiles Test

In the recent era, gold is considered an essential investment source, a source of hedging inflation, and a medium of monetary exchange. The gold and exchange rate nexus become prominent after events like sovereign debt crisis, subprime mortgage crisis, low-interest rate problem, and global financial market solvency. These events attract the attention of researchers and academician for investigating the dynamics of the relationship between gold and exchange rates, and the majority of the studies discusses the linear dynamics, but the non-linear dynamics are ignored. Therefore, the current research investigates the non-linear dynamics of gold price and exchange rate relationship in G7 countries using the new technique named the nonparametric causality approach. This study uses monthly data from the years 1995(January)-2017 (March). The empirical results show that exchange rate return causes gold prices in four out of G7, especially at the low tails. This study also gives valuable insights for monetary policymakers, gold exporter’s international portfolio managers, and hedge fund managers

The Changing Face of Employee Silence in Different Organizational Cultures affecting Job Engagement

Organizational culture is an important factor that has a positive and negative effect on employees’ job engagement and silent behavior. Literature suggested four types of organizational cultures such as Power Culture, Role Culture, Achievement culture, and Support culture that influences the employee’s Job engagement behavior. The study aimed to explain the relationship between organizational culture and employees’ Job engagement through the mediation of employee silence in public sector universities of Quetta, Balochistan. 300 questionnaires were distributed among which 200 responses were obtained using convenience sampling method with cross-sectional design. Findings suggested that there is a significant relationship between organizational culture and job engagement. The mediating effect of employee silence was also found to be significant in the relationship between organizational culture and job engagement

Fator Total de Produtividade e seus Componentes: Evidência nos Setores de Cimento e Energia do Paquistão

This study employs “Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)” method to calculate the “Total Factor Productivity (TFP)” growth and its components of 19 non-financial firms from Cement and Energy sectors of Pakistan listed on ISE-100 Index during the time period 20052011. The research focuses on to identify the factors like, technical change and technical efficiency change tends to influence the TFP of cement -and energy sectors of Pakistan. We use hand collected data from the annual reports of these non-financial firms included in our sample. Results show that cement sector has an overall positive TFP growth of 9.7%, and energy sector has an overall TFP growth of 1.5% during the study period. The study may assist us to recognize the extent to which these components can affect the TFP of a sector, and will further help us to explore new ways to boost up the productivity of these sectors which in turn may be beneficial to move country towards a sustainable path.Este estudo emprega o método “Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)” para calcular o crescimento da “Produtividade Total dos Fatores (PTF)” e seus componentes em 19 empresas não financeiras dos setores de Cimento e Energia do Paquistão listados no ISE-100 Index durante o período de tempo 2005-2011. A pesquisa se concentra em identificar os fatores como mudança técnica e mudança de eficiência técnica que tendem a influenciar a TFP dos setores de cimento e energia do Paquistão. Usamos dados coletados manualmente dos relatórios anuais dessas empresas não financeiras incluídas em nossa amostra. Os resultados mostram que o Setor de Cimento tem um crescimento positivo geral da PTF de 9,7%, e o Setor de Energia tem um crescimento global da PTF de 1,5% durante o período do estudo. O estudo pode nos ajudar a reconhecer até que ponto esses componentes podem afetar a PTF de um setor e nos ajudará a explorar novas maneiras de aumentar a produtividade desses setores, o que, por sua vez, pode ser benéfico para mover o país rumo a um caminho sustentável

Influence of the Big Five personality traits on academic motivation among higher education students: Evidence from developing nation

This study examines the association between the personality traits and academic motivation among higher education institution students of Pakistan. The data is collected from the survey-questionnaire using the convenience sampling technique. In total, 350 questionnaires are collected, however, the useful sample id 320. The technique through which the analysis was performed is PLS-SEM. The dependent variable of the study is academic motivation which was measured by using the LASSI scale. The independent variables of the study are personality traits i.e., Conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, extraversion, and openness which is measured by using NEO-FFI. The result shows that all the personality traits create a significant positive effect on academic motivation except for agreeableness which has an insignificant effect on academic motivation. This study highlights the importance of personality trait in forming academic motivation of the students and also help the educational institutions and teachers to develop strategies accordingly