Socio-Cultural Determinants of Women’s Homelessness: A Study of Dar-ul-Aman, Multan

Home is an integral element of the Pakistani family system, and the idea of home is deeply embedded in Pakistani women’s consciousness. The prime objective of this study is to explore the socio-cultural factors responsible for women’s homelessness. This study highlights various determinants that lead women to leave their homes. The issue of women fleeing from their homes is a matter of disregard in Pakistan’s culture, such an action is considered as an issue of family’s self-image, respect, and honour. In the present study, Marxist and feminist lenses have been used to indicate women’s secondary status that is responsible for their homelessness. Interviews of twenty-five women were conducted in Government Dar-ul-Aman[1]Multan, Pakistan. Purposive sampling was used to select the respondents. The age range of informants was 14 to 55. All married, unmarried and single women, widows and divorcees were part of the sample. Analysis was conducted following the assortment of information from the field thematic analysis. This study uncovers the variables liable for women\u27s displacement like gender-based violence, which is an intense issue globally and has a significant role in the secondary status of women in Pakistan. Some other important factors like poor financial status, forced marriages, absence of education, parents’ discriminatory behaviour and various kinds of violence affect women physically, socially and emotionally [1] Dar-ul-Aman is an asylum that provides refuge, protection and security to homeless women

Bacteria Causing Early Onset Sepsis in Neonates Admitted in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of a Military Hospital in Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir Pakistan

Objective: To determine the burden of early onset of sepsis (EOS) in suspected neonates and to assess the most common causative agents of EOS in these neonates. Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study was conducted at H.H. Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Hospital/Combined Military Hospital, Muzaffarabad, Pakistan from January 2020 to June 2021. All neonates admitted in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) during first 3 days of life with suspicion of sepsis, based on maternal history or neonatal clinical examination were enrolled. EOS was defined based on the presence of clinical sepsis developed within 72 hours of life or if positive blood/cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cultures were detected . This information along with the bacteria causing EOS was noted. Results: Of 109 suspected neonates for EOS, positive blood culture for EOS was observed in 26 (23.9%) neonates. Risk of EOS was 7 times higher among neonates with total leucocyte count (TLC) ≥30,000 per mm as compared to neonates with < 30,000 per mm of TLC (aOR 7.19, 95% CI 2.12 to 24.31, p-value 0.002). Gram positive was the most common bacterial isolates, i.e., 15 (57.69%) whereas gram negative was observed in 11 (42.31%) neonates. Of 15 neonates with gram positive bacteria, all had staphylococcus aureus, i.e., 15 (100%) whereas of 11 neonates with gram negative bacteria, Escherichia coli was observed in majority of the neonates, i.e., 7 (63.64%). Conclusion: In our study cohort, a significant occurrence of EOS we observed. Specifically, gram-positive organism (staphylococcus aureus) was the predominant cause of sepsis

Comparative Efficiency of Polyethylene Glycol, Ammonium Sulphate, Methanol Precipitation, and Ultrafiltration Techniques for the Down Streaming of Viral Antigen

Background: Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is ubiquitous  worldwide but endemic in many countries of Africa, Asia, South America, and the Middle East. Many reasons contribute to the incidence of viral diseases even in vaccinated animals. These reasons include low antigenic payload, low PD50, improper formulation, unstable vaccine containing antigen, and genetically different from field strain. Among these, the most important one is the low antigenic load per dose of the vaccine. Vaccine failure is mainly due to the direct use of  virus suspension in the vaccine without the concentration of viral antigen. Another reason to concentrate the antigen is small volume storage in the vaccine bank. These issues are mostly concerned with developing countries like Pakistan which lack antigen concentration technology. The concentration of the virus is a major milestone to be achieved for the production of an effective vaccine as well as for the diagnostic tool.Methods: Different techniques including precipitation with polyethylene glycol, ammonium sulfate, methanol, and filtration through an ultra-filter membrane were used for the concentration of viral suspension. Antigen quantification in terms of µg/ml was determined through size exclusion chromatography by using Sephacryl S-300 as a stationary phase.Results: Percentage recovery of FMDV calculated through analysis of chromatograms found 77.80%, 59.75%, 32.50%, and 13.83% for polyethylene glycol, ammonium sulfate, ultra-filtration, and methanol treated samples respectively.Conclusion: Classical polyethylene glycol precipitation showed a maximum percentage recovery of foot and mouth disease virus as compared to other concentration methods.Keywords: Foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV); Concentration Methods; Polyethylene Glycol (PEG); Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC); Sephacryl S-300 

Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy in Cases of Acute Cholecystitis

Objective: To evaluate the laparoscopic cholecystectomy procedure in cases of acute cholecystitis. Study Design: Cohort study Place and Duration of Study: Department of Surgery, Surgical Unit-1, SIMS/Services Hospital Lahore from 1st January 2021 to 30th June 2022. Methodology: One hundred and ninety eight cases which suffered from acute cholecystitis were enrolled. The age of the cases was within 35-60 years. The cases were divided into 3 groups; group A, group B and group C. The group selection was dependent on the interval period (between the onset of acute attack and the time of presentation for treatment). Group A was the one where interval period was &lt;3 days, Group B has 3 to 7 days while it was &gt;7 days in group C. The laparoscopic cholecystectomy was performed and operative outcomes were evaluated. Results: The mean age of the patients was 40.66±1.5 years with more females in each group than males. The cases of gall bladder empyema/mucocele were presented at the highest 68.8%. This was followed by the cases having Gall Bladder phlegmon identified in 24.74% of the cases. The rate of complication was highest in Group B while operation time and post-operative hospital stay was highest in Group A. The conversion rate from Laparoscopic to open cholecystectomy was measured as 3.03%. Conclusion: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is a procedure which can be successfully achieved in acute cholecystitis cases with reduced conversion rate and complication attained through surgical expertise. Keywords: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy, Acute cholecystitis, Conversion rate</jats:p

Management of Genital Herpes Infection through Pregnancy

Background: Genital herpes is a lethal infection prevalent in fertility age women and can lead into mortality and morbidity of neonates on transmission. Objective: To analyze the management techniques for genital herpes infection during gestation. Study Design: Retrospective study Place and Duration of Study: Department of Obstetrics &amp; Gynaecology, Saadan Hospital Allaho Chowk Johar Town, Lahore from 10-01-2020 to 09-07-2020. Methodology: Fifty females presenting genital herpes clinical symptoms were completely analyzed through symptoms and laboratory analysis and managed for their genital herpes through anti- viral drugs. Results: The mean age was 28.9±3.2 years. Thirty-two females were having genital herpes at their third trimester. The anti-viral drugs reduced genital herpes in 90% cases with 1.2% transmission rate in caesarean delivery while 7% transmission risk in vaginal delivery. Conclusion: Genital herpes can be managed by using antiviral medications and c sections in majority of the cases. Keywords: Genital herpes, Caesarean, Transmission</jats:p

English-4 Learning religious education through Practice: Impact of co-curricular Activities in teaching of Religious Studies at university level .

Learning is an interesting activity but learning religious teachings varies from person to person. Sometimes religious education is taken with emotional zeal and sometimes with the constructive approach or faith. In a society like Pakistan where religious education is a compulsory part of syllabus religious teachings should be taken for the purpose of constructive approach. But unfortunately religious education as compulsory subject has taken by the students only to fulfill the requirement of curriculum. Even the religious teachers teach religious subject as requirement of curriculum instead of enabling students to grasp the true and practical meaning of Islam.&#x0D; The main problem in teaching and learning Islamic studies as subject is effective teaching methodologies which could create interest and understanding of Islamic values and way of life. The traditional methods in Islamic education can help students in gathering large amount of information about Islam but it does not enable them to properly remember and to use this information practically because the rational and analytical approach of teaching is missing in class room (Khan,2009).  Present research is conducted to evaluate the impact of co-curricular activities in teaching of Islamic studies at under graduate level and effectiveness of adopting these techniques in creating interest of students in learning and applying Islamic teachings and values in practical life. </jats:p

A Residential Load Scheduling with the Integration of On-Site PV and Energy Storage Systems in Micro-Grid

The smart grid (SG) has emerged as a key enabling technology facilitating the integration of variable energy resources with the objective of load management and reduced carbon-dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions. However, dynamic load consumption trends and inherent intermittent nature of renewable generations may cause uncertainty in active resource management. Eventually, these uncertainties pose serious challenges to the energy management system. To address these challenges, this work establishes an efficient load scheduling scheme by jointly considering an on-site photo-voltaic (PV) system and an energy storage system (ESS). An optimum PV-site matching technique was used to optimally select the highest capacity and lowest cost PV module. Furthermore, the best-fit of PV array in regard with load is anticipated using least square method (LSM). Initially, the mathematical models of PV energy generation, consumption and ESS are presented along with load categorization through Zero and Finite shift methods. Then, the final problem is formulated as a multiobjective optimization problem which is solved by using the proposed Dijkstra algorithm (DA). The proposed algorithm quantifies day-ahead electricity market consumption cost, used energy mixes, curtailed load, and grid imbalances. However, to further analyse and compare the performance of proposed model, the results of the proposed algorithm are compared with the genetic algorithm (GA), binary particle swarm optimization (BPSO), and optimal pattern recognition algorithm (OPRA), respectively. Simulation results show that DA achieved 51.72% cost reduction when grid and renewable sources are used. Similarly, DA outperforms other algorithms in terms of maximum peak to average ratio (PAR) reduction, which is 10.22%

A Residential Load Scheduling with the Integration of On-Site PV and Energy Storage Systems in Micro-Grid

The smart grid (SG) has emerged as a key enabling technology facilitating the integration of variable energy resources with the objective of load management and reduced carbon-dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions. However, dynamic load consumption trends and inherent intermittent nature of renewable generations may cause uncertainty in active resource management. Eventually, these uncertainties pose serious challenges to the energy management system. To address these challenges, this work establishes an efficient load scheduling scheme by jointly considering an on-site photo-voltaic (PV) system and an energy storage system (ESS). An optimum PV-site matching technique was used to optimally select the highest capacity and lowest cost PV module. Furthermore, the best-fit of PV array in regard with load is anticipated using least square method (LSM). Initially, the mathematical models of PV energy generation, consumption and ESS are presented along with load categorization through Zero and Finite shift methods. Then, the final problem is formulated as a multiobjective optimization problem which is solved by using the proposed Dijkstra algorithm (DA). The proposed algorithm quantifies day-ahead electricity market consumption cost, used energy mixes, curtailed load, and grid imbalances. However, to further analyse and compare the performance of proposed model, the results of the proposed algorithm are compared with the genetic algorithm (GA), binary particle swarm optimization (BPSO), and optimal pattern recognition algorithm (OPRA), respectively. Simulation results show that DA achieved 51.72% cost reduction when grid and renewable sources are used. Similarly, DA outperforms other algorithms in terms of maximum peak to average ratio (PAR) reduction, which is 10.22%.</jats:p

Body Mass Index Influences on Exertional Heat Stroke Risk in Young Healthy Males and Females

Objective: To find the influence of body mass index on exertional heat stroke risk in young healthy males and females. Study Design: Retrospective case control study Place and Duration of Study: Department of Neurology, Sharif Medical &amp; Dental College, Lahore from 1st April 2022 to 30th September 2022. Methodology: Two hundred patients who came with exertional heat stroke and compared it with the normal healthy control’s information were enrolled. Exertional heat stroke (EHS) cases were placed in Group A while normal controls in group B. The information regarding heat illness, body size, gender, was documented in addition to their other demographic details was compared in the groups. Results: The mean age of the EHS cases in group A was 25.5±7.2 years while of controls in group B was 26.1±6.5 years. There was higher number of males within both groups. The BMI of group A was higher than group B having a mean value as 26.9±3.2 in group A. The odds ration showed that EHS cases with a higher BMI had an increased risk of heat stroke which has a significant association with age but not with the gender. Conclusion: There is a significant association between the higher body mass index and exertional heat stroke formation in young adults. Keywords: Body weight, Outcome, Military, Influence, Marker</jats:p