Associations of controlling behavior, physical and sexual violence with health symptoms

Controlling behavior is often manifested as monitoring, coercing or threatening the partner. Globally, it has been experienced by the women (in range of 5.2% to 56.6%) and often results in their physical and mental ill health. To the best of our knowledge there is no published research on controlling behaviors. Therefore, a cross sectional study was conducted to measure the magnitude of the controlling behaviors and its association to some physical stress symptoms of women. The study was conducted in urban settings of Karachi, Pakistan, using simple random sampling technique. The data was collected by trained midwifes from the 759 married women of aged 25 to 60 years. The data was entered in Epi Info version 6 and analyzed on SPSS version 11. The study showed that the prevalence of pastyear physical and sexual violence is 68% while controlling behavior was experienced by 51.6% of the women. Among the different types of controlling behavior, refusal of the husband to give money for the household chores was the most common. The results of the bi-variate analysis showed that there was a significant association between women who had past-year physical or sexual violence experience with shoulder and neck pain, feeling worthlessness and suicidal thoughts. This study identified that most women in middle and lower socioeconomic groups are exposed to physical, sexual and psychological violence. Furthermore, we found that in addition to exposure to violence, women face controlling behaviors from their partner which restrict their decisions making toward their health

Functional and clinical outcome of ileal (Studer) neo-bladder reconstruction: Single centre experience from Pakistan

Objective: To determine the medium and long-term outcome of orthotopic continent urinary diversion with ileal (Studer) neo-bladder following radical cystectomy. Study Design: Case series. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Surgery, The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, from January 1998 to September 2010. Methodology: Thirty eight patients underwent radical cystectomy for invasive bladder tumor with ileal neo-bladder (Studer type) reconstruction. Peri-operative and late complications, functional outcome of neo-bladder, urinary continence, metabolic and upper urinary tract status and overall survival were evaluated in all patients. Results: A total of 29 patients (23 males and 6 females) with mean age of 59 ± 12 years were included for the final analysis. The mean duration of surgery (both radical cystectomy and urinary diversion) was 520 ± 70 minutes. Perioperative complication rate was 24% (n=7) with surgical site infection in 4 patients, sepsis in 1 patient and 2 had ureteroileal leak. At 6 months follow-up, 22 patients were fully continent while 7 patients had minimal stress / nocturnal incontinence. The continence rate was 93% (n=27) at one year follow-up. The mean capacity of neo-bladder at 6 months was 384 ± 66 mLs. The late complication rate was 17% (n=5). Three patients developed anastomotic stricture requiring transurethral incision of neo bladder neck, one formed stone in neo-bladder and one developed incision hernia. All patients had preserved renal functions on follow-up. The survival rate was 80% (n=23) at a median follow-up of 66.4 ± 36 months. Two patients developed local recurrence and four developed distant metastasis. Conclusion: Studer ileal neo-bladder is a safe and effective option for urinary diversion in select patients with good oncological and functional outcomes comparable to contemporary literature, even in a low volume center

Expression of pS2 in prostate cancer correlates with grade and Chromogranin A expression but not with stage

BACKGROUND: The biological potential of prostate cancer is extremely variable. Particular interest is focused on markers not expressed in normal prostatic tissues. pS2 protein expression has been demonstrated in a range of malignant tissues in an oestrogen-independent pathway. Recently, it has been demonstrated that pS2, in prostate cancer, is closely associated with neuro-endocrine differentiation. In the present study, we have analyzed, the potential of Neuro-endocrine and pS2 (TFF1) expression in human prostate cancer determined by immunohistochemistry, in primary adenocarcinoma of the prostate and attempted to correlate this with the clinico-pathologic features of the patient and neuroendocrine expression. METHODS: Ninety-five malignant prostatic specimens from primary adenocarcinoma, obtained from either transurethral resection of prostate or radical retropubic prostatectomy, from 84 patients between January 1991 and December 1998 were evaluated by immuno-histochemical staining using selected neuroendocrine tumor markers i.e. chromogranin A (CgA) and estrogen inducible pS2 protein. The relationship between the expressions of pS2 was studied with CgA expression, clinical stage (TNM) and tumour grade (Gleason system). Fischer exact test was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 70 + /- 9.2 years. The pS2 expression was seen in 10% of primary prostate cancers. Worsening histological grade was associated with greater expression of pS2 (p < 0.001). The expression of CgA was noted in 31% of malignant prostatic tissue. In pS2, positive cases 2/3rd of patients were also CgA +ve. However, there was no significant correlation between pS2 expression and the stage of disease. CONCLUSION: pS2 expression in prostate cancer significantly correlates with histological grade and the neuroendocrine differentiation, as demonstrated by Chromogranin A expression but not with the clinical stage of the disease. However, the overall expression was low consequently; no definitive conclusions can be drawn. We feel further work is required in a larger series, both in primary and metastatic cancer

Taxonomy and Distribution of Butterflies (Papilionoidea) of the Skardu Region, Pakistan

A study was conducted in six different localities around Skardu, Pakistan to document the butterfly fauna of that region. The study revealed that 16 species in 5 families and 14 genera occur in the area. The families include: Papilionidae (represented only by the genus Parnassius); Pieridae (genera Pieris, Pontia, and Colias are represented); Lycaenidae (genera Lycaena, Everes, Aricia, Plebejus, Zizeeria, and Zizina are represented); Nymphalidae (only two genera, Aglais and Cynthia are represented); and Satyridae (represented by the genera Pararge and Maniola)

Role of estrogens in the secondary hormonal manipulation of hormone refractory prostate cancer

Objective: To evaluate the role of Estrogens (Honvan) in the secondary hormonal manipulation of patients with hormone refractory prostate cancer (HRCP). Methods: Twelve patients diagnosed as hormone refractory prostate cancer received intravenous estrogens for six days (Fosfestrol, a synthetic phosphorylated estrogen derivative), followed by a maintenance oral dose of 120 mg thrice daily as second line hormonal treatment. During the treatment they were given deep venous thrombosis prophylaxis. Their stage at initial presentation, primary treatment, mode of androgen ablation, prostate specific antigen (PSA) level, duration of remission prior of HRPC status, PSA doubling time before and after estrogen treatment were recorded. The morbidity and mortality of the treatment was also recorded. A drop in PSA of \u3e 50% was classified as major responder. The drop of \u3c 50% was defined as minor responders. Treatment failure was defined as a rise in PSA \u3e the level prior to the start of treatment. Results: The mean age at diagnosis of prostate cancer was 66.6 + 5.4 years (range 57-73). At the time of initial diagnosis only 3 patients (25%) had localized disease and 9 (75%) had metastatic prostate cancer. Six patients each opted for surgical or medical castration (LHRH analogs) as the mode of androgen ablation. The mean initial PSA at diagnosis was 340 + 728.1 ng/ml (range 4.1-2375, Median 94). After development of HRPC, six patients (50%) had major response, four (33%) had minor response to estrogen administration. Two patients (17%) did not respond to estrogens. The mean PSA before receiving Fosfestrol was 60.5 + 82 ng/ml (range 0.013-246). The PSA (nadir) after treatment was 24.3 + 33.2 ng/ml (range 0.9-81.3). One patient developed gynaecomastia and one had congestive cardiac failure. Two patients died of non cancer related deaths and one patient died of cancer related death. Conclusion: Synthetic estrogens are well tolerated, in-expensive agents and could be considered for palliative use against hormone resistant prostate cancer (JPMA 54:445;2004)

Boron application in clay-loam soil for improved growth, yield and protein contents of mungbean in water-stresses

Boron is considered important to improve the drought resistance, yield and protein contents of pulses. Two years of field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of boron application and water stress given at vegetative and flowering stages on growth, yield and protein contents of mungbean during spring 2014 and 2015. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with split-plot arrangement giving more emphasis to boron. The experiment comprised three water stress levels (normal irrigation, water stress at vegetative stage and water stress at reproductive phase) and four boron levels (0, 2, 4 and 6 kg ha-1). Final seed yield was significantly increased by different levels of boron application both under normal and water stressed conditions. The increase in yield was mainly due to greater plant height, number of pods bearing branches, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod and 1000-grain weight. Boron application at 4 kg ha-1 caused 17%, 10% and 4% increase in grain yield under normal irrigation, stress at vegetative stage and water stress at reproductive phase, respectively. Protein contents were also increased (9-16%) at same boron treatment. Most parameters showed a marked decrease at higher dose (6 kg ha-1) of boron. In conclusion, the boron application at rate of 4 kg ha-1 in clay-loam soil performed the best to enhance mungbean growth, yield and seed protein both under normal and water stressed conditions

Post deposition interfacial N\'eel temperature tuning in magnetoelectric B:Cr2O3

Boron (B) alloying transforms the magnetoelectric antiferromagnet Cr2O3 into a multifunctional single-phase material which enables electric field driven {\pi}/2 rotation of the N\'eel vector. Nonvolatile, voltage-controlled N\'eel vector rotation is a much-desired material property in the context of antiferromagnetic spintronics enabling ultra-low power, ultra-fast, nonvolatile memory, and logic device applications. N\'eel vector rotation is detected with the help of heavy metal (Pt) Hall-bars in proximity of pulsed laser deposited B:Cr2O3 films. To facilitate operation of B:Cr2O3-based devices in CMOS environments, the N\'eel temperature, TN, of the functional film must be tunable to values significantly above room temperature. Cold neutron depth profiling and x-ray photoemission spectroscopy depth profiling reveal thermally activated B-accumulation at the B:Cr2O3/ vacuum interface in thin films deposited on Al2O3 substrates. We attribute the B-enrichment to surface segregation. Magnetotransport data confirm B-accumulation at the interface within a layer of about 50 nm thick where the device properties reside. Here TN enhances from 334 K prior to annealing, to 477 K after annealing for several hours. Scaling analysis determines TN as a function of the annealing temperature. Stability of post-annealing device properties is evident from reproducible N\'eel vector rotation at 370 K performed over the course of weeks