Association between Vitamin D Deficiency and Asthma in childhood

Background: This study was designed to determine relationship between vitamin D deficiency and asthma in pediatric age group as compared to controls. Asthma is among one of the major causes of morbidity in children and it is suggested that vitamin D deficiency plays a role in asthma severity since it has immunomodulatory effects. Methods: This case control study was performed at Benazir Bhutto Hospital Rawalpindi in pediatric department from 2014 to 2015. Cases and controls were recruited from the same hospital through consecutive sampling. Cases were patients with asthma and controls were patients with minor illness other than asthma presenting in outpatient department. The patients who had rickets, known vitamin D deficiency, renal disease, liver disease and other respiratory problems (tuberculosis, pneumonia cystic fibrosis) as assessed on medical records or history and examination were excluded both for cases and controls. Vitamin D levels were checked in all patients. The data was recorded and analysis was done through SPSS 14. Results: The two groups were comparable for age and gender. Mean age of patients in cases was7.66+2.92 while among controls it was 7.23± 2.65 years. Among 30 patients with asthma, vitamin D deficiency was found in 19 (63.33%) while in controls it was found in 8 patients (26.67%). P value was 0.004 which was statistically significant. odds ratio was 4.75, 95 % confidence interval for odds ration showing significant difference between two groups Conclusion: Vitamin D deficiency was remarkably higher in asthmatics in comparison to non-asthmatic children

Speak Pakistan: Challenges in Developing Pakistan Sign Language using Information Technology

Gesture based communication called Sign Language (SL) is the fundamental communication channel between hard of hearing individuals. Communication through signing is a visual motion dialect. Hard of hearing individuals use gesture based communication as their primary medium for correspondence. Different countries have their own sign language as the United States of America has American Sign Language (ASL), China has Chinese Sign Language (CSL), India has Indian Sign Language (ISL), and similarly Pakistan has Pakistan Sign Language (PSL). Most of the developed nations have addressed the issues of their hearing impaired people by launching projects involving Information Technology to reduce this gap between a deaf and a normal person. In central and south Asia, a considerable work has been conducted on ISL and CSL. However, Pakistan Sign Language is a linguistically under-investigated in the absence of any structured information about the language contents, grammar, and tools and services for communication. Hence, the major contributions of this research are to highlight the challenges to bridge this communication gap for Pakistani deaf community by using the existing literature, and to propose an Information Technology based architectural framework to identify major components to build applications which may help bridging the gap between the deaf and normal people of the country

Effects Of Phototherapy On Serum Calcium Level In Neonates With Hyperbilirubinemia

Objective: To study the frequency of hypocalcemia in neonates receiving phototherapy with indirect hyperbilirubinemia Materials and Methods: Descriptive case series study was conducted from September 5, 2018, to March 5, 2019, in the NICU of the Paediatric Department Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Rawalpindi. Approval was sought from the hospital’s ethical committee. Neonates fulfilling inclusion criteria were enrolled in the study after obtaining informed consent from the parents. Before giving phototherapy, serum calcium levels were checked. Phototherapy was given for 48 hours. Serum calcium levels were reassessed after 48 hours of phototherapy. Data was entered on a structured proforma and statistical analysis of data was performed. Results: Out of 150 patients enrolled in the study 83(55.33%) were male and 67(44.67%) were female. The mean age of patients was 52.52 hours with minimum and maximum ages of 26 hours and 80 hours. The mean Indirect serum bilirubin level was 15.59 ± 2.36. A total of 50(33.33%) cases had hypocalcemia after 48 hours of phototherapy, all of these neonates had normal calcium levels before phototherapy. When hypocalcaemia was stratified for gestational age, birth weight and serum bilirubin levels at baseline, there was no significant difference in the frequency of hypocalcaemia concerning these effect modifiers. Conclusion: It is concluded that the frequency of hypocalcemia is higher in neonates with indirect hyperbilirubinemia after receiving phototherapy. One needs to be vigilant in dealing with neonates in this context, while serial measurements of calcium levels and monitoring for complications of hypocalcaemia should be included in every institution’s polic

Sports Culture in South Asia: Effects of Modern Bowling Action Rules on Cricket, an Information Technology Perspective

Cricket, a famous game played and watched at its peak in Asia. The game is governed by International Cricket Council (ICC). It is a team sport of eleven players in each side with different roles, of which one is bowler. The bowlers have followed different styles of bowling sinces game has started, of which some declared illegal initially. In our study, we have focused on the cases of illegality reported form South Asian region in post 1990 period a new era of biomechanics based bowling laws started. We have also investigated the updated ICC process for bowlers review and remedy along with biomechanics based labs established worldwide. Finally, we have proposed a new information technology based bowling action evaluation solution, lower in cost and affordable at domestic level. Such study will help bowlers, their coaches and viewers to understand the biomechanics based bowling laws, standings of South Asian bowling after these laws and alternative solutions to rescue it

A Strategy for the Promotion of Computer Programming Using Urdu Language in Pakistan

Software industry has proven to be a stepping stone towards changing the rank of a country in the comity of nations. In South Asian region, India has immensely excelled her economic growth by increasing its revenues with the help of software export. The development of software involves man power with technical support, where the premier focus in on computer programming. Therefore, producing a large number of skillful computer programmers in Pakistan would certainly help the cause of establishing software houses, which in turn, will attract the western world to outsource their software projects to Pakistan. Like India, this can certainly act like a game changer for Pakistan’s economy by earning a huge revenue. In this research we have presented a methodology to increase the interest of Pakistani people in computer programming by providing a bilingual computer program development environment in Urdu and English languages. This act may certainly open new dimensions of teaching computer programming, for instance, by introducing computer programming at school level. Furthermore, it may increase the interest of students and teachers to learn and teach computer programming while experiencing to program in their national language. Lastly, in technical terms, we have presented the visual design of such bilingual environment along with architectural modification in the preprocessor for C++ language to support both Urdu and English languages for writing computer program

A Roadmap to Elevate Pakistan Sign Language among Regional Sign Languages

Several nations have worked hard to make their societies truly inclusive by developing gadgets, tools, services, and applications. A lot of work has been done for bringing the deaf community to the mainstream. Tools and applications exist for several sign languages including American Sign Language (ASL), Chinese Sign Language (CSL), Indian Sign Language (ISL) and Arabic Sign Language (ArSL). These tools help translating natural language text into respective sign language and vice versa. Similarly, standard corpora exist for all afore-mentioned sign languages and for many other languages. Unfortunately, no such noticeable development exists in the case of Pakistan Sign Language (PSL). This research aims to define a roadmap for the development of Pakistan Sign Language so as to bring it at par with other sign languages of the world.&nbsp

The global burden of adolescent and young adult cancer in 2019 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background In estimating the global burden of cancer, adolescents and young adults with cancer are often overlooked, despite being a distinct subgroup with unique epidemiology, clinical care needs, and societal impact. Comprehensive estimates of the global cancer burden in adolescents and young adults (aged 15-39 years) are lacking. To address this gap, we analysed results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019, with a focus on the outcome of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), to inform global cancer control measures in adolescents and young adults. Methods Using the GBD 2019 methodology, international mortality data were collected from vital registration systems, verbal autopsies, and population-based cancer registry inputs modelled with mortality-to-incidence ratios (MIRs). Incidence was computed with mortality estimates and corresponding MIRs. Prevalence estimates were calculated using modelled survival and multiplied by disability weights to obtain years lived with disability (YLDs). Years of life lost (YLLs) were calculated as age-specific cancer deaths multiplied by the standard life expectancy at the age of death. The main outcome was DALYs (the sum of YLLs and YLDs). Estimates were presented globally and by Socio-demographic Index (SDI) quintiles (countries ranked and divided into five equal SDI groups), and all estimates were presented with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). For this analysis, we used the age range of 15-39 years to define adolescents and young adults. Findings There were 1.19 million (95% UI 1.11-1.28) incident cancer cases and 396 000 (370 000-425 000) deaths due to cancer among people aged 15-39 years worldwide in 2019. The highest age-standardised incidence rates occurred in high SDI (59.6 [54.5-65.7] per 100 000 person-years) and high-middle SDI countries (53.2 [48.8-57.9] per 100 000 person-years), while the highest age-standardised mortality rates were in low-middle SDI (14.2 [12.9-15.6] per 100 000 person-years) and middle SDI (13.6 [12.6-14.8] per 100 000 person-years) countries. In 2019, adolescent and young adult cancers contributed 23.5 million (21.9-25.2) DALYs to the global burden of disease, of which 2.7% (1.9-3.6) came from YLDs and 97.3% (96.4-98.1) from YLLs. Cancer was the fourth leading cause of death and tenth leading cause of DALYs in adolescents and young adults globally. Interpretation Adolescent and young adult cancers contributed substantially to the overall adolescent and young adult disease burden globally in 2019. These results provide new insights into the distribution and magnitude of the adolescent and young adult cancer burden around the world. With notable differences observed across SDI settings, these estimates can inform global and country-level cancer control efforts. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe

Cancer Incidence, Mortality, Years of Life Lost, Years Lived With Disability, and Disability-Adjusted Life Years for 29 Cancer Groups From 2010 to 2019: A Systematic Analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019.

The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2019 (GBD 2019) provided systematic estimates of incidence, morbidity, and mortality to inform local and international efforts toward reducing cancer burden. To estimate cancer burden and trends globally for 204 countries and territories and by Sociodemographic Index (SDI) quintiles from 2010 to 2019. The GBD 2019 estimation methods were used to describe cancer incidence, mortality, years lived with disability, years of life lost, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in 2019 and over the past decade. Estimates are also provided by quintiles of the SDI, a composite measure of educational attainment, income per capita, and total fertility rate for those younger than 25 years. Estimates include 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). In 2019, there were an estimated 23.6 million (95% UI, 22.2-24.9 million) new cancer cases (17.2 million when excluding nonmelanoma skin cancer) and 10.0 million (95% UI, 9.36-10.6 million) cancer deaths globally, with an estimated 250 million (235-264 million) DALYs due to cancer. Since 2010, these represented a 26.3% (95% UI, 20.3%-32.3%) increase in new cases, a 20.9% (95% UI, 14.2%-27.6%) increase in deaths, and a 16.0% (95% UI, 9.3%-22.8%) increase in DALYs. Among 22 groups of diseases and injuries in the GBD 2019 study, cancer was second only to cardiovascular diseases for the number of deaths, years of life lost, and DALYs globally in 2019. Cancer burden differed across SDI quintiles. The proportion of years lived with disability that contributed to DALYs increased with SDI, ranging from 1.4% (1.1%-1.8%) in the low SDI quintile to 5.7% (4.2%-7.1%) in the high SDI quintile. While the high SDI quintile had the highest number of new cases in 2019, the middle SDI quintile had the highest number of cancer deaths and DALYs. From 2010 to 2019, the largest percentage increase in the numbers of cases and deaths occurred in the low and low-middle SDI quintiles. The results of this systematic analysis suggest that the global burden of cancer is substantial and growing, with burden differing by SDI. These results provide comprehensive and comparable estimates that can potentially inform efforts toward equitable cancer control around the world.Funding/Support: The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities. Dr Aljunid acknowledges the Department of Health Policy and Management of Kuwait University and the International Centre for Casemix and Clinical Coding, National University of Malaysia for the approval and support to participate in this research project. Dr Bhaskar acknowledges institutional support from the NSW Ministry of Health and NSW Health Pathology. Dr Bärnighausen was supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation through the Alexander von Humboldt Professor award, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Dr Braithwaite acknowledges funding from the National Institutes of Health/ National Cancer Institute. Dr Conde acknowledges financial support from the European Research Council ERC Starting Grant agreement No 848325. Dr Costa acknowledges her grant (SFRH/BHD/110001/2015), received by Portuguese national funds through Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, IP under the Norma Transitória grant DL57/2016/CP1334/CT0006. Dr Ghith acknowledges support from a grant from Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF16OC0021856). Dr Glasbey is supported by a National Institute of Health Research Doctoral Research Fellowship. Dr Vivek Kumar Gupta acknowledges funding support from National Health and Medical Research Council Australia. Dr Haque thanks Jazan University, Saudi Arabia for providing access to the Saudi Digital Library for this research study. Drs Herteliu, Pana, and Ausloos are partially supported by a grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, CNDS-UEFISCDI, project number PN-III-P4-ID-PCCF-2016-0084. Dr Hugo received support from the Higher Education Improvement Coordination of the Brazilian Ministry of Education for a sabbatical period at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, between September 2019 and August 2020. Dr Sheikh Mohammed Shariful Islam acknowledges funding by a National Heart Foundation of Australia Fellowship and National Health and Medical Research Council Emerging Leadership Fellowship. Dr Jakovljevic acknowledges support through grant OI 175014 of the Ministry of Education Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia. Dr Katikireddi acknowledges funding from a NHS Research Scotland Senior Clinical Fellowship (SCAF/15/02), the Medical Research Council (MC_UU_00022/2), and the Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office (SPHSU17). Dr Md Nuruzzaman Khan acknowledges the support of Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University, Bangladesh. Dr Yun Jin Kim was supported by the Research Management Centre, Xiamen University Malaysia (XMUMRF/2020-C6/ITCM/0004). Dr Koulmane Laxminarayana acknowledges institutional support from Manipal Academy of Higher Education. Dr Landires is a member of the Sistema Nacional de Investigación, which is supported by Panama’s Secretaría Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación. Dr Loureiro was supported by national funds through Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia under the Scientific Employment Stimulus–Institutional Call (CEECINST/00049/2018). Dr Molokhia is supported by the National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Center at Guy’s and St Thomas’ National Health Service Foundation Trust and King’s College London. Dr Moosavi appreciates NIGEB's support. Dr Pati acknowledges support from the SIAN Institute, Association for Biodiversity Conservation & Research. Dr Rakovac acknowledges a grant from the government of the Russian Federation in the context of World Health Organization Noncommunicable Diseases Office. Dr Samy was supported by a fellowship from the Egyptian Fulbright Mission Program. Dr Sheikh acknowledges support from Health Data Research UK. Drs Adithi Shetty and Unnikrishnan acknowledge support given by Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education. Dr Pavanchand H. Shetty acknowledges Manipal Academy of Higher Education for their research support. Dr Diego Augusto Santos Silva was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil Finance Code 001 and is supported in part by CNPq (302028/2018-8). Dr Zhu acknowledges the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas grant RP210042