The Unchanging Profile of Development: A Historical Study of the Punjab 1961-2008

In recent years, the importance of historic events in the socioeconomic development of countries has emerged as an important area of research. There is a growing interest in determining the impact of historic events and conditions such as colonial rules, institutions, and factor endowments on the economic and social circumstances of countries today. Furthermore, the levels of development in the early decades of newly independent territories can have long term effects on the progress of those regions [Nunn (2007, 2009); Olsson and Hibbs (2005); Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson (2001); Engerman and Sokoloff (2000); La Porta, et al. (1998)]

Testing team reasoning: group identification is related to coordination in pure coordination games

Games of pure mutual interest require players to coordinate their choices without being able to communicate. One way to achieve this is through team-reasoning, asking ‘what should we choose’, rather than just assessing one’s own options from an individual perspective. It has been suggested that team-reasoning is more likely when individuals are encouraged to think of those they are attempting to coordinate with as members of an in-group. In two studies, we examined the effects of group identity, measured by the ‘Inclusion of Other in Self’ (IOS) scale, on performance in nondescript coordination games, where there are several equilibria but no descriptions that a player can use to distinguish any one strategy from the others apart from the payoff from coordinating on it. In an online experiment, our manipulation of group identity did not have the expected effect, but we found a correlation of .18 between IOS and team-reasoning-consistent choosing. Similarly, in self-reported strategies, those who reported trying to pick an option that stood out (making it easier to coordinate on) also reported higher IOS scores than did those who said they tended to choose the option with the largest potential payoff. In a follow-up study in the lab, participants played either with friends or with strangers. Experiment 2 replicated the relationship between IOS and team-reasoning in strangers but not in friends. Instead, friends’ behavior was related to their expectations of what their partners would do. A hierarchical cluster analysis showed that 46.4% of strangers played a team reasoning strategy, compared to 20.6% of friends. We suggest that the strangers who group identify may have been team reasoning but friends may have tried to use their superior knowledge of their partners to try to predict their strategy

Occupational exposure to HIV in a developing country: assessing knowledge and attitude of healthcare professional before and after an awareness symposium

Objective: Health care providers (HCPs) are at risk of occupational exposure to HIV infection. In developing world these exposure occur due to general lack of awareness, education and structured training of HCPs. The objective of the study was to asses if continuing medical education symposium can be used as an effective educational tool to improve attitude, awareness and knowledge regarding occupational exposure to HIV infection. This quasi-experimental study was conducted among HCPs from Karachi, Pakistan. After assessing the baseline knowledge, awareness, and attitude by means of pretest; HCPs were reassessed with posttest after an education symposium on occupational exposure to HIV infection. Results: Among 364 participating HCPs, 14.2% had previous training on post exposure prophylaxis. There was an overall statistically significant (P value \u3c 0.001) improvement in the attitude of the participants. A statistically positive improvement in the number of participants giving correct answer was observed in 9 out of 11 questions (P value \u3c 0.001). The mean score of participants’ knowledge before intervention was 6.44 ± 1.84, which improved to 8.82 ± 2.17. Along with the increase in knowledge, a positive change in the attitude regarding safety against HIV was observed after the education symposium

Effectiveness of Ivermectin among COVID-19 patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objectives: To determine the effectiveness of Ivermectin among COVID-19 patients in terms of mortality and biochemical / hematological attributes. Materials and Methods:  A Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) was carried out in Department of Infectious Diseases (DID) of Holy Family Hospital Rawalpindi during March 2021 through concurrent parallel study design. Apart from seeking Ethical approval for this research, DID was also licensed from Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) for this trial. Total 90 PCR positive COVID-19 patients were enrolled in this study via 1:1 randomization in experimental and control group without blinding. The control group received Standard of Care (SOC) starting from day 1 while experimental group was given SOC along with Ivermectin (200µg/kg) for 5 days. Study participants were assessed on day 0, 4, 7 and 10 for general symptoms through physical examination, blood oxygen saturation and diverse hematological and biochemical indicators in addition to adverse events. Data analysis was done by means of SPSS version 25.0. and Microsoft Excel 2010. Mean ± SD for age, length of hospital stay and time to PCR negativity were calculated. Independent sample t-test was applied to determine the mean difference in age, duration of hospital stay, time to PCR negativity, SpO2, oxygen supply, serum Hemoglobin, TLC, platelet count, Clinical Severity Score (CSS), urea and creatinine levels of both groups. The difference in secondary outcome (expiry / discharge) of both groups was compared by means of chi-square test. P-value ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. 95% Confidence Interval was also computed. Relative Risk (RR) was also measured to verify the effectiveness of Ivermectin in COVID patients Results: Males constituted the majority (56.7%) of our study participants. Statistically insignificant difference in mean age (P = 0.42) and mean length of hospital stay (P= 0.32) between experimental and control group subjects was observed. Mean time to PCR negativity was reported to be significantly less (P= 0.002) in experimental group. Significant improvement was seen in PCR negativity (P<0.05), mean Clinical Severity Score (CSS) (P0.02), mean hemoglobin level (P=0.03) and mean platelet count (P=0.03). Difference in health outcome of both groups was determined to be statistically insignificant (P<0.2, 95% CI (-0.20 – 0.12)). Relative Risk of 0.8 proved the protective effect of Ivermectin in COVID. Conclusion: Ivermectin was quite effective in reducing mortality and improving the health outcome in COVID-19 patients

Effectiveness of Ivermectin among COVID-19 patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objectives: To determine the effectiveness of Ivermectin among COVID-19 patients in terms of mortality and biochemical / hematological attributes. Materials and Methods:  A Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) was carried out in Department of Infectious Diseases (DID) of Holy Family Hospital Rawalpindi during March 2021 through concurrent parallel study design. Apart from seeking Ethical approval for this research, DID was also licensed from Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) for this trial. Total 90 PCR positive COVID-19 patients were enrolled in this study via 1:1 randomization in experimental and control group without blinding. The control group received Standard of Care (SOC) starting from day 1 while experimental group was given SOC along with Ivermectin (200µg/kg) for 5 days. Study participants were assessed on day 0, 4, 7 and 10 for general symptoms through physical examination, blood oxygen saturation and diverse hematological and biochemical indicators in addition to adverse events. Data analysis was done by means of SPSS version 25.0. and Microsoft Excel 2010. Mean ± SD for age, length of hospital stay and time to PCR negativity were calculated. Independent sample t-test was applied to determine the mean difference in age, duration of hospital stay, time to PCR negativity, SpO2, oxygen supply, serum Hemoglobin, TLC, platelet count, Clinical Severity Score (CSS), urea and creatinine levels of both groups. The difference in secondary outcome (expiry / discharge) of both groups was compared by means of chi-square test. P-value ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. 95% Confidence Interval was also computed. Relative Risk (RR) was also measured to verify the effectiveness of Ivermectin in COVID patients Results: Males constituted the majority (56.7%) of our study participants. Statistically insignificant difference in mean age (P = 0.42) and mean length of hospital stay (P= 0.32) between experimental and control group subjects was observed. Mean time to PCR negativity was reported to be significantly less (P= 0.002) in experimental group. Significant improvement was seen in PCR negativity (P<0.05), mean Clinical Severity Score (CSS) (P0.02), mean hemoglobin level (P=0.03) and mean platelet count (P=0.03). Difference in health outcome of both groups was determined to be statistically insignificant (P<0.2, 95% CI (-0.20 – 0.12)). Relative Risk of 0.8 proved the protective effect of Ivermectin in COVID. Conclusion: Ivermectin was quite effective in reducing mortality and improving the health outcome in COVID-19 patients

Comparison of protective effects of carvedilol and α-tocopherol on doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxocity

Background: Doxorubicin, an effective anticancer drug used to treat multiple solid tumours and childhood malignancies since many decades but its cardiac adverse effects limits its use in full therapeutic dose. The mechanism involved in cardiotoxicity is apoptosis of cardiomyocytes due to reactive oxidative stress. The study was conducted to compare the cardioprotective effects of carvedilol and α-Tocopherol and to detect myocardial injury at early stage.Methods: Cardiotoxicity was produced in a group of rabbits by single intravenous injection of doxorubicin; control group was treated with normal saline only. Third and fourth groups were pretreated with carvedilol 30 mg/kg bodyweight and α-Tocopherol 200 mg/kg bodyweight respectively for ten days before injection of doxorubicin.Results: Doxorubicin produced marked cardiotoxicity represented by raised levels of serum biomarkers (cTnI, LDH and CK-MB) and severe necrosis of cardiomyocytes on microscopic examination. Carvedilol and α-tocopherol pretreatment resulted in decreased serum levels of biomarkers and improved the histological picture of heart tissue.Conclusions: The outcome of doxorubicin chemotherapy can be made successful with the concurrent use of carvedilol or α-tocopherol. Although carvedilol has more pronounced cardioprotective effects perhaps due to its antioxidant activity in addition to antiapoptotic, antiproliferative and anti-inflammatory effects. Furthermore the quantitative cTnI estimation for detection of cardiotoxicity at early stage can lead to significant economic impact in management of cancer

Factors associated with mammographic breast density among women in Karachi Pakistan

Background: There are no studies done to evaluate the distribution of mammographic breast density and factors associated with it among Pakistani women.Methods: Participants included 477 women, who had received either diagnostic or screening mammography at two hospitals in Karachi Pakistan. Mammographic breast density was assessed using the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System. In person interviews were conducted using a detailed questionnaire, to assess risk factors of interest, and venous blood was collected to measure serum vitamin D level at the end of the interview. To determine the association of potential factors with mammographic breast density, multivariable polytomous logistic regression was used.Results: High-density mammographic breast density (heterogeneously and dense categories) was high and found in 62.4% of women. There was a significant association of both heterogeneously dense and dense breasts with women of a younger age group \u3c 45 years (OR 2.68, 95% CI 1.60-4.49) and (OR 4.83, 95% CI 2.54-9.16) respectively. Women with heterogeneously dense and dense breasts versus fatty and fibroglandular breasts had a higher history of benign breast disease (OR 1.90, 95% CI 1.14-3.17) and (OR 3.61, 95% CI 1.90-6.86) respectively. There was an inverse relationship between breast density and body mass index. Women with dense breasts and heterogeneously dense breasts had lower body mass index (OR 0.94 95% CI 0.90-0.99) and (OR 0.81, 95% CI 0.76-0.87) respectively. There was no association of mammographic breast density with serum vitamin D levels, diet, and breast cancer.Conclusions: The findings of a positive association of higher mammographic density with younger age and benign breast disease and a negative association between body mass index and breast density are important findings that need to be considered in developing screening guidelines for the Pakistani population