Rural Livelihoods and Vulnerability Towards Natural Disasters: An Empirical Exploration from Selected Villages of District Gilgit, Pakistan

Present study explores livelihoods of rural households and their vulnerability towards natural hazards in three selected villages of district Gilgit, a far-flung mountainous area in north of Pakistan. Data were collected from 180 households by using purposive and snowball sampling techniques. Moreover, Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) and descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. The standard value of LVI ranges from 0 to 1, whereby the higher value of LVI shows higher vulnerability. LVI for each village was calculated using the data of seven components i.e. socio demography, livelihood strategies, social networks, food, health and education, water, natural disasters and climate vulnerability. The results suggest that the rural households of district Gilgit are vulnerable to natural disasters and Gilgit is most vulnerable in food and social network and least vulnerable in terms of demographic profile. Lastly, the overall value of LVI for district Gilgit is 0.3

Genetic Association of Beta-Myosin Heavy-Chain Gene (MYH7) with Cardiac Dysfunction

Cardiac dysfunction accelerates the risk of heart failure, and its pathogenesis involves a complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors. Variations in myosin affect contractile abilities of cardiomyocytes and cause structural and functional abnormalities in myocardium. The study aims to find the association of MYH7 rs121913642 (c.1594 T>C) and rs121913645 (c.667G>A) variants with cardiac dysfunction in the Punjabi Pakistani population. Patients with heart failure (n = 232) and healthy controls (n = 205) were enrolled in this study. MYH7 variant genotyping was performed using tetra ARMS-PCR. MYH7 rs121913642 TC genotype was significantly more prevalent in the patient group (p < 0.001). However, MYH7 rs121913645 genotype frequencies were not significantly different between the patient and control groups (p < 0.666). Regression analysis also revealed that the rs121913642 C allele increases the risk of cardiac failure by ~2 [OR:1.98, CI: 1.31–2.98, p < 0.001] in comparison to the T allele. High levels of the cardiac enzymes cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and CK-MB were observed in patients. There was also an increase in total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and uric acid in patients compared to the healthy control group (p < 0.001). In conclusion, the MYH7 gene variant rs121913642 is genetically associated with cardiac dysfunction and involved in the pathogenesis of HF

Seroprevalence of Dengue Virus by Detection of IgG Antibodies: A Tertiary Care Hospital Study in Rawalpindi

Objective: To determine the seroprevalence of dengue virus infection by detecting IgG antibodies in a tertiary care hospital in Rawalpindi. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Virology department, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Rawalpindi, July 2021 to December 2021. Materials and Methods: A total of one hundred and fifty healthy general population of Rawalpindi aged 15 – 45 years were included in this study. Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) was performed for the detection of dengue immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody in serum samples of patients. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 was used to analyze the data. Results: Among 150 patients, 71 (47.3%) were males and 79 (52.7%) were females. Out of total patients, 50 (33.3%) were positive and 100 (67.7%) were negative for dengue IgG antibodies. Majority of dengue IgG positive patients were 25-40 years of age. Acute febrile illness was present among 37 (24.6%) patients and was absent in 113 (75.3%) patients. Participants provided history of presence of waste points and stagnant water in surrounding areas of 84 (56%) patients. Conclusion: This study shows that there was a high exposure of dengue virus in Rawalpindi population. This can be problematic from public health point of view in future as sensitized population against dengue virus is more prone to dengue fever and serious effects of dengue virus reinfection

Automated VR therapy for improving positive self-beliefs and psychological well-being in young patients with psychosis: a proof of concept evaluation of Phoenix VR self-confidence therapy

Background: Low self-confidence in patients with psychosis is common. This can lead to higher symptom severity, withdrawal from activities, and low psychological well-being. There are effective psychological techniques to improve positive self-beliefs but these are seldom provided in psychosis services. With young people with lived experience of psychosis we developed a scalable automated VR therapy to enhance positive-self beliefs. Aims: The aim was to conduct a proof of concept clinical test of whether the new VR self-confidence therapy (Phoenix) may increase positive self-beliefs and psychological well-being. Method: Twelve young patients with non-affective psychosis and with low levels of positive self-beliefs participated. Over 6 weeks, patients were provided with a stand-alone VR headset so that they could use Phoenix at home and were offered weekly psychologist meetings. The outcome measures were the Oxford Positive Self Scale (OxPos), Brief Core Schema Scale, and Warwick-Edinburgh Well-being Scale (WEMWBS). Satisfaction, adverse events and side-effects were assessed. Results: Eleven patients provided outcome data. There were very large end-of-treatment improvements in positive self-beliefs (OxPos mean difference = 32.3; 95% CI: 17.3, 47.3; Cohen’s d=3.0) and psychological well-being (WEMWBS mean difference = 11.2; 95% CI: 8.0, 14.3; Cohen’s d=1.5). Patients rated the quality of the VR therapy as: excellent (n=9), good (n=2), fair (n=0), poor (n=0). An average of 5.3 (SD=1.4) appointments were attended. Conclusions: Uptake of the VR intervention was high, satisfaction was high, and side-effects extremely few. There were promising indications of large improvements in positive self-beliefs and psychological well-being. A randomized controlled clinical evaluation is warranted

A randomized controlled experiment testing the use of virtual reality to trigger cigarette craving in people who smoke

Automated delivery of therapy in virtual reality (VR) has the potential to be used for smoking cessation. Most obviously, it could be used to practise and establish alternative reactions to smoking cues. The first step in treatment development is to show that VR environments can trigger sufficient cravings in smokers. We evaluated a new VR public house outdoor scenario with 100 individuals who smoked daily. Participants were randomly assigned to the VR scenario with smoking cues or a neutral experience in VR. The VR experiences were presented in a standalone VR headset. Before and after VR, we collected self-reported craving scores for cigarettes and alcohol using the Tobacco Craving Questionnaire (TCQ) and visual analogue scales (VAS). Physiological data were also collected. Compared to the neutral condition, exposure to the smoking cues led to a large increase in craving for a cigarette (TCQ β= 11.44, p< 0.0001, Cohen’s d= 1.10) and also a moderate increase in craving for alcohol (β = 0.7, p = 0.017, d = 0.50). There were no significant physiological differences between the two conditions. These results provide good evidence that VR experiences can elicit strong craving for cigarettes. The programming can be part of developing a new VR cognitive therapy to help people reduce smoking

اُردو کی منفرد اور دلچسپ لغات

Since the birth of Urdu language to present time, the process of evolution of its spellings, words, meanings, and pronunciation is continued. In order to keep abreast of the mentioned evolution, dictionaries are the best source. Following are the ten different and interesting dictionaries. “Asparantu Urdu Dictionary”, its editor is Saeed Ahmed Farani. It is a brief and unique dictionary in which words and their meanings are entered and rules are written for pronunciation. Urdu Hareefa Mekalay’s editor is Alif-ul-Mehraas. It is a different and eccentric dictionary in which words are written under different topics. Words are selected on the basis of different references and every reference is explained in terms of antonyms instead of synonyms. In addition, numbers of alphabets are also written. Aalmi Saqafat ke Lughat’s editors are Kawamay Anthony Apia and Henry Litigates Junior. This dictionary provides information about the history of culture, civilization, personalities and religion of five different continents. Moeen-ul-aadaab Maroof ba Moeenul-Shura is edited by Munshi Ghulaam Hussain Khan Aafaaq Banarsi.  In this dictionary, editor has presented poems of eighty-five classical poets as nationally certified. In addition, language of origin of particular words, kingdom of numbers, popular meanings, singular plural and nicknames of poets are explained. Lughat-ul-Shoera is edited by Hakeem Muhammad Ashraf Khokhar. In this dictionary, all words are written in the form of rhyming words. This dictionary is considered as the milestone not only for poetry but also for teaching of poetry. Urdu Thesaurus is compiled by Rafique Khawar. In this dictionary, words are written according to topics instead of alphabetical order.  This dictionary is one of its kind, regarding finding words of similar type. Mustalhat-e-Thugi is edited by Ali Akbar Alabadi  and Madoon Rasheed Hassan. This dictionary is compiled in terms of alphabetical order. The vocabulary of Looters’ language is presented. On the right side, word or term is written with colon and then meaning and its description is presented. Awaleen Urdu Slang Lughat is edited by Dr. Rauf Pareakh. In this dictionary, slangs and informal words are presented in unique way. Urdu Slang Lughat is edited by Qasim Yaqoob. This dictionary is about local, cheap and common words used in Urdu language. Tazheekul Lughat is edited by Zahid Masood. In this dictionary, social, political, cultural and economical circumstances are discussed analytically with the help of words. The evolutionary process and events occurred are discussed ironically with the help of words and their meanings. To summarize, from the brief analyses of the aforementioned dictionaries, it can be said that all the languages in the world, in every era are passing through any kind of evolution. As a result of which some unusual words reach the height of familiarity. On the other hand, few usual words loss their place in the language with the passage of time

Modeling For Valuing Knowledge as Perceived by Business Managers Using Statistical Tools

Knowledge is a valuable asset as it brings success and sustainability to the organizations. Till recently, the value of an organization is determined from its financial statements. These statements are historical in nature and contain the book value of physical assets, hence do not depict the true worth of an organization. The future revenue/profit from the organization depends upon its capability to make best use of its assets. This depends on the quality of knowledge an organization possess and its capability to use that knowledge asset. Therefore, knowledge is the most important asset in an organization. However there is no financial statement or business document that shows the volume and value of knowledge present in the organization. Hence, it is critical to determine the value of knowledge to ascertain true worth of an organization.This research study attempts to present factors that influence the value of knowledge during its life cycle. Data were collected through interviews and questionnaire instrument was used to get subsequent data from 521 business managers working in various industries. The collected data was subjected to various statistical tools to evaluate the factors and their hypothesis. The twenty two factors identified initially were first analyzed for their verification and authenticity. Later each item was regrouped through the Rotated Component Matrix analysis – first order for meaningful set of factors. Based on the result of second order Rotated Component Matrix analysis, all the newly identified factors were finally grouped into two groups of factors that influences the value of knowledge. These groups were: ‘Efforts’ and ‘Business’. The integration of ‘Efforts’ and ‘Business’ factors forms the Knowledge Value Wheel (KVW) that helps in defining the “Knowledge Value Line” (KVL). The KVL depicts the value of knowledge at any given time. The KVL and KVW combines to form the “Knowledge Value Life Cycle” (KVLC).The findings will help further research in the area of knowledge management. Managers would be able to differentiate most valuable and useful knowledge asset for effective management. Need for further R&D on critical knowledge can be identified. It would also be beneficial to the investors in determining the true worth of an organization in terms of its knowledge asset