The Relationship Between Vocabulary Depth and Argumentative Essay Writing Proficiency Among IELTS Test Takers in Pakistan

The main object of this correlational study was to determine the relationship between vocabulary depth and argumentative essay writing proficiency among Pakistani IELTS test takers. Students with greater vocabulary knowledge and discourse expertise would produce texts of higher quality as compared to students with less of these skills. For this purpose, it manipulated three instruments for collecting the required data: a prompt for writing an argumentative essay, an IELTS band descriptor for scoring writing tasks, and the Word Association Test (WAT) for assessing vocabulary depth knowledge. It involved 129 Pakistani IELTS test-takers as its population. The sample comprised 42 females and 87 male participants. The data was analysed using SPSS version 23. Pearson\u27s product moment analysis was used to determine the relationship between both continuous variables (vocabulary depth and argumentative essay writing), and the results revealed a negative or weak relationship between vocabulary depth and IELTS essay band scores (r = -.032, p =.721). The current findings concluded that there was no statistically significant correlation between both variables. Furthermore, this research study would have certain suggestions for teachers, test designers, and material originators on how to incorporate the dimension of word associations into the creation of word knowledge. It would have some pedagogical implications and instructions for increasing linguistic aptitude levels, which would be useful in academic institutions, language assessment, and language teaching and learning centres such as IELTS training centers. &nbsp

Emotional Intelligence and Role Conflict a Bond of Converse Relationship: Evidence from the Hospitals Sector of the Health Industry

This research study aimed at finding the convers relationship of emotional intelligence and role conflict at the hospitals of Peshawar, KPK, Pakistan. Emotional intelligence is considered the best coping strategy to deal with work stress, while role conflict is the most common practicing stressor that contributestothe stressful condition of a person. Hospitals are the most crowded and overburdened sector of any nation that is heavily dependent on multiple roles of nurses, doctors, and medical staff. The objective of this research was to see the effect of emotional intelligence in dealing with role conflict of the nurses and medical staff of three big hospitals in the city. The results show a significant inverse relationship between emotional intelligence and role conflict. The P-Value (0.000), T-statistics (16), R-Square (0.32) and path coefficients (-0.56)show highly significant results of underline relationships. For these findings, SmartPLS 3.0 was used to analyze the response of 359 nurses and medical staff employing stratified sampling and systematic random sampling techniques on a five-point scale of adapted questionnaires

Comparison of Closed Reduction and Plaster Cast versus Kirschner Wire Fixation for the Management of Colle’s Fracture

Objective: To evaluate the functional outcomes of closed reduction and plaster cast versus kirschner wire fixation in treatment of colle’s fracture.Study Design:  Randomized Control Trial.Place and Duration: Study was conducted in the department of Orthopedic surgery Bahawal Victoria Hospital Bahawalpur from April 2017 to April 2018.Methodology: A total of sixty patients with colle’s fracture enrolled in the study. Adult patients of age more than 20 years, both genders with unstable distal radius end fracture were included in the study. Patients unfit for medical treatment, compound fracture with vascular injury and who were not willing for surgery were excluded from the study. Patients were divided into two groups with lottery method. Complications after surgery and outcomes (excellent, good, and poor) were assessed. SPSS version was used to analyze data. P value ≤ 0.05 was considered as significant.Results: mean age and time of union of Group A was 42.90±3.53 years and 3.80±1.58 respectively. There were more males than females i.e. 70% and 30% respectively. Majority of the patients’ outcome was good in both the groups’ i.e. 46.7% and 53.3% respectively. The differences were statistically insignificant.Conclusion:Results of our study reveals that both treatment methods are equally effective less costly mode of treatment should be adopted for management of colle’s fracture. Keywords: Close Reduction, Plaster Cast, Kirschner Wire, Collles’ Fractur

Types of glaucoma in a university health centre in Al‑Ahsa, Saudi Arabia: a pilot study

Objective: The objective was to assess the profile of different types of glaucoma in a University Health Centre in Al‑Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.Materials and Methods: It is a retrospective study in which the files of the patients at King Faisal University Health Centre were reviewed. The data collected included: Age, sex, race, visual acuity, the slit lamp examination findings, the intraocular pressure (IOP) as the average of 3 readings, the cup‑to‑disc ratio (CDR), the visual field changes, and the details of treatment received.Results: Eighty glaucomatous eyes from 50 patients were included in the study. The mean age was 54.8 ± 12.7 years, and the mean IOP was 19 ± 3.9 mmHg that ranged from 11 to 28 mmHg. The mean CDR mean was 0.48 ± 0.16 that ranged between 0.3 and 0.9. Ninety‑one percent of the visual field defects were arcuate scotomata. Primary open‑angle glaucoma (POAG) (60%) was the most predominant type of glaucoma, followed by primary angle closure glaucoma (ACG) (21.3%), secondary OAG (7.5%), and secondary ACG (6.3%). As for the anti‑glaucoma medications, 88% of the studied patients were on more than one medicine.Conclusion: This pilot study has demonstrated that POAG may be the predominant type of glaucoma in Al‑Ahsa, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Apopulation‑based study with a larger sample size is warranted to confirm the outcome and to provide a baseline data on the prevalence of types of glaucoma in this region of KSA.Keywords: Glaucoma, glaucoma types, prevalence, Saudi Arabi

A preliminary study of soil analysis of Sonmiani, Gadani and Kund Malir coasts of District Lasbela, Balochistan, Pakistan

The purpose of the soil analysis is to study the beach characteristics of different coasts of Balochistan. Three sites Sonmiani, Gadani and Kund Malir were selected. The Gaddani coast is known as sandy cum rocky shore, Sonmiani as sandy cum muddy shore while Kund Malir is sandy. Three different stations were selected on each site for sampling. At each station, five different samples were collected. At all three sites, the amount of medium and fine sand showed greater amount and very fine sand depicted lesser. The results showed that soil samples collected from three coasts mostly have highest fraction of find sand and lowest portions of very fine sand. At Sonmiani the soil composition is fine sand and very fine sand as compared to Gadani where the soil is of fine sand and medium sand and at Kund Malir the soil is of fine sand along with medium sand but very fine sand also present

Review on Various Types of Geopolymer Materials with the Environmental Impact Assessment

The development of green technology in the construction industry since 10 years ago is something to be proud of Malaysia. Several alternative geopolymer materials were invented in Malaysia such as fly ash, POFA, kaolin, metakaolin, and dolomite based geopolymer materials to achieve sustainable development especially in the building and construction sector. Those alternative materials are very important to replace the application of OPC, which is said to be the main cause of global warming. A review on the content of the chemical differences with the environmental impact resulting from the production of geopolymer is carried out in this study. In conclusion, fly ash based geopolymer material showed the best performance in terms of aluminosilicate content and also it is the best practice in the environmental protection applications for the moment. However, when compared with the OPC, fly ash geopolymer concrete was still able to reduce the effects of global warming potentials, but it is rather gave a negative impact on some aspects of the environment such as abiotic depletions, human toxicity, freshwater ecotoxicity, terrestrial ecotoxicity and acidification

Epidemiology of Chlamydia trachomatis in the Middle East and north Africa: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression.

BACKGROUND: The epidemiology of Chlamydia trachomatis in the Middle East and north Africa is poorly understood. We aimed to provide a comprehensive epidemiological assessment of C trachomatis infection in the Middle East and north Africa. METHODS: We did a systematic review of C trachomatis infection as well as a meta-analysis and meta-regression of C trachomatis prevalence. We searched PubMed and Embase, as well as regional and national databases up to March 13, 2019, using broad search terms with no language or year restrictions. Any document or report including biological measures for C trachomatis prevalence or incidence was eligible for inclusion. We extracted all measures of current (genital or rectal), recent, and ever infection with C trachomatis. We estimated pooled average prevalence in different populations using random-effects meta-analysis. Factors associated with prevalence and sources of between-study heterogeneity were determined using meta-regression. FINDINGS: We identified a total of 1531 citations, of which 255 reports contributed to 552 C trachomatis prevalence measures from 20 countries. No incidence measures were identified. Pooled prevalence of current genital infection was 3·0% (95% CI 2·3-3·8) in general populations, 2·8% (1·0-5·2) in intermediate-risk populations, 13·2% (7·2-20·7) in female sex workers, 11·3% (9·0-13·7) in infertility clinic attendees, 12·4% (7·9-17·7) in women with miscarriage, 12·4% (9·4-15·7) in symptomatic women, and 17·4% (12·5-22·8) in symptomatic men. Pooled prevalence of current rectal infection was 7·7% (4·2-12·0) in men who have sex with men. Substantial between-study heterogeneity was found. Multivariable meta-regression explained 29·0% of variation. Population type was most strongly associated with prevalence. Additional associations were found with assay type, sample size, country, and sex, but not with sampling methodology or response rate (about 90% of studies used convenience sampling and >75% had unclear response rate). There was no evidence for temporal variation in prevalence between 1982 and 2018. INTERPRETATION: C trachomatis prevalence in the Middle East and north Africa is similar to other regions, but higher than expected given its sexually conservative norms. High prevalence in infertility clinic attendees and in women with miscarriage suggests a potential role for C trachomatis in poor reproductive health outcomes in this region. FUNDING: National Priorities Research Program from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation)