Optic nerve sheath diameter evaluated by transorbital sonography in healthy volunteers from Pakistan

Objective: Raised intracranial pressure (ICP) is a common manifestation of severe brain injury. Rapid diagnosis and timely intervention is required to prevent secondary brain damage and death. Measurement of optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) by ultrasound is increasingly used as a marker to detect raised ICP. Knowledge of normal ONSD in a healthy population is essential to interpret this measurement. We aimed to evaluate normal optic nerve sheath diameter in healthy volunteers in Pakistan. Methodology: It was a prospective, observational study in which one hundred healthy volunteers of Pakistani origin, aged more than 18 years were recruited in the study. The ultrasound probe was placed on the superior and lateral aspect of the orbit against the upper eyelid with the eye closed. For each subject, the primary investigator performed three measurements on each eye. The measurements of each eye were then averaged to yield a mean ONSD. Results: The median ONSD of right eye was 4.84 mm and 95% of individuals had mean ONSD in the range 4.84–4.97 mm while the median ONSD of left eye was 4.86 mm and 95% of individuals had mean ONSD in the range 4.85–4.96 mm. There was no difference among the 3 repeated measures of ONSD in each eye. There was no relationship between ONSD with age, gender and measurement taken between left and right eyes. Conclusion: 95% of study sample have an ONSD less than 4.82 mm. ONSD more than 4.82 mm in this population should be considered abnormal and may reflect raised intracranial pressure

Structural Inequalities and Minority Rights: Analysing the Formal Aspects in Context of Pakistan

This study has investigated public perceptions regarding minorities and their rights and examined the legal framework of Pakistan in context of minority rights along with the gaps within the formal system that allow violations and exploitations against the minorities. The research explored the perceptions of both groups regarding religious minorities and minority rights in Pakistan. Content analysis was done comparing the constitution of Pakistan against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To collect primary data in-depth interviews of students from the majority religious group and students from minorities groups were conducted. The findings reflect the critical situation being faced by the minorities in Pakistan, due to significant gaps between theory and practice existing in the legal framework. The law protects the minority rights, and they are given all equal rights by the constitution, but the implementation phase seems and remains unfulfilled due to numerous societal and religious factors influencing the formal system. It is recommended to device  inclusive polices to bring equality

Chicken or the Egg of Nation Branding and Economic Development

The term ‗nation branding‘ and the application of its numerous techniques for the promotion and development of a nation is a new yet rapidly growing phenomenon, yet this practice is nothing revolutionary as nations have historically in one way or another promoted their interest to achieve political, economic and cultural goals (Dinnie, 2008). The only difference now is that unlike before where the numerous national policies worked in isolation, nations today faced with immense global competition both on international and domestic fronts purposely make directed and synchronized efforts to reach out to target groups in the hope of boosting investment, tourism, exports and attracting talent while at same time wishing to improve quality of life for its citizens through economic development. This paper examines the reason/s behind the rapid growth of the top performing nation brand for 2013-2014, Qatar based on the ‗Nation Branding Hexagon Model‘ (Anholt, 2002) and the relation with economic development in the hope to address which follows whic

Effects of Subcapsularis Neuro Muscular Reduction (NMR) in Adhesive Capsulitis

Background: To determine the effects of Subscapularis Neuromuscular Reduction (NMR) in Adhesive Capsulitis patients on pain, Range of Motion (ROM) and Quality of life. Methods: In this randomized controlled trail patients with freezing and frozen stage of Adhesive capsulitis and limited range of movement were included. Patients were randomly divided into control (Group A) and experimental group (Group B). The patients of Group A were treated with conventional physical therapy treatment protocol and patients of group B were treated with subscapularis neuromuscular reduction along with conventional physical therapy. The patient outcome measures were assessed using numeric pain rating scale (NPRS), SPADI (shoulder pain and disability index) and ranges via goniometry. Data was analyzed by SPSS 21. Results: Both group showed significant improvement, but the end value comparison showed significant difference. NMR (Neuromuscular Reduction) on Subscapularis muscles improved the pain, ROM and Patient functional status more as compared to the conventional physical therapy group. The NPRS mean value for control group was 2.90±1.09 and mean value for experimental group was 2.05±1.10with p value of 0.021 while the mean value of SPADI for control group was33.52±9.96 and for experimental group was 26.72±8.00 with p value of 0.026. Conclusion: Treatment groups showed improvement by reducing pain, improving range of motion and functional status but neuromuscular reduction of subscapularis muscles was found to be more effective

The Impact of Working Capital Management on Firm Profitability and Fixed Investment in Pakistan

The research is done with a purpose of increasing knowledge about the importance of working capital management. The research investigates impact of working capital management on the profitability of the firms along with the impact of the same on the fixed capital investment of the firm. The research also finds out the interrelationship of fixed capital investment and the profitability because the ultimate goal of the firms is to achieve maximum profitability at the lowest level of risk. The research has thoroughly examined impact of variables involved through ratio analysis and tools like regression and correlation. The data was gathered from Karachi Stock Exchange. The data gathering was archival and panel data was used as a method to extract the needed information. The 20 companies are selected from KSE-30 index because they were considered the best performing stocks in the market. The remaining 10 companies fall in the Banking sector which has a totally different perspective of debt and equity situation, thus, commercial banks are eliminated from the KSE-30 companies in this research. The results of the study shows that the working capital management does not affect the profitability of the firms in isolation, but there is a slight impact of managing the current assets and current liabilities. These should be accompanied by other variables as well to ensure profitability. The fixed capital investment has an extremely low, in fact negligible impact on profitability. The effect of working capital management varies among industries

The Impact of Working Capital Management on Firm Profitability and Fixed Investment in Pakistan

The research is done with a purpose of increasing knowledge about the importance of working capital management. The research investigates impact of working capital management on the profitability of the firms along with the impact of the same on the fixed capital investment of the firm. The research also finds out the interrelationship of fixed capital investment and the profitability because the ultimate goal of the firms is to achieve maximum profitability at the lowest level of risk. The research has thoroughly examined impact of variables involved through ratio analysis and tools like regression and correlation. The data was gathered from Karachi Stock Exchange. The data gathering was archival and panel data was used as a method to extract the needed information. The 20 companies are selected from KSE-30 index because they were considered the best performing stocks in the market. The remaining 10 companies fall in the Banking sector which has a totally different perspective of debt and equity situation, thus, commercial banks are eliminated from the KSE-30 companies in this research. The results of the study shows that the working capital management does not affect the profitability of the firms in isolation, but there is a slight impact of managing the current assets and current liabilities. These should be accompanied by other variables as well to ensure profitability. The fixed capital investment has an extremely low, in fact negligible impact on profitability. The effect of working capital management varies among industries

MEDIATING ROLE OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT BETWEEN OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AND TURNOVER INTENTION IN PAKISTANI UNIVERSITIES

The prime objective of theresearch is to study the mediating role of organizational commitment (OC) between the relationship of occupational stress and turnover intention (TI) among university teaching staff in Malakand Division, Pakistan. Data were collected from 186 faculty members working in government universities of Malakand division which was analyzed using SPSS and AMOS. The results showed a significant positive relationship of psychological and physiological stress withTI s and negative with OC. Furthermore, OC mediated the relationship between psychological and physiological stress and TI

Purification and characterization of the first recombinant bird pancreatic lipase expressed in Pichia pastoris: The turkey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The turkey pancreatic lipase (TPL) was purified from delipidated pancreases. Some biochemical properties and kinetic studies were determined using emulsified system and monomolecular film techniques. Those studies have shown that despite the accumulation of free fatty acids at the olive oil/water interface, TPL continues to hydrolyse efficiently the olive oil and the TC₄in the absence of colipase and bile salts, contrary to most classical digestive lipases which denaturate rapidly under the same conditions. The aim of the present study was to express TPL in the methylotrophic yeast <it>Pichia pastoris </it>in order to get a large amount of this enzyme exhibiting interesting biochemical properties, to purify and characterize the recombinant enzyme.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The recombinant TPL was secreted into the culture medium and the expression level reached about 15 mg/l after 4 days of culture. Using Q-PCR, the number of expression cassette integrated on <it>Pichia </it>genomic DNA was estimated to 5. The purified rTPL, with molecular mass of 50 kDa, has a specific activity of 5300 U/mg on emulsified olive oil and 9500 U/mg on tributyrin. The optimal temperature and pH of rTPL were 37°C and pH 8.5. The stability, reaction kinetics and effects of calcium ions and bile salts were also determined.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results show that the expressed TPL have the same properties as the native TPL previously purified. This result allows us the use of the recombinant enzyme to investigate the TPL structure-function relationships.</p

Incidence, outcome and risk factors for sepsis- a two year retrospective study at surgical intensive care unit of a teaching hospital in Pakistan

Background: Sepsis is amongst the leading causes of admission to the intensive care units and is associated with a high mortality. However, data from developing countries is scarse. Aim of conducting this study was to determine the incidence, outcome and risk factors for sepsis on admission to surgical intensive care unit (SICU) of a teaching hospital in Pakistan. Methods: Two year retrospective observational study included all consecutive adult admissions to the surgical intensive care unit (SICU) of a University Hospital, from January 2012 to December 2013. Results: Two hundred and twenty-nine patients met the inclusion criteria. Average age of the patients was 46.35±18.23 years (16–85), mean Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score was 15.92±8.13 and males were 67.6%. Median length of ICU stay was 4 [IQR 5]. 43% patients fulfilled the criteria of sepsis at the time of admission to the SICU and incidence of severe sepsis/septic shock was 35%. Abdominal sepsis was the most frequent source of infection (57.5%). The overall intensive care unit mortality was 32.31% but the mortality of sepsis-group was 51.15% as compared to 17.7% of the non-sepsis group. Stepwise logistic regression model showed that increasing age, female gender, non-operative admission, admission under general surgery and co-morbidities like ischaemic heart disease and chronic kidney disease were significant predictors of sepsis. Conclusion: The incidence of sepsis and severe sepsis/septic shock, on admission to SICU is high and mortality of the sepsis group is nearly three times the mortality of the non-sepsis group