1,481 research outputs found
How Pakistan\u27s media spreads the message about reproductive and sexual health
Abstract, issue, and pagination are not provided by the author/publishe
Aviation Law Comes Home to the Main Street Lawyer
Well controlled in length and highly aligned ZnO nanorods were grown on the gold-coated glass substrate by hydrothermal growth method. ZnO nanorods were functionalised with selective thallium (I) ion ionophore dibenzyldiaza-18-crown-6 (DBzDA18C6). The thallium ion sensor showed wide linear potentiometric response to thallium (I) ion concentrations ( M to M) with high sensitivity of 36.87 ± 1.49 mV/decade. Moreover, thallium (I) ion demonstrated fast response time of less than 5 s, high selectivity, reproducibility, storage stability, and negligible response to common interferents. The proposed thallium (I) ion-sensor electrode was also used as an indicator electrode in the potentiometric titration, and it has shown good stoichiometric response for the determination of thallium (I) ion
A roadmap for offering MOOC from an LMIC institution
MOOCs are massive open online courses that are globally accessible, free of charge. Given their cost-free and open accessibility, it is surprising that only a few institutions have offered MOOCs from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Pakistan recently made this short list of LMICs as the first two MOOCs were launched from the country, in 2014 and 2016. Drawing from that experience, the organizers of that course present a roadmap for LMIC institutions for developing a MOOC, focusing especially on the technological and pedagogical limitations that an LMIC institution might find deterring
Renal cortical necrosis: A case series of nine patients & review of literature
Background: The purpose of this study is to review cases of renal cortical necrosis (RCN) which we came across during a period of five years, confirmed on needle biopsy specimens, with literature available so far.Methods: All renal biopsy records between January 1996 to December 2001 at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan were reviewed to identify patients with histologically proven renal cortical necrosis. Seven patients were also referred by the department of Nephrology, Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar, Pakistan. Patients\u27 medical records were reviewed for demographic, clinical, and follow up data.Results: There were total of nine patients identified with renal cortical necrosis. The mean age was 26.21 +/- 13.01 year. Five cases (55.5%) were caused by obstetric complications. The most common histology type of RCN was patchy cortical necrosis in seven patients (77.8%). Three patients were alive at last follow up; remaining patients were lost to follow up.Conclusion: Obstetric complications remain the leading cause of renal cortical necrosis in our setting. The recognition of this entity and value of renal biopsy in cases of acute renal failure needs to be emphasized as this helps in establishing diagnosis, to assess prognosis and to aid in selection of a rational approach to therapy
SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION AND BIOLOGICAL STUDY OF MANNICH BASES AND THEIR COPPER (II) COMPLEXES
Objective: The present study is focused on the synthesis of novel Mannich bases and their metal complexes, and to characterize them by physical, chemical and biological methods. Mannich bases, 2-(piperazin-1-yl(thiophen-2-yl)methyl)hydrazinecarboxamide (PTMHC), 2-(piperazin-1-yl(thiophen-2-yl)methyl)hydrazinecarbothioamide (PTMHCT), and 2-((4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)(thiophen-2-yl)methyl)hydrazinecarboxamide (MPTMHC) and 2-((4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)(thiophen-2-yl)methyl)hydrazinecarbothioamide (MPTMHCT), were prepared by Mannich condensation method.Methods: The compounds and complexes were prepared by known literature methods. Characterizations were carried out through physical methods such as elemental analyses, melting point and TLC. IR, 1H NMR, [13]C NMR and Mass spectral studies were carried out to characterize the ligands. The methods like EPR, magnetic susceptibility measurements, conductance measurements and thermal analysis were carried out for complexes besides the UV-Vis and IR spectral studies. Anti-cancer activity of synthesized ligands was performed using human lung and colon cancer cell lines.Results: Eight compounds have been prepared and characterized. Four among the eight compounds were used as ligands for the preparation of metal complexes. The results of physical and chemical methods show all the complexes act as bidentate ligands. The coordination with the metal ion takes place through N, S and O atoms. The results of molar conductivity and magnetic susceptibility measurements reveal the electrolytic and non-electrolytic nature of the metal complexes. EPR and TG-DTA studies also support the other spectral data.Conclusions: Copper (II) complexes of PTMHC, PTMHCT, MPTMHC, and MPTMHCT were prepared and their structures were determined. The anti-cancer activity of the synthesized ligands and their complexes was evaluated. The synthesized novel ligands of Mannich bases can serve as a potential anti-cancer agent.Â
Total Quality Management System in an Education Environment: The Case of a Private University in Bahrain
The study aims to analyze and explain the effectiveness and efficiency of implementing total quality management principles in private educational institutions. The context of the study narrowed down the areas of comparisons to tutorial conducts, student affairs and infrastructure. A detailed analysis of the existing total quality management currently in place at the selected university was duly comprehended. This resulted in finding the flaws/weaknesses in the system of universities in the kingdom of Bahrain generally. Findings through a survey and interview sessions indicated that teachers were not consulted for any changes in curriculum which leads to a lack of co-operation between management and teachers. Another problem in regards to the total quality management implementation was that students perceived the university as not being concerned with maintenance of the premises. Moreover, student affairs/services section was seriously lacking sport facilities, limited training sessions, poor equipment maintenance
Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome after administration of AZD1222 or Ad26.COV2.S vaccine for COVID-19: A systematic review
Background: Cases of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) have been reported following vaccination with AZD1222 or Ad26.COV2.S. This review aimed to explore the pathophysiology, epidemiology, diagnosis, management, and prognosis of TTS.Methods: A systematic review was conducted to identify evidence on TTS till 4th September 2021. Case reports and series reporting patient-level data were included. Descriptive statistics were reported and compared across patients with different sexes, age groups, vaccines, types of thrombosis, and outcomes.Findings: Sixty-two studies reporting 160 cases were included from 16 countries. Patients were predominantly females with a median age of 42.50 (22) years. AZD1222 was administered to 140 patients (87·5%). TTS onset occurred in a median of 9 (4) days after vaccination. Venous thrombosis was most common (61.0%). Most patients developed cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST; 66.3%). CVST was significantly more common in female vs male patients (p = 0·001) and in patients aged \u3c45 years vs ≥45 years (p = 0·004). The mortality rate was 36.2%, and patients with suspected TTS, venous thrombosis, CVST, pulmonary embolism, or intraneural complications, patients not managed with non-heparin anticoagulants or IVIG, patients receiving platelet transfusions, and patients requiring intensive care unit admission, mechanical ventilation, or inpatient neurosurgery were more likely to expire than recover.Interpretation: These findings help to understand the pathophysiology of TTS while also recommending diagnostic and management approaches to improve prognosis in patients.Funding: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors
Effect of different concentrations of chitosan coating on storage life and quality characteristics of Papaya (Carica Papaya L.)
Mature green stage of papaya fruits were treated with different concentrations of chitosan at 0, 0.5, 0.75 and 1%, and stored at 13±1 °C for 28 days to study the effect of these concentrations on the storage life and maintaining quality of papaya. Chitosan concentrations 0.75 and 1% showed the best control effect on decay compared with 0% (Control) and 0.5%. At 0.75 and 1% of chitosan, flesh firmness maintained resulted in prolonging in storage life of 28 and 26 days compared with 21 and 19 days, respectively for 0.5 and 0%. Furthermore, they were significantly decreased the weight loss of fruit. All of the treatments inhibited increase of soluble solid contents and pH values of pulp fruits after 21 days of storage at 13 ± 1°C. Titratable acidity and ascorbic acid were higher for coated fruits (0.5, 0.75 and 1%) compared with uncoated fruits. Concern treatments of chitosan at 0.75 and 1% improve papaya fruit quality and resistance to decay
FLCC: Efficient Distributed Federated Learning on IoMT over CSMA/CA
Federated Learning (FL) has emerged as a promising approach for privacy
preservation, allowing sharing of the model parameters between users and the
cloud server rather than the raw local data. FL approaches have been adopted as
a cornerstone of distributed machine learning (ML) to solve several complex use
cases. FL presents an interesting interplay between communication and ML
performance when implemented over distributed wireless nodes. Both the dynamics
of networking and learning play an important role. In this article, we
investigate the performance of FL on an application that might be used to
improve a remote healthcare system over ad hoc networks which employ CSMA/CA to
schedule its transmissions. Our FL over CSMA/CA (FLCC) model is designed to
eliminate untrusted devices and harness frequency reuse and spatial clustering
techniques to improve the throughput required for coordinating a distributed
implementation of FL in the wireless network.
In our proposed model, frequency allocation is performed on the basis of
spatial clustering performed using virtual cells. Each cell assigns a FL server
and dedicated carrier frequencies to exchange the updated model's parameters
within the cell. We present two metrics to evaluate the network performance: 1)
probability of successful transmission while minimizing the interference, and
2) performance of distributed FL model in terms of accuracy and loss while
considering the networking dynamics.
We benchmark the proposed approach using a well-known MNIST dataset for
performance evaluation. We demonstrate that the proposed approach outperforms
the baseline FL algorithms in terms of explicitly defining the chosen users'
criteria and achieving high accuracy in a robust network
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