Comparing various chelation therapies in thalassemia patients

Objective: To compare various chelationtherapies used for thalassemia on basis of efficacy.Materials and Methods: The study included 80 patients of thalassemia which were divided in two groups, each comprising of 40 patients. Group 1 was administered orally with deferiprone, whereas, group 2 was injected with deferoxamine.Results: The patients had an average age of of 20.3 ± 4.3 years. Out of 80 patients, 54 (67.5%) were male and 26 (32.5%) were females. The average ferritin was found to be 2645 ± 1260 for all patients, whereas it was 2545 ± 1232 for group 1 and 2822 ± 1235 for group 2. No significant difference was observed for ferritin level in both the groups (p value=0.232). The complications noted for patients included 18.2% IGT, 7.8% DM and 28.7% hypothyroidism for all thalassemia patients.Conclusion: Both therapies showed equal efficiency in control of iron load in thalassemia patients.Key Words: Beta-thalassemia, iron chelators, Deferiprone, Deferoxamin

Fracture life estimation of Al-1050 thin beams using empirical data and a numerical approach

A technique based on empirical data and finite element (FE) analysis to predict the fracture life of Al-1050 beams with the help of its fundamental mode is presented in this study. Experiments were performed on a non-prismatic beam vibrating with a constant value of the amplitude at the fixed end until the complete fracture of the specimen was achieved. The beam was vibrating at its fundamental mode to achieve fracture in less time. A power law model was used to acquire the possible trends between the values of natural frequencies and the number of cycles recorded during these experiments. These trends were further compared with a numerically modelled specimen but with artificial cracks. FE modal analysis was used for this comparison. An error of less than 1% was observed in the estimated number of total cycles obtained through the power law model before fracture, compared to those obtained using the numerical approach. Using this approach, the fracture life was also predicted for specimens of different lengths

Simple human vulnerability index to climate change hazards for Pakistan

Appendix 3 - final technical reportAdult literacy rate, ownership of livestock, and access to electricity are the three (out of six) key variables that played a critical positive role in recovery after the 2010 floods in Pakistan. The study found that the Human Vulnerability Index (HVI) developed for this analysis is a useful tool for identifying vulnerable regions and districts for resource allocation. But the HVI is a poor tool for vulnerability assessment at community and household levels. Regression results further suggest that the sources of resilience in communities may come from the provision of critical services depending on their geographical areas

Willingness to Communicate in English as a Second Language: A Case Study of Pakistani Undergraduates

Willingness to communicate (WTC) construct plays an important role in second language teaching and learning. Almost any second language learner is likely to respond to a direct question, but many will not continue or initiate communication. The present study investigates Pakistani undergraduate students' perceptions of their willingness to initiate communication in English across four types of context and three types of receiver. 170 Pakistani undergraduate students participated in this quantitative study. The results reveal that Pakistani collage students’ WTC is relatively high. They preferred to initiate talk in English with friends and acquaintances rather than with strangers. Furthermore, they seemed to prefer to initiate communication in private, rather than communicating in front of a large group and public speaking. Pakistani participants were found most willing to communicate in English to small group of friends, while least willing to give a presentation in English in front of large group of strangers. Keywords: Willingness to communicate, context- type, receiver- type, Pakistani undergraduate

Effect of stem cell and vitamin E for the reduction of liver fibrosis

Liver disease is seventh leading cause of death worldwide. In the past, liver transplantation was thought to be the only treatment for the last stage liver disease but currently stem cells therapy is an alternative method for the treatment of liver disease. So mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) transplantation is one of the best tool for treatment of liver disease. The aim of the current study was to investigate the combined effect of vitamin E (Vit E) and MSCs on liver fibrosis. Liver damage was induced in male albino mice intraperitoneally with carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) twice a week for six weeks. Mice bone marrow derived MSC was cultured in vitro and then transplanted to CCl4 injured mice through their tail vain injection. Two weeks after MSCs transplantation, all group of mice were examined. The morphological result showed that the combined therapy of Vit E (orally) and MSCs transplantation have significant therapeutic effect on CCl4 injured mice as compared to Vit E and MSCs individually. Biochemical data also showed that serum ALT and bilirubin level were found to be significantly decreased by the combined treatment of Vit E and MSCs as compared to those mice which received MSCs and Vit E separately. MSCs and Vit E treated mice combined showed a significant decrease in liver weight, closely to normal. Reverse transcriptase PCR result also confirmed a significant anti fibrotic effect of Vit E combined with MSCs transplanted mice on liver fibrosis as showed by down-regulating apoptotic marker (Bax) expression and increasing the expression of antiapoptotic marker (Bcl-xl). Therefore Vit E along with MSCs have strong therapeutic potential on liver fibrosis in CCl4 injured mice

Outcomes of patients with double/triple expressor diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) treated with R-DA-EPOCH/R-CHOP: A single-center experience

In Pakistan 76.4% of all NHLs to be diagnosed as DLBCLs. The survival of R-CHOP is better compared to the DA-REPOCH treatment regimen. A prospective follow-up study was conducted with 113 patients to study the outcomes of treatment. Multivariable cox-proportional hazard model was used to estimate the hazard ratios in patients receiving these treatment regimens considering p-value ≤0.05 significant. The survival rate among double/triple expressor lymphoma patients received R-DA-EPOCH was 82.8%, and 83.3% received R-CHOP. For double/triple expressor lymphoma patients received R-DA-EPOCH. The findings of our study demonstrated that the survival rate in both R-CHOP and R-DA-EPOCH is mostly similar