Evaluating the effectiveness of foreign capital flows in mitigation of gender inequality in Developing countries

Over the decades, foreign capital inflows (FCIs) have been contributing to the economic growth and development of underdeveloped and developing economies. However, it is imperative to inspect the effect of FCIs on gender inequality (GI). The latter includes SDG 5 which addresses the elimination of GI in all its forms. The existing empirical literature on the relationship between FCI-GI nexus shows mixed results. The current study scrutinized the effects of FCIs on GI in a panel of 71 developing economies for the time period 2001-2019. The study used the system generalized methods of moments (GMM) for model estimation. The positive and significant impact of remittances on G I was explored. It was found that official development assistance (ODA) caused an increase in GI in developing economies. The results showed that gross domestic product (GDP) and trade openness (TOP) increased GI. However, good governance was found to reduce GI in developing economies. The outcomes provide a guideline for the role of FCIs in reducing GI in developing economies

What Dictates the Dividend-Payout Decision of Corporations? A Case Study of Firms Listed at Karachi Stock Excahnge

Dividend decision is one of the very crucial factors that have a bearing on the long-term value of a firm. According to the traditional approach, firms that pay larger dividends happen to have escalated share prices compared to those that pay lower or no dividends. There have been previous studies conducted to explore what factors make a firm pay or ignore paying dividends for a given year. However, no consensus has been achieved so far by the researchers as to what really determines a firm’s dividend payout decision. This study is an attempt to re-examine some of the very major considerations a firm takes into account while deciding about the declaration, or otherwise, of dividends. To serve the purpose, the required financial information was obtained from ‘Financial Statement Analysis’ of Non-financial companies published by the State Bank of Pakistan. Sixty one (61) firms were included in the sample having thorough six year financial data ranging from 2006 to 2011 which led to a total of 366 firm-year observations. Results of the study showed that out of the factors analyzed, Liquidity and Profitability had a significant association with the dividend payout policy of firms in the sample. Hence, it may be concluded that the two mentioned factors are the major determinants of a firm’s dividend policy

Epidemiological Characteristics of Poliomyelitis during the 21st century (2000-2013)

Poliovirus is the pathogenic agent of paralytic poliomyelitis that belongs to the picornaviridae family. Poliomyelitis has an extended history dating over to the Egyptian eighteenth dynasty. It was recognized as distinct disease in the late nineteenth century when the world was ravaged by large number of outbreaks and epidemics in many countries. Paralytic Polio, the rarest but the most severe form of the disease, is characterized by acute flaccid paralysis of any or rarely both of the limbs. Increasing epidemics during the late 19th and 20th centuries lead to the initiation of a worldwide global effort for polio eradication in 1988, super headed by WHO and various other organizations. The launch of Global Polio Eradication Initiative together with the introduction of two polio vaccines resulted in 99% reduction of wild poliovirus cases worldwide while the total number of polio-endemic countries dropped from 24 countries in the year 2000 to only three countries in 2012; Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. This review will focus on the general biology of poliovirus, some historic and geographic epidemiological aspects of poliomyelitis eradication during the year 2000-2012 and also on the major failing factors associated with the efficiency of the vaccines to eradicate polio in Pakistan

Epidemiological Characteristics of Poliomyelitis During the 21st Century (2000-2013)

Poliovirus is the pathogenic agent of paralytic poliomyelitis that belongs to the picornaviridae family. Poliomyelitis has an extended history dating over to the Egyptian eighteenth dynasty. It was recognized as distinct disease in the late nineteenth century when the world was ravaged by large number of outbreaks and epidemics in many countries. Paralytic Polio, the rarest but the most severe form of the disease, is characterized by acute flaccid paralysis of any or rarely both of the limbs. Increasing epidemics during the late 19th and 20th centuries lead to the initiation of a worldwide global effort for polio eradication in 1988, super headed by WHO and various other organizations. The launch of Global Polio Eradication Initiative together with the introduction of two polio vaccines resulted in 99% reduction of wild poliovirus cases worldwide while the total number of polio-endemic countries dropped from 24 countries in the year 2000 to only three countries in 2012; Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan. This review will focus on the general biology of poliovirus, some historic and geographic epidemiological aspects of poliomyelitis eradication during the year 2000-2012 and also on the major failing factors associated with the efficiency of the vaccines to eradicate polio in Pakistan

Oral Health Status Among Pregnant Women Attending Gynae OPD of Tertiary Care Hospital in Rawalpindi

Objective: The objectives of this study were to determine the oral health status and treatment needs using DMFT & CPITN indices in pregnant women attending Gynae OPD of tertiary care Hospital in Rawalpindi, to Determine Association of Oral health status using DMFT and CPITN with socioeconomic status and to determine oral health status of various trimesters of pregnancy Materials and methods: An analytical cross-sectional study was carried out to assess the oral health status and treatment needs among pregnant women at Tertiary Care Hospital, Rawalpindi from April’ 2020 to September’ 2020. Consecutive sampling was used to select the study participants. An adaptive version of WHO questionnaire was used. Results were presented in the form of frequency tables. Chi square test of statistics was applied to assess the association between categorical DMFT and CPITN with the sociodemographic characteristics of the participating females. Results: The mean DMFT score pregnant females was 2.41 + 2.30 and were belonged to a middle socioeconomic status 43.8% (n=173). About 61.8% (n=244) of participants had DMFT total score 1-7. Whereas, majority of the participants were reported bleeding gums on probing 30.6% (n=121) on assessment by CPITN. The participating pregnant females also depicted the worsening of periodontal tissues (P=0.00) and dentition status (P=0.02). Socioeconomic status was not significantly associated with dentition (P=0.39) and periodontal status (P=0.69). Conclusion: The study revealed that oral health status was deteriorated during pregnancy. Education and gestational period were strong indicator for oral health status among pregnant women. Bleeding gums were reported in majority of participants during second trimester of pregnancy. Socioeconomic status was not significantly associated with oral health status by CPITN and DMFT score

Blockchain associated machine learning and IoT based hypoglycemia detection system with auto-injection feature

Hypoglycemia is an unpleasant phenomenon caused by low blood glucose. The disease can lead a person to death or a high level of body damage. To avoid significant damage, patients need sugar. The research aims at implementing an automatic system to detect hypoglycemia and perform automatic sugar injections to save a life. Receiving the benefits of the internet of things (IoT), the sensor data was transferred using the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) protocol. To ensure the safety of health-related data, blockchain technology was utilized. The glucose sensor and smartwatch data were processed via Fog and sent to the cloud. A Random Forest algorithm was proposed and utilized to decide hypoglycemic events. When the hypoglycemic event was detected, the system sent a notification to the mobile application and auto-injection device to push the condensed sugar into the victims body. XGBoost, k-nearest neighbors (KNN), support vector machine (SVM), and decision tree were implemented to compare the proposed models performance. The random forest performed 0.942 testing accuracy, better than other models in detecting hypoglycemic events. The systems performance was measured in several conditions, and satisfactory results were achieved. The system can benefit hypoglycemia patients to survive this disease

IN ADULT POPULATION OF LAHORE THE PREVALENCE OF DIABETES MELLITUS AND IMPAIRED GLUCOSE TOLERENCE TEST

Objective: The purpose of this analysis was to evaluate the prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance test (IGT) and diabetes in the population of Lahore using a (FPPPG) flexible postprandial plasma glucose test as a screening test. Study design: A cross-sectional study. Place and duration: In the Endocrinology department of Services Hospital Lahore for one year duration from March 2018 to March 2019. Methodology: 938 subjects were selected randomly; 406 of them were male, 532 were female. All were analyzed with FPPPG test by sampling time from 30 to 120 minutes after breakfast / snack / lunch. Results: Of the 406 men, (81%) 329 were normal, diabetic were 36 (8.87%) and IGT in 41 (10.1%) in the, and of the 532 women 329 were found normal, 66 (12.4%) had diabetes and (13.72%)73 had deteriorated glucose tolerance test. Conclusion: The overall diabetes mellitus prevalence for the population of Lahore was 10.87% and IGT in 12.15%. Key words: Diabetes mellitus, Prevalence, FPPPG, IGT

What Dictates the Dividend-Payout Decision of Corporations? A Case Study of Firms Listed at Karachi Stock Excahnge

Dividend decision is one of the very crucial factors that have a bearing on the long-term value of a firm. According to the traditional approach, firms that pay larger dividends happen to have escalated share prices compared to those that pay lower or no dividends. There have been previous studies conducted to explore what factors make a firm pay or ignore paying dividends for a given year. However, no consensus has been achieved so far by the researchers as to what really determines a firm’s dividend payout decision. This study is an attempt to re-examine some of the very major considerations a firm takes into account while deciding about the declaration, or otherwise, of dividends. To serve the purpose, the required financial information was obtained from ‘Financial Statement Analysis’ of Non-financial companies published by the State Bank of Pakistan. Sixty one (61) firms were included in the sample having thorough six year financial data ranging from 2006 to 2011 which led to a total of 366 firm-year observations. Results of the study showed that out of the factors analyzed, Liquidity and Profitability had a significant association with the dividend payout policy of firms in the sample. Hence, it may be concluded that the two mentioned factors are the major determinants of a firm’s dividend policy

COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A SERIOUS THREAT FOR PUBLIC MENTAL HEALTH GLOBALLY

Deep emotion traumas in societies around the globe are overcome by extreme human catastrophes such as natural disasters, social crises, war conflicts and infectious virus induced pandemic diseases, etc., can lead to enormous stress-related disorders. The current ongoing pandemic known as COVID-19 caused by novel Corona virus first appeared in Wuhan, city of China and then rapidly spread in the whole world. It has affected various frontiers of lives and caused numerous psychiatric problems like nervousness, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), fear and uncertainty, panic attacks, depression, obsessive compulsory disorder, xenophobia and racism, etc. Globally COVID-19 has persuaded public mental health crisis. Furthermore, inadequate resources of public mental health services in several countries are discussed in this review, which will be further straighten by the upcoming increase in demand for mental health services due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All mental health sciences including Psychiatry can play a very important role in the comfort of COVID-19 infected individuals and their relatives, healthcare providers and society. We need to learn more about psychological and psychiatric features of COVID-19 from the perceptions of public and global mental health in order to cope up the present deteriorating situation caused by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic