Effect of Direct Participation on Perceived Organizational Performance: A Case Study of Banking Sector of Pakistan

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to find out the association between the HR practices and perceptions of firm performance and to know, understand and investigate the scope of relationship among different types of employee participation (Delegative & Consultative) and organizational performance in banking sector of Pakistan. Methodology: To investigate the relationship that exists between employee participation and firms, performance cross sectional survey design was used for collecting data based on subjective measures. Data was analyzed through MS Excel 2007 & SPSS (17.0), then descriptive, correlations and regression analysis was applied to find out the result for describing empirical and statistical relationship between dependent and independent variables. Findings:  Correlation results shows that the direct participation (Delegative & Consultative) have weak, positive and significant impact on organizational performance. Whereas, regression model results also depicts that employee participation has significant impact on organizational performance. The variation in organizational performance is explained about 23% by the independent variables e.g; delegative & consultative participation which is very minor so, we can conclude that contribution of other HRM variables towards organizational performance is comparatively high. These results are consistent with (Singh, 2004) for the same variable. Research Limitations: The study was limited to only banking sector of Pakistan. This was based on perceived measures that the organizational performance and the forms of direct participation. So the data collected was based on perceptual and subjective measures, generally objective measures are more reliable and consistent to the outcome and results. Practical Implications: Results revealed that direct participation has minor contribution towards organizational performance in Pakistani settings but one could not achieve the desired results by ignoring this key variable. So it is advisable that direct participation must be used in combination of with other HRM variables to boost the performance. Originality/Value: This paper furthers our understanding of the role that employee participation attributes organizational performance. Key Words: Banking Sector, Direct Participation: Delegative & Consultative, HRM Practices, Perceived Organizational Performance, Pakista

Assessment of active pharmaceutical ingredients in drug registration procedures in Pakistan : implications for the future

Introduction: There are concerns over the quality of generic medicines in Pakistan. This is due to perceived non-compliance with good manufacturing practice (GMP), whereby the quality of the raw materials is not being assessed. If not addressed, this will impact on the potential for generics exports from Pakistan, as well as on patient care. Consequently, there is a need to assess the current assessment and regulatory situation in Pakistan and to recommend a way forward that ensures the future quality of products. Objective: To assess the quality of the raw materials that are either imported to, or manufactured in Pakistan, that are then used to produce a leading analgesic (ibuprofen). As part of the assessment, the presence and levels of impurities will be determined. Subsequently, the findings will be used to recommend potential regulatory changes to improve patient care. Methods: The quality of 27 sourced raw materials and the reference product were assessed using a variety of quality assessment methodologies, including assay tests, and infrared spectroscopy and UV-spectrophotometry. The calculated values were then compared to values documented in the Certificate of Analysis (CoA), and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results: All but one sample passed the spectroscopy identification tests. However, 81.5% of samples failed to comply with pharmacopoeia assay limits. There were also concerns with the use of HPLC methods used to assess the quality of raw materials, and over the fact that assay values obtained were not the same as those listed in the CoA. In addition, where manufacturers had concerns over the amount of ibuprofen in the raw material, rather than rejecting the product, they typically used higher quantities to make up any shortfall. Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrate that there is an urgent need to improve the registration process for generic products in Pakistan. This should include implementing Common Technical Documents (CTDs) based on international standards. In this way, we will see generics being produced that result in improved patient care and that have potential for export from Pakistan

Unravelling the physiological basis of salinity stress tolerance in cultivated and wild rice species

Wild rice species provide a rich source of genetic diversity for possible introgression of salinity stress tolerance in cultivated rice. We investigated the physiological basis of salinity stress tolerance in Oryza species by using six rice genotypes (Oryza sativa L.) and four wild rice species. Three weeks of salinity treatment significantly (P < 0.05) reduced physiological and growth indices of all cultivated and wild rice lines. However, the impact of salinity-induced growth reduction differed substantially among accessions. Salt tolerant accessions showed better control over gas exchange properties, exhibited higher tissue tolerance, and retained higher potassium ion content despite higher sodium ion accumulation in leaves. Wild rice species showed relatively lower and steadier xylem sap sodium ion content over the period of 3 weeks analysed, suggesting better control over ionic sodium xylem loading and its delivery to shoots with efficient vacuolar sodium ion sequestration. Contrary to this, saline sensitive genotypes managed to avoid initial Na+ loading but failed to accomplish this in the long term and showed higher sap sodium ion content. Conclusively, our results suggest that wild rice genotypes have more efficient control over xylem sodium ion loading, rely on tissue tolerance mechanisms and allow for a rapid osmotic adjustment by using sodium ions as cheap osmoticum for osmoregulation

Comparing essentiality of SOS1-mediated Na+ exclusion in salinity tolerance between cultivated and wild rice species

Soil salinity is a major constraint that affects plant growth and development. Rice is a staple food for more than half of the human population but is extremely sensitive to salinity. Among the several known mechanisms, the ability of the plant to exclude cytosolic Na+ is strongly correlated with salinity stress tolerance in different plant species. This exclusion is mediated by the plasma membrane (PM) Na+/H+ antiporter encoded by Salt Overly Sensitive (SOS1) gene and driven by a PM H+ -ATPase generated proton gradient. However, it is not clear to what extent this mechanism is operational in wild and cultivated rice species, given the unique rice root anatomy and the existence of the bypass flow for Na+ . As wild rice species provide a rich source of genetic diversity for possible introgression of abiotic stress tolerance, we investigated physiological and molecular basis of salinity stress tolerance in Oryza species by using two contrasting pairs of cultivated (Oryza sativa) and wild rice species (Oryza alta and Oryza punctata). Accordingly, dose- and age-dependent Na+ and H+ fluxes were measured using a non-invasive ion selective vibrating microelectrode (the MIFE technique) to measure potential activity of SOS1-encoded Na+/H+ antiporter genes. Consistent with GUS staining data reported in the literature, rice accessions had (~4–6-fold) greater net Na+ efflux in the root elongation zone (EZ) compared to the mature root zone (MZ). Pharmacological experiments showed that Na+ efflux in root EZ is suppressed by more than 90% by amiloride, indicating the possible involvement of Na+/H+ exchanger activity in root EZ. Within each group (cultivated vs. wild) the magnitude of amiloride-sensitive Na+ efflux was higher in tolerant genotypes; however, the activity of Na+/H+ exchanger was 2–3-fold higher in the cultivated rice compared with their wild counterparts. Gene expression levels of SOS1, SOS2 and SOS3 were upregulated under 24 h salinity treatment in all the tested genotypes, with the highest level of SOS1 transcript detected in salt-tolerant wild rice genotype O. alta (~5–6-fold increased transcript level) followed by another wild rice, O. punctata. There was no significant difference in SOS1 expression observed for cultivated rice (IR1-tolerant and IR29-sensitive) under both 0 and 24 h salinity exposure. Our findings suggest that salt-tolerant cultivated rice relies on the cytosolic Na+ exclusion mechanism to deal with salt stress to a greater extent than wild rice, but its operation seems to be regulated at a post-translational rather than transcriptional level

Adolescent Afghan refugees display a high prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia and associated micronutrients deficiencies indicating an enhanced risk of cardiovascular disease in later life

A growing body of research evidence suggests that elevated homocysteine level (hyperhomocysteinemia) is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. The current study aimed to investigate the prevalence and associated risk factors for hyperhomocysteinemia among adolescent Afghan refugees aged 10−19 years. In total, 206 healthy adolescent boys and girls were randomly recruited from a refugee village in Peshawar, Pakistan, in 2020. Socio-demographic data, anthropometric assessment, and blood sample collection were performed following standard methods. Serum homocysteine was assessed using a chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay, with hyperhomocysteinemia defined as levels ≥ 15 µmol/L. The overall prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia was 25%, with mean homocysteine levels significantly (p = 0.004) higher among boys (14.1 µmol/L) than girls (11.8 µmol/L). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed a significant association between hyperhomocysteineimia and serum levels of vitamin B12 (OR 0.29; 95% CI of 0.14 to 0.62; p 0.01) and folate (OR 0.1; 95% CI of 0.03 to 0.27; p 0.001). Overall, our study findings indicate high prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia among adolescent Afghan refugees who are potentially at high risk of developing cardiovascular diseases in future. There is a dire need to develop and implement nutritional and public health strategies to control hyperhomocysteinemia, protect against related diseases and complications in future, and ensure healthy lives and well-being among these vulnerable populations

Ecology, Biology, Damage, and Management of Sucking and Chewing Insect Pests of Citrus

Citrus are important commodities for human and animal nutrition but these crops are attacked by a plethora of dangerous agents, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, and invertebrates that decrease the yield significantly. Within invertebrates, insects are the more prevalent citrus pests causing plant damage or act as diseases vector. In this chapter, we focused in the insect pests with worldwide distribution in citrus orchards, including sap sucking Asian citrus psyllid Diaphorina citri, citrus mealybug Planococcus citri, citrus whitefly Dialeurodes citri, thrips representatives such as Scirtothrips citri and Pezothrips kellyanus, and chewing citrus leafminer Phyllocnistis citrella and lemon butterfly Papilio demoleus. These pests are distributed across various regions of different continents such as in Asia-pacific, Americas, Africa, and Oceana. We presented detailed data from these pests’ biology, ecology, damage, and methods for control. The pest incidence and biology is affected by various biotic and abiotic factors thus providing the opportunity to use these factors as method of intervention to disturb pest life cycle. In this context, several IPM techniques such as cultural, physical, biological, and chemical methods were elaborated, which could help to reduce the pest status below damaging levels

Patient-reported adverse drug reactions and drug-drug interactions: a cross-sectional study on Malaysian HIV/AIDS patients

Objective: This study aimed to explore the adverse drug reactions (ADRs) reported by patients and to identify drug-drug interactions (DDIs) among human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) patients. Subjects and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Medication Therapy Adherence Clinic, Hospital Sungai Buloh, an HIV/AIDS referral centre. The patients were randomly selected and were encouraged to describe ADRs caused specifically by any of the prescribed antiretroviral drugs (ARDs). Sociodemographic characteristics were recorded from the patients’ medical records. In addition data on antiretroviral treatment (ART), DDIs and other conventional medication were also documented. Results: A total of 325 randomly selected HIV/AIDS patients with a mean age of 22.94 years participated in the study. The most frequently prescribed ARDs were lamivudine (64.6%), zidovudine (40.6%) and efavirenz (42.5%). Commonly reported ADRs were fatigue (54.8%), allergic reactions (41.5%), weight loss (41.5%), dry mouth (35.1%) and memory loss (35.1%). Female (87.8%), non-complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) users (87.3%) and participants below 50 years old (81.1%) were identified as having a higher prevalence of ADRs compared to males (79.6%), CAM users (78.7%) and participants aged 50 years or more (77.5%). Patient age was found to be significantly associated (p = 0.048) with the ADRs. In addition, a total of 44 cases of DDIs belonging to category D were also found in this study. Conclusions: This study enabled us to identify the most common ADRs and DDIs associated with the use of ART. Safe and effective treatment depends on the healthcare providers’ knowledge of the same