Information Literacy Skills of LIS Students in Pakistan: A study of University of Sargodha and University of the Punajab, Lahore

This study aimed to investigate the perceived level of IL skills, strength, weakness, challenges, and levels of IL programs attended by ILS students of two leading library schools of Pakistan. This research used descriptive survey method and distributed questionnaire among 330 participants which returned 232 complete usable responses. This study found that participants of both LIS schools perceived good level of IL skills while the majority of them prefer internet sources as they possess adequate internet surfing skills. In addition to challenges the large number of participants lacks knowledge and skills to use computer and personal computer (M = 2.71, SD = 1.245) and (M = 2.84, SD = 1.439). Whereas, the results of IL program attended depicted that majority of participants obtained low mean of (M = 2.76, SD = .985) to (M = 2.57, SD = .991). This study concludes that students of both IL schools were performing well with regard to their IL skills even though there is a dire need for advance level of IL instructions and embedded IL course integration at all a level of degree programs to equipped students with necessary skills

Influence of Bank Specific and Macroeconomic Factors on Profitability of Commercial Banks: A Case Study of Pakistan

The intended aim of study is to identify the influence of bank specific and macroeconomic factors on profitability of commercial banks in Pakistan over the period of 2007 to 2011. Return on assets and return on equity are used as dependent variable. Deposit to assets, bank size, capital ratio, net interest margin and nonperforming loans to total advances are utilized as bank specific measures. Inflation, real gross domestic product and industry production growth rate are macroeconomic factors. By employing descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis researcher conclude that bank size, net interest margin, and industry production growth rate has positive and significant impact on the ROA and ROE. Nonperforming loans to total advances and inflation have negative significant impact on Return on assets while real gross domestic product has positive impact on ROA. Capital ratio has positive significant impact on ROE. Key words: Return on Assets, Return on Equity, Inflation, Capital Ratio, Nonperforming loan

A design of turnover intention antecedents and their relation on work design for firms

Most of the time Employees turnover intentions has been examined with the level of Human Resource Practices (HRP) in previous studies. Present study added social and Job characteristic study of 214 employees and managers from a fast food – outlet of Pakistan retail food service. Employee’s turnover intention was significantly associated at firm level and individual level factors and demonstrates the upgrading of food quality and service in the chain. The regression analysis was used to measure the relationship and significance among the observed constructs using SPSS 26. Job characteristics explains within-store variance. The hypothesis statement of the study projected that turnover intention has significantly affected due to individual level and firm level constructs setting in this situation. Outlet variance is described in adding to compensation, transformational leadership among employees in perspective of age and tenure similarity in the firm employees. Further research, limitation are managerial implication and theoretical framework can be discussed in detail

Outcome of febrile neutropenic patients on granulocyte colony stimulating factor in a tertiary care hospital

Introduction: Febrile neutropenia is a relatively frequent event in cancer patients treated with chemotherapy and improvement in absolute neutrophil count (ANC) has been linked directly to improved outcome. Evaluation of granulocyte colony stimulating factors (GCSFs) for treatment has shown reduced incidences of episodes of prolonged neutropenia and protracted hospitalization. To determine absolute neutrophil counts with GCSF in febrile neutropenic cancer patients admitted to a tertiary care centre and to co-relate the improvement in ANC with mortality and hospital discharge.Methods: A prospective cross sectional study was carried at an oncology ward at Aga Khan University hospital from January 2010 to June 2011. All adult patients who were admitted and treated with GCSF for chemotherapy induced febrile neutropenia were included. Multivariable regression was conducted to identify the factors related with poor outcomes.Results: A total of 131 patients with febrile neutropenia were identified with mean age of 43.2 (18-85) years, 79 (60%) being ≤ 50. Seventy-five (57%) had solid tumors and 56 (43%) hematological malignancies, including lymphoma. Fifty seven (43.5%) had an ANC less 100 cells/mm(3), 34 (26%) one between 100-300 cells/mm(3) and 40 (31%) an ANC greater than 300 cells/mm(3). Thirty (23%) patients showed ANC recovery in 1-3 days, and 74(56%) within 4-7 days. Thirteen (10%) patients showed no recovery. The overall mortality was 18 (13.7%) patients. The mean time for ANC recovery seen in hematological malignancies was 6.34 days whereas for solid tumors it was 4.88 days. Patients with ANC /mm(3) were more likely to die than patients with ANC \u3e300 cells/mm(3) by a factor of 4.3. Similarly patients \u3e50 years of age were 2.7 times more likely to die than younger patients.CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrated that use of GCSF, in addition to intravenous antibiotics, in treatment of patients with chemotherapy induced febrile neutropenia accelerates neutrophil recovery, and shortens antibiotic therapy and hospitalization. We propose to risk classify the patients at the time of admission to evaluate the cost effectiveness of this approach in a resource constrained setup

Outcomes of high risk Patients with febrile neutropenia at a tertiary care center

Creative Commons Attribution LicenseFever during chemotherapy-induced neutropenia continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality incancer patients. Mortality depends on the duration and degree of neutropenia, bacteremia, sepsis, performance status,comorbidities and other parameters. The highest mortality rates in cancer patients hospitalized with febrile neutropenia(FN) are observed in those with documented infection. The objectives of the study were to present available tools forrisk assessment, to review pathogens causing infections in adult FN patients and to assess outcomes. Methods: Thiscross sectional study was conducted on adult culture positive FN patients admitted to the Hematology/Oncologyservice at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan from 1st January 2009 to 31st December 2012. Highriskcriteria were defined as profound neutropenia, short latency from a previous chemotherapy cycle, sepsis orclinically documented infection at presentation, severe co-morbidity and a performance status greater than or equalto 3. All types of organisms in blood culture and the outcomes of the patients were recorded on Proforma. Results:A total of 156 patients with culture-positive febrile neutropenia were identified during the study period. The meanage was 47 years with a slight male predominance of 54%. One hundred and sixteen patients fulfilled the criteria forthe high risk group. Fifty two percent had a single high risk factor and 40 % had two. All patients harbored eithersingle or multiple bacterial organisms including gram positive, gram negative or both types. Some 34% of patientshad gram positive bacteremia, 57 % had gram negative and 9 % were infected with both. Among 73 gram positivecultures 44 % were Staphylococcus species and among 123 gram negative cultures 43 % were E. coli. One hundredand fifteen patients recovered uneventfully and could be discharged. Thirty two patients in the high risk and 9 in thelow risk groups deceased with an overall mortality of 26 %. The mean hospital stays of patients with solid tumors andhematological malignancies were 7.58 and 15.0 days, respectively. Mortality was higher in the latter group, and alsoin high risk patients with both gram positive and negative bacteremia. Conclusion: We emphasize the importance ofrisk stratification and continuous surveillance of the spectrum of locally prevalent pathogens and their susceptibilitypatterns for formulation of therapeutic regimens for febrile neutropenic patients

IMPACT OF RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF PHARMACEUTICAL FIRMS: EVEDENCE FROM PAKISTAN

The goal of this study is to investigate the financial performance of listed Pharmaceuticalcompanies in Pakistan impacted by different board characteristics. These board characteristics are discussedthrough two theories: agency theory and resource dependency. The understudy characteristics include research& development, independent board directors, leverage, CEO/Chair duality, board size and audit committee. Thepaper used panel regression analysis on 11 firms from period of 2010 to 2019. It was found that investment inresearch & development and audit committee have significant and positive impact on the performance of firmsas per agency theory. Whereas the characteristics like Independent directors, CEO duality, leverage and boardsize had negative impact on the performance of the firms. The study helps to clarify the Board's performancerelationship and offers academic proof of existing and future governance changes for policy makers in Pakistan.The conclusions add to the literature by presenting fresh and original perspectives into how the existingknowledge of corporate governance and financial performance is applied within a developing context ofPakistan