16 research outputs found
A Dynamic Analysis of the Relationship among Human Development, Exports and Economic Growth in Pakistan.
This study investigates the econometrically empirical evidence
of both the short-run and long-run interrelationships among human
development, exports and economic growth in an ARDL framework for
Pakistan. This study also examines causal linkages among the said
variables by applying the Augmented Granger Causality test of
Toda-Yamamoto (1995). By using data on Pakistan’s real GDP, real exports
and Human Development Index (HDI) for the period 1970-71 to 2008-09,
three models have been estimated. The results show cointegration between
economic growth, physical capital, real exports and human development
when human development is taken as dependent variables. Furthermore,
unidirectional Granger causality running from real GDP to real exports
has been found in Bivariate, Trivariate and Tetravariate causality
framework. The inclusion of HDI as a measure of human development
reduces the physical capital share in real GDP whereas it improves the
robustness of the regression model. Real GDP seems to provide resources
to improve human development in only the long-run while human capital
accumulation does not seem to accelerate real GDP both in the short-run
and the long-run. The empirical results of the study do not support
‘export-led growth hypothesis’ and human capital-based endogenous growth
theory in case of Pakistan, however, it does support ‘growth-driven
exports hypothesis’ in case of Pakistan. JEL classification: O11
Keywords: Human Development, Exports, Economic Growth, ARDL,
Causalit
Threats of Zika virus transmission for Asia and its Hindu-Kush Himalayan region
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.No specific funding was received for this research. However, the work of RM, UK and DAG was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) under the project AECO (number 01Kl1717) as part of the National Research Network on Zoonotic Infectious Diseases of Germany
A Miniaturized FSS-Based Eight-Element MIMO Antenna Array for Off/On-Body WBAN Telemetry Applications
In this paper, a compact multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna for an off/on-body wireless body area network (WBAN) is presented. The proposed antenna comprises eight elements arranged in a side-by-side, orthogonal, and across configuration on a planar laminate. This MIMO system achieves wideband impedance matching, i.e., fractional bandwidth (FBW) = 111% (7600 MHz) when placed off-body and FBW = 110% (7500 MHz) when placed on-body. The achieved bandwidth covers the ultrawideband (UWB) ranges 3.1–10.6 GHz for UWB-WBANs. To isolate the antenna elements, a Jerusalem cross (JC)-shaped frequency-selective surface (FSS) and meandered structure (MS) was designed and optimized. This proposed isolation mechanism offers at least 20 dB of isolation while maintaining an overall compact profile. Moreover, MIMO performance parameters for off/on-body and the specific absorption rate (SAR) were also evaluated. Stable MIMO performance, acceptable limits of SAR, and optimum radiation characteristics verify its suitability for wideband biotelemetry applications
A Miniaturized FSS-Based Eight-Element MIMO Antenna Array for Off/On-Body WBAN Telemetry Applications
In this paper, a compact multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna for an off/on-body wireless body area network (WBAN) is presented. The proposed antenna comprises eight elements arranged in a side-by-side, orthogonal, and across configuration on a planar laminate. This MIMO system achieves wideband impedance matching, i.e., fractional bandwidth (FBW) = 111% (7600 MHz) when placed off-body and FBW = 110% (7500 MHz) when placed on-body. The achieved bandwidth covers the ultrawideband (UWB) ranges 3.1–10.6 GHz for UWB-WBANs. To isolate the antenna elements, a Jerusalem cross (JC)-shaped frequency-selective surface (FSS) and meandered structure (MS) was designed and optimized. This proposed isolation mechanism offers at least 20 dB of isolation while maintaining an overall compact profile. Moreover, MIMO performance parameters for off/on-body and the specific absorption rate (SAR) were also evaluated. Stable MIMO performance, acceptable limits of SAR, and optimum radiation characteristics verify its suitability for wideband biotelemetry applications
Carvedilol vs. esophageal variceal band ligation in the primary prophylaxis of variceal hemorrhage: a multicentre randomized controlled trial.
Background & Aims: Esophageal variceal bleed is a major problem in patients with cirrhosis. Endoscopic variceal ligation (EVL) has been shown to be equal to or better than propranolol in preventing first bleed. Carvedilol is a non-selective b blocker with alpha-1 adrenergic blocker activity. Hemodynamic studies have shown carvedilol to be more effective than propranolol at reducing portal pressure. We compared efficacy of carvedilol with EVL for primary prophylaxis of esophageal variceal bleed.
Methods: Cirrhotic patients with esophageal varices were randomized to carvedilol 12.5 mg daily or EVL at three university hospitals of Pakistan. End points were esophageal variceal bleeding, death or liver transplant.
Results: Two hundred and nine patients were evaluated. Eighty two and eighty six patients were randomized in carvedilol and EVL arms respectively. Mean age was 48 ± 12.2 years; 122 (72.7%) were males; 89.9% had viral cirrhosis; mean Child-Pugh score was 7.3 ± 1.6 and mean follow up was 13.3 ± 12.1 months (range 1–50 months). Both EVL and carvedilol groups had comparable variceal bleeding rates (8.5% vs. 6.9%), bleed related mortality (4.6% vs. 4.9%) and overall mortality (12.8% vs. 19.5%) respectively. Adverse events in carvedilol group were hypotension (n = 2), requiring cessation of therapy, while transient nausea (n = 18) and dyspnea (n = 30) resolved spontaneously. In the EVL arm, post banding ulcer bleed (n = 1) and chest pain (n = 17), were termed as serious adverse events while transient dysphagia (n = 58) resolved without treatment
Hepatitis C virus genotypes in Pakistan: a systemic review
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background and aim</p> <p>Phylogenetic analysis has led to the classification of hepatitis C virus (HCV) into 1-6 major genotypes. HCV genotypes have different biological properties, clinical outcome and response to antiviral treatment and provide important clues for studying the epidemiology, transmission and pathogenesis. This article deepens the current molecular information about the geographical distribution of HCV genotypes and subgenotypes in population of four provinces of Pakistan. 34 published papers (1996-2011) related to prevalence of HCV genotypes/serotypes and subgenotypes in Pakistan were searched.</p> <p>Result</p> <p>HCV genotype/s distribution from all 34 studies was observed in 28,400 HCV infected individuals in the following pattern: 1,999 (7.03%) cases of genotype 1; 1,085 (3.81%) cases of genotype 2; 22,429 (78.96%) cases of genotype 3; 453 (1.59%) cases of genotype 4; 29 (0.10%) cases of genotype 5; 37 (0.13%) cases of genotype 6; 1,429 (5.03%) cases of mixed genotypes, and 939 (3.30%) cases of untypeable genotypes. Overall, genotype 3a was the predominant genotype with a rate of 55.10%, followed by genotype 1a, 3b and mixed genotype with a rate of 10.25%, 8.20%, and 5.08%, respectively; and genotypes 4, 5 and 6 were rare. Genotype 3 occurred predominately in all the provinces of Pakistan. Second more frequently genotype was genotype 1 in Punjab province and untypeable genotypes in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.</p