Factors Affecting the Corporate Governance Disclosure: An Analysis of Manufacturing Firms of Pakistan

This study analyzes the impact of different governance related variables on the corporate governance disclosure level of Pakistani manufacturing firms. The study period is one year i.e. 2014 and it used a sample of 50 manufacturing firms which are classified into five different categories. The analyses are done through OLS regression. A comprehensive disclosure index consisting the thirty different disclosure items is developed which served as dependent variable. Thirty disclosure items are included in the index according to the disclosure requirements of SECP code of corporate governance. Board independence, managerial ownership, foreign ownership, block holdings and audit firm status are used as corporate governance related independent variables. The results indicate that the CG disclosure level of selected manufacturing firms is positively influenced by board independence, foreign ownership, block holding ownership and audit firm status. However the results of managerial ownership variable are not statically significant and the hypothesis regarding to this variable is rejected. The study found that all the independent variables except managerial ownership are the important determinants of CG disclosure. Keywords: CGD, INDE’s, SEC

PERCEPTION OF PATIENTS REGARDING QUALITY OF HEALTHCARE SERVICES AT PUBLIC AND PRIVATE TERTIARY CARE HOSPITALS

Objectives: Patient satisfaction is a significant marker for estimating the quality of medical services being provided at a clinical facility. It also influences the opportune, proficient, and patient-focused provision of quality medical services. Methods: Data from 768 outdoor patients were collected from four tertiary care hospitals in Islamabad, Pakistan. Half of the patients were from public sector hospitals, while others were from private hospitals. A self-administered questionnaire (Cronbach’s alpha=0.896) was structured for data collection. Using SPSS, descriptive statistics, independent t-test, and Chi-square test were used to analyze data. Results: Overall, 51.4% of patients were satisfied with the services provided to them at hospital Outpatient department. Patients who experienced private sector hospitals (74%) were significantly more satisfied than those who visited the public sector hospitals (29%) (p<0.001). Gender-wise, female patients were more satisfied (58%) than male patients (47%). Insufficient attention of the doctor, the behavior of the supporting staff and inadequate management of disease record were the red flags highlighted by the patients. Conclusion: The current investigation has shown that quality healthcare is significantly associated with economic conditions; patients’ perspective have expressed that the private sector provides satisfactory medical services at a high expense, whereas the public sector is a less expensive alternative but it lags in the provision of high-quality services and patient satisfaction

Impact of guillain barre syndrome on psychosocial functionings of patients in islamabad

GuillainBarre Syndrome (GBS) is a rare autoimmune disease of unknown causes that affects peripheral nervous system. Objectives: To review the impacts of the GuillainBarre Syndrome on the psychosocial functioning of the patients and to assess the relationship between GuillainBarre Syndrome and the psychosocial functioning Methodology: Comparative cross sectional survey was conducted on 100 participants (50 GBS patients from Shifa International Hospitals and 50 normal participants from Islamabad in 6 months time from February to July 2013. Data collected through Structured Questionnaire in hospital settings for GBS patients and normal persons from Islamabad through Psychosocial functioning scale and social functioning scale and analyzedby using SPSS version 17

Incoherent and Online Dictionary Learning Algorithm for Motion Prediction

Accurate model development and efficient representations of multivariate trajectories are crucial to understanding the behavioral patterns of pedestrian motion. Most of the existing algorithms use offline learning approaches to learn such motion behaviors. However, these approaches cannot take advantage of the streams of data that are available after training has concluded, and typically are not generalizable to data that they have not seen before. To solve this problem, this paper proposes two algorithms for learning incoherent dictionaries in an offline and online manner by extending the offline augmented semi-non-negative sparse coding (ASNSC) algorithm. We do this by adding a penalty into the objective function to promote dictionary incoherence. A trajectory-modeling application is studied, where we consider the learned atoms of the dictionary as local motion primitives. We use real-world datasets to show that the dictionaries trained by the proposed algorithms have enhanced representation ability and converge quickly as compared to ASNSC. Moreover, the trained dictionaries are well conditioned. In terms of pedestrian trajectory prediction, the proposed methods are shown to be on par (and often better) with the state-of-the-art algorithms in pedestrian trajectory prediction

Synthesis and characterization of some new Schiff base derivatives of gabapentin, and assessment of their antibacterial, antioxidant and anticonvulsant activities

Purpose: To synthesize and characterize some new gabapentin Schiff base derivatives, and to assess their antibacterial, antioxidant and antiepileptic activities.Methods: Four Schiff base derivatives of gabapentin, termed G1, G2, G3 and G4, were synthesized by condensation with benzoin, vanillin, acetophenone, and benzophenone, respectively. Their chemical identities were established by FTIR, 1 H NMR and 13C NMR techniques. The new compounds were screened for antibacterial activity using agar well method, antioxidant activity by DPPH assay, and anticonvulsant activity against pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) induced seizures in mice.Results: All the compounds showed antibacterial activity against the test strains to variable degrees, while the parent drug did not exhibit antibacterial activity. The zones of inhibition of compound G2 against Micrococcus luteus (36.2 ± 1.0 mm) and Serratia marcescens (28.2 ± 1.0 mm), and of compound G4 against Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (36.8 ± 1.0 mm) were larger compared to thestandard drug, doxycycline, exhibiting zones of inhibition 28.2 ± 1.3, 28.2 ± 0.9 and 20.0 ± 0.9 mm, respectively. In addition, compounds G1 and G2 possessed significantly greater (p < 0.05) radical scavenging activity (82.3 ± 1.8 and 92.3 ± 2.2 %, respectively) than the precursor drug, gabapentin (63.2± 2.6 %). The seizure scores for compounds G1 (0.7 ± 0.06) and G2 (0.9 ± 0.07) were comparable(p ˃ 0.05) with gabapentin (0.8 ± 0.06), while compounds G3 and G4 were less active (p < 0.05) than gabapentin.Conclusion: Compounds G1 and G2 exhibit good antibacterial and antioxidant activities while retaining the anticonvulsant activity of the parent drug, gabapentin, thus making them suitable candidates for further development for the treatment of neurodegenerative pathologies associated with bacterial infections. Keywords: Gabapentin, Antibacterial, Seizures, Antioxidant, Anticonvulsan

CHARACTERIZATION AND EVALUATION OF POLLUTANTS IN LATE SEASON VEGETABLES OF DISTRICT MANSEHRA

The experiment was conducted during 2015-16 to find out the pollutants and heavy metals in off season vegetable crops i.e. Spinach, Coriander, Turnip, Radish, Potato, Chilies, Pea and Kale with the title captioned “Characterization and evaluation of pollutants in off season vegetables of district Mansehra”. Metals pollutants are naturally occurring elements that have a high atomic weight and a density at least 5 times more than that of water. Levels of cobalt, copper, iron, nickel, lead and zinc were dead set in water, vegetable and soils in Mansehra. Most metals Zn, Ni, Co, Cu were within the safe limit according to standard values. Average amount of Zn in soil was 151.06 mg/kg. Likewise in vegetables Fe and Pb were high above the safe limit according to W.H.O/FAO standard and other metals Zn, Ni, Cu their average amount was 2.0 mg/kg, 2 mg/kg, 16.9 mg/kg but the level of Pb 59.9 mg/kg and Fe 229.9 mg/kg in some vegetables in excess amount and above the safe limit

Screening and Biological Characterization of Pharmaceutically Important Compounds from Ipomoea indica

The present study was carried out to analyze Ipomoea indica for its phytochemical and physiochemical characteristics and to establish its antioxidant potential. The plants samples were collected from Islamabad, Pakistan. Total antioxidant activity was significantly higher in leaves samples of Ipomoea indicaas compared to stem sample extracted in chloroform. Similar pattern for antioxidant activity was observed in ethanolic extracted samples. Phenolic contents of leaves extracted in chloroform were significantly higher as compared to stems. Similarly phenolic content of leaves was significantly higher from stem extracted in ethanol. The least flavonoid contents were observed in leaves of Ipoemea indica. Moreover, minimum activity of reducing power assay was observed in stem and leaves

Impact of Nitrogen and Phosphorous Fertilizer on Growth, Yield and Yield Contributing Factors of Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) Under Conditions of Mansehra, Pakistan

A field experiment was conducted at National Tea and high Value crops Research  Institute Shinkiari (Mansehra), Pakistan during 2014 to evaluate the effect of nitrogen and phosphorus on yield and yield components of Okra (Var: Sabz Pari)  The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design with split plot arrangement having three replicates various levels of nitrogen and phosphorus were included, namely T1(0-0), T2(100-60 ), T3(100-90), T4(100-120), T5(150-60), T6(150-90) and  T7(150-120) NP kg/ha. Urea and single superphosphate (SSP) were used as source of nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively. Significant response of various levels of nitrogen and phosphorus were observed. Results revealed that maximum days to 50 % emergence (6.66) were recorded in T1 as compared to 5 days to emergence in T7. Maximum germination percentage (89.66), days to 50% flowering (46), days to first fruits picking (49), plant height at first picking (81.66cm), No. of Pod per plant (23.33), were recorded in T7.  The lowest 84.33% germination, 43.33 days to 50% flowering, 49.33 days to first fruits picking, 61 cm plant height at first picking, 13.33 No. of pod per plant and 37.33 No. of seeds per pod were recorded in T1.  Maximum pod length (16.16 cm) and pod diameter (2.03 cm) was recorded in Treatment (T3) as compared to 12.50 cm pod length and 1.59 cm pod diameter in T1. Maximum 1000 seed weight of 59.06 g was recorded in T6 while minimum 1000 seed weight of 49.50 g was recorded in T1.  Maximum fruits yield (10.48 tons ha-1) was recorded in T6, followed by T3, T5 while T1 produced the lowest fruits yield of 6.99 tons ha-1.  It was concluded that application of N and P @ 150 kg N ha-1 + 90 kg P ha-1 in combination resulted in higher yield of Okra

Immune response to Hepatitis B vaccination in hemodialysis patients.

Background: Hemodialysis patients are vulnerable to infections with Hepatitis B Virus and hepatitis C virus (HCV). Patients who are on maintenance hemodialysis are considered as high-risk group for acquiring hepatitis B virus, resulting in high morbidity and mortality. Therefore, to vaccinate them against the virus is mandatory. Compared to a response rate of over 90% in the normal population, only 50 to 60% of those with end-stage renal disease achieve adequate antibody levels following immunization and the objective of this study was to determine the antibody level after Hepatitis B vaccination in chronic hemodialysis patients. Methods: 118 patients, undergoing chronic hemodialysis (HD) at the dialysis unit of Liaquat National Hospital, fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria were enrolled between April 2013 and September 2013, after taking informed consent and approval from ethical review committee. AntiHbs (Hepatitis B surface antibody) titers were measured. Patients were differentiated as Immune and non immune based on antibody titers, with levels of >10IU/l being considered as immune and levels of <10IU/las non immune. AntiHbs titer was measured by ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immunosorbant Assay). Data was analyzed using SPSS version 14.0 for windows. Chi square test were used to ascertain the statistical significance. P value <0.05 was taken as statistically significant. In addition, the effect of age, gender and duration of Hemodialysis on antibody titer was also observed. Results: Out of 118 patients enrolled, 103 (87.3%) had an adequate antibody response and were considered immune while only 15 patients (12.7%) had an inadequate antibody response rendering them non immune. AntiHbs titers showed no significant co-relation with gender and duration of Hemodialysis therapy(p>0.05), while age was found to have significant correlation as younger age group (<60years) had more immune response (p<0.001). Conclusion: Our study showed a very good antibody response to Hepatitis B vaccination among hemodialysis patients that correlated with age with younger age group having a better response but no correlation to gender and duration of dialysis. Key Words: Hepatitis B virus, Anti-HBs antibody, Hemodialysis, Prevalence, Vaccination