Sales Management Portal

The main objective of this project is to enhance the sales management portal of an academic center which is a non-profitable organization. The purpose is to help the pipeline, to create the relating design for the organization’s sales. The sales management portal should be able to promote the academic courses and improve the sales in best possible way. This sales management portal should be able to link to the existing course management portal. Staff should able to enter new client’s information into pipeline by keeping logs of contacts, activities, opportunities, proposals, and eventually registration. The sales management portal should allow to add the promotion offers, new clients to register the courses, search the courses, shortlist the courses and waitlist depending upon the criteria. This portal should have a responsive design so it will adjust to diverse resolutions, making it easy for users to navigate the portal on their own devices. It should help to promote the sales portal, securing the course offering at the organization. The main idea is to get seamless communication channel and easily registration process

Job Resourcefulness, Customer Orientation and Employees Outcomes: A Study of Hotel Employees in Pakistan

Increased competition and a rapidly changing environment present a huge challenge to organizations in implementing effective human capital and development strategies to boost their efficiency and overall performance. An organization’s human resource is definitively its most significant asset. The provisions of important job resources help workforce perform their job in an efficient way. These resources are very important for employee satisfaction and performance of the organization. This study was carried out to examine the impact of job resourcefulness (JR) on two employee outcomes i.e., job engagement and career satisfaction directly as well as indirectly through customer orientation. A convenient sample of 257 employees was taken from hospitality industry within twin cities of Pakistan (Rawalpindi and Islamabad). Questionnaires were used to collect data using a five-point Likert type scale. Job resourcefulness was operationalized using four items from Harris et al. (2006) whereas customer orientation was measured using four items from Licata et al. (2003). Five items were selected from career satisfaction scale developed by Greenhaus et al. (1990). Finally, nine items scale of job engagement developed by (Schaufeli, Bakker et al. 2006) was also used. The results exhibit that all the variables are positively and significantly related. Moreover, the findings are indicative of customer orientation’s role as a mediator between job resourcefulness and employee outcomes. Recommendations for future research and research implications are also discussed at the end of the paper.&nbsp

Errors in surgical pathology reports: a study from a major center in Pakistan

Background: Errors in surgical pathology diagnosis can have serious consequences for the patient. Since the final product of a surgical pathology lab is the report, errors can be picked by reviewing reports of cases.AIM: To determine the frequency and types of error in surgical pathology reports of cases signed out in 2014 in a laboratory in Karachi, Pakistan. Material and Methods: All surgical pathology reports in which changes were made in the original report after sign out and an amended report was issued were included. Errors included: (1) misinterpretations; (2) missing critical information; (3) erroneous critical information; (4) misidentification; and (5) typographic errors. Results: Errors were identified in 210 cases (0.37%). These comprised 199 formalin fixed specimens and 11 frozen sections. The latter represented 3.8% of a total of 2,170 frozen sections. Of the 11 frozen section errors, 10 were misinterpretations. Of the 199 permanent specimens, 99 (49.7%) were misinterpretations, 65 (32.7%) belonged to missing critical information category, 8 (4%) belonged to erroneous critical information category, 8(4%) were misidentifications, 16(8%) were typographic errors while 3 cases (1.5%) were other errors. Most misinterpretations occurred in the gastro intestinal, liver and pancreato biliary tract (23.2%) and breast (13.1%). Another 87 cases were reviewed on the clinicians\u27 request. However diagnosis after review remained the same as the original diagnosis. In 49 out of these (56.3%), additional workup was performed at the time of the review.CONCLUSIONS: Our findings were similar to other published studies. We need to develop documented procedures for timely review of cases to detect errors

Numerical study of time-fractional fourth-order differential equations with variable coefficients

AbstractIn this article, we study numerical solutions of time-fractional fourth-order partial differential equations with variable coefficients by introducing the fractional derivative in the sense of Caputo. We implement reliable series solution techniques namely Adomian decomposition method (ADM) and He’s variational iteration method (HVIM). Some applications are presented to highlight the significant features of these techniques. The comparison shows that the solutions obtained are in good agreement with each other and with their respective exact solutions. Some of these types of differential equations arise practically in the theory of transverse vibrations

Bilateral gonadoblastoma with dysgerminoma in a phenotypically normal female with 46XX karyotype: Report of a rare case and literature review

Gonadoblastoma is a rare ovarian neoplasm which belongs to germ cell-sex cord-stromal tumor category. This tumor is frequently associated with invasive germ cell malignancy. It commonly arises in dysgenetic gonads of young individuals who are phenotypically females but possess 46XY karyotype. It has been rarely reported in females with normal phenotype and genotype. We herein describe a case of 10-year-old female who presented with abdominal pain, abdominal distention and fever. CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis revealed bilateral ovarian masses, ascites and pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenopathy. Serum lactate dehydrogenase levels were also elevated. She underwent left salpingo-oophorectomy, right ovarian biopsy, omentectomy and para-aortic lymphadenopathy. Microscopically, tumor showed in situ and invasive components. In situ component was arranged in nests and lobules formed by immature sertoli cells forming acini and encircling large polygonal primitive germ cells. Immature sertoli cells were positive for immunohitochemical (IHC) stains cytokeratin AE1/AE3, inhibin and calretinin, while germ cells were positive for SALL4, Oct 3/4, placental alkaline phosphatase (PLAP) and CD117. Invasive component was arranged in sheets of large-sized, polygonal-shaped primitive germ cells which were also positive for SALL4, Oct 3/4, PLAP and CD117 IHC stains. Hence, the diagnosis of gonadoblastoma with dysgerminoma was made. The tumor was limited to both ovaries. Cytogenetic analysis of peripheral blood revealed normal female 46XX karyotype. The patient received two cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy and was then lost to follow-up. We conclude that gonadoblastoma, although rare, should be considered as a differential diagnosis in ovarian tumors of young females. Invasive germ cell component should always be carefully searched for as it guides about treatment and predicts prognosis

Lymphangioma circumscriptum: clinicopathological spectrum of 29 cases

Objective: To describe the clinicopathological spectrum of Lymphangioma Circumscriptum (LC).Study Design: Observational case series.Place and Duration of Study: Department of Pathology and Microbiology, AKUH, Karachi, from 2002 to 2012.Methodology: All reported cases of LC were retrieved from medical record. Clinical and pathological features were noted. Frequency percentages were determined.Results: There were 29 cases of LC predominantly males (62%). The mean age was 27.17 ±15.5 years. The commonest sites was anal/perianal region (24%) followed by extremities (17%) and tongue, (14%). Vulval LC was seen in 3 patients. Two cases were described on scrotum. The lesions were most commonly suspected as viral warts, mole or polyp (in anal region). Vesicles with erosions and bleeding and localized growth were the usual clinical presentations. Four of the patients presented with swelling since birth. All were treated with surgical excision. Microscopic examination revealed acanthotic squamous epithelium with papillomatosis. The subepithelial region had collections of lymphatic channels composed of ectatic dilated vessels with serum and inflammatory cells in their lumina. The lymphatic channels were seen in deeper layers along with lymphocytic aggregates.Conclusion: Lymphangioma circumscriptum is a malformation of abnormal lymphatic channels with feeding cisterns in subcutaneous tissue. It is a benign lesion usually occurring in anal/perianal region and confused with warts. Surgical excision is preferred mode of treatment

Activation of Rac1 and the p38 Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase Pathway in Response to All-trans-retinoic Acid

Several signaling pathways are activated by all-trans-retinoic acid (RA) to mediate induction of differentiation and apoptosis of malignant cells. In the present study we provide evidence that the p38 MAP kinase pathway is activated in a RA-dependent manner in the NB-4, acute pro-myelocytic leukemia, and the MCF-7, breast carcinoma, cell lines. RA treatment of cells induces a time- and dose-dependent phosphorylation of p38, and such phosphorylation results in activation of its catalytic domain. p38 activation is not inducible by RA in a variant NB-4 cell line, NB-4.007/6, which is resistant to the effects of RA, suggesting a role for this pathway in the induction of RA responses. Our data also demonstrate that the small G-protein Rac1 is activated by RA and functions as an upstream regulator of p38 activation, whereas the MAPKAPK-2 serine kinase is a downstream effector for the RA-activated p38. To obtain information on the functional role of the Rac1/p38/MAPKAPK-2 pathway in RA signaling, the effects of pharmacological inhibition of p38 on RA-induced gene transcription and cell differentiation were determined. Our results indicate that treatment of cells with the SB203580 inhibitor does not inhibit RA-dependent gene transcription via retinoic acid response elements or induction of Stat1 protein expression. However, treatment with SB203580 or SB202190 strongly enhances RA-dependent induction of cell differentiation and RA-regulated growth inhibitory responses. Altogether, our findings demonstrate that the Rac1/p38 MAP kinase pathway is activated in a RA-dependent manner and exhibits negative regulatory effects on the induction of differentiation

Challenges and pitfalls in diagnosis of parosteal Osteosarcoma: a clinicopathologic study of 23 cases

Objective: Parosteal Osteosarcoma (PO) is an uncommon variant of osteosarcoma. Diagnosing PO is important due to its malignant nature but the diversity of histologic features makes it challenging by adding a number of soft tissue, bony and cartilaginous lesions into the list of differential diagnosis. Our aim was to study the clinicopathologic and histological features of PO with emphasis on features helpful in its discrimination from other mimicking lesions. Methods: We reviewed 23 cases of PO diagnosed in our institution between January 2001 and August 2015. Results: Femur was the most commonly involved bone (68.2%) along with other long bones and rib in a single case. Soft tissue component was graded as Grade1 in 9(39%), Grade2 in 8(34.7%) and Grade3 in 4(17.3%) cases. Bony component was seen either in combination of or exclusively as parallel streams and interconnected trabeculae (mosaic-pattern). Out of 9 cases with cartilage component, 3 showed a cartilage cap. 2(8.6%) cases showed dedifferentiation into osteosarcoma. Conclusion: PO should always be considered in the differential diagnosis of every lesion arising from the bone surface. Knowledge of the variations in histologic features helps to reach the correct diagnosis which should never be made without radiological correlation