Investigating the practices of project governance in public sector infrastructure program in Pakistan

The governance of public sector infrastructure projects became an important area of interest in the literature on project management. Today, it is a focal point for policymakers to ensure successful appraisal and implementation of government-sponsored programs. This paper aims to investigate the current practices of project governance (PG) for steering the public sector infrastructure program in Pakistan. An empirical investigation was carried out among professionals of public sector organizations involved in different infrastructure development projects. Latent construct of PG was validated through second-order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and quantified the three dimensions of PG, i.e., portfolio direction (PD), sponsorship, effectiveness, and efficiency (SEE), and disclosure and reporting (DR) through the relative importance index (RII) method. The result showed that DR is among the least practicing dimension having RII = 0.55, while PD and SEE have shown similar prevalence with RII = 0.70 and 0.69, respectively. Overall, the most practicing item in the PG was "the alignment of portfolios with objectives and strategy" whereas the lowest practicing item relates to the "completeness of project information distribution due to the multi-layered bureaucratic system." The findings of this study will guide the decision makers to take appropriate measures for enhancing the effectiveness of PG in Pakistan

DRUG UTILIZATION EVALUATION OF ANGIOTENSIN RECEPTOR BLOCKER (ARB) ALONG WITH THEIR ADRS IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Objective: To evaluate the drug utilization of Angiotensin Receptor Blocker (ARB) along with their ADRs in a tertiary care hospital. And to monitor, report of adverse drug reaction and drug interactions, if any. Methods: The patients who meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria were enrolled into the study. The pertinent data such as demographic details, drug name, dose, frequency, and laboratory data were gathered from medical records of the patient and results were analyzed. Results: Total of 100 patients were included in this study, the maximum utilization of antihypertensive drug (ARB) was telmisartan (90%) and widely use of ARBs in the age group of 41-50 y. Total 32 ADRs were observed and most probable ADRs included headache (42.8%), Nausea (14.28%) and dizziness (12.5%). Conclusion: Telmisartan was the most prescribed and utilized drug than the other drugs of ARBs. Maximum ADRs were noted in females, the most frequent ADRs headache, nausea and dizziness were reported. The majority of reactions were probable on causality assessment done by WHO-UMC and Naranjo’s scale having mild severity. So it can be concluded that considering risk factors, prevention and management of ADRs can drastically improve the therapeutic outcomes of the patients

Prognostic model to predict postoperative acute kidney injury in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery based on a national prospective observational cohort study.

Background: Acute illness, existing co-morbidities and surgical stress response can all contribute to postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery. The aim of this study was prospectively to develop a pragmatic prognostic model to stratify patients according to risk of developing AKI after major gastrointestinal surgery. Methods: This prospective multicentre cohort study included consecutive adults undergoing elective or emergency gastrointestinal resection, liver resection or stoma reversal in 2-week blocks over a continuous 3-month period. The primary outcome was the rate of AKI within 7 days of surgery. Bootstrap stability was used to select clinically plausible risk factors into the model. Internal model validation was carried out by bootstrap validation. Results: A total of 4544 patients were included across 173 centres in the UK and Ireland. The overall rate of AKI was 14·2 per cent (646 of 4544) and the 30-day mortality rate was 1·8 per cent (84 of 4544). Stage 1 AKI was significantly associated with 30-day mortality (unadjusted odds ratio 7·61, 95 per cent c.i. 4·49 to 12·90; P < 0·001), with increasing odds of death with each AKI stage. Six variables were selected for inclusion in the prognostic model: age, sex, ASA grade, preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate, planned open surgery and preoperative use of either an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or an angiotensin receptor blocker. Internal validation demonstrated good model discrimination (c-statistic 0·65). Discussion: Following major gastrointestinal surgery, AKI occurred in one in seven patients. This preoperative prognostic model identified patients at high risk of postoperative AKI. Validation in an independent data set is required to ensure generalizability

Ability of Al-acclimatized Immobilized Nostoc muscorum to Combat Abiotic Stress and its Potential as a Biofertilizer

In the present study, an engineered cyanobacterial biofertilizer (immobilized Al- acclimated cyanobacterial cells) which could be further used as inoculum to affect the overall productivity of containerized rice plants has been proposed. The cyanobacterium Nostoc muscorum (N. muscorum) was well acclimatized to Al metal by initially subjecting the cells to very low dose (0.1 µM) of Al and subsequent transfer every 15 days to the higher concentrations (1, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 60 µM) of Al with regular growth study at each step of cells transfer to the higher concentration and immobilized in calcium alginate beads and were examined for their growth in terms of content of chlorophyll a, heterocyst frequency and ammonia excretion. Growth was more pronounced in Al- acclimatized immobilized state than under free state. Heterocyst frequency and ammonia excretion were considerably higher under immobilized state than under free-living conditions. Results also showed the ameliorative role of Al- acclimatization in N. muscorum exposed to UV stress. Air dried Al- acclimatized immobilized cells stored under light, temperature, air and dust retained the ability to regenerate the viable colonies for upto months. From the experiments performed, it is witnessed that calcium alginate does not cause any opposing effect on regeneration potential and N2 – fixing capability of N. muscorum and the airdried beads are appropriate to store and easy to transport. Thus the present study will provide stress tolerant biofertilizer with improved storage capability and portability enabling more sustainable and efficient production in agriculture

Automatic localization of the optic disc in retinal fundus images using multiple features

Accurate optic disc localization is an essential step for a reliable retinal screening system. Existing methods for the optic disc localization may fail when encountering distractors such as imprecise boundaries, deceptive edge features and inconsistent contrast in retinal images. This paper presents an algorithm (Multi-Scheme method) for localization of the optic disc. The algorithm involves prior domain knowledge such as the optic disc size, cup-to-disc ratio (CDR) and vessel convergence feature to evaluate the confidence level for the candidate region(s) at each thresholding level. Based on the confidence level, the algorithm heuristically decides whether or not to opt for multi-scheme policy for a given image. For optimization, the Computed Response (CR) from variant versions of the same image is calculated in parallel and fits a contour to the optic disc through an iterative process of updating the location of the centre of the contour. The proposed approach has been validated using dataset ONHSD [3] and diaretdb0 [16]; and the results show the robustness and reliability of the proposed method even in the presence of distractors

Automatic localization of the optic disc in retinal fundus images using multiple features

Accurate optic disc localization is an essential step for a reliable retinal screening system. Existing methods for the optic disc localization may fail when encountering distractors such as imprecise boundaries, deceptive edge features and inconsistent contrast in retinal images. This paper presents an algorithm (Multi-Scheme method) for localization of the optic disc. The algorithm involves prior domain knowledge such as the optic disc size, cup-to-disc ratio (CDR) and vessel convergence feature to evaluate the confidence level for the candidate region(s) at each thresholding level. Based on the confidence level, the algorithm heuristically decides whether or not to opt for multi-scheme policy for a given image. For optimization, the Computed Response (CR) from variant versions of the same image is calculated in parallel and fits a contour to the optic disc through an iterative process of updating the location of the centre of the contour. The proposed approach has been validated using dataset ONHSD [3] and diaretdb0 [16]; and the results show the robustness and reliability of the proposed method even in the presence of distractors.</p

Utilization of Waste Biomaterial as an Efficient and Eco-Friendly Adsorbent for Solid-Phase Extraction of Pantoprazole Contaminants in Wastewater

The objective of this analysis is to establish the potential of biodegradable agro-industrial waste materials as biosorbents in the solid-phase extraction (SPE) technique for sample preparation. In this regard, waste coffee husk (CH) powder was collected, washed, treated chemically, characterized, and applied as an SPE adsorbent to extract pantoprazole from the wastewater samples. Sample detection was accomplished using the UPLC-MS/MS system. The positive mode of electrospray ionization was exploited for the ionization of the sample, and quantification of the target analyte was performed by the multiple reaction monitoring modes. The precursor to product ion transition of 384.02→1380.05 and 384.02→200.05 was used as qualifiers and quantifiers, respectively. Optimization of the particle size, adsorbent dose, and contact time were evaluated to select the best combination of features. The efficiency and regeneration capability of the CH were compared with respect to a commercially available silica-based C18 SPE adsorbent, and it was found that CH possessed comparable (~50%) extraction, as well as regeneration capacity (~95%). The developed biosorbent was applied in a wastewater sample spiked with the target analyte and recovery studies were performed, which found a range of 93.0 to 102.0% with a %RSD of 3.72 to 12.7%. Thus, CH can be exploited as a ‘greener’ replacement for the commercially available adsorbents for the extraction/retention of active pharmaceutical ingredients present in water/wastewater samples

Synthesis of 4-aryl-2,6-dimethyl-3,5-bis-N-(aryl)-carbamoyl-1,4-dihydropyridines as novel skin protecting and anti-aging agents

A series of 4-aryl-2,6-dimethyl-3,5-bis-N-(aryl)-carbamoyl-1,4-dihydropyri-dines 6a-6h were prepared by using the one-pot three component synthetic method. The target compounds 6a-6h were synthesized by reacting two molar equivalents of ketone functionality and one mole of aromatic aldehydes in ammonium acetate to obtain the desired products. The structures of newly synthesized compounds were characterized by FT-IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, and elemental analysis. All the synthesized compounds were screened for their elastase inhibition and antioxidant activity. Almost all of the com-pounds 6a-h showed good to excellent activities against elastase enzyme more than the reference drug. Compounds 6d and 6b at 0.2 ± 0.0 µM and 0.2 ± 0.0 µM were found to most potent derivatives against elastase enzyme. Compound 6a exhibited prominent free radical scavenging activity. From the results of the biological activity, we infer that some derivatives can serve as lead molecules in pharmacology. Video Clip of Methodology: 3 min 13 sec   Full Screen   Alternat