Credit Markets in an Emerging Economy: Evidence from Pakistan

This thesis examines default resolution, fresh credit and lending relationships. The results suggest that collateral expedites both default resolution and access to fresh credit while higher interest rates increase duration of default. The impact of lender-borrower relationship on terms of credit varies by types of financial institution and firm. A longer relationship of a firm with the CEO of its bank results in lower risk premia

Default resolution and access to fresh credit in an emerging market

We examine loan defaults by firms and identify the factors that influence both the default resolution process and firms' access to fresh credit after firms exit default. Using a dataset of all commercial loans made in Pakistan from 2006 to 2013, we find an important role for collateral. Collateral expedites both the default resolution process and access to fresh credit after exiting default. Higher interest rates increase the default duration. Relationships with multiple lenders as well as those with multiple branches of one lender are associated with obtaining fresh credit at the post default stage

Loss of mitochondrial transmembrane potential and caspase-9 activation during apoptosis induced by the novel styryl-lactone goniothalamin in HL-60 leukemia cells

Styryl-lactones such as goniothalamin represent a new class of compounds with potential anti-cancer properties. In this study, we investigated the mechanisms of goniothalamin (GTN), a plant styryl-lactone induced apoptosis in human promyelocytic leukemia HL-60 cells. This plant extract resulted in apoptosis in HL-60 cells as assessed by the externalisation of phosphatidylserine. Using the mitochondrial membrane dye (DIOC6) in conjunction with flow cytometry, we found that GTN treated HL-60 cells demonstrated a loss of mitochondrial transmembrane potential (Δψm). Further immunoblotting on these cells showed activation of initiator caspase-9 and the executioner caspases-3 and -7. Pretreatment with the pharmacological caspase inhibitor, benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp fluoromethyl ketone (Z-VAD.FMK) abrogated apoptosis as assessed by all of the apoptotic features in this study. In summary, our results demonstrate that goniothalamin-induced apoptosis occurs via the mitochondrial pathway in a caspase dependent manner

Hindutva in India: Rise of Bigotry against Muslims

The preface of the Indian Constitution declares India a sovereign, democratic, republic, and socialist state. Later on through the 42nd amendment, socialist and secular terms were incorporated into the constitution. Indian social order is known to be a multi-cultural and multireligious society on account of an assortment of castes, religions, and cultures. Within all that disparities, Muslims form the main minority in the state. However, a clear-cut pluralistic discrepancy between the theory and practice of the Indian constitution is obvious. Indian Muslims are deprived of cultural, religious, and political rights due to the escalation of Hindutva policies throughout the Modi reign. The continued Kashmir dispute and the recent Pulwama attack intensified India- Pakistan animosity and the root cause seems to be the rise of Hindutva in India. For that reason, the authors delve into the matter and strive to present a descriptive analysis on the rise of Hindutva in India and the illicit silence of the international actors on this grave Indian fanaticism

Finding new relationships between hypergeometric functions by evaluating Feynman integrals

Several new relationships between hypergeometric functions are found by comparing results for Feynman integrals calculated using different methods. A new expression for the one-loop propagator-type integral with arbitrary masses and arbitrary powers of propagators is derived in terms of only one Appell hypergeometric function F_1. From the comparison of this expression with a previously known one, a new relation between the Appell functions F_1 and F_4 is found. By comparing this new expression for the case of equal masses with another known result, a new formula for reducing the F_1 function with particular arguments to the hypergeometric function _3F_2 is derived. By comparing results for a particular one-loop vertex integral obtained using different methods, a new relationship between F_1 functions corresponding to a quadratic transformation of the arguments is established. Another reduction formula for the F_1 function is found by analysing the imaginary part of the two-loop self-energy integral on the cut. An explicit formula relating the F_1 function and the Gaussian hypergeometric function _2F_1 whose argument is the ratio of polynomials of degree six is presented.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure

Evaluation of the cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of goniothalamin in leukemic cell lines

The cytotoxic and genotoxic effects of goniothalamin, a plant styryllactone, were evaluated using the 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and the Alkaline Comet assay respectively in human leukemic cell lines. Following 72 h of treatment, the IC50 values of goniothalamin in human HL-60 promyelocytic leukemia cells and CEM-SS T-lymphoblastic cells were 4.5 μg/mL and 2.4 μg/mL respectively. The genotoxicity of goniothalamin in both HL-60 and CEM-SS cells was detected as early as 2 h following treatment at IC10 and IC25 concentrations. However, pretreatment with the antioxidant N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) at 1 mM for 30 minutes did not abrogate genotoxicity of this compound. This result suggests that primary induction of DNA damage by goniothalamin may not involve oxidative damage. In conclusion, our results demonstrate genotoxic damage induced by goniothalamin in leukemic cells. Further studies are needed to ascertain the mode of action of goniothalamin in inducing DNA damage

Novel organometallic catalyst for efficient valorization of lipids extracted from Prunus domestica kernel shell in sustainable fuel production.

This study focuses on converting Plum Kernel Shell (PKS) waste biomass into biodiesel using a novel synthesized heterogeneous catalyst, contributing to the pursuit of renewable fuel from sustainable resources. Plum Kernel Shell (PKS) is waste biomass generated from plum fruit and available abundantly; utilizing it can help in many ways, such as overcoming environmental issues and promoting a circular economy. The precursor for the heterogeneous catalyst is derived from post-oil extraction waste biomass and further modified with metallic oxides (CuO and Mo) due to its acidic nature to enhance its efficacy for biodiesel production. Thorough characterization of the synthesized catalyst was conducted using analytical techniques such as XRD (X-ray diffraction), SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy), EDS (Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy), BET (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller), and XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy) to elucidate its nature and performance. The transesterification process was systematically optimized by varying parameters such as temperature, time, methanol-to-oil ratio, and catalyst loading. The optimized yield of 92.61% of biodiesel resulted under ideal conditions, specifically at 65°C, 150 min, 5 wt% catalyst loading, and an 18:1 M ratio. The biodiesel derived from PKS oil exhibited promising fuel properties encompassing cold flow properties, density, viscosity, cetane number, and flash point, validating its potential as a viable alternative fuel source. Furthermore, the synthesized novel catalyst demonstrated exceptional efficiency, retaining stability over five cycles without significant reduction in biodiesel yield. These findings underscore the viability of PKS biomass as a renewable and sustainable source for both catalyst synthesis and biodiesel production