MACRO AND SOCIOECONOMIC DETERMINANTS OF SAVINGS IN PAKISTAN

Due to close relationship of savings to economic growth,poverty, income inequality the analysis of the savings behaviorbecomes very important in development economics. The present studyhas analyzed the saving behavior of Pakistan for the period 1973-2013. It has been found that age dependency, foreign savings andinflation have a negative and significant relationships with all thethree type of savings (i.e. national, public and private), while economicgrowth and financial sector development enhances savings inPakistan. The study finds that interest rate has an insignificant impacton nationals and private savings. However, in the case of publicsavings the impact is positive and significant. As far as the role oftaxes is concerned, it has been found that taxes discourage privatesavings while the impact on public savings is positive

Prevalence of non-communicable diseases and their risk factors at a semi-urban community, Pakistan

Introduction: Pakistan is currently facing the double burden of communicable (38%) and non- communicable diseases (49%) according to WHO NCD Country Profiles 2014. About 50% of all deaths are attributed to NCD's. The objective of this study was to determine the burden of noncommunicable diseases in semi urban community of Islamabad. Methods: We carried a cross sectional study to estimate the burden of noncommunicable diseases in an urban setting, a community based cross sectional survey covering 1210 households was carried out over a period of three months. Households were selected through consecutive non-probability sampling, among which adult females and males who were permanent resident of the community were interviewed through a structured questionnaire in urdu language. SPSS version 21 was used to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics were calculated. Results: About 38.7% individuals had High BP / IHD, 34.4% had oro-dental health problems, 24.3% were physically disabled and 14.6% had diabetes. Among the risk factors, 48.2% were tobacco user, 13.60% were drug abuser and 1.8% alcoholics. Conclusion: We conclude that the prevalence of non-communicable diseases is quite high in the above setting as compared to the National indicators, which demands timely intervention to curtail the existing burden of NCD.Pan African Medical Journal 2016; 2

TEAM-BASED LEARNING VS LECTURE-BASED LEARNING IN MEDICAL EDUCATION

Objective: The objective of the study is to determine better mode of learning for medical graduates by comparing team-based learning (TBL) and lecture-based learning methods. Study Design: Comparative analytical study. Place and Duration of Study: Surgical Ward 25 of Endocrine and General surgery, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, Karachi, in April 2019. Methodology: This comparative study was based on the principles of TBL; the control program used the traditional lecture-based approach. Both programs were aimed at investigating the knowledge and performance of the two groups. Thirty surgical interns were included in this study. Two groups were made by random selection of surgical interns, 15 in TBL group and other 15 in traditional teaching group. TBL group (Group A) was given the topic of thyroid diseases for self-study followed by 1 h discussion amongst the group members. Lecture-based group (Group B) was given 1 h powerpoint presentation on similar topic. As the main outcome measures, questionnaire containing twenty best choice questions was given to both groups. Performance of the two groups was checked and results calculated as total, average, and standard deviation. Results: Group A participants’ total score (147) was higher than Group B (131) but the p-value was not found to be significant (0.144). Conclusion: Both forms of learning methods are effective and productive in medical education

Raised levels of IFN-gamma and IL-13 are associated with pre-diabetes amongst newly diagnosed patients with tuberculosis

Objective: To investigate pre-diabetes and diabetes in newly-diagnosed tuberculosis patients and to assess the association of serum cytokine levels with diabetes status. Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted at Indus Hospital and The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi from May to November 2015, and included patients of either gender aged 18 years or more with a confirmed diagnosis of tuberculosis who were either newly diagnosed or had received up to 1 month of anti-tuberculosis therapy were included. Patients were enrolled from among those presenting to the clinics at Indus Hospital, Karachi, and the Department of Medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), Karachi. The patients were tested for glycosylated haemoglobin and random blood glucose. Diabetes was defined as HbA1c \u3e6.5%; pre-diabetes as HbA1c=5.7-6.4%; and normoglycaemic as HbA1c \u3c5.7%. Serum cytokines were investigated using the Bio-plex 27, Bio-Rad assay. SPSS version 19.0 was used for data analysis. Results: Of the 211 subjects, 110(52%) were females and 101(48%) were males. The overall median age of the sample was 26 years, and 100(47.3%) subjects were underweight. Of the total, 24(11.4%) had diabetes and 45(21.3%) had pre-diabetes. Of the diabetics, only 7(29%) knew their status prior to screening. Interferon-gamma and interleukin-13 were significantly different among tuberculosis patients with diabetes, pre-diabetes and normoglycaemia (p\u3c0.05). Glycosylated haemoglobin levels showed a significant correlation with interferon-gamma levels. Conclusions: Raised interleukin-13 and interferon-gamma levels in newly-diagnosed tuberculosis patients with pre-diabetes

Empirical Assessment of Machine Learning Techniques for Software Requirements Risk Prediction

[EN] Software risk prediction is the most sensitive and crucial activity of Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). It may lead to success or failure of a project. The risk should be predicted earlier to make a software project successful. A Model is proposed for the prediction of software requirement risks using requirement risk dataset and machine learning techniques. Also, a comparison is done between multiple classifiers that are K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN), Average One Dependency Estimator (A1DE), Naïve Bayes (NB), Composite Hypercube on Iterated Random Projection (CHIRP), Decision Table (DT), Decision Table/ Naïve Bayes Hybrid Classifier (DTNB), Credal Decision Trees (CDT), Cost-Sensitive Decision Forest (CS-Forest), J48 Decision Tree (J48), and Random Forest (RF) to achieve best suited technique for the model according to the nature of dataset. These techniques are evaluated using various evaluation metrics including CCI (correctly Classified Instances), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Relative Absolute Error (RAE), Root Relative Squared Error (RRSE), precision, recall, F-measure, Matthew¿s Correlation Coefficient (MCC), Receiver Operating Characteristic Area (ROC area), Precision-Recall Curves area (PRC area), and accuracy. The inclusive outcome of this study shows that in terms of reducing error rates, CDT outperforms other techniques achieving 0.013 for MAE, 0.089 for RMSE, 4.498% for RAE, and 23.741% for RRSE. However, in terms of increasing accuracy, DT, DTNB and CDT achieve better results.This work was supported by by Generalitat Valenciana, Conselleria de Innovacion, Universidades, Ciencia y Sociedad Digital, (project AICO/019/224)Naseem, R.; Shaukat, Z.; Irfan, M.; Shah, MA.; Ahmad, A.; Muhammad, F.; Glowacz, A.... (2021). Empirical Assessment of Machine Learning Techniques for Software Requirements Risk Prediction. Electronics. 10(2):1-19. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics1002016811910

Fertility Levels, Trends and Differentials in Pakistan: Evidence from the Population, Labour Force and Migration Survey 1979-80

The objectives of the present report are two fold: (1) to analyse in some detail the fertility data collected in "Population, Labour Force and Migration" (PLM) Survey of 1979; and (2) to compare its findings, wherever necessary, with those of PFS (particularly for current fertility) and other surveys. The report is organized into eight sections, Section 2 is a brief review of earlier fertility levels and trends. Discussion of the PLM Survey and its methodology finds its place in section 3. In Section 4, we have discussed the current parity (children ever born to women at the time of the survey ) by age, marriage duration and age at marriage, as well as differentials in current parity. Early, marital fertility is discussed in section 5. The next two sections provide brief accounts of current fertility. In order to structure our analysis we have identified the women either through their birth cohorts ( current age ) or their marriage cohorts ( years since first marriage ). Realizing that the two fundamental aspects of a woman's chlld bearing life - the number of children she has had and the tempo of her having had them - cannot be fully separated as the results based on one type of measure do not always correspond to those obtained through another. We have, therefore, presented a brief synthesis of various findings in the concluding section

Fertility Levels, Trends and Differentials in Pakistan: Evidence from the Population, Labour Force and Migration Survey 1979-80

The objectives of the present report are two fold: (1) to analyse in some detail the fertility data collected in "Population, Labour Force and Migration" (PLM) Survey of 1979; and (2) to compare its findings, wherever necessary, with those of PFS (particularly for current fertility) and other surveys. The report is organized into eight sections, Section 2 is a brief review of earlier fertility levels and trends. Discussion of the PLM Survey and its methodology finds its place in section 3. In Section 4, we have discussed the current parity (children ever born to women at the time of the survey ) by age, marriage duration and age at marriage, as well as differentials in current parity. Early, marital fertility is discussed in section 5. The next two sections provide brief accounts of current fertility. In order to structure our analysis we have identified the women either through their birth cohorts ( current age ) or their marriage cohorts ( years since first marriage ). Realizing that the two fundamental aspects of a woman's chlld bearing life - the number of children she has had and the tempo of her having had them - cannot be fully separated as the results based on one type of measure do not always correspond to those obtained through another. We have, therefore, presented a brief synthesis of various findings in the concluding section

FOXO3 gene hypermethylation and its marked downregulation in breast cancer cases: A study on female patients

BackgroundFOXO3, a member of the FOX transcription factor family, is frequently described as being deregulated in cancer. Additionally, notable role of FOXO3 can be easily recognized in the process of ageing and survival. Even though various studies have been done to acknowledge the tumour-suppressive or oncogenic role of FOXO3 in cancer, still there exist a lack of understanding in terms of cancer prognosis and treatment. Therefore, to provide better insight, our study aims to evaluate the role and function of FOXO3 in breast cancer in Indian female patients. We examined the FOXO3 expression levels in breast cancer samples by analyzing mRNA and protein expression along with its clinicopathological parameters.ResultsA total of 127 cases of breast cancer with equal normal cases (n=127) were assessed with methylation (MS-PCR), Immunohistochemistry (IHC), mRNA expression using Real-time PCR was analysed and 66.14% cases at mRNA level were found to be downregulated, while 81.10% of cases had little or very little protein expression. Our data state, the promoter hypermethylation of the FOXO3 gene and the downregulated protein expression are significantly correlated (p=0.0004). Additionally, we found a significant correlation between the level of FOXO3 mRNA with ER (p=0.04) and status of lymph node (p=0.01) along with this.ConclusionData suggests the prognostic significance and the tumour-suppressive role of FOXO3 in breast cancer cases studied in India. However, there is a need for the extended research targeting FOXO3 to measure its clinical potential and develop well-defined therapeutic strategies

Expression of M. tuberculosis-induced suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS) 1, SOCS3, FoxP3 and secretion of IL-6 associates with differing clinical severity of tuberculosis

Background Appropriate immune activation of T cells and macrophages is central for the control of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections. IFN-γ stimulated responses are lowered in tuberculosis (TB), while expression of Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling (SOCS) molecules – 1 and 3 and CD4+CD25+FoxP3+T regulatory cells is increased. Here we investigated the association of these molecules in regard to clinical severity of TB. Methods Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from patients with pulmonary TB (PTB, n = 33), extra-pulmonary TB (ETB, n = 33) and healthy endemic controls (EC, n = 15). Cases were classified as moderately advanced or far advanced PTB, and less severe or severe disseminated ETB. M. tuberculosis -stimulated IFN-γ, SOCS1, SOCS3 and FoxP3 gene expression and secretion of Th1 and Th2 cytokines was measured. Statistical analysis was performed using Mann–Whitney U, Wilcoxon Rank and Kruskal Wallis non-parametric tests. Results In un-stimulated PBMCs, IL-6 (p = 0.018) and IL-10 (p = 0.013) secretion levels were increased in PTB while IL-10 was also increased in ETB (p = 0.003), all in comparison with EC. M. tuberculosis-stimulated IL-6 (p = 0.003) was lowered in ETB as compared with EC. SOCS1 mRNA expression in M. tuberculosis stimulated PBMCs levels in moderately advanced PTB (p = 0.022), far advanced (p = 0.014) PTB, and severe ETB (p = 0.009) were raised as compared with EC. On the other hand, SOCS1 mRNA titers were reduced in less severe ETB, in comparison with severe ETB (p = 0.027) and far advanced PTB (p = 0.016). SOCS3 mRNA accumulation was reduced in far advanced PTB (p = 0.007) and FoxP3 mRNA expression was increased in less severe ETB as compared with EC (p = 0.017). Conclusions The lowered SOCS1 mRNA levels in patients with less severe extra-pulmonary TB as compared to those with more severe ETB and PTB may lead to elevated IFN-γ pathway gene expression in the latter group. As localized ETB has shown to be associated with more effective Th1 immunity and adaptive responses, this suggests a role for SOCS1 in determining disease outcome in extra-pulmonary TB

Two-stage NOx removal using high temperature urea SNCR and low temperature secondary additive injection

In order to control Nitric Oxide (NO) in flue gases emanating from coal fired power plants, one possible way of using selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR), at lower molar ratios and minimum ammonia slip, may be the combination of SNCR processes with a back-end NO oxidation process. At low molar ratios, residual NO that escapes from the high temperature urea SNCR (900°C to 1200°C) process, may be oxidized to NO 2 by compounds containing (-OH) group injected at low temperature secondary stage and this NO 2 can then be removed by scrubbing. In present study, low temperature (500°C to 800°C) gas phase oxidation of NO using compounds containing (OH) group such as methanol is initially investigated. Subsequently, experiments were performed by combining this low temperature gas phase oxidation at the back end of high temperature urea SNCR in a two-stage experimental setup. The results of initial (-OH) additive injections in flue gases revealed that the additive investigated has an optimum temperature window for efficient NO to NO 2 conversion which ranges from 600 to 750°C. The optimum reaction time within this temperature window was found to be between 0.4 to 0.6 seconds. Investigations with two-stage experimental setup have shown that significant improvement in primary stage NOx reduction efficiency can be achieved by low temperature injection of additives in the second stage. A 50% to 150% increase in the overall removal was achieved using methanol solution in second stage with urea in primary stage. Through a selection of primary and secondary additives, with due considerations to their optimum temperature ranges, the efficiency could be increased to 97%. Low temperature NO removal, increase in efficiency and the low optimum amount of secondary additives (M=1.0) reflected the attractive features of two-stage NO removal technique