Book Review

Shahid, A. (2010). Silent Voices, Untold Stories: Women Domestic Workers in Pakistan and their Struggle for Empowerment. Oxford University Pres

SILENCE MISDIAGNOSED: MUTISM, AUTISM OR SUBMISSIVENESS? DIAGNOSTIC BIAS IN COLLECTIVISTIC CULTURE

Selective Mutism (SM) is a rare condition which is even rarer in collectivistic cultures. Firstly, SM is most often mistaken/misdiagnosed as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other related conditions due to lack of awareness of SM and the presence of mimicking characteristics of autistic behaviors in SM. Secondly, submissive behaviors in collectivistic societies further veil this rare condition by considering SM rather desirable than a problem. Especially in situations where developmental delay is a comorbid condition it became a great challenge to correctly diagnose among related conditions. We had a twelve years old girl with developmental delays who remained falsely diagnosed with ASD for five years. We have highlighted the diagnostic issues in SM and other related conditions especially ASD that might hinder the development of an appropriate management plan. The study also emphasized the need to develop a standardized assessment tool to diagnose SM considering cultural aspects into account

Interlinkages among Terrorism, Macroeconomic Instability, Political Instability, and Economic Growth in Pakistan

This study attempts to establish the relationship between three types of instabilities and economic growth. Political instability, macroeconomic instability, terrorism, and economic growth are analyzed for the period of 1970 to 2019 in Pakistan. The study constructs the indices of the above-mentioned variables by adding some new variables. Results show that terrorism, political instability, macroeconomic instability, and GDP per capita have long-run associations. GDP per capita and political instability is positively related to terrorism. It indicates that political instable environment paves the way for terrorists to achieve their targets in Pakistan. However, the positive association of GDP per capita to terrorism is due to uneven income distribution pattern. It stimulates deprived groups to become a part of violent activities. Furthermore, results show that macroeconomic performance of a country has no significant effect on terrorist activities but persistent poor performance increases the probability of terrorism. Therefore, in the long-run, macroeconomic instability has positive influence on terrorism. Causality relationships indicate no link between political instability and macroeconomic instability. However, terrorism causes both political and macroeconomic instability in Pakistan

Synthesis and Characterization of Novel Nanobifiller filled Epoxy Anti-Corrosive Nano-Organic coating for High Performance Automotive Applications

Nanobifiller filled epoxy, nylon 66 (PA 66) and their blend-based nanocomposites were prepared by solution casting method to produce anti-corrosive and abrasion resistant epoxy nanocoating for aerospace and automotive applications. Nanobifiller was composed of Bentonite clay modified organically with quaternary salt of threonine amino acid and nanodiamonds (ND). Various techniques were implied to investigate anticorrosive properties of polymeric nanocomposites. These techniques include salt spray analysis and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). It was observed that epoxy nanocomposites prepared are much resistant to corrosion as compared to pristine epoxy samples with improved barrier properties

Chemical Profiling and Bioactivities of Selective Organic Compounds from Fruits of Olea ferruginea and its Comparison with Olea europaea

This study evaluate the chemical profiling and bioactivities of selective organic compounds from fruits of Olea ferruginea and its comparison with Olea europaea from three unexplored locations of Pakistan. The oil was characterized into fatty acids by GC-MS and FT-IR. Antioxidant activities were detected by DPPH, ABTS and H₂O₂ scavenging bioassays. For cytotoxicity, Brine-Shrimp-Cytotoxicity-Bioassay was tested. The extracted oil was checked against five bacterial strains. Higher quantity of phytochemicals and yields of oil were present in fruit of Olea ferruginea collected from Malakand as compared to other locations. Prominent inhibitory activity against E.coli and S.aureus was observed during antibacterial assay. Good quality oil with antioxidant properties obtained from fruit of Olea ferruginea from Malakand. The comparative studies revealed the same qualitative composition of both species but Olea europaea showed greater oil-yield than Olea ferruginea. In consequence, the wild species Olea ferruginea was found to be economical, wild and drought tolerant. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Maternal risk factors and short term outcome of prematurity: A descriptive study at a secondary care hospital

Background: Approximately 15 million babies are born premature (before 37 weeks of gestation) and 1 million babies die due to prematurity complications every year. Less is known about risk factors of prematurity in middle and low-income countries. The prevalence of prematurity ranges from 5% - 18%. Objective: To determine the prevalence of premature births and to assess the rate of survival, along with the morbidity, among preterm newborns. Furthermore, to document our experience with different gestational age groups of preterm births; and to analyze the association among these strata and their clinical outcomes. Study Design: A descriptive study. Place and Duration of Study: The Aga Khan Maternal and Childcare Centre Hyderabad, Pakistan, from 1st January 2017 to 31st December 2018. Methodology: All pregnant women registered at the obstetric clinic before 24 weeks of gestation having at least three subsequent visits at the same clinic were included in the study. The women who were lost to follow up before completing three visits were excluded from the study. All un-booked women were also excluded from the study. Demographic profile was recorded including maternal age, parity, no of visits at the clinic, gestational age, mode of delivery, birth weight and pregnancy outcome. Newborns were subsequently followed at nursery or well-baby till discharge. Further subgroups were made for gestational age to assess the frequency of various morbidities in each group. Results: One thousand and ninety-one (1091) women were included in the study period that fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Two pregnancies were terminated before 24 weeks due to major congenital malformations. The prevalence of prematurity was recorded as 13.4% (146/1089). Perinatal mortality rate (no of stillbirths plus the number of early neonatal death/1000 live birth) was 17 (15.6/1000 live births) out of them, 12 were still births and 5 were early neonatal death. Out of the total preterm babies born, 59.5% (87/146) were admitted to the nursery. In the study group (2%/3146) were extreme preterm, while 7.5% were severe preterm (11/146). Moderate preterm was 11.6% (17/146) and the majority were late preterm accounting for 78.7% (115/146). Though the incidence of birth asphyxia were noted more in late preterm babies i.e. 10 as the number of these babies are also high in our study but the overall percentage was low (8.7%) as compared with the babies of extreme prematurity (100%) and moderate late prematurity (23.5%) respectively. In pregnancy outcome, 12 were still births in which six (50%) were in the late preterm group. Total of 17 newborns suffered from birth asphyxia in which ten newborns (58.8%) were in late preterm group. Overall, it was noted that the decreasing gestational age was directly correlated to morbidity and mortality. Conclusion: Among the different strata, the late preterm group has been observed to be associated with greater morbidity and mortality. Prior awareness of the morbidities associated with late preterm babies is helpful for the health care providers to anticipate and manage potential complications in preterm infants

Impact of Deceptive Marketing on Consumers Behavior: A Case of Cellular Industry of Pakistan

The research study discusses the relationship between deceptive marketing and consumer behavior regarding the telecommunication industry of Pakistan. As Pakistan is the third largest telecommunication emerging market in the world so, the factors that affect the reaction of consumers are important.  Many customers who use different cellular networks are deceived through false marketing and deceptive features shown in the advertising. The factors that are considered deceptive according to the consumers are examined, that are incorrect interpretation, financial and emotional loss and misleading claims to determine consumer behavior. Moreover, the reaction to these factors is also considered when the customer is exposed to deception in marketing. Keywords: Deceptive marketing, Consumers behavior, incorrect interpretation, financial and emotional loss, misleading claims and cellular industry

Performance Management in Public Sector: A Case of Civil Service in Pakistan

The paper deliberates upon the issue of performance management in the specific context of civil service of Pakistan It evaluates the existing system of Performance Evaluation in view of the New Public Management (NPM) reform initiated during the late 1970s (Daley, 1993) across countries including Pakistan. The study adopts a qualitative approach to draw findings. It reveals that performance management system of the Civil Service of Pakistan at both Federal and Provincial level has certain strengths including; thoroughness, comprehensiveness, disciplined tool for promotion and accountability etc. However, the system also suffers from political meddling, extraneous factors, lack of quantification and standardization that hinder the effective functioning of the system. The paper suggests useful policy recommendations and reform measures towards improving the system in this direction

FORECASTING OF SUDDEN PEDESSTRAIN CROSSING FOR SAFE DRIVING DURING NIGHTS BY HIGH INTENSITY NIGHT VISION CAMERA

Sudden pedestrian crossing (SPC) is the major reason for pedestrian-vehicle crashes. In this paper, we focus on detecting SPCs at night for supporting an advanced driver assistance system using a far-infrared (FIR) camera mounted on the front-roof of a vehicle. Although the thermal temperature of the road is similar or higher than that of the pedestrians during summer nights, many previous researches have focused on pedestrian detection during the winter, spring, or autumn seasons. However, our research concentrates on SPC during the hot summer season because the number of collisions between pedestrians and vehicles in Korea is higher at that time than during the other seasons. For real-time processing, we first decide the optimal levels of the image scaling and search area. We then use our proposed method for detecting virtual reference lines that are associated with road segmentation without using color information, and change these lines according to the turning direction of the vehicle. Pedestrian detection is conducted using a cascade random forest with low-dimensional Haar-like features and oriented center symmetric-local binary patterns. The SPC prediction is assessed based on the likelihood and the spatiotemporal features of the pedestrians, such as their overlapping ratio with virtual reference lines, as well as the direction and magnitude of each pedestrian’s movement. The proposed algorithm was successfully applied to various pedestrian dataset captured by an FIR camera, and the results show that its SPC detection performance is better than those of other methods

High-Risk Human Papillomaviruses and Epstein-Barr Virus in Colorectal Cancer and Their Association with Clinicopathological Status.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common malignancy with a high mortality rate worldwide. It is a complex, multifactorial disease that is strongly impacted by both hereditary and environmental factors. The role of microbes (e.g., viruses) in the pathogenesis of CRC is poorly understood. In the current study, we explored the status of high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in a well-defined CRC cohort using immunohistochemistry and polymerase chain reaction assays. Our data showed that high-risk HPVs were common (~80%) and EBV had a low presence (14-25%) in the CRC samples. The most common high-risk HPVs are HPV16, 31, 18, 51, 52 and 45 genotypes. The co-presence of high-risk HPV and EBV was observed in ~16% of the sample population without any significant association with the clinicopathological variables. We conclude that high-risk HPVs are very prevalent in CRC samples while EBV positivity is relatively low. The co-expression of the two viruses was observed in a minority of cases and without any correlation with the studied parameters. Further studies are necessary to confirm the clinical relevance and potential therapeutic (preventive) effects of the observations reported herein.Qatar University grants: QUHI-CMED-19/20-1 and GCC#2017-002 Q