Impact of Social Media on the Success of Technological Entrepreneurial Ventures

Business methods and practices have changed due to development in the technology. The tools of technology have brought a paradigm shift in the business techniques. Social media has now become a significant factor for the entrepreneurs. Social media is the vital dependency factor of entrepreneurial growth and development. The paper discusses the impact of Social Media on the success of technological entrepreneurial ventures in Pakistan. The sample of research includes the entrepreneurial ventures of software industry in Pakistan. The research purpose is to study the impact of social media practices of marketing, branding, networking and communication on the business success. Questionnaire based study is carried out to collect the data from software entrepreneurial ventures to test the hypothesis of research. Statistical analysis is performed on the data to study the association between success and social media. The results show that strong impact of social media is found on the success of entrepreneurial ventures. The strongest significant relationship is found between social media communication and networking with the technological entrepreneurial growth and success. Keywords: Technology Entrepreneurship, Social Media, Entrepreneurial Success, Social Media Practices, Technological Entrepreneurial Venture

Luteolin as a potent anti-leishmanial agent against intracellular Leishmania tropica parasite

Purpose: To examine the anti-leishmanial and cytotoxic effects of five naturally occurring phenolic compounds: luteolin (1), lalioside (2), luteolin-4’-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (3), apigenin 4-O-β-Dglucopyranoside (4) and apigenin (5) on Leishmania tropica KWH23 amastigotes .Methods: The compounds were isolated from the leaves of Lawsonia Inermis via hyphenated high performance liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry coupled with solid phase extraction-tube transfer nuclear magnetic resonance technique. The isolated compounds were given intraperitoneally to L. tropica KWH23 amastigotes-infected albino mice at a dose of ≥ 3 mg/kg for 5 days. Amphotericin-B was used as standard (reference) drug. Lymphocytes were used to analyze their cytotoxicity.Results: For compound 1, mean lesion size decreased from 0.82 ± 0.12 to 0.10 ± 0.01 after 120 days, with 97 % cure of intracellular L. tropica amastigotes at a dose of 15 mg/kg, compared to amphotericin B which produced 95 % cure at a dose of 30 mg/kg. Half-maximal concentration (IC50) for compound 1 was 4.15 μg/ml against lymphocytes.Conclusion: The results indicate that luteolin is a potent inhibitor of L. tropica  amastigotes, with a higher cytotoxic activity against lymphocytes, compared with luteolin-4’-O-β-D-glucopyranoside.Keywords: Leishmania tropica, Luteolin, Lalioside, Luteolin-4’-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, Apigenin 4-O- β-D-glucopyranoside, Apigeni

Prevalence of unrecognized depression in patients admitted in medical and surgical departments of a tertiary care hospital: a comparative analysis, Karachi, Pakistan

Objective The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of depression in medical and surgical department using PHQ-9 questionnaire and to compare the incidence of depression in acute and chronic medical and surgical patients. Material and Methods This cross-sectional comparative analysis was conducted from April 2013 to March 2014. All patients admitted in the medicine and surgical departments were enrolled in the study. Patients with known history of depression or any other psychiatric history or on anti-depressants or on anti-psychotics were excluded from the study. Patients presenting with self-poisoning or any other suicidal attempt were also excluded from the study. Two residents from each department were trained to interview the patients according to the PHQ-9 questionnaire. The prevalence of depression was then seen in surgical and medical patients. Depression and its severity was seen and compared between the acute and chronic disorders of surgical and medical patients. Depression was also seen in between both genders in medical and surgical patients. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS (IBM SPSS Statistics 20.0). Results A total of 748 patients were enrolled in which 399 patients and 349 patients were enrolled from the medicine and surgery department respectively. The mean age was 46.14 + 15 years of medical patients and 40.23 + 15 years of surgical patients. Among the 399 medical patients 233 (58.4%) were males, 349 surgical patients 178 (58%) were males. Gender was not found to be significantly associated with depression in medical (p= 0.367) and in surgical patients (p=0.606). Minimal depression was found in 48 (12%) medical patients and 131 (37.5%) surgical patients. Moderately severe and severe depression was found in 33 (8.3%) and 37 (9.3%) in medical patients respectively. While in surgical patients moderately severe depression was seen in 42 (12%) and severe depression was seen in 9 (2.6%) patients. Depression was significantly associated with acute and chronic medical disorders with a p<0.001.Depression was not significantly associated with acute and chronic surgical disorders with a p=0.059. Conclusion Unrecognized depression is a major health burden in Pakistan, and depression was significantly associated with acute and chronic medical disorders.sch_podpub3826pu

Synthesis of N-substituted acetamide derivatives of azinane-bearing 1,3,4-oxadiazole nucleus and screening for antibacterial activity

Purpose: To synthesize some acetamide derivatives bearing azinane and 1,3,4-oxadiazole heterocyclic cores and to evaluate their antibacterial potentials.Methods: Ethyl piperidin-4-carboxylate (2) was converted to ethyl 1-[(4-chlorophenyl)sulfonyl]piperidin- 4-carboxylate (3), 1-[(4-chlorophenyl)sulfonyl]piperidin-4-carbohydrazide (4) and 5-[1-(4-chlorophenylsulfonyl)-4-piperidinyl]-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-thiol (5) using three consecutive steps. The target molecules, 5-{1-[(4-chlorophenyl)sulfonyl]piperidin-4-yl}-2-{[N-(substituted)-2-acetamoyl]thio]}-1,3,4- oxadiazole (8a-n) were synthesized by stirring 5 and N-aryl-2-bromoacetamides (7a-n) in an aprotic polar solvent. The structures were corroborated by infrared (IR), electron impact mass spectrometry (EIMS) and proton/carbon nuclear magnetic resonance (1H/13C-NMR) spectroscopic techniques. The evaluation of antibacterial activity was based on the effect on the increase in absorbance of the broth medium due to log phase microbial growth.Results: Compound 8g bearing a 2-methylphenyl group was the most the active growth inhibitor of Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis bacterial strains with minimum  inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of 10.63±0.97, 10.31±1.00, 10.45 ± 0.94 and 11.77±5.00 μM, respectively. Ciprofloxacin was used as reference standard.Conclusion: All the synthesized compounds are moderate inhibitors but relatively more active against Gram-negative bacterial strains. 5-{1-[(4- Chlorophenyl)sulfonyl]piperidin-4-yl}-2-{[N-(2-methylphenyl)-2- acetamoyl]thio]}-1,3,4-oxadiazole (8g) is the most active growth inhibitor of all the strains except Staphylococcus aureus.Keywords: 1,3,4-Oxadiazole, Acetamides, Antibacterial activity, Piperidin

An Empirical Analysis of Defense-Economic Growth Relationship in Pakistan

Since the last quarter of 20th century the macroeconomic impact of defense spending on the economic growth have attracted the attention of many researchers, academician and policy makers. During the cold war the US defense strategy against the Soviet Union was the first time when it was derived. After the cold war a reduction in defense spending was observed which was named as “Peace Dividend”. Most of the developing and developed countries try to make peace and promote it but still it is seen that large portion of the overall global GDP is spent on the defense sector. This study surveys defense-growth nexus by incorporating openness to trade, external debt, gross capital formation and labor force in production function. The study uses annual time series data over the period 1972-2016. For estimation purposes, the study employed ADF unit root test and P-P unit root test for testing stationarity properties, ARDL Bound test to cointegration used for testing long run relationship. The empirical evidence of the study reveals that Economic growth is positively affected by spending on defense sector, capital investments, labor force, and openness to trade in long run while external debt has a negative effect on economic growth. Apart from this, empirical evidence also suggests that in short run; there is positive imperative role of capital investment, defense spending, and openness to trade in growth process, while external debt retards the pace of economic growth. Results of the study indicates that defense spending could be used as a fiscal tool for achieving sustainable growth, government should invest high R&D in defense sector in order to produce modernize defense products which would reduce high importation cost of expensive defense products, and through selling these defense products, not only the defense sector would be self-sufficient but would also contribute to growth process by exporting the defense products

Presentation_1_Urban housing prices, female labor participation, and economic development in china: A theoretical and empirical analysis.pdf

China's housing distribution system has undergone a major transformation, and the country's housing markets have experienced a rapid price increase. However, the extent to which urban housing prices influence female labor participation (FLP) in labor decision-making and how the FLP rate affects economic development has not been sufficiently investigated. Accordingly, we first build a theoretical neoclassical economic development model that includes housing consumption factors to estimate the effect of housing price dynamics on FLP. We then use the 2017 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) database to empirically estimate the intrinsic relationship between urban housing prices, FLP, and economic development through the lens of the balanced growth path, and we come up with four main findings. First, the theoretical model demonstrates that rising housing prices increase FLP, stimulating economic development. However, an excessive increase in housing prices will undermine women's ability to drive economic development. Second, the empirical evidence shows that a unit increase in housing prices increases the probability of FLP by 0.186%. Third, the effects of housing prices on economic development vary across China's Eastern, Central, and Northeastern regions. Finally, the threshold model shows that FLP positively influences economic development until the housing price logarithm reaches 8.8134, after which FLP's beneficial effect on economic development will be diminished.</p

Role of Increased Exercise Therapy Time in Stroke Rehabilitation

Introduction: Stroke, is an important and well known cause of disability and physical impairment among adults all-over the world. The most commonly accepted treatment to rehabilitate patients with stroke is physiotherapy. The present review is an attempt to explain the impact of increased exercise therapy time (physical or occupational), compared to the normal duration of therapies in patients with stroke. Methods: We systematically searched electronic databases including Medline, Scopus, PubMed, CINAHL, and Cochrane to review published literaturein this area. Electronic searches have shown limited studies, which investigates the effects or no effects of increased duration of physiotherapy in patients following an attack of stroke. Articles, which reported on healthy participants i.e. people without stroke, were excluded. Also excluded were primary prevention studies, economic evaluations, and simple case reports. Results: A total of 175articles were identified using the keywords in the above mentioned databases. However, following the designedinclusion and exclusion criteria for this review only 11articles were included in this review. Conclusion: The result of this review supports the substantiate effectiveness of increased duration of exercise therapy among patients with stroke, as it has a favourable effect on activities of daily living. However, further research is needed in this area due to limited availability of high quality published evidence.sch_pod16pub4218pub

End treatment response and sustained viral response in hepatitis C virus genotype 3 among Pakistani population

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to determine the end treatment response (ETR) and sustained viral response (SVR) to interferon (IFN) and ribavirin in hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 3 in the Pakistani population. DESIGN AND SETTINGS: This is an interventional study conducted from January 2010 to December 2012 in Lyari General Hospital and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Karachi, outpatients department. METHODS: All patients with chronic hepatitis C genotype 3 infections were included. Patients with decom.pensated chronic liver disease, or having coexisting hepatitis B virus/human immunodeficiency virus were excluded. All patients received IFN alpha, 3 million international units (MIU), subcutaneously 3 times weekly and ribavirin &gt;800 mg/d for a period of 6 months. Outcome parameters included ETR (negative polymerase chain reaction [PCR] at the end of therapy), SVR (negative PCR both at the end of treatment and 6 months later), and relapse (PCR negative at the end of treatment but positive 6 months later) were determined. RESULTS: A total of 1170 patients were included with a female to male ratio of 1.64:1 and a mean age of 31.6 (8.4) years. Among 1170 patients, 985 completed the therapy as per the protocol, 119 were defaulted (treatment abandoned before completion), and 66 had to stop treatment due to side effects. ETR was 74.1%, SVR was 98%, relapse rate was 1.5%, and 10.1% were nonresponders. SVR was seen only in patients who had achieved an ETR (n=867). SVR was achieved in 848 patients (out of 867) (98%), relapse was seen in 13 (1.5%), and 6 (0.7%) patients lost follow-up after stopping treatment. Patients achieving ETR and SVR had a mean serum alanine aminotransferase of 71.3 (57.1) and 71.0 (56.5), respectively, which is approximately twice the upper normal limit. CONCLUSION: The conventional IFN and ribavirin therapy in genotype 3 chronic HCV-infected patients gives an ETR and SVR of 74.1% and 98%, respectively.sch_pod33pub3353pub

Knowledge, Skills and Practices of Transient Ischemic Attack Intervention amongst General Practitioners in Karachi, Pakistan

BACKGROUND: The role of a general practitioner (GP) in the early recognition, assessment and management of transient ischemic attack (TIA) is vital to prevent subsequent stroke. The aim of this study was to determine the GPs knowledge of TIA recognition, assessment, and management. METHODS: The study comprised a questionnaire survey of 228 GPs in all 19 towns of Karachi, Pakistan. The questionnaire consists of demographic details and case scenarios based questions which had three responses (yes, no, do not know). Case scenarios were based on the typical neurological cases seen in general practice. The sections covered risk stratification, investigations, and management of TIA. Questionnaire were provided and briefed to GPs by two-trained research assistants. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS (IBM SPSS Statistics 20.0). Data were expressed in frequencies for all questionnaire responses and calculated for all variables in numbers and percentage. Cross tabulation was performed to determine, if there was a relationship between subgroups. Chi-square test was used for comparative analysis. RESULTS: All 228 GPs responded to the survey. Most of the GPs responded correctly to the stratification of risk of TIA, and early risk of subsequent stroke. Majority of the GPs correctly responded to the investigations and the management of TIA. Difficulty in accessing neurological consultation was not identified as a barrier (74%). CONCLUSION: This study concludes that, GPs can recognize TIA reasonably which is a major contribution to the assessment and management of TIA in the community. This is due to the continuous medical education and training in dealing with the specialized groups of patients.sch_pod4pub3583pub