Formal and Informal Sector Working Women: A Comparative Analysis of Their Contribution in Family Budget

The paper estimated the comparison of formal and informal sector working women (16-60 years) contribution in their household budget. Employing the OLS model on 936 observations, it is found that married women (in formal and informal sector), women as head of household (in formal and informal sector), having assets (in informal sector), and belonging to nuclear families (in formal and informal sector) are contributing more to their household budget. There exists also a positive relationship between the contribution of women and unemployed husbands (only for informal sector), presence of infants (only for informal sector) in the household, and utilization of loan by household (only for informal sector). The presence of school-age children (only for informal sector), presence of adults (male and female) (only for informal sector), and husband’s educational status (only for informal sector) negatively affects the contribution. It is proposed to intervene by government for education of women, provision of assets and loan by public sector

Provision of Classroom Environment for Students with Hearing Impairment: Case Study of a Special School in Karachi City

This quantitative case study was conducted at a special school in Karachi city to find out the provision of classroom environment for students with hearing impairment. The data collected through a checklist was analyzed through descriptive statistics and One-Sample Test. The study concluded that the teachers consider the special needs of their students while organizing classroom environment for their students with hearing impairment. Most of them were using multi-sensory resources and learning equipment but there was a lack of provision of instructional area in classroom for different activities that is why majority of the teachers always teach whole class at a time and never provide group activities either in form of small groups or in pair of students. Although mostly the classes have rows of desk for students with hearing impairment but sometimes the teachers could manage to allow students to work alone. Keywords: Classroom environment, students with hearing impairment, special school. DOI: 10.7176/PPAR/9-5-04 Publication date:May 31st 201

A novel multilevel DC - AC converter from green energy power generators using step-square waving and PWM technique

Green energy sources or renewable energy system generally utilize modular approach in their design. This sort of power sources are generally in DC form or in single cases AC. Due to high fluctuation in the natural origin of this energy (wind & solar) source they are stored as DC. DC power however are difficult to transfer over long distances hence DC to AC converters and storage system are very important in green energy system design. In this work we have designed a novel multilevel DC to AC converter that takes into account the modular design of green energy systems. A power conversion efficiency of 99% with reduced total harmonic distortion (THD) was recorded from our simulated system design

Non-traumatic right hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm: An unusual cause of hemobilia and obstructive jaundice

Most hepatic artery pseudoaneurysms (HAPA) are post traumatic, and non-traumatic pseudoaneurysm is rarely reported. It is a potentially life threatening vascular disorder and difficult to diagnose before rupture. Early diagnosis and prompt nonoperative intervention of this lesion could be life saving. The authors report the case of a patient with hemobilia caused by ruptured right hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm and subsequently developed right hepatic duct stricture, which has not been reported previously. This patient was successfully treated with endovascular stent graft of pseudoaneurysm and endoscopic stenting of right hepatic duct stricture

Pleural Mesothelioma: Unexpected Finding in a Young Man

Pleural mesothelioma is the disease of the elderly, usually in the seventh decade of life. Asbestos exposure is the most common finding among these patients. Other causes include a simian virus, radiation exposure, genetic predisposition and erionite. Common symptoms include shortness of breath, weight loss, dull achy chest pain on the site of the lesion and anorexia. Pleural effusion is common and video-assisted thoracoscopic (VATS) biopsy is the investigation of choice. pleurectomy, pleuro-pneumonectomy and cisplatin-based therapy are management modalities depending upon the stage of the disease. We are presenting an unusual case of pleural mesothelioma in a young patient with no significant exposure to the causative agent

Acute mesenteric, portal and inferior vena cava, venous thrombosis, anticoagulation

The prevalence and clinical spectrum of acute mesenteric venous thrombosis (AMVT) in Pakistan is largely unknown. The authors report two patients with acute mesenteric, portal and inferior vena cava venous thrombosis confirmed on CT imaging. The diagnoses were established within 24 hours of presentation and both patients were successfully treated with therapeutic heparin during hospital admission and continued on oral warfarin because of hypercoagulable state. The protocol that we currently use is evidence based and is leading to optimal outcome

Significance of Neuropilin-1 (CD 304) Expression in Paediatric B- Lineage Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL)

Background: To determine the prognostic significance of NRP-1 (CD304) expression in paediatric B-lineage Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) patients. Methods: In this comparative study newly diagnosed cases (aged 1-15 years) of B-ALL were selected. Age and sex matched, 21 healthy controls were also included in the study to assess the NRP-1 expression on peripheral blood lymphocytes. A minimum 1ml of blood and bone marrow aspirate samples were taken in EDTA vacutainer and immunophenotyping was done on gated blast cells using an extensive panel of antibodies including myeloid markers (CD13, CD33 and cytoplasmic anti-MPO) and lymphoid markers (CD34, CD2, CD3, CD5, CD7, CD4, CD8, HLA DR, CD10, CD19, CD22; cytoplasmic CD3, CD22, CD79a and nuclear anti-TdT). The sample was considered NRP-1 positive if 20% or more of the gated blast cells expressed it . Man-Witney U test and Kruskal Wallis test were used for non-parametric data. The p value <0.05 was considered significant. Results: Out of 66 B-ALL patients, 53% were males. There were 20 (30%) NRP-1 positive and 46 (70%) NRP-1 negative patients. The prognosis of NRP-1 positive group was poor as compared to NRP-1 negative group with high blast percentage (80%) (p= 0.042), low morphological remission rate (21%) (p=0.004) and low survival rate (29%) (p=0.009). The mean survival days in dead patients was also less (22.75 days). Conclusion: NRP-1 over expression is associated with disease progression and severity in paediatric B-ALL patients

PHYLLOIDES TUMOUR: REVIEW OF AN UNCOMMON BREAST PATHOLOGY AT A SPECIALIZED CANCER CENTRE

Purpose: Phyllodes tumours are rare breast tumours that comprise almost 1% of breast tumours. The outcome for these tumours is generally considered better than breast cancers. We review the cases of phyllodes tumour presenting to a specialised cancer centre over a 14 year period. Materials and Methods: All case records with the diagnosis of phyllodes tumour between 1999 and 2012 were retrieved from the cancer registry. Patient demographics, tumour site, size, axillary lymph node status, whether primary or recurrent, metastatic status, histological type, type of surgery, any complication, margin positivity, post-operative radiation therapy, local or distant recurrence, morality and follow-up duration were recorded. Data were analysed using SPSS. Results: A total of 77 cases of phyllodes tumour were seen between 1999 and 2012. All patients were female with a mean age of 39.9 years. All patients presented with a breast lump with median duration of 8 months. Almost two-thirds (65%) of the patients presented with primary tumour compared to 10% recurrent tumours and the rest were referred after surgery outside. Median size on histopathology was 5 cm (IQR 3.5–8.5 cm). Over a median follow-up duration of 31 months (IQR 9–48 months), 69 patients (89.6%) were alive, while 3 patients (3.9%) did not survive and 5 patients (6.4%) were lost to follow-up. Recurrence was seen in 10 (13%) patients with median time to recurrence of 12 months (IQR 7–24). Involved axillary lymph nodes and borderline or malignant histopathology were found to be signi cantly associated with recurrence (P = 0.04), while margin positivity, post operative radiation therapy and histopathology were not signi cantly associated with recurrence. Conclusion: Phyllodes tumour is an uncommon breast tumour that is predominantly treated with surgical excision. Although survival with these tumours is better compared to breast cancers, involvement of axillary nodes and borderline or malignant histopathology confer an increased risk of recurrence in these patients. Key words: Breast cancer, phyllodes tumours, survival

Acute mesenteric, portal and inferior vena cava (IVC) venous thrombosis: optimal outcome achieved with anticoagulation

The prevalence and clinical spectrum of acute mesenteric venous thrombosis (AMVT) in Pakistan is largely unknown. The authors report two patients with acute mesenteric, portal and inferior vena cava venous thrombosis confirmed on CT imaging. The diagnoses were established within 24 hours of presentation and both patients were successfully treated with therapeutic heparin during hospital admission and continued on oral warfarin because of hypercoagulable state. The protocol that we currently use is evidence based and is leading to optimal outcome

In-Vitro Study of Low Viscosity, and High Viscosity Direct Compression and conventional Grade Hypromellose for Modified Release Gliclazide tablets

Six different low to high viscosity hypromellose were used with lower soluble Gliclazide, alone to investigate the dissolution study and flow property. Dissolution behavior of formulated tablets was tested to identify the better efficacy. Dose dumping, pH dependency also was examined. Anti-diabetic Gliclazide tablets were prepared by direct compression method and the results of dissolution was found good in Methocel K100M DC for 73.25%. Tablets showed uniform weight, thickness, and lower percent ( 0.5%) friability. Result of Carrs index and Hausner ratio indicated good flow properties of powder granules. The percent release of the Gliclazide was analyzed by kinetic models. Release of the drug was higher using the higher viscosity grade. Gliclazide tablets were determined with the goodness of fit test of kinetic models. The release showed linearity in Higuchi Model with correlation coefficient value of R 2 = 0.973. In-vitro study demonstrated improved release profile using DC grade than CR grade alone