The Surgical Treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Objective:  To evaluate the clinical outcome of surgical treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome. This study was conducted in Neurosurgery unit LRH from March 2006 to May 2008. Fifty patients including 45 female and 5 male with 19 female to male ratio were included in the study. The age range was 35-60 years.  In 75% cases, right hand was affected while 25%, left hand was affected. Bilateral involvement was only in 3 (6%) cases. Pain and paraesthesia was there in all cases in the distribution of median nerve. Phallen test was positive in 85% cases and tenil's sign was positive in 64% cases. Thenar wasting was found in 12 cases (24%). Nerve conduction studies were positive in 45 patients (90%) carpal tunnel stenosis and the entrapment of transverse carpal ligament was found in all cases. All underwent surgical release of median nerve under local Anesthesia. The patients were followed for 4 months. The surgical outcome was excellent in 90%, good in 6% and fair in 4%. Key words:  Carpal tunnel syndrome, Median nerve decompression

Probabilistic and artificial intelligence modelling of drought and agricultural crop yield in Pakistan

Pakistan is a drought-prone, agricultural nation with hydro-meteorological imbalances that increase the scarcity of water resources, thus, constraining water availability and leading major risks to the agricultural productivity sector and food security. Rainfall and drought are imperative matters of consideration, both for hydrological and agricultural applications. The aim of this doctoral thesis is to advance new knowledge in designing hybridized probabilistic and artificial intelligence forecasts models for rainfall, drought and crop yield within the agricultural hubs in Pakistan. The choice of these study regions is a strategic decision, to focus on precision agriculture given the importance of rainfall and drought events on agricultural crops in socioeconomic activities of Pakistan. The outcomes of this PhD contribute to efficient modelling of seasonal rainfall, drought and crop yield to assist farmers and other stakeholders to promote more strategic decisions for better management of climate risk for agriculturalreliant nations

Time and frequency offsets in all optical OFDM systems

Ultra-high-speed data transmission (terabit-per-second per channel) is urgently required in optical communication systems to fulfill the emerging demands of 3D multimedia applications, cloud computing, and bandwidth-hungry applications. In one way by using singlecarrier optical communication systems for the data transmission rates 1 Tb/s, we need the high baud rate and/or the high-order modulation formats (i.e. 512-QAM, 1024-QAM). Another way is to group the data carrying subcarriers without a guard bands (tightly spaced) to form a superchannel which gives increase in channel capacity. In a superchannel, the requirements of high-order modulation formats and high baud rates are relaxed. In an alloptical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (AO-OFDM) system, the subcarriers are orthogonal and closely packed which gives more suitability to form superchannel. This thesis focuses on the time and frequency offsets in AO-OFDM systems. A theoretical model to investigate the performance of on-off-keying (OOK) modulated AO-OFDM system is developed for analytical simulation. The analytical (statistical) model considers the random characteristics of time and frequency offsets in adjacent subcarriers as well as the common noise sources such as shot and thermal noises to calculate the interference variances for evaluating the BER performance. The effects of time and frequency offsets on the BER performance of AO-OFDM system is evaluated with the number of optical subcarriers (NSC), receiver bandwidth (BWRX), and cyclic prefix (CP) We further develop an analytical model to evaluate the performance of AO-OFDM system with advanced modulation format (M-QAM) in the presence of time and frequency offsets, and the performance is compared with numerical simulations of other emulation setups (oddand- even subcarriers and decorrelated systems). The performance is investigated with NSC, BWRX, and CP in AO-OFDM system. A delay-line interferometer based all-optical method to reduce the effects of time and frequency offsets is proposed and evaluated. Finally, performance of demultiplexed subcarriers from an optical discrete Fourier transform (O-DFT) in AO-OFDM system in the presence of chromatic dispersion and limited modulation bandwidth is evaluated. The fiber Bragg grating (FBG) based passive device is proposed to reduce the interference and the results are compared with existing method using sampling gates. The proposed method using FBG for interference reduction provides a cost-effective design of AO-OFDM system

Growth and Nutrition of Plants as Affected by Different Osmotic Concentrations of Calcium Chloride and Sodium Chloride in the Substrate

Considerable experimental evidence supports the concept that the growth of plants generally decreases progressively as the salt concentration of the substrate increases, but certain relationships between plant and substrate are still not fully understood. The chemistry of salt toxicity to plants involves many interactions both as to the quantity and kind of ions presented to the roots and those accumulated in the plants. Many plant species have shown sensitivity to excess accumulation of specific salts frequently encountered in saline soils. Thus Eaton (1942), Wadleigh, Hayward, and Ayers (1951 ) have shown most of the fruit trees to be susceptible to injury as a result of the accumulation of chloride ion. Wadleigh, et al. (1951) have reported orchard grass to be sensitive to calcium salts. Recently, Brown, Wadleigh, and Hayward (1953) have found calcium chloride more toxic to some fruit trees than isosmotic levels of sodium chloride. These and other studies have indicated a greater influence of specific ions than of the osnotic pressure of the solution

ROLE OF PERMEABILITY ON FOAM FLOW

Foam has been used for decades as an application in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and well simulation operations. Foam is employed to improve the sweep efficiency by which the displacing fluid recovers residual oil in reservoir Foam is used in various reservoirs different permeabilities and the effect of this on foam flow has not been thoroughly researched. This project discusses the effects of changes in formation of foam flow as well as methods to optimize the effect of foam flow in varying permeabilities

Osteomalacia in Neurosurgical Practice - A Review of 32 Cases

Objectives:  To assess the apparently neurosurgical presentation of patients suffering from osteomalacia which is potentially preventable and treatable metabolic disease, (mimicking discogenic disorder), osteomalacia. Study Duration:  January 2005 to December 2006, covering a period of two years in the department of Neuro-surgery Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar and Department of Medicine Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar. Study Design:  Descriptive observational study. Material & Method:  This is a review study of 32 cases of osteomalacia presenting as discogenic disorder, collected from the Neurosurgery OPD. A separate Performa, which outlined, age, sex, marital status, gestational history, educational status, main presenting complaints, history of exposure to sunlight in the domain of urban and rural set up. The duration of the symptoms, history of medical and surgical treatment and procedures was used. This was supplemented by appropriate hematological and biochemical profile namely hemoglobin con-centration, ESR, serum calcium, phosphate and serum alkaline phosphates levels. A detailed note of the plain radiological findings mainly the looser zones and CT scan or MRI findings was also made to exclude the other diseases. All patients having biochemical profile and radiological evidence of osteomalacia were included. While patients having other orthopedic, neurosurgical and medical conditions not fulfilling this criteria were excluded. The available data was analyzed according to the set parameters and was later used for discussion and recommendation.     &nbsp

Management of Depressed Skull Fracture: A Study of 93 Cases

Objective:  To determine the correlation of skull fracture with dural tear in head injury patients presenting to a tertiary care hospital. Patients and Methods:  This study was carried out at Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar from January 2008 to December 2008. All patients who were operated for depressed skull fracture during this study period ware included in the study. X-ray skull and CT scan brain were done for all patients; side and site of skull fracture were noted on imaging and during surgery. The incidence of dural tear associated with depressed skull fracture in various age groups and gender was noted. The results were analyzed using SPSS various 11. Results:  A total of 93 patients of depressed skull fracture were operated. There were 64 male and 29 female. Fall from the height was the main cause of trauma (61.3%). Most of the patients presented with moderate head injury. Dural injury was noted in 59.1% of the cases leading to neurodeficit in the form of hemeparesis/ hemiplegia in majority of cases. All patients were operated elevating the depressed fragments and dura repaired. Conclusion:  Dural injury is associated with morbidity in the form of hemiparesis / hemiplegia in patient having depressed skull fracture mainly at franto-patietal region for which prompt surgical intervention and dural repair are the procedures of choice. Key Words:  Depressed skull fracture, head trauma, duroplasty

Real Private Consumption Expenditure Modeling: An Empirical Study on Pakistan

This paper presents a model for Pakistan’s real private consumption expenditure, with the aim of generating a better understanding of the factors that determine private consumption in Pakistan and for the purpose of forecasting consumption expenditure growth. The model is estimated over period 1971 to 2012 as an (ARDL), allowing for lagged terms so as to capture dynamic adjustment effects. The results suggest that Pakistan’s real private consumption adjusts fast to equilibrium levels in the current period (t), from a disequilibrium experienced in the previous period (t-1). In the short run, real private consumption growth is significantly affected by changes in wealth and unemployment rate. The relationship between consumption, wealth income, rate of interest and unemployment rate. Both the wealth variable and unemployment are significant in determining long run consumption growth, moreover, results of the forecast evolution indicate that the parsimonious short run model has the potential to provide reliable consumption forecasts in the medium term