What Makes Student’s Click: An Investigation on Student Consumer Decisions from Karachi.

In Pakistan’s most sectors of the economy, it can be seen that companies, FMCG’s and other conglomerates are now in the gradual generalization of their brands and are now even more reluctant to use them in the local context while planning on growing to other frontiers. The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of market reputation, brand value, promotions and customer reviews on purchase decisions of students when they are opting for a brand on the basis of its image, attributes, likeability Information was collected from students of 5 universities in Karachi via the use of Quota sampling. Utilizing this approach, a Questionnaires based on likert scale (1-5) was floated. After conducting exploratory factor analysis for validity, Cronbach’s alpha for reliability of the constructs, multiple linear regression and partial correlation was used to test the stated hypotheses, it was seen that mainstream concept of marketing and advertising, Customer reviews and a brand’s market reputation  purchasing a brand have now become a significant predictor on the purchase of the brand.  Since marketing and promotions are now regular techniques, customers are now aware of this and tend to go for brands they consider are higher in value to them rather than cheap promotions to sell a product. Keywords: Brand Value, Materialism, Regret, Skepticism towards Advertising, Purchase Decision

Focused abdominal sonography for trauma (FAST) in blunt paediatric abdominal trauma

Objective: To evaluate the role of focussed abdominal sonography for trauma in blunt paediatric abdominal trauma patients, and to see if the role of computed tomography scan could be limited to only those cases in which sonography was positive.Methods: The retrospective study covered 10 years, from January 1,2000 to December 31,2009, and was conducted at the Department of Radiology and Department of Emergency Medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi. It comprised cases of 174 children from birth to 14 years who had presented with blunt abdominal trauma and had focussed abdominal sonography for trauma done at the hospital. The findings were correlated with computed tomography scan of the abdomen and clinical follow-up. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of focussed abdominal sonography for trauma were calculated for blunt abdominal trauma. SPSS 17 was used for statistical analysis.Results: Of the total 174 cases, 31 (17.81%) were later confirmed by abdominal scan. Of these 31 children, sonography had been positive in 29 (93.54%) children. In 21 (67.74%) of the 31 children, sonograpy had been true positive; 8 (25%) (8/31) were false positive; and 2 (6%) (2/31) were false negative. There were 6 (19.3%) children in which sonography was positive and converted to laparotomy. There was no significant difference on account of gender (p\u3e0.356). Focussed abdominal sonography for trauma in the study had sensitivity of 91%, specificity of 95%, positive predictive value of 73%, and negative predictive value of 73% with accuracy of 94%. All patients who had negative sonography were discharged later, and had no complication on clinical follow-up.Conclusions: Focussed abdominal sonography for trauma is a fairly reliable mode to assess blunt abdominal trauma in children. It is a useful tool to pick high-grade solid and hollow viscous injury. The results suggest that the role of computed tomography scan can be limited to those cases in which focussed sonography is positive

Zinc oxide nanoparticles selectively induce apoptosis in human cancer cells through reactive oxygen species

Mohd Javed Akhtar1,2, Maqusood Ahamed3, Sudhir Kumar1, MA Majeed Khan3, Javed Ahmad4, Salman A Alrokayan31Department of Zoology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, India; 2Fibre Toxicology Division, CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow, India; 3King Abdullah Institute for Nanotechnology, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; 4Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaBackground: Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) have received much attention for their implications in cancer therapy. It has been reported that ZnO NPs induce selective killing of cancer cells. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms behind the anticancer response of ZnO NPs remain unclear.Methods and results: We investigated the cytotoxicity of ZnO NPs against three types of cancer cells (human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2, human lung adenocarcinoma A549, and human bronchial epithelial BEAS-2B) and two primary rat cells (astrocytes and hepatocytes). Results showed that ZnO NPs exert distinct effects on mammalian cell viability via killing of all three types of cancer cells while posing no impact on normal rat astrocytes and hepatocytes. The toxicity mechanisms of ZnO NPs were further investigated using human liver cancer HepG2 cells. Both the mRNA and protein levels of tumor suppressor gene p53 and apoptotic gene bax were upregulated while the antiapoptotic gene bcl-2 was downregulated in ZnO NP-treated HepG2 cells. ZnO NPs were also found to induce activity of caspase-3 enzyme, DNA fragmentation, reactive oxygen species generation, and oxidative stress in HepG2 cells.Conclusion: Overall, our data demonstrated that ZnO NPs selectively induce apoptosis in cancer cells, which is likely to be mediated by reactive oxygen species via p53 pathway, through which most of the anticancer drugs trigger apoptosis. This study provides preliminary guidance for the development of liver cancer therapy using ZnO NPs.Keywords: ZnO nanoparticles, cancer therapy, p53, apoptosis, RO

Development and Evaluation of Sustained Release Microspheres of Repaglinide for Management of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Sustained release dosage form is essential for diabetic patients which is marked by continuous therapy along with high margin of safety, patient compliance and fulfill economical features. Repaglinide is a class of meglitinide, a drug of choice to formulate microspheres by utilizing sodium alginate, olibanum gum and pectin in different ratios by using ionic-gelation method. Excellent results were found in rheological behavior and release studies. Microspheres size and percentage yield was found in the range of 694 ?m to 727 ?m and 73% to 75% respectively. SEM revealed that microspheres were discrete, spherical and free flowing. Entrapment efficiency was variable, ranges from 55% to 75%. Uniform drug release was observed in drug release kinetics, followed Higuchi model with non-fickian release. These microspheres proved to be suitable for oral sustained release of repaglinide. Keywords: Repaglinide, Microsphere, Ionic-gelation method, Olibanum gum, Pecti

Nebivolol Attenuates Neutrophil Lymphocyte Ratio: A Marker of Subclinical Inflammation in Hypertensive Patients

Background. High value of neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a strong independent predictor and biomarker of ongoing vascular inflammation in various cardiovascular disorders. Objective. The main focus of the study is to investigate the effect of nebivolol on NLR in mild to moderate hypertensive patients in comparison with metoprolol. In addition, BMI, blood pressure, TLC count, blood sugar, and lipid profile were also assayed before and after treatment. Materials and Methods. In this 12-week prospective double-blinded randomized study, 120 patients with mild to moderate hypertension were randomly divided into two groups to prescribed daily dose of tab nebivolol 5–10 mg and metoprolol 50–100 mg, respectively, for 12 weeks. The data were analyzed using SPSS 16 software. Results. A total of 100 patients completed the study. Both drugs lowered blood pressure significantly, nebivolol 20.5/10.5 and metoprolol 22.5/11.2 (p<0.001) from baseline. Regarding inflammation, nebivolol reduced total leukocyte count (p=0.005) and neutrophil count (p=0.003) and increased lymphocyte count (p=0.004) as compared to metoprolol. Similarly, nebivolol but not metoprolol significantly reduced NLR ratio (p=0.07). Nebivolol improved lipid profile and blood sugar compared to metoprolol, but values were nonsignificant. Conclusion. Nebivolol has a strong impact on reducing NLR, a marker of subclinical inflammation in hypertensive patients. Moreover NLR can be used as a disease and drug monitoring tool in these patients

Predicted risk factors associated with secondary infertility in women: univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses

IntroductionInfertile women are those who regularly engage in unprotected intercourse for a period of at least 1 year and are unable to become clinically pregnant. Primary infertility means the inability of couples to conceive, without any previous successful pregnancies. Secondary Infertility refers to the inability to get pregnant for 12 months, after having a previous pregnancy for one time at least. The objectives of the current study were to analyze risk factors for secondary infertility and compare the predictive accuracy of artificial neural network (ANN) and multiple logistic regression models.MethodsThe study was conducted at The University Institute of Public Health collecting data from Gilani Ultrasound Center 18 months after approval of synopsis. A total of 690 women (345 cases and 345 controls) were selected. The women selected for the case group had to be 20–45 years of age, had any parity, and had a confirmed diagnosis of secondary infertility.ResultsMultiple logistic regression (MLR) and ANN were used. The chance of secondary infertility was 2.91 times higher in women living in a joint family [odds ratio (OR) = 2.91; 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.91, 4.44)] and was also 2.35 times higher for those women who had relationship difficulties with their husband [OR = 2.35; 95% CI (1.18, 4.70)]. Marriage at an earlier age was associated with secondary infertility with β being negative and OR being &lt; 1 [OR = 0.94; 95% CI (0.88, 0.99)]. For the logistic regression model, the area under the receiver operative characteristic curve (ROC) was 0.852 and the artificial neural network was 0.87, which was better than logistic regression.DiscussionIdentified risk factors of secondary infertility are mostly modifiable and can be prevented by managing these risk factors

Economic evaluation of bakanae disease of rice

Bakanae disease infestation levels of 5, 10, 25, 50, 75 and 100% seedlings were compared with non-infested control in a field trial. According to the results treatments with 5, 10, 25, 50, 75 and 100% infestation had significantly lower paddy yields of 4.15, 3.95, 3.75, 2.97, 2.45 and 1.87 t/ha respectively against 4.45 t/ha paddy yield in the control. Losses of 57.97% were recorded in 100% infested treatment producing 68.40% seedling infection. The study indicated the potential of the disease to cause heavy economic losses

Diabetes mellitus among tuberculosis patients: a cross sectional study from Pakistan

Background: The co-occurrence of diabetes mellitus (DM) and tuberculosis (TB) is largely associated with high frequency of morbidity. Objective: To determine the prevalence of DM among TB patients and describe the socio-demographic and behavioral factors associated with TB-DM co-occurrence . Methods: We enrolled 500 TB patients from September, 2014 to August 2015 at four major public sector hospitals of Lahore, Pakistan. A questionnaire was used to collect information regarding associated socio-demographic and behavioral factors of the patients. We monitored the fasting blood sugar of each patient by using a semi automated clinical chemistry analyzer followed by an HbA1c level check of all hyperglycemic patients. Results: The prevalence of TB-DM co-occurrence was 14.8%. The prevalence of TB-DM was higher (62.2%) among males. The &gt;57 year age group had the highest proportion of patients (35.1%), with co-existent TB-DM. Most were illiterate (73.0%) and unemployed (48%). Moreover, among the 74 patients positive for TB-DM had a history of smoking. Age and education level were significantly associated with DM-TB while gender, occupation and smoking were not associated. Conclusion: The study revealed a 14.8% prevalence of DM among TB patients. This was associated with several socio-demographic factors, including age, unemployment, literacy and polluted environment. Thus, poor and unhealthy lifestyles were the factors associated with DM among immunologically compromised individuals due to TB

Chloramphenicol Loaded Microemulsions: Development, Characterization and Stability

This study aimed to formulate and characterize microemulsions containing chloramphenicol. Microemulsions represent highly biocompatible drug delivery systems due to their potential for increased absorption as well as high solubilization capacity. MEs were composed of Oleic acid, non-ionic surfactants tween 20/60, 1-propanol and phosphate buffer. The optimum weight ratios of components and MEs areas were determined by pseudo-ternary phase diagram. All formulations were physically characterized by centrifugation, pH, refractive index, conductivity, viscosity, surface tension and partition coefficient. The specific residence site of chloramphenicol was detected by 1H NMR study. It was uncovered that drug is entrapped between the oxyethylene groups of hydrophilic shell of MEs. So, the drug was screened from bulk water and its stability was enhanced. Thus, all characterizations have suggested that formulated MEs have potential for ocular application, being able to use as efficient drug carrier for ocular drug delivery

Does preoperative weight loss in a specialist medical weight management centre influence postoperative weight loss after bariatric surgery?

Summary: Weight loss of 5%–10% is advised in medical weight management (MWM) programmes prior to bariatric surgery but it remains to be established whether it influences postoperative weight loss outcomes. We studied postoperative percent total weight loss (%TWL) in 168 patients categorized by preoperative referral weight loss <5% or ≥5% in a UK NHS bariatric centre. Eighty‐six (51.2%) patients achieved sustained referral weight loss <5% (Group A) and 82 (48.8%) ≥5% (Group B). Overall postoperative %TWL in Group A compared with Group B was 30.0% versus 28.3% (p = .30) at 12 months and 32.5% versus 29.6% (p = .20) at 24 months. There were no significant differences in postoperative %TWL at 12 and 24 months when categorized by procedure (gastric bypass, n = 106; or sleeve gastrectomy, n = 62), age or sex. Preoperative weight loss during intensive specialist MWM did not influence postoperative weight loss up to 24 months with gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy