Effects of Assisted Autogenic Drainage and Chest Physical Therapy in Children Suffering from Pneumonia

The study started after RIRS's approval and Helsinki's declaration. The current study is based on the fact that newer techniques like Assisted Autogenic Drainage must be introduced as chest physical therapy is one of the oldest ways of clearing the chest. The objective is to determine the effectiveness of Assisted Autogenic Drainage in children with Pneumonia. A Quasi-experimental study, with a sample of n=60, was selected through Epi and calculated as Out of 70 approached patients, 56 met inclusion criteria. The patients were divided based on convenience into Group A. Group B. Group A patients were given standard medical and nursing care and chest physical therapy. Group B patients were given an additional treatment of AAD with a predetermined frequency, intensity, and duration. The data was collected after informed and signed. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 23. The study showed significant results while within group comparison for only one variable with p=-1.515. However, in between-group comparisons, some variables showed significant results with p>0.05, and others showed Non-significant results with p<0.05. Chest physical therapy is more effective than Assisted Autogenic Drainage in treating children with Pneumonia.

Role of HRM Practices in Performance of Organization and Employee Retention

This paper analyses the role of Human Resource Management practices on Organizational Performance and Employee Retention. Human Resource Management Practices play an important role in retaining an organization’s employee and also in increasing organizational performance. In this study a conceptual mode is developed and this conceptual model is supported by several researchers. There is a lot of research on HR Practices now-a-days. Though there is little research in HR Practices regarding Pakistan but now it’s emerging also in Pakistan.   Key Words: HR Practices, Employee Retention, organizational performance, Pakista

Anticancer screening of medicinal plant phytochemicals against Cyclin-Dependent Kinase-2 (CDK2): An in-silico approach

Background: Cyclin-Dependent Kinase-2 (CDK2) is a member of serine/threonine protein kinases family and plays an important role in regulation of various eukaryotic cell division events. Over-expression of CDK2 during cell cycle may lead to several cellular functional aberrations including diverse types of cancers (lung cancer, primary colorectal carcinoma, ovarian cancer, melanoma and pancreatic carcinoma) in humans. Medicinal plants phytochemicals which have anticancer potential can be used as an alternative drug resource.Methods: This study was designed to find out anticancer phytochemicals from medicinal plants which could inhibit CDK2 with the help of molecular docking technique. Molecular Operating Environment (MOE v2009) software was used to dock 2300 phytochemicals in this study.Results: The outcome of this study shows that four phytochemicals Kushenol T, Remangiflavanone B, Neocalyxins A and Elenoside showed the lowest S-score (-17.83, -17.57, -17.26, -17.17 respectively) and binds strongly with all eight active residues Tyr15, Lys33, Ileu52, Lys56, Leu78, phe80, Asp145 and Phe146 of CDK2 binding site. These phytochemicals could successfully inhibit the CDK2.Conclusion: These phytochemicals can be considered as potential anticancer agents and used in drug development against CDK2. We anticipate that this study would pave way for phytochemical based novel small molecules as more efficacious and selective anti-cancer therapeutic compounds

Terminalia arjuna restores the levels of alkaline phosphatase and aspartate aminotransferase of acetaminophen intoxicated mice

Background: Herbal medicines are natural and comparatively safer than conventional treatments and are well-documented for carrying little potential for harm.  Therefore, phytonutrients have occupied a central stage in the therapeutics. Terminalia arjuna, a medicinal plant, has been reported to have homeostatic, laxative, diuretic, antidiabetic, anticancer and cardiotonic actions.Methods: The current study was designed to investigate the protective role of T. arjuna leaf extract at three dose levels (100, 250, 500 mg/kg body weight) against acetaminophen (250 mg/kg body weight) induced liver damage.Results: The administration of hepatotoxin (Acetaminophen) resulted in disturbance of hematological and serological profile including alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) which was assayed in control and drug treated experimental models. Treatment with T.  arjuna leaf extract for 7 days restored the normal levels of markers and response was dose dependent.Conclusion: This study adds to the very limited existing literature regarding hepatoprotective effect of T. arjuna against acetaminophen toxicity. It is also important to get a step closer to development of accessible, authoritative, and independent information resources about herbal medicines and wide-ranging health disorders, which are currently lacking in Pakistan.Keywords: Hepatoprotective; Terminalia arjuna; ALP; AST   

Ataxic Variant Of Guillain Barre Syndrome: A Case Report

A 17-year-old girl was admitted after acute onset of unsteady gait succeeding acute gastroenteritis. Neurological examination reported normal power in all four limbs, impaired finger-nose, heel-shin tests, areflexia and ataxic gait. We eliminated other diseases with cerebellar symptoms; for example, Wernicke encephalopathy, multiple sclerosis, cerebellar vascular disease , encephalitis in the brain stem and cerebellum. Blood serum collected from the patient during the acute phase showed no anti-ganglioside antibodies. As the patient presented with evident cerebellar ataxia without muscle weakness, ophthalmoplegia or proprioceptive sensory disruption a diagnosis of ataxic form of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) after nerve conduction studies. Though ataxic GBS is not a settled impression, we should have to give heed to the potential existence of such a scarce GBS variant

Predictors of Early Seizures After First Acute Stroke

ABSTRACT Background and objective: There is a lack of local data regarding the frequency and predictors of early seizures after stroke. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of early seizures after stroke and identify the predictors which lead to them after first acute stroke. Methods: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted in the Department of Neurology, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad from October 2021 to June 2022. A total of 310 consecutive eligible patients of acute stroke were recruited. Key inclusion criteria included any patient of \u3e20 years of age with confirmed diagnosis of stroke on imaging, non-traumatic, with no history of seizures in past. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 23.0. Results: The mean age of patients in the seizures group was 48.40 ± 20.9 years. Hypertension was the most common co-morbid present in 225 (76.5%) patients. Early seizures were found in 52 (16.8%) patients with 42 (80.76%) having seizures in first 24 hours of stroke (p value 0.001). On National Institute of Health Sciences Scale (NIHSS) score most patients 125 (40.3%) had moderate severity score i.e. score in between 7 to 25 (p value 0.05). Ischemic stroke was identified as the stroke variety with most of the early seizures i.e. 16 (30.76%) (p value 0.003). Conclusion: Early seizures were not infrequent after acute stroke (16.77%) in our study. Early seizures were associated with younger age, cortical region lesion, ischemic stroke, followed by cerebral venous thrombosis. Higher NIHSS score and greater disability was associated with increased incidence of early seizures

Pure Exploration in Infinitely-Armed Bandit Models with Fixed-Confidence

International audienceWe consider the problem of near-optimal arm identification in the fixed confidence setting of the infinitely armed bandit problem when nothing is known about the arm reservoir distribution. We (1) introduce a PAC-like framework within which to derive and cast results; (2) derive a sample complexity lower bound for near-optimal arm identification; (3) propose an algorithm that identifies a nearly-optimal arm with high probability and derive an upper bound on its sample complexity which is within a log factor of our lower bound; and (4) discuss whether our log^2(1/delta) dependence is inescapable for ``two-phase'' (select arms first, identify the best later) algorithms in the infinite setting. This work permits the application of bandit models to a broader class of problems where fewer assumptions hold

FREQUENCY OF CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE USING CALCIUM SCORING BY 640 SLICE CT

Coronary artery disease is the narrowing of coronary arteries which is usually caused by the atherosclerosis that leads to restriction of blood flow to the heart muscles. Atherosclerosis is a buildup of plaque or deposition of fats on the inner walls of arteries and is calculated by calcium scoring. Calcium scoring is a test to assess the presence and degree of plaque in the coronary arteries. Objective: To find the frequency of coronary artery disease using calcium scoring by 640 slice CT.   Methods: A descriptive study was conducted at Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore. 155 participants including 117 (75.5%) males and 38 (24.5%) females were selected through convenient sampling technique. SPSS version 21.0 was used for data analysis. Results: Analysis of data showed that out of 155 patients, 54 (34%) patients had no lesion and 101 (65.2%) had CAD. Only 2 patients had 5 lesions. Out of 117 males, 38 had no plaque and 40 males had moderate plaque in coronary arteries. Out of 38 females, 16 female patients had no plaque, 5 female patients had moderate plaque. 99 (63.9%)  patients were non-smokers, out of them, 46 patients had no plaque and 17 patients had moderate plaque. 56 (36.1%) patients were smokers, out of these 8 had no plaque and 28 patients had moderate plaque. In total 103 (66.5%) patients who were hypertensive, 28 patients had no plaque, 36 had moderate plaque. Out of 52 (33.5%) patients who were without hypertension, 26 patients had no plaque, 36 patients had moderate plaque. Out of 155, 94 (60.6%) patients had diabetes, out of these 27 patients had no plaque, 32 patients had moderate plaque. Of 61 (39.4%) patients with diabetes, 27 had no plaque, 13 were with moderate plaque. 52 patients who were between the age of 26-35 years, 18 patients had no plaque, 14 patients had moderate plaque and of 8 patients between the age of 66-75 years, 3 had moderate plaque. Conclusions: In our sample the ratio of males was greater than females. In males, moderate plaques are most common and most of the females are those with no plaque. 54 % patients have no plaque and only 3 patients have minimal plaque. Smokers were least affected. It is concluded that hypertension affects the population more than any other risk factor. From our study it is also concluded that the people within the age range of 26 to 35 years are most likely to develop CAD Key words: Computed Tomography, Calcium Scoring, Coronary Artery Disease DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/71-13 Publication date: February 29th 202