FACTORS AFFECTING THE BEHAVIOR OF GOVERNMENT AUDITORS FOR THE SURVEILLANCE OF THE PUBLIC SECTOR OF PAKISTAN

This research is intended to present the important factorswhich affect the behavior of government auditors, who are responsiblefor the surveillance of the public sector of Pakistan. Governmentauditors bring accountability and transparency through financial,regulatory and compliance audits of the public sector.The behaviorof government auditors has been studied through a model whichconsists of four independent variables-human resource practices,audit facilities and external factors. A questionnaire with five pointLikert scale has been developed. Three hundred government auditorswere selected as a sample of the study. The response rate remained at83%. Simple and multiple linear regression have been applied to testthe relationship between the independent and the dependentvariables. It is concluded that HR practices, audit facilities, externalfactors and behavior of the auditee have positive and significantrelationship with the behavior of auditors. If these factors arestrengthened, the auditors can work in an effective manner

Health systems readiness for adopting mhealth interventions for addressing non-communicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries: A current debate

In low-and-middle-income countries, epidemiologic transition is taking place very rapidly from communicable diseases to non-communicable diseases. NCDs mortality rates are increasing faster and nearly 80% of NCDs deaths occur in LMICs. Existing weak health systems of LMICs are undergoing a devastating human and economic toll as a result of increasing treatment costs and losses to productivity from NCDs. At the same time, the increasing penetration of mobile phone technology and the spread of cellular network and infrastructure have led to the introduction of the mHealth field. While mHealth field offers a great promise to prevent and control non-communicable diseases in low-and-middle-income countries: there is a great debate going on to explore health systems readiness for adopting mHealth technology to address NCDs in LMICs. There are a number of factors which determine health systems readiness and response for adoption of mHealth technology including preparedness of healthcare institutions, availability of the resources, willingness of healthcare providers and communities. We have discussed these factors to understand health systems preparedness to adopt mHealth field for prevention and control of NCDs. To adequately integrate mobile-phone-based health interventions into existing health systems, these factors should be dealt up-front through constant effort to improve health systems response for NCDs. Currently, there is insufficient empirical and policy evidence on this research area and therefore future research and policy dialogue should be directed to assess the health systems willingness for mHealth adoption principally to address NCDs in the context of LMICs

Applying Deep Neural Networks for Predicting Dark Triad Personality Trait of Online Users

© 2020 IEEE. In the recent times, the social networking sites act as a rich source of information, which is shared among online users, who post comments and express their opinions in the form of likes and dislikes. Such content reflects important clues about the personality and behavior of the online community. The dark triad personality traits, such as the psychopathic behavior of individuals, can be detected using computational models. The earlier studies on the dark triad (psychopath) prediction exploit traditional machine learning techniques with limited dataset size. Therefore, it is required to develop an advanced deep neural network-based technique. In this work, we implement a deep neural network model, namely BILSTM for the efficient prediction of dark triad (psychopath) personality traits regarding online users. Experimental results depict that the proposed model attained an improved AUC (0.82) when compared to the baseline study

Factors affecting the utilization of antenatal care among married women of reproductive age in the Rural Thatta, Pakistan: Findings from a community-based case-control study

Background: There are differences in antenatal care (ANC) utilization between urban and rural areas of Pakistan. Although multiple factors have been studied affecting the utilization of general health care services, the effect of road network distance particularly on the utilization of ANC has not been assessed. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the association between road network distance from a health care facility and utilization of the ANC among women of reproductive age in Thatta Pakistan.Methods: A community-based case-control study was conducted in district Thatta, Pakistan. Women who did not utilize ANC services during their last pregnancy were considered as cases, while controls were the women who utilized ANC services during their last pregnancy. Questions related to socio-demographic, access-related factors and utilization of ANC were asked from women. Road network distance was calculated from the women\u27s home to the health care facility providing ANC services. Logistic regression analysis was performed.Results: A total of 380 participants were interviewed in this study. Participants\u27 mean age and parity were 28 years (SD 5.65), and 3.5 (SD 2.6) respectively. The multivariate analysis showed that women living at a shorter distance of less than 5 km were 1.21 times likely to utilize ANC services [Adjusted OR. 1.21; 95% CI (0.49-2.99)]. Moreover, nulliparous women were 4.10 times likely to utilize antenatal care [Adjusted OR. 4.10; 95% CI (1.10-15.26)]. Similarly, women who had knowledge of antennal care were 6.60 times likely to utilize ANC services [Adjusted OR. 6.60; 95% CI (3.33-13.05)]. Women having electricity in their households were 3.15 times likely to utilize the ANC services [Adjusted OR. 3.11 95% CI (1.51-6.41)]. Women, living in well-constructed (Pakka) houses were 2.58 times likely to utilize the ANC services [Adjusted O.R: 2.58; 95% CI (1.15-5.82)].Conclusion: Road network distance has no measurable impact on ANC utilization among married women in Thatta district, Pakistan. Nulliparous women having knowledge of ANC living in well-constructed houses equipped with electricity were found to be utilizers of ANC services. It is recommended that awareness and health education sessions should be arranged for pregnant women in rural Pakistan

The Role of Neighborhood Environment in Promoting Risk Factors of Cardiovascular Disease among Young Adults: Data from Middle to High Income Population in an Asian Megacity

Background: Modifiable risk factors of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) have their triggers in the neighborhood environments of communities. Studying the environmental triggers for CVD risk factors is important to understand the situation in a broader perspective. Young adults are influenced the most by the environment profile around them hence it is important to study this subset of the population.Methods: This was a descriptive study conducted using the EPOCH research tool designed by the authors of the PURE study. The study population consisted of young adults aged 18-25 in two areas of Karachi. The study setting was busy shopping malls frequented by young adults in the particular community being studied.Results: Our total sample size was 120 individuals, who consented to be interviewed by our interviewers. Less than 50% of the population recognized some form of restriction regarding smoking in their communities. The largest contributor to tobacco advertising was actors smoking in movies and TV shows with 89% responses from both communities. Only 11.9% of the individuals disapproved of smoking cigarettes among men with wide acceptance of \u27sheesha\u27 across all age groups. Advertising for smoking and junk food was more frequent as compared to smoking cessation, healthy diet and exercise in both the areas. Unhealthy food items were more easily available in contrast to healthier options. The cost of healthy snack food options including vegetables and fruits was higher than sugary drinks and foods.CONCLUSION: This assessment showed that both communities were exposed to environments that promote risk factors for cardiovascular diseases

Self-supervised learning model for skin cancer diagnosis

© 2015 IEEE. Automated diagnosis of skin cancer is an active area of research with different classification methods proposed so far. However, classification models based on insufficient labeled training data can badly influence the diagnosis process if there is no self-advising and semi supervising capability in the model. This paper presents a semi supervised, self-advised learning model for automated recognition of melanoma using dermoscopic images. Deep belief architecture is constructed using labeled data together with unlabeled data, and fine tuning done by an exponential loss function in order to maximize separation of labeled data. In parallel a self-advised SVM algorithm is used to enhance classification results by counteracting the effect of misclassified data. To increase generalization capability and redundancy of the model, polynomial and radial basis function based SA-SVMs and Deep network are trained using training samples randomly chosen via a bootstrap technique. Then the results are aggregated using least square estimation weighting. The proposed model is tested on a collection of 100 dermoscopic images. The variation in classification error is analyzed with respect to the ratio of labeled and unlabeled data used in the training phase. The classification performance is compared with some popular classification methods and the proposed model using the deep neural processing outperforms most of the popular techniques including KNN, ANN, SVM and semi supervised algorithms like Expectation maximization and transductive SVM

Molecular Docking studies on possible Neuraminidase Inhibitors of Influenza Virus

Background: Influenza generally known as flu is due to viruses that contaminate the respiratory region. It can result in light to cruel sickness, and may cause death. The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 took life of a lot more people than the World War 1. Peramivir that inhibits the purpose of the viral neuraminidase protein of influenza virus, therefore stopping the virus from replicating through budding from the host cell has been shown to have hindrance against virus. The neuraminidase enzyme is a glycoside hydrolyses enzyme that is shown on the exterior. It allows the virus to be free from the host cell and slice sialic acid groups from glycoproteins and is necessary for influenza virus reproduction.Methods: This study concentrates on the in silico virtual screening and molecular docking examination for probable neuraminidase blockers by peramivir like compounds recovered by the ZINC database. ADME-Toxicity examination is done by in silico methods.Results: Molecular docking outcomes propose that modified ligand Anamivire have improved binding attraction than peramivir and its derivatives i.e. ZINC3981610, ZINC 40709762.Conclusion: Modified ligand Anamivire is shown to have resistance against neuraminidase enzyme and bioavailability troubles than ZINC3981610, ZINC40709762 and peramivir.</p

Phytochemical screening of Prunus avium for its antioxidative and anti-mutagenic potential against DMBA-induced hepatocarcinogenesis

ScopePrunus avium fruit is the richer source of phenolics known to exert anticancer and anti-invasive activities. The study aimed at elucidating antiproliferative and chemo-preventive potential of sweet cherries (P. avium) against the in vivo hepatocarcinoma model.Methods and resultsThe quantification of ultrasound-assisted extract (UAE) of P. avium depicted anthocyanins, ferulic acid, gallic acid, quercetin, syringic acid and p- and m-coumaric acids as major phytochemicals. The hepatocarcinoma (HCC) was induced in rats through intraperitoneal administration of DMBA (20 mg/kg B.W) once a week for the period of eight weeks. The intragastric administration of P. avium UAE, as cotreatment (500 mg/Kg B.W) to treatment group, significantly (p &lt; 0.01) attenuated the raised serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) as well as total oxidative stress (TOS) and enhanced total antioxidant capacity TAOC in contrast to diseased rats. Moreover, microscopic examination of hepatic tissues confirmed the pleomorphism, nests of neoplastic hepatocytes and necrosis in HCC-bearing rats as compared to extract-fed rats, where these necrotic changes were suppressed. Besides, qRT-PCR analysis of hepatic tissues demonstrated the higher mRNA expression of CHEK1, CHEK2 and P21/CDKN1α genes, while downexpression of ATM gene in extract fed rats, further denoting the anti-mutagenic potential.ConclusionConsequently, the polyphenol-rich sweet cherries UAE exhibited antiproliferative and chemo-preventive potential by reducing tumor biomarkers, serum transaminases and oxidative stress, as well as enhancing antioxidant status. It further upregulated the downstream targets of ATM signaling cascade

Nano-Formulation Based Intravesical Drug Delivery Systems: An Overview of Versatile Approaches to Improve Urinary Bladder Diseases

Intravesical drug delivery is a direct drug delivery approach for the treatment of various bladder diseases. The human urinary bladder has distinctive anatomy, making it an effective barrier against any toxic agent seeking entry into the bloodstream. This screening function of the bladder derives from the structure of the urothelium, which acts as a semi-permeable barrier. However, various diseases related to the urinary bladder, such as hyperactive bladder syndrome, interstitial cystitis, cancer, urinary obstructions, or urinary tract infections, can alter the bladder&rsquo;s natural function. Consequently, the intravesical route of drug delivery can effectively treat such diseases as it offers site-specific drug action with minimum side effects. Intravesical drug delivery is the direct instillation of medicinal drugs into the urinary bladder via a urethral catheter. However, there are some limitations to this method of drug delivery, including the risk of washout of the therapeutic agents with frequent urination. Moreover, due to the limited permeability of the urinary bladder walls, the therapeutic agents are diluted before the process of permeation, and consequently, their efficiency is compromised. Therefore, various types of nanomaterial-based delivery systems are being employed in intravesical drug delivery to enhance the drug penetration and retention at the targeted site. This review article covers the various nanomaterials used for intravesical drug delivery and future aspects of these nanomaterials for intravesical drug delivery