The Nostalgic Detective: Identity formation in Detective Fiction of Pakistan

Through an analysis of Ibn-e-Safi’s writings, this article explores the existence of a reflective nostalgia in Post-Colonial Pakistan. We propose that this nostalgia operated at three levels; firstly, it represented an approach that saw the geographical separation of India not as a complete socio-cultural break where the entire heritage of India had to be disowned in order to become an “authentic†Pakistani. Secondly, it was a yearning for the inclusive religiosity where religion was a matter of personal choice and not a state enforced enterprise. Finally, it represented an attitude towards Colonialism  which accepted modernity and rationality while keeping indigenous traditional values intact

Does enterprise social media use promote employee creativity and well-being?

Despite the increased use of Enterprise Social Media (ESM) worldwide, its adverse impact on firms’ employees, such as exhaustion, has not been researched sufficiently. This is a critical gap in the literature since employees’ well-being is crucial to maintaining their productivity. The current study addresses this gap by examining whether interruption overload and psychological transition affect the relationship of employees’ socio-instrumental use of ESM with ESM-related exhaustion and employee creativity, respectively. We utilized the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory to conceptualize the mediation effect of interruption overload and psychological transition on the hypothesized associations. We also used the Regulatory Focus Theory (RFT) to propose the moderation effect of promotion and prevention-focus of employees on these associations. Cross-sectional data collected from 323 employees of firms in China were analyzed to test the proposed associations. Our findings suggest that both interruption overload and psychological transition mediate the association of ESM usage with exhaustion and creativity, respectively. Furthermore, the results revealed that promotion-focus strengthens the positive relationship between ESM usage and psychological transition, whereas prevention-focus of weakens the positive relationship between ESM usage and interruption overload. The study contributes key theoretical and practical insights to set an agenda for further research and aid managerial decisions.publishedVersio

Miniature Implantable Antenna Design for Blood Glucose Monitoring

In this paper, a miniaturised implantable antenna with the dimensions of 8×8×1 mm 3 has been studied for continuous monitoring of Blood Glucose Levels (BGL). The antenna performance is analysed numerically for both free space and implanted operation. It has the lowest resonant frequency of 3.58 GHz in free space with a gain 1.18 GHz while operates at 2.58 GHz with a gain of 4.18 dBi when implanted. Good performance and small size make it a good for implantable glucose monitoring devices

Knowledge, attitude and preventive practices for breast cancer among health care professionals at Aga Khan Hospital Karachi

OBJECTIVE: To assess the knowledge and practice of risk factors, symptoms and screening for breast cancer among health care professionals. METHODS: A cross sectional study was carried out at The Aga Khan University Hospital from January 2008 to March 2008. A total of 336 health care workers including consultants (48), fellows (17), residents (76), medical officers (14), interns (37), nurses (94) and fourth and final year medical students (50) were requested to fill a questionnaire designed to assess the knowledge about the risk factors, signs and symptoms, screening tools, breast self examination (BSE) and treatment. RESULTS: More than two third participants had good knowledge about the risk factors and signs of breast cancer except some dissociation regarding association of menarche status and smoking. Majority was aware of the benefits of mammography. More than 80% had the consensus that breast cancer is curable if detected early and more than 50% thought that a surgeon should be consulted first if lump is palpable. CONCLUSIONS: This study reveals that health care professionals have fairly good awareness regarding the risk factors, symptoms and role of mammography. But some are still deficient in their knowledge regarding screening modalities and BSE method and time and role of chemotherapy. And this can be improved with further education

Impact of gestational and pre-gestational diabetes mellitus on the foetal heart

Foetal cardiac structural and functional features have been examined in pregnancies diabetic and non-diabetic and healthy pregnancies. During 15.1.17-15.7.17, cardiac structure and function assessment was scheduled of 50 healthy pregnant women, 25 pregnant women with gestational diabetes and 25 with pre-gestational diabetes. The thickness of foetal interventricular septum (IVS) was significantly more in diabetic group as compared to non-diabetics (p < 0.05) but no one was having an IVS > 2 SD from normal. The top velocity of tricuspid E and the ratio of E/A was considerably low in diabetic group (p < 0.05). Values of tricuspid valve Ea and the ratio of Ea/Aa were less in the diabetic group as compared to control group (p<0.05)but there was no considerable difference in between pre-gestational diabetes mellitus and gestational diabetes mellitus (p > 0.05). In diabetic pregnancies the most common structural abnormality is the interventricular septal hypertrophy. No risk is linked to foetal with these changes unless it results in the functional impairment. Therefore, it is believed that it is necessary to monitor the diabetic pregnant women for foetal cardiac diastolic dysfunction

Comparison of oral and parenteral iron therapy in postpartum anemia

Objective: To create a comparison between the efficiency of intravenous ferrous sucrose and Oral ferrous sulphate, present in postpartum iron deficiency anemia.Study Design: Randomized control experimental study.Place and Duration of the Study: The span of this study started from May 1st, 2018- December 30th 2018, and took place at Postoperative and PostNatal Ward of Surgimed Hospital, Lahore.Materials and Methods: Around 50 cases of postpartum iron deficiency anemia assembled for this analysis and were further classified in two groups of 25 participants each. Group A was administered 200 mg of intravenous ferrous sucrose on second and fourth day of delivery (two doses). Group B cases were given 200 mg of oral ferrous sulphate daily for 6 weeks. Follow up took place at fifteenth and 40thof postpartum, regarding an increase in ferritin level and hemoglobin.Results: In group A the mean Hb was 8.21±0.37 gm/dlwithin 24-48 hours of delivery and 8.69±0.59 gm/dl in group B. In Group A the mean serum ferritin level was 10.99±1.54  mcg/L and 11.54±0.78 mcg/L in group B. In group A, the mean Hb after 15 days follow up was 10.11±1.23 gm/dl and in group B 9.89±0.52 gm/dl and in group A, the mean serum ferritin level was 33.12±3.12 mcg/L and in group B 14.69±0.89 mcg/L. In group A, the mean Hb after 40 days follow up was 11.99±0.68 gm/dl and in group B was 11.22±0.41 gm/dl and in group A, the mean serum ferritin level was 45.99±3.89 mcg/L and in group B was 16.79±1.22 mcg/L.Conclusion: Intravenous iron sucrose therapy increases the Hb level as well as serum ferritin level swiftly in comparison with oral ferrous sulphate in women with postpartum anemia deficiency anemia.Key Words: oral iron therapy,Postpartum anemia, intravenous iron therapy, anemia, iron deficienc

Prevalence of clinical spectrum of cutaneous adverse drug reactions in patients presenting at a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan

Introduction: Cutaneous adverse drug reactions (CADRs) are the most common adverse drug reactions reported in the literature. CADRs have resulted in disabling infirmities during hospitalization and complications following outdoor drug therapy. The pattern of CADRs and the responsible drugs usually changes with the introduction of newer drugs and evolving clinical practices. Moreover, several international studies showed variable prevalence, emphasizing the need for local data in light of different socioeconomic and demographic practices. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of adverse cutaneous drug reactions and identify the clinical spectrum and any potential risk factors.Methodology: The current study is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted at Aga Khan University Hospital, Pakistan. One hundred ninety-three patients who met the study inclusion criteria were included. Data were collected from patients on a proforma after taking informed consent. Quantitative data were presented as simple descriptive statistics giving mean and standard deviation, while qualitative variables were presented as frequency and percentages. Effect modifiers were controlled through stratification to highlight the effect of these on the outcome variable. The post-stratification chi-square test was applied and the p-value of ≤0.05 was statistically significant.Results: A total of 193 patients who had cutaneous adverse drug reactions were included in the study. The mean age in this study was 47.78±8.33 years. One hundred eight (56%) were male and 85 (44%) were female. Out of 193 patients, 135 (69.9%), 50 (25.9%), 24 (12.4%), 12 (6.2%), 20 (10.4%), 11 (5.7%) and six (3.1%) had maculopapular rash, acneiform eruptions, Stevens-Johnson syndrome, erythema multiform, urticaria, fixed drug eruptions and toxic epidermal necrolysis, respectively.Conclusion: CADRs are a common clinical presentation and awareness and knowledge about their diagnosis and prevention is important. It can be assumed that in our local setup, the clinical trends and medications causing ADRs are strikingly similar to those found in other countries. Physicians commonly come across these cases and they should be well aware of the clinical spectrum of skin reactions to enable early diagnosis and management

Brand Consciousness, Brand Loyalty, Consumer Satisfaction and Buying Behavior of Teenagers for Apparel and Clothing

This research has been designed with the goal of examining relationship among brand consciousness, brand loyalty, buying behavior and consumer satisfaction of teenagers towards clothing and apparel. This is hypothesized that brand consciousness, brand loyalty, buying behavior are likely to be significant predictors of consumer satisfaction. The sample comprised of n-200 young students enrolled in different public and private sector colleges of Lahore and Sahiwal. The measures comprised of Brand Consciousness Questionnaire, Brand Loyalty Questionnaire, Buying Behavior Scale, and Consumer Satisfaction Scale. The data was analyzed through SPSS version 21.00. The findings revealed that brand loyalty is positively and significantly correlated with brand consciousness, purchasing conduct and customer fulfillment. Brand cognizance and purchasing conduct are strong and positive predictors of brand loyalty resulting in increased consumer satisfaction. Both the genders are equally affected by brand consciousness, brand loyalty except for buying behavior. Keywords: Brand consciousness, Brand loyalty, Buying behavior, Consumer satisfactio

Negative Emotions and Self-Created Challenges of Novice Public-School Teachers in Managing Classroom

Teachers often struggle with their negative emotions and attempt to regulate these emotions during disciplining of their disruptive students. This study was designed to develop an understanding about the perceptions and experiences of novice public-school teachers regarding challenges they create for themselves because of their negative emotional expressive behavior in classroom. This study explored the variety of self-regulation strategies that teachers use to manage their vocal and physiological expressions of negative emotions. This study used basic qualitative research design. Purposive sampling technique was used to select twenty novice teachers from public-elementary schools in Lahore, all having less than three years of experience. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews from the participants. Thematic analysis of the interview data revealed that the teachers were aware of the fact that many classroom management challenges were created by their own negative emotional expressive behaviors. They were also aware of role of consistent anger and humiliating language of teachers in creating classroom management challenges for teachers. Moreover, they believe that non-seriousness towards teaching and snubbing certain students create challenges for teacher themselves. Majority of teachers agreed that they had been creating challenges for themselves in their class because of their negative emotional expressive behavior in classroom. However, few believed that they create challenges for themselves due to high tendency of anger in their class. This study recommends in-service professional development of novice teachers with respect to the management of emotions as well as development of support mechanism for novice teachers within schools for ensuring effective teaching-learning environments in classrooms