Contemporary Issues in Current Account Operations in Pakistani IBs - Sharia Compliant Solution

Contemporary Sharia scholars have three stances about the Current Account Operations in Pakistani Islamic Banks (IBs) i.e., (i) Ijarah based contract (ii) Wadi'ah based contract, and (iii) Qard based contract. This paper is an attempt to delve into the root causes of the differences of scholars and to find the Sharia-compliant solution acceptable for all. Descriptive as well as applied approaches are used in this paper. Clearing of ambiguity on this issue may result in twofold benefits: from the public point of view, it would satisfy practising Muslims which may result in form of huge deposits in this account (ii) from IBs viewpoint the Current Account is a bonus deposit

Role of sonography in the assessment of pelvic masses in women and its histopathological correlation

Background: Abnormal growth of tissues in gynecologic pelvic organs like uterus, cervix or uterine adnexa are termed as female pelvic masses. Pelvic masses can be benign or malignant in nature. An efficient non-invasive treatment modality is essential for effective management and efficient treatment of pelvic masses. Current investigation is aimed towards estimating the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of ultrasonography in diagnosing pelvic masses and differentiating benign and malignant pelvic masses.Methods: A descriptive study was conducted on 100 volunteers for 12 months at ultrasound department of radio-diagnosis in a tertiary care center. Patients were examined through transabdominal ultrasonography, covering entire pelvis. Morphology of pelvic lesions were examined in longitudinal and transverse planes through Doppler coupled with ultrasonography. Post-surgery histopathological examination reports were correlated with pre-operative imaging findings.Results: Majority of patients included in current study belonged to <40 years of age group and exhibited benign pelvic masses. Sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound in diagnosing benign masses was observed to be 87.5 and 70 respectively with PPV of 92.1 and NPV of 58.3. Majority of benign lesions were hypoechogenic, whereas malignant lesions were of mixed echogenicity. Most of the malignant lesions showed echogenic focus significantly different from malignant lesions.Conclusions: Ultrasonography was concluded to be primary modality and best screening tool for evaluation of pelvic masses with high sensitivity and specificity for correctly diagnosing and differentiating benign and malignant pelvic lesions. Ultrasonography coupled with color Doppler was efficient in determining the morphological characteristics of pelvic masses

The effect of multifocal contact lenses on the dynamic accommodation step response

Purpose: To measure the dynamic accommodation response (AR) to step stimuli with and without multifocal contact lenses (MFCLs), in emmetropes and myopes.Methods: Twenty-two adult subjects viewed alternating distance (0.25D) and near (3D) Maltese crosses placed in free space, through two contact lens types: single vision (SVCL) or centre-distance multifocal (MFCL; +2.50D add). The AR level was measured along with near to far (N–F) and far to near (F–N) step response characteristics: percentage of correct responses, magnitude, latency, peak velocity and duration of step response.Results: There was no difference between N–F and F–N responses, or between refractive groups in any aspect of the accommodation step response dynamics. The percentage of correct responses was unaffected by contact lens type. Through MFCLs, subjects demonstrated smaller magnitude, longer latency, shorter duration and slower peak velocity steps than through SVCLs. When viewing the near target, the AR through MFCLs was significantly lower than through SVCLs. When viewing the distance target with the MFCL, the focal points from rays travelling through the distance and near zones were approximately 0.004D behind and 2.50D in front of the retina, respectively. When viewing the near target, the respective values were approximately 1.89D behind and 0.61D in front of the retina.Conclusion: The defocus error required for accommodation control appears not to be solely derived from the distance zone of the MFCL. This results in reduced performance in response to abruptly changing vergence stimuli; however, these errors were small and unlikely to impact everyday visual tasks. There was a decrease in ocular accommodation during near tasks, which has previously been correlated with a reduced myopic treatment response through these lenses. With MFCLs, the estimated dioptric myopic defocus was the largest when viewing a distant stimulus, supporting the hypothesis that the outdoors provides a beneficial visual environment to reduce myopia progression

Spontaneous recovery from depression in women: a qualitative study of vulnerabilities, strengths and resources

Objective: To gain insight into the perceived vulnerability and restitution factors for anxiety/or depression.Methods: Focus group discussion of seven married women recovered spontaneously from anxiety and/or depression, belonging to a lower middle class semi-urban community of Karachi.Results: Poverty, unemployment, abuse and on going difficulties were perceived as risk factors for depression. A reliable social support system, positive thinking approach, faith, prayers, and experiencing a turning point event were reported as factors that promoted recovery from anxiety and/or depression.CONCLUSION: Individual vulnerabilities, strengths and resources can have an important role in recovery from anxiety and/or depression in women

Inhibition of NF-κB activation by 5-lipoxygenase inhibitors protects brain against injury in a rat model of focal cerebral ischemia

BACKGROUND: Stroke is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States of America. Brain ischemia-reperfusion (IR) triggers a complex series of biochemical events including inflammation. Leukotrienes derived from 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) cause inflammation and are thus involved in the pathobiology of stroke injury. METHODS: To test the neuroprotective efficacy of 5-LOX inhibition in a rat model of focal cerebral IR, ischemic animals were either pre- or post-treated with a potent selective 5-LOX inhibitor, (N- [3-[3-(-fluorophenoxy) phenyl]-1-methyl-2-propenyl]-N-hydroxyurea (BW-B 70C). They were evaluated at 24 h after reperfusion for brain infarction, neurological deficit score, and the expression of 5-LOX. Furthermore, the mechanism and the anti-inflammatory potential of BW-B 70C in the regulation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and inflammatory inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) were investigated both in vivo and in vitro. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Both pre- and post-treatment with BW-B 70C reduced infarctions and improved neurological deficit scores. Immunohistochemical study of brain sections showed IR-mediated increased expression of 5-LOX in the neurons and microglia. BW-B 70C down-regulated 5-LOX and inhibited iNOS expression by preventing NF-κB activation. Two other structurally different 5-LOX inhibitors were also administered post IR: caffeic acid and 2, 3, 5-trimethyl-6- [12-hydroxy-5, 10-dodecadiynyl]-1, 4-benzoquinone (AA-861). As with BW-B 70C, they provided remarkable neuroprotection. Furthermore, in vitro, BW-B 70C inhibited lipopolysaccharide (LPS) mediated nitric oxide production, iNOS induction and NF-κB activation in the BV2 microglial cell line. Treating rat primary microglia with BW-B70C confirmed blockage of LPS-mediated translocation of the p65 subunit of NF-κB from cytosol to nucleus. CONCLUSION: The study demonstrates the neuroprotective potential of 5-LOX inhibition through down-regulation of NF-κB in a rat model of experimental stroke

Novel results on Hermite-Hadamard kind inequalities for η\eta-convex functions by means of (k,r)(k,r)-fractional integral operators

We establish new integral inequalities of Hermite-Hadamard type for the recent class of $\eta$-convex functions. This is done via generalized $(k,r)$-Riemann-Liouville fractional integral operators. Our results generalize some known theorems in the literature. By choosing different values for the parameters $k$ and $r$, one obtains interesting new results.Comment: This is a preprint of a paper whose final and definite form is a Springer chapter in the Book 'Advances in Mathematical Inequalities and Applications', published under the Birkhauser series 'Trends in Mathematics', ISSN: 2297-0215 [see http://www.springer.com/series/4961]. Submitted 02-Jan-2018; Revised 10-Jan-2018; Accepted 13-Feb-201