23 research outputs found
Mentoring and its Effects on Turnover Intensions in Perspective of Pakistan’s Telecom Sector
In today’s era of towering competition the retention of workforce is highly desirable for long term success of any organization. The employees serve as backbone for any organization and are responsible for attaining the laid down objectives of the organization. The ongoing study investigates the effects of mentoring on turnover intensions of employees working in telecom sector of Pakistan. Researchers retrieved data with the help of questionnaires based on five point likert scale from almost 300 employees working in telecom organizations of Pakistan. Multiple regressions were used to analyze the collected data. Result shows that mentoring mostly is negatively associated with turnover intension because employee was not satisfied with mentoring and commitment in employees is only due to experienced learning which helps to develop additional skills in employee
Formulation development and characterization of quercetin loaded poly caprolactone nanoparticles for tumors
Cancer is a formidable health obstacle, characterized by its bleak outlook. Considerable scientific investigation has shed light on the capacity to modify the dispersion of anticancer medications at various levels within tissues and cells by enclosing them within submicronic colloidal systems, often known as nanoparticles. This approach is based on the goal of enhancing the therapeutic effectiveness of these medications while minimizing adverse effects on the entire body. Moreover, the theragnostic characteristics of these nanoparticles are widely acknowledged, hence enhancing their therapeutic potential. The current study is centered on exploring the potential anti-tumor effects of quercetin by utilizing its antioxidant capabilities. The quercetin nanoparticles are synthesized with great precision utilizing the nanoprecipitation approach, in which poly(caprolactone) is utilized as the polymer matrix. Following synthesis, the nanoparticles are extracted for further analysis. Further attempts are undertaken to enhance the drug loading process, and the resultant nanoparticles undergo a thorough analysis, including the examination of their morphology using scanning electron microscopy, and the evaluation of drug-polymer interactions using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. The remarkable efficacy of quercetin's envelopment can be attributed to its lipophilic nature, reaching a maximum of 81%. The utilization of scanning electron microscopy allows for the observation of nanoparticles with varying forms. Conversely, the absence of noticeable interactions in Fourier-transform infrared analysis indicates the stability of poly(caprolactone) nanoparticles loaded with quercetin
Improvement in Competency and Confidence Level of House Officers in ECG Interpretation after a Goal-Directed ECG Workshop
Objective: To determine if a goal-directed ECG workshop improves ECG interpretation competency and confidence among the house officers in PNS Shifa Hospital.
Study Design: Prospective comparative study.
Place and Duration of Study: Pakistan Naval Ship Shifa Hospital, Karachi Pakistan, from Jan to Dec 2021.
Methodology: ECG workshops were conducted for House Officers in batches. The participants were asked to complete a questionnaire testing their ECG interpretation competency before and after the workshop and self-report their confidence level in ECG interpretation.
Results: Sixty-eight house officers participated in the workshops and completed the test. There were 41(60.29%) female and 27(39.7%) male participants. The statistics showed significant improvement in ECG competency (p<0.001). In addition, the pre and post-workshop confidence levels also showed significant improvement (p<0.001).
Conclusion: A goal-directed ECG workshop improves house officers’ competency and confidence in ECG interpretation
Accelerated surgery versus standard care in hip fracture (HIP ATTACK): an international, randomised, controlled trial
Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study
Summary
Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally.
Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies
have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of
the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income
countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality.
Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to
hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis,
exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a
minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical
status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary
intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause,
in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status.
We did a complete case analysis.
Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital
diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal
malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome
countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male.
Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3).
Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income
countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups).
Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome
countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries;
p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients
combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11],
p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20
[1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention
(ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety
checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed
(ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of
parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65
[0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality.
Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome,
middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will
be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger
than 5 years by 2030
Experimental Investigation of Strength and Stiffness Characteristics of Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA)
AbstractRutting is a common phenomenon on pavements in Pakistan. Resilient modulus is one the important properties used in the mechanistic analysis of pavement response under dynamic traffic loads as well as used to study the rutting behavior of pavement. This research study investigates the effect of specimen diameter, bitumen grade and compactive effort on the resilient modulus (stiffness) and Indirect tensile strength (Strength) of asphalt concrete. The analysis of experimental results revealed that both the strength and stiffness values for Polymer Modified Bitumen grade were greater than that of unmodified penetration grade bitumen. Similarly, the resilient modulus and indirect tensile strength values of specimens prepared with 100mm diameter and compacted with Marshall Hammer were more than that of specimens prepared with 150mm diameter and compacted with gyratory compactor. This research will help the highway agencies in modifying their design methods for asphalt concrete pavements
Optimized spacing of the longitudinal reinforcement in CRCP to avoid horizontal cracking
Numerical evaluation of horizontal cracking potential in continuously reinforced concrete pavement under varying saw-cut depths
The objective of this study is to evaluate the horizontal cracking potential in terms of vertical tensile stress development near longitudinal steel bar in the continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP). For this purpose, a three-dimensional (3D) finite element (FE) model of the CRCP segment with partial surface saw-cuts has been developed using the FE tool Diana 10.3. The early-age behaviour of CRCP subjected to external varying temperature field condition has been evaluated by using the staggered structural-flow analysis. The characteristics of the early-age crack pattern in terms of crack initiation and crack propagation obtained from the FE model are compared with the field observations of cracking developments on the CRCP sections in Belgium. The FE results indicate that the vertical tensile stress in concrete near the longitudinal steel bar develops at the transverse crack interface. It translates that the horizontal crack perpendicular to the vertical concrete stress can initiate from the transverse crack depending on the magnitude of stress against developing concrete tensile strength. It has also been observed that the deeper the saw-cut, the larger the magnitude of vertical tensile stress and the higher incident of horizontal cracking. Moreover, the developed 3D FE model can be further used to optimize the early-age behaviour of CRCP in advance of costly field trials
Fuzzy Logic and Bio-Inspired Firefly Algorithm Based Routing Scheme in Intrabody Nanonetworks
An intrabody nanonetwork (IBNN) is composed of nanoscale (NS) devices, implanted inside the human body for collecting diverse physiological information for diagnostic and treatment purposes. The unique constraints of these NS devices in terms of energy, storage and computational resources are the primary challenges in the effective designing of routing protocols in IBNNs. Our proposed work explicitly considers these limitations and introduces a novel energy-efficient routing scheme based on a fuzzy logic and bio-inspired firefly algorithm. Our proposed fuzzy logic-based correlation region selection and bio-inspired firefly algorithm based nano biosensors (NBSs) nomination jointly contribute to energy conservation by minimizing transmission of correlated spatial data. Our proposed fuzzy logic-based correlation region selection mechanism aims at selecting those correlated regions for data aggregation that are enriched in terms of energy and detected information. While, for the selection of NBSs, we proposed a new bio-inspired firefly algorithm fitness function. The fitness function considers the transmission history and residual energy of NBSs to avoid exhaustion of NBSs in transmitting invaluable information. We conduct extensive simulations using the Nano-SIM tool to validate the in-depth impact of our proposed scheme in saving energy resources, reducing end-to-end delay and improving packet delivery ratio. The detailed comparison of our proposed scheme with different scenarios and flooding scheme confirms the significance of the optimized selection of correlated regions and NBSs in improving network lifetime and packet delivery ratio while reducing the average end-to-end delay