Determinants of Exports of Pakistan: A Country-wise Disaggregated Analysis.

Given the importance of international trade and export performance in economic growth, this study attempts to examine the determinants of exports of Pakistan, using a time series data over the period 1975-2008. A simultaneous equation approach is followed and the demand and supply side equations are specified with appropriate variables. This is a country-wise disaggregated analysis of Pakistan versus its trade partners and the estimation strategy is based on two approaches. First we employ the Generalised Methods of Moments (GMM), which is followed by the Empirical Bayesian technique to get consistent estimates. The GMM technique is believed to be efficient for time series data provided the sample size is sufficiently large. In case of small samples, the estimates might not be precise and might appear with unbelievable sign and insignificant magnitudes. To avoid the sample bias and other problems, we employ the Empirical Bayesian technique which provides much precise estimates. The factual results obtained via the GMM technique are a little bit mixed, although most of the coefficients are found to be statistically significant and carry their expected signs. In order to compare and validate these results, the Empirical Bayesian technique is employed. This offers considerable improvement over the previous results and all the variables are found to be highly significant with correct sign across the countries concerned with the exception of a few cases. The price and income elasticities in both the demand and supply side equations carry their expected signs and significant magnitudes for the trading partners. The findings suggest that exports of Pakistan are much sensitive to changes in the world demand and world prices. This establishes the importance of demand side factors like world GDP, Real exchange rate, and world prices to determine the exports of Pakistan. On the supply side, we find relatively small price and income elasiticities. The results reveal that demand for exports is relatively higher for countries in NAFTA, European Union and Middle East regions. The study recommends particular concentration on the trade partners in these regions to improve the export performance of Pakistan. Keywords: Exports, GMM, Empirical Bayesian Method, Pakista

A case of hypofibrinogenemia presenting with submental hamatoma

Hereditary hypofibrinogenemia is a rare disease and the usual presentation is difficult to stop bleeding or hamatoma in the muscle or intracranial space after injury. There may also be adverse pregnancy outcome, and increased tendency to throm­bosis. The usual measure is replacement of fibrinogen. Here a case of this rare disease with unusual presentation is reported, and the special aspects of management are discussed

Impact of Performance Appraisal Politics on Work Outcome: Multidimensional Role of Intrinsic Motivation and Job Satisfaction

The current study focus on performance politics regarding appraisal in order to analyze the performance of employees, to interpret job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and employee’s turnover in the banking sector of Pakistan. At the same time, employees’ intrinsic motivation and satisfaction will were investigated as possible mediators. For this purpose, data was collected from the selected sample of various bank employees across different districts in KPK and Islamabad. Data was analyzed through exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling using SPSS & AMOS software. Results indicate that the relationship between performance appraisal politics (PALP) and employee’s commitment level is negative and significant, while performance appraisal politics is positively and significantly associated with turnover intentions. Interestingly, the relationship between job performance politics and job satisfaction was insignificant. In order to validate the meditational affect (Baron & Kenny, 1986) meditational technique was applied. Since the relationship between PAPL (Performance Appraisal Politics) and job satisfaction is found to be insignificant; hence, it is concluded that job satisfaction could not mediate the relationship between PAPL and turnover intention. In the proceeding step, the relationship between PAPL and turnover intention was checked with intrinsic motivation as a mediator. It was concluded that intrinsic motivation strongly mediated the relationship between PAPL and TRI. Based on the findings of the current study, future direction, managerial implication and limitations are also provided in the last section.&nbsp

OPERATIONAL RESEARCH TOOLS IN IRRIGATION - A REVIEW

Operational research optimization is an old method for allocating scarce resources with maximum benefits and efficiency. With increasing global water scarcity, earliness and tiredness in demand base water supply, economical issues, maximizing crop per drop of water, OR is getting popular in irrigation and agriculture sector as well. This paper is intended to review different optimization techniques used so far in the field of irrigation.Key Words: Operation research, optimization, irrigation, water delivery, genetic algorithm, simulated annealing, fuzzy sets, swarm optimization

Leishmanial Hepatitis with Chronic Hepatitis B Infection Treated Successfully with Liquid Form of Liposomal Amphotericin B - A Case Report

Hepatic involvement either due to leishmaniasis or due to coexisting viral infection sometime poses a problem for the clinicians. Atypical presentation is also challenging for them. We present a case of visceral leishmaniasis (Kala-azar) from a non endemic zone, co infection with hepatitis B virus simulating chronic viral hepatitis successfully treated with liquid form of liposomal amphotericin B.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bsmmuj.v5i1.11018 BSMMU J 2012; 5(1):55-56

Growth and yield of garlic (Allium Sativum L.) influenced by Zn and Fe application

A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of Zn and Fe application on growth and yield of garlic (Allium sativum L.) var. Desi Sufaid at National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad during Rabi season 2018-2019. Eight kilogram of sandy clay loam soil was filled in the pots. Four garlic cloves were sown in each pot. The treatments of Zn, Fe and their mixture (1:1 ratio) @ 5 kg ha-1 along with basal dose of N, P and K (100, 75 and 50 mg kg-1) fertilizer were applied at sowing following complete randomized design with three replications. The plants were allowed to stand till maturity and data on growth traits like plant height (cm), pseudo stem diameter (cm), leaf length (cm), leaves plant-1, bulb diameter (cm), cloves (bulb-1), clove weight (g) and bulb yield (g plant-1) were recorded at harvest. The mean data were analyzed statistically. The highest growth attributes like plant height, number of leaves per plant, bulb diameter, cloves, clove weight and bulb yield were harvested with micronutrients (Zn and Fe) along with basal dose of N, P and K (100, 75 and 50 mg kg-1) application which were significantly higher as compared to control. Though, all the treatments showed positive effect through growth characteristics and yield, however, the mixture of Zn and Fe application produced comparable garlic yield among all the treatments which was 6 and 4 (%) higher than that of sole application of Zn and Fe, respectively. Significant improvement in Zn and Fe concentration in garlic plant tissues was observed with the application of Zn and Fe respectively. Overall the combination of both micronutrients performed better than rest of the treatments through improved growth traits and bulb yield

Role of radiosurgery In arteriovenous malformations

Background: Intracranial arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) consist of an abnormal nidus of blood vessels that shunt blood directly from an artery to a vein and thereby bypass an intervening capillary bed. AVMs may be found as an incidental finding. They may be associated with intracranial haemorrhage, seizures, headaches or neurological deficits. There are different treatment options for AVM. These include observation, microsurgery, Stereotactic radio surgery (SRS), endovascular embolization and intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT).Methods: Data was collected using searching engines like Pubmed, Google scholar, Embase, Cinahl and Medline. MeSH and Non-MeSH terms were used like Arterio-venous malformations, microsurgery, endovascular embolization.Results: Multiple interventional radiosurgical techniques have been introduced in recent years. The most effective and least risk-associated methods are Stereotactic radiosurgery, Microsurgery, Embolization and Intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). However, the outcome of such treatment modalities depends upon Site of malformation, grade of AVM, patient\u27s age/gender, dose and volume of radiosurgery. Digital substraction angiography (DSA) and MR angiography (MRA) are most suitable methods for the follow-up of AVMs.Conclusions: Stereotactic radiosurgery is the most suitable technique for AVMs considering the good prognosis and the risks associated with this procedure. However, large AVMs require multidisciplinary approach for better results

OPERATIONAL RESEARCH TOOLS IN IRRIGATION - A REVIEW

Operational research optimization is an old method for allocating scarce resources with maximum benefits and efficiency. With increasing global water scarcity, earliness and tiredness in demand base water supply, economical issues, maximizing crop per drop of water, OR is getting popular in irrigation and agriculture sector as well. This paper is intended to review different optimization techniques used so far in the field of irrigation.Key Words: Operation research, optimization, irrigation, water delivery, genetic algorithm, simulated annealing, fuzzy sets, swarm optimization

CLINICAL PRESENTATION AND LIFESTYLE RELATED RISK FACTORS OF BREAST CANCER AMONG DIFFERENT AGE AND ETHNIC GROUPS

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most frequent and leading cause of malignancies in females globally. In Pakistan, breast cancer is most frequently found in younger individuals and late stage presentation is the key feature for clinical diagnosis. Numbers of genetic factors are reported to be significantly associated with the manifestation of breast cancer. A number of factors including gender, age, genetic predisposition, familial vertical history, ethnicity and life style eventually leading to the development of the cancer. Therefore, we identified the role of biochemical characteristics of all participants in the development of breast cancer. 50 breast cancer patients were enrolled in this study. A written informed consent was taken from each of the patients prior to data collection through questionnaire. People belonging to different ethnic groups: Pashtoon was found to be the highest noteworthy figure of breast cancer patients with an overall of 14 (28%) followed by Afghani ethnic group with 7 (14%), Baloch 15 (30%), Hazara 8 (16%), Punjabi 3 (6%) and Sindhi 3 (6%). Key words: Breast cancer, Ethnic groups, Cenar Hospital, Balochistan

Cough Syrup Use in Infants, A Dangerous Practice

Sleep disturbance is a very common finding in patients with persistent cough1. This is especially apparent in infants with common cold or influenza and the continuous crying can lead to considerable distress for the parents. Cough syrups which are easily available as over the counter medications can induce sleep, and many parents turn to this medication when their infant is suffering from persistent cough