Knowledge and practices regarding cigarette smoking among adult women in a rural district of Sindh, Pakistan

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of cigarette smoking and to obtain information on socio-demographic factors and attitude regarding cigarette smoking among adult women in a rural district of Sindh Province, Pakistan. METHODS: A cross sectional community based survey was done in a rural district of Sindh province of Pakistan using a two stage cluster sampling design. A pre tested questionnaire was used to interview 502 adult women (aged 18- 60 years) from the study site. The study was approved by the ethical research committee and informed consent was taken from participants. RESULTS: A total of 502 women were interviewed for this study. Approximately 71% of women were illiterate and 44% of women were in the age group of 18-24 years. A high number (10%) of adult women were smokers. Age at initiation among women (18-24 years) was 42%. A significant difference for questions regarding smoking effects on health (p = 0.02) and knowledge regarding smoking causes respiratory disease (p = 0.02) was observed in this survey. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that the prevalence of smoking among women is on the rise in this rural district of Pakistan. Young age at initiation is an important finding that needs to be addressed

Female presence in corporate governance, firm performance, and the moderating role of family ownership

Assessing the role of diversity in corporate governance has attracted growing interest. In addition, significant relationships are expected between diversity dimensions and firm performance. This research aims to analyze the relationships between female presence in corporate board-firm financial performance and the extent to which such influence is moderated by family ownership. The study’s sample, based on the listed firms on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), represents the nonfinancial sector from 2008 to 2019 with 2087 firm-year observations. Fixed-effect regression analysis was applied to examine the proposed hypothesis. The study’s findings indicate that the presence of women in corporate governance is positively associated with firm financial performance. Simultaneously, the mentioned relationship is less pronounced when family ownership is a moderator. The empirical findings of the study support the argument that the presence of women in corporate boards is positively associated with financial performance and supports the reforms made by codes of corporate governance (CCG) that make the presence of female directors’ mandatory on the corporate boards. Additionally, the study findings partially confirm that a higher proportion of women on the board increases firm performance. This study offers insights for policymakers to implement legislation for a diverse gender placement in the board of directors and exploit the potential benefits of the gender-balanced board, which generally improves firm performance

Earthquake Hazard in District Ziarat, Baluchistan: Mitigation Measures

The individual citizen’s preparedness for the impact and mitigation of potentially catastrophic future earthquakes in Ziarat district will depend on their level of understanding of seismic hazards in the region and the collateral damages. It is based on an adequate program of civil defence which includes the measures that must be taken for the protection of people. Present study aims at suggesting mitigation measures to suggest that the respondents’ age, education and occupation are statistically significant with the vulnerability reduction, that is tested on Pearson’s Chi-Square test. For this purpose, a sample of 193 households was surveyed from the four union councils of district Ziarat, with a semi-structured questionnaire using the proportional allocation method. It was found that earthquake hazard mitigation measures were significantly affected by people’s education level and occupation. A number of measures include the need of taking necessary measures in the study area for all age groups of population. Apart from launching essential education and training, awareness dissemination regarding highly hazardous and vulnerable areas/conditions of households at risk is indispensable

Relationship between Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction: A study of internet banking

Objective of the research is how to manage the service quality in internet banking to improve the customer’s satisfaction and to examine the different dimensions of service quality to relate them with expectation of customers. A detailed literature review related to this study was also mentioned to develop a reference list of related authors. Methodology used for this research is to conduct a survey through structured questionnaire. A quantitative research is carried out by using a structured questionnaire to get a better understanding of this issue. Empirical data were collected through survey of the employees or professionals using internet banking services. Data presentation and analysis was done according to frame of reference and applied statistical tool SPSS. Descriptive Statistics, Correlation and Regression tools were used for analysis purpose. Results have shown that service quality dimensions used in the research are better representative of the customers’ satisfaction regarding internet usage.     Keywords: E-banking, Service Quality, Efficiency, Reliability, Responsiveness and Privac

Association of Hyperuricemia with Ischemic Stroke in Adult Population

Background and Objective: Stroke is the second most prevalent cause of dementia, the third biggest cause of mortality, and the top cause of disability globally. Hyperuricemia is frequently seen in patients with vascular risk factors. The objective of this study was to determine the association of hyperuricemia with ischemic stroke in adult patients presenting to neurology department of a tertiary care hospital. Methods:This was a case-control study of 200 patients, 100 patients with stroke and 100 unmatched controls were accessed for vascular risk factors and hyperuricemia. The setting was Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad and study duration was six months (August 2021 to February 2022). Odds Ratio (OR) was calculated to measure the association of ischemic stroke with hyperuricemia for each group. OR\u3e1 was taken as significant. Results:Out of 100 patients in the case group, 25 (25%) had hyperuricemia. Whereas, out of 100 patients in the control group, 07 (7%) had hyperuricemia. The P-value was 0.001. Odds ratio was 4.42. Out of 100 patients in the case group, the median patient age was 35 and the highest patient age was 75. The mean age, symptom duration, and uric acid level were 55.216.24 years, 20.588.97 hours, and 7.212.24 mg/dl, respectively. The control group had 100 patients with an average age of 35 and a maximum age of 75. The median age was 52.48 years old, and the median uric acid level was 2.48 mg/dl. Conclusion:Hyperuricemia is linked positively to occurrence of ischemic stroke as evidenced by the positive odds ratio. Further studies need to be done to investigate whether uric acid lowering therapy is useful in preventing stroke or reducing mortality

The Integration of Conventional Equity Indices with Environmental, Social, and Governance Indices: Evidence from Emerging Economies

This study investigates the integration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) equity indices with conventional indices in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) individually and across all BRICS countries to better understand regional economic cooperation. Accordingly, we look at daily returns from 13 July 2013 to 28 February 2018 for the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) ESG indices and MSCI composite indices of the respective countries. To analyze the integration between the ESG equity indices of the sampled countries with their regional and across regional conventional counterparts, the Johansen Co-integration test is employed in this study. Further, the vector error correction model (VECM) is applied to test the causality between the sampled time-series. The impulse response function analysis further explains the impulse responses of each country’s MSCI ESG returns to one standard deviation of innovations to MSCI composite returns of the same country and across countries. Finally, the extent of the MSCI composite returns’ impact on the MSCI ESG returns in the same country indices, and cross-regional indices is examined with variance decomposition analysis. The results suggest that all ESG equity indices are integrated with conventional indices in all BRICS countries. Furthermore, there is a short-or long-run causality between MSCI ESG and MSCI composite equity indices of China and South Africa. Moreover, the study finds only short-run causality between conventional and non-conventional equity indices of Brazil and Russia, whereas we find only long-run causality between India’s non-conventional and conventional equity indices. Finally, the study finds that the all-individual country MSCI ESG equity indices shows a long-run causality with MSCI composite equity indices of all other BRICS countries. The findings also confirm the economic and financial cooperation between the BRICS countries

Association of 25 Hydroxy Vitamin D Levels with Age in Community Acquired Pneumonia

Background : To determine association of 25 hydroxy vitamin D deficiency with age in patients with community acquired pneumonia (CAP). Methods: In this descriptive study 150 diagnosed patients of community-acquired pneumonia based on the CURB-65 scoring criteria were enrolled. The 25 hydroxy vitamin D levels were recorded in all patients. Patients were divided into three groups according to their age. Effect modifiers like gender were controlled by stratification. Post stratification chi square test was applied. A p value of 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Mean age of the patients was 40.05 ± 14.33 years (mean ± SD). Out of 150 patients 54.7% (n=82) were males while the 45.3% (n=68) were females. The mean level of vitamin D was 18.43 ± 5.005 (mean ± SD) ng/ml. When the cut off value for deficiency was applied i.e. 20 ng/ml, the 60% (n=90) patients were found deficient while 40% (n=60) patients had normal values. The p value was significant only for the age group to 35 to 50 years. Independent sample t test showed that the difference is statistically significant (p=0.003) in age groups between 35 to 50 years. Conclusions: Lower concentrations of vitamin D might be associated with CAP particularly in age group between 35 to 50 years

Serum lipid profile as a marker of liver impairment in hepatitis B Cirrhosis patients

Representative GC chromatogram of serum total and free fatty acids of HBV patients and controls along with standards of fatty acid methyl esters.(DOCX 761 kb

Cisplatin-Induced Reproductive Toxicity and Oxidative Stress: Ameliorative Effect of Kinetin

Cisplatin is a commonly used chemotherapeutic agent; however, its potential side effects, including gonadotoxicity and infertility, are a critical problem. Oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathogenesis of cisplatin-induced testicular dysfunction. We investigated whether kinetin use at different concentrations could alleviate gonadal injury associated with cisplatin treatment, with an exploration of the involvement of its antioxidant capacity. Kinetin was administered in different doses of 0.25, 0.5, and 1 mg/kg, alone or along with cisplatin for 10 days. Cisplatin toxicity was induced via a single IP dose of 7 mg/kg on day four. In a dose-dependent manner, concomitant administration of kinetin with cisplatin significantly restored testicular oxidative stress parameters, corrected the distorted sperm quality parameters and histopathological changes, enhanced levels of serum testosterone and testicular StAR protein expression, as well as reduced the up-regulation of testicular TNF-α, IL-1β, Il-6, and caspase-3, caused by cisplatin. It is worth noting that the testicular protective effect of the highest kinetin dose was comparable/more potent and significantly higher than the effects of vitamin C and the lowest kinetin dose, respectively. Overall, these data indicate that kinetin may offer a promising approach for alleviating cisplatin-induced reproductive toxicity and organ damage, via ameliorating oxidative stress and reducing inflammation and apoptosis