Judicial Activism in Pakistan is Challenging for Foreign Investor in the Context of China and Pakistan Econonic Corridor

The judiciary has an important role in Pakistan. If the judicial system of any state provides appropriate law and justice,it would not only benefit local investors, but also provide a favorable environment for foreign investors to enhance their business. The support of the  judiciary system is crucial for foreign investors in order to enhance FDI. In the past few years foreign investors were facing challenges by the courts in Pakistan. Due to judicial activism not only Pakistan being a host state had to experience failure in investment projects, but also the foreign investors had to become a victim of massive loss.In the constitution of Pakistan the courts have the power to take action against any case in the interest of  the public. Suo moto is a constitutional power and judiciary have the right to use this power in any case.China is initiating a huge investment in Pakistan, which will not only provide great scope to the investors in growing their businesses but also will promote job opportunities, technology transfer,economics and prosperity of Pakistan. The judiciary system of Pakistan is likely to impose great challenges to the Chinese investors.It has been observed in the past that the judiciary in Pakistan had played a role in creating issues in the development of foreign investment leading to termination of the investment agreement.Moreover in some cases  foreign investors were compelled to leave the country. Due to judicial activism privatization of Steel mill had been halted which became a burden to the Government of Pakistan. The foreign investment in Rental Power Project had also been terminated due to judicial activism. Chinese investment in Orange train  is a recent example of judicial activism in Pakistan, which led to huge loss to the Chinese investors on account of halting of its construction after the agreement. Keywords. Judiciary,Foreign investor protection,Judicial Activism,CPEC DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/95-13 Publication date:March 31st 202

Spectrum of tamoxifen associated endometrial pathology in breast cancer patients

The objective of the study was to determine the incidence and type of endometrial abnormalities in long-term users of tamoxifen with breast cancer. All patients with a diagnosis of Oestrogen Receptor positive breast cancer on Tamoxifen therapy who had also undergone endometrial biopsy for abnormal bleeding or other symptoms were included. Among the 37 cases that had long-term follow up available, 21(57%) had evidence of endometrial pathology. There were seven cases of simple hyperplasia and thirteen of endometrial polyp. Only one case of endometrial carcinoma was seen. These findings support the association between prolonged tamoxifen therapy and endometrial pathology of possible neoplastic potential. Endometrial pathology is dependent on duration of exposure to Tamoxifen, therefore, close follow up of such patients is recommended

Trend Analysis of Contraceptive Usage and Reasons of Low Contraceptive Use in Pakistan: A Narrative Review on Available Literature

The Pakistani government has been struggling continuously to slow down the population rise despite making easy accessibility of family planning services. Various factors including economic crisis, poverty, unemployment, and inflation have been identified that influence family planning practices leading to a low contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR). The main aim of this review was to understand the positive and negative predictors and the trends of contraceptive use. Pakistan, currently facing the issues of high morbidity and mortality of mother and child as a consequence of low CPR secondary to the high risk of unplanned and/or teenage pregnancies, abortion, and miscarriages. Low CPR produces a drastic effect on the nation's economy, as a high growth rate causes uncontrolled urbanization. Old age, education, and mothers' employment, wealth, and better lifestyle have positive influences while it is evident rural life, traditional religion, illiteracy, poverty, non-working mothers, and fear of side effects, etc. navigate low CPR. Although contraception in terms of modern contraceptive techniques has increased in Pakistan over the past two decades, still there is a need for efforts to increase CPR among reproductive and fertile age groups. Further, interventions such as the provision of affordable family planning practices and facilitating access to women near their homes, improving awareness must be targeted as a priority

Trend Analysis of Contraceptive Usage and Reasons of Low Contraceptive Use in Pakistan: A Narrative Review on Available Literature

The Pakistani government has been struggling continuously to slow down the population rise despite making easy accessibility of family planning services. Various factors including economic crisis, poverty, unemployment, and inflation have been identified that influence family planning practices leading to a low contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR). The main aim of this review was to understand the positive and negative predictors and the trends of contraceptive use. Pakistan, currently facing the issues of high morbidity and mortality of mother and child as a consequence of low CPR secondary to the high risk of unplanned and/or teenage pregnancies, abortion, and miscarriages. Low CPR produces a drastic effect on the nation’s economy, as a high growth rate causes uncontrolled urbanization. Old age, education, and mothers’ employment, wealth, and better lifestyle have positive influences while it is evident rural life, traditional religion, illiteracy, poverty, non-working mothers, and fear of side effects, etc. navigate low CPR. Although contraception in terms of modern contraceptive techniques has increased in Pakistan over the past two decades, still there is a need for efforts to increase CPR among reproductive and fertile age groups. Further, interventions such as the provision of affordable family planning practices and facilitating access to women near their homes, improving awareness must be targeted as a priority

Work to family facilitation as a predictor of job satisfaction, affective commitment and job performance in academia

Work to Family Facilitation considers that time and other resources spent on the job by an individual can have a positive impact on family life. The current study tests to what extent this perception affects the employee’s level of job satisfaction, affective commitment, and self-rated job performance. A systematic random sample of 293 faculty members from 30 public and private universities of Pakistan filled an online survey. Results from path analysis performed in AMOS indicate that Work to Family Facilitation is significant and positive predictors of all three outcomes variables. Moreover, both job satisfaction and affective commitment mediate path leading from work to family facilitation and self-rated job performance such that job satisfaction precedes affective commitment in the causal chain. Hence by devising family-friendly HR policies, effective job designs and fostering environment that is family supportive will result in enhanced employee performance. Similarly hiring employees with resourceful psychological traits or interventions to enhance resourceful psychological states can result in a greater perception of work to family facilitation. Discussion and implications are followed by future research directions

ENDODONTIC RETREATMENT USING SURGICAL AND NON-SURGICAL METHODS. A BRIEF REVIEW OF LITERATURE

The success rates for root canal therapy, when done under acceptable clinical guidelines and aseptic conditions are generally high. The microbial etiology of periradicular periodontitis is such that it sometimes requires great effort to eliminate the infection from the peri-radicular tissues and the root canal system. Majority of the pariapical radiolucent lesions heal after endodontic treatment uneventfully. However, there may be some cases that require periradicular surgical procedures so that the pathological tissues from the per-apical areas could be removed which could not have been removed by orthograde root canal treatment. In clinical endodontics, such decisions are very important especially when surgical and non-surgical retreatment has to be provided. The aim of the current paper is to briefly discuss the different factors responsible for failures in endodontics, the prognosis and decision making, and to further evaluate the retreatment of surgical and non surgical endodontic procedures as a whole. The factors responsible for success and failure of different treatment modalities have also been addressed in the current descriptive review

Evaluation of Abelmoschus moschatus extracts for antioxidant, free radical scavenging, antimicrobial and antiproliferative activities using in vitro assays

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Abelmoschus moschatus </it>Medik. leaves and seeds are considered as valuable traditional medicine. The aromatic seeds of this plant are aphrodisiac, ophthalmic, cardio tonic, antispasmodic and used in the treatment of intestinal complaints and check queasiness. To give a scientific basis for traditional usage of this medicinal plant, the seed and leaf extracts were evaluated for their antioxidant, free radical scavenging, antimicrobial and antiproliferative activities.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study, antioxidant, antimicrobial and antiproliferative activities of <it>A. moschatus </it>extracts were evaluated in a series of <it>in vitro </it>assay involving free radicals, reactive oxygen species and their IC₅₀values were also determined. The antioxidant activities of the seed and leaf extracts of <it>A. moschatus </it>were determined by total antioxidant, DPPH, and ferrous reducing antioxidant property (FRAP) methods. In addition, the antiproliferative activity was also evaluated using colorectal adenocarcinoma and retinoblastoma human cancer cell lines. Moreover, six bacterial reference strains, two gram-positive (<it>Bacillus subtilis </it>and <it>Staphylococcus aureus</it>), four gram-negative (<it>Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris </it>and <it>Salmonella enterica paratyphi</it>) and one fungal strain (<it>Candida albicans</it>) were used to evaluate its antimicrobial activity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results from this study showed that the antioxidant activities of <it>A. moschatus </it>as determined by the total phenol, flavonoids, total antioxidant and FRAP methods were higher in leaf than that of the seed extracts. On the other hand, the aqueous overnight seed extract (AMS-I) has shown significant radical scavenging activity as in 1, 1- Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl radical, superoxide and lipid peroxidation as compared to other seed and leaf extracts. The AMS-I and AML-IV have shown activity against six and seven microorganisms respectively. Simulteneously, AMS-IV and AML-IV have demonstrated potential antiproliferative activity against two human cell lines - Colorectal adenocarcinoma (COLO-205) and retinoblastoma (Y79).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The seed and leaf extracts of <it>A. moschatus </it>possess significant antioxidant activity and could serve as free radical inhibitors or scavenger, or substitute, probably as primary antioxidants. The plant possesses moderate antibacterial activity against bacterial strains used in this study. Hydroalcoholic seed and leaf extracts also exhibited antiproliferative activity against two human cancer cell lines. <it>A. moschatus </it>may therefore, be a good candidate for functional foods as well as pharmaceutics.</p

Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Mechanical Thrombectomy for Acute Ischemic Stroke Treatment in United States

There is accumulating data suggesting that the ischemic stroke may be increased in patients with corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to hyper coagulopathy. An increase in acute ischemic stroke patients who require mechanical thrombectomy is to be expected particularly in regions with high rates of COVID-19

Assessment of Knowledge Retention Ability of Undergraduate Medical Students

BACKGROUND: Being a natural phenomenon, the knowledge learned by students is quickly forgotten. However, various factors are pertinent for one’s memory and knowledge retention ability. This ability is not investigated earlier among pass and fail students of a particular exam. OBJECTIVES: To determine and compare short term memory and Knowledge retention ability among pass and fail students of mid-term exam. METHODS: 103 first-year MBBS students were examined in 3 cycles after result of mid-term examination announced. These cycles consisted of 2 components related with short term memory (1st & 2nd cycles) & knowledge retention ability (3rd cycle) with one week duration apart. RESULTS: Class attendance of pass, fail and absentees groups demonstrated statistically significant (P fail > absentees and significant correlation with marks obtained. A comparison between short term memory & knowledge retention ability also demonstrated statistically significant (P<0.0005) difference. CONCLUSION: The quality of learning positively correlates with the class attendance. Short term memory and knowledge retention abilities are significantly better in pass students and statistically correlate with each other. Regular conduct of such tests is suggested to assess short term memory & knowledge retention ability so that appropriate methods to enhance these can be adopted

Green Computing for Wireless Body Area Networks: Energy Efficient Link Aware Medical Data Dissemination Approach

Recent technological advancement- in wireless communication has invented Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs), a cutting edge technology in healthcare applications. WBANs interconnect with intelligent and miniaturized biomedical sensor nodes placed on human body to un-attendant monitoring of physiological parameter of the patient. These sensors are equipped with limited resources in terms of computation, storage and battery power. The data communication in WBANs is a resource hungry process especially in terms of energy. One of the most significant challenges in this network is to design energy aware next-hop link selection framework. Towards this end, this paper presents a Green computing framework for WBANs focusing on Energy efficient Link aware approach (G-WEL). Firstly, a link efficiency oriented network model is presented considering beaconing information and network initialization process. Secondly, a path cost calculation model is derived focusing on energy aware link efficiency. A complete operational framework G-WEL is developed considering energy aware next hop link selection by utilizing the network and path cost model. The comparative performance evaluation attests the energy oriented benefit of the proposed framework as compared to the state-of-the-art techniques. It reveals a significant enhancement in body area networking in terms of various energy oriented metrics under medical environments