Advanced energy management system with the incorporation of novel security features

Nowadays, energy management is a subject of great importance and complexity. Pakistan, being in a state of developing country, generates electrical power mainly by using non-renewable sources of energy. Non-renewable entities are fossil fuels such as furnace oil, natural gas, coal, and nuclear power. Pakistan has been facing a severe shortage of production in energy sector for last two decades. This shortfall is affecting the industrial development as well as economic growth. With the growing population, the load demand is rapidly increasing and there must be a need to expand the existing ones or to build new power systems. In this paper, an autonomous management system has been proposed to enhance quality, reliability and confidence of utilization of energy between end consumers and suppliers. Such objectives can only be fulfilled by making the power supply secure for end consumers. Distributed and centralized control systems are involved for maintaining a balance between renewable energy resources and base power, so that end consumers demand can be fulfilled when required. A reliable Two-way communication system between suppliers and end consumers has been proposed by using Message Digest algorithm which ensures that there would be no energy theft. Simulations have been done in MATLAB/ Simulink environment and results have been presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed model

Antecedents of Financial Performance of Banking Sector: Panel Analysis of Islamic, Conventional and Mix Banks in Pakistan

Objective: This paper analyzes bank-specific, industry-specific and macroeconomic determinants of bank profitability on the sample of 25 banks, 161 observations on the Pakistani banking system in the period between 2006 and 2012. Our dependent variables include Return on Equity, Return on Assets and Earning per Share and independent variables consist of 'bank-specific determinants', industry-specific determinants', and 'macroeconomic determinants'. State Bank of Pakistan provides the data for internal factors on a yearly basis. Methodology: Different statistical techniques are used step by step to empirically test the relationship between the variables and to draw conclusions from the results of the study. Firstly, to analyze the features of the profitability determinants descriptive statistics are used. Secondly, we examine the causal relationship between bank-specific, industry specific, macroeconomic variables and profitability variables, Pearson's coefficient of correlation is used.  Panel data are used in this study so the technique used for regression is a panel regression technique which includes the pooled Ordinary Least Square, Random Effects Model and Fixed Effect Model. Hausman test is used to analyze that which technique for panel regression is more suitable for study. Results: According to the obtained results, among internal factors of bank profitability, firm size are the most important factor. Profitability is influenced by liquidity, asset quality and leverage condition of the banks. Regarding the external variables, inflation and interest rate show significant effect on bank profitability. Islamic banks show significant positive relationship with commercial banks

Prevalence of work related musculoskeletal disorders among physiotherapists of Multan

Background: Work related musculoskeletal disorders are increasing day by day in hospitals and clinics due to high demand activities. These disorders decline the efficiency of therapists and result in social as well as economic losses. These injuries mostly occur due to abnormal postures and poor ergonomics. Aim and objectives: The purpose of this study was to rule out pain which disturbs the daily living of physiotherapists due to work related musculoskeletal disorder. This study also helps physiotherapists to improve their skills, technique, posture, ergonomics and all the other factors that are related to these disorders. Method: Survey was performed among physiotherapists that are performing duties in government hospitals, private clinics and all the other settings in Multan. This study included 100 physiotherapists of Multan. Self-design questionnaire as well as a Nordic questionnaire was used to collect data about WRMSK disorders. Data was gathered and was observed statistically. Results: 89% of physiotherapist were having had work related musculoskeletal disorder & 11% had no complaint, 75% female and 25% male & 23 to 50 years age population data was taken & the study observed that novice practitioner are at the increased risk of developing work-related musculoskeletal disorder & 45% were non specialized and 55% were specialized. The most commonly affected regions were upper back, low back and hip joint respectively. Conclusion: Upper back pain, lower back pain and hip pain were the most common complications among physiotherapists. Manual therapy shows association with the prevalence of MSK disorder

Region-based active contour JSEG fusion technique for skin lesion segmentation from dermoscopic images

Malignant melanoma is one of the most aggressive forms of skin cancer which must be necessary to be diagnosed at the initial stage for effective treatment. Melanoma affects the patient life even it can become a reason of death if its diagnosis is not accomplished on time. Through a rough pigment network and some suspicious signs can be helpful for diagnosis the melanoma from dermoscopic images. According to the clinical studies, for dermatologists, it is quite difficult to identify these signs at the initial stage of melanoma. So, it is important to propose an automated system which can efficiently be identified and differentiate between benign and malignant melanoma. The main focus of this research article is to improve the skin lesion segmentation from low contrast and under/ over segmented dermoscopic images through fusing the region based active contour method with JSEG method. The proposed fused segmentation technique gain 95.3% accuracy and through our proposed feature vector the Gaussian classifier achieved the promising results as sensitivity 97.7%, specificity 96.7%, and accuracy 97.5% with handling the special dermoscopic image cases which are comparatively much better than numerous exiting techniques

Confirmation of root-knot nematode resistant gene Rmi1 using SSR markers

Background: The Root Knot Nematode (RKN) is a serious economic threat to various cultivated crops worldwide. It is a devastating pest of soybean and responsible to cause severe yield loss in Pakistan. The cultivation of resistant soybean varieties against this pest is the sustainable strategy to manage the heavy loss and increase yield. There is an utmost need to identify RKN resistant varieties of soybean against cultivated in Pakistan. The presented study is an attempt to identify and confirm the presence of resistant gene Rmi1 in soybean. Method: Molecular studies have been done using Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) marker system to identify resistant soybean varieties against Root Knot Nematode (RKN) using fifteen (15) indigenous cultivars and four (4) US cultivars. DNA was isolated, purified, quantified and then used to employ various SSR markers. The amplified product is observed using gel documentation system after electrophoresis.  Results: Diagnostic SSR markers Satt-358 and Satt-492 have shown the presence of Rmi1 gene in all resistance carrying genotypes. Satt-358 amplified the fragment of 200 bp and Satt-492 generated 232 bp bands in all resistant genotypes. This study confirmed the Rmi gene locus (G248A-1) in all internationally confirmed resistant including six (6) native varieties.Conclusion: These investigations have identified six (6) resistant cultivars revealing the effective and informative sources that can be utilized in breeding programs for the selection of RKN resistance soybean genotypes in Pakistan.

Statistical Histogram Decision Based Contrast Categorization of Skin Lesion Datasets Dermoscopic Images

Most of the melanoma cases of skin cancer are the life-threatening form of cancer. It is prevalent among the Caucasian group of people due to their light skin tone. Melanoma is the second most common cancer that hits the age group of 15–29 years. The high number of cases has increased the importance of automated systems for diagnosing. The diagnosis should be fast and accurate for the early treatment of melanoma. It should remove the need for biopsies and provide stable diagnostic results. Automation requires large quantities of images. Skin lesion datasets contain various kinds of dermoscopic images for the detection of melanoma. Three publicly available benchmark skin lesion datasets, ISIC 2017, ISBI 2016, and PH2, are used for the experiments. Currently, the ISIC archive and PH2 are the most challenging and demanding dermoscopic datasets. These datasets’ pre-analysis is necessary to overcome contrast variations, under or over segmented images boundary extraction, and accurate skin lesion classification. In this paper, we proposed the statistical histogram-based method for the pre-categorization of skin lesion datasets. The image histogram properties are utilized to check the image contrast variations and categorized these images into high and low contrast images. The two performance measures, processing time and efficiency, are computed for evaluation of the proposed method. Our results showed that the proposed methodology improves the pre-processing efficiency of 77% of ISIC 2017, 67% of ISBI 2016, and 92.5% of PH2 datasets

Impact of Web 2.0 on digital divide in AJ&K Pakistan

Abstract—Digital divide is normally measured in terms of gap between those who can efficiently use new technological tools, such as internet, and those who cannot. It was also hypothesized that web 2.0 tools motivate people to use technology i.e. social networking sites can play an important role in bridging digital gap. The study was conducted to determine the presence of digital divide in urban and rural areas of district Muzaffrabad, Azad Jammu & Kashmir. A cross-sectional community based survey was conducted involving 384 respondents from city Muzaffrabad and village Garhi Doppta. The existence of digital divide was assessed on the basis of the questionnaires given. Chi- square test was applied to find the association of different demographic and ICT related factors with internet usage. Despite the growing awareness there are possibilities of gender, age and area based digital divide. Outcomes of the survey affirmed that web 2.0 based web-sites are becoming popular and attracting people to use internet

Effect of early tranexamic acid administration on mortality, hysterectomy, and other morbidities in women with post-partum haemorrhage (WOMAN): an international, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background Post-partum haemorrhage is the leading cause of maternal death worldwide. Early administration of tranexamic acid reduces deaths due to bleeding in trauma patients. We aimed to assess the effects of early administration of tranexamic acid on death, hysterectomy, and other relevant outcomes in women with post-partum haemorrhage. Methods In this randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, we recruited women aged 16 years and older with a clinical diagnosis of post-partum haemorrhage after a vaginal birth or caesarean section from 193 hospitals in 21 countries. We randomly assigned women to receive either 1 g intravenous tranexamic acid or matching placebo in addition to usual care. If bleeding continued after 30 min, or stopped and restarted within 24 h of the first dose, a second dose of 1 g of tranexamic acid or placebo could be given. Patients were assigned by selection of a numbered treatment pack from a box containing eight numbered packs that were identical apart from the pack number. Participants, care givers, and those assessing outcomes were masked to allocation. We originally planned to enrol 15 000 women with a composite primary endpoint of death from all-causes or hysterectomy within 42 days of giving birth. However, during the trial it became apparent that the decision to conduct a hysterectomy was often made at the same time as randomisation. Although tranexamic acid could influence the risk of death in these cases, it could not affect the risk of hysterectomy. We therefore increased the sample size from 15 000 to 20 000 women in order to estimate the effect of tranexamic acid on the risk of death from post-partum haemorrhage. All analyses were done on an intention-to-treat basis. This trial is registered with ISRCTN76912190 (Dec 8, 2008); ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00872469; and PACTR201007000192283. Findings Between March, 2010, and April, 2016, 20 060 women were enrolled and randomly assigned to receive tranexamic acid (n=10 051) or placebo (n=10 009), of whom 10 036 and 9985, respectively, were included in the analysis. Death due to bleeding was significantly reduced in women given tranexamic acid (155 [1·5%] of 10 036 patients vs 191 [1·9%] of 9985 in the placebo group, risk ratio [RR] 0·81, 95% CI 0·65–1·00; p=0·045), especially in women given treatment within 3 h of giving birth (89 [1·2%] in the tranexamic acid group vs 127 [1·7%] in the placebo group, RR 0·69, 95% CI 0·52–0·91; p=0·008). All other causes of death did not differ significantly by group. Hysterectomy was not reduced with tranexamic acid (358 [3·6%] patients in the tranexamic acid group vs 351 [3·5%] in the placebo group, RR 1·02, 95% CI 0·88–1·07; p=0·84). The composite primary endpoint of death from all causes or hysterectomy was not reduced with tranexamic acid (534 [5·3%] deaths or hysterectomies in the tranexamic acid group vs 546 [5·5%] in the placebo group, RR 0·97, 95% CI 0·87-1·09; p=0·65). Adverse events (including thromboembolic events) did not differ significantly in the tranexamic acid versus placebo group. Interpretation Tranexamic acid reduces death due to bleeding in women with post-partum haemorrhage with no adverse effects. When used as a treatment for postpartum haemorrhage, tranexamic acid should be given as soon as possible after bleeding onset. Funding London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Pfizer, UK Department of Health, Wellcome Trust, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Multi-visceral fistula following ceasrian section

A young married second para lady with known valvular heart disease and hepatitis C, presented with foul smelling pus- discharging sinus from previous caesarean section scar and fever since 20 days. X-ray sinogram was asked which showed complex fistula communicating with distal ileal loops and uterine cavity. Exploratory laparotomy showed an infected retained surgical swab, and uterine perforation along with gangrene of the descending colon and ileum. The foreign body was removed with gut resection and ileostomy. The postoperative course was marked by one episode of wound dehiscence. Distal loopogram after 6 months showed healed bowel loops without any fistulous communication. Ileostomy was then reversed and patient was discharged in stable state with advice for cardiology and hepatology referrals