An Analysis and Measurement of the Productivity of Indian Banking Sector

This paper attempts to provide empirical evidence regarding the growth in productivity of the Indian banking industry. The basic aim of the paper is to find out whether there has been any increase in the productivity of the Indian banking industry as a whole, over the period 2002 to 2010. Furthermore, a sample comprises of twenty banks has been compared with entire Indian banking industry for productivity results and analysis. Our findings revealed that the performance of the Indian banking industry remained moderate for the period 2002 till 2010 despite of the financial crisis 2008. Indian financial system remained sheltered from external shocks during the period merely because of having flexible exchange rate regime, the foreign reserves were high, the capital account is not yet fully convertible, and banks and their customers have limited foreign exchange exposure. Therefore, in present scenario, we recommend that the policy makers should carry on with their current economic policy as it has been successful in sheltering them from external shocks. Furthermore the policy makers have to emphasize on increasing the deposit base of the banks by increasing the interest rates on deposits. This paper proceeds as follows. The first section is about Introduction, next section reviews the empirical literature, section 3 is about data and methodology. In section 4 we present our analysis and findings and finally section 4 concludes. Keywords: Indian banking industry, Growth, Productivity, Financial turmoil, Economic polic

A retrospective study of snake bite envenomation in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Southern India

Background: Snake bite is an important occupational and rural hazard because India has always been a land of poisonous snakes. In southern India common poisonous snakes are Russell’s viper, Cobra, Krait and Saw Scaled Viper. It is a fact that despite of significant morbidity and mortality, very little attention is paid by the clinicians to this occupational hazard. The objective of the present study was undertaken with the objectives of assessing poisonous snake envenomation, ASV use, Dosage of ASV and clinical outcomes in snake bite victims.Methods: This is a Retrospective study of snakebite victims from November 2013 to April 2015 in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Tamil-Nadu.Results: A Total of 82 cases were studied in our hospital. Out of these 82 Poisonous bites, 42 (51.22%) cases were viper bites, 20 (24.39%) cases were unidentified poisonous bites, 16 (19.51%) cases were Krait, and 4 (4.88%) cases were Cobra. Coagulopathy, cellulitis, wound infection, renal failure and respiratory paralysis were the common complications. Average dose of ASV administered range from 8.57 (± 0.98) to 20.78 (± 4.18) Vials. An increase in mortality, ASV dose and complications were directly proportional to the Bite to ASV Administration time.Conclusions: Delay in hospitalization is associated with poor prognosis and increased mortality rate due to complications. There is an emergent need of awareness among the community for avoidance of traditional form of treatment and delay in early medical interventions.

A retrospective study of paradigm and outcome of acute poisoning cases in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Southern India

Background: Acute poisoning is a medical emergency. It is important to know the nature, outcome and severity of acute poisoning cases in order to make appropriate prevention and   treatment. This study is conducted to assess the paradigm and outcome of acute poisoning cases in a tertiary care hospital in Tamilnadu.Methods: This is a retrospective study conducted in a tertiary care hospital in Tamilnadu. The study included 169 cases and data regarding age, sex, time elapsed after intake, name of the poisons, chemical type; duration of hospital stay; outcome and severity were collected in the structured proforma.Results: Incidence was high among males (60.36%) compared to females (39.64%). Most of the cases of acute poisoning were in the age group 10 to 30 years (60.95%) followed by 30 to 50 years age group (30.77%). A majority of poisoning cases (27.2%) were due to organophosphorus (OPC) insecticide. Total mortality was found to be 5.32%. Mortality rate due to Paraquat, Abrus Pretorius seeds was significantly high compared with OPC because there is no specific antidote. Time lapse had a very significant role in the mortality in cases of poisoning.Conclusions: Poisoning is common with young males. The mortality is high, in cases of self-poisoning with parquet and abrus seeds. Despite the highest consumption rate, no mortality was observed with organophosphorus because of early medical intervention and specific antidote. Early medical care in a tertiary care hospital will help to reduce significant mortality in India.

Determinants of Rice Productivity: An Analysis of Jaffarabad District –Balochistan (Pakistan)

This study examines the determinants of rice production in the district of Jaffarabad in Balochistan using primary data. The data is collected with the help of well-developed questionnaire based on random sampling from the different tehsils of Jaffarabad district. In this study, we estimated the parameters of the Neo-classical and Cobb-Douglas production function with the help of ordinary least square (OLS) method. The results of this empirical work show that with the exception of experience of farmers and high cost of the inputs, all explanatory variables i.e. capital, labor, education of the farmers, availability of credit and farm size have a positive effect on rice output. Therefore, government is recommended to encourage farmers to use fertilizers and new methods in agricultural production and watering, and provide them with convenient loans at low interest rate

Measuring Impact of Big Five Personality Traits on Team Performance: A Case of Habib Metro Bank, Karachi

Different types of personalities in the Big Five Personality Model have an immense impact on performance of the team. Human resource supervisors must be capable to categorize person conducts as well as qualities as a result they can comprehend employees' diverse persona. Persona is a reasonably firm set of distinctiveness that manipulates a person’s behavior. This persona should to be implicit so that the organization can utilize their apparent qualities along with talents in the right work and path. Our study is about the impact of Big Five Personality Traits Model on Team Performance. It has a quantitative nature. Self-selection and non-probability convenience sampling were used to determine the sample size. When an analysis as carried out it was concluded that Extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness were found to have significant as well as positive correlation with the performance of the team. Openness to experience and neuroticism was found to have insignificant correlation with the team performance. Through our research an organization’s manager will be able to the type of personality an employee possesses and how much it will affect the performance of the group as a whole. As result of conducting analyses we came to know that employees with diverse persona can perform well in a team. Keywords: Team performance, apparent qualities, Personality DOI: 10.7176/DCS/9-2-06

A Study on role of spot urine protein creatinine ratio in quantification of proteinuria

BACK GROUND : Persistent proteinuria is usually a marker of kidney damage. Quantifying protein in urine is commonly used in the diagnosis of kidney diseases, detection of treatment effects and evaluation of prognosis. Commonly used methods to quantify proteinuria is 24 hours urine collection, which is time consuming cumbersome and often in accurate. The other method of quantifying proteinuria is from Protein-Creatinine ratio. OBJECTIVES : The study was to compare spot urine protein- creatinine ratio with 24 hours urine protein in the quantitative assessment of proteinuria in patients with varying degrees of renal dysfunction. This study also attempts to assess the best timing for collection of urine for estimation of protein creatinine ratio. METHOD : 55 patients with persistent dipstick positive proteinuria with varying degrees of renal dysfunction were included in this study. Two urine samples were collected ,one in the early morning(around 7AM) and other in the evening (7 PM).Both samples were used to estimate protein- creatinine ratio and then a 24 hours urine protein estimation was done and compared. RESULTS: There was good positive correlation between spot urine Protein Creatinine ratio of both samples taken at two different times of the day and estimated 24 hours urinary protein though the best correlation was seen in early morning urine sample than evening sample(r=0.931 in 7AM &r=0.872 in 7 PM; p <0.01). The maximum correlation was seen in patients with normal/mild renal dysfunction and non nephrotic range proteinuria. The positive correlation was least in patients with moderate/severe renal dysfunction and nephrotic range proteinuria. CONCLUSION : Urine protein Creatinine ratio is easy to perform, inexpensive and less time consuming method for measuring of proteinuria. It can thus be used in the outpatient setting for screening and quantification of proteinuria

Studies on wound healing activity of some Euphorbia species on experimental rats

Background: Plants of Euphorbiaceae are used in folkloric medicines in variety of ailments and well known for chemical diversity of their isoprenoid constituents. This study was carried out to explore the preliminary wound healing potential of four Euphorbia species (E. consorbina 1, E. consorbina 2, E. inarticulata, E. balsamifera and E. schimperi).Materials and Methods: Excision wound surface of the animals were topically treated with ethyl acetate and methanol extracts of plants at a dose of 400 mg/kg body weight for twenty days. Povidone-iodine ointment was used as a reference drug. Wound contraction measurement and period of epithelialization were used to assess the effect of plants extracts on wound repairing.Results: The groups treated with methanol extracts of E. balsamifera and E. schimperi showed profound effects, high rate of wound contraction (100%) and decrease in epithelization period 19.00±0.40 and 18.50±0.64 respectively, followed by methanol extracts of E. consorbina 2, ethyl acetate extract of E. inarticulata and ethyl acetate extracts of E. consorbina 2 which showed significant (P &lt;0.001) wound contraction and decrease in epithelization period. Conversely ethyl acetate extract of E. consorbina 1, E. balsamifera and E. schimperi and methanol extract of E. Consorbina 1 and E. Inarticulata treated groups was not showing significant wound healing. Methanol extracts of E. balsamifera and E. schimperi were also tested for their safety margin and found safe up to dose of 2000mg/kg body weight.Conclusion: Topical application of methanol extracts of E. balsamifera and E. schimperi have potential wound healing activity which is identical with standard drug Povidone-iodine.Keywords: Wound healing, excision wounds, Euphorbia, extract

Evaluation of Free Radical Scavenging Activity of Sauce and Formulation of Tamarindus indica (L.) And Prunus domestica (L.) Fruits

The formulation and sauce of Tamarindus indica  (L.) and Prusnus  dometica (L.) are very popular recipes across globe. But, not even a single study existed on free-radical scavenging activity (FRSA) of afore-mentioned recipes. So, the present study was designed to bridge this gap of information. The FRSA of individual samples were also determined and compared with that of combinations of both. The highest value for FRSA among all samples was that of T. indica (158.9732 ± 12.658 % at 100 μg ml-1). It was followed by that of individual extract of P. domestica fruit (96.647 ± 0.554 %). The percent FRSA of both combinations was less than that of individual sample extracts. The highest SA recorded was 93.886 ± 0.471 % and 77.64 ± 16.391 % respectively. The fruit length was 10.18 ± 0.34 cm and 4.7 ± 0.2 cm for T. indica  and P. domestica  respectively. The width of fruit was 1.6±0.3 cm and 4.55 ± 0.12 cm for T. indica  and P. domestica  respectively. The weight of fruit was 7.2 ± 0.6 g and 44.8 ± 0.37 g for T. indica  and P. domestica  respectively, Pulp weight was 48 ± 0.43% and 94.58±0.352% for T. indica  and P. domestica  respectively. The stone weight was 30 ± 0.421 % and 5.42±0.224  %  for T. indica  and P. domestica  respectively. The values of squared R reflected that there was a strong correlation between the concentrations and percent SA for all the studied samples (p \u3c 0.05) with values of R2 0.896 and 0.946 in case of T. indica and P. domestica extracts respectively and 0.980 and 0.875 for sauce and formulation respectively. It was concluded that the mixture of both ingredients has considerable potential for scavenging free radicals