Cash Conversion Cycle Management in Auto Mobile Industry: Relationship with Firm Performance, Leverage, Liquidity and Capital Employed

The business entities seek for different tools to maximize the shareholder wealth. The management of cash conversion cycle is one of the tools that play an essential role to generate maximum earnings to business firm. The recent paper is an effort to find out the different determinants that persuade cash cycle in automobile division in Pakistan. This industry provides employment opportunities to more than 192000 people directly and 1200000 indirectly. The data of eleven companies from this sector is analyzed to establish a relationship between profitability, leverage, capital employed, liquidity and cash conversion cycle. The data selected for this purpose ranges between 2008 and 2013. Multiple linear regression model is adopted for results. The outputs confirm that a negative considerable relation exists between return on assets, liquidity and cash cycle, whilst leverage and capital employed present a positive significant association with cash conversion cycle. Keywords: Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC), Profitability, Liquidity, Leverage (debt) and Capital Employe

Progress Under Scrutiny: Poverty Reduction in Pakistan

Consumption-based poverty in Pakistan fell sharply between 1990 and 2010, according to official poverty data. Nonetheless the mainstream narrative on poverty reduction in the country remains highly contested. Key sources of evidence show improvements that are commensurate with a decrease in poverty, while others raise doubts over this decrease. The policy space in which poverty reduction is debated is also highly polarised, as revealed in the positions of multiple stakeholders involved in policy, research and civil society in Pakistan. An analysis of official poverty data shows how the estimates may be biased -- both owing to technical flaws and to the politics of measurement. As a result, it is surprisingly difficult to reach a definitive conclusion as to whether poverty reduced between 1990 and 2010 and if the stated progress is real. We discuss the implications of the high levels of contestation over official poverty data as well as the need to understand better the types of evidence that the government must produce to defend its policies to alleviate poverty, and for key stakeholders to accept these as credible. We also discuss the steps that the country is taking to depoliticise the measurement and analysis of poverty -- in and of themselves signs of progress

Identification and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Profile of Bacterial Pathogens Isolated From Wound Infections in a Teaching Hospital, Peshawar, Pakistan

Background: The resistance profile of bacteria causing wound infections may vary from time to time in a given geographical location. The key objective of this study was to determine the prevalent aerobic and or facultative anaerobic bacterial types and their antibiogram to commonly prescribed antibiotics.Methods: Pus, drainage or wound swabs from various body parts of 200 patients were aseptically collected from Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) and processed by standard microbiological techniques for identification of bacterial isolates and later antimicrobial susceptibility profile was determined as per Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI) guidelines by using Kirby-Bauer method.Results: Out of 200 clinical wound specimens processed, Staphylococcus aureus was the most common bacterial pathogen isolated (n=100, 50%), followed by Escherichia coli (n=45, 22.5%),Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n=35, 17.5%), Enterobacter species (n=14, 7%), Proteus species (n=5, 2.5%) and Morganella species (n=1, 0.5%). Staphylococcus aureus (n=100) showed highest resistance to amoxicillin (82%), followed by ofloxacin (80%), sparfloxacin (78%), ciprofloxacin (71%), levofloxacin (46%) and Gentamicin (34%). Out of 100 S. aureus isolates methicillin and vancomycin resistance was found to be in 1.5 and 2% of the isolates, respectively. Among Gram negative isolates (n=100) the vast majority were resistant to augmentin, followed by cephalosporins, quinolones and almost fairly susceptible to carbapenems, cefoperazone + sulbactam and aminoglycosides.Conclusion: There is a need for judicious use of antibiotics in clinical setup. The periodic monitoring of bacterial pathogens and their susceptibility profile is very helpful in understanding the resistance phenotypes in a given area which ultimately help physicians in selecting suitable empirical therapy

Case series of rare Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD).

Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is a rare lung disease where periodic acid Schiff (PAS)-positive eosinophilic material accumulates in the alveoli of the lungs. Here we describe two cases of young males who presented with dynpnoea and weight loss. The HRCT scan of the chest in both cases showed the typical crazy-paving pattern and lung biopsies confirmed the diagnosis of PAP. They showed remarkable symptomatic improvement with therapeutic whole lung lavage

ANALYSIS OF HEPATITIS AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN OF LAHORE

Introduction: Hepatitis B is one of the major global health infectious diseases affecting the liver. It is estimated that, globally, over 2 billion people have been infected with Hepatitis B virus and an estimated 240 million people are chronic carriers of the virus. Hepatitis C infection is one of the major health issue worldwide caused by hepatitis C virus. Objectives of the study: The main objective of the study is to analyze the hepatitis infection among pregnant women of Pakistan. Material and methods: This study was conducted at Government Lady Aitchison Hospital, Lahore during January 2018 to May 2018. A sample size of 100 individuals was targeted. A specific questionnaire was developed to determine viral hepatitis perception. This instrument was composed of two topics: demographic characteristics and viral hepatitis perception. Sociodemographic data included gender, age, education, and monthly family income. Results: Independent factors associated with insufficient reduced HBV knowledge include women outside the healthcare sector, lower education level, and no previous HBV testing. The majority of respondents could provide correct responses about the common aspects of HBV infection, including screening, blood-borne and perinatal transmissions, prevention by vaccination, and sequelae of HBV infection. Conclusion: It is concluded that knowledge and awareness of HBV among pregnant women in the Pakistan is low. Generalized across the country, this could have the potential to hamper effective HBV prevention and control in Pakistan

Phosphorylation at serines 104 and 106 by Erk1/2 MAPK is important for estrogen receptor-α activity

Phosphorylation of estrogen receptor-α (ERα) at specific residues in transcription activation function 1 (AF-1) can stimulate ERα activity in a ligand-independent manner. This has led to the proposal that AF-1 phosphorylation and the consequent increase in ERα activity could contribute to resistance to endocrine therapies in breast cancer patients. Previous studies have shown that serine 118 (S118) in AF-1 is phosphorylated by extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (Erk1/2) mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) in a ligand-independent manner. Here, we show that serines 104 (S104) and 106 (S106) are also phosphorylated by MAPK in vitro and upon stimulation of MAPK activity in vivo. Phosphorylation of S104 and S106 can be inhibited by the MAP-erk kinase (MEK)1/2 inhibitor U0126 and by expression of kinase-dead Raf1. Further, we show that, although S118 is important for the stimulation of ERα activity by the selective ER modulator 4-hydroxytamoxifen (OHT), S104 and S106 are also required for the agonist activity of OHT. Acidic amino acid substitution of S104 or S106 stimulates ERα activity to a greater extent than the equivalent substitution at S118, suggesting that phosphorylation at S104 and S106 is important for ERα activity. Collectively, these data indicate that the MAPK stimulation of ERα activity involves the phosphorylation not only of S118 but also of S104 and S106, and that MAPK-mediated hyperphosphorylation of ERα at these sites may contribute to resistance to tamoxifen in breast cancer

Mortality among Critically Ill Acute Kidney Injury Patients Stratified with RIFLE Classification

Acute kidney injury, also referred to as AKI, is a common complication seen in critically ill patients . There has been a significant increase in the number of AKI cases over the past few decades. In order to standardize the classification of AKI, the RIFLE (Risk, Injury, Failure, Loss, End-Stage) and AKIN (AKI Network) criteria were developed.This is a prospective, observational, and longitudinal cohort study where data from all patients admitted to the hospital intensive care unit (ICU) were collected. The study duration ranged from March 2019 to September 2020. During the study period, 198 patients were admitted to the ICU. Of these, 69 were excluded while the remaining 104 patients were included in the study.About 66–67% of the total critically ill patient population admitted in the ICU suffer from some etiology related to AKI. Our study highlights the aspect in which the cases of AKI are underreported. RIFLE class R or class I is still associated with excess mortality compared with patients who maintained normal function. RIFLE is a reliable system of classification, which is well classified and indicates the immediate necessity of renal replacement therapy (RRT); the prognosis of early RRT is fairly good in critically ill patients with AK

Anakinra treatment efficacy in reduction of inflammatory biomarkers in COVID-19 patients: A meta-analysis

Introduction: Anakinra is being empirically considered for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. The aim is to assess the efficacy of anakinra treatment on inflammatory marker reduction, including c-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations, serum ferritin, and serum d-dimer levels.Methods: Adhering to PRISMA 2020 statement guidelines, a systematic search was conducted across the following databases from December 2019 until January 10, 2022: PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Central, Web of Science, Scopus, and EMBASE. The following keywords were employed: Anakinra, COVID*, SARS-CoV-2, inflammatory, CRP, D-dimer, Ferritin, hematological, laboratory, clinical, trials. The findings were collated and presented in a tabulated manner, and statistically analyzed using Review Manger 5.4 (Cochrane).Results: In total, 2032 patients were included (881 in the anakinra and 1151 in the control/standard care group); 69.1% of them were males. Overall, the mean difference from admission until last follow-up in CRP values was -9.66, where notable reductions were seen in the anakinra group (SMD = -0.46, p \u3c 0.00001, N = 655). Serum ferritin mean values were reduced by 1467.16 in the anakinra group (SMD = -0.31, p = 0.004, N = 537). D-dimer mean values were largely reduced by 4.04 in the anakinra group (SMD = -0.38, p = 0.0004, N = 375).Conclusion: This study finds that anakinra is potentially a strong candidate as an anti-inflammatory agent to reduce mortality in COVID-19 patients, specifically in patients with elevated inflammatory biomarkers

A Systematic Review of Patients’ Values, Preferences, and Expectations for the Treatment of Metastatic Prostate Cancer

Peer reviewedPublisher PD