Civil Military Relationship: Pakistan and India in Comparison

Having drawn the inheritance of colonialism, both Pakistan and India have adopted very different course of Civil Military relations. The research attempts to analyze the developmental pattern of Civil Military relations of both countries through examination of inter connected roles of both military and political class. Despite their similarities at the time of partition, these two militaries and civilian institutions took completely different political trajectories. The argument is tested with paired-comparison case studies of Indian and Pakistani Civil-Military relations since independence. Both cases reveal how structures of domestic politics interact with military threat perceptions in order to explain civilians’ ability to maintain varying levels of control over the military. This present work is net assessment of Civil Military relations and influencing events and occurrences in both countries

Work related risk factors for low back pain among nurses in a tertiary level hospital, Dhaka -Bangladesh

Background: Low back pain, the most commonly reported musculoskeletal problem, is a major burden on individuals, health systems and social care systems with the indirect cost being predominant. This is highly recommended to reveal the information concerning LBP prevalence and its‟ associated risk factors among the working population to develop an effective and efficient preventive approach and intervention program. Nursing professionals are at great risk of developing LBP through the world reported in different studies. However, there is scarcity of evidence regarding symptoms prevalence and associated risk factors in the context of Bangladesh. Objectives: The objectives were to find out the socio – demographic information of nurses; prevalence of LBP, to find out the most commonly affected body parts, duration of lower back pain among the nurses and nurses-oriented tasks/factors associated with lower back pain in tertiary level hospital. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 100 participants who were selected by using convenient sampling. The Dutch Musculoskeletal Questionnaire and Nordic Musculoskeletal questionnaire was used to determine the prevalence and association between Musculoskeletal Symptoms and socio-demographic factors and to identify physical risk factors of musculoskeletal symptoms among the nurses. Result: In this study, Physical factor for back pain by heavy loads (more than 5kg) were 77% and did not low back pain were 23%.Job related risk factors for back pain by heavy loads (more than 5kg) were 97% and did not low back pain were 3%.Among 100 participants 66% participant’s said that they had pain in the last 12 months   and 34% participant said that they had no pain during the last 12 months. There was significant association between Low back pain and how long the Nurses working in this hospitalConclusion: Now a days work related musculoskeletal disorders is the greatest problem in the world among the working population. At a same time, nurses are also suffering from different musculoskeletal disorders. Subsequently, this study shows that there is a high risk of musculoskeletal symptoms among the nurses. It will be managed by reducing physical risk factors through effective ergonomic management

U.S. War in Afghanistan: From Intervention to Counterinsurgency

US military intervention in Afghanistan was decisive and forceful, however, the Taliban’s insurgency inevitably transformed U.S. military doctrine and strategy from conventional military intervention into Counterinsurgency’s kinetic and non-kinetic operations. U.S. strategic and operational methodology despite exhausting all possibilities; troops’ surge, air dominance/surveillance, non kinetic peace building operations, failed to dislodge the threat of Taliban violence. An effort is made to identify the underlying factors contributory to the failure of the U.S. strategy, tactics and other challenges faced despite having unparalleled military superiority. This paper further probes the U.S. military strategic repositioning, social structure with the warlords and critically examines how the conflict drifted from intervention into Counterinsurgency irregular warfare

A PHASE II STUDY OF GEMCITABINE CONCURRENT WITH RADIATION IN LOCALLY ADVANCED SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA OF HEAD AND NECK: A TRIAL OF THE CANCER RESEARCH GROUP PAKISTAN

ABSTRACT Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of weekly gemcitabine as a radiosensitizer concurrent with radical radiotherapy in locally advanced carcinoma of head and neck. Patients and Methods: From August 2001 to January 2002, thirty-nine patients with stage III or IV B inoperable carcinoma of head and neck were enrolled. Patients with histopathologically confirmed squamous cell carcinoma with at least one bidimensionally measurable lesion, no prior chemotherapy or radiotherapy, and a KPS of 60 or above were included. Patients with nasopharyngeal, glottic or sub-glottic cancer were excluded. Gemcitabine 150mg/m 2 or a total dose not exceeding 200 mg was given on day 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, and 36 during radiation treatment. Radiation was delivered with conventional fractionation to a total dose of 66-70Gy. Miller's criteria was used for response evaluation. RTOG/EORTC acute radiation (and chemotherapy) morbidity scoring system and WHO grading of acute and sub acute toxicity criteria were used for documentation of toxicity. Results: All 39 patients were evaluable for toxicity but only 35 patients were evaluable for response. An overall response rate of 94.3% ( 95% CI; 80.8-99.3) was seen with a partial response rate of 71.4% and complete response rate of 22.9 % (95 %CI; 10.4-40.1). Grade 3 mucositis was seen in 28 patients (71.8%). Grade 4 mucositis was seen in 2 patients (5.1 %). Pharyngeal toxicity was the second-most common toxicity. Grade 2 toxicity was seen in 12 patients (30.8%) and grade 3 in 6 patients (15.4%). Despite vigorous symptomatic and supportive care acute toxicities led to treatment interruption in 40% of patients. Conclusion: A high overall response rate and a high rate of acute toxicity are seen at a weekly gemcitabine dose of 150mg/m 2 concurrent with radiation. This shows that gemcitabine is a potent radiosensitizer with a marked tumor and normal tissue radio sensitization