Determinant Attributes of Customer Choice of Banks, Supplying Mortgage Products

The present study focuses on finding out the main attributes that determine the customer’s choice of bank for supplying the mortgage products. The data has been gathered through questionnaires from 400 customers using mortgage products of different banks. Reviewing the literature four variable are taken for study to determine the dependent variable customer choice of banks using mortgage products and they include cost of bank, quality of services, confidence of customer in bank and convenience of customer using mortgage product. Results were analyzed using ordinary least square (OLS) regression and correlation techniques and findings of the data have been tested which appeared as significant statistically. The results indicated that choice of customers for the mortgage product depends on all the independent variables like quality of services, cost of mortgage product, confidence level of customers build by the bank and convenience of the customers. Further analysis can be done on exploring more independent variables, which are important for customers in choosing a bank providing mortgage products

Are nitrate concentrations in leafy vegetables within safe limits?

Leafy vegetables are an important source of nutrition in the human diet. Estimation of nitrate concentration in samples of leafy vegetables collected from the local markets of Delhi has revealed that a significant number of spinach and chenopodium samples contained nitrate in concentrations higher than the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) limit for an average 60 kg person (if consumed @ 100 g/day). However, nitrate concentration in fenugreek, coriander and sowa samples was well within the safe limits for consumption. On the basis of our findings with market samples, extensive studies were conducted in nine genotypes of spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) grown under greenhouse conditions. The genotypes varied markedly in their nitrate concentration as well as nitrate reductase activity. At the threeweek stage of plant growth, one genotype, and at the six-week stage, six of the nine genotypes under investigation exceeded the ADI limit. Petioles possessed several times higher level of nitrate than the leaf laminae in market samples as well as in the genotypes. All the genotypes showed diurnal variation in nitrate accumulation with minimum concentration at noon. These findings warrant thorough investigation of nitrate levels in other leafy vegetables consumed regularly and the ways and means to control them

Azoxymethane Alters the Plasma Metabolome to a Greater Extent in Mice Fed a High-Fat Diet Compared to an AIN-93 Diet

Consumption of a high-fat diet (HFD) links obesity to colon cancer in humans. Our data show that a HFD (45% energy fat versus 16% energy fat in an AIN-93 diet (AIN)) promotes azoxymethane (AOM)-induced colonic aberrant crypt foci (ACF) formation in a mouse cancer model. However, the underlying metabolic basis remains to be determined. In the present study, we hypothesize that AOM treatment results in different plasma metabolomic responses in diet-induced obese mice. An untargeted metabolomic analysis was performed on the plasma samples by gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF-MS). We found that 53 of 144 identified metabolites were different between the 4 groups of mice (AIN, AIN + AOM, HFD, HFD + AOM), and sparse partial least-squares discriminant analysis showed a separation between the HFD and HFD + AOM groups but not the AIN and AIN + AOM groups. Moreover, the concentrations of dihydrocholesterol and cholesterol were inversely associated with AOM-induced colonic ACF formation. Functional pathway analyses indicated that diets and AOM-induced colonic ACF modulated five metabolic pathways. Collectively, in addition to differential plasma metabolomic responses, AOM treatment decreases dihydrocholesterol and cholesterol levels and alters the composition of plasma metabolome to a greater extent in mice fed a HFD compared to the AIN

Effectiveness of Ivermectin among COVID-19 patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objectives: To determine the effectiveness of Ivermectin among COVID-19 patients in terms of mortality and biochemical / hematological attributes. Materials and Methods:  A Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) was carried out in Department of Infectious Diseases (DID) of Holy Family Hospital Rawalpindi during March 2021 through concurrent parallel study design. Apart from seeking Ethical approval for this research, DID was also licensed from Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) for this trial. Total 90 PCR positive COVID-19 patients were enrolled in this study via 1:1 randomization in experimental and control group without blinding. The control group received Standard of Care (SOC) starting from day 1 while experimental group was given SOC along with Ivermectin (200µg/kg) for 5 days. Study participants were assessed on day 0, 4, 7 and 10 for general symptoms through physical examination, blood oxygen saturation and diverse hematological and biochemical indicators in addition to adverse events. Data analysis was done by means of SPSS version 25.0. and Microsoft Excel 2010. Mean ± SD for age, length of hospital stay and time to PCR negativity were calculated. Independent sample t-test was applied to determine the mean difference in age, duration of hospital stay, time to PCR negativity, SpO2, oxygen supply, serum Hemoglobin, TLC, platelet count, Clinical Severity Score (CSS), urea and creatinine levels of both groups. The difference in secondary outcome (expiry / discharge) of both groups was compared by means of chi-square test. P-value ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. 95% Confidence Interval was also computed. Relative Risk (RR) was also measured to verify the effectiveness of Ivermectin in COVID patients Results: Males constituted the majority (56.7%) of our study participants. Statistically insignificant difference in mean age (P = 0.42) and mean length of hospital stay (P= 0.32) between experimental and control group subjects was observed. Mean time to PCR negativity was reported to be significantly less (P= 0.002) in experimental group. Significant improvement was seen in PCR negativity (P<0.05), mean Clinical Severity Score (CSS) (P0.02), mean hemoglobin level (P=0.03) and mean platelet count (P=0.03). Difference in health outcome of both groups was determined to be statistically insignificant (P<0.2, 95% CI (-0.20 – 0.12)). Relative Risk of 0.8 proved the protective effect of Ivermectin in COVID. Conclusion: Ivermectin was quite effective in reducing mortality and improving the health outcome in COVID-19 patients

Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia in a child presenting as a solitary intracranial epidural mass

Acute Lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) is the most common childhood malignancy, CNS involvement occurs in 3-5% of the patients. We present a case of a 14-year-old boy who presented to us with nighttime fever, headache, and right-sided focal fits. Reports showed decreased platelets, increased WBC with predominant eosinophils and imaging showed a subgaleal, epidural and subdural collection. Bone marrow biopsy and CSF analysis were negative for any hematological malignancy. A biopsy and histopathology of the CNS lesion confirmed the diagnosis of Precursor B-cell Lymphocytic Leukemia. Although CSF analysis is useful for evaluating CNS involvement, ALL cannot be ruled out by negative CSF report

Effectiveness of Ivermectin among COVID-19 patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objectives: To determine the effectiveness of Ivermectin among COVID-19 patients in terms of mortality and biochemical / hematological attributes. Materials and Methods:  A Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) was carried out in Department of Infectious Diseases (DID) of Holy Family Hospital Rawalpindi during March 2021 through concurrent parallel study design. Apart from seeking Ethical approval for this research, DID was also licensed from Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) for this trial. Total 90 PCR positive COVID-19 patients were enrolled in this study via 1:1 randomization in experimental and control group without blinding. The control group received Standard of Care (SOC) starting from day 1 while experimental group was given SOC along with Ivermectin (200µg/kg) for 5 days. Study participants were assessed on day 0, 4, 7 and 10 for general symptoms through physical examination, blood oxygen saturation and diverse hematological and biochemical indicators in addition to adverse events. Data analysis was done by means of SPSS version 25.0. and Microsoft Excel 2010. Mean ± SD for age, length of hospital stay and time to PCR negativity were calculated. Independent sample t-test was applied to determine the mean difference in age, duration of hospital stay, time to PCR negativity, SpO2, oxygen supply, serum Hemoglobin, TLC, platelet count, Clinical Severity Score (CSS), urea and creatinine levels of both groups. The difference in secondary outcome (expiry / discharge) of both groups was compared by means of chi-square test. P-value ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. 95% Confidence Interval was also computed. Relative Risk (RR) was also measured to verify the effectiveness of Ivermectin in COVID patients Results: Males constituted the majority (56.7%) of our study participants. Statistically insignificant difference in mean age (P = 0.42) and mean length of hospital stay (P= 0.32) between experimental and control group subjects was observed. Mean time to PCR negativity was reported to be significantly less (P= 0.002) in experimental group. Significant improvement was seen in PCR negativity (P<0.05), mean Clinical Severity Score (CSS) (P0.02), mean hemoglobin level (P=0.03) and mean platelet count (P=0.03). Difference in health outcome of both groups was determined to be statistically insignificant (P<0.2, 95% CI (-0.20 – 0.12)). Relative Risk of 0.8 proved the protective effect of Ivermectin in COVID. Conclusion: Ivermectin was quite effective in reducing mortality and improving the health outcome in COVID-19 patients

Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia in a child presenting as a solitary intracranial epidural mass

Acute Lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) is the most common childhood malignancy, CNS involvement occurs in 3-5% of the patients. We present a case of a 14-year-old boy who presented to us with nighttime fever, headache, and right-sided focal fits. Reports showed decreased platelets, increased WBC with predominant eosinophils and imaging showed a subgaleal, epidural and subdural collection. Bone marrow biopsy and CSF analysis were negative for any hematological malignancy. A biopsy and histopathology of the CNS lesion confirmed the diagnosis of Precursor B-cell Lymphocytic Leukemia. Although CSF analysis is useful for evaluating CNS involvement, ALL cannot be ruled out by negative CSF report

A comparative analysis of multiple sequence alignments for biological data

Multiple sequence alignment plays a key role in the computational analysis of biological data. Different programs are developed to analyze the sequence similarity. This paper highlights the algorithmic techniques of the most popular multiple sequence alignment programs. These programs are then evaluated on the basis of execution time and scalability. The overall performance of these programs is assessed to highlight their strengths and weaknesses with reference to their algorithmic techniques. In terms of overall alignment quality, T-Coffee and Mafft attain the highest average scores, whereas K-align has the minimum computation time