Comparison of Hygienic Behavior of Exotic Honey Bee Apis mellifera L. and Indigenous Honey Bee Apis cerana of Pakistan

Indigenous and exotic honey bee species were evaluated for their hygienic behavior in the climatic condition of Peshawar Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Colonies of equal strength from indigenous (Apis cerana) and exotic (Apis mellifera) species were selected for the study. The same colonies were tested in two seasons. Sealed brood were killed with different methods i.e pin killed and freeze killed. The uncapping of cells and brood removal was recorded at different intervals. Significant differences were recorded between hygienic behavior of both species of honey bees. Apis cerana showed significantly superior hygienic behavior than Apis mellifera in both seasons. At different intervals in both species significant differences were recorded. A significant difference was recorded after 12 and 24 hours between the species in both seasons. No significant differences were recorded after 48hours in both species. From the study it is concluded that indigenous honey bee species has superior hygienic behavior than exotic species

Periampullary Carcinoma-A Rare Histopathological Variant

Signet ring cell adenocarcinomas may be encountered in various parts of gastrointestinal tract but are almost unheard of in the region of ampulla of vater. In the region of ampulla of vater even if we come across an adenocarcinoma, it is usually a well differentiated variant. A 56-year-old female with features of obstructive jaundice on evaluation was diagnosed to have a peri-ampullary carcinoma.The patient was subjected to a laparotomy. On exploration patient was found to have a malrotation of gut. Patient was subjected to a pylorus preserving pancreatico-duodenectomy. Histopathology of the resected specimen revealed a signet ring morphology which is a rare variant in periampullary region

Craniovertebral Junctional Injuries and Management

Objective: Craniocervical junction injuries are less common. They are unique in their presentation and need specialized management. The objective was to determine diagnosis initial management and ultimate surgical procedures performed and efficacy of these procedures.Materials and Methods: A five year study from April 2003 to Oct. 2008 was conducted at department of neurosurgery unit II Lahore general hospital Lahore. A total of fifteen patients were included. All patients with upper cervical trauma with all modes of injuries were included irrespective of their age and sex. All patients were evaluated with routine X-rays cervical spine, anterioposterior, lateral and open mouth views. While dynamic views were advised only in those having osodontoideum. C.T with saggital reconstruction and MRI were performed in all patients to further augment and detect bony and soft tissue details. In all modes of injuries we maintain their airway breathing and circulation.Clinical Presentation: Out of total fifteen patients mostly were young in their twenties and thirtees, only two patients (13.33%) were below twenty and one patient (6.66%) was above fourty years. The main culprit was road traffic accident in most of patients (thirteen patients 80%) followed by fall in two patients (13.33%) and assault in one patient (6.66%). The odontoid fracture with reductable atlantoaxial instability was appeared to the most common problem in five patients (33.33%). In two patients (13.33%) transverse ligament found to be intact. In two other cases (13.33%) atlas fracture was simultaneously found. Osodontoideum detected in two patients (13.33%) while basilar invagination seen in one patient (6.66%). Irreducable atlantoaxial instability was seen in three patients (20%). Out of fifteen patients, three patients (20%) were neurologically intact, while one patient (6.66%) had complete injury. Eleven patients (73%) had partial injury.Surgical Procedures: In order to achieve stability, we performed posterior instrumentation and bony fusion in all nine reducible injury patients (60%). Atlanto axial fusion performed in seven patients (46.66%), while in two patients (13.33%) having concomitant C1 injury occipitocervical fusion was done. Initial transoral decompres-sion, prior to posterior fusion was done in all four (26.66%) non reducible injury patients. Transodontoid screw fixation was done in two patients (13.33%) having intact transverse ligament.Outcome: Overall 07 (46.66%) cases revealed excellent results all recovered without any complication. Four (26.66%) cases had some complication but recovered within 02 weeks and result was labeled as good. Two cases who had neurological deterioration, recovered slowly within 03 months. Recovery was labeled as fair. One patient who suffered neurological deterioration did not recovered and result was labeled as poor.Complications: One patient (6.66%) died after severe chest infection, although severe chest infection observed in three patients (20%). Mild wound infection and wound dehiscence seen in one patient (6.66%) each. These patients managed conservatively successfully. Neurological deterioration observed in three patients (20%), out of them two patients (13.66%) improved with 3 months

The Role of HR Practices on Turnover Intentions Directly and Through Organizational Citizenship Behavior in the Banking Sector of Malaysia

In the recent years, the banking industry of Malaysia has grown rapidly and the roles of employees are undeniable. In todays, dynamic environment banking industry is striving hard to retain the employees in the organization. Employee provides the basis for organization to be successful. The aim of this paper was to investigate the role of HR practices on turnover intentions directly and indirectly through organizational citizenship behavior in banking sector of Malaysia. Data collected through 510 questionnaires from top five banks (by Capital) branches in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In order to investigate the hypotheses, this study applied Structural equation modelling (AMOS). Findings of this study portray that HR practices had negative effect on turnover intentions while the interesting finding is that indirect effect of HR practices through organizational citizenship were also significant. The results are beneficial for top management of banking sector of Malaysia in order to keep motivating employees and to retain them through proper implementation of OCB. To build and align the HR practices and OCB which results in reducing turnover intentions of employees. Keywords: HR Practices, Organizational Citizenship Behavior, Turnover Intentions, SEM. JEL Classifications: H11; S12 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/irmm.1076

Transformational Leadership Influence on Innovation Directly and Indirectly through Affective Commitment in Hotel Industry of Malaysia

In order to be innovative in hospitality industry the role of leadership style on employees is very crucial. Leaders are in direct contact with employees and their encouragement and support can trigger the employees to be innovative in delivering the service. In hospitality industry the front-line employees need utmost attention as this industry totally depends on the service of employees especially front-line employees who set the first impression of the hotels. Leadership styles have significant impact on employees' innovation.  The study aim was to examine the impact transformational leadership (TL) on innovation in hotel industry of Malaysia. This study filled the gap by examining the transformational leadership style impact on innovation in front line employees. Total 480 questionnaires were distributed among the employees of 5stars hotels which were located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. To examine the hypotheses, this study applied the SEM (AMOS). Findings revealed that transformational leadership had a significant positive effect on employees' innovation. Interesting finding came in mediation analysis, in which affective commitment mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and innovation. Findings of this study are beneficial for management of hotels to understand the role of transformational leadership style, affective commitment on employees in order to be innovative in delivering services. This study provided the in depth analysis for top management to better handle and incite the innovation in employees as the leaders are directly responsible to lead employees in innovative way to be innovative. Keywords: Transformational Leadership, Innovation, Affective commitment, SEM. JEL Classifications: H12; A12 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/irmm.1076

The fingerprints of climate warming on cereal crops phenology and adaptation options

Growth and development of cereal crops are linked to weather, day length and growing degree-days (GDDs) which make them responsive to the specific environments in specific seasons. Global temperature is rising due to human activities such as burning of fossil fuels and clearance of woodlands for building construction. The rise in temperature disrupts crop growth and development. Disturbance mainly causes a shift in phenological development of crops and affects their economic yield. Scientists and farmers adapt to these phenological shifts, in part, by changing sowing time and cultivar shifts which may increase or decrease crop growth duration. Nonetheless, climate warming is a global phenomenon and cannot be avoided. In this scenario, food security can be ensured by improving cereal production through agronomic management, breeding of climate-adapted genotypes and increasing genetic biodiversity. In this review, climate warming, its impact and consequences are discussed with reference to their influences on phenological shifts. Furthermore, how different cereal crops adapt to climate warming by regulating their phenological development is elaborated. Based on the above mentioned discussion, different management strategies to cope with climate warming are suggested

Compost enriched with ZnO and Zn-solubilising bacteria improves yield and Zn-fortification in flooded rice

Zinc (Zn) is an essential element for humans, animals and plants, however, its deficiency has been widely reported around the world especially in flooded rice. Adequate amount of Zn is considered essential for optimum growth and development of rice. We hypothesised that management practices like Zn-mineral fertiliser, -compost, and -solubilising bacteria would improve Zn availability and uptake in flooded rice. A series of studies were conducted to find out the comparative efficacy of Zn-enriched composts (Zn-ECs) with Zn solubilising bacteria (ZnSB) vs. ZnSO4 for improved growth, yield and Zn accumulation in rice. There were six treatments viz. control, ZnSB, ZnO (80% Zn), ZnSO4 (33% Zn), Zn-EC80:20 and Zn-EC60:40. In all the treatments, Zn was applied at the rate of 5 kg ha–1 except the control. The treatment Zn-EC60:40 resulted in the maximum Zn release in soil as compared to ZnSO4 and all other treatments during incubation study. The treatment Zn-EC60:40 significantly improved root dry weight, grain yield and 100-grain weight of rice by 15, 22 and 28%, respectively as compared to ZnSO4. The same treatment resulted in the maximum increase in photosynthetic rate (11%), transpiration rate (21%), stomatal conductance (17%), chlorophyll contents (8%) and carbonic anhydrase activity (10%) while a decrease of 27% in electrolyte leakage was observed in comparison with ZnSO4 application. Moreover, the maximum increase in grain quality parameters and Zn bioaccumulation was observed with the application of Zn-EC60:40 in comparison with ZnSO4 application and all other treatments. We conclude that Zn-EC60:40 are not only an effective strategy to improve growth, physiology and yield parameters of rice, but also to improve the grain quality and Zn-bioaccumulation in rice compared to ZnSO4

Seed priming alleviates salt stress in two fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum l.) Cultivars

Salinity is globally considered a widespread problem of the irrigated soils in arid and semi-arid areas. To minimize the negative effect of salinity seed priming technique is proved as a useful by improve germination and seedling growth. Therefore, the current study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different priming techniques on fenugreek under saline conditions. The priming treatments were potassium nitrate (KNO3), polyethylene glycol (PEG), gibberellic acid (GA), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), salicylic acid (SA) and distilled water (D/W). Two fenugreek cultivars i.e. Kasuri methi and Local methi were evaluated under two salinity levels viz. 0 mM and 100 mM. In Kasuri methi (V1), priming with GA3 and PEG enhanced germination index (37.52%) and energy of emergence (98.33%) as compared with other treatments. Final emergence percentage (100%) was increased in control plants of both cultivars when treated with SA. Morphological characteristics such as number of leaves (57.50), number of branches (19.16), shoot length (18.03cm), root length (8.98cm), plant fresh (2.34g) and dry biomass (1.21g) was increased in control plants of Kasuri methi (V1) when primed with SA. Leaf chlorophyll “a” (1.06 mg/g) and chlorophyll “b” (1.30 mg/g) was significantly increased in control plants of Local methi (V2) primed with SA. Antioxidant activity, antioxidant capacity and proline contents in leaves as well as in roots were also increased when treated with SA under salt stress. It is concluded that seeds of Kasuri methi should be treated with SA in order to reduce the effect of salinity and improve the germination, morphological and biochemical characteristic

Variation of PEFR with height, weight and waist-hip ratio in medical students

OBJECTIVE: The primary aim of our study was to assess the variation of PEFR with various medical students of Karachi, PakistanDESIGN: Cross-sectional studySetting: Medical students of Karachi Medical and Dental CollegeParticipants: 276 non-smoker healthy medical students composed of 168 females and 108 males.VARIABLE PARAMETERS: They include mean age, body height and body weight and PEFR. They were marked separately for each genderRESULTS: The mean waist hip ratio in females was observed to be 0.843±0.111in relation with that of mean PEFR value 452.97±65.84 L/min, whereas in males the mean waist hip ratio was 0.864±0.028 in relation with that of mean PEFR value 445.93±66.49 L/min. Also there is a statistically significant variation in PEFR with an increase in waist hip ratio. The mean height of males was 173.63 ±7.5 cm and weight was 61.81 ±11.25 Kg while mean height of females was 158.56±7.3 cm and weight was 49.33±9.04 Kg. PEFR is positively correlated with increase in height and weight up to a certain limit.CONCLUSION: The study concludes that PEFR is affected positively by variation in waist hip ratio; moreover young females have more waist hip ratio and PEFR values than their young male counterparts. A large sample size with accurate peak flow meter is required along with ethnic consideration of the study population for better, accurate and clear results

Physics Potential of the ICAL detector at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO)

The upcoming 50 kt magnetized iron calorimeter (ICAL) detector at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) is designed to study the atmospheric neutrinos and antineutrinos separately over a wide range of energies and path lengths. The primary focus of this experiment is to explore the Earth matter effects by observing the energy and zenith angle dependence of the atmospheric neutrinos in the multi-GeV range. This study will be crucial to address some of the outstanding issues in neutrino oscillation physics, including the fundamental issue of neutrino mass hierarchy. In this document, we present the physics potential of the detector as obtained from realistic detector simulations. We describe the simulation framework, the neutrino interactions in the detector, and the expected response of the detector to particles traversing it. The ICAL detector can determine the energy and direction of the muons to a high precision, and in addition, its sensitivity to multi-GeV hadrons increases its physics reach substantially. Its charge identification capability, and hence its ability to distinguish neutrinos from antineutrinos, makes it an efficient detector for determining the neutrino mass hierarchy. In this report, we outline the analyses carried out for the determination of neutrino mass hierarchy and precision measurements of atmospheric neutrino mixing parameters at ICAL, and give the expected physics reach of the detector with 10 years of runtime. We also explore the potential of ICAL for probing new physics scenarios like CPT violation and the presence of magnetic monopoles.Comment: 139 pages, Physics White Paper of the ICAL (INO) Collaboration, Contents identical with the version published in Pramana - J. Physic