An Analysis of Impact of Merger and Acquisition of Financial Performance of Banks: A case of Pakistan

This study is testing the impact of merger and acquisition of banks and provides insights about their role after merger on banks profitability. In this paper six financial ratios are used for analysis these ratios are profit after tax, return on asset, return on equity, debt to equity ratio, deposit to equity ratio and EPS. Ten banks are selected as sample for analysis which gets into merger from 2007-10. 3 year pre-merger and 3 year post-merger data points are taken for all the 10 cases and their averages are compared. In SPSS paired sample T-test is applied for analysis and findings shows that only at 5% level of significance only ROE is affected by the merger and acquisition and other ratios have no impact from this strategy. Keywords: merger, impact, financial performance, Pakistan, acquisitio

Outcome of autologous bone graft versus polyetheretherketone cages in anterior cervical discectomy and fusion surgery

Objective:To compare the outcome of autologous bone graft versus PEEK cages in ACDF surgery in terms of clinical performance and radiographic features. Methodology:This study was conducted at Department of Neurosurgery, Punjab Institute of Neurosciences, Lahore, Pakistan from April 2020 to December 2022. In this study patients were randomized into two equal groups i.e. Group A (autologous bone graft)  and Group B (PEEK cage). Results: Total of 98 patients was included in the study. The mean age of cases was 49.88 ± 17.83 years. There were 58(59.18%) male and 40(40.82%) female cases. 25(25.51%) cases who had C3-C4 involved, 48(48.98%) patients had C5-C6 and 25(25.51%) cases had C5 region involved. The mean disc height at 6th months in PEEK group was 6.71 ± 0.46 mm and in bone graft group was 6.33 ± 0.47 mm, p-value < 0.05. The mean operative time in PEEK group (2.07 ± 0.42) was statistically less than bone graft group (3.23 ± 0.36), p-value < 0.05. The average blood loss was also statistically less in PEEK group as compared to bone graft.  The mean hospital stay in PEEK group was 2.92 ± 0.61 days as compared to bone graft was 5.48 ± 1.90 days, p-value < 0.05. Conclusion:Outcome of ACDF surgery PEEK cages are better than autologous bone graft in terms of clinical performance and radiological features. Hence PEEK cages can be opted in future to have better outcome and higher patient’s satisfaction. &nbsp

Seed Treatment of Capsicum annuum with Two Different Fungicides to Evaluate the Seed Germination Rate

Chili (Capsicum annuum L.) is the fruit of plants, the Chili is susceptible for several diseases and seed borne fungi Phytophthora capsici which produces collar rot and root of chili. Seed borne pathogens are associated with untreated seeds of chili which are also significantly reduced the germination of seed. This experiment was conducted to find out the seed borne fungi and enhanced the germination of chili (Capsicum annuum) with two fungicides known as Mancozeb 80% WP and Carbendazim 50% WP. Effectiveness of these two fungicides were measured when the seeds planted on blotter paper in petri plates at 270C under lab conditions. These two fungicides significantly reduce the effect of seed borne fungi associated with chili seeds. Mancozeb 80% WP was found most effective to reduce the effect of seed borne fungi and increase the seed germination. Considering the results of the experiment, Mancozeb 80% WP was noted to be a best fungicide against the seed borne fungi. Keywords: Capsicum annuum, Mancozeb, Carbendazim, seed borne fungi, blotter paper. DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/10-4-04 Publication date: February 29th 2020

PANC Study (Pancreatitis: A National Cohort Study): national cohort study examining the first 30 days from presentation of acute pancreatitis in the UK

Abstract Background Acute pancreatitis is a common, yet complex, emergency surgical presentation. Multiple guidelines exist and management can vary significantly. The aim of this first UK, multicentre, prospective cohort study was to assess the variation in management of acute pancreatitis to guide resource planning and optimize treatment. Methods All patients aged greater than or equal to 18 years presenting with acute pancreatitis, as per the Atlanta criteria, from March to April 2021 were eligible for inclusion and followed up for 30 days. Anonymized data were uploaded to a secure electronic database in line with local governance approvals. Results A total of 113 hospitals contributed data on 2580 patients, with an equal sex distribution and a mean age of 57 years. The aetiology was gallstones in 50.6 per cent, with idiopathic the next most common (22.4 per cent). In addition to the 7.6 per cent with a diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis, 20.1 per cent of patients had a previous episode of acute pancreatitis. One in 20 patients were classed as having severe pancreatitis, as per the Atlanta criteria. The overall mortality rate was 2.3 per cent at 30 days, but rose to one in three in the severe group. Predictors of death included male sex, increased age, and frailty; previous acute pancreatitis and gallstones as aetiologies were protective. Smoking status and body mass index did not affect death. Conclusion Most patients presenting with acute pancreatitis have a mild, self-limiting disease. Rates of patients with idiopathic pancreatitis are high. Recurrent attacks of pancreatitis are common, but are likely to have reduced risk of death on subsequent admissions. </jats:sec

Surgical audit of ruptured intracranial anterior circulation aneurysm clipping in Neurosurgery Unit II, Punjab Institute of Neurosciences, Lahore.

Objective:To review and document the rates of morbidity and mortality after surgical clipping for ruptured intracranial anterior circulation aneurysms in the department of Neurosurgery Unit II at Punjab Institute of Neurosciences, Lahore. Methods:Retrospective observational study was done. Doctors’ and nurses ‘notes, and radiology were reviewed to analyze the outcome of patients after microsurgical clipping. Results:180 patients were included according to non-probability, consecutive sampling. Mean age = 44.32±13.75 years, male to female ratio of 2.05:1. Fisher grade was: Grade I – 89.4%, Grade II-6.7% and Grade III- 3.9%. WFNS grade was: Grade I- 83.9%, Grade II – 11.1%, Grade III – 1.7% and Grade IV – 3.3%. Hunt and Hess grade was: Grade I- 47.4%, Grade II-25%and Grade III- 0.6% (p=&lt;0.001)(Confidence Interval-CI=95%). Anterior Communicating Artery aneurysms were 47.22 % (p=0.50), Middle Cerebral Artery aneurysms 28.3% (p&lt;0.001), Internal Cerebral Artery aneurysms 8.9%(p&lt;0.001), Distal Anterior Cerebral Artery aneurysm 8.3% (p&lt;0.001) and Posterior Communication Artery aneurysms 7.2%(p&lt;0.001). , A temporary clip was applied during surgery in 13.3% only.The results showed the incidence of these outcomes as: Acute New onset Neurological Deterioration/Deficit was documented in 6.1%), Rebleeding 3.3%, Vasospasm 5.0%, Revision surgery 6.1% and Mortality in 8.3% (p&lt;0.001). Conclusion:T the outcome of patients who underwent surgical clipping of ruptured anterior circulation aneurysms in the department of Neurosurgery Unit II, Punjab Institute of Neurosciences, Lahore, is comparable to the results of the studies and trials in the published literature

Micropropagation and Production of Health Promoting Lignans in Linum usitatissimum

Linum usitatissimum commonly known as flax or linseed is an important medicinal plant, produces medicinally potent lignans, used in the treatment of several human diseases. Lignans limited production in the natural plants does not meet the increasing market demand. This study was conducted to establish an easy and rapid method for the in vitro micropropagation and production of potent lignans and antioxidant secondary metabolites in linseed. The results indicated that hypocotyl explants under the effects of thidiazuron (TDZ: 0.5 mg/L) + kinetin (Kn: 0.5 mg/L) in the basal growth media, resulted in the optimal shoot organogenesis parameters (shoot induction frequency: 86.87%, number of shoots: 6.3 &plusmn; 0.36 and shoots length: 6.5 &plusmn; 0.54 cm), in 4 weeks. Further, TDZ supplementation in the culture media efficiently activated the antioxidant system in the in vitro raised shoots, wherein maximum production of total phenolic content, TPC (34.33 &plusmn; 0.20 mg of GAE/g DW); total flavonoid content, TFC (8.99 &plusmn; 0.02 mg of QE/g DW); DPPH free radical scavenging activity (92.7 &plusmn; 1.32%); phenylalanine ammonia-lyase activity, PAL (8.99 &plusmn; 0.02 U/g FW); and superoxide dismutase expression, SOD (3.62 &plusmn; 0.01 nM/min/mg FW) were observed in the shoot cultures raised in presence of TDZ: 0.5 mg/L + Kn: 0.5 mg/L. Nonetheless, considerable levels of pharmacologically active lignans such as secoisolariciresinol (SECO: 23.13&ndash;37.10 mg/g DW), secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG: 3.32&ndash;3.86 mg/g DW) and anhydrosecoisolariciresinol diglucoside (ANHSECO: 5.15&ndash;7.94 mg/g DW) were accumulated in the regenerated shoots. This protocol can be scaled up for the commercial production of linseed to meet the market demands for lignans

Dynamic naming scheme and lookup method based on trie for Vehicular Named Data Network

Content naming and lookup are decisive functions of the future architecture named data network (NDN). The core concept of NDN is the content distribution between consumers and content providers. The NDN supports advance vehicular networks that is famous with vehicular-named data network (VNDN) with different naming schemes such as hybrid, flat, attribute-based, and hierarchical names. These schemes are used in a static way for vehicular network, in summary, the hybrid, flat, and attribute-based makes a complex structure, and on the other hand, hierarchical names long in length and name lookup performance are a bottleneck in NDN, which can directly affect the network performance. Therefore, we introduce a dynamic naming scheme and lookup method (DNSL) for VNDN to mitigate these issues. We argue that the dynamic naming scheme is a better approach to VNDN, while the static name is a cost-effective, hefty, integrated fashion, and improper for the vehicular network. This study focuses on (1) a dynamic naming scheme using dynamic-tag and (2) a lookup method based on node partition of trie; the trie approach is very famed in data structure and extensively used for the lookup content, insertion, and deletion processes. Our experimental evaluation shows that the DNSL scheme is highly efficient, scalable, and provably correct for VNDN

Does Energy-Growth and Environment Quality Matter for Agriculture Sector in Pakistan or not? An Application of Cointegration Approach

The main objective of this paper is to examine the long-term effects of financial development, economic growth, energy consumption (electricity consumption in the agriculture sector), foreign direct investment (FDI), and population on the environmental quality in Pakistan during the period of 1980 to 2016. We use CO2 emissions from the agriculture sector as a proxy indicator for environmental quality. We employ various unit root tests (e.g., ADF, PP, ERS, KPSS) and structural break unit root tests (Z&amp;A, CMR) to check the stationarity and structural break in the data series. Cointegration tests, i.e., Johansen, Engle-Granger, and ARDL cointegration approaches are used to ensure their robustness. Results showed that significant long-term cointegration exists among the variables. Findings also indicated that an increase in financial development and foreign direct investment (FDI) improves environmental quality, whereas the increase in economic growth and electricity consumption in the agriculture sector degrades environmental quality in Pakistan. Based on the findings, we suggest policymakers should provide a conducive environment for foreign investment. Moreover, it is also suggested that a reliance on fossil fuels be reduced and a transition to renewable energy sources be encouraged to decrease the environmental pollution in the country