Impacto do Risco de Mercado, Taxa de Juros, Taxa de Câmbio no Retorno de Ações Bancárias: Evidências dos Bancos listados do Paquistão

The main purpose of this research is to find the relationship between market risk, Exchange rate, Interest rate, and bank stock returns in Pakistan. The KSE-100 index used as Market risk, US dollar against Pak rupees used as Exchange rate, three-month T-bill rate used as the interest rate and the continuously compounded return used as banks stock return. The time-series data from January 2007 to December 2018 is used in this study. The ordinary least square (OLS) method is used to check the relationship between bank stock return, market risk, interest rate, and Exchange rate. The result of this shows that market risk is positively significant, exchange rate rarely negatively significant, and the interest rate insignificant exempt of one bank. When the prices of the stock market are increasing the bank stock prices also increase. These empirical findings are helpful for the policymaker, investor, banking management as well as Government.El objetivo principal de esta investigación es encontrar la relación entre el riesgo de mercado, el tipo de cambio, la tasa de interés y el rendimiento de las acciones bancarias en Pakistán. El índice KSE-100 se utilizó como riesgo de mercado, el dólar estadounidense frente a las rupias de Pakistán se usó como tipo de cambio, la tasa de T-bill a tres meses se usó como tasa de interés y el rendimiento compuesto continuo se usó como rendimiento de acciones de los bancos. Los datos de series de tiempo de enero de 2007 a diciembre de 2018 se utilizan en este estudio. El método de mínimos cuadrados ordinarios (OLS) se utiliza para verificar la relación entre el rendimiento de las acciones bancarias, el riesgo de mercado, la tasa de interés y la tasa de cambio. El resultado de esto muestra que el riesgo de mercado es positivamente significativo, la tasa de cambio rara vez es significativamente negativa y la tasa de interés es exenta de importancia de un banco. Cuando los precios del mercado de valores están aumentando, los precios de las acciones bancarias también aumentan. Estos hallazgos empíricos son útiles para los responsables políticos, los inversionistas, la administración bancaria y el gobierno.O principal objetivo desta pesquisa é encontrar a relação entre risco de mercado, taxa de câmbio, taxa de juros e retornos de ações bancárias no Paquistão. O índice KSE-100 usado como risco de mercado, dólar norte-americano contra rupias de Pak usado como taxa de câmbio, taxa T de três meses usada como taxa de juros e retorno continuamente combinado usado como retorno de ações de bancos. Os dados de séries temporais de janeiro de 2007 a dezembro de 2018 são usados neste estudo. O método de mínimos quadrados ordinários (OLS) é usado para verificar a relação entre retorno de ações bancárias, risco de mercado, taxa de juros e taxa de câmbio. O resultado disso mostra que o risco de mercado é positivamente significativo, a taxa de câmbio raramente é negativamente significativa e a taxa de juros insignificante isenta de um banco. Quando os preços do mercado de ações estão aumentando, os preços das ações do banco também aumentam. Essas descobertas empíricas são úteis para o formulador de políticas, o investidor, o gerenciamento bancário e o governo

Clinical features and outcome of sporadic colorectal carcinoma in young patients: A cross-sectional analysis from a developing country

Background: Early onset colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is rare and has been hypothesized to be a biologically and clinically distinct entity personifying aggressive disease and worse survival.Methods: Data for 131 patients was collected by retrospective chart review. Cox proportional hazard model was used to compute prevalence ratios and 95% confidence intervals.Results: Early onset sporadic CRC accounted for 32% of all CRC treated in the specified time period. The mean age was 33.3 ± 7.9 years and the male to female ratio was 2 : 1. Colon and rectal cancers accounted for 55% and 45% of patients, respectively. 96% of rectal carcinoma patients received appropriate therapy as opposed to 65% of colon cancers. On multivariable analysis, appropriate reception of therapy (PR 4.99; 95% CI, 1.21-20.6) and signet ring morphology (PR 2.40; 95% CI, 1.33-4.32) were significantly associated with rectal cancers as opposed to colon cancer. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed a trend towards inferior survival for rectal carcinoma 2 years after diagnosis.Conclusion: A high prevalence of early onset CRC was noted in the study. A trend towards inferior survival was seen in patients with rectal cancer. This finding raises the possibility of rectal carcinoma being an aggressive subset of young CRC

Sporadic early onset colorectal cancer in Pakistan: A case- control analysis of microsatellite instability

Background: Early onset sporadic colorectal cancer (CRC) is a biologically and clinically distinct entity hypothesized to exhibit differences in histological features and microsatellite instability (MSI) as compared to typical onset CRC. This study compared the MSI status, mismatch repair enzyme deficiency and clinicopathological features of early onset (aged ≤45 years) with controls (\u3e45 years).Materials and Methods: A total of 30 cases and 30 controls were analyzed for MSI status using the Bethesda marker panel. Using antibodies against hMLH1, hMSH2 and hMSH6, mismatch repair protein expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry. Molecular characteristics were correlated with clinicopathological features.Results: The early onset sporadic CRCs were significantly more poorly differentiated tumors, with higher N2 nodal involvement and greater frequency of signet ring phenotype than the typical onset cases. MSI was observed in 18/30 cases, with 12/18 designated as MSI-high (MSI-H) and 6/18 designated as MSI-low (MSI-L). In the control group, 14 patients exhibited MSI, with 7 MSI-H and 7 MSI-L. MSI tumors in both cases and controls exhibited loss of hMLH1, hMSH2 and hMSH6. MSS tumors did not exhibit loss of expression of MMR proteins, except hMLH1 protein in 3 controls. No statistically significant difference was noted in MSI status or expression of MMR proteins in cases versus controls.Conclusions: Microsatellite status is comparable between early and typical onset sporadic CRC patients in Pakistan suggesting that differences in clinicopathological features between these two subsets are attributable to other molecular mechanisms

Cytogenetic abnormalities associated with reproductive failure in Pakistani population: experience of a tertiary care hospital

Constitutional chromosomal abnormalities play a significant role in causing reproductive anomalies in individuals of reproductive age. With the rapid advancement of genome engineering techniques, it has now become possible to cure different genetic disorders. However, very limited data is available regarding the prevalence of such aberrations in the Pakistani population. Considering this factor, this retrospective analysis was undertaken to elucidate the type and prevalence rate of such abnormalities in our population. A total of 241 individuals, who were referred to the Liaquat National Hospital, from January 2017 to December 2021, with a history of infertility or miscarriages, were evaluated using the standard GTG banding technique. The results revealed a notably high percentage 44(18.2%) of chromosomal abnormalities in our population. Surprisingly, the frequency of these anomalies was observed to be higher in males than in females. ---Continu

Identification of immune biomarkers in recent active pulmonary tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) has remained an unsolved problem and a major public health issue, particularly in developing countries. Pakistan is one of the countries with the highest tuberculosis infection rates globally. However, methods or biomarkers to detect early signs of TB infection are limited. Here, we characterized the mRNA profiles of immune responses in unstimulated Peripheral blood mononuclear cells obtained from treatment naïve patients with early signs of active pulmonary tuberculosis without previous history of clinical TB. We identified a unique mRNA profile in active TB compared to uninfected controls, including cytokines such as IL-27, IL-15, IL-2RA, IL-24, and TGFβ, transcription factors such as STAT1 and NFATC1 and immune markers/receptors such as TLR4, IRF1, CD80, CD28, and PTGDR2 from an overall 84 different transcripts analyzed. Among 12 significant differentially expressed transcripts, we identified five gene signatures which included three upregulated IL-27, STAT1, TLR4 and two downregulated IL-24 and CD80 that best discriminate between active pulmonary TB and uninfected controls with AUC ranging from 0.9 to 1. Our data identified a molecular immune signature associated with the early stages of active pulmonary tuberculosis and it could be further investigated as a potential biomarker of pulmonary T

Expression profile of KIR3DS1/KIR3DL1 receptors in association with immunological responses in TB, HIV and HIV/TB infected patients

Several studies investigated KIR3DS1 and KIR3DL1 in the context of various infections. However, none of the studies were performed on KIR3DS1/L1 in association with IFN-ɣ/IL-10 in TB, HIV-1, and their confections. We aimed to evaluate KIR3DS1/KIR3DL1 expression in association with IFNɣ/IL-10 in HIV-1 and TB mono-infections and HIV-1/TB confection and compared with uninfected controls using RTq PCR. We also performed correlation analysis between KIR3DS1, KIR3DL1, IFN-ɣ and IL-10 in the respective cohorts. The overall expression of KIR3DS1 was found to be downregulated in all groups, whereas in HIV-1 and HIV-1/TB, the frequency of KIR3DS1(+) expression was significantly (p \u3c 0.05) associated with undetected HIV-1 viral load. However, expression of KIR3DL1 was found to be significantly (p \u3c 0.05) upregulated in HIV-1 only. In addition, IFNɣ expression was significantly (p \u3c 0.05) decreased in TB, whereas in HIV-1/TB, IFNɣ expression was significantly (p \u3c 0.05) increased. In contrast, IL-10 expression was significantly (p \u3c 0.05) increased in HIV-1 and HIV-1/TB but not in TB. Also, we found significant positive correlation (p \u3c 0.05, r = 0.61) between KIR3DL1 and IFNɣ expression in TB and negative correlation (p \u3c 0.05, r = - 0.62) between KIR3DS1 and IL-10 in HIV-1/TB. In conclusion, we suggest that expression of KIR3DS1/L1 is associated with IFNɣ/IL-10 responses and it is involved in modulating disease severity in HIV-1 and TB infection

Molecular identification of Toxoplasma gondii in domesticated and broiler chickens (Gallus domesticus) that possibly augment the pool of human toxoplasmosis.

Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is a protozoan parasite that infects all warm-blooded animals including domesticated birds and humans. Birds normally get infected by ground feeding and human beings contract the disease by consumption of undercooked chicken meat. This study aimed to analyze seroprevalence and DNA of T. gondii in chickens (domesticated and broiler) and to assess possible transfer to humans by review of available literature from Pakistan. Blood from and tissues from domesticated and broilers chickens were analyzed for Toxo-IgM/IgG and Toxoplasma DNA through ELISA and PCR respectively. Furthermore, research articles published during 1990-2019 on the prevalence of T. gondii in humans from Pakistan, were analyzed to assess the possible infection burden in the area in connection to transmission from chickens. The overall prevalence of IgM and IgG for T. gondii was 17.83% and 8.8% respectively in the study areas. Significant seroprevalence was found in domesticated chickens than broilers. In domesticated chickens, the prevalence was high in age ≥ 2 years. Toxoplasma DNA was detected in tissues with an overall prevalence of 10.84%. Higher prevalence was observed in liver (10.50%) than heart (9.5%) and muscles (7.11%). Only 4.78% broiler and 2.38% domesticated chickens were positive for both IgM and DNA, 1.2% domesticated and 1.30% broilers were positive for IgG and DNA, while 2.98% domesticated and 2.17% broilers were positive for IgM, IgG, and DNA. Available literature showed that 25.8% of human beings were infected with T. gondii in Pakistan. The prevalence was 20.64% in male and 26.82%in the female. The rate of infections increases with age and high (37.36%) was found in humans of age range 40 to 60 years. A high prevalence of T. gondii is found in both domesticated and broiler chickens in the study area. Moreover, the literature survey indicates that a high seroprevalence of T. gondii is present in human beings of Pakistan. It is concluded that the high prevalence of T. gondii in humans may be associated with the parasite transmission through infected chicken's meat in Pakistan

Design, Synthesis and Molecular Docking Study of Novel 3-Phenyl-β-Alanine-Based Oxadiazole Analogues as Potent Carbonic Anhydrase II Inhibitors

Carbonic anhydrase-II (CA-II) is strongly related with gastric, glaucoma, tumors, malignant brain, renal and pancreatic carcinomas and is mainly involved in the regulation of the bicarbonate concentration in the eyes. With an aim to develop novel heterocyclic hybrids as potent enzyme inhibitors, we synthesized a series of twelve novel 3-phenyl-β-alanine 1,3,4-oxadiazole hybrids (4a–l), characterized by 1H- and 13C-NMR with the support of HRESIMS, and evaluated for their inhibitory activity against CA-II. The CA-II inhibition results clearly indicated that the 3-phenyl-β-alanine 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives 4a–l exhibited selective inhibition against CA-II. All the compounds (except 4d) exhibited good to moderate CA-II inhibitory activities with IC50 value in range of 12.1 to 53.6 µM. Among all the compounds, 4a (12.1 ± 0.86 µM), 4c (13.8 ± 0.64 µM), 4b (19.1 ± 0.88 µM) and 4h (20.7 ± 1.13 µM) are the most active hybrids against carbonic CA-II. Moreover, molecular docking was performed to understand the putative binding mode of the active compounds. The docking results indicates that these compounds block the biological activity of CA-II by nicely fitting at the entrance of the active site of CA-II. These compounds specifically mediating hydrogen bonding with Thr199, Thr200, Gln92 of CA-II

Antiproliferative and Carbonic Anhydrase II Inhibitory Potential of Chemical Constituents from Lycium shawii and Aloe vera: Evidence from In Silico Target Fishing and In Vitro Testing

Lycium shawii Roem. & Schult and resin of Aloe vera (L.) BURM. F. are commonly used in Omani traditional medication against various ailments. Herein, their antiproliferative and antioxidant potential was explored. Bioassay-guided fractionation of the methanol extract of both plants led to the isolation of 14 known compounds, viz., 1–9 from L. shawii and 10–20 from A. vera. Their structures were confirmed by combined spectroscopic techniques including 1D (1H and 13C) and 2D (HMBC, HSQC, COSY) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). The cytotoxic potential of isolates was tested against the triple-negative breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231). Compound 5 exhibited excellent antiproliferative activity in a range of 31 μM, followed by compounds 1–3, 7, and 12, which depicted IC50 values in the range of 35–60 μM, while 8, 6, and 9 also demonstrated IC50 values >72 μM. Subsequently, in silico target fishing was applied to predict the most potential cellular drug targets of the active compounds, using pharmacophore modeling and inverse molecular docking approach. The extensive in silico analysis suggests that our compounds may target carbonic anhydrase II (CA-II) to exert their anticancer activities. When tested on CA-II, compounds 5 (IC50 = 14.4 µM), 12 (IC50 = 23.3), and 2 (IC50 = 24.4 µM) showed excellent biological activities in vitro. Additionally, the ethyl acetate fraction of both plants showed promising antioxidant activity. Among the isolated compounds, 4 possesses the highest antioxidant (55 μM) activity followed by 14 (241 μM). The results indicated that compound 4 can be a promising candidate for antioxidant drugs, while compound 5 is a potential candidate for anticancer drugs