Oral Health Status: The Level of Oral Microbial Flora in Healthy Girls

The normal oral flora comprises a diverse group of micro-organisms and then 300 species inhabit the oral cavity of which about 50 are found routinely and account for the majority of the cultivable strains, these factors, together with the fact that the indigenous microbiota plays an important role in health and disease of a human and animals.It contribute to the development of the immune system and provide resistance to colonization by allochthonous or pathogenic micro-organisms. The aim of our study is to determine the most frequent micro-organisms as normal flora in healthy individuals. A total of 30 healthy students, all belongs to Jinnah University for Women of same age group were studied. Throat swabs were plated with human-blood agar, chocolate agar and apply bacitracin disk on both plates, SDA agar were incubating for 24 hours for isolation of Candida species. Organisms were cultured on Blood agar, SDA agar, Mannitol salt agar to observe the colonies. Different spot test like catalase and coagulase test were performed for identification of Staphylococcus species. Identification was also done by microscopic examination by gram stain. Catalase-positive, gram-positive rods were found to be as most frequent micro-organisms as normal flora of healthy students and were only micro-organisms detected 46.6% and total Staphylococcus species were (30%); Staphylococcus aureus ( 13%) and other Staphylococcus species (17 %) where as Streptococcus species (catalase -negative gram positive cocci) isolated from oral specimen of healthy individuals

The Effect of Board Characteristics on Intellectual Capital in the Commercial Banks Sector Listed on the Bahrain Bourse: An Empirical Study

This present paper aims to examine the effect of Board Characteristics (Size, Independence, Board meeting, Nationality diversity, and Educational level diversity) on intellectual capital (IC) performance of banks listed on the Bahrain Stock Exchange. The study is based on an analysis of the annual reports of a sample of (7) Bahraini banks from 2014 to 2018. The study also used the method of correlation and regression to analyze the relationship between the variables. The results indicated a significant interest in good governance practices in the Bahraini business environment. Moreover, there was a significant correlation between the size of the Board of Directors, the independence of the Board of Directors and the performance of intellectual capital. However, there was no significant relationship between the number of meetings, diversity in nationality, diversity in educational level, and the performance of intellectual capital. Furthermore, there was a relationship between the size of the Board of Directors and the performance of intellectual capital. The study recommends conducting further research to identify the other variables that may have an impact on the performance of intellectual capital

Risk factors, causative organisms and sensitivity patterns of infective keratitis in a tertiary care hospital in Rawalpindi

Objective: To determine the risk factors, causative organisms, sensitivity patterns and treatment outcomes of infective corneal ulcers. Methods: The is a prospective cohort study carried out from January 2018 to December 2019 at the Department of Ophthalmology, Fauji Foundation Hospital (FFH) Rawalpindi. A total of 65 eyes of 65 patients of corneal ulcer meeting the inclusion criteria were evaluated and corneal scrapes were sent for microbiological assessment.  Variables studied were age, gender, risk factors, onset and duration of symptoms, best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), treatment and complications. Results: Out of 65 eyes of 65 patients, 40 (61.5%) were females and 25 (38.4%) were males. Most common local risk factor was ocular surgery (29.2%) followed by ocular trauma (23.1%). Diabetes was present in 44.6% of the cases. Culture results after corneal scrapings were positive for 39 (60%) of the total samples, while 26 (40%) had no growth. Bacterial growth was present in 51.3% of eyes, fungal in 28.2% while 20.5% of the eyes were infected with polymicrobial organisms. Most common pathogens were Pseudomonas (25.6%) that were most sensitive to ciprofloxacin. By the end of the follow-up period 40 cases (61.5%) showed improvement. Conclusion: This study concluded that isolated Pseudomonas was the most common pathogen. Prompt diagnosis with culture sensitivity tests are very much needed in developing countries to avoid blindness due to keratitis. Keywords: Infective keratitis, risk factors, corneal ulcer, culture sensitivity