Celebritization of Political Corruption in Pakistan: A Bourdieusian Perspective

In this thesis, I explore how political corruption gets celebritized by the action/in-action of the state of Pakistan. Although the state has long been claiming to have stringent controls against political corruption, however, over the years, the country has become a vessel for more political corruption instead. By promoting a national interest-based narrative, the state runs two parallel political systems (one seemingly run by the politicians while the other controlled by the establishment) hence doubling political corruption and making the accounting and accountability systems doubly vulnerable to misappropriations. I theorise the relations between political corruption and the state using Pierre Bourdieu's theoretical concepts, focusing on two political corruption cases, the Asghar Khan case and the Mehran Bank scandal. I make three contributions in this regard. First, I contribute to the literature on political corruption and accounting by contending that political corruption in developing countries takes the form of an institution in itself (a field) that continuously extends its boundaries over time. Second, I develop a theoretical framework that shows how political corruption (field) develops and how it violates accounting controls and accountability systems (causing sufferings). Moreover, when it comes to public attention (through hysteresis), how the state response (using social magic) turns this corruption into no-corruption causing no harm to corruption (partial revolutions) and hence its perpetuation (conatus) in the system becomes inevitable. Finally, I contribute to the literature on political corruption and accounting by proposing that such actions of the state, especially with its art of calling for positive emotional responses (national interest) from the public, not only prolong political corruption but also celebritize it in Pakistan. Thus while promising to end political corruption, the state does precisely the opposite

ULTRASONOGRAPHIC EVALUATION OF LOWER UTERINE SEGMENT THICKNESS IN PREGNANT WOMEN WITH PREVIOUS CESAREAN SECTION: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Background: Nowadays it’s a big problem of lower uterine thickness in pregnant women that causes a lot of problems. Lower uterine segment thickness is a strong predictor for uterine scar defect in women with prior caesarian section. Lower segment cesarean section (LSCS) rates are raising throughout the world. Women with previous one cesarean can undergo either the trial of vaginal birth or elective repeat cesarean section in their next pregnancy. The study aims to assess the diagnostic accuracy of sonographic measurement of lower uterine segment thickness in pregnant women So there we are going to evaluate lower uterine segment thickness in pregnant women sonographically by using transabdominal and transvaginal approaches as well. Objective: To evaluate lower uterine segment thickness in pregnant women with previous caesarian section by sonography. Materials and Methods: An electronic data base search was performed through the searches using PubMed, Google Scholar, international Journal of Gynecology & obstetrics and some other online journals and medical websites with the range from 2000-2021. All studies included in the research was in English language. Articles which had descriptive studies related to sonographic features of lower uterine segment thickness of pregnant women with C-section. Results: Research data of 200 patients in all studies showed that Transvaginal ultrasound provided greater reliability in LUS measurements than did transabdominal ultrasound. The use of three-dimensional ultrasound improved significantly the reliability of the LUS muscular thickness measurement obtained transvaginal Conclusion: We identified certain sonographic patterns that can accurately shows the lower uterine segment thickness in pregnant women with previous caesarian section. Keywords: LUS lower uterine segment thickness, Transabdominal and Transvaginal ultrasonography, Pregnancy, Caesarian Section DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/93-07 Publication date:September 30th 202

Evaluation of Cervical Disc Degeneration in Patients with Neck Pain on Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Background: Cervical disc degeneration is the most common pathology that in most of the cases  clinically present as Objective: To evaluate the cervical region abnormalities in patients with neck pain on magnetic resonance imaging. Methodology: In this descriptive study 180 adult patients were included. All patients had been collected from DHQ hospital Gilgit and Ghurki Trust teaching hospital. After informed consent, data were collected through 1.5 tesla GE (closed bore) and 0.35 tesla Hitachi (open bore) MRI machines. Results:  Findings show that among 180 adult patients, 136 presented with disc degeneration among which 81 were males and 55 were females. Among 81 males, 63 had disc degeneration at multiple levels while 18 had single disc degeneration. In females 35 patients showed multiple disc degeneration while 20 involved a single disc. Conclusion: It is concluded that disc degeneration is prevalent in males than females. Disc degeneration at multiple levels is higher than single disc degeneration in both genders. Keywords: Disc degeneration, magnetic resonance imaging. DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/99-03 Publication date: April 30th 2022

Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome after administration of AZD1222 or Ad26.COV2.S vaccine for COVID-19: A systematic review

Background: Cases of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) have been reported following vaccination with AZD1222 or Ad26.COV2.S. This review aimed to explore the pathophysiology, epidemiology, diagnosis, management, and prognosis of TTS.Methods: A systematic review was conducted to identify evidence on TTS till 4th September 2021. Case reports and series reporting patient-level data were included. Descriptive statistics were reported and compared across patients with different sexes, age groups, vaccines, types of thrombosis, and outcomes.Findings: Sixty-two studies reporting 160 cases were included from 16 countries. Patients were predominantly females with a median age of 42.50 (22) years. AZD1222 was administered to 140 patients (87·5%). TTS onset occurred in a median of 9 (4) days after vaccination. Venous thrombosis was most common (61.0%). Most patients developed cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST; 66.3%). CVST was significantly more common in female vs male patients (p = 0·001) and in patients aged \u3c45 years vs ≥45 years (p = 0·004). The mortality rate was 36.2%, and patients with suspected TTS, venous thrombosis, CVST, pulmonary embolism, or intraneural complications, patients not managed with non-heparin anticoagulants or IVIG, patients receiving platelet transfusions, and patients requiring intensive care unit admission, mechanical ventilation, or inpatient neurosurgery were more likely to expire than recover.Interpretation: These findings help to understand the pathophysiology of TTS while also recommending diagnostic and management approaches to improve prognosis in patients.Funding: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors

Deblur-Cyclegan: A Generative Cyclic Approach for Image Blind Motion Deblurring

In this paper, we propose an end-to-end generative adversarial network (GAN) for single image blind motion deblur-ring, which we called Deblur-CycleGAN. Inspired by the cyclic nature of the original CycleGAN, we perform single image blind motion deblurring in similar fashion while presenting motion deblurring as a cycle-consistent approach. Our proposed method achieves the best qualitative and quantitative results in comparison with existing state-of-the-art methods on GoPro dataset. We also explore the industrial aspect of motion deblurring in wind turbines (WT) with surface cracks on turbine blades. We collect 700 high-resolution images of faulty WT blades via UAV, which we called Turbine Blade dataset. Finally, we compare the performance of our proposed method against existing methods on Turbine Blade dataset and show that our proposed approach achieves the best performance both qualitatively and quantitatively

DFGAN: Image Deblurring Through Fusing Light-Weight Attention and Gradient-Based Filters

Recovering a latent sharp image from a spatially variant blurred image is a challenging task in the field of computer vision especially in blind image deblurring, where the source of the blur kernel is unknown and may vary. To remove the intricate motion blur in the images, recently deep learning-based methods perform latent clean image recovery without the need of knowing the blur kernel explicitly. Unlike conventional blind deblurring methods that assume the blur to be spatially invariant across the image. However, simply stacking convolution layers in deep multi-scale networks does not guarantee the complete removal of motion blur in the images and may lead to a poor performance for blind image deblurring task. Thus, we propose a GAN-based approach for single image blind motion deblurring task in an end-to-end manner, for simplicity its called DeblurFusedGAN (DFGAN). The proposed method improves the performance for image deblurring task by fusing the light-weight attention (LSA) mechanism and gradient-based filters in the generator network. Furthermore, we show the sophisticated performance of our proposed approach both qualitatively and quantitatively in comparison with the other state-of-the-art methods

Analyzing the Asymmetric Effect of Renewable Energy Consumption on Environment in STIRPAT-Kaya-EKC Framework: A NARDL Approach for China

This study aims to analyze the asymmetric relation between renewable energy consumption and CO2 emissions in China using the STIRPAT-Kaya-EKC framework. To delve into the asymmetric effect of renewable energy consumption on the environment, the non-linear ARDL model is used. The results of this study confirm the asymmetric impact of renewable energy on the environment in the long run as well as in the short run. However, the negative shocks to renewable energy have a greater detrimental influence on the environment than the benign effect due to the positive shock to renewable energy. Population growth affects the environment in the short run, whereas technology only affects environment quality in the long run. Moreover, the study supports the EKC theory in China. This research emphasizes that the administration can improve the economy’s lifespan by allocating substantial funds to establish legislation to maintain a clean environment by subsidizing renewable energy infrastructure and research and innovations for low-carbon projects

Green Organo-Photooxidative Method for the Degradation of Methylene Blue Dye

This study used an organophoto-oxidative material to degrade the toxic azo dye, methylene blue (MB), due to its hazardous effects on aquatic life and humans. MB is traditionally degraded using metal-based catalysts, resulting in high costs. Several organic acids were screened for organo-photooxidative applications against various azo dyes, and ascorbic acid (AA), also known as vitamin C, was found to be best for degradation due to its high photooxidative activity. It is an eco-friendly, edible, and efficient photooxidative material. A photocatalytic box has been developed for the study of organo-photooxidative activity. It was found that when AA was added, degradation efficiency increased from 42 to 95% within 240 min. Different characterization techniques, such as HPLC and GC-MS, were used after degradation for the structural elucidation of degraded products. DFT study was done for the investigation of the mechanistic study behind the degradation process. A statistical tool, RSM, was used for the optimization of parameters (concentration of dye, catalyst, and time). This study develops sustainable and effective solutions for wastewater treatment

Global economic burden of unmet surgical need for appendicitis

Background There is a substantial gap in provision of adequate surgical care in many low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to identify the economic burden of unmet surgical need for the common condition of appendicitis. Methods Data on the incidence of appendicitis from 170 countries and two different approaches were used to estimate numbers of patients who do not receive surgery: as a fixed proportion of the total unmet surgical need per country (approach 1); and based on country income status (approach 2). Indirect costs with current levels of access and local quality, and those if quality were at the standards of high-income countries, were estimated. A human capital approach was applied, focusing on the economic burden resulting from premature death and absenteeism. Results Excess mortality was 4185 per 100 000 cases of appendicitis using approach 1 and 3448 per 100 000 using approach 2. The economic burden of continuing current levels of access and local quality was US $92 492 million using approach 1 and$73 141 million using approach 2. The economic burden of not providing surgical care to the standards of high-income countries was $95 004 million using approach 1 and$75 666 million using approach 2. The largest share of these costs resulted from premature death (97.7 per cent) and lack of access (97.0 per cent) in contrast to lack of quality. Conclusion For a comparatively non-complex emergency condition such as appendicitis, increasing access to care should be prioritized. Although improving quality of care should not be neglected, increasing provision of care at current standards could reduce societal costs substantially