Performance Evaluation of Public-Private Partnerships in Health Sector of Pakistan

The current study aimed to evaluate the performance of hospitals working under public-private partnership (PPP) using Marshall and Hays model. The model of Marshall and Hays proposed five elements i.e. patient care, doctor’s behavior, financial assistance, technical quality and accessibility that influence hospital performance. We adopt this model to explore the hospital's performance working under PPP in Pakistan. Data were collected from 384 patients from the hospitals working under PPP. The findings of the current study show that patient care, and accessibility of healthcare services to the patients positively influence the performance of public-private hospitals. The results of the study have significant theoretical and practical implications. Keywords: PFI Model, public private partnership, hospital sector, technical quality DOI: 10.7176/PPAR/9-1-0

An exploration of polymorphism in pharmaceutical compounds using high pressure

The effects of high pressure on a selection of organic compounds have been studied. Crystallisation at high pressure has been successfully used to grow a single crystal of an elusive polymorph (form II) of mefenamic acid. Milling experiments revealed that form I can be converted to form II by milling at both ambient temperature and at -78 °C. Direct compression of powder samples of form I at 1.5GPa using methanol:ethanol as a pressure-transmitting medium resulted in the formation of a new high-pressure form III and this new form is recoverable to ambient pressure. Compression of powder samples of forms I and II using Fluorinert-FC77 as a pressure-transmitting medium resulted in a reversible phase transition to anew high-pressure form IV.High-pressure crystallisation of N,N'-dimethylurea resulted in the formation of two new high-pressure polymorphs designated as forms III and IV. Crystal structures of these forms are reported here. Form III was also produced by compression of a powder samples of form I and decompression studies showed that itcan be recovered to ambient pressure, but it was metastable compared to form I.Form II was produced through compression of form I using Fluorinert FC-77 as a pressure-transmitting medium. Form IV was produced by heating a mixture of form II and III to 150 °C at 1.75 GPa. Decompression of form IV resulted in formation of a new form, which was recoverable at ambient pressure. The experimental results have been compared with crystal structure prediction calculationsHigh-pressure techniques have been used to study polymorphism of GSK developmental compounds A and B. New polymorphs for these compounds have been obtained at high pressure. Of particular importance are forms III and VI of compounds A and B, respectively, where recrystallisation at high pressure resulted in production of these forms and decompression studies have shown that they can be recovered to ambient pressure. From the compression studies performed on the powder samples of compound A, two new high-pressure forms designated as formsV and VI were obtained at 0.9 and 1.4 GPa, respectively. New polymorphs for these compounds were also produced from recrystallisation at ambient pressure

Accessing mefenamic acid form II through high-pressure recrystallization

High-pressure crystallisation has been successfully used as an alternative technique to prepare Form II of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, Mefenamic acid (MA). A single crystal of Form II, denoted as high-pressure Form II, was grown at 0.3 GPa from an ethanolic solution by using Diamond Anvil Cell. Comparison of the crystal structures shows that the efficient packing of molecules in Form II has been enabled by the structural flexibility of MA molecules. Compression studies performed on a single crystal of Form I resulted in 14 % decrease of unit cell volume up to 2.5 GPa. No phase transition was observed up to this pressure. A reconstructive phase transition is required to induce conformational changes in the structure, which is confirmed by crystallisation at high pressure results

Non-invasive prediction of ST elevation myocardial infarction complications by left ventricular Tei index

OBJECTIVE: To investigate association between the Tei index and cardiac complications of ST elevation of Myocardial Infarction. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of a 202 adult consecutive patients with first ST elevation MI (STEMI) were studied. Tei index was obtained as: (a _ b)/b, where a is the interval between the cessation and onset of mitral flow and b is the ejection time of aortic flow measured with the help of pulsed Doppler echocardiography. Subsequent complications, included Death, Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), Cardiogenic shock, Atrial Flutter/ Atrial Fibrillation, Sustained ventricular tachycardia, Advanced Atrio- Ventricular Clock (AV Block), Myocardial Infarction (MI), Readmission (due to any cardiac cause) and Revascuralarization during the 30 days after the onset of Acute STEMI were prospectively evaluated and compared with the initial Tei index at admission. RESULTS: Complications were noted in 60% of the patients with acute STEMI. The Tei index was significantly increased for patients with complications compared with those without them (0.66 +/- 0.13 vs. 0.30 +/- 0.10, P \u3c .0001). When Tei index \u3e 0.40 was used for the criteria, the sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy to predict subsequent complications were 86%, 82%, and 83%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Tei index allows approximate but quick and practical noninvasive prediction of complications in patients with STEMI

Microencapsulation: A taste and odour masking approach for garlic (Allium sativum) powder

The purpose of this study was to prepare a convenient formulation of garlic powder which has enhanced user compliance by suppressing its characteristic odour and masking the taste. Microcapsules of garlic powder were formulated by solvent evaporation method. Results show >80% yield, >70% drug loading efficiency and slow release profile (promising sustained action for more than 2hrs) and a significant reduction in the aromatic smell and taste evaluated through a single blind cross-over study conducted using ten healthy human volunteers

Impact of television advertisement on unhealthy weight control behaviors and eating disorders: mediating role of body image

This research is conducted to analysis the impact of Television Advertisement on Unhealthy Weight Control Behaviors and Eating Disorder with the mediating role of Body Image. The research is conducted to analyze the mediating impact of body image satisfaction on the relation of other variables. This research is conducted from the urban population of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. A Total of 280 questionnaires were floated in the population, out of which 267 were received back. The data was analyzed by employing correlation dn regression analysis. The results showed that body image partially mediates the relationship between Television Advertisement and Unhealthy Weight Control Behaviors and fully mediate the relationship between Television Advertisement and Eating Disorder. This research will help marketers to analyze the dynamics of advertisement and also in understanding the negative outcomes of their certain practices

On the finite mixture of exponential, Rayleigh and Burr Type-XII Distributions: Estimation of Parameters in Bayesian framework

In recent years, the finite mixtures of distributions have been proved to be of considerable attention in terms of their practical applications. This paper aims about studying the problem of estimating the parameters of a 3-component mixture of Exponential, Rayleigh and Burr Type-XII distributions using type-I right censoring scheme in Bayesian framework. The elegant closed form expressions for the Bayes estimators and their variances using the non-informative and the informative priors are derived for censored sample as well as for complete sample. The hyperparameters are elicited using prior predictive distribution when no or little prior information is available. The posterior predictive distribution with different priors is derived and the equations necessary to find the lower and upper limits of the Bayesian predictive intervals are constructed. A detailed simulation study is carried out to investigate the performance (in terms of variances) of the Bayes estimators. Finally, the model is illustrated using the real life data. Bayes estimators using the informative prior have been observed performing superior

Impact of the Product Packaging on the Consumer Buying Behavior

The objective of this paper is to examine the impact of the packaging elements on the consumer buying behavior. This research also identified the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. This survey research consists on the primary data which are collected through the distribution of the questionnaire and SPSS software has been used for the purpose of the analysis. This study consists on the response of the 100 respondents and tasted the reliability of the model. The aim of this research conducting is to find out that how much the independent variables influence the dependent variable According to the finding and analysis of this survey research it has been observed that packagings are most important instrument. It is further concluded that the packaging elements like its Color, Packaging material and design of Wrapper are more important factors when consumers making any buying decision Keywords: Product color, wrapper design, product size, consumer buying behavio

Impact of Investment Efficiency on Cost of Equity: An Empirical Study on Shariah and Non Shariah Compliance Firms Listed on Pakistan Stock Exchange

The primary purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of investment efficiency on cost of the equity of firm. This study further explores whether the relationship of investment efficiency and cost of equity is different for the shariah and non shariah compliance firms. Using sample of 235 non financial firms listed at Pakistan stock exchange (PSX) for the period of 2005-2015, the results revealed that there is a negative significant influence of investment efficiency on the cost of equity. This signifies that investors required rate of return increases with the increase in the level of investment inefficiency. We also found out that the negative association of investment efficiency and cost of equity is weaker for the shariah compliance firms than for non shariah compliance firms. The results of our study also provided evidences that overinvestment is positively associated with the cost of equity. But we are unable to find significant impact of under investment on the cost of equity, this pointed that over investment is considered more serious problem for investors as compared to the underinvestment. The results furnished empirical support to our argument that shariah acts as a mechanism to lower bankruptcy and leverage cost hence reduce the cost of equity. The findings are helpful for academicians, regulators, investors and Shariah board. Further research may be conducted in different economies in order to generalize the findings

An Assorted Design for Joint Monitoring of Process Parameters: An Efficient Approach for Fuel Consumption

Due to high fuel consumption, we face the problem of not only the increased cost, but it also affects greenhouse gas emission. This paper presents an assorted approach for monitoring fuel consumption in trucks with the objective to minimize fuel consumption. We propose a control charting structure for joint monitoring of mean and dispersion parameters based on the well-known max approach. The proposed joint assorted chart is evaluated through various performance measures such as average run length, extra quadratic loss, performance comparison index, and relative average run length. The comparison of the proposed chart is carried out with existing control charts, including a combination of X and S, the maximum exponentially weighted moving average (Max-EWMA), combined mixed exponentially weighted moving average-cumulative sum (CMEC), maximum double exponentially weighted average (MDEWMA), and combined mixed double EWMA-CUSUM (CMDEC) charts. The implementation of the proposed chart is presented using real data regarding the monitoring of fuel consumption in trucks. The outcomes revealed that the joint assorted chart is very efficient to detect different kinds of shifts in process behaviors and has superior performance than its competitor charts.Deanship of Scientific Research, King Saud University, King Fahd University of Petroleum and MineralsScopu