Regional Integration in South Asia: An Analysis of Trade Flows Using the Gravity Model

The study deals with trade benefits from the free trade agreement of the SAARC countries. It assesses the trade potential and trade creation with member and non-member countries. The gravity model has been used to measure the bilateral trade flows and to assess the trade effect for member and non-member countries. Two analyses estimate the gravity model. The first analysis is based on cross-sectional data to capture the trade effect individually each year; and the second analysis utilises the pooled data to measure the overall trade effects and trade flows for the period 2003 to 2008. The results from the two approaches show that estimated coefficients are consistent with the model assumptions. Both analyses show that the regional trade agreement of the SAARC countries could divert the trade for member countries as well as for the non-member countries. However, trade volume will increase only if the major partners (Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka) sign regional trade agreements.Trade; Regional Integration; Gravity Model

M. C. Behera. Globalising and Rural Development: Competing Paradigms and Emerging Realities, New Delhi/Thousand Oaks/London: Sage Publications. 2006. Paperback. Indian Rs 550.00.

Rural development provides an understanding which is both broader and more specific than development in terms of economic growth. It is broader because it entails much more than economic growth as factors affecting it are not contained within the discipline of formal economics. Rural development includes not only attention to production, but also to the analysis of distributional issues and, therefore, demands an inter-disciplinary approach in which the broader social and political factors interacting with economic processes are subject to examination. Even in this age of globalisation, rural development has acquired a central role in the international development discourse. This is because there is a shift in the development paradigm along with the process of globalisation and nations need to formulate their rural development strategies fitting into this international discourse

Automation of Glycohaemoglobin Measurement and its Application to Renal Patients.

The work for this project was carried out in two parts. The first part of this project describes, evaluates, and compares a new pre-production automated analyser with the manual Pierce affinity method for the measurement of glycohaemoglobin (GHb). The Pierce affinity method has proven reliable for the measurement of GHb, but is very labour intensive requiring several hours for the completion of the test. The alternative new GHb analyser is simple and rapid to use. The automated method is also more precise (CV The second part of this project was an evaluation of the effect of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) treatment on GHb results. The peritoneal dialysis solutions used in CAPD contain from 13.6 g to 38.6 g/1 of glucose as an osmotic agent. During CAPD 100-200 g of glucose is absorbed from the glucose-containing dialysate fluids each day. Icodextrin is a starch-derived glucose polymer which also acts as an osmotic agent when administered intraperitoneally for CAPD, but unlike glucose-containing CAPD fluids does not contribute to large amounts of glucose absorption. The GHb measurement for this part of the evaluation was carried out using the Drew Scientific GHb-100 analyser after the first part of the project was successfully completed. Contrary to what was expected CAPD did not cause a statistically significant difference in the concentration of GHb of non-diabetic patients compared to a non-diabetic group of patients who were not subjected to CAPD. The research conformed to the ethical standards set out by the Royal Sussex County Hospital for research

Regional Integration in South Asia: An Analysis of Trade Flows Using the Gravity Model

The study deals with trade benefits from the free trade agreement of the SAARC countries. It assesses the trade potential and trade creation with member and non-member countries. The gravity model has been used to measure the bilateral trade flows and to assess the trade effect for member and non-member countries. Two analyses estimate the gravity model. The first analysis is based on crosssectional data to capture the trade effect individually each year; and the second analysisutilises the pooled data to measure the overall trade effects and trade flows for the period 2003 to 2008. The results from the two approaches show that estimated coefficients are consistent with the model assumptions. Both analyses show that the regional trade agreement of the SAARC countries could divert the trade for member countries as well as for the non-member countries. However, trade volume will increase only if the major partners (Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka) sign regional trade agreements. JEL classification: F15 Keywords: Trade; Regional Integration; Gravity Mode

Misuse Of Words And Its Implementation In Islamic Law: A Case Study Of Zihar

If husband says to his wife, "you are banned/prohibited to me, akin to my mother or sister, and or you are comparable to my mother or sister". If the intention of the husband by these words was not meant to divorce his wife, then this act is termed as Zihar in Islam, otherwise divorce. He would now be bound to expiate before having sex with his wife. Either of husband or wife can observe Zihar. Condition of Zihar is differnt for a woman than a man. She is bound to Zihar before marriage. However, a man is restricted to it after marriage. Such statement can be elaborated in the following way. If a woman compares, someone analogue to her brother or father and or, ask him to be her brother or father, and get married later on with him. In such situation she will have to pay atonement. In the same way if a man becomes committed to Zihar after marriage, he would be bound to pay atonement. Islam fixes the value of expiation equally by the offender either a male or a female. Islam commences society to Zihar to stop or restrict this offensive act. This article is an approach to comprehend the impact of words in the relationship of marriage in Islam

Does Trade Liberalization Increase the Labor Demand Elasticities? Evidence from Pakistan

This study measure the linkage of trade liberalization and labor demand elasticities. Using Pakistan firm-level data, spanning the course of trade liberalization, study try to determine whether the trade liberalization increase the own price labor demand elasticities in the manufacturing sector of Pakistan. Elasticities are measure for production workers and non-production workers for major eleven industries at individual level at first and later elasticities are measured by pooling data across the industries at aggregate level. However, in most of the industries, study unable to find any empirical support for the hypothesis of no relationship between trade liberalization and labor demand elasticities in case of Pakistan

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Association of Serum PSA Levels with Histopathological Pattern of Prostate Lesions

Background: Pathological changes that mainly affect prostate gland are prostatitis, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and cancerous lesions. Digital rectal examination (DRE), Transrectal Ultrasonography (TUS), and prostate specific antigen (PSA) followed by histopathological examination, are routinely used tests for diagnosis of prostate lesions. The aim of the present study is to determine the role of serum PSA levels in differentially diagnosing the different types of prostate lesions.Material and Methods: This retrospective (observational) study was conducted in Ibn-e-Sina Hospital Multan. Data of 2189 patients who were operated from 2007 to 2017 due to prostatic lesions were included in this analysis. Patients with BPH, prostatitis, prostate carcinoma and Prostatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia (PIN) were grouped according to serum PSA levels (ranging from 0 to >100 ng/ml) into five groups. Frequencies and percentages were calculated for different histopathological findings. Association of PSA levels with different histological patterns was determined with chi-square test with P-value < 0.05 taken as significant difference.Results: Mean age of patients was 62.45+10.64 years. On histopathology, BPH was diagnosed in 1676 (76.56%) patients, prostatitis in 133 (6.07%), carcinoma in 378 (17.26%) and PIN in 02 (0.09%) patients, respectively. Serum PSA levels of 4.01-10 ng/ml were found in 1050 (62.64%) BPH patients and in 59 (44.36%) prostatitis patients. Serum PSA levels of 10.01-20 ng/ml were found in only 40 (2.4%) BPH patients, 47 (35.33%) prostatitis patients, 22 (5.82%) carcinoma patients and in 1 (50.0%) PIN patient. Serum PSA levels of 20.01-100 ng/ml were found in 32 (1.9%) BPH patients, 11 (8.27%) prostatitis patients, 302 (79.89%) carcinoma patients, and in 1 (50.0%) PIN patient. Serum PSA levels of >100 ng/ml were absent in patients with BPH and PIN, and present in 1 (0.75%) prostatitis and 54 (14.28%) carcinoma patients.Conclusion: Benign prostatic hyperplasia was the commonest lesion in our patients (76.56%) with serum PSA levels >10 ng/ml reported in all patients with prostate carcinoma and prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) patients

Knowledge of basic life support among the students of Jazan University, Saudi Arabia: Is it adequate to save a life?

Background: Basic Life Support [BLS; including cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)] is a part of medical skills utilized in case of an emergency medical care to save human lives. It is well established that the young students can become major healthcare supportive workforce for a community including the cases of emergency. Therefore, adequate knowledge of BLS is necessary for all the university attending students. This study evaluated the awareness of BLS knowledge and attitude towards BLS training among the students of Jazan University, Saudi Arabia.Methods: A self-administered survey questionnaire using cross-sectional design was employed.Results: Out of 360 participants, the majority were male students (84.2%). The participants have mediocre knowledge of BLS, and their mean score was 7.83 out of 14. The knowledge score, i.e., correct response of male and female students was almost similar. Not a single student answered all the questions correctly. About 28% participants had received BLS training previously during their study course and showed better BLS knowledge (mean score 10.41) in comparison with the other participants. In contrast with the students of health science related courses, the highest mean knowledge score (11.5) was opted by the students of emergency medical services, whereas the lowest score (6.58) was opted by the students of nursing background.Conclusions: Overall, a majority of the students of Jazan University did not have complete knowledge of BLS (CPR). The outcomes of this study will be helpful for education and healthcare service providers of the Saudi kingdom as a whole and for Jazan region.Keywords: Basic life support, Health occupations, Students’ knowledge, Medical education, Saudi Arabi