Studies on the filtration, feeding and excretion rates in Perna viridis, Marcia cor and Crassostrea gryphoides (Mollusca: Bivalvia) using P³² labelled Ankistrodesmes

The study deals with a series of experiments to investigate feeding and excretion in three species of bivalves: Perna viridis (Linné), Marcia cor (Sowerby) and Cassostrea gryphoides (Gould) from Manora Channel, Karachi. Bivalves were fed with suspensions of Ankistrodesmes labelled with P³². These animals showed a considerable variation in the average filtration rates depending upon species and the body lenght. Exceptionally high content of the P³² introduced with Akistrodesmes, got excreted as pseudofaeces and faeces within first three days following its absorption as a meal. The assimilated P³² is partly released as faecal material and its major proportion is directly transferred to the solution. As expexted the gonad and kidney are the main organs found responsible for excretion as comared to other body parts. Although, the assimilated P³² is mostly concentrated in the digestive glands, the results also show a significant presence of P³² in the gonads. Accumulation of P³² was the least in the foot

A Stable Dipositive Chlorocarbonium Ion

154-15

Event Stream Processing with Multiple Threads

Current runtime verification tools seldom make use of multi-threading to speed up the evaluation of a property on a large event trace. In this paper, we present an extension to the BeepBeep 3 event stream engine that allows the use of multiple threads during the evaluation of a query. Various parallelization strategies are presented and described on simple examples. The implementation of these strategies is then evaluated empirically on a sample of problems. Compared to the previous, single-threaded version of the BeepBeep engine, the allocation of just a few threads to specific portions of a query provides dramatic improvement in terms of running time

Culture‑proven disseminated Mycobacterium Bovis infection (BCG‑Osis) following intravesical BCG immunotherapy in a patient with bladder carcinoma‑in‑situ: ‘Case report’.

We are reporting a case of culture-proven disseminated Mycobacterium Bovis infection (BCG-Osis), involving lung, bone-marrow and urinary tract, after intravesical Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) immunotherapy for bladder carcinoma-in-situ. A 71-year-gentleman presented with fever shortly after intravesical BCG instillation. He was initially treated for presumed Urinary Tract Infection, but negative urine culture and persistent fever prompted us to consider alternative diagnoses. Empirical treatment for BCG-Osis was commenced after initial negative workup including blood culture, echocardiography, computed tomography (CT) Chest, and Kidney-Ureter-Bladder (KUB). However, he remained febrile and leukopenic, so bone-marrow examination was performed along with repeating CT Chest, which revealed non-caseating granulomas and small nonspecific pulmonary nodules, respectively, supporting our provisional diagnosis. Interestingly, Mycobacterium Bovis was finally isolated from one of his urine specimens, confirming our diagnosis

Uncovering Bugs in Distributed Storage Systems during Testing (not in Production!)

Testing distributed systems is challenging due to multiple sources of nondeterminism. Conventional testing techniques, such as unit, integration and stress testing, are ineffective in preventing serious but subtle bugs from reaching production. Formal techniques, such as TLA+, can only verify high-level specifications of systems at the level of logic-based models, and fall short of checking the actual executable code. In this paper, we present a new methodology for testing distributed systems. Our approach applies advanced systematic testing techniques to thoroughly check that the executable code adheres to its high-level specifications, which significantly improves coverage of important system behaviors. Our methodology has been applied to three distributed storage systems in the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform. In the process, numerous bugs were identified, reproduced, confirmed and fixed. These bugs required a subtle combination of concurrency and failures, making them extremely difficult to find with conventional testing techniques. An important advantage of our approach is that a bug is uncovered in a small setting and witnessed by a full system trace, which dramatically increases the productivity of debugging

Catalytic Framework: Intersectional Analysis for Community Engagement

The Community Engagement Centre (CEC) has been active across a range of diverse urban and rural populations throughout Pakistan and works closely with marginalised communities. The collective nature of Pakistani culture and its social inequities has required the CEC to recognize the intersections that shape contexts and situations, to promote local ownership, empower communities to identify and utilize existing resources for sustainable change, and improve health outcomes. Through an immersive community engagement (CE) strategy, CEC utilises participatory tools to collect stories from communities to understand their lived experiences, barriers and enablers to access, and the dynamics of power that influence these. To understand this complex relationship, a Catalytic Framework that examined the intersections within communities’ narratives was developed. Preliminary review of community narratives collected as part of programmatic operations yielded four significant elements: (1) unique, individual circumstances, (2) aspects of identity, (3) types of discrimination (if present), and (4) larger structures that reinforce exclusion (or enforce inclusion). A unique feature identified within the process of CE was the role of ‘catalysts’ – one or many people who may have transformative potential at any of these levels due to their influence, active facilitation, or agency. This novel framework enables an understanding of the threads of experience and identifying the elements and structures that impact lives of Pakistan’s diverse population. It works by recognizing the visible intersections of class, identity, gender, and power, as well as questioning what remains unarticulated, and thus promotes meaningful community engagement across different cultures and fields

Catalytic Framework: Intersectional Analysis for Community Engagement

The Community Engagement Centre (CEC) has been active across a range of diverse urban and rural populations throughout Pakistan and works closely with marginalised communities. The collective nature of Pakistani culture and its social inequities has required the CEC to recognize the intersections that shape contexts and situations, to promote local ownership, empower communities to identify and utilize existing resources for sustainable change, and improve health outcomes. Through an immersive community engagement (CE) strategy, CEC utilises participatory tools to collect stories from communities to understand their lived experiences, barriers and enablers to access, and the dynamics of power that influence these. To understand this complex relationship, a Catalytic Framework that examined the intersections within communities’ narratives was developed. Preliminary review of community narratives collected as part of programmatic operations yielded four significant elements: (1) unique, individual circumstances, (2) aspects of identity, (3) types of discrimination (if present), and (4) larger structures that reinforce exclusion (or enforce inclusion). A unique feature identified within the process of CE was the role of ‘catalysts’ – one or many people who may have transformative potential at any of these levels due to their influence, active facilitation, or agency. This novel framework enables an understanding of the threads of experience and identifying the elements and structures that impact lives of Pakistan’s diverse population. It works by recognizing the visible intersections of class, identity, gender, and power, as well as questioning what remains unarticulated, and thus promotes meaningful community engagement across different cultures and fields

Correlation of serum sodium with severity of hepatic encephalopathy in liver cirrhosis patients presenting at Dr. Ruth K.M. Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi.

Introduction: Cirrhotic patients suddenly or insidiously develop hepatic en-cephalopathy. Approximately three-fourth of the patients usually die within 3 years of onset of their first episode of hepatic encephalopathy. Hypo-natremia, a multifactorial phenomenon in cirrhotic patients may lead to cer-ebral edema and astrocytes swelling.Objective: To determine the correlation of serum sodium with severity of hepatic encephalopathy in liver cirrhosis patients presenting at tertiary care hospital, Karachi.Methodology: This prospective cross-sectional study conducted at Depart-ment of Medicine, Civil Hospital, Karachi between October 31, 2019 till April 4,2020. Data collected from 138 patients after taking written consent; pre-sented as was as mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentages. Effect modifiers were controlled through stratification to see the effect of these on the outcome variable taking p-value of ≤0.05 as significant.Results: Among 138 patients 92 (66.7%) were male and 46 (33.3%) were female. Mean age, duration of symptoms, height, weight and serum sodium in our study was 51.14±4.49 years, 12±7.21 hours, 161±6.78 cm, 85.2±8.54 kg and 132.7±6.32 mEq/L. Out of 136 patients, 28 (20.3%), 35 (25.4%), 54 (39.1%) and 21 (15.2%) patients belonged to sodium quartile 1, 2, 3 and 4; while 21 (15.2%), 41 (29.7%), 28 (20.3%) and 48 (34.8%) belonged to hepatic encephalopathy severity grade 1, 2, 3 and 4. Hepatic encephalopathy severi-ty showed correlation with rising sodium levels.Conclusion: Hyponatremia was found with increased frequency in patients with cirrhosis of liver having a correlation with frequency and severity of hepatic encephalopathy.Key words: Encephalopathy, Liver Cirrhosis, Hyponatremia

The Experience of International Students and Institutional Recommendations: A Comparison Between the Students From the Developing and Developed Regions

Prior studies on the experiences of international students in China have mostly focused on their academic, sociocultural, and accommodation experiences. Hence, student health and safety, discrimination, and the services by the International Student Office (ISO) have remained unexplored. Moreover, due to the motivational differences between the students from developing and developed regions, a study that samples students from both regions may depict an exact picture of the experience of international students. Therefore, the objective of this study is to examine the influence of the dimensions (including those dimensions that have been ignored) of the experience of international students on their satisfaction. In addition, we make recommendations regarding Chinese institutes for future students based on a comparison between the students from developing and developed regions. Using hierarchical regression analysis, this study reveals that educational and non-educational experiences vary among students from different regions. Therefore, based on developing (e.g., Asia and Africa) and developed (e.g., America, Europe, and Australia) regions, important recommendations are discussed regarding how educational institutions and the Chinese government could best allocate resources and introduce policies to improve the experience of international students