Persuasive Technology in Games: A Brief Review and Reappraisal

Persuasive technology is a new field of research that has attracted considerable attention from game designers since there is a growing interest in games promoting positive behavioral changes. Persuasive games have been exploited to tremendous effect with applications ranging from mobile healthcare, which persuade users to exercise more often and adopt a healthy lifestyle, to government programs encouraging civic engagement. Therefore, persuasive technologies have become an indispensable part of the modern game designer’s toolkit, and their importance is only set to grow with time. In this paper, we begin by reviewing the existing body of work in this field while also explaining the pros and cons of emerging design models and theoretical frameworks. We then uncover major pitfalls in the current work and suggest directions for future research. Hopefully, this article will prove instructive to game designers and leave them with a better understanding of the central concepts in the field of persuasive technology

Kap Study of Hepatitis B and C among the Patients Attending the O.P.D of Nishtar Hospital, Multan-Pakistan

Objective: The objective of the present study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practices of adult patients & their attendants in relation to hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Setting: Outpatient department of Nishtar Hospital. Study period: 17th June, 2013 to 24th June, 2013. Method: This was an observational, cross-sectional study in which data was collected through a close ended questionnaire from the patients and their attendants presenting in the outpatient department of Nishtar Hospital during the period of the study. Results: data was collected from 340 respondents. 79% of the respondents claimed to know about hepatitis B & C; however, only 38% had knowledge about the transmission of these diseases and only 37% knew of the preventive measures. Knowledge among the young and middle aged individuals was relatively higher than the elderly. The people belonging to the rich social class had the highest ratio of well-informed individuals as compared to the middle and poor social classes. Similarly, knowledge among the literate proportion was two times higher as compared to the illiterate population. Only 21% of the respondents had received immunization against these diseases. Conclusion: The proportion of the population having sufficient knowledge and immunization against hepatitis B 84 C is very low. Keywords: hepatitis B, hepatitis C, knowledge, immunization Type of Study: Original Research Pape

Analysis of Tetanus Immunization During Pregnancy Among Married Women of Childbearing Age Attending Gynecology and Pediatrics GDP of Nishtar Hospital, Nishtar Medical University, Multan

Background: Neonatal tetanus is one of the major causes of neonatal deaths in developing countries including Pakistan. This can be combated by clean, sterile method of delivery and risk can be significantly reduced by 94%1 if two shots of tetanus toxoid vaccination are administered to women during gestation.Objective: The study was carried out to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of married women of age 16-50 years regarding tetanus toxoid immunization during pregnancy.Material and method: A cross-sectional study was carried out in Gynecology and Pediatrics out-patient department of Nishtar medical college and hospital for twelve days. 150 married women of child bearing age were included in the survey. The women were personally interviewed to fill the questionnaire Performa. Moreover, the data was analyzed by using SPSS 10.Results: It was found that 23 women (15.3%) had received one shot of tetanus toxoid vaccine during pregnancy.69 women (46%) had received two shots and 58 women (38.7%) had never been vaccinated against tetanus during pregnancy. 53 out of 106 urban women (49.5%) were aware of tetanus and its risk. On the other hand, only 21 out of 44 rural women (46.8%) had the awareness.48 out of 68 women of higher socio-economic status (70.6%) were well- informed while 19 out of 82 women belonging to low socio-economic status (23%) were well-informed. 51 of 76 literate women (67.1%) had awareness. In contrast, 24 of 74 illiterate women (32.4%) were well aware.45 out of 95 housewives (47%) were well acquainted with knowledge of tetanus while 17 out of 55 working women (31.3%) were familiar with the diseases and risks.Conclusion: The awareness about tetanus and benefits of tetanus toxoid vaccination during gestation is fairly low. Hence, tetanus toxoid immunization coverage is below satisfactory as well. Efforts need to be made to increases awareness and campaigns should be arranged for mass immunization of women of child-bearing age. (Key words: tetanus, married women, tetanus toxoid vaccination, pregnancy. Keywords: Tetanus, Tetanus toxoid vaccination, neonatal deaths, immunization. Type of study: Original Research Article

Development of novel combined nano delivery system to improve cellular uptake of weakly basic anticancer drugs and cell imaging

In this dissertation, different types of nanoconstructs, including MSNPs and liposomes were fabricated for the development of an advanced drug delivery system which can deliver both hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs to the tumor cells with better efficacy and biocompatibility and minimized side effects to healthy tissues. The candidature of MSNPs as nanocarriers with potential features, supported with lipid layer was explained in introduction part along with their merits and demerits. The combined effects of liposomes and MSNPs in sustained release or stimuli responsive drug delivery systems equipped with literature were highlighted. This project was mainly divided in to four major parts where nanocarriers were characterized and further evaluated for in-vitro analysis under different conditions such as normoxia and hypoxia. In the first part, MSNPs of different molar mass ratios of surfactant/silica were fabricated. The parameters which can affect the particle size distribution, were evaluated. These MSNPs for their physicochemical properties were initially characterized by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) for size distribution and Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) for surface charge. The removal of surfactant for the generation of porous structure, was evaluated with elemental analysis and surface charge. Surface area characterization of MSNPs were evaluated with nitrogen sorption desorption method, where the suface area and surface volume were influence by duration of extraction for surfactant removal. The morphological structures were characterized by different microscopies involving Atomic Force Microscopy and Electron microscopies. The morphological studies performed with AFM were in accordance to the size distribution obtained by DLS. The porous structure of MSNPs was observed with electron microscopies. Tranmission electron microscopy (TEM) has shown that the MSNPs are more or less round in shape with ordered porous structure. The pore size evaluated with TEM was the same as it was characterized with sorption-desorption pore size measurement. For further confirmation of porous structure of MSNPs, Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) was performed and particle size and porous distribution were evaluated. In the work described in second chapter, a lipid coated MSNPs system was designed and characterized for further investigations. Cationic liposomes prepared with thin layer hydration technique and its coating to MSNPs was characterized with hydrodynamic size, surface charge and FTIR spectrum. Lipid coating of MSNPs were further visualized with Cryo-TEM & TEM micrographs. Higher surface area of MSNPs with higher drug loading capacity made them suitable candidate for the delivery of large amounts of drugs. In-vitro drug release profile has shown sustained release effects where the rate of drug release from bared drug loaded MSNPs was faster than lipid coated ones. The lipid coating to MSNPs with reduced drug leakage under inert conditions addressed the issue of premature drug leakage. In a comparative study of in-vitro cytotoxic profile, lipid coated MSNPs due to higher biocompatibility delivered higher concentrations of Dox and has shown more cytotoxic effects as compared to bared MSNPs. These higher cytotoxic effects with lipid coated MSNPs were further evaluated with confocal laser scanning microscope where higher internalization of Dox in the cells was evident for the higher uptake of the carriers. In the third chapter, we have successfully developed a stimuli responsive smart drug delivery system composing of lipid coated MSNPs as a carrier, Dox as a model drug, US as a stimulus and PFP as a stimuli responsive agent. By combining MSNPs with liposomes, very significant results have been produced due to the morphology and unique structure of the MSNPs along with biocompatibility and gatekeeping effects of liposomes. PFP was successfully incorporated inside the pores of MSNPs by capillary filling and very stable nanocarriers were produced. The US-irradiation, with FDA approved specifications, has produced very satisfactory triggered release effects due to rupturing of lipid layer by the gaseous pressure of vaporized PFP inside pores. In-vitro cell culture experiments have shown higher internalization of carrier due to biocompatibility of lipid layer and higher cytotoxic effects due to triggered release by US-irradiations. These smart nanocarriers, can be used as drug delivery system for many chemotherapeutics for site-specific triggered release of drug to enhance the efficacy and to avoid undesired side effects to healthy tissues. The fourth chapter of this study was based on the development of a co-delivery system of carbonic anhydrase IX inhibitor and Dox, where carbonic anhydrase inhibitor loaded liposomes were coated to Dox loaded MSNPs. In-vitro cytotoxic experiments were performed under normoxia and hypoxia and it was evaluated that Carbonic anhydrase IX enzyme was overexpressed under hypoxic conditions. The enzyme inhibitor can be effective only when enzyme is overexpressed in hypoxia. Furthermore, the combined effects of enzyme inhibitor and Dox has produced synergistic cytotoxic effects under hypoxia due to inhibition of carbonic anhydrase IX enzyme. Better inhibition effects of carbonic anhydrase IX inhibitor loaded liposomes were observed as compared to pure enzyme inhibitor, although these findings are on the initial stage and need further to be investigated. In future, the aim of the study will be to perform in-vivo evaluation of drug delivery carriers, involving biodistribution of drug and carriers in different organs. The in-vivo studies will also involve the stimuli US-responsive triggered release in animal model. As for MSNPs as drug carriers are concerned we are looking forward to develop new drug delivery system for another drug like photosensitizer. This system will be a stimuli responsive advanced drug delivery system where US would trigger the release of drug and light will activate the drug to produce cytotoxic effects. As hypoxic experiments are in early stages, so we will extend our studies in hypoxic condition for further validation of already developed system and to evaluate photodynamic effects under oxygen deprived environment

Impact of Capital Structure on Firm’s Financial Performance: Textile, Automobiles, Sugar, Petroleum & Engineering Industry of Pakistan

The purpose of this study to measure the impact of capital structure (leverage) on the financial performance of listed companies in the sector of Textile, Automobiles, Sugar, Petroleum and engineering industry of Pakistan. The data was collected for the period of four years from 2012-2015. The data was extracted from the 21 firms for study. The Ordinary least squares models and Correlation are used for analysis the proxies. The results display that leverage measured by Debt to Assets has a statistically significant negative effect on firms’ financial performance measured by Return on Assets at 99.9% confidence interval. Keywords: Financial leverage, Capital Structure, Firms’ performance.

Distributed Algorithm for Parallel Edit Distance Computation

The edit distance is the measure that quantifies the difference between two strings. It is an important concept because it has its usage in many domains such as natural language processing, spell checking, genome matching, and pattern recognition. Edit distance is also known as Levenshtein distance. Sequentially, the edit distance is computed by using dynamic programming based strategy that may not provide results in reasonable time when input strings are large. In this work, a distributed algorithm is presented for parallel edit distance computation. The proposed algorithm is both time and space efficient. It is evaluated on a hybrid setup of distributed and shared memory systems. Results suggest that the proposed algorithm achieves significant performance gain over the existing parallel approach