Comparison of Ephedrine Versus Lidocaine in Reducing the Frequency of Pain on Propofol Injection during Elective Surgeries

Background: To compare the ephedrine with lidocaine for reducing frequency of pain on propofol injection during elective surgeries.Methods: In this randomized controlled trial 80 patients were observed by taking 40 patients in each group, i.e. group A: ephedrine group and group B:lidocaine group. Patients with ASA–I (normal healthy patient), II (mild systemic disease with no functional limitation) aging between 20 and 40 years and opting for elective surgical procedures were included. The pain intensity was classified in four levels from no pain to severe pain. The frequencies of pain intensity were recorded during the injection period before the loss of consciousness according to the verbal rating scale (VRS) explained to patients at the preoperative visit. Chi square test was used to compare the frequency of pain in two groups, where p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Effect modifiers i.e. the age, gender and ASA were controlled by stratification. The post stratification Chi-square test was applied keeping the p-value <0.05 as significant.Results: In Group A, 35% complained of severe pain, 42.5% had moderate pain, 22.5% had mild pain and no patients reported absence of pain as per our operational definition. In Group B 47.5% reported no pain during propofol injection, 40% complained of mild pain, 12.5% had moderate and no patients reported severe pain. The p-value is 0.00.Conclusion: Pretreatment with lidocaine resulted in significantly better pain control during propofol infusion than pretreatment with ephedrin

Impact of Openness on Economic Growth in Developing Economies: An Empirical Analysis

A country’s openness has been one of the primary driving forces for stimulating growth. Among researchers, it is still controversial to conclude openness-growth relationship. It might be the result of ignoring the mediation effect of some conditional variables. Although some papers have found that openness has a positive impact on economic growth, others have seriously questioned the significance of this finding. The objective of this study is to empirically explore openness-growth relationship using fixed capital stock as a mediator variable in a panel data set of 19 developing economies spanning 1980 to 2013. The study examines the relationship between trade openness and economic growth. The results outline that the direct impact of trade openness on economic growth is negative, while it tends to exert a positive effect on economic growth when fixed capital formation is taken as a mediating variable and show a threshold. The findings of the study may help policy-makers in selected developing countries to take advantage of increasing international trade by considering domestic development level of fixed capital formation

Impact of Openness on Economic Growth in Developing Economies: An Empirical Analysis

A country’s openness has been one of the primary driving forces for stimulating growth. Among researchers, it is still controversial to conclude openness-growth relationship. It might be the result of ignoring the mediation effect of some conditional variables. Although some papers have found that openness has a positive impact on economic growth, others have seriously questioned the significance of this finding. The objective of this study is to empirically explore openness-growth relationship using fixed capital stock as a mediator variable in a panel data set of 19 developing economies spanning 1980 to 2013. The study examines the relationship between trade openness and economic growth. The results outline that the direct impact of trade openness on economic growth is negative, while it tends to exert a positive effect on economic growth when fixed capital formation is taken as a mediating variable and show a threshold. The findings of the study may help policy-makers in selected developing countries to take advantage of increasing international trade by considering domestic development level of fixed capital formation

Positive Findings of Blood Cultures in Febrile Children Presenting with Thalassemia Major in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Objective: To assess status of bacterial pathogens in thalassemia major patients presenting with fever in a tertiary care hospital  Methods:  A retrospective descriptive study was conducted at –removed for blind review---from November, 2020 to October, 2021 in which 102 patients of thalassemia major who presented with fever and were suspicious of having septicemia were enrolled. Their demographic characteristics and pathological findings were noted in this study. Standardized approach was followed for blood withdrawal and sample collection required for performing blood cultures. The data was analyzed with SPSS version 21.  Results:  Females were in majority. Total 57 (56.0%) of patients had positive blood culture. The most frequent bacterial pathogen was Klebsiella pneumonia 13 (12.7%), followed by E-coli 11 (10.7%), staphylococcus aureus 7 (6.8%), pseudomonas 8 (7.8%) and streptococcus type pathogens 6 (5.8%).  Conclusion:  Positive culture findings were high in the thalassemia major patients who presented with fever. 

Impact of FDI on Economic Growth in Developing Countries: Role of Human Capital

Economic theory proposes that FDI is one of the primary driving forces for stimulating growth (Barro and Sala-i-Martin 1995). Researchers still debate whether the interpretation of the direct effect of FDI on economic growth is inconclusive, whereas the significance of the absorptive capacity of host countries is commonly emphasized (e.g., Borensztein, De Gregorio, and Lee 1998; De Mello Jr. 1999; Alfaro et al. 2004; Makki and Somwaru 2004; Gönel and Aksoy, 2016). Such uncertainty may be the result of ignoring the effect of certain conditioning variables. This study aims to empirically explore whether FDI contributes to economic growth and whether the effect varies with the human capital development level in a panel data set of 70 developing economies from 1980 to 2015. The study employs the General Methods of Moments estimation instrumental variable technique to deal with the endogeneity issue. The empirical investigation shows that human capital threshold exists above which FDI exhibits a positive impact and below where it shows a detrimental effect on economic growth. Findings may help policymakers in selected developing countries to take advantage of the increasing international investment by considering domestic human capital development level

Biallelic variants in CHST3 cause Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia with joint dislocations in three Pakistani kindreds

Background Skeletal dysplasia is a heterogeneous group of disorders. Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasias comprise one subgroup. Deficiency of carbohydrate sulfotransferase 3 has been reported in a small number of patients with recessively inherited spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia with joint dislocation, short stature and scoliosis. We report here molecular and clinical findings of affected individuals in three consanguineous Pakistani families. Affected individuals in all three families had a uniform phenotype including severe short stature, multiple dislocated joints, progressive scoliosis and facial dysmorphism. Methods Clinical evaluation was done for three unrelated families. Radiological survey of bones was completed for patients from two of the families. Whole exome sequencing index patients from each family was performed followed by Sanger sequencing for validation of segregation of identified variants in respective families. In-silico analysis for determining pathogenicity of identified variants and conservation was done. Results Whole-exome sequencing revealed biallelic variants c.590 T > C;p.(Leu197Pro), c.603C > A;p.(Tyr201Ter) and c.661C > T;p.(Arg221Cys) in CHST3 (NM_004273.5) in the three families with eight, five and two affected individuals, respectively. Contrary to previous reports, affected individuals in none of the families exhibited a hearing loss. Conclusion We describe genotypic and phenotypic findings of three unrelated families with spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia. Our study confirms phenotypic variability and adds to the genotypic spectrum of spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia.Peer reviewe

Prediction of Allergen and Non-Allergen Proteins Sequence via Chou's 5-Step Rule

Some specific kinds of proteins are responsible for the risk of immediate type I allergic reaction. Therefore, the proteins that are made to use in the consumer product should be checked for their allergic reactions before introducing them in the market. The FAO/WHO instructions for the assessment of allergic proteins depend on the linear sequence window identity and short peptide hits misclassify many proteins as allergen proteins. This study introduces the AllerPredictor model that predicts the allergen & non-allergen proteins depending on the sequence of proteins. Data was downloaded from two major databases, FARRP and UniProtKB. The results of this model were validated with the help of self-consistency testing, independence testing, and jackknife testing. The accuracy for self-consistency validation is 99.89%, for the independence testing is 74.23%, and for 10-fold cross-validation, it is 97.17%. To predict the allergen and non-allergen proteins, this AllerPredictor model has a better accuracy than other existing methods

Role of Zinc Supplementation in Reducing Relapses in Steroid Sensitive Nephrotic Syndrome

Objective: To evaluate and compare the effectiveness of zinc and B-Complex supplementation to prevent the recurrence of nephrotic syndrome in the cases priory responsive to corticosteroid therapy. Methodology It is a randomized controlled trial conducted at OPD Pediatric medicine, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto University, PIMS Children Hospital Islamabad from October 3, 2016 to April 2, 2017. 192 patients (96 in each group) were included in the study after obtaining informed consent from parents or guardians taken before determining the population. Patients were randomly assigned to two groups (Group 1: Zinc and Group 2: B-Complex) to receive oral zinc sulphate (10 mg / day) or B-Complex using a random number table. The patients were followed up after 4 months. All data were collected by the researchers themselves in a structured form. Results: The age of 192 participants of the trial averaged 6.38±3.42 years of age ranging from 1-12 years. There were 88 (45.8%) men and 104 (54.2%) women cases. In group 1, there were 22 (22.9%) and in group 2, there were 47 (49%) cases that had been pardoned. The recurrence of nephrotic syndrome was significantly higher in group 1 than group 2 (p = <0.001). Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that Zinc supplementation is more preferrable to B-Complex supplementation as the rate of continuous remission was higher in the zinc group, so in the future may be added to the treatment regimen to treat steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome

C -Reactive Protein, Leukocyte Count and Neutrophils: A Diagnostic Aid in Acute Appendicitis

Background: Malnutrition is known to be a poor prognostic factor affecting the outcome of pediatric cancers. The objective of this study was to assess the pre-existing malnutrition in newly diagnosed pediatric cancer patients presenting at the Pediatric Oncology Department, Children Hospital, PIMS and their number of hospital admissions due to causes other than chemotherapy. Methodology: Data of 44 newly diagnosed children with cancer was analyzed to find out the association of nutritional status according to z-score for weight and height for age, body mass index (BMI) and mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) with their number of hospital admissions for 6 months since their date of diagnosis. Results: The mean age of the study subjects was 4.25 ± 2.85 years, out of which 33(75%) were males and 11(25%) females. Most of the patients were diagnosed with leukemia or lymphoma.  Nutritional status evaluation of thirty patients who got admitted was mild to moderate wasting in 24(80%) assessed by weight for age, mild to moderate stunting in 21 (70%) according to height for age and mild to severe malnutrition in 10 (33%) based on body mass index and mid upper arm circumference (MUAC). There was significant association between nutritional status of patients at the time of diagnosis with additional hospitalization with p value less than 0.05 Conclusion: Malnutrition at the time of diagnosis is significantly associated with an increase in the number of hospital admissions in pediatric cancer patients. Key words: Hospitalization, Malnutrition, Oncology, Pediatric &nbsp