Analysis of Major Factors Impacting the Footwear Export of Pakistan

As Asian footwear export progresses and major regional export players skimming economic benefits, it is ever more important for the policy makers and business practitioners to understand major factors affecting footwear export of Pakistan. In this way, the objective of this research paper is to evaluate factors that have a significant impact on footwear export of Pakistan. We took Punjab province as our sampling frame because 90 percent of the footwear export manufacturing organizations are situated in this province. We took a sample of 44 manufacturers purposively from the cities of Lahore, Sialkot and Sheikhopura. Primary data was collected through a questionnaire which was emailed to export directors and managers. Footwear exported to the rest of the world was measured for the year 2015 whereas impact of significant variables was determined through regression analysis. Prerequisites of regression analysis assumption; normality, multicollinearity and autocorrelation were applied to the sample data. The value of R2 was 0.899 suggested that it was strong and reliable model. We found that years of qualification, export experience, ISO certifications, average raw material price, international trade exhibitions were highly significant for footwear export of Pakistan whereas average marketing cost was insignificant factors for footwear export

Formulation development and optimization of orally disintegrating tablets of montelukast sodium by Design- Expert

Purpose: To prepare orally disintegrating tablets (ODT) of montelukast sodium using Design-Expert for improved patient compliance.Methods: Central composite design was selected to delineate and optimize the formulations. Concentrations of crospovidone (X1) and sodium bicarbonate (X2) were selected as the variables, and responses were based on friability (Y1) and disintegration time (Y2). Varying amounts of super disintegrating agents and effervescent bases were used with microcrystalline cellulose to prepare montelukast sodium ODT.Results: Carr’s index of montelukast sodium was 4.76±0.075, indicating the good compressibility of powder. Whereas the Carr’s value for microcrystalline cellulose and mannitol were 30.14±0.021 and 22.41±0.053 respectively. The FTIR spectra indicated that there were no major shifting and loss of functional groups in drug and excipients blends. Formulations were evaluated, check point batch (CPB, F2) was selected using Design-Expert. The friability of CPB tablets was found to be 0.27 ± 0.085; hardness, 4.96 ± 0.093 kp; wetting time, 28 ± 0.17 s; disintegration time (DT), 28.34 ± 1.78 s; and drug release, 85.5 % within 5 min.Conclusion: The ODT of montelukast sodium has successfully been formulated by direct compression and optimized within a short period, thus demonstrating the suitability and stability of the formulation.Keywords: Direct compression, Montelukast sodium, Orally disintegrating tablets, Super-disintegrants, Design Expert, Crospovidon

Association of renal biomarkers in COVID-19 patients: A retrospective study

Background: The new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is the cause of the transmissible sickness known as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (SARS-CoV-2). Although it often presents as an acute respiratory infection, it can also have a negative impact on the kidneys, heart, gastrointestinal, and nervous system. The aims of this study to find out the association of renal biomarkers among dialysis patients in COVID-19 positive and negative. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in the Department of medical laboratory technology, the university of Haripur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. A Total of 129 Dialysis patients blood samples were collected from March 2022 to April 2022 in which 13 males and 20 females are COVID-19 positive while 41 males and 55 females are COVID-19 negative. The obtained data was statistically analyzed by using PRISM version 5.0 by applying two-way ANOVA and Comparisons between Covid positive and negative patients RFTs by using Bonferroni posttest. Results: Male patients with chronic kidney disease (on dialysis) with COVID-19 negative and positive their mean urea difference was 95.20mg/dl and 159.6mg/dl, while COVID-19 negative and positive the mean creatinine difference was 8.534mg/dl and 13.81mg/dl respectively. While there was no significance difference in uric acid concentration in CKD patients with COVID-19 negative and positive. Female patients with chronic kidney disease (on dialysis) with COVID-19 negative and positive their mean urea difference was 103.20mg/dl and 152.6mg/dl, while COVID-19 negative and positive the mean creatinine difference was 8.114mg/dl and 8.584mg/dl respectively. While there was no significance difference in uric acid concentration in CKD patients with COVID-19 negative and positive. Conclusion: This study concludes that there is positive relationship or association of renal biomarkers in COVID-19 positive patients. Significance association between urea and creatinine in COVID-19 positive

Sodium in the leaf apoplast does not affect growth of maize (Zea mays L.) under saline field conditions

Studies dealing with leaf apoplastic Na+ concentration of monocots, such as maize, under actual saline soils are scarce. Therefore, the current study was aimed to investigate the growth, total ions and leaf apoplastic Na+ concentration of salt sensitive maize plants growing in saline soils. Plants were subjected to salt stress with an electrical conductivity (EC) of 3, 8 10 and 14 dS m-1 using completely randomized design (CRD) for 3 weeks. Shoot fresh weight, plant height, leaf area and leaf length of maize plants drastically decreased when plants were exposed to increasing salt stress. We found that maize could display a steep increase in Na+ concentration in the total shoot biomass with maximum 82.3 μmol g-1 FW, when plants were subjected to highest soil salinity at 14 dS m-1. As expected, other cations i.e., K+, Ca2+ and Mg2+ decreased with increasing EC of the soil compared to Na+. Surprisingly, a maximum of 17 mM Na+ were found in the leaf apoplast of maize grown under very high soil salinity at EC 14 dS m-1. Considering this lower leaf apoplastic Na+ concentration at such a high EC level in maize plants, current study does not corroborate that surplus sodium in the leaf apoplast can result in dehydration and cell death under salt stress

Genetic transformation of sugarcane variety HSF-240 with marker gene GUS

In the current research an efficient transformation system for sugarcane was established. Shoot tip of variety HSF-240, excised from a six months old field grown plants were used as explant. For transformation, Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain EHA101 with vector pIG121 Hm, harboring GUS, HPTII and NPTII genes were used. HPTII is a hygromycin resistant while NPTII is a kanamycin resistant gene. Effects of Acetosyringone, duration of co-cultivation and pre-selection, concentration of cefotaxime and hygromycin in medium on transformation efficiency were studied. High transformation efficiency and 60% GUS expression was observed when 50 μM acetosyringone was added in the co-cultivation medium. Among different durations of co-cultivation, 48 h produced high (40%) transient GUS positives with an absolute control of bacterial growth. For pre-selection, seven days gave a high transformation efficiency of 10%. Cefotaxime concentration of 1000 mg/L proved optimal for pre-selection of the explants with efficient control of bacterial growth. A high regeneration (31%; P < 0.01) of the transformants was observed at 50 mg/L hygromycin. Presence of GUS gene was confirmed by PCR analysis and only the transgenic plants contained the 430 bp fragment of GUS gene. The new protocol developed in this study could be used for the efficient transformation of sugarcane with desired gene to produce insect/pest resistant, drought tolerant and high yielding sugarcane varieties in future

Effect of knowledge of informal poultry drug prescribers on their attitude and practice toward antimicrobial use, residues, and resistance in Bangladesh

Background and Aim: Informal prescribers (IPs) significantly contribute to the development of antimicrobial resistance and in disseminating pathogens from poultry to humans and other animals through the food chain, posing a serious global health threat. Therefore, this study aimed to assess whether the knowledge of IPs has an impact on their attitude and practice toward antimicrobial use, antibiotic residues, and antimicrobial resistance. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we conducted a pre-tested and questionnaire-based survey to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of IPs in selected parts of the Mymensingh division, Bangladesh. Then, we used the linear regression model test with R-squared (R2) to measure the association between the study variables. Results: Our investigation revealed that 70% of the IPs knew about antibiotics and 75% had good knowledge about antibiotic resistance, whereas only 50% were aware of withdrawal periods. Informal prescribers also displayed good attitudes toward the use and sale of antibiotics with withdrawal periods and completion of medication (50%). Analysis of their practice on the sale and prescription of antibiotics showed that 70% and 30% of IPs use antibiotics against bacterial infections and other conditions, respectively. Most of them do not consult a veterinarian before selling or prescribing antibiotics, although 80% claim to do so. This is because 75% of IPs gave other options regarding their consultations. However, 95% of IPs uses antibiotics only for therapeutic purposes. Furthermore, only 10% sell antibiotics based on a veterinarian’s recommendation. Approximately 45% of IPs use single antibiotics at a time, while the rest use multiple antibiotics, individually or combined. Approximately 15% use antibiotics monthly, while 85% use them whenever the need arises. The knowledge and attitude of IPs are significantly affected by their age (p ≤ 0.025). The district of domicile also impacted their knowledge. Surprisingly, IPs from Jamalpur had significantly better knowledge compared to those from Mymensingh and Sherpur (p ≤ 0.01). The attitude of IPs from Jamalpur and Netrokona also differed significantly (p ≤ 0.001) from that of Mymensingh and Sherpur. The knowledge of IPs influenced their attitude up to 80.5% (r2 = 0.628) and their practice up to 75.4% (r2 = 0.545). Conclusion: The knowledge of IPs greatly influenced their attitude and practice, while sociodemographics also influenced their knowledge and attitude toward antimicrobial use, antibiotic residues, and antimicrobial resistance

Business Model Canvas Should Pay More Attention to the Software Startup Team

Business Model Canvas (BMC) is a tool widely used to describe startup business models. Despite the various business aspects described, BMC pays a little emphasis on team-related factors. The importance of team-related factors in software development has been acknowledged widely in literature. While not as extensively studied, the importance of teams in software startups is also known in both literature and among practitioners. In this paper, we propose potential changes to BMC to have the tool better reflect the importance of the team, especially in a software startup environment. Based on a literature review, we identify various components related to the team, which we then further support with empirical data. We do so by means of a qualitative case study of five startups

Generative Artificial Intelligence for Software Engineering -- A Research Agenda

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools have become increasingly prevalent in software development, offering assistance to various managerial and technical project activities. Notable examples of these tools include OpenAIs ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, and Amazon CodeWhisperer. Although many recent publications have explored and evaluated the application of GenAI, a comprehensive understanding of the current development, applications, limitations, and open challenges remains unclear to many. Particularly, we do not have an overall picture of the current state of GenAI technology in practical software engineering usage scenarios. We conducted a literature review and focus groups for a duration of five months to develop a research agenda on GenAI for Software Engineering. We identified 78 open Research Questions (RQs) in 11 areas of Software Engineering. Our results show that it is possible to explore the adoption of GenAI in partial automation and support decision-making in all software development activities. While the current literature is skewed toward software implementation, quality assurance and software maintenance, other areas, such as requirements engineering, software design, and software engineering education, would need further research attention. Common considerations when implementing GenAI include industry-level assessment, dependability and accuracy, data accessibility, transparency, and sustainability aspects associated with the technology. GenAI is bringing significant changes to the field of software engineering. Nevertheless, the state of research on the topic still remains immature. We believe that this research agenda holds significance and practical value for informing both researchers and practitioners about current applications and guiding future research

Essential Oils Based Nano Formulations against Postharvest Fungal Rots

Postharvest phytopathogenic rot fungi affect the quality and quantity of perishable fruits and vegetables. About 30–40% peaches deteriorate annually after harvest in world whereas 40–50% losses are reported from Pakistan. Our research envisages importance of an eco-friendly plant essential oils based nano formulations as a management strategy against postharvest deteriorating fungal rots by enhancing their shelf-life and to attenuate reliance on synthetic fungicides. Plant essential oils mode of action against fungal postharvest rots is responsible of rupturing plasma membrane of fungal cell wall. The natural ripening process of perishable commodities does not get affected by the presence of antifungal packaging in the form of plant essential oil nano formulations as no significant alteration in weight loss of produce was recorded. Challenges in applying EOs for microbial suppression in postharvest systems include optimizing their positioning in commercial fruit storage containers. Several innovative approaches are analyzed in terms of work environment and implementation regarding disease management along with future perspectives in concerning field

COVID-19 symptoms at hospital admission vary with age and sex: results from the ISARIC prospective multinational observational study

Background: The ISARIC prospective multinational observational study is the largest cohort of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. We present relationships of age, sex, and nationality to presenting symptoms. Methods: International, prospective observational study of 60 109 hospitalized symptomatic patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 recruited from 43 countries between 30 January and 3 August 2020. Logistic regression was performed to evaluate relationships of age and sex to published COVID-19 case definitions and the most commonly reported symptoms. Results: ‘Typical’ symptoms of fever (69%), cough (68%) and shortness of breath (66%) were the most commonly reported. 92% of patients experienced at least one of these. Prevalence of typical symptoms was greatest in 30- to 60-year-olds (respectively 80, 79, 69%; at least one 95%). They were reported less frequently in children (≤ 18 years: 69, 48, 23; 85%), older adults (≥ 70 years: 61, 62, 65; 90%), and women (66, 66, 64; 90%; vs. men 71, 70, 67; 93%, each P &lt; 0.001). The most common atypical presentations under 60 years of age were nausea and vomiting and abdominal pain, and over 60 years was confusion. Regression models showed significant differences in symptoms with sex, age and country. Interpretation: This international collaboration has allowed us to report reliable symptom data from the largest cohort of patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. Adults over 60 and children admitted to hospital with COVID-19 are less likely to present with typical symptoms. Nausea and vomiting are common atypical presentations under 30 years. Confusion is a frequent atypical presentation of COVID-19 in adults over 60 years. Women are less likely to experience typical symptoms than men