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Background Understanding health trends and estimating the burden of disease at the national and subnational levels helps policy makers track progress and identify disparities in overall health performance. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 provides comprehensive estimates for Pakistan. Comparison of health indicators since 1990 provides valuable insights about Pakistan's ability to strengthen its health-care system, reduce inequalities, improve female and child health outcomes, achieve universal health coverage, and meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We present estimates of the burden of disease, injuries, and risk factors for Pakistan provinces and territories from 1990 to 2019 based on GBD 2019 to improve health and health outcomes in the country. Methods We used methods and data inputs from GBD 2019 to estimate socio-demographic index, total fertility rate, cause-specific deaths, years of life lost, years lived with disability, disability-adjusted life-years, healthy life expectancy, and risk factors for 286 causes of death and 369 causes of non-fatal health loss in Pakistan and its four provinces and three territories from 1990 to 2019. To generate estimates for Pakistan at the national and subnational levels, we used 68 location-years of data to estimate Pakistan-specific demographic indicators, 316 location-years of data for Pakistan-specific causes of death, 579 location-years of data for Pakistan-specific non-fatal outcomes, 296 location-years of data for Pakistan-specific risk factors, and 3089 location-years of data for Pakistan-specific covariates. Findings Life expectancy for both sexes in Pakistan increased nationally from 61 center dot 1 (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 60 center dot 0-62 center dot 1) years in 1990 to 65 center dot 9 (63 center dot 8-67 center dot 8) years in 2019;however, these gains were not uniform across the provinces and federal territories. Pakistan saw a narrowing of the difference in healthy life expectancy between the sexes from 1990 to 2019, as health gains for women occurred at faster rates than for men. For women, life expectancy increased by 8 center dot 2% (95% UI 6middot3-13middot8) between 1990 and 2019, whereas the male life expectancy increased by 7 center dot 6% (3 center dot 5-11 center dot 8). Neonatal disorders, followed by ischaemic heart disease, stroke, diarrhoeal diseases, and lower respiratory infections were the leading causes of all-age premature mortality in 2019. Child and maternal malnutrition, air pollution, high systolic blood pressure, dietary risks, and tobacco consumption were the leading all-age risk factors for death and disability-adjusted life-years at the national level in 2019. Five non-communicable diseases-ischaemic heart disease, stroke, congenital defects, cirrhosis, and chronic kidney disease-were among the ten leading causes of years of life lost in Pakistan. Burden varied by socio-demographic index. Notably, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had the lowest observed gains in life expectancy. Dietary iron deficiency was the leading cause of years lived with disability for both men and women in 1990 and 2019. Low birthweight and short gestation and particulate matter pollution were the leading contributors to overall disease burden in both 1990 and 2019 despite moderate improvements, with a 23 center dot 5% (95% UI 3 center dot 8-39 center dot 2) and 27 center dot 6% (14 center dot 3-38 center dot 6) reduction in age-standardised attributable DALY rates during the study period. Interpretation Our study shows that progress has been made on reducing Pakistan's disease burden since 1990, but geographical, age, and sex disparities persist. Equitable investment in the health system, as well as the prioritisation of high-impact policy interventions and programmes, are needed to save lives and improve health outcomes. Pakistan is facing several domestic and foreign challenges-the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan, political turmoil, catastrophic flooding, the COVID-19 pandemic-that will shape the trajectory of the country's health and development. Pakistan must address the burden of infectious disease and curb rising rates of non-communicable diseases. Prioritising these three areas will enhance Pakistan's ability to achieve universal health coverage, meet its Sustainable Development Goals, and improve the overall health outcomes.
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Coronavirus infection has become a common cause of sickness and death worldwide. Many drugs have been studied for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infections, and vaccines are injected to boost the immune system and safeguard people around the world. Many drug-like compounds are under clinical trials and have the potential to cure respiratory and viral diseases. Natural extracts and herbal products have been extensively used in traditional Chinese medicine and Indian Ayurveda. Natural medicines are more acceptable and are considered cheap and safe for COVID-19 treatment. This comprehensive chapter highlights in silico techniques for drug design and discovery using natural products against coronavirus infection. Especially computational studies of SARS-CoV-2 drugs have been explained. The effects of the mentioned natural metabolites repurposed for coronavirus diseases, especially for SARS-CoV-2, should be evaluated more by clinical investigation so that we may be able to develop potential drugs for most challenging respiratory diseases, especially SARS-CoV-2. © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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The emergence of the new coronavirus disease-19 (Covid-19) from exotic wild animal market in Hubei, China during the late December 2019 has spread in 250 countries and territories posing menace to health of people around the globe. Coronavirus disease-19 has a great impact on public health, mortality and economy. The causing agent of Covid-19 is severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Due to unavailability of the potential drug or treatment for Covid-19, multi factorial research is conducted to reduce its transmission. Climatic factors play a key role in regulating the transmission of the infectious diseases like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Middle East Respiratory syndrome, and influenza. So, the rate of prevalence of the infectious disease is likely to be inclined by the variation in climatic indicators. We conclude from the past and present experiences that coronavirus transmission is elevated under low temperature and high humidity and vice versa. It further infers that after three hours of incubation of SARS-CoV-2, no infectious virus could be recovered from tissue paper and printing. Smooth surfaces are found to be more favorable for SARS-CoV-2. We may infer that climatic variations greatly affects infectious disease transmission pattern. We need more to study about under laying multifaceted casual affiliation between climate and communicable diseases and employ this information to the forecast of their upcoming impact. © 2020 The author (s).
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COVID-19 is reported as an extremely contagious disease with common symptoms of fever, dry cough, sore throat, and tiredness. The published literature on incidence and gender-wise prevalence of COVID-19 is scarce in Pakistan. Therefore, the present study was designed to compare the distribution, incubation period and mortality rate of COVID-19 among the male and female population of district Attock. The data were collected between 01 April 2020 and 07 December 2020 from the population of district Attock, Pakistan. A total of 22,962 individuals were screened and 843 were found positive for RT-qPCR for SARS-CoV-2. The confirmed positive cases were monitored carefully. Among the positive cases, the incidence of COVID-19 was 61.7% among males and 38.2% among females. The average recovery period of males was 18.89±7.75 days and females were 19±8.40 days from SARS-CoV-2. The overall mortality rate was 8.06%. The death rate of male patients was significantly higher (P<0.05) compared to female patients. Also, the mortality rate was higher (P<0.05) in male patients of 40-60 years of age compared to female patients of the same age group. Moreover, the mortality rate significantly increased (P<0.05) with the increase of age irrespective of gender. In conclusion, the incidence and mortality rate of COVID-19 is higher in males compared to the female population. Moreover, irrespective of gender the mortality rate was significantly lower among patients aged <40 years.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Female , Humans , Incidence , Male , Pakistan/epidemiology , Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
In the modern societies, an increasing number of women are providing their services in different sectors of the economy such as business and industry, entrepreneurship, and more specifically in health and education sectors. Women are also serving their remarkable contributions as leader as men do. This study investigates the potentially competitive relationship between women and their leadership competencies and the challenges that women face during their professional responsibilities especially in case of any global disaster like pandemic COVID-19. Where the global crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly. © 2021 by IGI Global. All rights reserved.
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The rapid expansion in globalization, changing economic and political conditions, health crisis, advancement in technologies, and customer demand shift have highlighted the business model concept’s growing importance in every business life walk. Despite the agreement on the business model’s role in innovation and firm success, this concept is unnoticed in the legal industry. The growing digitalization has disrupted the legal industry business model by enabling various cooperation, collaboration, value proposition, and value capture mechanism. Digitalization has innovated the legal business model and engaged them in the mundane adaptation in response to external environment changes. However, literature trends reveal that innovation in the legal business model is overlooked by academia. This study applied a case study method to highlight business model innovation in legal firms in the proposed framework of the business model navigator/magic triangle and business model canvas. We also took the market and industry trends and COVID-19 into consideration in the legal business landscape. This study proposed a digital business model and innovation operating model for the legal firms based on the identified fundamental pillars of digital business model components. This study expands the literature on digitalization and business model innovation by focusing on an ignored industry with substantial disruptive potential. © The Author(s) 2022.
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Objective: Main purpose of this study is to determine the effects of pandemic disease COVID-19 on first and second trimester pregnancies. Study Design: Cross-sectional/Descriptive study Place and Duration: Study was conducted at Gynae and Obs department of Jinnah International Hospital, Abbottabad for duration of 10 months from January to October, 2021. Methods: Total ninety pregnant women of ages 18- 35 years were presented in this study. All the presented women had pandemic disease COVID-19. Women had first and second trimester pregnancies. Patients' age, body mass index, parity, education status, socio-economic status and residency were calculated after taking informed written consent. Chi square and t-test was performed to differentiate between symptomatic and asymptomatic cases. Outcomes were assessed in terms of stress, depression among mothers and low birth weight of infants, perinatal death, preterm delivery, and C-section. Data was analyzed by SPSS 23.0 version. Results: Among 90 pregnant women 40 (44.4%) patients had first trimester pregnancies and 50 (55.6%) females had second trimester pregnancies. Mean age of the patients was 29.16±6.34 years and had mean BMI 22.13±5.16 kg/m2. Majority of the patients 52 (57.8%) had parity primipara. 44 (48.9%) patients were educated and majority of the patients were financially weak 62 (68.9%). 55 (61.1%) females were from urban areas. 54 (60%) females were symptomatic and 36 (40%) were asymptomatic. Frequency of depression among females was 68 (75.6%) and depression was found in 61 (67.8%) cases. Low birth weight was found in 22 (24.4%) cases, prevalence of preterm delivery was among 38 (42.2%) cases, number of C-section among cases was 47 (52.2%). Perinatal death was found in 7 (7.8%) cases. Majority of the patients with infants were instantly discharged after delivery 75 (83.3%) and 8 patients were admitted because of severity of pandemic disease. Conclusion: We determined in this study that Covid-19 among females with trimester first and second pregnancies were highly affected and had severity of psychotic disorders at start of disease but had lower adverse outcomes with low perinatal mortality. Majority of the females were recovered and discharged safely after delivery.
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BACKGROUND: The pandemic of COVID 19 has affected a number of people around the globe. The data from paediatric population is scarce. The present study is aimed to present the paediatric perspective of the disease in terms of different clinical presentations, laboratory parameters, complications, and outcomes so as to develop an insight into disease manifestations in children. METHODS: This descriptive case series was conducted in the department of Paediatrics after approval of institutional review board. All children admitted in paediatric unit with confirmed SARS-COV-2 infection either by PCR or antibody test were included in the study. Patients' characteristics were documented on a predesigned proforma and analysed using SPSS 26.0. RESULTS: A total of 17 patients comprising 13 (76.5%) male and 4(23.5%) female were included in the study. The major clinical features were fever, cough and shortness of breath documented in 15 (88.2 %) patients. Major complications were shock in 13 (76.5%), respiratory complications in 16 (94.11%), CNS complications in 4 (23.5%), cardiac complications in 5 (29.4%), hepatic involvement in 3 (17.6%) Acute Kidney Injury in 4 (23.5%) patients and 9 (52.9 %) patients were labelled as having Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C). A total of 7 (41.2%) patients had coexistent comorbid diseases. A total of 13 (76.47%) patients were discharged, 2 (11.8%) patients expired and 2 (11.8%) left against medical advice. CONCLUSION: The clinical presentation of paediatric patients with SARS-COV-2 infection is highly variable. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome associated with SARS-COV-2 must be considered in the differential diagnosis of children presenting with multiorgan dysfunction.
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Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate the serially mediating effect of knowledge management (KM) practices (namely, knowledge creation, storage and sharing) on the organizational learning (OL) and organizational performance (OP) relationships during a crisis. Design/methodology/approach: Based on theories-of-action, knowledge-based and resource-based theories, this study proposed a sequential mediation model where OL underlying mechanisms through which KM practices have facilitated OP during the crisis. The sample dataset contains 440 responses collected from the managers of the software development companies in Pakistan. The authors used Hayes Process macro with SPSS to test the study hypotheses. Findings: The results of the study reveal that knowledge creation, storage and sharing serially mediate the relationships between OL and OP. These findings strengthen the argument suggesting that OL plays the key role in KM that helps software companies to mend their performance in times of crisis. Originality/value: This study contributes to the KM literature in two ways: (1) grounded on the study's proposed framework, organizations can improve and manage their businesses in times of crisis and (2) learn how to generate new knowledge in response to business crises. © 2021, Usman Ahmad Qadri, Mazuri Binti abd Ghani, Shumaila Bibi, Abdul Haseeb Tahir, Muhammad Imran Farooq and Abdul Rauf Kashif.
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This study explores the vulnerability and resilience of the US Leisure and Hospitality industry sector-wise by taking employment levels in seven different business segments. An autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model approach was applied to daily time series data of employment and COVID-19 to assess each sector's fragility and resilience. The findings reveal that museums and historical places, performing arts, and sports are the worst influenced sectors and exhibit low resilience. The accommodation sector initially shows high vulnerability;however, it bounces back by showing high resilience compared to some of the other sectors. The rest of the sector presents the same story negatively influenced by pandemic but eventually reveals a sign of recovery. A detailed discussion with the theoretical and practical implications is provided.
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COVID-19 is reported as an extremely contagious disease with common symptoms of fever, dry cough, sore throat, and tiredness. The published literature on incidence and gender-wise prevalence of COVID-19 is scarce in Pakistan. Therefore, the present study was designed to compare the distribution, incubation period and mortality rate of COVID-19 among the male and female population of district Attock. The data were collected between 01 April 2020 and 07 December 2020 from the population of district Attock, Pakistan. A total of 22,962 individuals were screened and 843 were found positive for RT-qPCR for SARS-CoV-2. The confirmed positive cases were monitored carefully. Among the positive cases, the incidence of COVID-19 was 61.7% among males and 38.2% among females. The average recovery period of males was 18.89±7.75 days and females were 19±8.40 days from SARS-CoV-2. The overall mortality rate was 8.06%. The death rate of male patients was significantly higher (P<0.05) compared to female patients. Also, the mortality rate was higher (P<0.05) in male patients of 40-60 years of age compared to female patients of the same age group. Moreover, the mortality rate significantly increased (P<0.05) with the increase of age irrespective of gender. In conclusion, the incidence and mortality rate of COVID-19 is higher in males compared to the female population. Moreover, irrespective of gender the mortality rate was significantly lower among patients aged <40 years.