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Background: The COVID-19 has impacted our education system in various ways and to compensate the losses, teachers had to make quick transition from face to face teaching to online mode of teaching. This unexpected transition has entailed challenges and constraints for the health all of us. Objective: To find the effect of critical components of home-office on the ergonomics of workers. Study type, settings and duration: This cross sectional survey was conducted at Riphah International University (all departments), Lahore Grammar School, Lahore and Minhaj University, Lahore from March to June 2020. Methodology: This was a cross sectional survey on computer workers and faculty from educational setups such as university centers in an attempt to determine the effects of critical components of home-office on the ergonomics of the workers. The sample size was calculated to N=80. As per inclusion criteria, workers and members of faculty working on computers from Lahore, had worked from home-office during the lock down for consistent 4 months and the working should be synchronous, were included in this study. REBA questionnaire was used to collect data from the workers in person. Frequencies and percentages were calculated to find the impact of home-office components on the ergonomics of the workers. Results: The study found that 57% of computer workers between 26-30 years had a high risk index for poor ergonomics, with moderate changes in 71.3% of the population. The REBA score represents MSD risk for the job task and the design goal is 4. Conclusion: From this study it was concluded that nearly 70% of the population was having an ergonomically poor posture while working. In addition to that, in nearly half of the population the risk was significant.
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Objective: To associate CT severity score with inflammatory markers and to determine outcomes of COVID-19 patients admitted to CMH Lahore. Study Design: Comparative cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Combined Military Hospital, Lahore Pakistan, from Mar to Jun 2021. Methodology: Patients of COVID-19 age 18 and above, with a positive RT-PCR, were included in the study Clinical and radiological data of 200 patients was retrieved and analysed from the hospital registry. Results: In the present study, we studied the role of inflammatory markers in predicting the severity of COVID-19. We have compared the levels of LDH, CRP, IL-6 and serum Ferritin between the two groups. LDH (p=0.015), IL-6 (p=0.001) and Ferritin (p=0.001) were significantly different between the two groups, but CRP was not (p=0.811) significant. Conclusion: CT severity score associates well with the COVID-19 clinical severity. Our data suggest that the chest CT scoring system can predict the severity of COVID-19 disease and significantly associates with inflammatory markers.
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Objective: To determine the relationship between pre-existent hyperglycemia among patients with COVID-19 pneumonia requiring oxygen supplementation. Study Design: Cross-sectional study Place and Duration of Study: COVID-19 isolation wards, High Dependency Units, and Intensive Care Units of Mayo Hospital Lahore Pakistan, from Apr to May 2021. Methodology: Eighty-one patients with hyperglycemia but without a prior diagnosis of diabetes mellitus were selected for this study. The data was collected from COVID PCR positive patients admitted to the isolation ward and intensive care unit at Mayo Hospital, Lahore. All the patients admitted during a 2-month duration from April to May 2021. Results: A Total of 81 patients were included, of which 54(66.7%) were males. On the basis of HbA1c, 68(84%), 12(14.8%) and 1 (1.2%) patient(s) were diagnosed diabetic, pre-diabetic and non-diabetic respectively. Of the four patients requiring mechanical ventilation, 3(75%) were diabetic, and 1(25%) was pre-diabetic. Of patients who required non-invasive ventilation, 68(84.4%), 12(14.2%) and 1(1.3%) were diabetic, pre-diabetic and non-diabetic, respectively. Conclusion: There is a significant burden of undiagnosed diabetes mellitus and pre-diabetes among patients with severe COVID-19 who require oxygen supplementation or admission to high-dependency units. Therefore, all patients should undergo thorough testing to exclude underlying diabetes mellitus.
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Modern means of communication, economic crises, and political decisions play imperative roles in reshaping political and administrative systems throughout the world. Twitter, a micro-blogging website, has gained paramount importance in terms of public opinion-sharing. Manual intelligence of law enforcement agencies (i.e., in changing situations) cannot cope in real time. Thus, to address this problem, we built an alert system for government authorities in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. The alert system gathers real-time data from Twitter in English and Roman Urdu about forthcoming gatherings (protests, demonstrations, assemblies, rallies, sit-ins, marches, etc.). To determine public sentiment regarding upcoming anti-government gatherings (protests, demonstrations, assemblies, rallies, sit-ins, marches, etc.), the alert system determines the polarity of tweets. Using keywords, the system provides information for future gatherings by extracting the entities like date, time, and location from Twitter data obtained in real time. Our system was trained and tested with different machine learning (ML) algorithms, such as random forest (RF), decision tree (DT), support vector machine (SVM), multinomial naïve Bayes (MNB), and Gaussian naïve Bayes (GNB), along with two vectorization techniques, i.e., term frequency–inverse document frequency (TFIDF) and count vectorization. Moreover, this paper compares the accuracy results of sentiment analysis (SA) of Twitter data by applying supervised machine learning (ML) algorithms. In our research experiment, we used two data sets, i.e., a small data set of 1000 tweets and a large data set of 4000 tweets. Results showed that RF along with count vectorization performed best for the small data set with an accuracy of 82%;with the large data set, MNB along with count vectorization outperformed all other classifiers with an accuracy of 75%. Additionally, language models, e.g., bigram and trigram, were used to generate the word clouds of positive and negative words to visualize the most frequently used words.
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Objective: To check the Bacterial Co-infections and Susceptibility patterns among admitted COVID-19 patients during 3rd wave of pandemic. Study Design: Descriptive Cross Sectional study. Setting: Department of Microbiology, Combined Military Hospital Lahore Pakistan. Period: May 2021 to August 2021. Material & Methods: Six hundred and twelve COVID-19 positive patients having positive bacterial cultures were processed, Antibiotic susceptibility testing was done by Kirby-Bauer diffusion technique, all antibiotics were reported using breakpoints recommended in clinical and laboratory standards institute (CLSI 2021). Results: Out of 612 patients, 348 (56.9%) were male and 264 (43.2%) were female. Mean age of the patients was 57.2 ± 14.4 years with a range of 22 to 89 years. Bacterial coinfection was present in 70.4% of the patients. Gram negative bacteria (94.4%) were more prevalent in COVID-19 patients as compared to gram positive isolates (5.6%). Antibiotic sensitivity pattern of Staphylococcus aureus showed a high resistance against penicillin, ampicillin, tetracycline and doxycycline. Conclusion: Our study reported a high prevalence of bacterial coinfections in COVID-19 patients infected during the third wave of pandemic. A high percentage of gram negative species were identified in our study population, this could be due to the suppression in the immunity of individuals due to severity of COVID-19 infection and already present Antimicrobial resistance. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Professional Medical Journal is the property of Professional Medical Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)
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In a speech, ASHRAE president Farooq Mehboob discusses various issues including the importance of forming relationships, gaining knowledge and embracing change. He also highlights the hostilities that led to the breakup of Pakistan into two countries: East Pakistan became Bangladesh, and West Pakistan became modern-day Pakistan.
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Background and Objectives: Owing to high proliferation rate, multipotency and self-renewal capability, dental pulp stem cells (DPSC) and stem cells from human exfoliated teeth (SHED) have become stem cell source of choice for cell based regenerative therapies. We aimed to compare DPSC and SHED as stem cell sources with a future use in regeneration of calcified tissue. Methods: Explant derived human DPSC (n=9) and SHED (n=1) were cryopreserved, thawed and expanded for analysis of population doubling time, colony forming unit assay and efficiency. A growth curve was plotted to determine population doubling time, while colony forming numbers and efficiency was determined at plating cell densities of 5.6, 11.1 and 22.2 / cm2. The isolated cells were characterized for the presence of stem cell markers by immunophenotyping and immunofluorescence staining, and tri-lineage differentiation. Statistical analysis was performed by Pearson correlation, Exponential regression and two way Anova with Tukey test at p<0.05. Results: DPSC and SHED exhibited spindle shaped fibroblast like morphology. SHED was found superior than DPSC in terms of proliferation and colony forming efficiency. Immunophenotypes showed that DPSC contain 62.6±26.3 %, 90.9±14.8% and 19.8±0.1%, while SHED contain 90.5%, 97.7% and 0.1% positive cells for CD90, CD73 and CD105. DPSC were strongly positive for vimentin, CD29, CD73, while reactivity was moderate to weak against CD44 and CD90. SHED expressed vimentin, CD29, CD105, CD90 and CD44. Both were negative for CD45. Upon induction, both cell types differentiated into bone, fat and cartilage like cells. Conclusion: Cultured DPSC and SHED were proliferative and exhibited self-renewal property. Both DPSC and SHED expressed stem cell markers and were able to differentiate into bone, fat and cartilage like cells. Thus, these could be a suitable stem cell sources for cell based regenerative therapies.
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Objectives: To evaluate the clinical value of intravesical gemcitabine combined with immunotherapy in patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder carcinoma (NMIBC) after transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT). Methods: Eighty patients with non-muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma treated in Baoding No.1 Hospital from November 2016 to November 2019 were randomly divided into two groups, with 40 patients in each group. Both groups underwent TURBT. After surgery, the research group was treated with intravesical chemotherapy using gemcitabine combined with ubenimex, while the control group was given 40 mg pirarubicin by intravesical instillation. Postoperative condition was evaluated by cystoscopy every three months in both groups. The recurrence six months, one year and two years after treatment, the incidence of lower urinary tract symptoms such as dysuria, hematuria and frequent urination, general adverse drug reactions such as rashes, liver function damage and gastrointestinal reaction, as well as the changes in CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ and CD4+/CD8+ T lymphocyte subsets before and after treatment were comparatively analyzed between the two groups. Results: The recurrence rate showed no statistical significance between the two groups 6 months after treatment (p=0.17), but significant differences one year (p=0.04) and two years (p=0.03) after treatment, which were significantly lower in the research group than the control group. The incidence of adverse drug reactions was 22.5% in the research group and 7.5% in the control group, without significant difference (p=0.36). The incidence of lower urinary tract symptoms was 32.5% and 55%, respectively, in the research group and the control group. The incidence of lower urinary tract symptoms in the research group was significantly lower compared with the control group, with a statistically significant difference (p=0.04). After treatment, CD3+, CD4+ and CD4+/CD8+ levels in the research group increased significantly than those in the control group, with statistically significant differences (CD3+, p=0.01;CD4+, p=0.00;CD4+/CD8+, p=0.00). Conclusions: For NMIBC patients receiving bladder-preserving surgery, intravesical gemcitabine combined with immunotherapy can reduce the recurrence rate, relieve lower urinary tract symptoms, increase the tolerance of patients to intravesical chemotherapy and significantly improve the function of T lymphocytes, without obvious increase in adverse drug reactions. Therefore, it is safe and effective, and has certain clinical value.
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Karrar reviews Rethinking Authority in China's Border Regime by Franziska Plümmer.
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Objective: To report the early experience, the relationship of surgical site infection after pelvi-acetabular fracture fixation with certain possible risk factors, and organizational protocol for emergency pelvic surgery currently being used during the COVID-19 pandemic by an integrated team of orthopedic surgeons. Study Design: Prospective study. Setting: Department of Orthopedic and Spine Surgery, "Ghurki Trust Teaching Hospital Lahore, Pakistan. Period: March 2020, to August 2020. Material & Methods: A total of 25 patients diagnosed with acetabular fractures were included. Fracture patterns were classified according to judet and letournel and young burgess classification systems. Factors studied included patient's age, gender, body mass index, fracture pattern, type of surgery, comorbidities, smoking status, associated injuries, surgical site infections and mortality. Results: In a total of 25 patients, 21(84.0%) were male and 4(16.0%) female patients with overall mean age as 38.04±14.58 years. Overall, mean BMI was 23.20±2.60 kg/m2. There were 12(48.0%) patiens who had hypertension while 4 (16.0%) smokers. There were 21 (84.0%) patients who did not have any associated injuries while 3 (12.0%) had the associated extremities. The mean hospital stay of the patients was 5.08±0.76 days. The results revealed no significant association of Gender with these parameters (p > 0.001). Conclusion: There is no added risk of infection and mortality for the provision of emergency trauma services to pelvi-acetabular fractured patients even during panic and pandemic situations. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Professional Medical Journal is the property of Professional Medical Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)
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The purpose of this study is to ascertain behavioral biases and preference of investors in their investment. In this study, open ended interviews from the investors were conducted at Pakistan Stock Exchange-Lahore to describe their preferences and behavioral aspect in investment. The findings from 10 open-ended interviews shows that the investors hold different preferences and beliefs regarding investment decisions. collectively, three themes emerged as common beliefs of investors from this study. Knowledge with risk appears more sensible than high risk high return. Secondly, investor does not hold any consistent behavioral pattern, but their behavior is influenced by circumstances. The concept of luck can be justified as irrational behavior only and only if the timing match with your investment. This study contributes in terms of qualitative assessment of individual behaviors and preferences using interviews.
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Objective: To check the efficacy of 36-Watt Ultraviolet-C tube light, in terms of distance and time against medically important microorganisms (Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeroginosa, Candida albicans and Aspergillus species). Study Design: Quasi-experimental study. Place and Duration of Study: Pathology department, Combined Military Hospital, Lahore Pakistan, from Jun to Sep 2020. Methodology: ATCC control organisms of above mentioned bacteria, yeasts, and fungi were exposed to ultraviolet-C light for different times and distances to ascertain its germicidal effect. Two methods were selected, one in which micro-organisms inoculated plates were exposed to ultraviolet-C light and second in which McFarland suspensions of microorganisms were exposed before inoculation. Both the methods were compared. Observations were noted down after repeated performance of both the procedures. Results: An exposure time of 15 minutes, mean ± SD (13.8 ± 10.1) at 1-foot distance was proved ideal for all the tested bacteria, but yeasts and fungi required >30 minutes, mean ± SD (17.5 ± 13.5) to be killed. Moreover, distance and time of exposure were found out to be directly proportional irrespective of microbial load. Greater the distance longer the ultraviolet C exposure was required. Conclusion: Ultrviolet-C light 36-Watt can have efficient inactivation of bacterial, fungal and archaeal species up to 6 feet for >30 minutes exposure time. Ultraviolet-C light disinfection is best for areas like closed rooms, operation theatres, PCR Labs, and bio-safety cabinets keeping bio-safety guidelines in view.
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Despite growing recognition of solutions to water scarcity challenges, decision-makers across the world continue to face barriers to effective implementation of water planning, governance and management. This is evident in the cases of Lahore and Karachi in the Indus Basin in Pakistan and illustrated through the experiences of the provincial government departments and utilities. Water scarcity and associated challenges are continuing to impose significant costs on these cities, which continue to grow as water availability further declines, demand increases, water quality deteriorates, and infrastructure degrades. A team of Australian water experts was commissioned by the Australian Water Partnership to diagnose urban water challenges and identify priority actions for improved water security, in collaboration with Pakistani partners. This paper presents the outcomes of that work. This includes a synthesis of the published literature and data on the geographical, climatic, and water scarcity contexts of both Karachi and Lahore. It then identifies responses to water insecurity that have been considered or implemented in the past and the barriers that have inhibited the effectiveness of these efforts. Finally, it presents actions within five priority action areas that Pakistani stakeholders have identified as being most practical and impactful for improving water security outcomes.