Sex Disparity Among Faculty of Physiology in North American Academia: Differences in Scholarly Productivity and Academic Rank.

Medical academic research done in various specialties shows sex disparity in terms of academic and leadership rank. Research shows that in many medical academic research fields, there are a greater number of men with higher academic and leadership ranks, as well as higher research productivity. This begs the question: What is the case for medical academic research specifically in physiology departments throughout North America? Upon review of the literature, we found that a knowledge gap still exists in North America regarding sex differences among the faculty of physiology. Our rationale for this study is that if a sex disparity among the faculty of physiology in North American academia is found, steps can be taken to lower this disparity. The very first step is identifying that a problem exists. Scopus was used to obtain the h-index, years of active research, and the number of publications and citations of each faculty member. The h-index was used as a metric of academic output and scholarly productivity. Univariate regression was run with the h-index as the outcome of interest and multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine factors associated with a higher h-index. The analysis showed that while the overall number of females holding academic positions in physiology departments throughout North America has increased over the years, a large sex disparity still exists between males and females in the field. This disparity exists not only in academic and leadership rank but also in research productivity, a key predictor of success in the field. This finding warrants that further work be done to find what is causing this disparity and how it can be addressed.

Duplex PCR assay for the detection of avian adeno virus and chicken anemia virus prevalent in Pakistan.

Avian Adeno viruses and Chicken Anemia Viruses cause serious economic losses to the poultry industry of Pakistan each year. Timely and efficient diagnosis of the viruses is needed in order to practice prevention and control strategies. In the first part of this study, we investigated broilers, breeder and Layer stocks for morbidity and mortality rates due to AAV and CAV infections and any co-infections by examining signs and symptoms typical of their infestation or post mortem examination. In the second part of the study, we developed a duplex PCR assay for the detection of AAV and CAV which is capable to simultaneously detect both the viral types prevalent in Pakistan with high sensitivity and 100% specificity.

Prevalence of HCV among the high risk groups in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Hepatitis C is an infectious disease, caused by blood borne pathogen; the Hepatitis C Virus. In this study we analyzed blood samples collected from various risk groups for the prevalence of anti-HCV and active HCV infection with the help of Immunochromtographic tests and nested PCR. The prevalence of active HCV infection among the high risk groups was 15.57% (26/167). The prevalence of HCV in individual risk groups was 15%, 28%, 8%, 14.28% and 14.28% in the case of thalassemics, dialysis, major surgery group, dental surgery group and injection drug users respectively. Our analysis reveals the fact that health care facilities in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan are contributing a great deal towards the spread of HCV infection.

Prevalence of active HCV infection among the blood donors of Khyber Pakhtunkwa and FATA region of Pakistan and evaluation of the screening tests for anti-HCV.

Hepatitis C is a fatal liver disease caused by the hepatitis C virus. In this study, blood donors, from various districts of the KPK province and the federally administered tribal area (FATA) of Pakistan were tested for anti-HCV antibodies and HCV RNA by ICT (Immuno-chromatographic test), ELISA and RT-PCR. Out of the 7148 blood donors, 224 (3.13%) were positive for anti-HCV antibodies by ICT, 135 (1.89%) by ELISA while 118 (1.65%) blood donors had active HCV infection as detected by RT-PCR. We suggest that ELISA should be used for anti-HCV screening in public sector hospitals and health care units.