Background. Valvular heart disease (VHD) is a major contributor to loss of physical function and longevity. Oxidative stress is one of the key causative factors involved in heart disease including VHD. Here, we aimed to illuminate the role and relation of oxidative stress to the VHD risk markers in the human population. Materials and Methods. 150 VHD patients and 103 healthy individuals as control were selected for the study and were divided into three groups: the aortic valve, mitral valve, and combined disease based on valvular calcification. Results. Our results demonstrated enhanced oxidative stress in the VHD condition, as we found elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) at the serum, supported by an increased level of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARs) in the cardiac valvular tissues of the VHD patients. In contrast, we experienced declined antioxidants including Super Oxide Dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and peroxidase (POD) activities. Concurrently, increasing levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI), and high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) were detected in the aortic, mitral, and combined disease condition, suggesting a key association of oxidative stress to VHD conditions. Furthermore, regression analysis validated a key association between the impairment of the redox system (ROS and antioxidant enzyme activities) and VHD condition. Conclusion. Taken together, dysregulated oxidative stress contributes to the progression of VHD via positively correlating with CRP, hs-TnI, and hs-TnT level.
Based on Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) 2017-18 data covering a sample of 15068 currently married females aged 15-49 years, the study intends to investigate the women empowerment situation across the regions and districts of Pakistan as well as to explore the factors affecting women empowerment in Pakistan. An index of women empowerment (ranging from score 0 to 7) was constructed by taking the sum of the seven indicators on the five dimensions: woman's participation in decision making, awareness, employment, self-esteem, and financial inclusion status. The extent of women empowerment regarding each particular indicator is gauged (in percentage) at a national level as well as at regional and district levels. Regarding each particular indicator of women's empowerment, spatial differences exist across the country at the regional and district levels. At the country level, women empowerment is poor in Pakistan. Nearly 86% of respondent women said they were currently not working (unemployed). Similarly, 92% said they did not have an account in a bank or financial institution. At the same time, 57% percent of women reported that they do not own a mobile phone, 87% indicated that they never used the internet, and 40% stated that they were not watching television. At the country level, the women empowerment index's mean score was 2.14. The mean score of the women empowerment index at the regional level stood between 0.52 (in FATA) and 3.43 (in ICT), whereas at the district level, the mean score of the index stood between 0.03 (in South Waziristan) and 4.82 (in Hunza). Out of a total of 143 districts in Pakistan, in 13 districts, the mean score of the women empowerment index remained less than 1. Findings of the ordered logit regression showed that women's higher education, age, husband's higher education, household wealth status, female headship of household, number of living children, and belongingness to the urban area are positively associated with the empowerment of women.
Economic Growth is a prominent factor to affect the energy consumption of Pakistan. This study tends to explore the influence of GDP growth of sectoral growth, agricultural, industrial and service sector on the level of energy consumption fossil fuel in Pakistan from 1990 to 2019 long period of time. The data was obtained from WDI (World Development Indicators). ARDL (Auto Regressive Distributive Lag Model) econometric model was designed to look into the impacts of fossil fuel or energy consumption on Pakistan’s economic growth in both the short-run and long-run. Results revealed negative impacts of energy consumption or the use of fossil fuel on industry, personal expenditures, and exports of goods and positively affect agriculture and services and model is significant. These results showed that that economic expansion plays important role to increase energy consumption of Pakistan.
The main purpose of the present dissertation is to investigate the impact of covid-19 crisis on educational administration of Schools of Management in Southern Punjab, Pakistan. The study adds to the literature by investigating the impact of crisis on administration and crisis management strategies formulated by the institutions along with their impact on institutions’ survival and recovery. A qualitative study is conducted to achieve research objectives and answer all formulated questions. Data was collected via semi structured interview of 8 representatives of different designations from these educational institutions. Thematic technique was applied to examine the collected data and to produce results based on them. Analyses showed that the COVID-19 crisis negatively influenced the financial health, education quality, exam quality and public perception about the institutions. the study revealed that on time decisions and proactive approach from the concerned bodies were important outcomes of the pre-COVID crisis experience. This experience enabled the different bodies like IT department, board of advance studies, academic council and syndicate to make on time decisions. The study also concluded that past crisis experiences also helped this institution to develop their strategies for survival and recovery. Moreover, development of IT infrastructure (LMS, Online Portals), Forming Health Emergency Teams, COVID-19 Protocols and Faculty Vaccination Drive were the prominent steps taken for the institute’s survival and recovery in COVID-19 breakout. Results showed that these strategies helped the institutes to survive during the pandemic situation.
Pakistan is the world’s 5th most populated country. This growing population is causing numerous social and environmental problems. By the increase in population, energy demand is increasing day by day. Pakistan, where majority of the population is living in rural areas is using uncleaned cooking fuel due to which CO2 emission is increasing that is further a cause of environmental degradation. Based on the data (for the period from 1980 to 2019) of World Development Indicators, this study intends to examine the association between urban population, and energy use with CO2 emission. Unit root test was applied to check stationarity of data and after checking the stationarity status of variables, ARDL (Auto regressive distributive lag model) techniques was applied on data. The outcomes of the study showed that trade openness, urbanization, and energy consumption have significant and positive effects on environmental degradation. This study suggest that government must plan population and take steps towards the use of clean cooking fuels to control environmental degradation.
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