BackgroundLow birthweight is a widely used indicator of newborn health. This study investigates the association of birthweight <2.5 kg (LBW) with a wide range of factors related to geo-demographics, maternal health and pregnancy history in public hospitals at Peshawar, North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Pakistan. It is noted that that Low birthweight may arise for two different reasons, one related to gestational age and the other corresponding to births that are small for gestational age (SGA).MethodsData on geo-demographics, maternal health indicators, pregnancy history and outcome scores for newborn babies and their families (n = 1039) were collected prospectively between August and November 2003 in a cross-sectional survey of four public hospitals in Peshawar, NWFP-Pakistan. Crude and adjusted odds ratios were used to investigate the factors affecting incidence of LBW, by multivariate logistic regression. Gestational age was included as an explanatory variable therefore the additional covariates identified by model selection are expected to account for SGA.ResultsThe main geo-demographic risk factors for SGA identified in this study, controlling for gestational age of less than 37 weeks, are maternal age, nationality and consanguinity. Presentation with anaemia and the history of previous abortion/miscarriage were also found to be significant independent factors. The adjusted odds ratio for gestational age showed the largest effect in explaining the incidence of LBW. The next highest odds ratio was for maternal age below 20 years. The explanatory model included two pairwise interactions, for which the predicted incidence figures for LBW show an increase among the Tribal area with presentation of anaemia, and among full term babies with their mothers having a previous history of abortion/miscarriage.ConclusionIn addition to gestational age, specific factors related to geo-demographics (maternal age, consanguinity and nationality), maternal health (anaemia) and pregnancy history (abortion/miscarriage) were significantly associated with the incidence of LBW observed at the four hospitals surveyed in Peshawar. These results indicate that cultural factors can adversely affect the incidence of SGA in this area of Pakistan.

This study is conducted to find out the factor related to teacher which may contribute to the students` achievement in mathematics. For this purpose, a sample of 605 students is collected from 14 departments of different educational institutions in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Furthermore, the data is collected from BS, 5th semester except form department of mathematics. Data is analysed through the SPSS version 20. Data is subjected to statistical analysis using various statistical tools including descriptive statistic, t-test for independent sample, odd-ratio and binary logistic regression. Findings reveal that teaching method of the teacher has a significant impact, the value of teacher’s attitude in the class is also highly significant, teacher delivery of lecture in understandable language value shows a significant impact on students achievement in Mathematics and teacher motivated in mathematics learning’s value also shows the high significant result. The value of providing teaching material is also significant. Findings also shows that teachers take interactive class, adopt positive attitude, use understandable language, motivate and provide teaching material contribute to students` academic achievements.

It has been proposed that the lack of extrapyramidal side effects of atypical antipsychotic drugs is caused by their fast dissociation or low affinity for the D2 receptor or their concomitant high affinity for other receptors, for example, 5HT2 and D4. We noted that amoxapine, an established antidepressant, has affinity for 5HT2 and D2 receptors, and its effects in preclinical model are very similar to atypical antipsychotics. The objective of this study was to examine the antipsychotic effect and side effect profile of amoxapine versus haloperidol in a double-blind study for 6 weeks in patients with schizophrenia. A total of 54 patients with schizophrenia were titrated to the starting dose of 150 mg/d of amoxapine or 5 mg/d of haloperidol within 3 days. Clinical efficacy and side effects were monitored at baseline, and Weeks 2, 4, and 6.Forty-one patients completed 5 weeks, and 36 patients completed the 6 weeks of follow-up. Both treatment groups showed significant improvement in Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale positive (30%) and total scores (20%), without significant differences between the groups. In addition, in the amoxapine group, significant improvement was seen in the negative symptoms and the Clinical Global Impression. No significant changes were seen on Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia, side effect checklists, and prolactin levels in both groups. The results suggest that amoxapine may be as effective an antipsychotic as haloperidol as predicted by its affinity for D2 and 5HT2 receptors, supporting earlier studies. However, it did not prove to have fewer extrapyramidal side effects than haloperidol, possibly because the baseline scores were very low.

This study aims at exploring the factors associated with workaholism. A total of three hundred and sixty one (N=361) (W orkaholics=175, Non-workaholics=186) working adults, ranging from 25 to 59 years of age with educational background of at least bachelor’s degree from different departments in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan were recruited. In this report workaholics were compared to non-workaholics on measures of test for workaholism and self-designed questionnaire. It was found that educational level, age, economic crisis during childhood, and health-related problems such sleep disorders and hypertension were independently associated with workaholics as compared to non-workaholics. Childhood family experiences were also investigated and it was found that workaholism was an outcome of disturbed family experiences in early years of life. It was concluded that workaholism plays an important role in improving the standard of workaholics’ personal, family and professional life materially but at the cost of their own health. This study recognizes workaholism in Peshawar and would help recommend policies and health awareness in this region.

This study is conducted to find out the factors which are associated with students’ academic achievements in the subject of mathematics in different higher education institutions which are based in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The data is collected through a structured questionnaire from Bachelor of Studies (BS) 5th semester program of all the academic departments of well-known government educational institutions of Peshawar. All academic departments, except the departments of mathematics were selected, especially where the subject of mathematics is taught as compulsory or general course to the undergraduate students.  The collected data is analysed on SPSS-20. For the analysis purpose mean, standard deviation, T-test, chi-square, and odd ratios are used. The results show that earlier performance such as primary level, attitude toward mathematics, difficulty of mathematics, study hours and self-confidence in mathematics learning are associated with students’ academic achievement in mathematics.

The study focuses on the development of a new probability distribution with applications to extreme values. The distribution is proposed by incorporating an additional parameter into the inverse Pareto distribution using the α-Power Transformation. Various properties of the new distribution are derived. The paper also explores the estimation of the parameters by the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) technique. Simulations are performed to evaluate the performance of the MLEs. In addition, two real data sets with extreme values are used to evaluate the efficacy of the proposed model. It is concluded that the proposed model performs well in the case of extreme values compared to the existing distributions.

This article focuses on a cross sectional research study for assessing quality of teaching which has been conducted in Islamia College Peshawar, a chartered University in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan. The researchers collected data via structured questionnaire from 497 students of undergraduate and graduate level including Bachelor of Studies (BS), Master of Arts (MA), Master of Science (MSc) and Master of Philosophy (MPhil) of 13 departments of the said university. For analysis of data, descriptive statistics and chi-square test were applied using SPSS version 16. The analysis shows that students` high satisfaction level is above 60% and low satisfaction level is below 40%. The satisfaction level of male and female were significantly different about quality of teaching. This study recommends that teacher should update their knowledge, use new teaching methods, explain topic with daily life examples, encourage students, show answer books after marking, provide guidance, be fair and complete course on time for the enhancement of students’ satisfaction level.

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