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Evaluation of the e-learning activities in this crisis period amid COVID-19 has significant importance to propose effective mediations for the smooth running of learning and teaching. Keeping this in mind, the present study takes a lead and identifies the key problems associated with online classes during the COVID-19 lockdown in Pakistan. In addition, we examine the “Stay at Home” orders of government impacts on the mental health of students. The empirical analysis is based on a cross-sectional survey covering students from all educational groups across Pakistan. A sample of 1,114 students is collected via a structured questionnaire constructed using Google Form and floated online to students in all educational institutions in Pakistan. Results indicate that students living in a city that has “Stay at Home” orders in place at the time of the survey is linked with a decrease in mental health by 0.525 standard deviations (p-value=0.0560), suggesting that “Stay at Home” orders have led to a significant reduction in the mental health of the students. Students who report being stayed at home during lockdown have significantly better mental health scores. Additionally, we provide a comprehensive descriptive statistical analysis of the online classes designed for lockdown on different socio-economic and mental health aspects.

Globalization is a multi-dimensional phenomena with profound impact on different aspects of the modern world, including economic, social, political, cultural, environmental, and geographical. This study is an attempt to analyze how various components of globalization, i.e., trade openness, financial liberalization and labor mobility impacts the economic dynamics of a developing country affecting the performance of macroeconomic variables including the budget deficit, inflation and economic growth. In this study, we use the terms trade openness and liberalization along with financial openness, financial liberalization and financial development interchangeably. The purpose is to capture the overall impact irrespective of nature as nature may lead to contradictory results. Furthermore, the labour flows give due attention as human capital is an inevitable avenue for the effective and sustainable growth of any country. It is noticed that various global factors effect budget deficits, inflation and economic growth with varying intensities depending upon the size and dynamics of the economy. The empirical analysis involves the time series data of Pakistan from 1973 to 2014. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) methodology is used to obtain the results and policy related suggestions.

This study examines the difference between the total spending on the election campaign in 54 Union councils during local bodies’ election and the expected developmental fund for the same area. The study is based on primary data collected from 324 contesting candidates for the chairmanship/vice-chairmanship of 54 union councils (UCs) in district Pakpattan during the local bodies’ election of 2015 in Punjab, Pakistan. Per local bodies council rules, a winning chairman of UC has to allocate developmental funds in the area. So, the whole process of local bodies’ election is for the finalization of a person among the people, who could be given the mandate to use the developmental funds. In this regard, we assume that the prevailing process of election is rent-seeking for society, in the sense that the total cost of the election process for society is greater than the developmental funds for which the same process is conducted. Candidates consume more than the allowed limit set by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Hence, society bears the monetary cost of spending more than the set limit and non-monetary costs like rivalry, foes, conflicts, etc. The analysis of data shows that the total amount of campaign spending is 473.27 million rupees which are significantly more than the allowed limit, set by ECP as well as the total allocated developmental funds (128 million) of 54 union councils. The study shows that the whole process of local bodies’ election is putting rent of 345 million on society. Apart from monetary cost, this process brings those people to the power corridors who themselves break ECP rules. The study suggests comprehensive reforms in the process of the election campaign for saving society from its associated cost.

The connection between firm-level innovation and competition has received scholarly attention for a long time before now. This paper attempts to shed light on this complex relationship from a novel perspective where a detailed firm-level dataset of private manufacturing Pakistani firms spanning from 2002 to 2015 is used. We test whether the non-linearity estimate of Aghion et al. (2005) is sustained by our firm-level data. A multivariate probit estimation technique indicates that higher competition leads to a more probability of innovation, but at a declining rate as competitor numbers increase. Moderate confirmation of an inverted-U relationship between competition and innovation is found, especially in process and organizational innovation. The findings have practical implications for policymakers in the area of market structure and firm-level innovation.

Energy arguably plays a substantial part in the economic growth process. Henceforth, a bulk of studies have endeavored to examine the linkages between energy consumption and economic growth; however, no consensus emerged. Current study is an attempt to explore the long run ties for energy consumption and energy intensity with economic growth, urbanization, trade openness, and financial development by employing ARDL cointegration in case of Pakistan for the period of 1985 to 2017. Results postulate that trade openness has a positive impact on energy consumption, while urbanization and financial development have a negative influence. As far as sectoral analysis is concerned, agriculture and manufacturing share has a positive impression on energy while the services sector has a negative effect.

The problem with the most of the developing economies is that their monetary policy is constrained by external shocks and developed economies central banks especially FED and ECB. In this research, we examine the effects of major external shocks like global oil price shocks, foreign interest rate shocks and global food price shocks on the major macro variables of Pakistan which creating hurdles for the SBP to achieve its monetary policy objectives independently. The results stating that the global oil price and global food price shocks have direct impacts on the major macro variables of Pakistan and put inflationary pressure on the Pakistan economy which making difficult for the central bank to achieve its predetermined dual objective of monetary policy i.e. full employment and stable inflation. Additionally, we examine how the changes in US monetary policy effects Pakistan economy and find that positive foreign interest rate shock has minor impacts on the major macro variables of Pakistan except for the exchange rate and domestic inflation rates which is also imposing an external constraint on the monetary policymaking process of Pakistan central bank. In a nutshell, all these external shocks are creating hurdles and imposing monetary constraints on the Pakistan which making difficulties for Pakistani central bank to achieve its monetary policy objectives.

Human capital is one of the key drivers of economic development and sustainable competitive advantage in the global market. Human capital flight or Brain drain can lead to a permanent impact on the growth process of the country of emigration. Like numerous other developing countries, Pakistan has also been experiencing both the negative and positive consequences of human capital flight. To examine these impacts of international movements on Pakistan economy we retrieved data from different sources. The fundamental objective is to examine the consequences of international migration and its associations with poverty, economic growth, and human development. To keep this in mind, we employed the ARDL approach on three different models for the period of 1975 to 2017. District wise analysis of all provinces states that the international migration is playing a key role in the reduction of poverty level except in KPK. In addition, empirical evidence describes that international migration is positively associated with economic growth and human development while negatively associated with poverty level. The study is concluding that there are enormous potential benefits exists in international migration process because it boosts the economic growth of Pakistan via personal remittances inflow. Likewise, it smoothes out the consumption pattern of ordinary households due to the direct transfer of remittances to them. This monograph is also suggesting some useful policy recommendations for instance, if we export our manpower to highly developed countries then reverse brain drain will encourage the innovation practices along with improvement in economic growth.

Globalization is a multi-dimensional phenomena with profound impact on different aspects of the modern world including economic, social, political, cultural, environmental, and geographical. This study is an attempt to analyze the subject that how various components of globalization i.e. trade openness, financial liberalization and labor mobility impact the economic dynamics of a developing country by affecting the performance of selected macroeconomic variables including budget deficit, inflation and economic growth. In this particular research we used the terms trade openness and liberalization along with financial openness, financial liberalization and financial development interchangeably. The purpose is to capture the overall impact irrespective of the nature as considering nature would lead to contradictory results. The increasing importance of labor flow is also given due attention in this study as human capital is an inevitable avenue for the effective and sustainable growth of any country. Various global factors effect budget deficits, inflation and economic growth with varying intensities depending upon the size and dynamics of the economy. The empirical analysis involves the time series data for years 1973-2014 for the case of Pakistan. The Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) methodology is used to derive the results and conclusion further seconded by the policy suggestions made in the light of this study.

Energy arguably plays a substantial part in the economic growth process. In this paper, we examine the intertemporal causal relationship between energy consumption and economic growth in Pakistan during the period of 1985?2017. Unlike the majority of the previous studies, we employ the newly developed autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL)-bounds testing approach by Pesaran et al. (2001) to examine this association. It is an attempt to explore the long run ties for energy consumption and energy intensity with economic growth, urbanization, trade openness, and financial development. Results postulate that the trade openness has a positive impact on energy consumption while urbanization and financial development have a negative influence. As far as sectoral analysis is concerned, agriculture and manufacturing share has a positive imprint on energy while the services sector has a negative effect. Overall, the study finds that energy consumption spurs economic growth in Pakistan. The findings have practical policy implications for decision makers in the area of macroeconomic planning.

The lending and asset price transmission channels remain largely unexplored since financial reforms and pursuance of market-based monetary policy instruments. This paper examines the monetary policy transmission mechanisms of Pakistan with a special focus on bank lending and asset price channels. Monthly data over the period 2000M7-2016M12 is being used for the short run analysis. The empirical investigation is based on SVAR framework. The results show that the monetary aggregates targeting agenda is still operative in effecting the output and general price level. Bank lending have a non-trivial part through the investment channel and share prices through wealth effect on price level and output, while the conventional interest rate channel seemed to be ineffective in the transmission mechanism process in Pakistan. The findings of generalized impulse response functions are backed by the generalized error forecast variance decomposition analysis. In addition to domestic variables, external shocks appear to have a strong influence on inflation and output in Pakistan.

Nanotechnology has emerged as a promising multidisciplinary field. It has shown several applications including diagnostics, imaging and structural design. Nanoparticles can be synthesized via chemical and physical approaches, carrying many threats to the ecosystem. To overcome these threats, sustainable routes for the synthesis of nanoparticles were implemented. Green synthesis is the most fascinating and attractive alternative to chemical synthesis as it offers more advantages. Nontoxic and eco-friendly secondary metabolites from plants are used as reducing and capping agents. This process is comparatively simple and cost-effective. A gold salt is simply reduced by biomolecules (phenols, alkaloids, proteins, etc.) present in the extracts of these plants. In this review, we have emphasized the synthesis and antimicrobial potential of gold nanoparticles using various plant extracts and their proposed mechanisms. Abbreviation: Au: aurum; gold; DLS: dynamic light scattering; EDAX: energydispersive X-ray analysis; EDS: energy-dispersive spectroscopy; FTIR: Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; HRTEM: highresolution transmission electron microscopy; NPs: nanoparticles; UV–VIS: ultra violet-visible spectroscopy; SEM: scanning electron microscopy; XRD: X-ray Diffraction

Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn. is a well-known medicinal herb, primarily used in liver protection. Light strongly affects several physiological processes along with secondary metabolites biosynthesis in plants. Herein, S. marianum was exploited for in vitro potential under different light regimes in the presence of melatonin. The optimal callogenic response occurred in the combination of 1.0 mg/L &alpha, naphthalene acetic acid and 0.5 mg/L 6-benzylaminopurine under photoperiod. Continuous light associated with melatonin treatment increased total flavonoid content (TFC), total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant potential, followed by photoperiod and dark treatments. The increased level of melatonin has a synergistic effect on biomass accumulation under continuous light and photoperiod, while an adverse effect was observed under dark conditions. More detailed phytochemical analysis showed maximum total silymarin content (11.92 mg/g dry weight (DW)) when placed under continuous light + 1.0 mg/L melatonin. Individually, the level of silybins (A and B), silydianin, isolsilychristin and silychristin was found highest under continuous light. Anti-inflammatory activities were also studied and highest percent inhibition was recorded against 15-lipoxygenase (15-LOX) for cultures cultivated under continuous light (42.33%). The current study helps us to better understand the influence of melatonin and different light regimes on silymarin production as well as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities in S. marianum callus extracts.

Silybum marianum L. is a well-known medicinal herb, primarily used in liver protection. Light strongly affects several physiological processes along with secondary metabolites biosynthesis in plants. Herein, S. marianum was exploited for in vitro potential under different light regimes in the presence of melatonin. The optimum callogenic response occurred in combination of 1.0 mg/L α-naphthalene acetic acid and 0.5 mg/L 6-Benzylaminopurine under photoperiod. Continuous light associated with melatonin treatment increased total flavonoid content (TFC), total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant potential, followed by photoperiod and dark treatments. The increased level of melatonin has a synergistic effect on biomass accumulation under continuous light and photoperiod, while adverse effect was observed under dark condition. More detailed phytochemical analysis showed maximum total silymarin content (11.92 mg/g DW) when placed under continuous light + 1.0 mg/L melatonin. Individually, the level of silybins (A and B), silydianin, isolsilychristin and silychristin was found highest under continuous light. Anti-inflammatory activities were also studied and highest percent inhibition was recorded against 15-LOX for cultures cultivated under continuous light (42.33%). The current study helps to better understand the influence of melatonin and different light regimes on silymarin production as well as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities in S. marianum callus extracts.

Highlights • It is an attempt to understand the mechanism that is crucial to predict the success of COVID-19 management policies. • First, we investigate the level of knowledge and awareness of COVID-19 among university students and graduates. • Second, we examine the attitudes and confidence of them in the success of the COVID-19 management policy. • The results suggest an urgent need for health education programs to hold optimistic attitudes. • Also, the rebuilding of trust in local health facilities is necessary to avoid the possible next wave of COVID-19., In response to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, each country has adopted different measures for its control, for instance, complete lockdown, smart lockdown based on hotspot analysis, and/or strict movement control on their residents. The effectiveness of such controls depends largely on public knowledge, attitude, and practices towards this novel virus. The prime objective of this study is to examine the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of university students and graduates in Pakistan regarding COVID-19. For this purpose, cross-sectional data is collected from 1789 participants through an online survey conducted between July 12 and August 10. The survey instrument consists of demographic characteristics, 13 items on knowledge, 6 items on attitudes, and 3 items on practices, modified from a previously published questionnaire on COVID-19. Our statistical analyses are based on descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The overall correct response rate of the knowledge section is 73%, which is comparatively lower than similar studies in the region. The majority of participants are optimistic about the successful control of COVID-19 in Pakistan, and following the instructions issued by the government of Pakistan. However, a bulk of participants showed skepticism and no trust in the health facilities of hospitals in Pakistan, which could be the potential explanation of falling confirmed cases in Pakistan. In addition, a low knowledge score is found to be significantly associated with low confidence in successful control of COVID-19, and socially undesirable practices. The results suggest an urgent need for health education programs to hold optimistic attitudes and rebuilding of trust of the general public in health facilities in local hospitals to avoid the possible next wave of COVID-19 in Pakistan.

Linum usitatissimum biosynthesizes lignans and neolignans that are diet and medicinally valuable metabolites. In recent years, zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) have emerged as potential elicitors for the enhanced biosynthesis of commercial secondary metabolites. Herein, we investigated the influence of biogenic ZnONPs on both seedlings and stem-derived callus of L. usitatissimum. Seedlings of L. usitatissimum grown on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with ZnONPs (1&ndash, 1000 mg/L) presented the highest antioxidant activity, total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, peroxidase and superoxide dismutase activities at 500 mg/L, while the maximum plantlet length was achieved with 10 mg/L. Likewise, the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis revealed the enhanced production of secoisolariciresinol diglucoside, lariciresinol diglucoside, dehydrodiconiferyl alcohol glucoside and guaiacylglycerol-&beta, coniferyl alcohol ether glucoside in the plantlets grown on the 500 mg/L ZnONPs. On the other hand, the stem explants were cultured on MS media comprising 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (1 mg/L) and ZnONPs (1&ndash, 50 mg/L). The highest antioxidant and other activities with an enhanced rooting effect were noted in 25 mg/L ZnONP-treated callus. Similarly, the maximum metabolites were also accumulated in 25 mg/L ZnONP-treated callus. In both systems, the dose-dependent production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was recorded, resulting in oxidative damage with a more pronounced toxic effect on in vitro cultures. Altogether, the results from this study constitute a first comprehensive view of the impact of ZnONPs on the oxidative stress and antioxidant responses in seedlings vs. in vitro cultures.

International audience; Breast cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers around the globe and accounts for a large proportion of fatalities in women. Despite the advancement in therapeutic and diagnostic procedures, breast cancer still represents a major challenge. Current anti-breast cancer approaches include surgical removal, radiotherapy, hormonal therapy and the use of various chemotherapeutic drugs. However, drug resistance, associated serious adverse effects, metastasis and recurrence complications still need to be resolved which demand safe and alternative strategies. In this scenario, phytochemicals have recently gained huge attention due to their safety profile and cost-effectiveness. These phytochemicals modulate various genes, gene products and signalling pathways, thereby inhibiting breast cancer cell proliferation, invasion, angiogenesis and metastasis and inducing apoptosis. Moreover, they also target breast cancer stem cells and overcome drug resistance problems in breast carcinomas. Phytochemicals as adjuvants with chemotherapeutic drugs have greatly enhanced their therapeutic efficacy. This review focuses on the recently recognized molecular mechanisms underlying breast cancer chemoprevention with the use of phytochemicals such as curcumin, resveratrol, silibinin, genistein, epigallocatechin gallate, secoisolariciresinol, thymoquinone, kaempferol, quercetin, parthenolide, sulforaphane, ginsenosides, naringenin, isoliquiritigenin, luteolin, benzyl isothiocyanate, α-mangostin, 3,3′-diindolylmethane, pterostilbene, vinca alkaloids and apigenin.