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Half of all medicines are prescribed or sold inappropriately and half of all patients fail to take their medicines correctly worldwide. The present study was conducted to evaluate the pattern and practice of drugs within the modern medical system by investigating the prescription pattern, drug use in private and public health care facilities, assessment of the magnitude of the problem, identifying factors responsible for the problem, suggesting measures in Pakistan. There were marked differences between the qualities of consultation indicators between general practitioners (GPs) and public health care providers. The average number of drugs per prescription was 2.92 for all types of health care providers, mean number of drugs dispensed was 2.41 and 50% of the dispensed drugs were adequately labeled. Five categories of drugs comprised around 70% of all drugs prescribed. Injections prescribed per prescription were 0.32, infusions 0.07, capsules/tablets 1.85, syrups/suspensions 0.8. Number of drugs prescribed by GP’s was 4.3 and was 2.9 (P = 0.001) for public health care providers and antibiotics prescribed per prescription were 0.9 and 0.8 (P = 0.176) for the GP’s and public health care providers. The availability of drugs at public health care facilities influenced prescription in 88% of cases as compared to 57% (P = 0.001) at GPs clinics. Prescribing and dispensing practices are irrational both in public and private sector in Pakistan like many developing countries. Workable and appropriate interventions need to be developed and implemented in countries to improve trends of prescribing. The essential drug list and standard treatment guidelines should be disbursed to all medical, dental and pharmacy students. Key words: Pakistan, prescribing practices, irrational prescribing, general practitioners.

As back as the Industrial Revolution, anthropogenic activities namely, power generation from fossil fuels and deforestation activities have been continuously increasing the atmospheric concentration of GHGs beyond their natural limits resulting in an enhanced greenhouse effect, vis-à-vis, an increase in global temperature. The rise in temperature could be coupled with changes in rainfall pattern, rise in sea level, and frequency and severity of extreme events namely, cyclones and droughts etc. The sum of all these changes is referred to as climate change. Climate change affects economic development in many ways, especially the agrarian economies have always depended on vagaries of nature and climate. Change in temperature, precipitation averages and extreme climate events can alter yield, income, health, sociology and physical safety. Climate change is a global phenomenon and no country is immune to it. The disappearing of the Himalayan glaciers at a fast pace would increase the probability of extreme water flows, rendering it uncontrolled will bring heavy floods, loss of life, livestock, crops and infrastructural facilities in Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Climate change will affect all sectors of the economy not alone agricultural sector the most as well as health, forests, energy, coastal area, biodiversity and ecology all over the globe. In this connection, it will be pertinent to give the most recent events which have taken place across Asia.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to contribute to the existing body of work in the area of Islamic microfinance by examining the co‐operative nature of Islamic financial services providers (IFSPs) in Australia.Design/methodology/approachThe method employed in this study is a mixture of one of the authors' post‐graduate research and their personal experience, curiosity and association with this industry.FindingsIslamic financial cooperatives, relevant government authorities and Islamic micro‐lenders in Australia should cautiously examine the following opportunities for the development of Islamic microfinance in Australia: merging of Islamic cooperatives with each other for their future growth and development through attracting more capital; integration of microfinancing Islamic investment and retail banking facilities to provide the twin engines of fulfilling communities' religious needs and Australia's economic development; and introducing more creative Islamic microfinance techniques to suit the financial needs of individuals and groups to facilitate their contribution in the country's economic development.Practical implicationsThe paper offers: an introduction to the emergence and development of Islamic microfinance in Australia; studies the current realities of the Islamic financial system of Australia from the perspective of Islamic microfinance contracting perspectives; explains the key role of IFSPs in Australia in fulfilling the microfinance needs of Muslim community; and examines the Islamic microfinance techniques they use.Originality/valueExamination of the issues of the study is undertaken aiming at introducing Islamic microfinance with relevant parties including government authorities and Islamic micro‐lenders in Australia to find it as a viable alternative system of financing for Muslims in Australia.

Allergic diseases are fairly common in all parts of the world and involve all ethnic groups with bronchial asthma, allergic rhinitis, conjunctivitis and eczema being the commonest manifestations. Despite our efforts, their incidence is on an escalating path. The use of herbal remedies and standardized extracts for treatment of allergy and other diseases has been gaining momentum in recent years. The qualitative and quantitative determination of phyto-chemicals and assessment of the anti-allergic and anti-inflammatory activities using aqueous and organic extracts of different plant parts (root, stem and leaves) of Mentha arvensis in animals showed that all parts of M. arvensis (specifically, leaves) are rich source of secondary phytoconstituents, which impart their therapeutic effects against allergic andinflammatory diseases. These results support the claim about the use of this herb in folk medicines. Key words: Anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory activity, medicinal plants, Mentha arvensis,Pakistan.

The effect of post exposure annealing on the track registeration characteristics of CR-39 (Pershore) Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors has been studied. The changes introduced in the bulk etch rates, track diameter, and the track density have been observed. The results indicate that the bulk etch rate of the detectors and the size of the tracks are considerably changed due to annealing. Variations in the track density are, however, not serious in the presently studied temperature range.