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Drawing on the literature based on the job demand-resources model and social exchange theory, the current study aimed to investigate the indirect relationship between perceived career support at Time 1 and work engagement at Time 2 via Time 1 career self-efficacy. Further, we proposed that perceived career support moderated the relationship between career self-efficacy and work engagement. The data were collected in two waves from 303 adult employees who worked in manufacturing firms in Pakistan. The hypothesized model was tested using structural regression. The results suggest that career self-efficacy partially mediates the positive relationship between perceived career support and work engagement. Moreover, perceived career support moderated the relationship between career self-efficacy and work engagement.

Drawing on the literature based on the job demand-resources model and social exchange theory, the current study aimed to investigate the indirect relationship between perceived career support at Time 1 and work engagement at Time 2 via Time 1 career self-efficacy. Further, we proposed that perceived career support moderated the relationship between career self-efficacy and work engagement. The data were collected in two waves from 303 adult employees who worked in manufacturing firms in Pakistan. The hypothesized model was tested using structural regression. The results suggest that career self-efficacy partially mediates the positive relationship between perceived career support and work engagement. Moreover, perceived career support moderated the relationship between career self-efficacy and work engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of Keratinophillic fungi from domestic animals in Sukkur City Sindh Pakistan. Methodology: A total of seven hundred and fifty hair samples from three groups (buffalo, goat and cow) of animals were collected in sterilized polythene bags in Sukkur city. Hair pieces measuring 2cm were placed on the agar plates supplemented with 0.05 g/l chloramphenicol for obtaining the fungal growth on hair. Hairs showing the whitish mycelial growth were transferred to freshly prepared Sabouraud's Dextrose Agar (SDA) for cultural growth and pure culture were maintained at 5oC in refrigerator. Results: Out of 750 hair samples collected from three domestic animals which were studied in Sukkur city, Sindh, Pakistan, five hundred ninety four (594) isolates belonged to 8 genera and 9 species were isolated. A. candidus and Alterneria alternata were almost equally prevalent species represented by 14.81% and 14.48% respectively of the total number of isolates. A. niger and Chrysosporium asparatum were equal in their prevalence and represented 12.63% and 12.46%. Exophiala sp comes next constituting 12.29% followed by Stemphyllium sp. 10.94%. Other species isolated less frequently included Cladosporium 8.08%, Acrimonium sp.7.41% and Penicillium sp. 6.90%. The isolation frequency of fungal biota was significantly greater in buffalo from cow and goat (respectively 40.06%, 33.33% and 26.60% p = 0.02). Conclusion: Keratinophillic fungi were isolated from domestic animals and the prevalence of these fungi in domestic animals may have a role in transmission of skin and other infections in human population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Malaria is endemic throughout the tropical areas of the world. Natural disasters like flood may indirectly lead to an increase in malaria through the expansion in the number and range of vector habitats. We planned this study to determine the frequency of malaria among adults presenting with fever in disaster hit areas. Methodology This cross-sectional study was conducted at Ehsas Field Hospital, Kot Addu, District Muzaffargarh, from October 2010 through January 2011. Febrile adults fulfilling the case definition of uncomplicated suspected malaria (history of recent fever, along with one or more of the symptoms like chills, headaches, body aches, perspirations, tiredness, and pallor) were enrolled and subjected to rapid diagnostic test (RDT) for malaria. Data was analyzed by SPSS 16. Results: Out of 23036 adults of age 16 years, 1175 (5%) febrile adults were clinically suspected of malaria. Of the 5% suspected cases,1023 (87%) were positive for malaria by RDT. P.vivax, P. falciparum, and co-infection was present in 792(78%), 155(15%) and 76(7%)cases respectively. Eleven (7%) cases of P. falciparum were of cerebral malaria. Most common age group was 16-45 years (67%). Malaria was more common in October during study period. Conclusion Malaria was very common in febrile adults of disaster hit areas. P.vivax was the most prevalent species. It was more common in October during study period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is an attempt to estimate the incidence, severity, depth, and determinants of poverty in Jhang district, Punjab, Pakistan. For this purpose, the data were collected from 1,000 households through a specifically designed questionnaire using multistages sampling technique in all four subdistricts of Jhang district. The study used both income-regression model and logistic regression to assess the impact of demographic and socioeconomic factors on poverty incidence. The results show that 54.3% of households are below the poverty line, including 16% extremely poor. Poverty measures including headcount index, severity, and depth of poverty are worse among the households headed by farmers, daily-wagers, and illiterates. Moreover, the results confirm that the household's livestock population, landholding, ownership of agricultural land, total assets, and earners per household considerably reduced the poverty incidence in Jhang district. While household size, age of household head, economic dependency ratio, and total dependency ratio significantly increased the level of poverty. The study concludes that demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the households are of greater importance in alleviating poverty generally in Pakistan but particularly in rural areas. Hence, it is suggested that governments should increase public spending on socioeconomic programs and services with a particular focus on education, women's empowerment, family planning, employment opportunity, pro-agriculture policies, and equitable distribution of land and wealth to alleviate poverty in rural areas of Pakistan. Further research can be conducted by selecting large sample size and analyzing the household characteristics at the disaggregated level incorporating time variations to develop a more impactful policy framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leadership is the key driver for the success of any organization. When we talk about educational organization, then its importance further increases. This study examines the impact of ethical leadership on the faculty job satisfaction of the higher education institutions of Balochistan. Furthermore, this study also explains how this relationship is channelized by self-efficacy, organizational commitment, and psychological empowerment. A purposive sampling technique was used to collect data from the 386 faculty of the higher education institutes across the Balochistan province of Pakistan. The data was gathered via a closed-ended questionnaire and was analyzed via SmartPLS. The findings of this study show that ethical leadership plays a significant role in the job satisfaction of the faculty members of the higher education institutes of Balochistan. Furthermore, this study also found that this relationship is channelled by self-efficacy, organizational commitment, and psychological empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To compare the frequency of Pseudo-Exfoliation Syndrome (PXS) in patients undergoing cataract surgery in different regional hospitals in Pakistan. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Three Tertiary Care Hospitals of Karachi, Rawalakot and Skardu Pakistan, from Sep 2017 to May 2020. Methodology: Patients aged 45 years and more undergoing age-related cataract surgery were evaluated for Pseudo-Exfoliation Syndrome. Initially, each patient underwent a complete outpatient ophthalmological workup. Demographic details like age and gender were noted. All the patients were screened for hypertension and diabetes mellitus. In addition, patients were screened for pseudo-exfoliation syndrome. Congenital, developmental, secondary and traumatic cataracts were excluded. Results: A total of 1882 patients were included in the study. Pseudo-exfoliation was carried out in 249(13.23%) patients. In Hospital-A, 23(3.23%); in Hospital-B, 145(14.92%) and Hospital-C, 81(40.70%) of the patients had pseudo-exfoliation. The frequency of pseudo-exfoliation syndrome was significantly more in Hospital-C and then in Hospital-B and least in Hospital- A (p<0.01). Conclusion: Pseudo-exfoliation syndrome was significantly more common in Skardu and then in Rawalakot and least in Malir, which in the same order have more latitude away from the equator, have less average annual temperature and are situated at higher altitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the frequency of dry eye among children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Pakistan Naval Ship Hafeez Hospital, Islamabad Pakistan, from Mar to Aug 2021. Methodology: Children aged 7-15 years reporting to the PNS Hafeez Hospital, OPD were included in the study. A proforma was used to record the demographics and screen time of the children. In addition, an ophthalmic examination was conducted to assess the dry eye status of the children using the Schirmer-II test. Results: Seventy-three children participated in the study. Their mean age was 11.08±2.42 years. There were 40(54.8%) boys and 33 (45.2%) girls. These children had a mean daily screen time of 7.23±2.77hours. Children with dry eye had a greater amount of screen time (8.75±2.11hours) as compared to those with normal tear function (6.05±2.66 hours; p<0.001). In addition, the screen time of children with dry eyes was significantly greater than those with normal tear functions (p=0.001). Conclusion: Children with dry eyes were reported to have more screen time and more online classes than their counterparts with normal tear functions. Authorities should consider resuming face-to-face sessions for all school children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To compare the frequency of depression in low vision and normal vision patients. Study Design: Comparative cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Eye Department, Combined Military Hospital, Malir Cantt, Karachi Pakistan, from Dec 2017 to May 2019. Methodology: Patients with low vision and normal vision were evaluated for depression. Initially, each patient underwent a complete Outpatient ophthalmological workup. Then, the patients were assigned to the low vision and normal vision groups, and after informed consent, each patient was to complete Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Result: Two hundred and sixty-nine patients with low vision and 275 patients with normal vision were included in the study. One hundred and eighty-two (67.66%) patients with low vision and 71(25.82%) patients with normal vision were found to have significant depression (PHQ-9 score>5). Depression was significantly more prevalent in the Low Vision-Group (p=<0.01). Conclusion: Significantly high level of depression in the Low Vision-Group needs to be taken care of in ophthalmology departments. The ophthalmologist should not look into the eyes but treat the patients as human beings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To study the impact of applying topical Chlorhexidine compared with Methylated spirit on umbilical cord sloughing time in neonates. Study Design: Quasi-experimental study. Place and Duration of Study: Paediatric Department, KRL Hospital, Islamabad Pakistan from Oct 2018 to Mar 2019. Methodology: A total of 100 neonates were enrolled in each Group, i.e., Chlorhexidine and Methylated spirit. After taking informed consent from the parents, the treatment was applied twice daily for five days. Parents had telephonic interviews about the signs of umbilical cord infection on day two following enrollment in the study, and then babies were examined for signs of omphalitis during each hospital visit on days-7, 14 and 21. Umbilical cord sloughing time was noted. Results: Both Groups were independent (statistically insignificant) with respect to neonatal birth weight, gestational age, neonatal sex, mode of delivery and type of feed with p-values of 0.258 and 0.17, 0.066, 0.304 and 0.143, respectively. The result showed that the mean rank of cord sloughing time with the Methylated spirit was significantly less than Chlorhexidine, with the p-value of 0.001. Conclusion: Based on our results, we concluded that the application of Methylated spirit on the umbilical cord shortens the sloughing time compared to Chlorhexidine, but both treatments have comparable efficacy in preventing omphalitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precipitation elasticity provides a basic estimate of the sensitivity of long-term streamflow to changes in long-term precipitation, and it is especially useful as the first assessment of climate change impact in land and water resource projects. This study estimated and compared the precipitation elasticity (εp) of streamflow in 86 catchments within Pakistan over 50 major rivers using three widely used analytical models: bivariate nonparametric (NP) estimator, multivariate NP analysis, and multivariate double logarithm (DL) model. All the three models gave similar values of elasticity in the range of 0.1–3.5 for over 70–75% of the catchments. This signifies that a 1% change in the annual mean precipitation compared to the long-term historic mean annual precipitation will amplify the streamflow by 0.1–3.5%. In addition, the results suggested that elasticity estimation of streamflow sensitivity using the multivariate DL model is more reliable and realistic. Precipitation elasticity of streamflow is observed high at altitudes ranging between 250 m and 1000 m while the longitudinal and latitudinal pattern of εp shows higher values in the range of 70–75 and 32–36 decimal degrees, respectively. The εp values were found to have a direct relationship with the mean annual precipitation and an inverse relationship with the catchment areas. Likewise, high εp values were noticed in areas where the mean annual temperature ranges between 15 and 24 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess any association between the cooperation of patients during biometry and cataract surgery by phacoemulsification in order to predict the type of anesthesia for the subject surgery. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Eye Department, Combined Military Hospital, Multan Pakistan, from Jan to Dec 2019. Methodology: A total of 332 patients requiring cataract surgery by phacoemulsification were recruited from the Eye department of Combined Military Hospital Multan. Patient cooperation level was measured during A-scan biometry. The cooperation level of same patient, assessed during biometry was used to plan the type of anesthesia to be administered during cataract surgery by phacoemulsification. Results: There were 209 male and 122 female patients with the mean age of 65.14 ± 0.57 years. A significant association was found between the cooperation of patient during biometry and cataract surgery by phacoemulsification appointments (p=0.02). A significant proportion of the patients 162 (81.4%) maintained their good cooperation during surgery. Out of the 133 patients, exhibiting poor cooperation during biometry procedure, 88 (66.3%) showed an improvement in their status by having good cooperation in surgery procedure. Conclusion: In the light of favorable clinical observation, the cooperation of the patients at the biometry procedure may be considered as a significant predictor of the type of anesthesia to be administered during cataract surgery by phacoemulsification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, export supply is modelled as a function of production capacity, cost and prices. These factors are not able to fully explain the export performance. The present study includes the domestic demand pressure as an additional explanatory variable; the traditional export supply model evaluates its empirical importance for modelling export supply for Pakistan by using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model (bound testing) on annual data over the period of 1971 to 2014. The results confirm that domestic demand pressure has a negative and significant effect on the supply of aggregate, primary and manufactured exports in both the long- and shortrun periods. However, the short-run coefficients of domestic demand are much greater in magnitude in all three cases, implying that changes in domestic demand have a larger effect on export growth in the short-run. Finally, the study concludes that along with the traditional factors, domestic demand pressure is also relevant for modelling the export performance of Pakistan at both the aggregate and disaggregated levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cotton picking is an exclusive work that is performed only by women in Pakistan. They are directly exposed to pesticide as cotton picking is usually done without protective measures which cause destructive effects on their health. Better cotton standard system involves trainings of cotton pickers to use precautionary measures and avoid pesticide exposure. The current study has been conducted to explore the health cost of women cotton pickers in conventional versus better cotton in Punjab, Pakistan. Primary data were collected from 600 cotton pickers through an organized questionnaire from three districts (Layyah, Toba Tek Singh, and Bahawalnagar). Ordinary least square method was used to find the pesticide exposure and socioeconomic factors affecting the health cost of women cotton pickers. The study shows that total cost per person, cost of medication, productivity loss, cost of accompanied person, and dietary expenses in better cotton are significantly less than those in the conventional cotton. Cost of precautionary measures in better cotton is significantly higher than conventional cotton as better cotton pickers are trained to use precautionary measures. Moreover, education, distance from hospital, and precautionary measures affect health cost significantly. Results suggest that education should be improved in rural areas. Better cotton standard system should be promoted in Pakistan through education and other training programs. Women cotton pickers should be encouraged to use protective measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focused on examining the effects of personality traits in moderating relationship between religiosity and mental health of university students. It was conducted on a sample of (N = 372) university students aged between 20 and 26 years equated to gender: 186 male and 186 female students at Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan. The religiosity, mental health and personality traits were measured by using the scale of Religiosity of Islam, Inventory of Mental Health and Big Five Inventory, respectively. The correlation analyses showed the significant relationship of religiosity with behavioral control but negatively associated with anxiety and depression as two dimensions of mental health. The results further demonstrated that openness to experience and agreeableness as traits of students' personality considerably moderated the relationship of religiosity and mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was designed to characterize N gene sequences of peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) isolates circulating in Pakistan and to evaluate the efficacy of available diagnostic assays on local isolates. During the study period, a total of sixty PPR outbreaks were investigated. A total of 20 selected samples from these outbreaks were sequenced for N gene. The result analysis and the phylogenetic trees indicated two different viral groups in N gene: one was closer to China and Tajikistan, while other group was similar to isolates from Iran and Saudi Arabia. Efficacy of three commercially available tests for the antigen detection of PPR, that is, peste test, enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and reverse transcriptase‐polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) was compared. Keeping PCR as gold standard, sensitivity was calculated as 85% and 57% and specificity was calculated as 83% and 79% for ELISA and peste test, respectively. Value of K for ELISA was 0.67 which indicates good agreement between ELISA and RT‐PCR. Value of K for peste test was 0.33 which indicates fair agreement between peste test and RT‐PCR. In conclusion, study provides premier information about the use of different diagnostic tests and molecular situation of PPRV in Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the impact of supply-side factors on the export performance of Pakistan at a disaggregated level. It has identified major export categories of Pakistan and constructed a novel time-series data set of each of these categories from 1971 to 2014. Using autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model (bound testing), the sectoral focus confirms that major export categories respond differently to changes in various factors of export supply in the long-run. For instance, the relative prices have a larger impact on the export performance of raw materials and value-added manufactured products. Similarly, the cost of production has higher effects on the growth of value-added manufactured and cotton waste exports. On the contrary, production capacity and domestic demand pressure have significantly influenced the export supply almost all manufactured and primary export categories in the long-run. In the short-run, the relative price, cost of production, and production capacity showed mixed effects for the export supply of many primary and manufactured export categories while domestic demand pressure hypothesis is valid in most cases. The study concludes that the factors determining the export supply are changing across the export categories. Hence, it is suggested that the government must revisit the export policy and make the new policy in line with new sectorial realities in order to expand the export sector of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses vector autoregressive approach to estimate the relative importance of credit and interest rate channels in the monetary transmission mechanism of Pakistan by covering the period from 1991-Q3 to 2012-Q2. The purpose of the study is to explore the role played bymonetarypolicyshocks in economic fluctuations. The results based on variance decomposition analysis and impulse response function demonstrate that for the combine sample period covering from 1991-Q3 to 2012-Q2 both the credit and interest rate channels seem ineffective and it was difficult to distinguish which channel is more important during this period in Pakistan 's case. The sample period was then divided into two subsample periods and both the channels were observed in two subsample periods. However, credit channel was dominant in the first sample covering 1991-Q3 to 2000-Q4 and interest rate channel performs a much greater role in transmitting policy shocks in the second sample period of2001-Q1 to 2012- Q2. Hence, it is concluded that the role of both transmission channels changed during the last two decades. The role of the credit channel in transmitting monetary shocks has considerably weakened since the early 2000s, whereas interest rate channel is more important during this period. These results have important implications for policy design, supporting a greater emphasis on financial prices than the quantity of credit in order to accomplish the targets of monetary policy in Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching practice is a crucial phase in development of the prospective teachers' professional skills. It can be described as a situation in which a prospective teacher teaches a group of students in a training session under supervision. It plays a remarkable role in cultivating hidden potentialities of the prospective teachers. The aim is usually to improve the prospective teacherss' pedagogical and professional skills by developing awareness of how students learn. In teaching practice session the prospective teachers are provided a number of opportunities to learn something through teaching practice. The school teacher helps the prospective teachers in the classroom and the supervisor evaluates the performance of prospective teachers. This study was conducted in order to analyze prospective teachers' views on various components of teaching practice. The research focused on prospective teachers' reflections on their experiences. A small sample consisting of 330 prospective teachers (who had gone through the session on teaching practice) of M.A. Education and B.Ed programs of The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan including both the sub-campuses of Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan were taken. A questionnaire having different scales according to the nature of the question was administered to the subjects. Data was analyzed by using SPSS 18. The study concluded that prospective teachers appreciated the role of their supervisors in facilitating them through evaluation of teaching practice. The present study also asserted that different aspects of the prospective teachers like their self-confidence, command over the subject matter, their instructional styles and classroom control should be focused accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose of study: To find out the prevalence and visual outcome of acute endophthalmitis after cataract surgery. Study Design: Retrospective. Period: 1st January 2001 to 31st December 2009. Setting: Wah Medical College, P.O.F. Hospital Wah Cantt, Rawalpindi. Materials and methods: Fifty cases of acute endophthalmitis who had undergone treatment. Each case of acute endophthalmitis was evaluated in terms of presentation, detailed examination, treatment and outcome. Microbiological culture of the vitreous aspirates was also done to identify the causative organism. The analysis was also meant to identify the prognostic factors of visual outcome of these cases. Results: Fifty patients presented with acute endophthalmitis out of the fifteen thousand cataract surgeries performed during the 9 year period. The incidence of endophthalmitis was 0.33% (95 % CI). A vitreous biopsy with intravitreal injection of antibiotics was done in all the cases presenting with acute endophthalmitis. Decreased visual acuity (90%) and pain (75%) were the main presenting features in these cases.. There were 36 (72%) culture positive cases, with staphylococci (50%) being the most common organism found. Vitreous biopsy yielded positive results in 36 (72%) patients while negative results with no microbial growth was found in 14(28%) patients. There were 20 (40%) growths of coagulase negative staphylococci, 5 (10%) growths of streptococci, 8 (16%) growths of coagulase positive staphylococci, and 3 (6%) of gram negative organisms. The final visual outcome was recorded after one month. 8 (16%) patients achieved 6/12 or better, 26 (52%) patients achieved moderately good visual acuity 6/60 to 6/12, while 16 (32%) patients achieved poor visual acuity of less than 6/60. Of the latter group who had poor visual acuity, 2 (4%) patients had only perception of light while 1 (2%) patient had no perception of light and 1 (2%) patient had blind and painful eye who had to undergo evisceration. 6 (16%) patients achieved 6/12 or better visual acuity. Conclusions: The incidence of endophthalmitis is consistent with other studies. Laboratory diagnosis of the vitreous aspirates helps in the treatment. Achieving a good visual outcome is possible with treatment of the cases of acute endophthalmitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study on properties of tablets like mechanical strength and dissolution, and descriptive knowledge on terahertz techniques. Topics discussed include properties of terahertz radiation that provides safe identification of pharmaceutical tablet properties, invention of alternative approach for quality screening of tablets which can replace conventional destructive techniques, and need of process analytical technology (PAT) tool.